what i've been working on

you know how i mentioned a little while back that i thought i'd been cursed with a jeweler's block? well, i'm happy to say that it's kind of lifting! it took me a little while after we returned from our trip to get back into the crafty swing of things because i had a large order that needed finishing before i devoted time to making anything new, but since that's been shipped, i've been able to spend a little more time making things for my shop. i even started a little idea journal so that i'd be sure not to forget anything i really wanted to make! it's a perfect little moleskine journal with screenprinted deer that i got from etsy, and i think it's going to work out well!

i've been making loads of rings lately with amethyst and quartz chunks, and they're all so hard to put in my shop! i'm way too addicted to raw gem stones. the earrings are made from spent bullet casings, vintage chain and porcupine quills. they sort of came about without me having any direction or idea; i love that sort of process!

i usually make hammered bangles with the dimpled, hammered texture, but i decided this time (partially because of sore hammering muscles, and partially because i wanted something new) i'd do something different. this bangle has a brushed texture, and i love the way it catches the light...i only wish the picture showed it better!

now, i have to tell you about this dream i had last night. in the dream, chris and i were staying in a log cabin that was divided up into several apartments, each having one bedroom and one living room. the cabin only had one bathroom for everyone to share, and that happened to be in our apartment. flojo came along with us, and i put her cage beside the bathroom door. whenever we came back from going to the beach, i noticed that flojo's food bowls were turned upside down and on the bottom of her cage. i knew that someone had done it, but i wasn't sure who. then i came back another day to find that her bowls were not only overturned and on the bottom, but broken. the last day i came back, i discovered that more things were broken, the bottom was filled with water, and everything inside her cage was wet. i was absolutely furious and i wanted to scream at whoever was doing these things, but i didn't know who it was. i was also scared that maybe they'd done something to hurt flojo, or maybe they'd given her something to eat that was poisonous to birds. i woke up wanting to cry, and i was so happy to go get flojo out of her cage this morning when she woke up so i could kiss her and tickle her and tell her that i love her! don't you hate those dreams that get you so worked up?

*dream update! so i just did a little researching about my dream, and while i may not be as good at dream interpretation as annie, i think i've figured a few things out. several things in my dream represented fear and worry, along with a feeling of being out of control. that makes sense considering my husband's current job (or no job, rather) situation and our financial stress. but, the best thing of all, the fact that i was in a cabin in my dream means this, "To see or dream that you are in a wood cabin indicates that you will succeed via your own means. It suggests that you are self-reliant and independent, yet still remain humble. You prefer the simpler things in life." nice to know!