Arizona Skies Creations

Paracord 550 Woodland Camo Tiger Eye necklace

2011-04-10T13:47:00.000-07:00

This is a handsome unisex necklace made with a Woodland Camo Paracord 550 and a pendant of reddish brown Tiger Eye Agate pendant. The Agate stone measures 1 1/2 inches long and the total for the necklace is apprx 20 1/2 long (52cm). Silvertone spring cord closures and lobster claw.

NOTE; The pendant on my monitor looks orangeish, the actual color of the agate is more like a maroon.

Check out my Paracord 550 section for more Paracord items:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/ArizonaSkies?section_id=7140258

Sunflower earrings

2010-03-17T17:34:00.000-07:00

I love most flowers, but one of my favorites are sunflowers, especially the ones with white petals and yellow centers. I found these lucite cabochons that I found irresistible and decided to make earrings and a necklace for my shop. I love how they came out!

My beautiful Mescal tree

2010-03-17T17:05:00.000-07:00

I once went shopping at a Wallgreen and when I got back to my car I noticed this short bush growing with gorgeous fragrant purple flowers and golden tan seed pods. I just had to get me one of those. I've had mine for about 4-5 years now. They're very slow growers, this one is about 6 feet tall. I'm training mine to be a tree, but they don't get very tall, maybe 8-10 feet or so, especially in our hot desert. It is quite drought tolerant and fit for a xeriscape garden.

I went out to my garden this afternoon to check on it and found it had many blooms already. The whole area around it smelled of grape kool-aid. Love the plant, but don't love the one inch caterpillars that invade it later on in the year.
Mountain Laurel
Mescal
Shophora Secundiflora

Doves waiting for breakfast

2010-01-15T12:34:00.000-08:00

When I moved to this newly built house four years ago, the backyard was leveled bare land. I quickly planted my beloved Peruvian mesquite and a couple of Red bird of Paradise bushes and quite a few more plants. I noticed one or two doves visiting the yard.

Then I started throwing some bird seed and then added bowls of water. Now the word has got out that there's a human sucker who comes out every morning to replace the water and throw some wildbird seed on the ground. Here's a picture of maybe 50 doves (and one pigeon) waiting for me on the top of the roof of my neighbor in back. They wait about five minutes to make sure I'm safely inside before they swoop down to their breakfast. Click on picture for a closer look.

Feeding them puts a positive note to the rest of my day.

Arizona Skies by Jim Beckwith

2009-12-29T10:08:00.000-08:00

I just got a Google Alert this morning for Arizona Skies and got these lyrics to a song written and sung by Reggae singer Jim Beckwith in Tampa, Florida. Here is his website so that you can listen to this song. I just love it!

http://www.reverbnation.com/jimbeckwith
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Arizona Skies - Lyrics by Jim Beckwith

Desert Life is precious, a place of all extremes
Sun’s too hot to handle, it’s brighter than it seems
Nights are cold and lonely, Days hot as hell
You might survive living here, it’s just too soon to tell.

Look in all directions, there’s a billion stars tonight -
the suguaro cactus stands like a sentry, looking for a fight.
couples may be broken, river rocks may fly;
but the clouds are always beautiful - in the Arizona skies

We are the stones - smoothed by the river
Rough is the sand, and the water makes you shiver

Living here in desolation you expect some things to die
it’s strange, but true - no on even cries
Celebrate for the living, remembrance for the dead
We light a candle - at one end

Put the candle in the river - watch it float away
remember back in time to another day
life was good - we liked it then
but we must go on and on
till the candles come floating back again

Rarely in the desert comes a pouring rain
but it’s joyful when it happens, you can feel alive again
Standing in the shower it feels like rain
there’s nothing like the feeling of the absence of pain

We are the stones - smoothed by the river
Rough is the sand, and the water makes you shiver

I said look out across, send word down
to reach the boss on the way to town,
`if your going in the right direction...
Here, then we’re gone, but a little part lives on,
living life, dying death,
and the earth just took one breath

My own backyard Tangerine

2009-12-25T15:02:00.000-08:00

This is my Kinnow Mandarin in my back yard. The plant is three years old and this is the first time it has had an actual harvest. Before this it was just a few fragrant flowers and nubs of fruits that soon shriveled and died. I'm wondering if I am not giving it enough water, I have never fertilized it. Next year I will look into this and try to do the right thing.

I just ate my first the other day and it's nothing like you buy at the store. This is not bland but a very strong taste, a little sour but I like that. The only thing I don't like is that it has some big seeds. All in all I'm happy with it.

Turning a lemon into lemonade

2009-12-10T14:03:00.000-08:00

I just came across an article by Cathie Gandel in an AARP publication.

Teanne Harris was supposed to be married in a late October Halloween themed bash when six days before the wedding her fiance got cold feet. She then found out it was too late to get a refund for the reception. Rather than having all that money and hard work expended go to waste, she decided to turn her wedding celebration into a holiday party for the 340 residents of Ashbury Court Retirement Community in Des Plaines, Illinois.

She didn't know anyone there but moved everything - food, flowers, table decorations and even the DJ - to the community. Harris, 34, said, "I worked really hard on planning for the perfect party, and it would have broken my heart even more to have it go to waste". Instead she received joy watching the residents enjoy the holiday.

This was a perfect example of the adage, "If life gives you lemons, make lemonade". And what a wonderful gesture to be able to remember that bitter day as a joyful time for many strangers. Great karma to you, Teanne Harris!

Chocaholic in Heaven

2009-11-14T12:38:00.000-08:00

"And now I lay me down to sleep
I pray the Lord my soul to keep
If I should die before I wake
I pray the Lord my soul to take
I pray they bury me beneath showers
Of heavenly scented Chocolate Flowers"
by PVC (me)

The Chocolate Flower (Berlandiera Lyrata)is also known as Chocolate Daisy, Greeneyes, Lyre-leaf Greeneyes, Brooch Flower. It has a strong chocolate fragrance in the morning when it's yellow daisy flowers are open. It closes them in the afternoon. The plant is drought tolerant when established and reseeds itself. It is native from Kansas and Colorado south to Arizona, New Mexico, West Texas, and northern Mexico to San Luis Potosi. It attracts butterflies and bees and other beneficial insects. The dried seed heads are attractive in dried arrangements. I have it growing in my fig tree area so that it will get some shade from the harsh Arizona sun when the fig tree matures.

"How time flies" is an understatement in this case!

2009-10-22T00:39:00.000-07:00

WOW, it's been SIX long months since my last entry!

I have only excuses, not reasons. The only reason is plain laziness. The excuses are many. The two main ones are:

1. This summer here in Tucson was a real pain. Very hot and a long one. It was in the high 90's just a couple of days ago. I had shut off the central AC for the winter in the latter days of September and was not about to turn it on again. I can be stubborn that way, even if inside the house it was about 92 degrees. I just turned on a fan and opened the window in whichever room I was in.

2. Excuse number two is that since August I've been moving all my jewelry from Earthly Creations into my craft shop Arizona Skies. I see no reason having two shops in Etsy.com since jewelry and crafts are fairly similar. This started out as a hobby, turned into an obsession, and now I've relegated it back into a hobby status. After the holidays I will also close my shops at Dawanda and 1000Markets and then keep Arizona Skies as my official "outlet of creativity".

So, hopefully, now that my favorite season is here at last, Autumn/Winter, I will be more inclined to write in this blog. Perhaps twice a week? We'll see.

My newest creation, a pair of earrings that remind me of a frozen winter.

The time flies

2009-04-16T15:02:00.000-07:00

Wow, how time flies! I had no idea it's been 12 days since my last post.

I can truly say I've been working, though. Last year it rained so much in the spring that my backyard was overrun with weeds. I was overwhelmed and did what ostriches are supposed to do, I buried my head in the sand of denial and refused to do anything about it. This year I resolved that I wanted to reclaim my pretty and tidy back yard, tend to my neglected plants, and sit again in my back porch to eat a lunch or sip coffee and watch the wildlife (mostly birds) enjoy my little spot of earth.

It's all done and mentally I feel proud of myself. Physically, every muscle of my body aches. But, it's a good ache, like when you've just worked out at the gym. Sore, but proud of yourself for taking control of your body and your life.

Here are before and after photos of a portion of the backyard =

Recipe

2009-04-04T17:27:00.000-07:00

Did I say in my last post that I was feeling lazy today? I changed my mind. Make it LAZY LAZY LAZY!!!

So here's a recipe for you to assuage my feelings of unworthiness. Heh heh!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
STRAWBERRIES AND CREAM BREAD

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs, room temp
1/2 cup dairy sour cream, room temp
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup coarsely chopped fresh strawberries
3/4 cup toasted chopped walnuts, if desired (I use untoasted)

Grease an 8x4 loaf pan; set aside. Preheat oven to 350F (175C). In large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon; set aside. In small bowl of electric mixer, cream butter. Gradually add sugar, beat one minute or until light and airy. Beat in eggs one at a time. Beat in sour crean and vanilla. Stir onto flour mixture only until dry ingredients are moistened. Fold in strawberries and nuts. Turn into prepared pan, smooth top. Bake 60-65 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Let stand in pan 10 minutes, tun out onto a rack to cool. Makes one loaf.

** Although the title says "bread", I treat it like a dessert and have a slice with my coffee. Yummy!

Flickr account

2009-04-04T16:37:00.000-07:00

http://www.flickr.com/photos/arizonaskies/

I'm a born procrastinator. It's been "ages" since I've been wanting to sign up and open an account at Flickr. Somehow I never found the time. Today I feel kind of lazy and decided to open the Flickr account so that I can honestly say I accomplished something. I love taking photos and some of them are quite nice, so why not share them?

It wasn't so bad, even a tech idiot like me was able to set it up and upload 11 photos. Next I have to learn how to contact groups I'd be interested in and add them as contacts. The internet is a lovely and educational resource, but it sure sucks up a lot of time in your life. On the other hand, I would never want to go back to a life without the internet.

My backyard Hummingbird

2009-04-02T10:51:00.000-07:00

When I bought this house three years ago my main aim for my backyard, besides being a visual delight, was to make a cool and green haven for birds but especially hummingbirds. I planted many plants that appeal to them, but my one (or two?) little green hummer is only interested in the yellow tube flowered Chuparosa (Justicia Californica). I even read that they liked the red flowered one and I planted one but he still wants nothing but the yellow flowered one.

This morning I was filling a bucket with water to water a newly transplanted Salvia Coccinea and suddenly he was hovering over the running stream of water. He got close to it and drank, just a little, but then he is a very tiny little fellow. Just the nectar from the flowers is probably enough to sustain him. He was SO close to my left hand, I wanted to put out my finger and encourage him to perch on it. But, I was afraid I would frighten him so was just happy to observe him. Once he perched on the hose to rest, three inches from the spout and perhaps eight inches from my hand. I felt flattered that he trusted me.

I saw pictures of a woman with a red hummer feeder in the palm of her hand and four hummers perching on its rim. I also heard of a woman whose hummer came every spring and summer for five years and would perch on her shoulder as she sat on her porch. I just think they're adorable.

An ironic seven year old boy

2009-03-29T13:43:00.001-07:00

My grandson Jake is 7 1/2 years old. It never ceases to amaze me some of the comments he makes about life. But, I never thought he could be ironic at his age. When he visited on Friday night he drew me some sketches. One of them was of a man with a cigarette dangling from his mouth while wearing a T-shirt with a no-smoking decal. On the man's arms are tattoos of skulls. Something to remember for parents who puff away while telling their kids not to smoke. The irony and hypocrisy is not lost on their children, even 7 year old kids are aware of it. I don't know why Jake made the drawing since neither I nor his parents smoke. I'm saving the drawing to show him when he's older.

The smell of the Desert after a rain

2009-03-28T17:24:00.000-07:00

When I first moved to the Southwest I learned to love the distinctive odor of the desert after a rainfall. It had a strong, musty odor. Some people love that smell, others hate it. I couldn't figure out why the rain smelled that way and assumed it was the rain drops hitting the dry sandy soil. Then eventually I found out the smell came from the raindrops hitting the leaves of the Creosote Bush (Larrea Tridentata). I could even smell the rain falling far away and knew the rain was coming my way.

I always wanted to have one in my backyard garden, to make sure I could smell the rain when it fell. Sometimes I tire of waiting for the rare desert rains and just throw a bucket of water on my plant so that I can smell it. As a result it has grown fast and bigger than the desert plants that have to wait for the rains.

The Creosote bush is one of the most common desert plants and helps to make the southwest desert look green. It is extremely drought tolerant and adapted to the desert. It will shed most of its waxy, resinous leaves but not all during extreme drought. It competes for the available water with other plants and usually wins. Creosote lives a long time, some plants are thought to be over 11,000 years old.

Since the leaves contain many anti-herbivory resinous compounds, the plant is seldom eaten by grazing animals of any kind. The plant itself is visited by many bees for its pollen, but it is not a good source of nectar. Burrowing animals dig holes around the base of the plant and use these during the heat of the day and then emerge to forage at night. Snakes,spiders, and scorpions sometimes use these holes.

According to Desertusa.com :
This medium-to-large evergreen shrub has numerous flexible stems projecting at an angle from its base. It is usually less than 4 feet high, but can grow to 12-foot heights with abundant water. Its small (1/4 to 1/2 inches), pointed, yellow-green leaves have adapted to conserve water and dissipate heat. The bush may lose some of these waxy, resinous leaves during extreme drought, but never loses them all. These leaves are especially pungent after a rain, and have been used as antiseptics and emetics by native peoples. Its foliage provides refuge for crickets, grasshoppers and praying mantids.

The Creosote Bush is NOT the source of the commercial creosote used to preserve wood and other uses.

Below is a photo of my "baby" Creosote in 2006. They are hard to transplant so I bought a nursery specimen.

My nap time fur babies

2009-03-23T15:26:00.000-07:00

My cats Amber the Tabby and Raven the Black are today exactly eleven months old. They were litter mates but I'm not sure if they are true sisters, since their mothers were raised together and allowed to breed at will. All of the mothers nursed whichever kitten nuzzled her at the time. Next month I will be taking them to be spayed. I wanted to wait until they are one year old so that they will achieve their true body size. They're indoor cats and I was not afraid they would become pregnant.

Amber is the quiet, more stately, cautious type. She eats a lot and sleeps a lot. Raven was the runt, only two thirds the size of Amber when I adopted them at six weeks old. She is now the wild one, very inquisitive and playful and stubborn. If she wants to go into a room or do something she will persist until she finds an opportunity. I think she's smarter than Amber in some ways, but Amber would likely be the one with better survival skills in the great outdoors.

And here is an extreme closeup of Amber's face showing the latent wildness of her distant ancestors. The original cats were tabbies. The tabby stripes and spots and earthy colors were perfect for camouflage for succesful hunting.

The 200th Heart Award!

2009-03-22T17:13:00.000-07:00

Reading through the Etsy forums months ago I read about someone planning on giving a free gift from her shop for the person who gave her X amount of hearts. I thought that was a nifty idea and decided to give a gift to the person that gave me the 100 heart and every 100th thereafter. Somehow it happened and I completely forgot about it. Then the other day I noticed that I had 198 hearts, so I waited excitedly to see who would be the person to give me the 200th heart. It turned out to be Pam of pmcookie, a art shop. She also has a jewelry shop at kittywoman.

So, I convoed her with my offer of a free item from either of my shops and she chose my Amethyst and Powder Rose earrings.

Pam is a very talented artist and jeweler. This is my favorite item from her art pmcookie shop: "The Blue Bird of Happiness Original"

And this is my favorite item from her jewelry shop kittywoman: "Turquoise and Glass Necklace"

2009-03-19T15:26:00.000-07:00

I have always loved the USA Southwest, even before I ever came to live in this country. When a pubescent in Caracas, Venezuela I used to read crime stories and western paperbacks handed down to me by a family friend. I learned about mobsters and cowpokes. And I always dreamed of someday visiting this land of cowboys and cattle drives. But, somehow I imagined it as a dusty brown desert land. When I finally came to live in Arizona I was surprised that it was so green with creosote and desert brooms and the mighty "sentinel of the desert", the mighty Saguaro that can live 200 years and grow to 50 feet tall. And the mountains are so tall. They've hints of purple during the daytime and glow red when hit by the light of the setting sun. This is the Treasury I made about the Southwest, it evokes the colors and the "soul" of this great region.

Learning curves

2009-03-05T15:31:00.000-08:00

I started my online jewelry selling officially on January 8, 2008 at Etsy.com with my main shop, Earthly Creations. I'm self taught with some help from books. That part I've loved and I love designing and making the jewelry. What I HATE the most about this venture is the need for promotion and advertising. I simply am too cheap to spend the money on advertising and simply don't "get" merchandising. I can't see spending $150 a month on it when I'm only making perhaps $20 in profit a month.

Yet today I visited a popular blog, Modish.com, with ads spending $40-65 or more a month and three sellers that I checked out also spend a lot of money listing and renewing on Etsy. Two of them sell high point jewelry but the third one sells for my lower points. Perhaps in the beginning I need to dish out the money for advertising and perhaps make it up later, if and when I actually become a good seller?

Sometimes I'm sorry that I started this jewelry business, have invested more than $6000 in equipment and supplies so far, but I just don't have the heart to quit now. I really like making it and designing it and I don't feel that I've done everything possible to make the shop(s) a success. And right now the economy is in real bad shape and people are tightening their belts quite a bit. The last is just an excuse, because plenty of high volume sellers on Etsy are selling daily.

I just don't know, wish I could afford to hire someone to do the pesky marketing chores for me. I'm simply inept at these things. Sigh!

My newest Treasury

2009-02-28T16:43:00.000-08:00

This is my newest Treasury at Etsy.com, titled "What goes Around, comes Around" featuring some of the curators that featured me in their past treasuries. It's a Karma type treasury, and I enjoyed the heck of it putting it together.

International visitors at Etsy.com

2009-02-28T15:57:00.000-08:00

I went to the web traffic site Alexa.comto check on Etsy.com and found the statistics for the percentage of international visitors that visit the site. It was very interesting.

Of course, as expected, the majority of the traffic, a whopping 69.6%, come from the United States. Another 9.4% comprise of unnamed countries. Here is the list and percentages supplied by Alexa.com:

United States 69.6%
United Kingdom 4.3%
Canada 4.3%
Germany 3.5%
Australia 2.6%
India 2.5%
China 1.4%
Turkey 0.9%
Italy 0.8%
South Africa 0.6%
Indonesia 0.6%
Russia 0.6%
France 0.5%
Other countries 9.4%

I made it to the front page at Etsy.com

2009-02-26T15:04:00.001-08:00

Early this morning, while I slept, a treasury by Cyd at "BotanicalBird"> hit the front page at Etsy.com. It featured my Yellow and Smoky Gray earring. Being featured on the front page is a rare occurrence for most of us. I missed my chance to see it in real time, but the earrings sold to a new buyer who bought it for her friend. I hope next time I'll be able to catch it and enjoy my half hour of fame. My other shop, ArizonaSkies, made it to the front page on February 1st. I sold that item right away. Here's hoping for more, I can still wish, right?

Be careful what you wish for

2009-02-22T15:34:00.001-08:00

I have always wanted a brand new house with a big back yard. When I was in the market for a new house about three years ago, most of the subdivision track houses had very small yards. Then I found this house with lot dimensions of 73X103. The backyard is approx 50X73 feet. I was overjoyed and planned the back yard for months while the house was being built.

The plans included a "Japanese Garden" on the east side with a path and dry creek bed and even a wooden bridge. I planned on graph paper and slowly started planting the plants. Then I found out that the small bridge would cost more than $500. Later on I realized the work involved in watering all those plants in dry Arizona. I water them with buckets since I don't trust drip irrigation, having lost many plants to the system in the front yard. Now I have a total of 120 plants in the backyard alone, not including the Oasis, a planted strip on the north side of the house that gets shade year round and where shade loving delicate plants thrive. My backyard is a veritable botanical garden now with lots of species. I suppose I could kill most of them and reduce my watering chores, but that would be like murder. Sigh!

So, now I dream of having a small house with a tiny backyard with only the plants I truly love from the above experience. One of them would certainly be the Heavenly Bamboo (Nandina Domestica) which is always green, gets reddish leaves, and twice or so a year puts out beautiful red berries. Another favorite would be the yellow flowered Feathery Cassia (Senna Artemisiodes) which is a trooper and takes abuse from the Arizona heat. There's lots of other plants I love, but those two would get honorary spots in even the smallest yard.

Here are photos taken of the bare back yard and two years ago after the planters were built and before the big time planting began. I need to get an updated photo.

Project Wonderful ads

2009-02-21T22:53:00.000-08:00

Since last year, my first year in online selling, I did little to no advertising, I figured this year I would try harder to promote my shop Earthly Creations.

I tried their campaigns and didn't like the choices or results, so now have chosen three websites to carry my ad for one week and then see the results. One of the websites is for fashion and it's called Broke and Beautiful. I figured a fashion website would be a good match for my jewelry shop. Let's see how it does.

http://brokeandbeautiful.com/

Homage to the Dead

2009-02-20T16:13:00.000-08:00

In Tucson, Arizona people of Mexican descent pay respect and tribute to their dead. It is the belief that the location where a person dies is where his soul departed this earth. Some build little shrines along the road where their loved one died in an accident or other ways. The city tried to have them removed, but the outcry stopped it in its track. Since a big percentage of Tucson residents are Hispanics, I guess the city figured why rock the boat. Somebody once remarked that just seeing these shrines along the road must remind people of the consequences of speeding or driving while drunk. Amen!

Here are photos I took of those shrines.

Pack rat and hoarder?

2009-02-18T13:24:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure that I fit the definition of pack rat or hoarder. I don't have shelves upon shelves of things I never use but can't throw away. The innards of my closets are neat and orderly and I'm able to open their doors without fear of an avalanche. And there are no paths in my rooms chiseled among cardboard boxes and unnamed other items. My rooms are clean and well designed and even sparse by some opinions.

BUT, BUT, BUT! I keep papers. I hoard papers. I have boxes and boxes of printed pages of posts I have written in forums. Boxes of printed emails from penpals and other acquantances. Boxes of newspaper articles I've cut out and saved in case I needed to look at again, but never to look for them in years and even decades. I even have invoices and receipts going back decades. I have a footlocker full of diaries and mementos from the age of 14 to age 24 and even beyond. On the rare occasions when I read a couple of pages of those diaries I seem to think of the writer as another person that I slowly and reluctantly recognize. Was that really me saying and feeling and doing those things I even forgot about?

I envy people who throw letters and other things away with abandon, with nary a wisp of nostalgia for shreds of their past. I wish I could be so emotionally free as they. And I feel sorry for my adult daughter when I die and she has to wade through those mountains of paperwork. But, her job of destroying those papers will be easier than it would be for me, since like those those other people that I envy, she will have no emotional attachment to those papers about a life history in the making. Even if I never read them or even remember what is in those boxes, I know it's a textual recording of bits of my life.

Philosophical Meandearings

2009-02-05T14:39:00.000-08:00

Today I sold a sterling silver necklace with a clover pendant. I went to check the profile of the buyer that bought it, out of curiosity. I found a beautifully written and eloquent short profile. One of the things she said struck me deep and lingered in my mind.

She said, "Enthralled by Mother Earth, trying to embrace Father Time".

Exactly my thoughts, but I was never able to say it so beautifully. Yes, I hate growing old. I wish I could stop, or even just pause, the hands of time. It sometimes saddens me that I have a limited time on this Earth and once that time comes all my thoughts and experiences and wisdom will come to a screeching end. And, because I'm not famous, few will know about me.

And, I think of the earth as Mother Earth, for without her shelter and resources I would never even exist. And what a beautiful little planet it is, I doubt there are any as splendid in the solar system as she. And I will never know for sure.

Pen Pals Online

2009-02-03T15:29:00.000-08:00

Several years back I was on an online pen pal acquisition frenzy. I loved the idea of having pen pals all over the world and they would tell me about their country and it's customs and culture. But, I had a hard time finding those loquacious types, most just wanted to write a couple of paragraphs and be done with it, or worse, send jokes and forwards. At one time I corresponded with a total of 13 penpals and it started to become a chore not only writing to, but also remembering who told me what.

Eventually I stopped staying in touch and now only have a total of TWO, and that suits me fine. One woman and one man, one in England and one in Alabama. They were two of the very first and we still write to each other and hopefully will until one of us croaks into eternity.

Maybe someday I might try again finding a wordy penpal in a remote exotic place, but for now I am happy with my loyal two.

Life is a learning curve

2009-01-29T16:24:00.000-08:00

I've always said what a shame it is that it takes a lifetime for us to learn and get wise and then it all goes to waste when we die. It would be nice if we knew all that we need to know as soon as we hit that magical age of maturity and independence, the age of 21. But, I admit that it would be pretty boring, not learning anything new from the age of 21 until we croak.

I remember reading somewhere that the crisis in our life is what, in hindsight later on, we call "adventures". That reminds me of a story I read once, don't know if it really happened or was made up.

This family of two parents and two kids used to travel with road trips in the summer when the kids were out of school. Their old car could be counted on breaking down at least once during the trip, stranding them in lonely roads, at the mercy of passing good samaritans to offer them assistance. The father finally gave up and bought a brand new car. From then on they never had any more breakdowns, things went smoothly and without hitches. But, the kids were bored and no longer enjoyed their road trips. The father asked them why. The kids said those breakdowns were "adventures" and they got to know lots of interesting and helpful people during those ordeals.

So, no matter what the subject, there's always a silver lining if you look for it. Learning, even by making mistakes you'll later regret, is an adventure that makes you grow as an individual. Those mistakes are really what makes you wise. There's no learning like experiencing life yourself.

The Wine Swirl ring

2009-01-27T10:50:00.000-08:00

I used to be very active at sewing, made my own doll clothes since I was 8 years old and made clothing in my teens and even made my mother two sets of slipcovers for her couch and chair when I was 14 and 17 years old. Then I got burned out and now never open my electric, portable 1964 Remington brand sewing machine unless there are things that NEED to be mended.

I had a beautiful maroonish red with dark inclusions button left over from the 1980's, a Vintage by all measurements, and decided to make a ring for my Earthly Creations jewelry shop at Etsy.com. This buyer bought it this weekend and I just mailed it today. I was going to put it in my curbside mailbox, but found that the mailman had already delivered to me. He usually comes between 11am and 2pm, but it's usually at 12 noon. I went out there at 11:15 and he had already come. So, I got in my auto and went 1/4 mile away to the nearest public mailbox. Next time I ship an order I'll have to make sure it's before the 11am time.

Anyway, here's the ring I sold:

Crystal the Shopaholic

2009-01-22T13:17:00.001-08:00

My granddaughter Crystal, 12, is not only beautiful but also a dreaded SHOPAHOLIC. Stores would have been okay financially in 2008 if Crystal had had enough money to support them all. On the bright side, she has great fashion taste.

She asked me to make her two friendship bracelets, one for her and one for her best friend Shyanne. She told me exactly how to make it and this is the result. My only addition was a bead with their initials in case of confusion. I also added the bright red Chile Pepper just for fun. And Shyanne loved her bracelet, too!

Chili Pepper Power!

2009-01-21T14:58:00.000-08:00

I bought these cute little lucite red chili beads on Etsy.com's seller Yummy Treasures and made a pair of earrings and a cell phone charm. I listed them today. I think they're so adorable and just bought another order of them. Hope the items sell, it's been pretty slow on Etsy and elsewhere. I'm tempted to say it's the economy's fault, but the big sellers are still selling. Sigh! Many times I feel like throwing in the towel, but I have too much money invested in supplies and equipment and tools. And, I HAVE told myself I will give the shops another year to make it. Good luck to me!

Greta and Garbo

2009-01-17T21:38:00.000-08:00

My friend Larry and a friend found a starving stray dog on a road and tried to catch her. Of course, she was leery and suspicious of him as he scrambled after her trying to catch her. He finally did and adopted her.

Larry's spouse is a big fan of Greta Garbo and so they named her Garbo. Garbo settled into her new loving and comforting home and made friends with Larry's other dog, but after the other dog died, Garbo became depressed. Larry and spouse went to a shelter and chose Greta and she also settled in and was happy. That is Greta and Garbo in the photo, happy and happily spoiled. We all love happy endings. May they live a long and happy life.

Still procrastinating! Sigh!!!

2009-01-13T12:56:00.000-08:00

I posted last on 12/23/08 and here I am again.

From the time I was 14 until I was 24 years old, I wrote in my diary nightly EVERY single day. In fact, one nigh I was too lazy or too tired and went to sleep without doing my nightly diary entry. I tossed and turned until I finally got up, wrote my entry, went back to bed and fell soundly asleep. Habits die hard, but once you break them a few times it gets easier not to do them.

So, this explains why now I am not a dedicated blog poster.

Anyway, I've been at Etsy for one year now, started listing on January 9, 2008. I had no interest at all in Treasuries, either curating them or even checking them out. There's too many of them and I'm on dial-up and it simply takes too much time for either activity. But, in October 25 I made my first one, titled "Lemon and Lime" and loved it so much, I've been making them steadily. It's another art form, putting items you like in an order that is very pleasing. I've become an addict.

In early December I decided to take a break from making them, not wanting to tire of them, and this Sunday night I curated another one titled "Where ARE my sunglasses?". It's mainly yellow with reddish and brown splashes. It's so bright and cheery, hence the title. One bad thing is that my treasuries seldom get many views or clicks or comments. It can't be that they're ugly, because they have to be seen (views) to be judged. So, I guess I'm not well known or popular or don't belong in a team and that's the reason for the low views. I'm a loner in private life, so it doesn't surprise me.

My newest creations

2008-12-26T22:15:00.000-08:00

I'm a procrastinator master

2008-12-23T17:00:00.000-08:00

I knew it's been a long time since I posted on this blog, but had no idea it had been as far back as April 12, 2008. WOW! Talk about procrastination!

I still have my Earthly Creations and Arizona Skies shops at Etsy. I still have my third shop, Aurora Creations, at iCraft but that one will probably be deleted, the place is just not working out for me (and for a lot of other sellers). I also still have my shop at Dawanda (Filomena Designs) and that one is doing okay, will keep it for as long as I get some sales in it. I've recently opened a shop at ArtFire, Arizona Skies, but no sales yet, I posted items on 12/02. And just yesterday I registered at 1000Markets.com (Arizona Skies Creations) and need to list stuff in it and wait to be accepted. Will try and do that tomorrow.

I LOVE making jewelry and crafts and can't imagine NOT doing it anymore. BUT, I'm not as successful as other sellers who started around the same time I did and I only have a total of 52 sales between three shops. I think my stuff is pretty, but maybe I'm biased and others don't find it appealing? I also admit that I must be the world's lousiest marketer. I don't advertise or promote at all, except for rare postings in the forums and having curated a few Treasuries since October. Promoting seems like such a big CHORE.

Frogs and Jewelry

2008-04-12T16:23:00.001-07:00

My last sale on Earthly Creations was on February 27, six plus long weeks of waiting and last night I finally sold another piece. A buyer who likes to collect frog items bought it. It was such a relief to break the stalemate of no sales. It is so depressing and discouraging to see others sell left and right and there are not only few views in my shop, but also, more importantly, no sales. Today I renewed the listing on the Amazonite bracelet to increase the exposure it's getting (from wherever, I'm assuming the ad) and it has gotten up to 99 views just a few minutes ago. I hope it sells, I can use the encouragement.

As per the frog earrings, here's the story. I bought these lead-free pewter frogs at a bead store and thought how it looked like it was about to leap. I had also bought these turqouise flat square stones. It occurred to me a vision of the frog on a mossy stone ready to leap into the blue pool below the rock. Hence the idea for the main photo.

Today I also opened a shop at Dawanda, the German online shop site, a Etsy wannabe. I now have four shops, two at Etsy.com (EarthlyCreations and ArizonaSkies), one at iCraft.ca (Aurora Creations), and the latest at Dawanda.com (FilomenaDesigns). The idea is to see which one or two of the four does the best twelve months from now and then keep the best two. I really could use the extra income but don't want to have to have a REAL job, with set hours and days. I had enough of that for most of my life. I really enjoy making jewelry and crafts and want it to stay pleasurable.

Amazonite bracelet

2008-04-10T18:46:00.001-07:00

This is something unusual in my three months at Etsy (celebrated yesterday, April 9). This bracelet made with Amazonite, New Jade, and sterling silver had only 43 views late April 8, the day I bought an ad at JLC Designs's blog with a photo of this bracelet. Today it has 84 views. I thought I had been in a treasury and checked both the regular and west treasuries, but it was not in either so the extra views must have come from the the blog ad. That ad was a good buy too, $5 for the month of May and I got the rest of April for free. Jen also charged me $5 for making the ad, which was great since I am a complete tech-challenged person.

I feel ambivalent about views. If they have too few views I worry that no one likes the item, if there are too many views I wonder why all those viewers didn't want to buy it. It's a catch-22 situation.

Copying and copyrights

2008-04-10T11:52:00.000-07:00

Today there was a discussion/thread in the Etsy forums about copying and copyrights, one of many. The gist is that you cannot by law copy someone else's creation or idea.

The truth is that since the beginning of time things have been invented and made and improved upon and evolved by someone trying to imitate someone else and making little changes along the way. And nothing ever stops evolving, nothing is ever perfected to the point that no other changes can be made to it. So, in essence, every one has been a copier.

Even the inventor of the wheel must have seen and been inspired by other things. Perhaps one windy day he saw a round stone or piece of wood rolling along easily and effortlessly on the ground and he thought what a neat and fast way it would be to move things with such a contraption. And he may or may not have invented the wheel to the point where it could be useful, but someone else must have improved on his idea and ad infinitum until today we have wheels that move cars and machinery, and even those may eventually be improved upon or even become absolete because better forms of locomotion could have been invented.

I find it laughable when they speak of "copying" when the issue is merely imitation, which we all in one way or another, a little or a lot, have been guilty of. I simply call it "inspiration" since most artists and inventors use it as a base for their designs and inventions.

Devil's Claw wildflower

2008-04-08T10:58:00.000-07:00

http://waynesword.palomar.edu/ww0801.htm

The Devil's Claw is one of the most beautiful, resilient, tough, and well adapted to the desert wildflower. It starts out green and beautiful, it's seed pod looks like a smooth and long okra. When the plant, and the pod, dries, the pod will split open. It will then be carried by any big animal or human that steps on it to a new location where it's seeds will be dispersed. I find it's story irresistible in it's tenacity and innovation of evolution. Here are photos of one that I have collected.

Never say Never

2008-04-06T15:42:00.000-07:00

One of the quirks of my personality is that I always make fast judgements. I either endorse something enthusiastically, as in "this is THE thing", or thumb it down negatively, as in "it will never work". Most of the time I find that the answer is in the comfortable medium zone.

In my defense, I will say that I also have, or try to have, an open mind and will change my attitude when the time or circumstances are right.

Such is my attitude on the subject of blogs. I said I would NEVER keep one, and here I am, on the very first day of creating one, doing what I said I would never do. Life is full of ironies.

So, having taken such a big step, I will now retrench and close this post and see what I want to write about next. To be honest, I have NO idea what I will write about next and even have less of an inkling if anyone will ever read it. But, the future will tell, and I nor anyone can foresee the future in our lives.