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!