professor marvel never guesses – he knows.

a jewelry affaire
Here are a few of the things I’m sending to Jewelry Affaire for consideration.

I also sent off an order to Accessories Susan for some lovely antiqued-brass supplies to make my charm earrings. I ordered some birds, dragonflies, leaves, and hearts, as well as some beads, drops, and chain. It’s so nice to know that one day next week I’ll have new treasures to add to my collection.

more ocean city pictures
I got a few more Ocean City pictures from my mother-in-law.

Lily, on the beach in style.

Our men, napping after a hard day of…um, something.

Marc and Julian heading into the water for some boogy-boarding.

Lily, on the balcony at the condo.

another magazine down
I finished reading the July/August issue of Somerset Studio. Two articles stand out in my mind – With One Palette, by Rande Hanson, and Faded Beauty: The Artwork of Priscilla Jones, by Beth Livesay.

I love the colors chosen for this issue’s With One Palette – blue, turquoise, parchment, and rust. I think blue and brown is a lovely combination. And Miss Hanson made such lovely things…

See? Very pretty.

Miss Jones’ work is also lovely, and very different. I would love to know how she makes her objects. They look as if they are from another century, and yet are whimsical and delightful. You can see some of her work on Flickr.

Isn’t her stuff cool?

~filled with inspiration, but regrettably suffering a lack of time~

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is it asking too much to have a glass or two or five before we leave?

just trust
Look what I bought today – the Sept/Oct 2009 issue of Somerset Studio, aka the Vintage Halloween issue.

So I was paging through, and I have to admit I was feeling a bit jealous and despairing. My thoughts went something like, no wonder my work hasn’t been accepted yet, look at the stuff that’s in here, it’s amazing, even better than last year, my work isn’t this good, it may never be this good.

Then I came to page 109…

I didn’t even notice at first. I was busy looking at the skeleton and pumpkin puppet theaters, admiring how adorable they are.

Then I looked at the top of the page. Gasp! What?! My tags. In Somerset Studio? In the Vintage Halloween issue? I had to sit down for a moment.

(Universe, please feel free to smack me for my previous bad attitude.)

I’ve dreamed of having my work in Somerset Studio -the creme de la creme of collage and mixed media. And the funny thing is I didn’t think my Halloween tags were good enough. I thought I went too far with them and added too much stuff. But there they are. In the big league. With the real art.

So cool! I’m so happy and excited to be in Somerset Studio. It is such a fabulous magazine, and I can’t even say what it means to me that someone there thought my work was good enough to be included.

I had no idea they were going to include my tags, but what a delightful surprise. I was thinking that, since I hadn’t heard anything regarding my “aubergine” projects, they hadn’t been accepted, but perhaps that’s not correct. I guess I’ll just have to wait and see when that issue comes out.

In the meantime I’m grateful to the powers that be for such wonderful opportunities and for blessing me with this gift of creativity.

~hangin’ with the scary ladies~

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ocean city part 2.

more pictures

The view from the balcony of the condo. I love that there is at least a partial view of the ocean.

Marc and Julian playing with their boogie boards.

Lily with her Bubbie and Poppy.

My handsome young man.

La mer.

~still have sand in my car~

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i’m a brightly colored person.

playtime
I finally found some time to shrink my Polyshrink pieces. I tried the oven this time, which resulted in thicker and slightly smaller pieces than when using the heat tool.

Here are the pieces – first picture is after shrinking, second picture is before.

I started working on two more sheets. I want to make a few pieces to send to Belle Armoire Jewelry to see if they would be interested in an article.

I’m doing one sheet white and one black. I suddenly thought a few weeks ago that it would be cool to try the black – I have a bunch of light-colored inks that might turn out nice on it. We’ll see!

~toodles for now~

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all along it was the ocean’s song.

ocean city, part 1
The weather was not entirely agreeable. Two days were beautiful, sunny and warm. Three days were beautiful in a rainy, extremely windy sort of way.

The challenge in finding joy in the rain.

What diappointed me the most, concerning the weather, was not seeing the stars when Marc and I took our late night walks on the beach. Hardly any stars are visible where we live because of the light pollution, and I’m always amazed at the number you can see on the beach.

We did see a few, and Venus shone very brightly even through the clouds.

Lily, jumping on the bed.

Lily and Bubbie working on a puzzle.

I love the ocean – it is in turn mysterious, magnificent, and magical. To me, the ocean is a spiritual place, where I feel connected to the earth and the universe.

~coming next, part 2!~

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introducing catherine

a lovely pair of earrings
I added a new item to my Etsy shop:

The beads are a beautiful deep ruby-red color, with slight imperfections that I think only makes them more charming. I made a similar pair for myself, only with black beads, and they have become one of my most favorite pair of earrings to wear.

by the sea
So we got back from Ocean City yesterday. It started out great, with sunny warm weather, but then clouds and a relentless wind moved in. We still had a great time. I’ve got tons of notes and pictures that I’ll be posting over the next few days.

~still shaking sand out of my suitcase~

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kansas is the name of the star.

follow the yellow brick road
Lily has been into The Wizard of Oz the last couple of weeks. Which is perfectly fine with me, because it’s my favorite movie. It’s a wonderful story, and the songs are so much fun. Although Lily does not appreciate it when I sing along.

It’s actually rather a feminist sort of movie, if you look at it in a certain way. Dorothy is a strong, brave heroine, and all the powerful characters are women – Glinda, the good witch, the Wicked Witch of the East, and Dorothy herself, if you count when she had the ruby slippers on. The men are supportive, but the women rule.

no alice for me
I decided not to submit anything to Somerset Studio for the ‘Alice in Wonderland’ theme. As much as I would love to, I just don’t have any inspiration. Nothing is coming to me. Plus, the deadline is getting close, and I don’t feel like having to rush to get something done.

However, I do want to submit something for Stampington’s new publication Jewelry Affaire. The deadline is November 15, much more do-able. I have a few ideas in mind, although I’m kind of unsure what exactly they are looking for, and whether my ideas are in line with that, but I’m willing to give it a go. Can’t hurt, right?

playing with shrinky-dinks again
I’ve been playing around with my Polyshrink again, making more bits and pieces (‘bits and pieces’ sounds better than ‘components’). I experimented with layering stamps and masking. Here are some of the pieces, pre-shrinking:

The largest one is 2&1/2″ across. I can’t wait to see what they look like, post-shrinking! I just haven’t had time to do it yet.

back to the sea
We’re leaving for Ocean City MD on Saturday, and we’ll be back on Wednesday. We’ll be staying with my parents-in-law in their condo (a test of endurance and patience if ever there was one). Lily is excited about going to the beach. So I’ll be sure to post some pictures when we return.

~til then~

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