Sunday, July 30, 2017

Daaaaang!

Wow...its amazing...just amazing...how life is so full and how so many things can get neglected like my blog!  Yup...its been seriously neglected.  I can say I have all these excuses...but NOPE...I don't.  My only excuse is that I am not as organized as I would like to be... and what about priorities?  All I can do is take a deep breath and then let is all out.  I feel better already! LOL  SO.... how have you all been doing? It's hot here in CA and I don't want to go outside...but it's so nice in the mornings.  That's when I like to go out and water my tomatoes.

Right now I'm enjoying watching the ball game with hubby.  If you haven't seen on my FB page, this summer hubby had a medical emergency.  Yup...a ruptured aneurysm.  It's easy to talk about now since all is well. But at the time that it happened, it was scarier than heck! Finding my husband in the bathroom at 3 am vomiting, had a horrendous headache, then suddenly start shaking and could not move.  I immediately called 911, then he passed out and fell. I was able to assist him on the way down so he wouldn't get hurt. WOW...then from there on out for 16 days, it was Mr. Toads Wild Ride!  16 days in the hospital will change your life! Did you know your muscles turn into rubber within a very short time while laying in a hospital bed without moving around?

We have been so blessed in so many ways. He is going to have full recovery, but it will take about 1-2 years.  You look at him today and you wouldnt think he had gone through hell and back.  He has good days and bad days, but I will take that any day!  Now it's time to move on and get our strength and life back!

Outer Limits by HUBBY!

So, while we were recovering from this craziness, I decided to learn a little about acrylic pouring.  I had so much fun de-stressing with this technique.  This painting is beautiful.  Hubby picked the colors and he guided me in this design.  He said it looks like outer space to him. To me, it looks like the daily ultrasounds they did of his brain.  This is kind of what I saw. I thought it was an interesting combination of colors to start with.  The only difference I think was where you see the lighter blue, there was black.  And the little bits of red and blue was how the ultrasound saw the blood flowing around inside the brain...yes...sorry...its a little graphic. And yes, there was a lot of it. UGH... But it was also interesting because of everything they did to him, saved his life! 

And all I can do is say THANK YOU to all the Drs. Nurses, and even the other care workers involved. The firemen, EMT, helicopter pilot and the 2 EMT's that flew with him, the ambulance drivers, the cooks, the people who cleaned his room (s), the medical insurance!  Yes, even the medical insurance had a huge part in how this was all dealt with.  If they didn't approve for him to go to a specialist within the first 6 hrs of this happening, things could have been different! 

 So...KUDDOS to Vacaville Fire Department and First Responders, Vacavalley Hospital Emergency Room,  Mercy San Juan in Carmichael, Sutter Medical in Sacramento and the Visiting Nurses.  I can not forget the social workers and physical therapists who helped while he was in both hospitals! 

They are ALL our HERO's!

GOD bless them all for their professionalism, respect, patience, compassion, and love of their jobs!



Saturday, August 20, 2016

ZnetShows New Arrivals Blog Hop!


As you know, I am one of the designers for Znetshows and from time to time we are invited to do a blog hop using the awesome sea glass they create!  I just love a challenge because not only do I love the beads, but I get an opportunity to create something new!  I chose the fun button beads this time around. I will be honest and tell you that I had no idea of what I was going to make with these beads... normally I can look at them and the creative part of my brain will turn on and get to working!  That did NOT happen this time around... my summer was coming to an end...and my job started back up on Monday...and I am now down to a few days...

Sooooo...over the weekend...I did some drawings...and I gathered up some beads and sat down and started playing around...this was on Monday evening...only 5 days to the blog hop...yikes! Turned on the ballgame...watched my team lose...sad...but its ok...its all good!

 I put a pair of earrings together...cute... I liked them...then decided to make a second pair the same...just different colors...  I knew I wanted to make a necklace of some kind...I thought I might as well make a necklace that can be worn with either pair...right?

Ok...so playing with the beads....nothing in the brain is working...so I set all the beads aside...waited until Tuesday after I got home from work and told myself...you GOT to do something... so I fiddled with the beads again...started putting them on some beading wire...and Oh...im liking this... I finished up the main part of the necklace...but it needs more...lots more!  So Wednesday comes around...hmmmm...how about using some faux suede?  I have this great glittery silver faux suede... yup... I like this...now all I need is a clasp...so Thursday, after work... I get out my wire and hammer and get to work!  And you know me...I cant do things simple... so now I need to think of something to wrap around the connections... hmmm...I gotta go dig... Dont forget...my craftroom is still in total disarray...not completely organized since I am still in the process of gutting it out... (still preparing for remodeling our bathroom) so things are not all in places I am used to having them and I have to hunt a little more...its ok though...it just means I will remember where they are for the next time I need what ever it is right?  LOL

Made it to Friday...phew! Left work on time and got home around 2:45...traffic was smooth although they are doing tons of road work on the road I drive on to and from work...and it was down to 1 lane only for a short drive... I set up my little photo area and took a ton of photos...I love this new little flash ring I bought on Amazon...and it is a nice addition to my camera accessories...the pics turned out great...had to very little photoshopping to lighten up the pics...

So with all this said....here are my finished pieces...love the colors...love the beads...and I hope you love the designs...







Here are the links to the amazing new beads from ZnetShows....


PS...dont forget to HOP on over the other designer's blogs...


Karla Morgan (revealing on 8/22/16)

Friday, July 01, 2016

Creative Spark Summer Issue 2016


Take  your time looking through all the pages...there are some really BEAUTIFUL jewelry creations here... 

Its here!!! now available to check out! Again, as always, #Znetshows generously gives us their amazing sea-glass beads to create some fun new designs.  We are asked to create what ever we want, but also to consider non jewelry items.  I tend to like creating non jewelry items when given a choice.  Challenging my creativity is always a plus!  So I decided to make a dream catcher.  You know I am the mermaid, and how can I not resist creating a mermaid of some kind.  So I got my drawing paper out and started doing some doodling and came up with the idea of a mermaid tail.  Once I got that all drawn up, I got to work on creating the dream catcher.

I was so excited about this idea, that once I got to working, I could not stop.  It took me 2 attempts to get the main frame done.  Several hours into its creation, I made a few changes to make it even better. Here is my finished piece!!!
You can find me on page 118-119 to find the links to the sea-glass pieces I got to play with......

Many THANKS once again to ZnetShows...


Wednesday, June 15, 2016

I just LOVE this digital magazine

This is where my imagination can go wild!  I am a member of Photography Artistry and am learning how to create better designs. I am in AWE of all the awesomeness that comes from other designers minds.  To have that type of imagination would be an ultimate gift from God.  But I know that our gifts are all different.  So I am sharing with you this beautifully designed digital magazine by some AMAZING artists that will blow your mind...
Click on the link below...




Enjoy your summer and dream a little dream...

XO

Christina

Monday, June 13, 2016

NATURE’S TRUE LOVE!

YOU GOT IT!!!

Nature’s true love is COPPER. I am a lover of copper, how can you not be?  With all its benefits to our human existence and its beauty, the possibilities of creativity are endless! 
PS..check out my website...Ive made lots of changes...WINGSNSCALES
As a designer of many things… I love to play with copper the most.   Today, I want to show you some exciting designs I have made with copper.

Tweet Tweet! A tiny blue bird says “HELLO” while dangling off the bottom branch.
A bit of the sea is always fun for me to paint up!
 Nature's True Love
This one screams SEXY all the way!  Sold within minutes of an event I attended a couple of years ago…I miss it!
 Nature's True Love
These beauties are from my students… I have no favorite…they are all super cool!
 Nature's True Love
Love…do you see it? The heart in the middle is what is a natural shape underneath a horse hoof!  I just had to paint this!!

 Nature's True Love
As you know..seaglass is one of my favorite beads to work with.. I added some sparkly glass shards on this one…only on the top ðŸ™‚
 Nature's True Love
I will admit…its not my favorite piece…but I still love the soft colors.  Its hard to see the agate, but it is quite yummy…

This is my latest and greatest piece… ALL 100 percent mine…of course, most of my pieces are. But with wire wrapping, it can be a tad tricky but I believe I have drastically improved over time…

Saturday, March 19, 2016

March Madness...

OOoohccie wa wa!!!...its been way too long since I have posted...daaang!  Well...I will be honest with you... I have been focusing alot of my extra time on my website.  If you havent been to visit my website lately, stop on by and see my new look.  WINGSNSCALES It is far from being done...there is sooooo much to do.  I want to eventually have my own shop instead of going through Etsy...  So, Ive been taking these awesome online classes on how to do my website better and how to get myself out there a bit more.  I have a new pop up that invites you to my newsletter...  I am working on my first real newsletter and hope to have it out there by the end of this month...  I would love to have you come join my newsletter...  Ive actually teamed up with my BFF in NY...but she has had some not so good things going on right now, but when she is back on track, you will just love what she has to offer.

I hope you guys are all doing well...life is so full these days we forget to think of ourselves...so take some time to yourself and do what ever it is you love to do.


One thing I have been doing is making more of my cork bottle dolls... This one is called Niahm.  I have her on my website and there is a little blurp on her...

I have agreed to make 30 art dolls by late November so they can be in an auction on Facebook...Yea.30 of these babies...well...different sizes and some will be glass bottles...so I will keep you posted on that  progress.  I have 2 in the makings at the moment...

In the mean time...I would love to have you stop by my site...say HI...join my newsletter.... if you want...  OH..


I would also LOVE to get some FEEDBACK..  If you leave a comment here or through my comment page on my website.(make sure you let me know you are one of my blog followers)..K......
I will send you a discount code to my Etsy shop...and get a %15 discount... 
this discount is only for my blog followers ...  Also if you want to see any other content that is not listed...let me know too...  If you sign up for my newsletter, you will also be receive one of my awesome hand scrub recipes...

ps...some pages do not have any content yet...soon....  :-)

THANK YOU GUYS SOOOOOO MUCH!!!!

I will have more questions for you soon... more discounts will be offered...and possibly a giveaway...oh yea...love them giveaways... lol

Saturday, January 09, 2016

Oh Mama Mia...where has the time flown?

Hi everybody...hope your New Year has started with a blast! All is going well on my end, but it just seems like the time has flown so dang fast and I am trying to play catch up!

A couple months ago, the design team for Znetshows was asked to make NON Jewelry creations and we had a few categories to choose from.  I chose ornaments...heck...who doesnt like a good pretty ornament, whether its on a tree, window, plant, or even hanging from your car rear view window?

So, I chose my pieces and a couple of weeks went by before I received my lovely beads... As always, they are so generous at Znetshows so I got a pretty bundle of joy!.  While I was waiting, I did some doodling and trying to decided on what I was going to create... 

I made one painting of a goddess on watercolor paper.  It turned out really nice but it didnt have that punch in the colors I wanted...so I photo-shopped the image and wow...I just think she is far better looking..
.

You can see the photo of the original and the finished piece here...big difference.


Here is a better look at the finished piece.  What I did here was lots of fun... I copied my painting onto nice paper, adhered it to clay...sealed it and did some bead work around the piece. Its a little on the big side.3 inches round...but I think its a good fit for this design.


For my next piece was a little more challenging for me to make.  I used heavy gauge copper and a bit of smaller gauged wire to create it..  


This was the drawing I made and I think I came pretty darn close to this idea.


Here is the finished piece... Cant you see something like this hanging in your window, or on a plant to bring it the sun?

Cultured Sea Glass double-hole flat free form mix Pendants two hole varies 84-Lemon 

For my 3rd piece, it was a bit simpler.  I had been making some fun little wired hooks for ornaments and the idea came to me for what I wanted to add to one of the hooks as I was making it.  I thought...hmm..why not use the starfish as a star and hang some chains with some beads...and make it like a shooting star!


Simple yet elegant shooting star... This was a hit for my son...LOL he had me make him like 3 of these babies to give to his friends for Christmas... :-)


Thanks again for stopping by...  I hope you enjoyed this little blurp...if you have any questions please feel free to send me a little note..


Sunday, November 22, 2015

Holiday Season is HERE....

So, its been another month since I posted last...wow..time just flies so fast when its this time of the year...  Im off now for a week..YAY..so I have a ton of catching up!  Here is a fun Gift Shopping video I know you will enjoy ...



Thanks so much to Krafty Max for putting this together...she is an awesome designer.  Here is her website if you want to see more of her work...

Sunday, October 18, 2015

Wow..its been way too long since I posted... Been super busy creating this and that...  Yesterday was the 50th anniversary for the Vacaville Art Gallery and I have been working on making my creations stand out a little more from the rest of the Boutique section of the art gallery.  So I created SIRI..she is so beautiful..well...I think she is..LOL  And here is a look at her.  She is my display piece and is holding onto my watercolor necklaces....  She is now sitting on her pedestal at the art gallery and looks amazing.  I want to make more of these with different colors and different designs.  I have 6 so its going to be a challenge to do them all up differently...well..maybe..LOL  This particular head is created with 90% permanent markers...cool eh?  I have never done a design with just markers...  If you have any ideas of what you think would look great, please feel free to leave me a comment... 

 This one is called Siri...she is a mermaid...





This photo is now my FB home page image...




Wednesday, September 09, 2015

Ahh...the excitement of a new laptop...

Ok so its like this... I went to Sams club, they have a small selection of decent laptops and I was on the hunt for a new one.  I found the perfect one...it was looking at me and whispering in my ear..."take me home..am the one who will make you happy"...  I talked to my son who knows computers quite well...we discussed all the details which were posted on that tab staring at me.  It was perfect...  So I snatch up the LAST ticket, make my purchase...wait in a line for about 10 minutes...  The excitement of a new laptop was swimming in my head.   I get up there...show the nice lady my receipt.  She calls up one of the other ladies who can open the cage.  I watch her, she grabs the only box that has its flaps open...damn...I say in the back of my mind.  She  looks at it, it looked like it hadnt been removed from the box, but she called in the pro from the computer department to make sure all was well.  The very nice lady shows up...very happy to help me out.  She gently removes the laptop...looks good..all was there.  She said it didnt look like it was used and it didnt...no finger prints, nothing to indicate it was a return.  She said all returns are marked anyway and that one wasnt marked.  So perhaps the taping came loose...and the flaps opened up...it didnt look bad at all.  So my excitement was still there...

I take the lovely silvery laptop home with me...ahhh...its now sitting on my old laptop waiting to get plugged in and set up...my son comes home from work...he is all excited too.  He takes a look at it and tells me its a very nice laptop.  I turn it on for the first time...it stares at me...then suddenly a bunch of programs start being installed... 1 hr of of installs and still not able to use it...but there is light at the end of the tunnel..  I see a pretty yellow background...app icons...YAY...soon soon..I will get to sink my mind and fingers into it...  then...it restarts for the bazillianth time...and continues with installing software...  ok..this is getting old...im getting tired of waiting..my eyes and brain are tired now...its getting late...  Then...just as I was getting ready to consider going to bed... it happened.. a black screen... telling me there was a boot disc error and  it needed to insert a boot disc cd..what the hell?  It has no dvd player...there is no way to install a cd.  My son takes a look at it...hmmm...not a good sign he says.  So he fiddles with it, restarts it...SAME MESSAGE...so he does a scan for hardware errors , perfect, no errors...reboots...SAME MESSAGE...so he does another 50 minute test...  I wait impatiently... SAME MESSAGE... 

DISAPPOINTMENT crawls in my brain...its late, I was tired..had a headache...and my brand new laptop is a LEMON.  So, it goes back to Sams Club today...its the perfect laptop for me...and they have no more in stock...  Do I wait for them to send me one just like it?  Do I get a different one?  You know how people like instant gratification...me included....especially when it comes to laptops..

I will bring you the verdict later tonight...thats if I dont have a new one in my hands...