Life -- Don't Sweat the Small Stuff

Wow it has been months since I've posted anything on here! Hmm...I guess an update is in order....I lost my Aunt to liver cancer the week of my birthday in January. In November she was given 6 months. Her health deteriorated quickly there after and she was gone in 2 short months.  A week and a half later my dad had surgery to remove the upper right portion of his lung where the 2" mass of cancer was located. He is doing really well and they didn't find cancer anywhere else in his body so chemo is not needed. Two days after my dads surgery my mil found out she had uterine cancer. Unfortunately they weren't able to remove all of her cancer so she will need to have chemo treatments over the next few months. It has been an extremely tough time on the family as a whole. Nothing can prepare you for the loss of a family member.

As anyone who's been through a life changing ordeal....this is the time when you do some real soul searching. Your own life is now viewed under a microscope of your own creation. You begin to realize what really matters. I've taken a really long hard look at myself both internally and externally. I don't have it all figured out yet but I can tell you that I've changed. I'm ridding myself of some not so good qualities, I will be true to myself and by the Goddess I will no longer sweat the small stuff. "Don't sweat the small stuff" -- it's a saying you hear throughout your life but it's never something you really follow. Life is too short and I'll be damned if I'm not going to enjoy every minute of it while I'm here! Life is what you make of it....and I'm going to make mine fabulous, something out of fairy tales....it's going to be beautiful!

Can I wake up now?

I've been away and feel like I'm in a nightmare that won't end. Life has thrown some serious curve balls this way and well I don't know anymore...I don't know which way is up, down, left, right...all I can say is thank the Goddess for auto-pilot mode.

As for the curve balls...well my dad was feeling really sick, problems breathing so my mom took him to the doctors. Next thing I know the physician is calling me asking me if I can come down and convince my dad to go to the hospital. After rushing down there he reluctantly agreed to go. He was in the emergency room for an hour when they told him they'd have to transfer him to another hospital. They said he had pneumonia, but they also believed that he had a heart attack and he needed to see a specialist. So I packed up my mom and rushed to meet my dad at the other hospital. They of course did a series of tests and indeed he had had a heart attack -- but they saw something else so they needed to do a CT scan. They found a mass in his lung and after having a PET scan they've determined that the mass is a malignant tumor - lung cancer.

During all of this my Aunt (my dad's sister) is having a battery of tests done as well because she's been in a lot of pain and she doesn't know why. Her results came back after dads and she has stage 4 liver cancer, they've given her 6 months. Dad keeps asking me what "stage 4" means. It saddens me because each time I answer I can see it sink in a little bit more. so sad.

Needless to say our families have been turned upside down. My mom isn't sleeping because every time my dad moves she's wide awake with fear that he's going to suddenly die. I'm just trying to be strong for them. I don't know what else to do. I don't even feel like I'm attached here...it's like I'm floating...just going with the motions of day to day life. I don't show my emotions to my family...I can't. I have to be the strong one.

Will someone wake me up please?

The Night's Sky

Wow...tonight's sunset was like having my own personal light show in the sky -- love the colors!

Tonight's Moon

I just love the moon.....

Finding My Creativity

It's been awhile since I've updated my blog...sorry! I've been re-adjusting to my kids being out of the house and trying to come up with new creative designs. 

One of the things I want to get back to are making pieces that come from the heart, pieces that represent something important in my life. So here's a picture of the Triple Moon pendant that I recently made and will be listing in my shop soon. This one is made using a lab grown Alexandrite set in fine silver.

 

Also, I'm so excited to announce that I successfully taught myself how to solder fine metals...woot woot!! Up until now all of my previous attempts ended in some messy glob, so I'm happy to show off these new rings that I made for myself out of scrap sterling, one is a London Blue Topaz, and the other is a Signity CZ.

I swear after that first successful solder I couldn't stop myself. Before I knew it, it was 2am and my focus was blurry but dangit I made 8 rings and all of them turned out great! Actually that's a fib -- the next day when I looked at the rings again one of the wide band rings was not to my liking because the solder and flowed into part of the pattern...so it's scrap now and I don't care cuz the rest of the rings turned out fab!! :D

Hopefully after I practice a bit more I'll start getting some of these listed in my Etsy shop so keep an eye out!

What I've been up to...

I've been away for awhile working on custom orders, spending time with my kids, working and getting ready for the FaerieWorlds Festival!! My best friend will be arriving in town this weekend and I'm seeing a lot of fun to be had here shortly.

I've been busy working on my outfits for the fest, revamping, repurposing clothing, making jewelry for each day as well as feather facinators. I've included some pics of the facinators:

This is for Friday's outfit, I'll be in mostly black with silk rainbow colored wings and other bright colored accessories.

I made 2 of the rose facinators for Saturday which I'll be in more of a steampunk victorian style outfit

I'll post the earrings I made for these 2 days later...I'm still working on my Sunday's outfit and all the accessories...I'm just having a blast and feeling the creative juices flow knowing there's no limitations!!

With everything that's going on -- here are the dates that I will be closing my Etsy shop:

~~**Shop Closure Dates**~~

July 23rd - Aug 4th (FaerieWorlds Festival, Eugene, OR)
Aug. 20th - 22nd (Kids College Move-In)
Aug. 27th - 29th (Kids College Move-In)

Dates are subject to change due to the amount of custom orders that I have...but I'll keep you posted!

Another Treasury :)

Yay, I'm excited to be included in another treasury! Love the soft honey colors in this one!

I can't believe June has come and gone already! We've only had a few days of nice weather so it really hasn't felt much like summer. I've got so many things going on right now I think I need to make a list so I can keep track of it all. I have 9 jewelry commissions, sewing clothes for the FaerieWorlds Festival at the end of this month, making hair accessories, painting, replacing carpet, reupholstering furniture, repairing some drywall caused by a rather large piano getting stuck in my stairwell...and it feels like the list goes on and on. Hmm...funny...I didn't feel overwhelmed until I typed all of that down..LOL...well I guess that means I should start working on knocking some things off my list. I'm off off and away :)

Etsy Treasury

I'm so excited to be included in another Etsy Treasury!! Woot Woot

Beach Pics

I just realized that I haven't posted any pictures of my Lincoln City beach trip so I thought I'd better get on it.

When we got there the girls at the desk said there was a problem with our room so they bumped us up to the largest suite they had....SWEET!! I swear this is the only hotel I will stay at when I visit Lincoln City...they are right on the beach, best views, the rooms are great, service is even better and the rates are the best bar none!

I used the panoramic feature for the 1st time and kind of got the right side all wonky :)

The view of the rest of our room (behind the closed door was our huge bedroom)

This is a large tree root that almost stood taller than me!

The white caps were awesome

I love watching the ebb and flow of the ocean

Do you see it? A cloud imitating the moon :)

A closer view...they say imitation is the best form of flattery...I was impressed!

Well that's all for now..I took so many pictures that it would take days to upload them all! Okay so that's an exaggeration...let's just say I'm to lazy to upload them all right now :)

Another Treasury

Yay...one of my Labradorite necklaces made it in an Etsy Treasury!