spring is for the birds

Lately things have been falling into place for Jesse and I.........

Home outside in the sun.....spring has finally decided to make a guest appearance.

and I am really loving our unique living situation.......always a new day & totally worth it.

lots of happy changes......mostly due to this guy right here. Big fan.

"Hope" is the thing with feathers—

That perches in the soul—

And sings the tune without the words—

And never stops—at all—"

emily dickinson

my new favorite earrings, I wear them a lot. These are the first things I've made myself in the new studio....and fitting talismans lately. They are my balance, my longitude and latitude, my compass.....

They are keeping me sane among all the change and all the chaos.

one is my north and south.....

the other my east and west.

Two more weeks and then off to AK! Looking forward to being done with school, and a good break from the gray and fickle spring here in montana.....time to sit back and process all that has happened this spring and all the things that are happening......I can't wait for that time...until then, just keep plugging along.

Hoarding the goods...

I am very guilty of hoarding things this spring......

a whole slew of great jewels at ETHOS paris.......just waiting for the summer......

and one of my favorite old men came to the college the other day............

MERLIN! I just love this guy......he is a Lapidary artist in Plains, MT and comes to the school twice a year to show off and sell his AMAZING stones.....

SO I had to hoard some more great Merlin cabs.

Stocking up for (hopefully) one hellova summer season.

Look at all these great stones! If anyone is a hoarder....it's Merlin....

boxes and boxes of stones......

Picking out stones is an all day love affair.....in and out of class........browsing.......falling head over heels with this or that........while trying to remember Merlin's advice.......

"Ya' can't eat 'em Erin.....no matter how long you boil 'em, ya' still can't eat 'em!"

I have to say though, some of these look just like candy......and I couldn't resist. I saved all my tips from the past week just for Merlin's goodies.

Here's my treasures I couldn't live without.....

some crazy lace agate, laguna agate, a whole bunch of jaspers, and dinosaur bone...

These two are just the coolest.....petrified Dinosaur bone.....the one on the left....picture's not so good, but in the real....that stone is just GORGEOUS. It's this crazy powder blue with the classic "cell" pattern that all dino bones have. I may have to keep it for myself.

And all I want to do with ALL OF EM....is turn them into honking cocktail rings. They all are singing "make me into a cocktail ring!" and it would be rude to ignore the request : )

Keep you posted on the rings. They are all going to be stunning. The beauty of Merlins stuff is that all you have to do is set the stone, and the piece is stunning. No need for lots of embellishments, because they are just such striking stones.

Hooked up and ready for action!!

The lovely fire, all hooked up...and pickle pot plugged in, ready for action...

There are so many exciting things to make! Got to get to work in here.....

Electricity does great things....hot water is a must!

My life juice. lately having a pot of mate just gets the creative flow going...

The only thing that is missing here is me. I have been so crazy busy lately in every facet of life. School is on its last push....I am feeling ready to be done, and yet another month to go. Work is getting ready to change into spring, and yet isn't quite there yet....waiting and planning, two things i am not very good at. Ski season is wrapping up, so here comes mud season. And to add to it all, we have FINALLY moved out to the camper and will now be full time bungalow/camper residents. Exciting and sooooo much work has been done to get out there. I have had enough of moving, and cleaning, and packing, and moving more.

Hoping to get some time this coming week in the studio. I have squeaked in a few pieces over the weekend for friends, and have been slamming out stacker rings for the upcoming summer!

......................

for katie's mama....she saved this seashell to be set into sterling....just love using found objects.

made this so that you could flip the pendant to show either face.....

.........................

and stackem's for the future.....

Here's to a good monday coming....and to productivity!

Afternoon GLOW!

Here she is folks, a beautifully painted happy-go-lucky yellow......its called Afternoon glow.

Come on in!!

Love this color, got lucky. Yellow is hard. It's either too green, or too brown.

Just a scrumptious happy yellow, it's like walking in to a box of light....

Be sure to wipe your feet, cuz it is MUD SEASON here in whitefish. With all the rain, and snow, and melting snow....it is quite possible we will float away.

Side note. I haven't decided what to do with the floor yet, right now it is a dirty gray plywood....(or OSB, jesse calls it).....I don't have money yet to pay for laminate flooring, which would be lovely right now. All the mud just makes everything so....well....muddy! So my question is, can i paint it? should i paint it? how do i get all the dirt up so i can paint it?

If you have any suggestions, I would love to hear.

Flooring or no.... the best part is....

MY STUDIO IS MOOOOOOVED!!!!! HECK YEAH!

Everything is in a huge pile, but dammit. It's out there. And there's electricity!

The only bummer is I have to go to school today, otherwise I would have already been out there tinkering in my new space. School is getting in the way lately, It's very hard to be excited about classes when i have this lovely box of CREATE outside just waiting for me. But there are great things about class, I just get so impatient, and end up leaving mid-day to come home and work on the bungalito. It's this weird vicious cycle of wanting, moving forward, growing....and then also being stuck...mostly in a classroom.

But in the meantime, here's some more juicy photos of my space. CANT WAIT to be there!