MiShel Designs: MiShel Designs

Showing posts with label MiShel Designs. Show all posts

Focusing on Life: Week 31 - Hues of Blue

For week 31 of the Focusing on Life: 52 Photos Challenge, Sally, over at The Studio Sublime, prompted us with

"Hues of Blues"

"There are so many meanings behind the color blue, but the one that seems to be the most prevalent is that blue is a cool and calming color. This week, take time for focus on the beautiful hues of blue."

Since blue is one of my all time favorite colors, I thought this would be a snap. But I was totally wrong. I found nothing blue. At least not when I had my camera (or my phone) in hand.

So, I got creative and decided to show you what

Blue means to me,.....

Hues of Blues = Fun! The hues of blues in these beads and fibers are calming, yet fun to me. My favorite go to color. And of course, blue pearls are a signature favorite of mine !

Hues of Blues = My Soul's Love. A feeling of "I am home" comes over me, producing an awe, a calming and a peacefulness that is only satisfied when I am in the midst of the sea,...or ocean.

The Pacific Ocean from the Coast of California and the Ligurian Sea, Italy.

Hues of Blues = Universal Guidance. When we were a bit lost and I silently asked God/The Universe to show us the way to our hill top rental home in Tuscany, this little blue-eyed beauty showed us 'the road home' to the house (and to the housekeeper - his owner). It was a magical 'sign'. Especially since Siamese are my favorite and my first kitty looked just like this one!

Our Blue-Eyed Angel Guide!

And then there's the

"Hues of Blues" that Rock Your Soul!!

Okay - well, they're more widely referred to as the

Sounds of Blues

but this Kenny Wayne Shepherd instrumental,

"While We Cry"

is one of my all time favorite songs (ever!)

and I wanted to share it with you!

Kenny Wayne Shepherd - While We Cry

(You're gonna want to turn this one up!)

Enjoy!

Please hop on over to The Studio Sublime and see what "Hues of Blues" every one else has snapped this weekend.

You'll be sad and 'blue' if you don't! :-)

Until Next Time,

Peace, Love and Hues of Blues, Baby!!

Cheers,

~Shel~

Focus on Life: 52 Photos - Take a Walk

It's week 16 over at the Studio Sublime's

Focus On Life: 52 Photos Weekly Photography Challenge

and Sally's prompt for this week was:

Take a Walk!

"Grab your camera, open the door and step outside into the fresh air. Take a walk! Whether you walk to your favorite chair on the porch, walk a few miles down a rural road or a busy city street; take a moment to be aware of the beauty of the world and let its grandeur energize your soul, inspire your mind and jump start your creativity. Step back and look at the wide world around you and capture a shot of the landscape in front of you!"

Greenbelt area with some pretty trees near my home where I walk.
Sure doesn't look like the middle of the desert, does it?! ;-)

It was the perfect weather this week for walks here, too - temperature wise.

Lakes in my neighborhood along my walking 'path' (sidewalk!)

It was a bit windy for several days with gusts from 40-60 miles per hour one day and on Wednesday we had a micro-burst come through the neighborhood sending the trash bins rolling down the street - but other than that it was perfect spring weather in the desert.

Here's what I snapped on a couple of walks around the neighborhood.

We have some green belts in our neighborhood and a few lakes (duck poo ponds, as we call them!) and some really pretty trees too, so it makes for some lovely walks.

So, get up, and go for a walk over at the Studio Sublime today and see where everyone else's walk will take you!!

Evening Walk with the Sunset Over the Lake
One thing's certain; Arizona truly has some gorgeous sunsets!

**Thanks to you all who have been leaving such wonderful comments each week on here - your posts and comments always make me so happy - Thank you!! Last week I was trying to 'reply' to all of them, but when I hit the reply button on blogger here in the comments section it just 'spun' and spun,....loading,...loading,...and never loaded. Not sure what the deal was but I wanted you all to know that I wasn't trying to be rude - it just wasn't letting me 'play nicely' last/this week. I haven't been able to comment for several days and although I think it's okay now, I talked w/a few of my other blogger friends and a couple of them had the same problem for a day or two, so I don't feel like such an idiot!! LOL!! So, please accept my apologies for not responding to your replies here in the comments section this last time, hopefully this week I'll be able to read them and respond.**

Everyone have a great week!

Until Next Time,

Peace, Love and Lovely Walks!!

Cheers,

~Shel~

Echo Creative Team - November Reveal!

Once again it's time for the Echo Creative Club Reveal!

This month I decided to keep it simple.

Well, that wasn't actually my original plan, that's just how things turned out.

I love working leather into my designs and I really liked how it looked with Jeannie's Aspen Leaf Pendant and so I decided to make something to wear for Thanksgiving.

Each year we spend Thanksgiving weekend at my sister and brother-in-law's cabin in the White Mountains of Arizona.

My hubby and son (a.k.a. the Masked Rider) built this awesome tree house up there and actually sleep in it - my nephew usually joins them - even when it's 17 degrees or colder out. Silly boys!

My sis, niece and I prepare all sorts of yummy food and there's usually friends from town that travel in to have dinner with us and the cabin is usually full of people and children.

And delicious smells, too.

This year my niece is with her in-laws and so I'm missing her super delicious homemade apple pie - big time!!

(and her, her hubby and their kiddos, too!)

There's lots of Aspen up at the cabin.

And since the Wallow Fire in 2011, there's a lot more Aspen on the mountain because Aspen come back quite a bit faster than the other trees that were lost in the fire.

I look around and am so grateful for all that is still left.

The trees, the cabins that are still standing and the animals that still call this forest their home.

It's a quiet Thanksgiving this year.

So simple was in order.

Please stop by and visit all the other Echo Creative Club Team Members this month to see what they've created with the components that Jeannie sent them.

Echo Creative Club - November Team

Dagi

Sonya Ingersoll-Stille

Echo Creative Club

Jewelry By Jeannie
Echo Creative ClubFlickr group

Until Next Time,

Peace, Love and Giving Thanks!

Cheers,

~Shel~

I Heart Macro!

Happy Sunday!

Linking up with I Heart Macro over at

Studio Waterstone this Sunday.

Enjoy!

Until Next Time,

Peace, Love and Sunday, Beautiful Sunday!

Cheers,

~Shel~

It's Here!!

Remember the post here, where I told you I was the super lucky person who'd won the Beading Daily Polyvore Challenge drawing they had where they were giving away Lorelei Eurto's Pompidou necklace that is on the front cover of her and Erin Siegel's book,

Bohemian Inspired Jewelry:

50 Designs Using Leather, Ribbon and Cords?

Well, look what arrived in the mail this weekend!!

Oh, isn't it beautiful?!

Thanks Lorelei for getting it in the mail so quickly - that was awesome!

And again, thank you and Erin for teaming up with Beading Daily and hosting such a fun challenge with the Polyvore boards - it was a blast!

I think this might have to make it into my suitcase when I go to Italy next month,...what do you think?

Until Next Time,

Peace, Love and Bohemian Goodies!

Cheers,

~Shelly~

Fruits Of My Labor

Remember this weekend when I posted my

"Hoops" tutorial?

Well, here's the fruits of my labor after playing around with some different materials this weekend.

Click photos to enlarge images

I'm having fun making hoops, covering them with recycled sari silk and various colored ribbons and wrapping them with the darkened annealed steal wire and adding a few little seed beads and crystals - too fun!!

Grunge Hoops

The Grunge Hoops will be available in my Etsy shop this week.

Also, the weekend before, when we played in the garage studio and I dipped some things in liver of sulfur?

Well, here's a few of those items now, too.

I love how copper can look on different surfaces and with different colored backgrounds - it's such a cool metal!

I'm gearing up for the Annual Nutrioso BBQ and craft show this weekend up here White Mountains of Arizona and so some of these are going to be put on display there, but several will be in my Etsy shop next week as well.

I'm limited to what items I have up here at my sis's cabin, but it's stretching my creativity to play with what I have. I even forgot my LOS, so no dark metals other than the ones I made up prior to coming back up here - oh well - I'm still having fun!

Someone asked me if my being here at the cabin fueled my creativity or did it just make it too hard to create, being in such a beautiful area and wanting to just enjoy my surroundings. The answer is a little bit of both!

What's fueling your creativity this summer?

Are you inspired by your surroundings?

Until Next Time,

Peace, Love and Creating Fun Things!

Cheers,

~Shel~

Today's Color is Purple!

I've got purple on my bead table today - lots and lots of purple.

Amethyst, dyed jasper, Swarovski's in lots of pretty shades of violets and purples, dyed quartz and more,....all various shades and hues.

No, it's not for the One Crayon Color Challenge that's taking place on Saturday, May 5th
(Which I can hardly wait for!!).

It's for a client. I hope she likes it.

What's on your bead table today?

Hop on over and check out the Flickr group and see what everyone else has got cookin' today,....

Until Next Time,

Peace, Love and Purple!

Cheers,

~Shel~

It's Almost Time!

Oh,...I'm excited for the Wrapped, Stacked and Layered Challenge hosted by Tracy Statler over on her Make Bracelets blog!

It's tomorrow, Saturday, April 21st, so you'll have to come back on over here in the morning and check out all the lovelies everyone will have posted on their blogs!!