October is the Month of the Rosary

so here are a few rosary bracelets and a new pocket rosary that  I recently finished.

I am getting ready for the annual St. John the Beloved Christmas Bazaar, so that means I may be focusing on more rosaries, chaplets, and rosary bracelets (some of my best sellers).

Czech Glass and Bronze

Larkovite and Sterling - I really like this "bookmark" style!

Swarovski, Czech glass and Bronze..my 1st time to use a magnetic clasp...I think I am in love :)

Pressed Czech glass flower beads, faceted glass, and bronze

Swarovski, pressed Czech glass and Sterling...the Czech glass bead is irridescent, and not so pink as the photo

I am hoping to finish up some new spiritual/rosary-themed items in time for the bazaar as well...they incorporate some totally new techniques for me and I am sort of excited :)  Stay-tuned!

I was featured in the Frederick News Post!

 

I was interviewed a few weeks ago about my rosary business and the article came out on Sunday.  I was very happy to have been approached but nervous at the aspect of talking with someone about my work and having a photographer in my home, but it was pretty laid back.

The article turned out okay...the writer really didn't know anything about jewelry-making or rosaries and I didn't get a chance to proof or confirm facts. I do actually realize my rosary pliers are round-nose pliers, not needle nose ones :)  Other misconceptions/errors...I am actually the youngest of 5 (I have 3 sisters and 1 brother); my rosary business on etsy is melismaticrosaries.etsy.com (my jewelry site was listed in error); and while I am not a full-time professional musician, the statement about "having no future in music" was a bit dissapointing.  I have sung with the Washington Opera (now National Opera), Wolf Trap Opera, Washington Concert Opera, and my gigs at St. John the Beloved and St. Catherine of Siena are/were paid jobs - I just meant I realized I didn't have what it takes to be a full time opera singer!

I have gotten a few inquiries from it already, so I am hopeful it will bring some new customers.

If you'd like to read the article, here is a link...

http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/art_life/display_horizon.htm?storyID=88790

I couldn't get the photos to show up in the online article, so have scanned a few from the newspaper to include...quality is not the greatest.

Spring Fever!

I can not believe it is already the middle of March!  I was just saying "Happy New Year" the other day...in fact, just got around to putting way some errant Christmas decorations that I missed on the 1st  post-holiday cleanup! 

Where did that time go?  What about all my 2009 resolutions/aspirations?  My main resolution was to post at least one new piece of jewelry weekly.  Oops, haven't lived up to that one. Oh, well...not going to worry too much...Spring is almost here and I have the fever!

Spring is my all-time favorite season.  I love it when the 1st flowers start pushing their new green growth up out of the cold, sometimes still-frozen ground.  The 1st really warm days, all I want to do is go dig in the dirt.  Last weekend, we had spring-like temperatures in the 70's, but I didn't get a chance to garden though.  This weekend, of course, it is supposed to be cold and yucky, so all that new growth that peeked out could be in danger.

Here are a few things I found in my yard in the last few days...

 

Same dafs, a couple of days later

 

Some sedum, trying hard to emerge through last year's dead flower stalks and old leaves that need to be cleaned up.  This bed will be first on my list to cleanup, along with a couple of butterfly bushes that I didn't cut back last autumn.

 

The down side of gardening season is the shortage of the thing I need most...time! I will have to choose which to do...work in my beloved garden or make jewelry. 

If I could just quit my day job :)

Holiday Sale at Melissa Meman Designs - December 10 - 20!

Run, don't walk to my shop, Melissa Meman Designs, and save 20% off everything!  Enter the coupon codeword "Santa" at check out and the discount will be applied.   This includes gift certificates!!!

     

Fun with Mr. Picasso Head!

Not really a self-portrait, but almost!

 

Create your own masterpiece at Mr. Picassohead...go on, it's fun!

Walking...

So, my day job office has a committee that plans all this employee-moral boosting stuff.  Usually, it just makes most of us roll our eyes and plan to be conveniently "out of the office" when events are held - well, at least me!

This Spring, however, they have planned a fitness challenge that involves wearing a pedometer all day and counting your steps.  We are supposed to form 4-person teams and track our daily steps for 8 weeks, with prizes and frivolity ensuing...yeah, I know.   Anyway, as I have really been trying to improve my fitness and lose some weight by my 50th (Sept), I joined.  Yesterday was the 1st official day and I counted 3,040 steps...woohoo!  I thought, wow, that's a lot...great job!  Well, actually the daily goal is a minimum of 10,000 steps!  Okay, the 3K total was only my normal day of activity - it was rainy and my burned foot is still kind of touchy-feely, so I didn't go out and purposefully walk, but still...I didn't realize I was so sedentary.

My next door office cubicle neighbors are chatty girls that are fairly new to the workplace and range in age from mid-twenties to early-thirties.  They never shut up and I hear most of their endless conversations.  One girl proudly proclaimed this morning that she had walked over 14,000 steps yesterday, just with her normal daily activity.  Another chimed in, "oh, me too, 12,000 was really easy!", then a third piped in with more of the same!

I really need some encouragement not to just toss in the pedometer!