HEEEEEEES BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!!! MY NEIGHBORS CAT BARKLAY IN ALL HIS GLORY
Listen to todays phone cast below to hear all about how I ended up with these photos!!
BARKLAY ON MY BIRD FEEDING STATION
(My neighbor reads this blog…I bet she’s either laughing or crying..lol!)
I LOVE THIS CAT…EVEN WHEN HE’S NAUGHTY!! THE DOGS WERE SLEEPING BELOW
HIS COAT IS LOOKING SO PRETTY IN HIS WINTER WEAR!!
OF COURSE THIS IS WHAT WAS ON BARKLAYS MENU!! MY GOLDFINCHES
AND ANOTHER NAUGHTY ONE CAUGHT IN THE ACT
Yesterday my new bag arrived from Ebags.com !! This is the 25″ version of my 21″ carryon. I was SO impressed by the smaller bag on our Egypt/Turkey trip but needed a sturdy larger one for this trip….this was a NO BRAINER!!!
As hard as it was to not buy it in orange, a colorful bag in Asia gives off “money” vibes and attention you may not want to have, so I went with the nice black version. The thing I adore about all of this series is the inside is bright orange so I can see the contents better
Hi everyone….thanks for helping me test that little chat widget on the blog!! I decided after dealing with lost logins and a not so great interface to do some more looking around , and I’m glad I did!! As you can see above I now have my own multi media , cutting edge TV station for the blog, the website, for live jewelry bead shows AND its also a chat room and showcase for my Youtube videos
At the upper right of GRAFFITI GOSSIP you will find this new GRAFFI-TV logo as a button. When you click it, a new window will POPUP with my TV studio in it. The things you will see right away are:
- ON AIR simply means that the channel is turned on and some videos or message Ive chosen to play is ON AIR
- ON DEMAND when clicked, brings up a listing of videos organized by my personal videos (travel, dogs etc.) and Jewelry related tutorials, plus recorded bead and jewelry trunk shows I will be doing in the future. Click on any video to play in the main window. click ON AIR to return to my chosen video/message display
- MENU will also take you to the ON DEMAND PRERECORDED VIDEOS
- LIVE ..in flashing red in the lower left is exactly what it says….I am on air LIVE either in the studio or the camera pointed at the garden a current live project etc. While I am broadcasting you can ask me questions and converse in the CHAT ROOM to the right of the streaming video. I may be talking to the audience during LIVE broadcasting so turn your volume on if possible. There is also audio on most ON AIR content as well
- THE CHAT ROOM is also available at all times for you to leave a message if I’m away or talk amongst yourselves!!! Its much easier to use than that last one…the sign in just involves choosing a name…that’s it! I would love to hear from you all this weekend to test this new system
- THE STATION WILL BE LIVE DURING DAYLIGHT HOURS ALL WEEKEND!!
- TURN VOLUME ON AND OFF WITH LITTLE “SPEAKER” ICON
- LOWER AND RAISE VOLUME WITHE + AND -
The reason I opened this station was mainly to broadcast the LIVE TRAVEL BEAD SHOW from, but it is proving to be invaluable to showcase all sorts of projects I’m working on. I hope to do live streaming video from the Iphone when in Chengdu and Thailand as well!! The possibilites are endless.
THE STREAMING VIDEO BUTTON WILL BE VISIBLE ON ALL MY WEBSITES BY THE END OF THE WEEKEND!!!
HAVE AN INCREDIBLE WEEKEND MY FRIENDS!! I WILL DO SOME DRAWING WINNERS THIS WEEKEND. I APOLOGIZE FOR GETTNG BEHIND. THE BEAD SHOW HAD BEEN TAKING ALL MY TIME AS I WANT TO GET THE SHOW UP AND RUNNING IN TIME FOR YOU ALL TO BE ABLE TO CREATED YOUR JEWELRY FOR GIFTS AND SALES.
A gaze onto a hilltown in Provence from the passenger seat……SIGH!!!!!!!!
My kiln is all aflutter with new hatchlings and I could hardly wait to show you all!!! Check out this adorable stylized chickadee, inspired by my new family of chickdees fledglings below. Mama and daddy have been working tirelessly feeding these adorable babies in my tin can birdhouse
This little cutie had me giggling the entire time I worked on her!!! Inspired by a chickadee family teaching their fluffy fledglings to fly in my garden, this rotund , bead eyed youngster still needs to have his wings grow a bit before he can take flight!!
For now he will hang perfectly around the neck as he sways gently from side to side like an newbie pilot learning the ropes !
This has got to be one of my fave pendants to date because of the simplicity of design and stylized (almost 1950’s ) influence.
THE PENDANT MEASURES ALMOST 2″ ACROSS AND COMES WITH THE BLACK CORD WITH STERLING CLASP OR A SMALL SELECTION OF MATCHING BEADS OR SMALL EARRINGS
CHUBBY CHICKADEE IS SOLD.. .THANK YOU KAREN!
ABOVE: One of the babies in my Dawn Redwood tree patiently waiting for his parents to return
BELOW: Mama Chickadee feeding her fledgling baby no more than 3 feet from my studio window
And below………meet BINDI BIRD!!!! A bindi is the jewel that you see on many Indian women’s foreheads and this little birdie has the mother of all bindis in the form of a genuine Swarovski Crystal!!! She has a crest of vintage glass pearls that tossle on the top of her head as you move, and her elegant tail is MAGNIFICENT with it’s beadwork plumage hinged together for lots of swish and sway and motion!!!!
2 vintage crystals from a 1920’s bracelet (damaged estate sale find) are incorporated into the center of the tail.
The entire affair sways from a sterling bail which hangs from this black neoprene cord with silver clasp…OR you can choose to recieve some wonderful matching beads instead of the cord to design with yourself OR you may choose small matching earrings on a french style wire
As I was lying on my back in my garden today…daydreaming about 10,000,00 things all at once, I suddenly heard a shrill cackling about 2 feet from my head. Well I am never without my camera when I am outside and as luck would have it, this STELLERS JAY had landed on my suet feeder !! I couldn’t help myself…I had to shoot him (with the camera that is) This is such a fantastic colored bird and entertaining to boot. Click the blue link above to learn much more and hear a recording of his voice
Of course that overload of blue set my mind racing as I looked back toward the sky (still lying on my back) , through my Japanese maple starting to leaf out. The sky was ELECTRIC blue like the jay…..so I took a photo of that!!!
Then I decided to go inside the studio and pick out some glass that matched my blue vision of a very cool pendant! As I write the first stages of a series of blue pendants are in the kiln thinking COOL BLUE thoughts!
By this time EVERYTHING blue in the garden became a target for my Canon!!!!
The coolest blue shot I took was my windchime in fused glass. The sound this chime makes is heavenly!
That’s the blues for today!!! I will show you how those pendants look after the first stage firing later this week!
I have been busy in the studio working on the new spring line and wanted to share with you examples of some of the goodies I will be offering on the website in the coming days and weeks!!
These 3 got scooped when I made them available but I am planning to have enough to go around at my online trunk show (more info soon) . Delicious springtime pendants will be listed on the site during the next few weeks as well!
The watercolor effect on the florals is a technique I’ve been developing all winter and finally have something to share!!! The teeny Swarovski crystals studding the glass really add a nice subtle light catching glitz factor!
BELOW IS FROM MY LIVE STUDIO CAM..MEG AND LILLIAN OBLIVIOUS TO THE BIRDS
