Re-purposing, Easter Colors, and An Old Favorite

It's my goal to post my Listening-Wearing-Making posts every Thursday. But that did not happen this week, simply because I needed an "away from the internet (mostly)" day. You guys probably all know what I mean: when you have too many disjointed days in a row of constant email interruptions, FB wall scans, Instagram "check-ins." I for one will sometimes just find myself in this cycle of work, check (as in check in with any one of a number of internet distractions), work a few minutes, check, work a few (less) minutes, check. I needed to break the cycle so I took a day away. 

Anyways, on to the important stuff! This week I went back and listened to A LOT of Patty Griffin. She gets lumped in the country-americana category a lot, but her music pulls from rock just as much as it does country, so even if country isn't exactly your thing you might still like some of her albums. Her most recent, American Kid, is fantastic. 

Wearing. . . The other day I realized I had worn outfits that were predominantly grey for the last four days in a row. . . I have a sincere fondness for neutrals and less-satuarated colors, but I was surprised by my wardrobe color choice so many days in a row. Then, the next day (and rather unintentionally), the skirt I picked out to wear was a decidedly-easter-egg hue choice. I thought that would be more "apropos" given the time of year than a series of grey outfits. . . 

Making. . .  I mentioned that yesterday I took the day away from the internet. Well, I used it for a jewelry "play" day as I like to call it. I call it that because I take it as free and open time to experiment and create whatever is speaking to me at the moment. A lot of good stuff comes out of this time, even if it's not literally a "productive" day in the studio it is "productive" in the sense of filling my creativity and inspiration cups back up. Which is oh-so-important when you're making a business of selling designs you create (be it jewelry, paintings, sculptures, etc, etc.) A lot of my play time yesterday was spent cutting apart old tins and experimenting with different color and metal combos. 

Well, it's Friday now isn't it? I hope everyone's got a great weekend ahead of them! Jeff and I are going to be headed to my sister's for a BBQ and general fun with the kids. I'm going to dye some eggs today using this technique found on the Posie Gets Cozy blog. I'll share some photos of the results next week. Happy Friday everyone!

Celebrating

Last Friday was my 33rd birthday. Jeff and I went out for a lovely dinner at Penrose in Oakland. I got to dress up (something that is a rare occurrence lately) in this blue lace dress I scored off the clearance rack at Anthropologie a little while back. We sat around and ate oysters, fried abalone, deliciously fresh asparagus, and more. It was relaxed and low-key and pretty much perfect. After dinner I thought that we'd try and find somewhere good for dancing, but I must admit I was ready for bed by 11! One thing that I am noticing about getting older is how much easier it is to get up early everyday but how much harder it is to stay up late.

Last week I had said I would have more photos from my Disneyland trip to share with all of you. I still need to finish going through all of them, but here are a few that I especially liked: 

My sister is already in the works planning the next Disneyland trip! Hopefully I'll be able to take the time off from work again and join them for part 2 (not 'til next year). 

For now tho I'm trying to get re-focused on all things Tangleweeds. I have a slew of fairs in May and that means I need to start making like a mad-woman. I've got a set of engagement rings (for a custom order) to finish, and jewelry photos to edit. Right now it's back to the workbench for me!

(Also, if you didn't already see yesterday's post, check it out for April's Tangleweeds Giveaway. You have until April 28th to enter!)

April Giveaway

It's here! The next Tangleweeds Giveaway. As I said when I set up the last one, I'm hoping to offer this contest once a month through 2014. This month, I'm showcasing one of my favorites from the new collection: the TailFeather earrings. Last month I had you all tell me what your favorite season of the year is (and why), this time I want to know what your favorite kind of bird is (and why). Simply leave a comment on this blog post and you'll be entered to win these earrings. Contest closes April 28th and I'll announce the winner on the blog here on the 30th. Tell your friends and good luck!

Travel Stones and Tail Feathers

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

My boyfriend is always making me playlists on Spotify (a much appreciated gesture!) He put a Haim song on a couple different playlists recently, which prompted me to go and listen to their full album which I discovered I absolutely LOVE. So dancey, but not predictable. At least, that's how I would describe their music. Take a listen!

Lately, I can't stop wearing these TailFeather earrings from the new collection. I love the simple yet slightly unusual shape of them.

Making. . . I've been making a new batch of travel stone necklaces for my spring and summer craft fairs. You'll see in these photos the turquoise and lapis that I've had in stock for a while, but also new ones: peach moonstone, tigerseye, and silver mist jasper (those are the square-ish ones.) I'm really loving how these colors look all mixed up together. The new stones won't be available in my Etsy shop for another month or so, but you can always request them when you purchase any of the older/classic ones. 

Well, tomorrow's my birthday, so I better hop to it with work today (I'm taking tomorrow off.) Then on Saturday I'll be vending at Jack of All Trades in Jack London Square in Oakland. Drop on by and say hello if you're in the area!

Studio time, Birthday, Springtime Sale, and Ramblings

Well, I'm back from my trip to Disneyland. It's so much fun to see the park through a kids eyes (my 6 year old nephew). While it can be challenging juggling the demands of two young kids and the needs of the adults, it was such a wonderful break from my daily routines. 

Now that I'm back I'm slowly getting in to full-time work mode. Honestly, I had to take a day off after the trip just to rest and re-charge my batteries. This week is my birthday as well, so Jeff and I will take some time to celebrate. I'm keeping it low-key this year. . . for a lot of reasons. Mainly, I just don't want a big party this year. I want quiet and relaxation and good food. If I could afford it we'd be headed to a little spa in Mendocino, but alas, that is not in the cards for now (hello, I owe more on taxes than I thought I was going to, money crunch time). Which brings me to my next point-of-business: It's time for my spring sale in my Etsy shop!

(Help a girl pay her taxes!) I'm gonna be frank 'cause that's the kind of mood I'm in this morning: Money is super tight right now. I've gotta pay my taxes in a few days, I have a stack of craft fair applications to pay (that is serious money) and my business credit card is due any day now. Soooo, why am I sharing this with you? For one, it's the reality of running this small handmade business. Sometimes I feel like us hand-makers get so caught up in always showing the sunny, beautiful side of what we do that it can make people feel like everything must be amazing for us, all of the time. And, secondly, I've been noticing a trend with bloggers lately to try to showcase the "real" side of things and not just the pretty stuff, and I have to say I like this trend. It's a way of showing the behind-the-scenes of how we make the making happen. 

Don't get me wrong, I feel very lucky to be able to do what I do. I just think it's healthy to share the whole picture every now and then. And I've always got a spunky 6-year old named Noah and an orange tabby named Arlo to remind me what really matters as I stumble and trip and sometimes walk steadily through my days. 

(p.s. I'll have lots more pictures from my Disneyland trip next week when I get done going through the 150 or so pictures I took!)

Disneyland Here I Come

Well, folks, I leave for Disneyland with my sister's family tomorrow at the crack-o-dawn (4am) so as you can imagine, I'm still functioning in over-whelmed, busy-mode. It's okay tho, a few days to just walk around and be a kid again will put everything back into perspective =). I still wanted to drop in with another edition of listening-wearing-making. . . but it's a bit abbreviated. I don't have the "wearing" part as I accidentally deleted the photos off of my camera before uploading them to my computer. Just one of those weeks! 

This week I've been listening to a lot of Gaslight Anthem. They're sort of punk-rocky. . . Something I don't listen to that much, but it's great for energizing me in the studio.

Making. . . .Well, if you've taken a look around this site you've already noticed the update and the release of the new collection! As you can imagine I've been busy making lots of the new pieces, but especially these ones, the Creekside earrings. . . 

These are a popular design; I sold several pairs at last weekend's Treasure Island Flea. I love the rough-rustic texture on the brass "stems" of these earrings. (And, in case you're wondering the ear wires are gold-platted surgical steel, so they're suitable for sensitive ears.)

I probably won't be back to the blog until next week, when I'm back home. I'm gonna try to take a bunch of photos on the trip, so look forward to lots of snaps of my nephews and my sister, her husband and I goofing off at Disneyland. Next week I'll unveil the April giveaway too. In the meantime I hope everyone has a fabulous rest of their week!

Maybe Vacation

This past weekend I vended at the Treasure Island Flea. Saturday was such a mess! Wind and rain, obviously not a whole lot of shoppers came out. But Sunday made up for it: sunny and just a little bit breezy. Today it's been hailing off and on here in Oakland. What whacky weather!

(first photo from Saturday - the view looking out from inside my booth, second photo from Sunday)

Honestly tho, I'm going into this week completely frazzled by the amount of work I have to get done in a fraction of the amount of time I would usually have. I'm headed to Disneyland with my sister and her family on Friday, which will be loads of fun. But let's not kid ourselves! It's not easy (like really really not easy) taking time off when you run your own business. I'm feeling a bit conflicted about taking this time off, even tho I know it is exactly what is needed to keep the creativity and motivation flowing freely. 

Al right, time to work on my new linesheets. Enjoy the day everyone!

So Much Good Stuff

I am getting so excited to release the newest Tangleweeds collection! Seriously, I think this may be the collection of pieces I'm most pleased with in the 5 years of making and creating Tangleweeds. But, that is not why I'm dropping in at the blog today. I'm dropping in to reveal the winner of the March Tangleweeds giveaway. . . Shivani, you are the winner! Send me a direct email at tangleweedsjewelry@gmail.com so I can send you details on how you can receive your winnings!

And for those of your who entered but did not win, check back here in early April, for next month's giveaway (a little hint: it's going to be a piece from the new collection!)

Along the Way

I have so many projects in the works right now that sometimes I feel a bit overwhelmed. I don't like it when things get a bit un-organized, which has been happening more and more lately as I take on many of the projects that I've continually put on the back burner simply because I thought taking something more on would cause chaos to ensue. . . When I was younger I always wanted things to stay nice and tidy, but the older I get the more I realize that that's simply not possible. Not if you're objectives are to find the joy and amazing-ness in life (as much as possible). I think what I'm getting at is while I'm quite busy these days I am some how not stressing out about it as much as I would have once done. I'm even enjoying it (most of the time), and allowing a little bit of "disorganization" to happen along the way.  

This past weekend Jeff and I took his son Sean to the Berkeley Botanical Gardens. They're beautiful right now, and will be I'm sure for the next couple of months. (The roses have yet to take off yet. Give them another month or so.) The colors! Oh, so inspiring. It's funny, you would think the flowers inspired those earrings in the second photo from the top, but those were all finished by the end of the day on Friday. Those are made from pieces cut from vintage tins, and judging from the popularity of these on various social media outlets, I'll most likely be trying to get some of these into my Etsy shop soon (if they don't sell at fairs first, as they are all one-of-a-kind.) 

Sometime in the next couple of weeks this here website is going to go through a little makeover. I'm going to try to not "close for construction" for too long, but it may happen for a day or two while I tweak things to my liking. Which is a good time to remind those of you who want to: tomorrow is the last day to enter the Tangleweeds Sky Above Necklace giveaway. Contest closes tomorrow and I'll post about the winner on Wednesday. Good luck!

Vernal Equinox, Anticipation, Changes

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

This week has been a bit of an odd one for me. . . There have been some growing pains with my studio space. I can't get into the exact nature of it here, but there is the real possibility of needing to move my space sometime in the not-so-distant future. While that is exciting for some reasons, for other reasons it's making me feel unsettled and antsy. (And, actually, if anyone is reading this and knows of a possible studio opening somewhere in the Oakland-Berkeley-Alameda area and think it might be a good fit, shoot me a direct email at tangleweedsjewelry@gmail.com. I'm looking for a space with a bit of privacy, i.e. not a communal/shared space. Also, I'm willing to consider some less traditional studio spaces. )

On to what I've been listening to. . . 

In this last week, as I sat down to write this post, I realized that I haven't been listening to nearly as much music as I usually do. Instead I've been listening to the archives of many of my favorite NPR and KPFA shows. One of my favorites is last weeks's airing of Herbal Highway on KPFA. It's titled Food as Medicine. I think you get the general gist of the show simply given the title. If you have some quiet time this week, maybe while cooking a meal, give it a listen. 

Wearing. . . 

I am working from home today and realized the photos I'd taken for this post are on my camera. . . back at my studio. Darnit! So I thought I'd share a little sneak from the up-coming lookbook for my spring/summer Essentiality Collection. You can see from the photo there's going to be some new moon pieces, bangles, rings. And color: pale pink, violet, turquoise offset by pops of eggshell, matte black, and (of course) brass. 

Making. . . This week I spent a good chunk of time working on an order for Azil (a cute little shop on Hayes in San Francisco.) The above are just a few of the pieces headed to their shop tomorrow. And of course, I made a few to stock up my inventory for my upcoming craft fairs.

On the upside about my studio, working from home is lovely on a day like today. I have the doors and windows open to let in the fresh air and sunshine. Pretty perfect. Happy first day of spring everyone!