Something Good In Every Day - Year in Review

"Every day may not be good, but there is something good in every day." ~ Anonymous

I knew it was coming, but I really didn't believe it until I saw that one year ago today, I wrote my very first blog post. I re-read it and decided that since none of you probably ever read it {I was the only one}, and no one ever commented on it {that was before I even knew there was such a thing as comments, nor how good it would feel to know that someone was touched by what I had to say}, that I would re-run that one again today. It is a renewal of sorts. A way to say that I do believe I did set out to do what I promised I would in this post, and to reaffirm that I am still on the same path.

Stay tuned...as I plan to do some giveaways to honor this milestone. You have all become very important to me and I treasure the conversations we've had, the sharing we have done, the community that we are building. As soon as I can think up something fabulous {and get my "refreshed" computer back} I will jump right in to show my gratitude.

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Aside from being my favorite author, Ann Nonymous is a woman of sage advice(!). This quote is at the finale of every email message that I send and so I felt that it was a fitting place to start my first post.

So...what is good about today?

Today, I recognize my own need for connectedness, not only to foster my own path of creativity and inspiration, but to inspire the same in others.

But how to begin?

I have thought long and hard about jumping in to this medium, this blogging. So, true to form, I have done a ton of research. I set out on a quest...for one inspirational blog or website each day from which to glean ideas related to voice, topic, structure, purpose, and even how imaginative the headers and titles can be {I still do this!}. I have tagged a lot of them and posted on many others just to get a sense of the sort of community that already exists. I have ignored those that seem to be all about the minutia of a singular person's life in favor of those that sought community and inspiration. I read articles and consulted oracles...from the wisdom of those in the web industry to friends old and new who are regular or even reluctant readers of blogs of all sorts. I have seen all manner of posts...from the short and sweet to the ridiculously rambling, from the sublimely beautiful to the infuriatingly inane.

Ultimately, I determined that I wanted to start this journal as a means of self-expression, a way to capture my creative process and a tool for connecting me with other like-minded individuals.

I hope you will join me.

I do not intend for this blog to be about
...what I had for lunch, or
...100 things you didn't know about me, or

...sharing every proud moment I have had as a parent {there have been many}
...nor do I intend for this to be solely about my jewelry {although that will certainly be a side-bar, since that is how my creativity is manifested.}

This is what I believe this online journal should be about...
...I believe wholeheartedly that anytime we can create community in the "global village" and maintain a connectedness through personal meaning that we are fostering growth and good in the world.
...I firmly intend to challenge myself to see everyday things from a different perspective and attempt to be more creative in the process.
...I have only just begun this online journal in order to provide a creative outlet for myself with a potential by-product of inspiring creativity in others.

It may not resonate with all readers, but I do believe that there is a community waiting to be discovered and I invite you to stay awhile if you, too, are of the same mind.

Send me a shout-out.

Post a comment.

Challenge yourself to tap into a creative community, no matter where that takes you.
And as with most things, I am hopeful.

The Autumn 2008 issue of Artful Blogging http://www.stampington.com/html/artful_blogging.html was a fine resource to consult. I learned that as good a place to start as any is the name. After all, this is how people will connect with me and share in the journey. This was actually quite easy for me. My company name is Tesori Trovati which is Italian for treasures found. So Treasures Found it is. My sub-title Inspiration is Everywhere defines what this place is about.

Whether your calling is...cooking, singing, dancing, or designing...or maybe your profession...installing duct work, crunching numbers, landscaping or selling chocolates...we are each artists in whatever we choose to put our soul into, whatever makes our heart sing. My wish is to tell the story of those inspirations and perhaps hear a bit of what inspires you.

I will try to end each post with my Check It Out for the day...one blog/journal/website that I found inspirational. I will not tell you much about why I found inspiration there...you have to you discover for yourself.

If you do check it out, let me (and the author of said blog) know what you think!

Check It Out:: A Fanciful Twist
Enjoy the day!

Fun With Focals

"Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work at hand. The sun's rays do not burn until brought to a focus." ~ Alexander Graham Bell

I had no idea that I would hit such a NERVE with my last post about the dentist {pun intended...teehee!}.

It seems that I am not alone in my dislike of the dental profession {nothing against dentists and hygienists, mind you...but it seems that there was a lot of general scarring of psyches going on in our collective past}.

My computer is still not back. {:-(} Looks like it may need to have its memory erased and a fresh blank slate to start from. {I am still hoping that the laptop fairy will grant me a visit and swoop in with one of those new Dell's with the fancy outside candy shells. Yay.......right.}

But I didn't want you to think that just because I was keyboardless that I was any less inspired to create.

A few weeks ago, my dear friend {and most awesome bead artist} Heather Powers issued a challenge inspired by the Fun With Focals section in the Best of Stringing issue that just came out. {Give me a challenge and I am rigth there with you...if not I am floundering in a pit of despair with no way out.} That issue is near and dear to my heart with two of my pieces included, but this is a challenge that is the proverbial kick in the pants for me. The idea was to make one piece of jewelry each day based on her chosen focal. I did, in fact, participate in the week that she issued the challenge, but with my computer out of commission, I was not able to show off.... Until now...

And since you all seem a bit traumatized by reliving my recent dental escapades... I figured the least I could do is tempt you back to your happy place with a bit of handmade eye candy...

Here are my submissions....

Fun With Focals Day One - Horizontal

Ceramic beads: Jennifer Heynen, Jangles
Glass wafer bead: Kerry Bogert, KAB's Concepts
Felt ball: Hoi Lam
Glass disks & beads, matte silver chain: Michaels

This piece was created for the Fun With Focals Day 1 challenge to make a horizontal focus. I was also inspired to take my colors and patterns from the Art Bead Scene October challenge of the folk art Piano Playing Cow (but due to computer issues, I missed uploading to that month). {But I also need to prove it to the world that I did actually follow through on a challenge!}

Fun With Focals Day Two - Fiber

Ceramic escutcheon keyhole: Melanie Brooks, Earthenwood Studios
Vintage rollo chain
Leather
Skeleton key
Faceted garnet chunk: ArtGems
Copper twisted spacer: AD Adornments
Small garnet rough faceted nuggets: Rings & Things

This piece was created for the Fun With Focals Day 2 challenge to use fiber in the focal.
I used leather knotted around the key to tie it to the keyhole.
I was inspired by the idea of vampire lore with this key being the one to keep the beast at bay. The garnets symbolizing precious drops of the elixir of life.

Fun With Focals Day Three - Jump Rings

Leather, Copper wire & Colored aluminum jump rings: Michaels
Sterling Silver flower connector {I know not where...Fusion?}
Porcelain button: Joan Miller
Mixed Media pendant: Lynn Davis, ExpeditionD

This piece was created for the Fun With Focals Day 3 challenge to use jump rings in the focal.
I used these really colorful and lightweight aluminum jump rings in a modified flower chain maille pattern to add some color and visual weight to the piece. I bought the lovely porcelain button from Joan at the Bead & Button show {thanks Heather, for pointing out all the right stuff for me to blow my wad on!}, and that custom made mixed media focal is what I would wish I could make...but was a free gift with purchase from Lynn Davis. So cool!

Fun With Focals Day Four - Chain

Ceramic raku button: Lisa Peters
Faceted natural mother of pearl rounds, green rice pearls, bronze coin pearl: Rings & Things
Chain: Michaels

Created as a birthday present for my friend Dorie. To celebrate her Quiet Beauty. {Incidentally, she called me as I was writing this...she loves it! Especially that cool focal button...}
This was also created for the Fun With Focals Day 4 challenge using chain as the focal. The chain and pearl part is meant to be front and center. The raku button is off to the left side. The colors that Lisa Peters creates with defy explanation to me. They are so deep and mysterious and gorgeous. Go get yourself some!

Fun With Focals Day Five - Findings

Geode slice: Galena Beads
Swirl clasp and chain: Vintaj
Bronze arrow head charm: Yone Beads
Swarovski crystals: Jolee's Jewels
Leather & Pearls: Rings & Things

This was created for the Fun With Focals Day 5 challenge to use findings in your focal.
I love the Vintaj brass and those swirls show up in much more than just clasps for me!

Inadequate

"If suffering brought wisdom,
the dentist’s office would be full of luminous ideas."
~Mason Cooley

{Photo credit: "Say AHHH!" RedChelli76}

Why is it that when I go to the dentist I feel completely inadequate?

I mean...I brush and floss {okay, not as much as I should, but I do} and I use special toothpastes and rinses and vibrating brushes...but every single time I go to get my teeth cleaned I feel that I have the worst looking mouth on the planet. And just about every single time I go I have a new cavity.

Perhaps the enamel on my teeth is exceedingly thin.

Perhaps some over the counter medication I took made the surface of my teeth filled with microscopic holes in which all the bad things get in and can't get out.

Perhaps I overestimate my brushing, flossing and rinsing commitment {that may have some truth}.

Perhaps my teeth are exceedingly large and my jaw is exceedingly small {that definitely has truth since I had to have many teeth pulled just to make room for them to all play nice when I had my braces...and they still pushed back and aren't 100% straight much to the chagrin of my parents}.

I hate going to the dentist.

I hate the smell that greets me when I open the office door.
I hate the sounds of drills and suction tubes.
I hate trying to keep my dignity while drooling on myself while wearing a paper bib.
I hate it when they strike up a conversation with you that requires more than just a head nod when I have all sorts of appendages and tubes and hands stuck in my mouth.

Don't get me wrong...I know that it is a necessary thing to being healthy {necessary evil, maybe}. My dentist is a very nice man and my hygienist is sweet. I hate the entire experience nonetheless. If they didn't keep hounding me every six months and call me every week to set up that appointment {that I am adept at dodging since I have caller ID}, and if they didn't just keep persisting by setting up the appointment for me and then sending a remider postcard and phone call, I know I wouldn't go. But I have to be a good role model for my children, right?

When I moved to the area I am now back when I was 9 I had been going to a dentist in another state that gave me laughing gas practically from the moment I walked in the door. My mother never questioned why I never seemed bothered by the visits as other kids undoubtedly were. I can recall the feeling of weightlessness and floating around the room. I actually liked it. {Perhaps they were giving me way more gas than was appropriate for one so young, or the gas is a different kind, because I have never felt that "high" since. Ah...the good old days.}

My uncle was a local dentist in our new town. He was someone I only saw once or twice a year at a family function and was married to my father's sister. So when we moved here, it was obvious that we would be going to him. On my first trip in it was apparent that I had cavities. Lots of them. What wasn't apparent to my mother was what all the screaming coming from the exam room was all about.

My uncle did not believe in laughing gas. In fact, I came to learn that he didn't believe in novocaine either {my mother continued to go see him and never had any anesthesia when she had procedures done, perhaps to make up for my transgressions}.

And here he was coming for my mouth with a drill in his hand.

After a few minutes of wrangling and swearing {under his breath} on his part and dodging and crying {quite boisterously I might add} on my part, he thrust me back out into the waiting room, shoved me toward my mother and loudly professed to all in that room that I was not welcome back there. Ever.

Not that I blame him. But I was not interested in coming back their either, whether they had the latest Highlights issue or not.

So we shopped for other dentists in town before we found my dentist {who incidentally did believe in laughing gas...and novocaine...and letting you listen to headphones with your favorite music turned up loud enough to drown out the sounds of the drill}. And I have been there ever since.

When it came time to choose a dentist for my own children we gave them the choice: go to Dad's dentist or Mom's dentist. Thankfully, they chose the former {because that meant that Dad had the duty to get them there and make the appointments since the relationship was established through him. Brilliant "unwritten" rule.}

And that also meant that I didn't have to be the brave little soldier with my own dental adventures. I just have to be the one to harp on brushing and {ahem} flossing practices.

So I have to go back to have a filling drilled under an existing filling {for the record, this has been happening to me in the last two years... loads of fun to have one old filling cleared out and more drilling and then restructured new filling}. I am sure that my dentist sees me as a renewable resource for him. Which is probably why they have become so efficient in being sure that I set up that next 6 month appointment.

Perhaps they will not be able to find me when I move across town to my new home soon. {Drats. I recall that I told them my new address.}

What areas of your life do you feel that constant nag of inadequacy?
How do you overcome or compensate for those feelings?
Are they real or imagined inadequacies?

Do tell!

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I have to apologize for the "radio silence" of late. Last Friday when the heavy winds made the power flicker, my computer chose that moment to fizzle out. Now I am faced with the "blue screen of death" that won't go away {my computer "guru" says that is not a good sign} and I am not sure when {or if} the machine will be repaired {perhaps there is a new laptop in my future after all}.

I never realized before how essential my computer is to my daily life. There is a big hole where it used to be {literally and figuratively} and I miss it. It also means that it might take me longer to respond to emails, post to my blog, upload photos of all the new jewelry design I have done {including, but not limited to, designs for publications I had hoped to be submitting, Heather Powers' awesome Fun With Focals challenge, Art Bead Scene for October and November and a project that shall remain shrouded in mystery until I can make a big reveal...}

So if you are trying to contact me...keep trying...I can check the email and blog here and there. And I hope to be back at it again soon!

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Check It Out::Serendipity Smiles
Because we can all use a little bit of that!

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Some tortures are physical
And some are mental,
But the one that is both
Is dental.
~Ogden Nash

Enjoy the day!

30 Words::Going Pink

{Photo credit: D Sharon Pruitt}

Going ‘pink’ to save lives
I stand connected arm in arm
With all those touched by cancer
Doing my part to raise

money, awareness, hope
Won’t you join me, too?

I am breaking my 30 Word pledge on Thursdays to tell you about some opportunities to make a difference for the Susan G Komen Foundation for Breast Cancer. I know that breast cancer is not the only one in the world, and it does get a lot of attention, particularly in October for Breast Cancer Awareness Month, but this cause is near and dear to my heart.

My friend Lance at the Jungle of Life and his friend Joanna teamed up to bring together over 150 bloggers from around the world to contribute one amazing post each to a special e-book called Blog-4-Cause. The preparations are done, and the e-book and a special bonus e-book are now released. Any donation will be accepted. How wonderful to be inspired by writings penned from all corners of the Earth all in support of a great cause. Please read about how you can get your copy here. {I have a post in this e-book as well as some of my bloggy friends who I encouraged.}

Are you interested in a pretty piece of jewelry to help the cause as well? My friends Mellisa of Chinook Jewelry and Mary Jane of MarieDodd are auctioning off five gorgeous pieces of jewelry with the proceeds to go to support the cause. All you need to do is leave a comment on the post with which piece you are interested in and your bid. But hurry! Some of them will be auctioned off today!

For Chinook Jewelry

For MarieDodd Jewelry

What small part are you doing to help...whether that is to raise money, awareness or hope...? Do tell!

Whatever it might be, I thank you. I am inspired by the giving nature of so many. I hope you will be, too.

Enjoy the day!

Read All About It!

"Take the obvious, add a cupful of brains, a generous pinch of imagination, a bucketful of courage and daring, stir well and bring to a boil." ~ Bernard Mannes Baruch

Interested in watching me create? Head on over to my recent post on the Watch Me Create blog to read about a special project I made this summer designed to preserve the memory of a beloved pet.
And if you would like to see a glimpse of my jewelry featured in the Bead Trends October 2009 issue, check out the Bead Trends blog {I know! I bet you didn't realize that they had a blog!}. Tatia Meyer, Editor, chose my necklace and earring set from the Recycled section as her Editor's Pick. The set is called "An Affair to Remember" and features upcycled links from a vintage belt. You can see a lovely display of it here. I am really honored by this unexpected surprise.

And I may have missed my opportunity, but I wanted to share with you some of my bloggy friends who have some giveaways and challenges.

Cindy Wimmer of Sweet Bead Studio has some mad skills with a hammer {and I am not talking about nails and boards}. She makes the most incredible jewelry {that I am saving my pennies for...copper pennies!}. Words, mixed metals, beautiful gemstones...all are magic in Cindy's hands. She is on the cover of the new Easy Wire 2009 issue about to be released, and she is having a great giveaway {I apologize if you miss the giveaway later tonight!!! But go check out her wise words, and the cutest little boys this side of the Mississippi!}.

Last, but certainly not least, if you love a challenge you will be super excited about the gauntlet that my dear friend Heather Powers of Humblebeads has thrown down. She is challenging us to have fun with focals based on classic examples of greatness from the Best of Stringing {of which I happen to have two pieces featured as well!}. Heather is posting one challenge a day this week, and you have the opportunity to create your own versions of the focal of the day and post it with a link on her blog. She is giving away a $50 gift certificate to her store Humblebeads on Etsy and Interweave is throwing in a subscription to Stringing. Win-win! But hurry! Heather has already posted day one and day two! {Deadline for posting is November 6th}

What are you waiting for? Go check these links out!

Enjoy the day!

Bring It On

{Photo credit: tropical.pete}

“The Universe is waiting on you, not the other way around, and it's going to keep waiting until you finally make up your mind. Waiting for clarity is like being a sculptor staring at a piece of marble, waiting for the statue within to cast off the unneeded pieces. Do not wait for clarity to spontaneously materialize -- grab a chisel and get busy!” ~ Steve Pavlina

Wisconsin Dells is the Waterpark Capitol of the World. It’s true. There are more waterparks in that tourist-y southern Wisconsin town than anyplace else. They are a lot of fun. I invite you to come and try it. {My favorite? The Great Wolf Lodge.}

If you have ever been to a waterpark, then you have probably seen one of those ginormous funnel slide rides. You hike to the tippy-top of the building up who knows how many flights of stairs lugging a wet and ever-increasingly heavy inflatable raft. Now that you are there, you might have a moment of hesitation seeing the dizzying heights you suddenly find yourself, but you either have to pass all the other riders lugging their rafts or you need to hop in and go down the drain. Taking that first leap is a doozy.

But you get in your raft and make sure your swimsuit is covering all the places it should before the skinny teenager working there unceremoniously shoves your raft with his size 12 foot.

No turning back now.

You careen out of control through dimly lit and oh-so-claustrophobic tunnels hurtling toward a certain watery death trap below all the while screaming from terror or exhilaration, you can’t quite be sure which. And then you are spewed out into a toilet bowl fit for a giant. This is the most exhilarating part of the ride, the anticipated outcome, the fun part.

The water swirls around in a calming circle which ultimately leading you to a one-way-out funnel where you will be deposited spitting and flailing in a pool of rushing rapids.

Sometimes life is like that. You hop in fully knowing that you will be taken for a ride, but looking forward to the journey. And then there are twists and turns that you didn’t see coming. But you hang on and hope you still have your dignity at the end. Sometimes the ride can be scary. Sometimes the ride can be fun. But it always depends on how you approach it. I say that you need to enjoy it at every turn.

When you get to that place where you are swirling and you feel like so much flotsam and jetsam in the big river of Life, that is when you know that the Universe is giving you all you need. You are circling the goal and all is pointing you in the direction that is obvious to take. That is when you need to take the plunge. Dive on in and know that you will arrive safely on the other side, flailing and gasping to be sure, but you will make it through.

“When a person really desires something, all the Universe conspires to help that person to realize his dream.” ~Paolo Coelho

Peggy Nolan writes a blog called Serendipity Smiles with the byline Serendipity is God’s Way of Acting Anonymously. Sometimes I pick the blogs I will follow because of the titles. {I know. I’m an English geek that way.} It occurred to me with her latest post, that I have seen this similar story before. Peggy even concurs that it seems to be the subject in the blogdom. Why is it that everywhere I turn the same message keeps popping up? From the fortune in my cookie I {Do that which your heart tells you} to this post by Peggy {called “What’s Your Excuse?”} …that must be the Serendipity Smiles moment of the Universe telling me what I need to hear. {Or I must be hard of hearing? And the Universe is shouting?}

Peggy is facing an opportunity in her life right now. And it seems as if the Universe is lining up in her favor. I appreciate the demons in her head that are naysaying {you’re not good enough, you can’t do this, how will you live?}. I have them myself. I am thrilled to know that others are in the same raft going in a similar direction that I am. And it gives me hope that I can come to terms with my own demons and steer my little boat toward the light the Universe is providing me.

The Universe delivers exactly what you need when you are ready for it and not a moment sooner. But you have to ask for it in order to receive it. I am just starting to phrase the question, which is a big step. But I also realize that I have to find inner strength to have the courage to face the answer that is coming to send me in the right direction.

“You are here to enable the divine purpose of the Universe to unfold. That is how important you are.” ~ Eckhart Tolle

Have you ever been in a situation where everything is pointing in the same direction? Where every door you open seems to lead you right where you need to be? And the choices you are called to make are crystal clear? Do tell!

CHECK IT OUT:: Serendipity Smiles

Enjoy the day!

P.S. Sorry that I missed the 30 Words last week. {Maybe I should write 60 words this week?!} My art show went well as did our Open House. Nothing to report on the home front, but I will keep you posted! Thanks for all of your wonderful encouragement!

Welcome....

...home!"A house is not a home unless it contains food and fire for the mind as well as for the body." ~ Benjamin Franklin

Can I just take a minute to tell you all that you mean the world to me?

When I started this little experiment in November of 2008 {can it almost be a year already!? I feel a giveaway coming on!} I never thought that anyone would ever read my ramblings. But that little band of followers seems to grow every couple of days. I have made friends with many of my regulars from far and wide. It amazes me that I can be speaking to my friends in France and Germany and New Zealand and as close as my home state of Wisconsin all in a matter of minutes. How cool is that?

I have been going through a sea-change of late. Many, many things are weighing heavy on my heart and mind. In time I will share more with you, because you have been such tremendous supports for me, but for now please know that you mean the world to me. I love to read your comments... you make me think and you inspire me and you lift me up with your care and concern and really positive affirmations. Try as I might I am not always able to visit as much as I would like, but I really do try. And if you leave a comment, I will sure to find a way to connect with you as I can. {I just wish it were easier on Blogger to make that connection... I would much prefer to just email someone rather than have to go and always leave a comment on their blog just to let them know I really do care...}

But I digress...you really want to know what is up with the last post and that picture of the house, right?

For my 41st birthday this summer, my husband presented me with a drawing of a house in a frame with a message, "Let's find our dream home!" Now, we have been discussing this on and off for years, more seriously in the past four. The time just never seemed right. Well, now is the perfect time, I found out. The house picture I showed you is the one that we put a bid on last week Tuesday... at the same time that we listed our own 3 bedroom ranch. {I know... that is not how you are supposed to do it... but I am not one to sit and wait when this little gem had the price drop $20K in two weeks because the relocation company is left sitting with a vacant house over the cold Wisconsin winter!} It is not that we didn't like our house, we built it 17 years ago and moved into it the week before our wedding. It is just that the time had come. But this decision has created a whirlwind...

This new house is really everything that we want... the three car garage for my darling husband... the big backyard for my son Sport-o... the walk in closet and bigger bedroom for Tiny Dancer... and me? Well, I love it all, but mostly because it will make my family so very happy. There is gorgeous granite and stainless steel appliances in the kitchen... a spacious master suite and bathroom... a separate dining room... and most importantly, a wonderful space that will become my new studio. I was most touched by my husband's reaction when we saw this room in the basement... there is a large angled opening but no door {I think they used it as a work out room... work out room? Whatever would you want one of those?!?} He immediately saw the potential for me and said that we could rip out the carpet, put in loads of cabinets and storage space, add a utility sink and top it all off with some nice french doors. Ahhh... now that is what I am talking about!

Plus it was an incredibly good deal, and in a neighborhood that we love, about two blocks from my parents house. Could it get any better?

The good news is that they accepted our offer as of yesterday and we have to close on December 1st. The bad news is that we still have to sell our current home. But we have a way to make it work without breaking the bank, so I am not that worried about it. {But you can still keep your fingers crossed for me... we had our first showing on Saturday last week and was well received... and our first open house is this coming Saturday ~ on my 17th wedding anniversary of all days! Guess I know what I am getting for my anniversary... for the next 30 years!}

I am more concerned that I have had to completely clean out my current studio and now I am not sure where anything is! Ooh... I am so missing being creative!

On a related note, my one-and-only show is on Thursday. It is called A.R.T.S. Night (A Reason To Shop) and is a fundraiser for the Women's Fund of Portage County, WI. 25% of my proceeds will be donated to the Fund which supports women and childrens' issues in our area. It has just been a bit hard to create when I have had to switch gears and purge! I will make a valiant effort, but it might not be to my usual standard.

Have you made a decision that has changed your life for the better? Do tell!

Check It Out::Miniscule Love Story