Ah yes, another one

I am really enjoying the discovery of so many photogs recently, and I have yet another to share with you. I was over at From Betsy with Love and found my new love... Laura Millard and I look forward to seeing more of her work in the future!

If you give a mouse a cookie...

I am having a If you give a mouse a cookie moment here, remember that kids book, basically it starts a long line of wants/demands. Last night i put on my new duvet, which I was excited to see that the kisses were created by little buttons sewn on with all different color string...its like sprinkles! Anyway, so then I was starting to not like my headboard color, basic ivory linen...and then I remembered seeing these when I fist saw the duvet:


Which got me to thinking...although I do not want a pattern...so I tried some of this awesome pink cloth I have had for years...excuse my unmade bed, but I was on a mission...and this is a draping experiment, so don't judge the headboard quality.


Any thoughts?

Technical Difficulties

Please excuse the technical issues that happened manictrout.com in the past hour, there was an issue with the host...all should be fine now though.

The rest of the I'm A Flirt Earrings

What on earth have I been doing that I have not put these up yet!?! We'll blame family and friends who have been been taking over my life from Friday evening at 5 until about four hours ago...

Well, all is back to normal for a few days so I can tie up all loose ends and get back on schedule...speaking of which I walked Faye this afternoon after 5 days off and decided it was that time to start running without her...basically when I get back into running in the warmer months I have to leave Faye at home so she doesn't have a heart attack. This evening I went by myself and enjoyed an awesome 3 mile run...nothing big, just enjoyed the cool air and the feeling of running hills without fearing that my dog will demise.

I am accomplishing things left and right today! Here are the rest of the I'm A Flirt Earrings, there are 6 colors total and all already posted on Manic Trout.






Now if only those new charms would ever arrive I could finish and post the other 5 Let's Stay Together Necklaces...

Mine, all mine!

Remember waaaay back in Feb, you know, those days when I was so stressed out that I was falling apart, well in one of the few posts that month that were not about how stressed and busy I was I mentioned that I was in love with a duvet cover over at Anthropologie. On a side note, the really sad thing about no longer having a day job is that I have no extra funds to shop there right now...hey Anthro, I'll barder jewelry for clothes! Anyway so my mom took my hint, ahem my demand for the duvet and euro shams to spruce up my bed for my birthday/spring and I finally received the duvet, yay! The shams are still back ordered until mid June, sigh. I have not put it on the bed yet, and trust me my mom completely mortified me by asking if I was improving up my bed because I have a new beau...horrified...thats the look I had when she asked that! Yeah so I avoided the answer to that then as well. I did however want to share the packaging, because it was oh so blissfully perfectly anthro-esque.

Allergies bum me out

I have allergies at weird times, right between seasons and rainy days...basically i think its that I am allergic to mold, but really all it does it make me exhausted on rainy spring days...and that is no way to feel on a day when its a struggle to have energy to begin with. Although my allergy medicine makes me a kind of ill, jittery tired...which is a bizarre feeling that I really could do without. I am trying to pull myself together as 9pm - 1am are usually my most productive hours of the day and I just spent the entire evening at my moms with two of my sisters, so I have a lot to do...and here I sit...in a stupor.

The love affair continues

I have been very tuned in to photography recently, I have always love, love, loved photography, mind you I never wanted to do it, I just like to look at and collect it. So today I bring you Dirk Muggenburg whom I found on Dear Ada and fell right in love...as usual my personal favs...

Very Elle

In the first issue of the new mag, "Very Elle", a biannual glossy mag from French Elle owners are a collection of seriously stunning photographs...you can see three of the spreads at Fashionista and here are my two favorites.

My new favorite photographer

So I was just making my way through my daily blog roll and had only made it to Cherry Coloured where I completely fell head over heels in love with Bernard Faucon whose photographs I will show you oodles of now, because quite frankly I want to look at them myself all week.

Ugh...grocery shopping

I have a love/hate relationship with grocery shopping, I love it because as my mom pointed out to me once, its still shopping after all, but I hate dealing with all the people and lines and my biggest pet peeve of all...when food I buy every single week goes on sale and therefore disappears from the racks. Baby spinach in the box (not bag), baby carrots and tomatoes on the vine could not be found! I actually thought there was another spinach recall, but then I saw the sale sign. The parking is even worse, why can no one drive in the supermarket parking lot!?! oh well, at least its done for the week, now I get to eat my treat (for not flipping out on people) a Kashi frozen Mediterranean pizza...oh alright I'll admit that I bought twizzlers as a treat too!

Mother's Day Gift Guide

You have two week left to order mom a fabulous gift online...not sure what to get that fabulous lady who gave you life? Well look no further! Manic Trout has a gift guide to help you figure out the perfect gift mom, you can check it out here!



The best part is that every Manic Trout purchase is wrapped before shipping, so you don't have to think about wrapping, you can even have it shipped right to your mother!

Hey it's Earth Day!

Ah yes, April 22nd...once upon a time it meant naughty activities on the quad and seeing bands like the Samples for free at school....back when my dorm room looked like this:



and I looked liked this:



um, yeah, I was a deadhead waaaay back in the day.

Anyway, the eco friendly vibe that I picked up at shows and the quad sunk in a bit and I use quite a bit of repurposed materials in my jewelry. Also, any paintings that are done on wood, I am repurposing...a bunch are done on my grandmothers old kitchen cabinets!

In Earth Day news, I was in the Earth Day Issue of Time Out Chicago (mentioned here on their web site), and they took my necklaces on TV in a segment on CBS 2 Chicago about eco friendly products! You can see the footage here and read about it here!

Parisian Inspiration?

Todays DigiSketch was I think subconsciously Parisian inspired...I like it...

The Magnolia Tree Bloomed, Yay!

33 New Items!

I am happy to report that Manic Trout is ready for Spring with a whole pile of new additions today! The best part is that everything new is $60 or under, so you can buy yourself a little pretty without breaking the bank...

Check it out kids!

I just spent the entire day updating Manic Trout and there are now 33 New pieces available! I feel so accomplished, check it out and see how I spent the couple of weeks!

Why, its another new necklace!

I have been a designing fool lately, and finally getting some designs together that i've wanted to for awhile. I had a rough start to the day, last night the new beau and I met my mom and step father for drinks, which I had too many of before I went to dinner afterward...and well...this morning I was not running on all pistons. But it was glorious out, so I wandered around with faye for awhile and then got to work. Here is a peek at the newest necklace...btw, the new jewelry I have been showing all week should be up early next week, yay!

Vintage Jewelry Collection

One of the main reasons that I try and use vintage materials is that I came to make my own jewelry through my love of vintage jewelry. From the time I was too young to be wearing jewelry, I would ask my grandmother to let me choose one piece of costume jewelry from an antique store as my birthday gift. I was very into silver cuffs for a few years, but they were interspersed with some necklaces as well. Through prep school I loved to mix these treasures with colorful pieces I made with beads or embroidery thread.

When I was at Syracuse for the last few years (I was there for a while as I went from the architecture school to the art school and changed majors there a few times) I was living in Armory Square. I lived in an awesome apartment above a huge Antiques store...ah the bliss! I could take an elevator from my floor to the store, which made furniture shopping especially easy. Anyway, I would get all inspired and just run downstairs where I would most likely find what I wanted...be it a table, vase, purse, coat, earrings...whatever! It was so wonderful, I loved it...the store and I both left Armory Square years ago, but most of my favorite things came from that time. I used to pile on the pieces back then too, always mixing vintage pieces with really bright glass and crystal pieces that I made. (hmmmm, is there a theme?)

Today I was all inspired to unearth some pieces and reminisce. I photoed a few of my favorites (on a vintage hankie!) to share and had to laugh at the amount of faceted glass, brass, lucite, chain and look at that ring! My my, I see where so much of my inspiration has come from...I have been working on some necklace ideas that would mix chain and locket necklaces with bright glass ones....I may have found what I needed to push me to the next level.

Some days are tougher then others

I am feeling the effects of relying only on Manic Trout right now. I have been trying to get a bit of social interaction everyday, and to get outside for awhile...thank goodness its not winter! I'm having a hard time though, besides the usual stress about money and work and all that blah, blah, blah...I am having a harder time with the fact that I still am not part of an artistic community. Don't get me wrong, I have a few friends here who are artists/designers that I talk to, and I am very involved with the online creative community...but I am feeling the effects of solitude. Its wearing on me. I sometimes wonder why I bother to get up in the morning. Sigh.

I am trying however to keep myself busy and am hoping that I will keep myself busy enough so I at least I don't wallow. Also, for the first time in a long time, week ends are for hanging out and enjoying myself more then they are for working...which is really weird to get used to, but I am having a great time! Well, I'll keep my crying to the shower (its awesome, you should try it...why do you think I take such long showers?) and share with you my latest digisketch...mmmm, creamy!

New designs in the making

I have been enjoying my anvil...the photos are not good, I just took them to test out the images, but you get the idea. I am working with brass on the earrings, gold plate in the neckalce and of coarse my beloved colored glass that I do love so much.


So far, so good I think, I am rather excited to be going in a different direction with these. I am actually on a roll right now, there are a bunch or new pieces in the works. Have I mentioned yet that I love my life right now?


I should be sneak peeking some other new stuff tomorrow, and then hopefully everything will be posted by the end of the week! What day is it...Tuesday...yes, then I can do that.

I have date on Thursday...well, actually my mom has requested to meet the new beau in my life, eek! So we are meeting for drinks before dinner, why am I nervous?

Never say never

I often express that I was not into metal smithing with my jewelry and preferred found objects, glass, vintage materials and yarn...well then I got my new favorite toy in the mail. I bought a jewelry anvil and have been happily pounding away all afternoon. It was actually perfect timing...I had a few ideas for earrings in mind, but wanted loops that had a bit of a twist...so I ordered an anvil and crossed my fingers that i could fabricate what I was looking for...well I did, yay!

New Prints on Manic Trout

Who knows why exactly this took me so long to do, but as of today I have 6 new prints of my oil paintings available onManic Trout, very exciting. All prints are 10" x 8" and archival on matte paper and are $20.


On a separate note...I have created a Manic Trout page on facebook, I also have a personal page there if you are inclined to friend me...but anyway, if you love Manic Trout, then please be my fan on facebook, the more fans you have, the more you can do with the page.

There has been so much talk this weekend about social networking sites that its very much on my mind...so while we are at it, I have also been Twittering...which I have always thought sounded kind of naughty, and why I like it even more. Twitter is a site that allows you to post what you are doing at all times, via text or web and then your followers can see what your up too and vice versa.


So far my favorite thing about Twitter is that I follow a few other creative small business owners, and its like getting a glimpse into their lives and work, which I find utterly cool.


The hard part is not spending all of my time socializing and actually getting some work done around here...specifically my newsletter which should have already gone out this morning...meaning if you are not already signed up, then you have a bit of time to do so.


I am rather excited to work on a bunch of one of a kind pieces that I am releasing for spring, I love the idea of ooak, because the whole reason I started making jewelry was so that I could wear pieces that no one else would be...so I will always share that fabulous feeling with you.

I Dream of Oceans

I am so diggin' the scan collage...todays is all about where I want to be...instead its grey and dreary here, on the brink of spring...with little bursts of color starting to pop up.

On a jewelry note...I have managed to bring the beloved one of a kind Sophie Fancy Duster Earrings to new levels, well...something really, really similar any way...



more news on that next week...

Everything happens for a reason...

Everything happens for a reason...A saying that has been said to me many times in life, and as annoying as it is, I have come to believe in very strongly. Half an hour ago I had one of those moments where it had never felt so true.

So I was meant to go on a date tonight that I was rather excited about, but due to my keeping my date up until 3:30 last night because I have the luxury of making my own schedule, when he had to get up at 7:30 resulted in his being sick today. I understood completely and eagerly attacked a pile of work I needed to do and keep putting off...promo prepping.

So here I sit, cutting out the fresh Totally Indie Coupons I received this week and printing Bottle Cap Magnet labels with Lost In Translation playing on the computer when it happened...

(That was the best use of ... I have ever encountered)

Anyway

... I received an email from ioffer about the purchasing of some iphones, and I just ignored it as the wrong email...and then the payment confirmation from paypal showed up, confirming $1770.00 was being taken from my bank account and sent to the seller of the iphones. Holy Crap!!!

First I had to remove a layer because I actually get over heated when I am stressed, then I got my ass on the phone to paypal, where I only had one moment of freak out, which they understood, otherwise we able to rapidly fix the problem as I had contacted them only 10 minutes after it happened. They assured me that I was 100% covered by them and that it would all be ok (those are my absolute favorite words), it just may take a few days.

15 minutes later I received notice from the seller, who immediately reversed the payment to him after paypal contacted him and even though they may take the money out of my account, it will be returned there seconds later.

Imagine if I had been on my date? I would not have seen this until...let's be real, like 2pm tomorrow! I am so happy that its all over, and don't worry, I'll have my date made up too...

The Design Process

Perhaps its that Spring is here, perhaps I just finally have time to get some real work done in over a year, perhaps its been too long since I've painted, perhaps because I've dropped a lot of dead weight in my life recently...who knows the reason, but the other night I couldn't fall asleep because I kept having these crazy painting ideas fly through my head.


I'll share more on this as I think its pretty cool to hear about peoples design processes, so skip ahead if you don't agree. Usually I know when I am about to start really cranking out some work, be it painting or jewelry, its pretty much the same. I start to get really manic and amped up and I crave inspiration, I devour magazines and blog jump like a lunatic. I talk faster then I usually do...and skip around from topic to topic faster then normal too. On the flip side, this alternates with images filling my head of ideas that I have...I even see how to make things...the steps and processes, its like visual problem solving, I almost get trance like and hardly talk at all and look rather preoccupied, because well I am. At this point I usually don't try to force myself to create anything, as I know I will be a whirl wind of production very shortly, I'll play around a bit with stuff, to see if I can actually accomplish something that I have conjured up, but I just dabble. When it hits, I just sit down and make stuff, sometimes for days at a time.


So anyway...I was lying in bed at 5 in the morning (I mentioned this the other day) and one after another the ideas were coming, so I have started to play around with logistics of a painting idea...so far, so good, and I'm thrilled! I am bringing back the tissue paper that I love so well, and am delighted to be playing with it again. I also received a huge shipment of supplies, which helps put those ideas into play. In the midst of all of this I have updated my big inspiration boards with all new images, to help the new ideas flow. Its going to be a very good spring I think.