featured on become.com

It's such a nice surprise to be featured on another website-

This week I was honored to be featured at "Pocket Change" at a shopping resource site called become.com. Click Here to see the page
Thank you to whoever picked my page for the feature- I always appreciate the exposure!

I hope you all are having a great summer-
ciao-Maureen

red hook

red hook , a photo by cosmosmoonjewelry on Flickr.

Here I am Modeling my embossed and spray-painted aluminum "hook" earrings- They are a new style that I'm really loving to make (and wear) I love big earrings, but don't like the feeling of being dragged down by heavy earrings. I can recall some very sore earlobes in the '80's when I wore a pair of big blue glass and brass earrings that were amazing, but super super heavy. That was 20+ years ago and I STILL remember it!
These earrings are also versatile - they can be worn hooked front (like here) or back- and because they are aluminum they are big but LIGHT! (sterling silver ear wires)
I'm listing a few of these tonight (in red and green (they glow in the dark too!)
I mean, come on....who doesn't like Glow in the dark? :-)
I hope you are having a great summer- We are facing 111* here in Tucson tomorrow... I am setting up the pool tonight!

The Trail Ride bracelet

A unique and artistic Horse and Nature Bracelet. Inspired by the many hours of trails I rode on when I was  kid. And dedicated to the great trail horses in the world who give us their best with generosity that literally shaped civilization. Think about it- where would we be without the assistance and devotion of horses?

click on picture to be taken to this bracelet's Etsy listing

They certainly brought me on a journey in more ways than one! yes, I learned responsibility,  devotion, a good work ethic, humility, and gave me a profound love of the natural world. (and while I'm at it, to be truthful, they also did a number on my vertebrae...which I am dealing with currently- actually, I only blame one bratty pony for my current tender neck...his name was Sprite- and he used to throw me after every jump by yanking his head down for grass....little brat!)

me, on pony- NO HELMET! (it was the early 70's) and my sister Amanda. My first riding lesson :-) 

Anyhow- I do love my equine friends- and I miss the ritual of the end of the day, going out to the barn while my horse munched on hay- and just listening to the munch munch munch of contented horse teeth.

please give your ponies a smooch on their velvet nose for me!- <3 M

Confession and regrets

OK- it's been about a week since the SNAG conference in Seattle- last week at this time I was dining with a group of fabulous people from the conference in a great restaurant- trying to figure out what exactly a "dunkle" was..(lol, I still don't quite know, but I think it's like a turkey duck chicken thing)

Anyways- I'm writing this because I have a regret and confession- While I did go to the SNAG conference I feel like I really didn't even see half of the speakers- and I don't know why! Well, one thing was that I was kind of at the end of a longer trip- I went up early to teach a class...by the end of the week I was missing my family and dog really acutely. so, there's homesickness... And then my !!*^)^?***&(* neck started acting up again. (disc issues, long boring store- suffice to say OUCH!)

I'm really baffled how I could have gone to the conference- and not have seen so many things! I don't know- I think I kind of "checked out" when I saw how many people were there (over 900 attended).
I don't like crowds- but I've never been really phobic (I don't think) but maybe that had something to do with it- feeling a little displaced, hurting and kind of tired....OY VEY I'm kind of angry with myself for missing out on so many tidbits!

well- I did have a really good time- Maybe the trick will be to actually stay IN THE SAME HOTEL as the conference- even though I was only about 5 blocks away it was a disconnect- perhaps I could have left my heavy laptop in my room and returned every once in a while if I needed.

Le so< I guess what I want to say is- I'm sorry I didn't get to see/do everything I wanted- and I know there were more than a few people I really wanted to connect with but for some reason didn't. 

OK- now that this is off of my brain I'm going to stop beating myself up about it and move ahead- Next year is the Phoenix conference- and I'm working on getting a few things together for that one- I will stay at the hotel- will most likely have my hubby and son with me and if we can- I'm bringing my Daisy dog too- she's my rock.

If I missed you at the conference- sorry- I hope you had a delightful time! And I'll look forward to seeing you online , at the Yuma Symposium, and/or in Phoenix next May!
ciao ciao for now- Maureen
PS- have you heard the Whaley studios interviews from the conference?
Jay did a great job chatting with a bunch of interesting SNAGsters-
I even got a shot at the mike- My interview is about 3/4 of the way through the DAY2 interviews (right after Rachel Timmins and before Andrea and Les from NC Black) check out all the interviews Here

post SNAG hangover

Last week I attended the SNAG conference in Seattle Washington with about 900 other metalsmiths. It was one of the largest conferences ever- and incredible to see that quantity of talent in one (big) room together.

I considered Blogging during the conference but decided that it would be better to simply direct you to some friend's blogs, who were diligently working on blogging the conference. so...
here are a couple of links....

 fromWinona Johnson-  http://artbywinona.blogspot.com/
The semi- official Flickr group- http://www.flickr.com/groups/snag2011/
The Crafthaus blogs from Jillian Moore and Katja Toporski found here- (on Crafthaus) http://crafthaus.ning.com/group/fluxsnagseattleconference

I will hopefully be rested and ready to re-start myself in a few days...in the mean time, I'm hanging out with my kiddo and relaxercizing in the Arizona heat.
ciao- Maureen BZ


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