Practicing with PMC!

Fine silver discs with matte finish and sterling silver earwires. $16

Fine silver disc with pressed design $20
Fine silver disc with sapphire and four diamonds
Fine silver disc with small diamond and fine silver disc with sapphire.
New fine silver initial disc with stamped letters
Fine silver disc earrings $12

I have been playing around with the PMC jewelry lately. I had been carving the letters in the clay, but I bought some alphabet stamps and I think they may look a little better. What do you think??? I have also been setting some stones in PMC. I used sapphires and tiny diamonds and I think they tured out pretty cute. I just visited another bead shop in town the other day and the owner is going to teach a class on metalsmithing! I am so excited. She is waiting on her stuff to get in then she will schedule. I will work with sheets of sterling silver, then cut out the shapes I want, then I can stamp the letters or textures right into the silver. Anyway, should be fun!

Surprise!

Will was surprised too!
Grandi letting Will try something sweet.
Will with Grandi and Grandad! Thanks for coming to see me!!!

I got a little surprise Friday night....a visit from my parents! Friday night I had headed upstairs to go to bed, Michael said he was going to watch a little Sportscenter, then he would be up. Typical night, anyone else have a husband that has to watch Sportscenter for a little while before bed? Anyway, he came upstairs and gave a lame excuse for me to go downstairs. So I do, in my underwear mind you. I come around the corner and see two people sitting on my couch! I couldn't see their faces because of my treadmill. So I drop to the floor and say "Ahhh, I am in my underwear!" At that point I didn't know who was sitting there! My parents start laughing, and I said "I am in my underwear!" Anyway, they surprised me (Michael knew about it). So we had a fun little weekend! We ate, shopped a little, and of course they spent most of their time playing with Will! Thanks mom and dad for the visit, it was SO much fun!!!

Say what?

Just had to share. I am glad the contestants have to be smart as well as pretty. You think she may have a little trouble locating the US on a map?

Will and His Two Teeth!

I finally got a few good pictures of Will's two teeth! Usually when he is laughing or smiling big enough to see them he is moving at the same time which makes a blurry picture! Will likes using his teeth when he eats! He feels like a big boy when he can bite of pieces of a cracker. So now I am wondering when he will get more teeth. I am sure it is different with every kid. How long after getting those first two did your kids get more teeth??? I kind of like just the two. I think they look so cute! :)

Like Father Like Son...

I was sitting on the couch the other day and looked at Will and Michael at the computer and just had to take a picture of what I saw. The back of their heads look exactly alike, especially notice the ears...both of their ear lobes kind of curl up! So cute, just had to post it!

My New Favorite Thing...

Fine silver oval with "h" initial charm ("Love My Baby" necklace), jade stone dangle (other stones available) with 18" sterling silve chain. $25

I know the name is silly, but it is great necklace for moms with their child/childrens intials, monogram, or name. Or it is a modern twist on monogrammable jewelry and put your own initials, you and your husbands, whatever.... You can also choose your shape of charm to be monogrammed!

Fine silver oval with "h and s" initial charms ("Love My Two Babies" necklace) with 18" sterling silver chain. $28

Each additional charm $4

Stone dangles $1

Fine silver oval with "h" initial charm ("Love My Baby" necklace) with 18" sterling silver chain. $24

Fine silver oval charm with beaded texture with 18" sterling silver chain. $22

Fine silver star charm with 18" sterling silver chain. $22

Fine silver square charm with hammered texture with 18" sterling silver chain. $22

Fine silver upside-down tear shape charm with 18" sterling silver chain. $22

Fine silver layered circle on oval charm with 18"sterling silver chain. $25

Fine silver Multi-charm necklace with 18" sterling silver chain. $40
(choose any shapes, email for questions)

The other night I took a jewelry class on PMC (precious metal clay). PMC is made of silver or gold finest powder form, water and a non-toxic binder that has a clay, putty-like consistency. So you can form it like clay and create whatever you want, put textures in it, initials, etc. When fired (oh yeah I got to play with a butane torch!) to the right temperature, the water and binder singe and burn-off as the metal fuses together. Leaving your creation in 99.9% pure silver or gold with the original shape, textures and details intact. This is different from sterling silver which is an alloy (combo) of silver and copper. That is why you see .925 stamped on that jewelry and .999 on fine silver. Sterling being mixed with copper is why it tarnishes whereas fine silver will not!

So I am so excited about this stuff because I can create my own charms, pendents, rings, etc.! This is exactly what I have been looking for and have already made some things.

I love small, understated, simple jewelry. I like it when a piece can be worn everyday and goes with just about anything. I also like for it to have a little meaning behind it. If you care, these are some of my jewelry inspirations...love Rebecca Lankford, Jennifer Fisher, Me and Ro, Adina, and Lena Wald. While I love their pieces they aren't exactly what I would call affordable, except for special occasions maybe... So I want to make my stuff affordable, but still look great. My next goal is to learn how to set stones in the PMC which is possible, just may have to invest in a small kiln.

Sorry for the long ramble...here are some things I have made. All of the charms are small, about half an inch long or less. I do any shape, larger sizes, one initial or a whole monogram or name, add stone dangles, you can design your own for that matter! 24k gold can be done as well, obviously the price will go up a good bit! Can you tell I am excited about this stuff???

Love to Bike

We have found a great trail here to ride our bikes on. Will likes his little trailer, he looks a little uncomfortable in it in the picture, but Michael has tweeked it to make it a comfy ride. He is still a little bit too small for it.

will crawl for food...

So Will has been attempting this crawling thing for a few weeks. He would take a few shuffles, but never seemed really motivated to follow through. Well obviously the donut was enough motivation! I promise donuts are not part of his daily diet!

Back in Business...

Camel quartz, gold base metal bead caps, 14k gold filled links and earwire. $16

Brown/bronze coin pearl, freshwater pearl stick, and 14k gold filled earwire. $15

Pale green jade beads, freshwater pearls, sterling silver links and earwires. $15
Clear glass beads, gold plate beads, and vermeil earwires. $14

Green cloisonne beads, freshwater pearls, and gold metal earwires. $12

Gray mother of pearl clover with sterling silver earwires. $10

White mother of pearl disc, bronze/gold coin pearl, and 14k gold filled earwire. $15
Sterling silver loop, freshwater pearl sticks, pale green jade, and sterling silver earwire. $17

Turquiose, white, and gold cloisonne bead, freshwater pearl bead, and gold wire earring. $12

Vermeil (14k over sterling silver) earwire, cloisonne bead, and freshwater pearl earring. $15

Sterling silver link and earwire with an army green(other color pearls available)freshwater coin pearl. $15

Freshwater pearl stick, 14 gold filled link and earwire. $16

Here are some of the latest pieces I have made! I have already bought new tools, beads, supplies...I couldn't wait! I posted a couple of pictures of each. I haven't gotten down the photo part of this. Any ideas on how to photograph the earrings better??? They are also posted on the cak jewelry blog!

Pool Time

We took Will to the pool today. He loved it even more than the last time! He splashed and laughed and had a big time with his daddy! We have really enjoyed all the family time we have had lately. I will be sad when Michael has to start work on August 1. Oh well, we better enjoy it while it lasts!!!

I must vent...

The ONE box that was put in storage that should have been on the moving truck was the ONE box with all of my jewelry making tools, beads, stones, sterling wire, etc. I even went to my favorite bead shop before we left to stock up on several things, ugh! Thank you Two Men and a Truck, I really appreciate you paying attention as you loaded the boxes. Of course, I can't give up this hobby for a whole year so I am now in the process of building my supplies back up and of course I have gotten several orders for things. So if any of you care cak jewelry is on hold for a few days.

Finally...

We are moved in! I really don't like moving. Did I already say that? We like our place and have already got things on the walls! The town seems nice and Michael doesn't start work for two weeks, which is nice! We are actually leaving town for an interview in a couple of days. More time on the road with a baby! Ahhhhhhhhh! Will is at the age now where he really doesn't like to go for long rides! I am thinking of getting him a portable DVD player and let him watch Baby Einstein videos. Any thoughts about that? He is only 8 months, seems a little early for one, but I don't know... Here is a picture of Will eating in the back of my car at the gas station. You do what you have to do on the road! What you don't see in the picture is what happened next...Will kicked the jar of carrots all over my pants. That felt good for the next couple of hours! I also posted a picture of the Penske...I can't believe Michael drove this thing! You can't see in the picture, but there is a car carrier attached to it with Michael's Explorer on top of it. He was truly in a rig the length of a semi. I was a bit nervous the whole trip.

Moving Day

So the day is finally here and we still aren't ready. Today was possibly the most miserable day ever. I despise packing, cleaning, going to the dump, etc. The list could go on forever. Michael just got back from taking his boards in Chicago on Tuesday afternoon. So we basically had Wednesday to get everything ready, minus what mom and I packed. I can't wait until we close and we are outta here.
I won't be doing much blogging for the next few days as we are moving. I might go into withdrawls. We have to get the internet at our new place ASAP...

Fireworks, Friends, and Baseball

Will and Daddy

Will and Aunt Lori!

Rachel, Lori, and I (and half of Will)
Isn't he cute in that hat!!??
Rachel and Sterling (Will's older woman)
Will and Mommy

For the fourth we went to a Mississippi Braves (Atlanta Braves minor league) game with our friends Lori, Allan, Robert, Rachel, and Sterling! We had a good time hanging out. Will LOVED it! He couldn't stop looking around at everything, it was funny! Michael bought him a Braves hat. We thought for sure he would try to take it off, but he kept it on the whole time! Michael told me I needed to wash it to "break it in." I thought that was fun because since when does a baby need a ball cap the is "broken in!" He looked really cute in it! Hope everyone had a great Fourth of July!