Focusing on Life - Week 7 - Beauty of Flowers

It's week 7 of Focusing on Life: 52 Photos

 
 
This week Sally's prompt for us was
"Beauty of Flowers"

 
"This week take a moment to bring a little happiness
to your soul and enhance your well being.
Take a moment to enjoy the beauty of flowers."



I Enjoy Snapping Pics of Flowers!!

 
 
No prompt needed on this one!



 
However, with the freeze a couple of weeks back and the one this week as well, our rose garden is 'rose-less', and there's no other flowers blooming at the moment either, so I'm sharing with you some of the flowers I've captured in the past.

 
Click to Enlarge Photos
 

These are from my backyard, from the White Mountains of AZ, from San Onofre Beach on Camp Pendleton in California and from my trip to Italy last fall.

Sommocolonia, Italy (Tuscany)
 
 
Yes, I have a slight flower obsession.



 It's as bad as my obsession with snapping pics of doors, locks/keys and door knockers. 

 
 
Can you tell?! ;-)
 
 
 
 
"Just living is not enough.
One must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower. "
~ Hans Christian  Andersen ~




Until Next Time,

Peace, Love and Flower Power, Baby!!



Cheers,
~Shel~

Click HERE to go to the Studio Sublime
and check out all the other lovely flowers today!!

The End of Another Gem Show!

Marsha, Ginny and me at the Gem Mall
  
Well, it was a fun few days that I spent down in Tucson at the Gem, Mineral and Bead Shows last week.
 
Janet - Not sure where,...possibly the Doubletree Hotel - TBTB Show
 
I have some pics my sister took of all of us at the gem show.  Most of mine came out kinda blurry for some reason.
 
Marsha, Ginny and Janet at the Gem Mall
 
 
Marsha - again, not sure where - possibly the TBTB Show
at the Doubletree Hotel
 
 
Marsha, Janet and I stayed with Ginny and Dan during the week (thanks Dan for the wonderful scrambled eggs and bacon on Thursday morning - they were  yummy!!)
 
 
Ginny at the Sketchers Store - she's already laid down
a few boxes,....she had so many you couldn't even see her!!
  
We won't mention the trip to the Sketcher's Store
or Ginny's obsession with Pink Shoes!
 
 
Janet picks out some goodies at the To Bead True Blue
Show at the Doubletree Hotel
 
While Marsha and Janet headed up to Sedona after a couple of days of "Gem Shopping", I headed over to Nina and Steve's on the North West side of town for a few days until my boys arrived for the weekend. 
 
Nina, Garrett, me and Logan
Notice the bunny ears and someone grabbing someone else's ear??
Yep - that's how we all roll, baby!!
  
Nina and I had fun goofing around with our boys.
Gosh they're getting so tall! 

But we forgot to get pictures of us and our Hubby's!

Yes, that guy belongs to me!!

Well, almost!

 
Woke up to snow on the Catalina Mountains on Saturday Morning
 
 
Saturday morning, we woke up to snow on the Catalina Mountains and Saturday evening we were treated to a gorgeous sunset! 
 
 
The Sunset reflecting on the Catalina's from Nina's backyard Saturday evening.
 
I never get tired of the beauty around Tucson!

Except for maybe these,...not real fond of running into these,...or scorpions either!
 
Nina ran into this on one of her walks. Glad I was not w/her when this happened.
He is rather pretty though, isn't he?!
  
Even though we've all had our flu shots, both my son and hubby came down with what seems like a flu/cold combo so Sunday we jetted home early so they could get some rest.

Oh, and here's a few pics of some of the goodies I picked up while I was in Tucson - can't forget those!
 
 
Charms and Pendants from Silver Sparrow Beads, Blingy Goddess Pendants and a
beautiful Jasper focal bead my sis got me from Silk Road Treasures.
   
 
A beautiful Sleeping Beauty Turquoise Focal Bead and a strand of really pretty
Turquoise nuggets from Mexico - Yummy Turquoise!!
 
 
 
Clay Beads - made to look old.  Cool and Fun!!
 
 
Unfortunately I only saw a couple of people I knew at the booths I stopped at - everyone else was on a break, or teaching a class or off eating somewhere.
 
 
Ayla,....one of my "Pearl Connections" I've had for several years!
And a fellow Illinois gal, too!
 
I didn't make it around to all the booths I wanted to either this year.  It was a rather hectic few days with not as much time at each location as I normally have - but it was still fun none-the-less. 
 
 
Steve with Pacific Silverworks
Have you seen his cool rings?!!
 
I mean, who wouldn't have fun strolling among pearls, beads, findings, gems and more pearls, right?
 
 
Beautiful, Beautiful Pearls!
These are some of the strands that came home with me!!
(happy dance!)
 
Until Next Time,
 
Peace, Love and Sadly,
The End of Another Gem Show!!

Cheers,
~Shel~

Focusing on Life: Week 6 - Feel The LOVE!

It's Week 6 of the Focusing on Life: 52 Photos Challenge offered up by Sally over at the Studio Sublime. 
 
 
 
This week, we were instructed to
Feel The LOVE!
 
Sally's instructions: "Since love is in the air in February, this week keep your heart open, breath in the air and feel the LOVE, then capture it in a photo. Feel the LOVE that the Universe is trying to show us everyday!"
 
So, here's some of the LOVE the Universe showed me this week! 
 
Coco and Kiki - our Peach Faced LOVE Birds!
 
 
Have YOU been able to FEEL The LOVE this week?
 
Old, torn, stained and greatly loved, these are among my most prized possessions!
 
 
Hope on over and grab some more LOVE from all the participants hanging out at the Studio Sublime today, okay?!
 
Until Next Time,
Peace, LOVE and well,...Love in all forms!
Cheers,
~Shel~ 
 

Inspired by Winter Challenge

Today's the day for the Inspired by Winter Challenge
hosted by Sally over at The Studio Sublime.

Sally challenged us for find beauty in the midst of winter.
 

 
 
The Challenge:

"Let's get out of the winter rut!
Let’s create a beautiful piece of jewelry inspired by Winter!
The beautiful shimmer of new fallen snow.
The muted colors of nature as it awaits Spring.
The yummy browns of that hot cocoa you slowly sip to warm your bones.
The deep greens of the evergreens.
and the bright red berries from the holly bushes.
Get Inspired!"
 
Well, having spent New Year's in the White Mountains of Arizona and after also having a week of 21- 32 degree temps in the desert (that's kinda rare for Phoenix!), the snow and ice scenes were still fresh in my head!


The fountain in our backyard froze over a couple of weeks back!

 
So, I created "Ice Crystals"

 
 
 
The colorful faceted crystals remind me of the beautiful colors that still remain; greens, golds, blue/greys, etc., and the clear quartz crystal slices remind me of all the icicles.

I hand knotted some large, faceted, clear quartz crystal slices and some fancy, faceted glass crystal rounds together on black silk and then finished it with one of my hand crafted, sterling silver claps.
 
 
 
 
Thanks so much Sally for offering up this wonderful Winter Inspired Challenge,  it's been a creative way to view the season!
 
Hop on over and see what everyone else has created for the Inspired by Winter Challenge, won't you?

**I'm away at the Gem Show and will hop/comment on
everyone's pieces when I return on Monday!**
:-)
 
 
Until Next Time,
Peace, Love and Winter Wonders!
Cheers,

Untamed Spirit!

I wanted to share with you my friend Kim's website,
and tell you why it's so special!
 
 

Kim's a fellow GIA Alumni who holds a G.G. (Graduate Gemologist) and she has years of experience in creating beautiful jewelry as well as teaching jewelry classes.
 
 
 
Untamed Spirit has great tutorials, helpful links and wonderful resources.
 
 

 
 
Kim's meticulous about the details in her tutorials and you'll find them to be easy to understand and well organized.  Her Etsy shop is stocked with all the supplies you will need to create her lovely beaded wrap bracelets and the silver charms, clasps and buttons she has on her site are just the best; all with a unique flair that will definitely set your jewelry apart from the crowd!
 
 

 
 
And, to top it all off (as if all this wasn't enough?!) Kim's a really wonderful person with a wealth of information that she openly shares on her website, in her tutorials and also on her Untamed Spirits Facebook page as well.



  
 
Kim’s having a 3 day sale starting today and the coupon code is posted over on the Untamed Spirit Facebook page,
so be sure to grab that before you go check out all the fun things in her shop, okay?


 
 
 
So, if you're bummed because you're not at the Tucson Gem, Mineral and Bead Shows this week (or attending Fashion Week in NYC), rest assured,...go check out Untamed Spirit and get your fix of fashion and bling!!
 
 

 
Until Next Time,
Peace, Love and Sharing Good Things!!
Cheers,
~Shel~

2 for 1 Today!!

Today's a busy day here in blog land!  

Part 1 of my post is at the top and Part 2 is towards the bottom. If you stick around for all of it you'll see why I didn't just provide links to the separate events!

First up we've got our normal Saturday post this year for Focusing On Life: 52 Photos.  This is Week 5.  

 
 
For Week 5 Sally, of The Studio Sublime, told us that our prompt was to "Capture Our Hearts" and find hearts in our every day lives. 
 
We were to look around and notice the hearts that are all around us.  I really didn't think I'd find any hearts around me, even with Valentine's Day approaching, but I couldn't believe all the hearts I found in my daily life. Sad to say, I didn't find any really cool ones out in nature while on any walks or anything, but inside was a different story.

Here's what I found:
 

Top: The earrings I wear almost daily (duh!).
Middle: The Vintaj Heart I was working on while wondering where I was going to find hearts in my surroundings! (Hello?!)
Bottom: Wall hanging over at my friend Dyann's house.

But here's the Hearts that mean the most:

 

Hanging in my bead cabinet are the two heart necklaces that Logan (a.k.a. The Masked Rider) made us for Valentine's Day when he was in Kindergarten and also his little "I Love You" note that hangs above his 'sock hop' photo from first grade with him and the hubs. 

Hard to believe the kiddo's practically grown now!!

I will not be taking these for granted every day when I open my bead cabinet anymore, that's for sure!!

 
Hop on over to The Studio Sublime and see all the Hearts everyone else captured, okay?! 

Now for Part 2 of our agenda this fun Saturday. 

It's time for the
hosted by Tracy over at Make Bracelets Blog.

 

Here's the challenge Tracy presented us with: 

"I’d like to start the year together with a healthy jewelry making challenge. Yes, that’s right, a “healthy” jewelry making challenge. It involves choosing a powerful word or phrase that is meaningful to you and incorporating it into a jewelry design that will serve as a reminder to make a positive change in your life. These are the six categories of wellness that people generally want to make changes in: Physical, Emotional, Occupational, Spiritual, Intellectual and Social.  Your words can represent any of these areas." 

So, long story short (yeah like that's gonna happen, right?!), I thought quite a bit about my word and/or phrase and here's what spoke to me.

You normally won't hear me mention religion or politics on this blog (and I'm only mentioning one today), so listen up.

Even though I was baptized in the Christian church when I was in the 4th grade, I don't follow a specific religion, nor am I what anyone would refer to as a religious person.

Spiritual? Yes, absolutely. Do I pray?  You betcha!! Prayer is powerful stuff!!  I believe in "God/Spirit" (my own definition mind you) but I'm not religious. However, I do love talking to my friends and learning about their various religious beliefs; they fascinate me and I have a great deal of interest in the history involved in many religions as well.

So, with that said, I was over on Lori Plyler's blog, Studio Waterstone, (Lori did my blog banner if that name sounds familiar and she also hosts "I heart macro" each Sunday) and she had a link posted to a series of video sermons that she said was definitely worth checking out - so I did. WOW!!

Not only were they funny in spots and really eye-opening, (and yes, religious or not, you should check out these videos) but on a couple of occasions, tears just ran down my face!  

There are two sentences that Andy Stanley says that I will share with you that really spoke to me and became the basis for my "Wellness Jewelry" that I created for Tracy's challenge here today.  He said:

"My time is limited, So I need to limit what I do with my time."

Think about that one.  I know.  It's a show-stopper, huh?

Then, he said:

"When you begin to live as if your days are numbered you will gain a heart of wisdom."

A Heart of Wisdom. 
 
I'd like a heart of wisdom. So, once I get it through my head that my time is limited and that I must limit what I do with my time (and once this becomes the norm for me), I will start to gain a heart of wisdom. 
(Powerful Stuff!)

I mean, how can you not operate from a position of LOVE if you have a heart of wisdom?  And my question here is this, "Shouldn't we all want to operate from a position of love?" 

If we all did that, the world would be a better place. The world,...not just here, where ever here is for you, but the world.  Yep, that's what made those tears flow,...

 

So, my word is TIME.  I need to remember that my time is limited and start limiting what I do with my time and spend that time wisely - from my heart.

 
 
It's so appropriate that Sally's prompt for week 5 was "Capture our Hearts", was it not? (read the first part of this entire post if that just confused you!)

Do you remember what Tracy's words for us were? "These are the six categories of wellness that people generally want to make changes in: Physical, Emotional, Occupational, Spiritual, Intellectual and Social."

So, where and how are you going to spend your TIME (more of / less of) in these areas above? 

 
The 3 watch hands on the altered blank represent my hubby, my son and myself
as do the 3 metal beads that are mixed with the turquoise.  The turquoise represents healing in all
areas of our lives.  The chain represents how each part (time) in our lives is linked to the next
while the swirl in the clasp represents how our energy is never ending.
 
It was a real eye-opener for me to think about each of these and see how I wanted to organize/budget my time and this bracelet sits on my wrist, next to my watch, reminding me that my time is limited!
 
Okay, I guarantee you I'm not the only one who had some deep revelations over this one, so head on over and check out all the awesome jewelry from the participants for Tracy's Wellness Words Jewelry Challenge! 
 
I bet you'll find some words and/or phrases that speak volumes to you, too! 

 
 

Thanks so much Tracy for Inspiring us to make positive changes for our over-all health, wellness and well being - what an awesome gift!

Until Next TIME,
Peace, LOVE and Wellness!!
Cheers,
~Shel~
 
Here's the list of participants in Tracy's
Inspire Change: Wellness Words Jewelry Challenge