Planning a Garden

This last week was a study in contrasts: I worked on my taxes (almost done!) and attempted to catch up on a bunch of misc. paperwork. But then, come the weekend I had time for some creative projects and plant/flower shopping at Flowerland nursery in Albany. I think I had worked my "practical", logics-based brain muscles so much during the week that come the weekend all I wanted to do was play and make things and stretch my creative legs!

Above is some of the mess from my projects this weekend. I made one of those dream catchers with twigs and sticks and doillies that seem to be cropping up everywhere. (The project is hardly my original idea, you make it your own in the "ingredients" you choose. . . kind of like cooking.) It was a lot of fun and the perfect kind of weekend project as there's no pattern to follow, you just kind of go for it and improvise with the tools you have as you go. Below is the finished piece! I'm hoping to make some more to give as gifts. . . 

Some beautiful delphinium flowers from one of my afternoon walks through Jack London Square. I love these flowers; they were some of my favorites as a child. I even remember, once I got my first job at the age of 16, going down to the local nursery to buy some to plant in my parents' backyard. One of the plants I picked up from Flowerland was a purple variety of these. 

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This is Mingus. He's my neighbor's cat and he is a GIANT love-bug. He also has the funniest/loudest meow I've ever heard come out of a happy cat. He kind of sounds pissed off and annoyed but the whole time he's purring and rubbing against you trying to get as much love as possible. 

Some shots (courtesy of Jeff) from our Sunday trip to Flowerland. Honestly, all these years living here and I'd never gone to this magical little place. It's so quaint. (At one point I said to Jeff "Even the bathroom is cute here!") There's a carefully curated selection of flowering plants, edibles, succulents, small bushes, and gardening paraphanelia in their small indoor shop. (They also carry a small slection of jewelry. . . I seriously want to get Tangleweeds into this shop if I have my way.) Jeff and I picked out a variety of flowering plants, mainly for some large planter boxes in our front yard. Hopefully, once it all makes it's way into the ground I'll post some pretty pics here.

Lastly, amidst all of the paperwork and taxes I did squeeze in some time to make jewelry (of course!). That second photo is a shot of some of the goodies that were dropped off at Gorgeous and Green in Berkeley late last week. And, yup, they now have some of my newest designs! If you're local and itching to get your hands on some of these new pieces, head on down to 2946 College Ave in Berkeley. They stock a gorgeous selection of hand-crafted goodies, and they have the best floral shop in town! 

Spring, Skirts, Bangles

This week's Listening, Wearing, Making. . . 

I've been obsessed with Buena Vista Social Club this week. There's something about their music that is pairing really well with the gorgeous spring weather we're having here in the bay area. 

Wearing. . . As I already mentioned the lovely spring weather, it's been calling for sandals and gypsy skirts. 

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Making. . . Lots of bangles! I'm so glad to have bangle designs as part of the Tangleweeds collection finally. I love bangles myself and on the days when I put more thought into my dress I like to wear lots of them! The "clinky" sound they make is like music throughout the day.

My day is full-to-bursting, so I better hop on over the the workbench while it's still early. But you know I'll be heading outside for a lunch break just to soak up more of this beautiful weather!

Flowers, Craft Fairs and Photo Shoots

If you follow along with my Events page, then you know this past weekend I had two fairs: First Friday at the 25th Street Collective and Jack of all Trades in Jack London Square (both in Oakland.) Both events were great fun. I always love meeting new people at these fairs, and courting new customers!

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The display pictured above is from my Jack of all Trades booth.

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Part of my display from First Friday.

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This last week I also finished up taking photos for my next collection. Above is an outtake from my second photo shoot for my spring/summer collection. I can't wait to release all of these new pieces officially!

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It's really been warming up here in Oakland these last few days. Flowers are blooming everywhere and their gorgeousness simply makes me pause. Above, periwinkle in my backyard.

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A flowering aloe on my afternoon walk. 

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I took some time on Sunday to re-pot some of my indoor plants. This succulent got a new home in the pot pictured. I found it at a Goodwill a couple of weeks ago.

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Lastly, some handmade components that went into orders that shipped out last week. 

I've gotta get dinner finished up for the family. I hope everyone is having a great start to this new week!

High School Art Teacher

This week's listening, wearing, making. . . 

I think I've regaled all of you with country music for enough weeks in a row. Today I wanted to share this decideldly pop song from my high school days! I was in love with this song when it first came out but didn't think it was "cool" enough back then so I pretty much kept those feelings to myself. Now, I don't really care if my music tastes are "cool" enough, so I'm sharing it here for the entire world to know about. (Those teenage years! When I look back I wonder how any of us survived!)

Wearing. . . Here's where the title of this post comes in. I got this dress for a mere three bucks at the Treasure Island Flea a couple of months ago. (Yes, I love to shop at the same events that I sell at!) This dress just seems like the perfect dress for a high school art teacher. And I've been told by a few friends that I dress like one. Which I take as a HUGE compliment of course =). 

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Making. . . I think I've been saying this for the last few weeks, but I'm still mostly working on the new collection. That's going to change soon as I make the time to make more of my classics and build up my inventory stock for my many spring and summer craft fairs. Here's what will be my last sneak peek of the new collection until I release the look-book and put the items up in my Etsy shop. It's always hard to say which pieces are my favorites, but in this photo I'm loving the necklace on the far right and the earrings on the far left. 

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Yesterday I finished taking all of the photos of the new pieces. Today I'm back in the studio. Tomorrow I'll be at the 25th Street Collective for Art Murmur in Oakland. A Tangleweeds trifecta of very different types of days! 

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. And don't forget to enter the Tangleweeds Giveaway if you haven't already!

Tangleweeds Giveaway

Hello hello everyone! I've been teasing all of you long enough! This month marks the first Tangleweeds Giveaway for 2014 (most likely to be monthly from here on out.) I have to say, it was hard picking out just one piece to offer up to a lucky someone, but after much deliberation I decided to offer my Sky Above necklace in cream. A piece inspired by lazy summer days watching birds soar overhead in a bright blue sky. I have been day-dreaming lately about how I want to spend my summer "break". . . 

To enter this contest, simply leave a comment on this blog post about what your favorite season is and why.  I'll be randomly selecting a winner towards the end of the month and will post the results here on March 26th. Only one entry per person please!

Good luck!

Mercury Retrograde is Over!

Has anyone else been feeling the Mercury Retrograde? This last week I had so many technical difficulties and strange mis-haps that I was starting to think I'd be better off spending my week in bed with my cats and a few books. Not really, but I did do that come Wednesday evening! At least Mercury went direct on Saturday. Phew! While I'm not a hard and fast astrology believer, I think it's a nice metaphor for talking about how everything relates to everything else. . . 

Below, my week in snapshots. (Also, read to the bottom for important Tangleweeds Giveaway info!)

Top to bottom:

1. A shot from my lookbook photoshoot. Boy oh boy was that day interesting. It was raining all day, which made for an interesting and challenging photo-shoot. But it came together and I can't wait to share it in early April.
2. Arlo and Otis and a good book. This is how I spent a few of my evenings. My week pretty much demanded it!
3. Raindrops on calendula flowers in my backyard. I planted these a couple of years ago and they're doing marvelously. I planted them so I could harvest them for tea but so far I haven't had the heart to cut these gorgeous flowers down!
4. Really awesome owl tumblers and ice holder at an antique mall in Sacramento. Jeff and I had a brief getaway this past weekend. We spent a couple day and one night in the capital and did a bunch of thrifting, antiquing, and record shopping. 
5. A shot of me busy at work. My work bench is always a mess of scrap metal and pieces in various stages of "almost finished."
6. The last two are my parents' dogs. The first one is Avery and the second shot is of my mom and Amber. Amber was a dog they found on the street recently and took in. She's getting along quite well with Avery (who's a bit of a senior-doggie).

Lastly, I'll be offering my first Tangleweeds Giveaway this month! Tomorrow morning I'll post about it and how to enter. Anyone is welcome to enter!

New Favorites Old Favorites

A quick edition of Listening, Wearing, Making as I have to run off to the city soon. As the title suggests, this post is all about new and old favorites. Starting with a new (to me) favorite band, I See Hawks in LA. Loving their most recent album, Mystery Drug. This song is off of that album. (Think country-rock with great harmonies.)

Wearing: two old favorites. This bear-print dress and these boots. The boots are great what with all the rain we've been having and the dress is so so comfortable. 

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Making: lots of new designs! Here's a sneak peek at some of the colors and shapes you'll be seeing in the new collection soon. 

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Gotta run to the city soon. Have a great weekend everyone!

Full Week, Full Heart, Full Life

This last week was full of great stuff. Visited my sister, visited my folks, vended at the Treasure Island Flea, went on a hike with a good friend and more! I'm pouring over craft fair applications today, so this entry will be a bit brief. Enjoy your week everyone!

Photos (from top to bottom)

1. Early morning me before heading to the Treasure Island Flea
2. Early morning kitchen window
3. Me and my sis hanging out at her house
4. A WONDERFUL meal I came home to Sunday evening after the second day of the Treasure Island Flea. Jeff and Sera cooked up a feast!
5. Pretty flowers outside my Oakland studio
6. Some vintage hanging in my booth this past weekend
7. My friend Alice and I on our afternoon hike
8. Mending my boyfriend's favorite sweater
9. Lastly, my booth at the Treasure Island Flea

(All of these photos are from my Instagram feed. Follow me at if you like to see photos of my works-in-progress, cute cats, flowers and other pretty things!)

 

Inspired By Neutrals

Apparently there's a color theme to my posts this week. Purple on Tuesday, neutrals with this week's edition of Listening, Wearing, Making. Not that those colors have much to do with the music I've been listening to. . . I discovered Carrie Rodriquez just last week. New country, singer-songwriter, and she plays the fiddle! Pretty much music perfection if ya ask me. 

Wearing. . . I've been quite inspired by Gretchen Jone's Neutral Territory project/blog. She's basically decided to wear only neutrals for a whole year, and each month she eliminates one color until it's pretty restricted by year's end. I really am already a neutral lover, but her project is inspiring. I love it when people create personal challenges or experiments and then share their endeavors with the world. Check her blog out if you're interested! My outfit below is pretty much a mixture of 100% thrifted finds. 

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Making. . . Some new variations on my Egyptian style necklaces. These aren't available in my Etsy shop yet, but will be once I get them photographed. 

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Lastly, I'm announcing today that I'm going to start offering a monthly Tangleweeds giveaway here on my blog. I'll start the first one in March, since this month is already more than half over (how the heck did that happen!?) It might be one of these beauties. . . But I'm not sure yet, so you'll just have to check back the first week of March =)

Have a lovely rest of your week and weekend everyone. I'll be back next Tuesday!

Purple Flowers, Purple Jewelry, Purple Everywhere

Looking back at my last week there seems to be a purple theme going on. . . rather unintentionally. Funny how things like that happen sometimes. My next collection has some purples and pinks in it, not two colors I thought I'd be wanting to work into a collection anytime soon, but it has just felt right. Purple was my favorite color as a kid and into my teen years, but was eventually usurped by greens and browns. I love how things come full circle without our even trying to make it so. 

Photos form top to bottom:

* Purple anemones at the Lake Merritt farmer's market in Oakland
* My worktable in my studio. Last week as I worked on the new collection, things got a bit messy and chaotic. 
* An old RV in my neighborhood. Inspiration for the series of art prints Tangleweeds will be releasing in the late spring.
* A mug of chai and some new crescent moon designs. These are a variation of of this moon design and will be part of the new collection. Pretty excited for these, especially the double crescent moon lariat-style necklace.
* Jeff with Arlo in our (pink) kitchen. That cat loves him some love. 

I've got Etsy and Shoppe orders to work on today. Hoping everyone is having a good week so far!