There's nothing better...

There’s nothing better than taking off, and getting away for a while. Especially when one of your great friends is involved! This weekend I trekked across the border to Vida, Montana, where my buddy from high school lives.

I packed up my mom’s big spiffy camera, my new leather goodies, and hit the pavement. I’m so lucky to have friends that are supportive of my new little business and that are willing to help me. Did I mention they are also all very modelesque? I couldn’t ask for a more perfect combination! My friend B agreed to help out with my photo-shoot for my next ad in COWGIRL magazine. The ads I get to create are even more special when they have the people I am close to in them!

Plus it’s so much easier doing a shoot with someone I know. We all know how awkward I am! But the shoot turned out great, and the pictures are amazing! I really will have a hard time choosing. Here are a couple example of ones that might show up in my ad…

Of course this weekend wasn’t just about taking photos…we needed some girl time too! We got to talking about my upcoming wedding and how I am NOT EVEN CLOSE to being domestic. Cooking is out of the question for me when I have a sister that went to culinary school and who cooks scrumptious meals every night! But eventually that will catch up with me, so B decided I needed a few lessons.

 

I was taught how to cook a delicious pork loin, how to make the best cheesy potatoes, and I even got to wear one of her magical aprons. You know how I love aprons…

Overall it was a much needed mini vacation. She even sent me home with one of her cook books! Pioneer Woman to be exact…I need to start studying!

Our little helper, Deuce!

 

Long time, no typing!

I’m still alive! I haven’t disappeared off the face of the earth! It's good to be writing again. I’ve just been going crazy with my new business and traveling and now the constant ring of wedding bells in my ears. I have sensitive ears. So it’s a little distracting. But I’m back to the real world for a bit now, so I thought I’d update my poor neglected blog! John-boy has been a little lonely!

This past weekend, I survived having my first booth selling my creations. My dad set up his old hunting tent and we filled it with old wood and burlap and miniature clotheslines. The day was beautiful and my Momcat was there to be the money bags. My extremely right brain and the mysterious science of mathematics do not go well together. So she saved me!

We had a really good turnout, and as hard as it was to sell my little babies I did have a grand ol’ time! I think this is the beginning of something delightful! And now I can’t wait for my next show. Great…just when I can relax…I have to start panicking and making stuff again! But at least it’s fun! Hopefully I can get more leather projects done that are on the larger side. I did sell one of my purses at Art in the Park! I should write down all the pains and hardships for each purse and put the story inside…just so people can appreciate the leather as much as I do. But I guess that’s the cool part. I’ll see my work around town and only I know what was put into it and how much work those pieces took. Actually my big seester put together a purse for me the other day so I could work on something else. I got it all stained for her and just gave her the directions. She now knows why I complain about sore fingers and muscles! Haha I’m not the only one!

I’m just so excited about my creations going out into the world! I never thought that I would take my crafts to this sort of level. And I am blessed to have such a great family that helps me!

My next goal is getting enough stuff made to be in Ribfest this August. I’m hooked on having booths now! They are so fun to decorate and set up. Good thing Manfriend is so handy with a saw and drill and whatever else he uses to make my displays!

Well I will try to keep this more updated and I’m sure you’ll be hearing more about Ribfest coming up! And now I will leave you with some pictures of my booth from last weekend. Have a great day!

Setting up the tent...

Everything is set up! Had the boys put up my bunting.

Had the atmosphere I wanted! Check out my Facebook page for more pics!

Inspiration is everywhere...

Happy June! My how this year is flying by! The weather here in Western ND is finally clearing up and being nice to us. Besides a few hundred rain storms…we’ve now got sunshine and tweetie birds! Inspiration is all around me outside during this beautiful time of year. Except…wait a minute…I’m not outside! My job requires a desk and computer.

Don’t get me wrong, I love my job but sometimes a girl just has to roll around in the grass and run wild and do ballerina jumps over logs. Well…what I picture as ballerina jumps anyways…

So, getting to my point…since I’m sitting on a computer all day long and not able to ramble about in the wilderness, I have to find new places for inspiration. Inspiration for my jewelry of course!

One day I stumbled upon a natural light photographer whose horse photos immediately caught my eye. I got even more interested when I saw that it was taken in ND!!! Her name is Aimee Schirado and she owns Wildflower Photography.

I actually found her picture on Wrangler Western’s page. They had us all posting western photos one day and hers stood out to me more than any of them.

Isn’t it just lovely?!

The colors and composition are what dreams are made of! And I can’t get over the beautiful mustang. How can you not be inspired by this wistful moment captured on the ND prairie? And inspired I was!!! I had to create something that could remind me of that photo. Something that would give me those same dreamy feelings when worn.



So here is my Nakota Mustang Necklace brought to life...



I used bluegreen turquoise nuggets to represent the sky and grass.



To represent the pretty mustang, I used silver and pyrite beads.

To represent the horse more I added a little "horse tail" at the bottom of the necklace.

This necklace will be in my booth at Art in the Park on the 22nd.

Inspiration is everywhere you look…you just have to open your eyes!

Thank you Aimee for sharing this photo! I'm so happy I found it. Visit Wildflower Photography to see some more amazing photos!

Photo-Shoot Fun!

I hope everyone has that cousin, the one who is basically a sister. The one who is close to you in age and shares her million Barbies with you. I have a cousin like that. We practically grew up together.

You could usually find us sleeping in a tent in the back yard, or playing Tomb Raider on the PlayStation. Well…she was playing the game, and I was screaming about the giant Yeti or bear or wolf that always came out of nowhere. Or we would be making home movies of Bounty paper towel commercials or a cooking show about how to make a summer sausage sandwich. Yes we were awesome.

Now that we’re older, we have to live far apart. But when we get together we still have a grand ol’ time. Like last weekend. I had asked her if she’d like to be a model for my new jewelry and she was coming home so it was perfect!

Of course she did her part of bringing her boots and rope and clothes. But I, on the other hand, was lucky that my camera was already charged! So we gathered everything in my little car and we took off in search of some photo-shoot worthy scenery.

Of course we ended up at an old barn! Which turned out to be a perfect setting to snap some slightly cheesy but fun photos. Of course it’s hard to be serious when it’s just you and your cousin…

She's going to kill me.

But you can't just show the chic serious photos...

You've got to laugh at the behind-the-scene shots too!

After the shoot we really didn't think we got any good photos. But when I went to edit them, there were some really good ones...some even showed my jewelry haha...(I had a hard time focusing on the actual jewelry...I wanted to include the entire landscape, you know?!)

It turned out to be a great shoot and a fun day! This weekend we might be having another little shoot so look for more pictures on my Facebook page: www.facebook.com/hangitontheline (You can see the rest of this shoot's pictures there too, plus new projects I'm working on!)

So even though we're "old" now and we live far apart we can still have fun like we used to. That's what family is for! We'll always be those little girls playing Lara Croft and Natalie Danger Mudd and running around our grandparent's huge pine trees and breaking tree swings. Oh wait...that last one was me. I'm still scared of swings hung by ropes...

Country Girl Cuff Giveaway!!!

Yaaarrrroooohh! My giveaway prize is finally finished! I can stop talking about it and finally show you!

Here is the Country Girl Cuff! I hand carved, tooled and stained this beauty then added rhinestones for some sparkle! It has a sliding bead and suede lace closure, so it will fit any wrist!

If you’d like to enter my giveaway, it’s really easy! Here are some ways to go about entering:

You can pick one of these things or all of them! Just make sure to leave a comment on this post after you complete each entry, telling me which way of entry you used. (If you have already joined my blog or liked me on Facebook, you can write me comments saying so!) The winner will be randomly selected from the number of comments, so the more comments you leave, the better chance you have of winning!

1 – You can join my blog

2 – You can like Hang it on the Line’s Facebook page

3 – You can share the link to this post on Facebook or Twitter
http://hangitontheline.blogspot.com/2012/03/country-girl-cuff-giveaway.html

4 – You can share the link to my shop on Facebook or Twitter
http://www.hangitontheline.etsy.com/

The winner will be selected on Thursday, April 5th. I will post the name on this blog and on Facebook. The winner will have 5 days to claim their prize. If they fail to contact me another winner will be selected.

Thanks so much for entering and joining me in the celebration of opening my shop! Good luck! “And may the odds be ever in your favor!” (Sorry, I’m obsessed with the Hunger Games now!)

Sneak Peek!

Good Morning Sunshine! I'm having a lot of fun with my new shop, although it takes me forever to add new items because I want everything to be perfect. I'm starting to think manfriend is right when he tells me I have OCD...just a mild case! I'm getting there, slowly but surely! I also started a Hang it on the Line Facebook page, where I will put some pics of my new items and such.

I'm getting really excited for this little giveaway I'm doing...I started working on the prize last night and I want to show you a close-up sneak peek of what it looks like so far:

I want to make this really special because turning my hobbies into a business is REALLY SPECIAL to me! In my next post you will see the finished product and how to enter! Thanks so much for reading and have a great day!

Eat – Sleep – Craft

I woke up to a winter wonderland here in Western ND this morning. It was snowing and the sun was out and I felt like I was in the 80’s movie Labyrinth (you know the one, with David Bowie?) with glitter constantly falling from everywhere. It’s a sun-flurry or a snow-shine…I will have to work on my name for this beautiful spectacle. Whatever it is, in all of its loveliness, it slapped me in the face and brought me back to reality.

Here's a visual for you of the movie Labyrinth hahaha

You see, I have been a busy little bee…working away on pieces to fill my virtual shop with. In the process I have been neglecting nature, laundry, my blog, my favorite TV shows and even manfriend. (Sorry manfriend!) But things are finally happening and falling into place better than I had imagined. I think I might even be obsessed now, more than usual, with making things. It’s getting out of hand. I have had super glue where no person should ever have super glue. Okay, that came out wrong, but you get my point.

I now know I would be the creepiest looking bee in the crafting hive...

I have to force myself away from my card table work station to go to the bathroom for Pete’s sake! I mean come on, it is an imposition when you’re right in the middle of carving leather! Yes, if you haven’t noticed by now, I’m a little over-the-top.



My petite jewelry/leather crafting work station...yes that is a gnome reading a book.
If you were wondering, his name is Ole.



I just can’t wait to share with you what I’ve come up with. I think I have enough jewelry stocked up…so it’s time to move on to leather!!! Can I get a YIP YIP YIIIIPPPPPEEEEE!!!! I’m pretty much just flying by the seat of my pants, working on whatever project pops into my mind. But once it’s there, I have to make it. HAVE TO. It’s all I think about. I have been dreaming of turquoise beads off and on for about two months now. I don’t want to know what leather is going to do to me…

Anyways, here are a few snapshots of what I’ve been working on. Hopefully I will have the shop up and running soon so I can share everything!



Sunday Morning Earrings



Wild at Heart Necklace



Aim High Leather Bracelet



County Fair Earrings

Back in the Saddle Leather Pendant Necklace

Some hand stamped bracelets

Ready for the shop!

P.S. - I'm thinking of doing a giveaway contest in celebration of opening my online shop. What would you most like to see as the prize? A necklace? Some earrings? You tell me! Have a great day!

C’est la vie!

I have been doing a lot of daydreaming and drifting lately. The New Year hasn’t been very kind to us around here. There have been accidents, dreadful crimes and now winter has finally woken up and we are trying not to freeze our tails off! Sometimes I just have to get away! So my mind has been wandering quite frequently to hills of warmer places, cities across the sea, and cabins up on top of mountains.

A couple days ago, I was flipping through my look book (my binder of clippings and photos from magazines that inspire me) and I came across an ad for the perfume I wear. I remember saving it because, first of all it’s set in Paris, and secondly the colors are amazing. This made my mind travel back in time to when I visited “La Ville-Lumière” or the City of Light. I think my desperate-for-a-vacation mind skewed the memory because Paris was more magical than before! The little cafes, the night time ferry ride and the twinkling Eiffel tower all seemed to be just an image I dreamt up.

It was a very calming day dream, and with it came loads of inspiration! As you know, I’m getting my stock up to start selling on Etsy, so right now everything I see I turn into a piece of jewelry. So I turned on Quelqu'un m'a dit by Carla Bruni and got to work. Here are a few snap shots of my process in making my c'est la vie necklace, and another sneak-peek at what my shop will be filled with…

My ballons in their first state, just out of the oven.

Getting ready to assemble.

Balloons are ready! Had to make them fly a little :)

And it's finished!

Thank goodness for this daydream! It reminded me - C'EST LA VIE! (That's life!)

Gallops Among Angels

I am sure sometime in your life you’ve owned a pet, be it a squirmy goldfish or a special puppy, that touched your heart and helped you learn about life. I have been pretty lucky in the pet department. A lot of my childhood memories are filled with these loving critters…lots of fun stories and maybe a few not-so-fun incidents...

One of my favorite memories of all time was when my dad came home from work one day and told my sister and me to look in his lunch box. We rushed to the old container and slid the cover off. You cannot imagine our surprise! For hidden between my dad’s lunch remains was a puppy dachshund! Yes…a wiener dog! That was probably the coolest surprise, even though my Momcat wasn’t too impressed at the time. We named him Rusty and he was definitely in the running for BEST DOG EVER.

A lot of my favorite pets have been horses. We used to own a Shetland pony, named Cherokee. He was white all over and sprinkled in brown spots. He had a very interesting personality and got into a lot of scrapes. But they all turned out okay! I remember the exact brown spot that tickled him and also singing Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star on beat with his farts when going uphill. Or downhill. Or basically anywhere…he also put up with us little kids, sometimes three of us at time riding him bareback. He was very tricky and got out a lot, but once we started chasing him, he knew where he belonged! I remember riding my first trail ride on Cherokee…I was pretty young and after a while I had to go to the bathroom. But for some reason I couldn't move. I called to my dad and he lifted me off and set me down but my legs were so stiff I couldn’t walk. Hahaha I also got a black and blue hand from holding on to the horn so hard! But it was a great ride, and I remember galloping for the first time by myself on good ol’ Cherokee.

I think my all-time favorite pet, was our horse Tilly. Full name: Matilda Bay. She was a bay quarter horse and was basically us kids’ second mother. She gave us some great foals over the years and she ruled the roost. (Of course…she was a female!!!) She was the horse everyone wanted to ride when we’d camp in the Badlands. She never did anything bad, except maybe crow-hop a couple times if you didn’t let her snatch a bite to eat. She was the same age as my older sister, so Tilly was in my life for, well, for forever. Unfortunely, like most pets, you have to say goodbye. Last year we had to put Matilda Bay down, she had terrible arthritis and could barley walk. That was very hard for all of us, but she left us with tons of fun filled memories and lessons.

I got to thinking about Tilly the other day, and I decided to create something in her honor. And since I’m on a jewelry kick I decided a necklace would be fun way to remember her by. So here is my Gallops Among Angels necklace, in honor of a great horse, that will forever be in our hearts...

Daydream Getaway

Wooohoooo! It’s December 20th! Where has the time gone? This year went by so fast to me. I am getting very excited for Christmas, as I’m sure you are too. Only four more days! Don’t forget to move the mouse on your calendar! (If you’re wondering what I’m talking about, see the picture below for reference. Everyone should have one of those darling wall hangings! Haha…I’m serious.)

I'm not so sure what is so wonderous
about that little mouse, but as kids,
my siblings and I loved it! Still do :)

Well, it has been a very interesting winter here in western NoDak. And when I say interesting, I mean WARM! Today it’s 41 degrees out and sunny! I’m on the fence when it comes to this weather. It’s very nice traveling conditions for those who are trying to make it home for Christmas. But on the other hand, I haven’t been able to snowmobile, sled or build a snow fort yet. I think Mother Nature is waiting for the holidays to be over and then she’s going to dump blizzards on us until May!

She likes to be tricky like that, especially to North Dakota! All this warm weather happening, when it’s supposed to be cold, has got me reminiscing of the places that are actually wintry right now. Like the mountains.

Who doesn’t like daydreaming about the mountains? Or chestnuts roasting in an open fire? Maybe a bear rug? Yeah I won’t go any farther…but the best part of the mountains is standing outside in the middle of the huge pine trees with the peaks looming above you, looking up and watching the snow quietly descend. Well, that’s my favorite part anyways…

All you can hear is the gentle thrumming of your own heart, the even rhythym of your breathing and the soft crunch of fresh powder beneath your booties. And as those snowflakes gently fall, you can’t help but feel at one with nature. Maybe you wish you could pull a Jeremiah Johnson and stay out there for eternity. (Robert Redford has the best hair, who wouldn’t want to be him? If you haven't seen that movie, put it on your Netflix list ASAP!)

But as it turns out, I’m not making a trip to the mountains any time soon. So I needed to do something to honor those majestic beauties. One of my New Year’s resolutions is to get my own Etsy shop going. I’m mainly going to sell jewelry, and maybe some other curious things. So in one of my crazy daydreaming trips, I was inspired to make this bracelet.

Yaroooh! I even got to use some snow shoes for a prop! For this bracelet, I drew and cut out the mountain shaped base and then hand stamped it. I added a turquoise patina to the peaks and turquoise beads to match.

Yay! I got to create something out of my inspiration and also gave you a little sneak peek at what my shop will be filled with. Now I hope you can have your own winter daydream getaway…take a break from your busy day, sit back, close your eyes and envision your perfect winter wonderland…

Hangin' my busy season on the line...

I just Googled “sugar plum”. Because if they are going to be dancing around in my head, I need an absolute clear image of what they look like. And it’s a good thing I did because I’ve never seen one before and I was picturing them all wrong. Although they still have cute little faces and wire thin arms and legs in my thoughts, at least their bodies look right now. Hahaha Christmas time is here…(the most wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, wonderful time of the year! Bust out your best holiday singing voice for that one.)


My version of sugar plums!

Ahh yes it really is wonderful isn’t it? I can’t get made fun of for listening to holiday music either, because it’s actually the right season to be doing so! Score! (That doesn’t stop the mockery I get for my opera-esk holiday voice though.)

On a bluer note, my blog is being neglected because of this festive season. A couple posts back I talked about how much I love to make handmade presents. Well, Christmas is no exception. This year I decided to try to give at least one handmade gift to every single person on my gift list. And of course I go overboard and load up on projects that are time consuming and intense. “Nah, I can do it. It won’t take long at all!”--Has become my mantra this season…I seem to be repeating that over and over, more and more!

But it’s worth it in the end to see my projects light up someone’s eyes. So I'm hangin' my busy season up on the line for a bit, to show you some of the stuff I have been working on…I can’t show the entirety of the projects for obvious reasons but at least you can see why my blog has been a little forgotten about! (I will get better at this.)

This year seems to have a leather theme...with a little jewelry thrown in:

It was nice to have such lovely backgrounds for my pictures...and why don't we have lights up all the time?

On to the jewelry...I think I have a passion for stamping. First leather, now metal...

Here is a double strand necklace...it has three stamped charms on it. Sorry I couldn't show the bottom or side charms, they have names on them. At least you could see my little feather stamp! He's my favorite!

Here are some pendants I stamped...might just keep these for myself!

And there you have it! All that stamping is what's taking up my blogging time. At least it gives me something to blog about  : )

Until next time...(hopefully it won't be so long!)