Mosaic Monday - playing with light

I heard blogger was having fits recently...and I didn't even notice because my internet wasn't working at all! Guess I missed all the drama and thank goodness for that. :)

Spring is still the tumultuous affair here in Oregon. The changing and infrequent light have me playing with back lighting my favorite subjects and below you see the results of the last couple week's worth of playing around. I love how the black storm clouds make the grass and leaves look such a bright green.

Click images to enlarge.

The ever curious adopted mustangs in the field next to me are always coming to see what I'm up to. And also maybe to see if I have an apple or carrot  - horses have good memories. ;)


Be sure to visit Little Red House to see all the beautiful mosaics! There are some AMAZING photographers participating each week.

Behind the Biz of being Molly the Pirate

I don't use my blog to talk a lot about my Etsy shop because I have about a gazillion interests and this blog covers a lot so it doesn't need to cover that too. However, this is the only venue I have for showing off all my behind-the-scenes-ness that goes into my business.

I get a lot of, "Molly the....pirate??" Yep. Tacky and juvenile? Completely. Memorable? I hope so!

I once had a guy at a craft show ask me about it and then every time he'd see me he'd point and say, "Hey it's the pirate!" It was quite funny. :)

I had two college roommates my freshmen year of college (I was an English major. Also let me just throw out there that I am 5'2" and one roommate was 5'10" and the other was 5'11" - what is UP with that.) they both got tickled at me saying, "Argh!" when I got frustrated with something so they started calling me Molly the Pirate. And you thought there was something nefarious behind that nickname didn't you. ;)

I have a lot of supplies. Sometimes when I have to empty a supplies container I think...I am a jewelry supplies hoarder. And then I wonder when someone is going to show up to stage an intervention.

A very small fraction of what I have...



I have a large flower garden and you can tell that by how many flower beads are in this photo. My garden inspires a lot of my pieces.

My vintage beads collection inherited from my great aunt Ellen. See more about that here.

Last year I completely emptied my roll-top desk and turned it into a super-organized creation station.

 What am I going to make today? Too many things to choose from!

 


Sometimes my supplies aren't quite what I need and I have to fix them.
Like this metal link I aged to go on this necklace.

This is what mornings typically look like. Delivery confirmations, measuring tools to help me give the most accurate descriptions I can, and sparkly goodies waiting to be measured and listed. Of course here I was also checking out my usual online haunts (Gothique shown).

I don't have a space in my desk for keeping my completed bits o' shine but thankfully my most wonderful cousin Judy gave me this jewelry case and it has absolutely saved my life. It's not sucking up if it's true.

Each item is kept in its own bag and organized on my trays so I can find things quickly when I need to ship them. This keeps everything clean and untangled. And have you noticed an organization theme? I love organization.

 Sometimes I end up making a lot of the same thing - like this bridesmaid's earrings order of my Jerrica earrings. I love this earring so much I even have a pair for myself. The sparkle is incredible.




 I feel bad for the first few people who ever ordered from my shop; they weren't treated near as nicely as my customers are now. I started using boxes to hold the jewelry because I wanted something sturdy to make sure things weren't squished in transit.

And usually, I will use paper shred inside the boxes rather than the fluff that comes in them. I've just found this to hold the jewelry still when it's getting moved around and holding still and cushioning mean it arrives to my customers safely. If I'm shipping something internationally I sandwich it between two box fluffs for extra security.

I write notes on the underside of the tag, some people don't find them right away - or ever -
but that's alright. :)





If you enjoyed getting a behind-the-scenes look, feel free to "like" me on facebook or follow me on twitter, where there is plenty of material that is only shared there.

Questions? Ask away! Answers are free, but correct answers will cost you. ;)

Garden Shed fantasy vs. reality

I finally got around to reading my April 2011 copy of Country Living and when I turned to this page...

 

I got those sparkles in the eyes where you know the hamster wheels are turning inside and you're imagining how you can make this a reality in your home. As someone who does a lot of gardening I could totally use a space like this. Except my space was looking like this:

 Oh great. What happened here anyway? It looks like scenes from a natural disaster in a third world country. I would like to make the disclaimer that I did not make this mess.

This one-time-turkey-shed-turned-cow-shed-turned-disaster-storage-which-is-thiiiiiiis-close-to-falling-over-but-isn't-quite-ready is pretty close to the garden so it makes the perfect spot for gardening items. I put on my heavy duty boots and gloves and took everything out.

I was seriously concerned with the probability that I would be finding lots of spiders and wasps or yellow jackets but there was a pleasantly surprising lack of those. And no snakes either! Yay!

I did find this bird nest made of dryer lint. Tee hee. :)

I loved the beauty and functionality of the magazine's garden shed but I was not going to spend money on anything going in here. Which meant I had to scavenger hunt.

I moved a garage sale baker's rack in (the ground was so uneven I had to put it on cement blocks) and started stacking my terra cotta pots.

 

In the barn's lean-to I found a galvanized bucket to hold my garden stakes and then I kept finding crates of garden stakes and more stakes and more stakes. Who am I, Buffy? Sheesh. An orphaned pot strainer (I think?) held more and a rusty bucket thing holds the really tall ones.

An empty pot holds my garden row makers (stake one end into the ground, unwind the twine/string as long as you need, stake the other end in the ground and plant your seeds under the twine. Keeps your veggies in a straight line).

And another holds sprinklers.

I even managed to find a galvanized garbage can to hold my potting soil. I found this clear out at the barn with the lid blown off and only a handful of garbage items inside. I didn't even know this was on the property. Don't things like that make you wonder what goes on when you aren't looking?

The biggest difference between mine and the one on the magazine's glossy pages?
Well...we'll just call it patina. ;)

For spending no money and one afternoon I think I got my money's worth even if it isn't magazine worthy.

Also I got to look at this all afternoon.

Linking to:

Shabby Apple winner

 The winner of the Shabby Apple dress is....

Congratulations Charity! Also, thank you for having music on your blog so I had something to listen to while I was writing this post. ;)

Thanks everyone for playing along and remember you can get a 10 % discount on your Shabby Apple purchase using the code "abitoshine10off" - this code expires in about 15 more days.

Happy Wednesday and May the Fourth be with you. ;)

Mosaic Monday - make like a tree and leave

(click image to enlarge)

All of my trees are leafing out and after what felt like an interminable winter it looks almost strange!
From left to right starting at the top left: birch, lace-leaf maple, weeping cherry, red maple, and apple.

Be sure to visit Little Red House to see all the beautiful mosaics!