Changes changes changes

Ok...my life is constantly in a whirlwind lately. The short of it all, after seven long years of being a college admissions advisor I took a job with an oil company. HUGE change I know. When you have accomplished all that you planned to do in a career then it is time to move on. I am the type to shoot for the stars.

I will be in Dallas this weekend at the Susan G. Komen Walk for a Cure. We have a team of about 13 people all walking to support the fight against breast cancer, and all walking in memory of my sweet little sister, Cynthia. (Picture below with my mom

Paper Cowgirl update........girls I am buying glitter, and ribbons, and STUFF. I am working on "THE BOX". I was in awe of all the rolling boxes filled to the brim with "treasures".

One more thing I will be at the Texas Country Reporter Festival on Oct. 25 at Waxahachie (feels like I have been there before). I have been working like a warhorse designing beautiful pieces. Some I find to be very unique an different, but I am not one to be complacent.

(This beautiful piece is made from a rose colored watch. I happened to have a 12kt gf gorgeous metal rose and designed this fun chain. It is going to my mother in law)Have you ever made a piece and are torn as whether to keep it or sell it. This is one of those few pieces. I just LOVE this one. An old glass brooch from the 30s-40s, hooked to a handle of an old spoon, an a small glass blue button (from my grandmother) place on the bottom.

This fun, unique, one of a kind piece is my big smile right now. I recycled an old locket and had a very old Kodak camera for the early 1900s. I dismantled the optics piece to this camera and added it to the locket. You can actually look down into the optics and see the images through it. More pictures are on my flickr with details.

http://www.flickr.com/charlattecreations

NEW FLICKR GROUPS

ONE more thing. I started to new flickr groups: Creating Pink for Awareness. It is for anything that you make that is promoting awareness of breast cancer. There is about 60 members in it now. http://www.flickr.com/groups/creatingpink/

The other group was created because of the Paper Cowgirl retreat. I have seen the groups for etsyDFW, and the Dallas Mafia, but there was no group for Texans as a whole. I love networking with other locals (yes that means Texas). I designed Artistic Texans as a place for Texans to show off their work, post marketing ideas, post up coming shows, weekend classes, art shows...etc. You get the idea. I would love for you to join. I would love for you to pass this information on to other Texans too. See you there. http://www.flickr.com/groups/artistic_texans/

My Jewelry Booth

I have been working for months on my jewelry for this one month. I have been scouring garage sales, auctions, antique stores, flea markets, and retail stores for the past year all leading up to this month (I'll try to make it sound like it was a REAL chore ....... NOT!).

Everything up until now has been for the Texas Country Reporter Festival in Waxahachie the last weekend in October. I felt like I needed a test run with my booth (since I have never set it up), and a test run with my jewelry displays. I have dug through all the flickr photo galleries for craft booths ideas, and finally settled on what my heart loves best, romance. I figured with all the of the shabby chic decor in my studio that I could also incorporate that into my jewelry booth and therefore save some money. I must say I have very economically found enough displays, lace curtains, table drapes, etc. just by always keeping my creative eyes open at all times.

Some of the ideas I have had for displays: candlelabras to hang necklaces, old ornate lamps for necklace displays, a womans bust (found on 90% clearance in the garden center) for a single necklace display, old siver plates and bowls filled with either rice or black pebbles for ring display, an old window frame that still has it hinges and add tea cup hooks for necklace displays, just whatever I can grasp my little mind around. Ok, well that is my ten cents worth.

Texas Country Reporter News

Well, I finished my television interview last week. They were at my studio for 5 hours. The piece will air some time in October 2008.

What fun!! What a great team of guys. When they left, I literally passed out from exhaustion. Ironically, they left me, and headed towards west Texas where the skyline is full of wind towers. Earlier that day, when the discussion of wind towers were brought up, I started rambling off wind tower statistics. As I told them, being at Texas State Technical College West Texas for seven years, and being the college recruiter knowing all of those statistics is part of my job.

It was fun. I am afraid I will probably look like a complete dork, but I guess that is everyone's fear when being on television.

My Jewelry Studio

For those people who know me, I live on my families ranch in rural west Texas. My family has lived here for the past thirty years. I moved back to SA in 1999, and currently live in an old farm house built in the 1930's.

My house is a nice house, has a nice view, but it is small. We have a two bedroom, one bath. (AHHHHH!) When I started this new jewelry venture back in September I quickly started to consume what limited space I had. Within seven months I was consuming all rooms with my "jewelry supply stash".

I ordered a custom building 32x14 for my jewelry studio. It has a sweet little front porch. I had it moved into my backyard, easy access from the house. My studio doubles as a guest room/studio. With the help of my loving parents, I now have beautiful cabinets and bookshelves throughout my little building. I have had alot of people hoping this will be my "public shop". I am sorry to say that no, this is just my private little place to harness my creative juices and take it all out of some poor non-working watches.