The Lauritzen Gardens

We decided to take a few days and shop and stay in Omaha to celebrate my birthday early. We stayed at the Magnolia Hotel - lovely - our friends Fred and Shelley met us there and we had a fun time exploring the Old Market and dining at the Twisted Fork. Friday we toured the Lauritzen Gardens (right before 50% of our party got too sick to carry on...)

We're replacing lots of the light fixtures in our home, so I have an obsession with them right now. Isn't this lovely? 

 The pointsettia and model train exhibit is up through mid January. I can't keep a pointsettia alive for more than 10 days. This exhibit has been up for two months and all the plants are gorgeous.

 bridges built of sticks...another of my current loves.

 

 

 Happy Birthday to me. (Tune in my head...)

 Happy New Year to my Friends and Family and All Of You!

Pretty treats for the birds were everywhere outside.

Things That Are Round

 On Christmas Eve afternoon I made a few bracelets using leather and ball chain and lampwork beads I had made.  I like them so much that I plan to make more.

I used some bootie yarn (the yarn I make booties with) to crochet a jar of balls. Just because. I have a hard time doing nothing, so filling a jar with balls seemed like a good idea while sipping my end-of-the-day cocktail...

 I was delivering some jewelry to Liberty House and had to take a quick peek at all her lovely vintage goodness when I spotted this HUGE roll of woven strapping. I would like to make some bags, and this would be perfect for the straps!

 As I had promised myself that I would play with my new glass rods after I finished up the majority of my orders, I pulled some wonky stringers and then made some beads which will end up on bracelets like the ones at the top of this post.

just look at the green, orange and red one with it's pretty star!

Surfacing

Christmas orders just about did me in this December. It was great! Since December 1st I've had orders for 367 necklaces and 52 ornaments. That's Incredible! Thank you! Above are some necklaces I assembled for a friend. She showed me what she wanted with what, and I put them together. That was yesterday. Since December 1st, I've been getting up at 4am and working on orders. Most of them were one-of-a-kind custom pendants. Three hours later the sun would come up and look like this outside my studio window:

 I would work until the sun went back down... then have a cocktail. Most days have been 12-13 hour work days. Maybe I work slow....

 Here are a couple of favorites:

  

  Wait - I have to show you this. We have 15 big fat hens. They are all molting or lazy. Usually we get one. ONE. egg a day, which means that I had to buy store eggs. THEN look what someone laid. Doesn't that look like an add for "be yourself"?

Above: the lace from the wedding dress. Hand made. The customer had seven made for family. Beautiful.

These glass rods arrived and have been my motivation for getting orders done so I can make beads...

Again - thanks to everyone who ordered pendants and ornaments. And to everyone who came and shopped here at Two Dog Pond...Merry Christmas

Do Not Open Until Christmas

I wish I had something more clever to post about, but it's all in these boxes and I would hate to give away any surprises, so you'll just have to wait until Christmas.

This is this mornings stack of orders going out...





Maybe I should ask someone to give me a hand... oh wait.... looks like she did.

More Soft Stuff

 I finished this cowl/scarf thing last night. I'm all proud because it was on pinterest and I made one instead of just pinning it on my board.

The very cool vintage button was one I picked up last fall when Tim and I went to meet the munchkins in Kansas...

Lack of posting is due to my mom being in the hospital and all that goes with that... My apologies to anyone waiting on an order to be finished -I'm running a bit behind, but will catch up soon! Thanks for your patience...

Thank You!

 Yesterday was the SJWL Craft Fair. It's a well organized and fun show to do.

What made it especially fun was that my bff Shelley helped me. Thank you Shelley.

That and the fact that soooo many people stopped by and shopped. Thank you to everyone!

 During the afternoon lull, Shelley went to "the other building" where friend Carolyn of Cottonwood was set up. She and her daughter Julie are the most creative geniuses in the world. IN THE WORLD.

 Shelley took some pics so I could see what they were offering... oh my! I should have just braved the cold and gone over there. That's the downside of doing shows...not enough shopping time.

 The dresser below? It's still available. Go to her blog and see how you can own it.

Again - I can't thank everyone enough for coming to the show and shopping. I have the best customers in the world. IN THE WORLD!!!

Poke Her With A Stick. See If She's Dead.

 Not dead. Just busy. Isn't everyone? In between making school pendants, I've discovered that if I cut MIG rods to 7" long they fit in my kiln and I can properly anneal beads. Woo Hoo.

I've made a few copper/brass and treasures necklaces.

 Had orders for bullet charms which meant I had to do some target practice with my vintage pistol and still can't hit the bullseye...

 and now am trying to keep up with the Christmas orders.

 Remember that if you need something custom made, you can order through my website www.twodogpond.com or e-mail me.

 My husband lit the burnpile on the Saturday - the one day there weren't high gusts of wind. The flames went 35 feet high. It was quite impressive. 34 degrees out and we were sweating.

Special thanks to everyone that thought I was dead and checked in with me. Love you guys!!

Dis Is Pwetty An Dis Is Pwetty

 This tiny shopper was visiting the shop with her mom yesterday. She said in the sweetest voice as she arranged pendants over and over "dis is pwetty. An dis is pwetty..." She was just delightful.

 A sweet young man ordered a custom bracelet for his girlfriend...

 Using a wonky flameworked bead I made and a vintage carved leaf.

Black on clear fused glass pendant.

Nonjewelry Poem About Two Dog Pond

Since I've been working on school pendants and wholesale orders all week, I really don't have anything new or clever in the way of jewelry to show {thus the lack of postings} so here's the rest of my world.

ONE TWO - make a shoe. Still obsessed with booties.

THREE FOUR - paint the door.

(not done yet...maybe tomorrow) The last windstorm blew the door open so hard it knocked the panels out!

FIVE SIX - pick up sticks. Scootch helped me pull out the tomato plants after the 'big freeze'.

SEVEN EIGHT. Lay them straight. Tim stacked firewood in the garage. Bring on the cold nights!

NINE TEN - Big Fat Hen. Seriously. Ten Big Fat Hens are now in Foster Care in the Two Dog Pond Chica Casa. Sweatshop Babie's Auntie is moving to Nebraska and didn't have a place for her hens yet, so they are staying here until she's settled. They are absolutely beautiful. Unfortunately, they can't go free range here because of the large numbers of coyotes, foxes, weasels, owls, hawks, etc. that seem to like to terrorize our chickens.

Miss Blowfish, my scruffiest, smallest hen is antogonizing her beautiful house guests. Establishing a pecking order... it's surprising that she would take on these large Cochins...

LARGE cochins.