Winter Blues Treasury

'Winter Blues For Everyone' by LittleStudioJewels

Got the winter blues? These blue items will cheer you up!

Temari Ball Japanese Or... PennyFabricArt $30.00	Kids Wall Art - Childre... pumpkinandbutt... $18.00	Porcelain Tumbler in Ar... KiefferCeramic... $50.00
Winter blue white - wo... InsideTheHouse $6.00	Winter Blue Tit origina... VitecArt $60.00	Winter Blue Double Cabl... kareknits $12.00
Antique Bronze Adjustab... CreatedReality $9.00	Nautical Ocean Photogra... Maddenphotogra... $15.00	Ice Blue Flower Large S... mojospastyle $38.00
Winter Blue Sprinkle Ki... DKDeleKtables $4.50	Lamp Work Glass Boudica... LittleStudioJe... $95.00	Embroidered monogram 12... SistudioDesign $24.00
Snowflake Hair Bow - Wi... simpledesign81... $4.50	24 Winter Blue Decorati... BelowBlink $3.50	Ice Blue Ruffle Scarf, ... beadedwire $32.00
PRINT - winter blue gir... AkiMao $15.00

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.

Check out my latest treasury, full of winter blues to make you smile :)

Arwendnesdays With Arwen the Wonder Dog

Welcome back to our Arwendnesday's With Arwen the Wonder Dog posts, where every Wednesday is devoted to my hyper, wonderful, ridiculous dog, Arwen. 

So there we were: on a walk during a very overcast morning last week, when I noticed this beautiful, snow covered field and decided to take some photos with my little camera.

Then the battery died.

Do over!

The weekend rolled around and we were on another walk on an even more overcast morning when it started to rain. Pour really. And snow. At the same time.

Lovely.

However, in my quest to not be completely boring to you, my wonderful readers, I decided to keep on going and try to take my winter field shot anyway.

That and Arwen was full-steam ahead and the roads were a little icy, meaning that to turn around would probably end up with me falling and breaking a bone on said icy road.

So there we were: Arwen and I reached the aforementioned field and I brought out my (now charged) little camera and proceeded to try and photograph the field, which in the above photo is not really looking like anything special, though I assure you it is beautiful in person.

I heard a "Yip!"

And I looked down...

And there was Arwen, prancing in the snow, thoroughly soaked (and loving it, I might add), and wanting me to stop taking photographs, and throw her some snowballs already!

Catching snowballs is her favorite winter pastime (well, that and eating her, uh, poo when it is frozen, but she's a dog after all, and I digress - with a shudder), and she will catch snowballs until she is panting so hard she has to sit or lie down in the snow in between each toss, or your digits feel like they will never thaw in this lifetime, whichever comes first (my fingers usually give in before she does, much to her disgust).

Notice the preemptive tongue sticking out here, as in between frantic barks that make it sound like I'm torturing her, she sticks her tongue out and tries to catch the snowballs with her tongue, snapping her jaws shut around it with an audible snap (I would think this might hurt, but she doesn't seem to care), and eating the whole snowball with a very self-satisfied smile. She smiles, I've seen her do it.
She's odd, but I love her so very, very much.
...As long as she doesn't kiss me until after I've brushed her teeth about a million times.

and Arwen the Wonder Dog

Tuesday's Treasures - Newest Necklace Inspired by Boudica

Lamp Work Glass Boudica Celtic Sea Necklace, From my NeoAmour Collection

I am so thrilled to show you my latest necklace today, as today is Tuesday's Treasures, where I will aim to show you one completed jewelry piece per week. This necklace has been in the works for quite some time; almost a year, as that was when I bought this beautiful focal bead from my friend, incredible lamp work glass artist Louise, from Fireseed . It is a special bead, being one of a kind, and I knew it needed special treatment to do it justice. It took a while, but this is the fantastic result (if I do say so myself!).

Inspired by Boudica and the Ancient British Seas

I've long been inspired by the ancient Celts, as I've spoken about many times here on this blog, and beyond. When I recently took this bead out again and started turning it over in my hand, I was immediately reminded of the sea. I love the colors in this bead, as they are so vibrant yet still manage to be natural. I love how Louise managed to get so many different shades of brown, topaz, silver, black and blue into one bead, yet the whole bead does not look too busy. In fact, as I looked at it, I thought of the ancient English sea.

Simple, Yet Bold

Thinking of the ancient English sea, with its white foam, sandy stones and beaches, and vibrant blue of water and sky, I was suddenly, clearly inspired to create this necklace. I thought of, long ago, a young Celtic warrior Queen, Boudicca, as she prepared to take on the Roman Empire. She knew how important reserve forces would be for the Romans as they came over the channel from the Roman empire to Britain. I could see her planning her strategic attacks on British soil, against the usurping Romans, and thinking of how quickly reinforcements would come over the sea if the battles lasted too long.

This necklace was created for her. I used the stunning bead Louise had made, and then created a hand-blended mix of glass seed beads in shades to complement the focal bead. This necklace was made in a lariat-style so that you can wear it either choker style, with the bead hanging farther down your chest, or looser, with the pendant closer to your neck, depending on what you're wearing and how you like to wear your necklaces.

Please visit my Etsy shop to see the necklace here: http://www.etsy.com/listing/90201685/lamp-work-glass-boudica-celtic-sea and please let me know what you think!

For more stunning glass beads by Louise, please visit her Etsy store here: http://www.fireseed.etsy.com
or her website here: http://www.fireseed.ca

Have a great day,

January's Charity of the Month and Laptop Issues

(Clip art licensed from the Clip Art Gallery on DiscoverySchool.com)

It all started so innocently. I had planned to start blogging, if not daily, then nearly daily. I had planned posts in my new daily planner. I had taken, or planned to take, photographs. Life, as they say, is what happens when you are busy making plans. I had made many plans, all involving my lifeline, aka, my laptop.
Then my hard drive decided to start making funny noises, the day before New Year's Eve.
Many loud, funny noises that a laptop, or any computing device should not make, the day before New Year's Eve.
Then I started getting notifications from Windows saying that my hard drive was dying. That was the worst part of all - by the time Windows starts sending you notifications, you know your hard drive is pretty much pooped. I tell, you, the whole world is against me! Okay, not really, but it felt like it.
So enter Brennan, who has spent nearly all of the last two weeks, not only helping me move my workshop around (which was supposed to be posts January 2-4), but also fixing my laptop by replacing my hard drive, recovering all of my documents, etc., so that I could get back to my online life, which is pretty much my whole life (which I love, and am pretty addicted to. When I don't have internet access...well, it isn't pretty).
By the way, have I said how lucky I am to have Brennan lately? No? I am VERY lucky to have him!
Now I can get back to my regularly scheduled posts.
And go through the 120+ emails I received in the past week. "Delete all", anyone? No? Okay, I'll get through them all... eventually.

In other news, the first post for January was supposed to be to tell you all about the charity that I will be donating a portion of my sales to this month.
This month I will be donating 10% of the total sales in my Etsy shop (before taxes and shipping) to Polar Bears International. They are a fantastic, registered charity, that is devoted to saving our white giants of the north. Polar bear populations are declining rapidly and Polar Bears International are doing everything they can to educate us as to how important they are, and how we can do even the tiniest things to help them. Not just donating money, but small things, such as turning off lights when we are leaving a room, turning down our thermostats, etc., all in the name of saving these wonderful, enigmatic creatures.
I encourage you to visit their website, and see for yourself the wonderful work they are doing, in addition to the great photography that they have on their site (including totally AWWW worthy photos of a baby polar bear, TOO CUTE!), and some great tips on how you can easily help polar bears with small changes to your routine, and information on how to donate if you are able to.
I have symbolically adopted 2 polar bears so far, and I hope to adopt at least one more this year, if I get the sales to allow me to (again, 10% of all of January's sales, before taxes and shipping, go toward Polar Bears International).
Please visit my shop (at http://www.etsy.com/shop/littlestudiojewels/ ) to purchase some beautiful pieces of jewelry, and help polar bears at the same time.
Have a great day, see you on the flip side (yo! LOL),