New Etsy Shop, New Designs

Aluminum Key Chain

Aluminum Best Friends "Bestie"  Bracelet Set

Hope, Dream, Love and Trust Custom Necklace

Bee Happy Copper Necklace

Personalized Sterling and Fresh Water Pearl Necklace

Mother Bird in Nest with Fresh Water Pearl "Eggs" Necklace

A lot has happened since my last post which was far too long ago. I've been meaning to post more often!

You know what they say about good intentions......

I started a new ETSY shop Always A Memory  and have been diligently working on new jewelry designs over the past few months....making sample pieces and photographing them which seems to take more time and effort than making the jewelry!

But the payoff has been that these designs have been well received! 

I've been in several etsy treasuries over the last week or so and that's a record for me!

I use sterling silver, copper, brass and aluminum in my work. Sterling Silver is so expensive right now that I've been looking at alternative metals. I just started making hand stamped bracelets from aluminum and they've turned out very well and are an affordable alternative to silver for now!

Hand stamped jewelry making is my new addiction! It's quite an investment in tools and materials but I have had so much fun making things. I have many design stamps and hand tools now.

And I want so many more! I think it's going to be a never ending wish list for me...

Next on my wish list is some fancier font stamps!

I'm still working my other job part time since last May. I think I will be full time again soon.

Not sure how I feel about that yet but we'll see how it goes. 

Hoping I can balance my creative needs with my practical-need-a-paycheck life without going crazy! 

 My family is well. I spend as much time as I can with my 3 grand kids (who are growing like weeds and never fail to make me laugh or smile). My 3 kids are all doing fine and moving on in their own lives! My husband and I celebrate our 24th wedding anniversary on January 26th.

Winter is getting me down (I've had enough rain and gray days) but I'm looking forward to Spring.

I know it will be here soon enough!

I'm looking forward to a beach trip soon and another trip to Portland to visit one of my daughters.

More soon!

Oregon Beach Photos

I had a great weekend at the Oregon Beach! It was warm, sunny with not much wind! Uncommonly good weather for this time of year. It was beautiful so I took lots of photos between Lincoln City and Newport. Lots of surfers were out at the Otter Rock/Devil's Punchbowl beach.....

Hope you had a great weekend as well! I'm off to list some new things in my etsy shops! Have a good day! Kitty

A Warm Breeze........

 

  

 

  

Okay, I've had it with winter!

I know I keep saying that.....so I am going to pretend it isn't winter today.

It's warm and the sun is shining.....

Here are some photos that I took at the Oregon State Fair this past August.

  I love the gardens and ponds that they have every year.

Always colorful and creative.

Since I was with a group of uninterested family....

I had to dash through the garden

and take photos on the way to the food!

I would have taken many more but I was running.....

Enjoy!

Winter In Oregon

We spent the day at Benson Sno-Park on Sunday.

There were 2 full carloads of family!

We spent several hours there.

I usually watch everyone else ride their sleds down the hill.

And take photos.

I played with these at Picnik.

They look much more dramatic than the originals!

I hope you had a fun weekend too!

I've Got Cabin Fever

I hate winter....I won't lie about it.

I hate all the gray, cloudy days and rain in Oregon at this time of year!

I want to feel the sun on my face. I want to swim in my pool and rest in the hammock.

 Summer is like heaven here so I guess it's worth waiting for!

It's just so slow in arriving.....

As soon as Christmas and New Years is over...I start to long for some sunshine and warmth.

It means I am ready for Spring....now.

I've been cooped up far too long already and I'm looking forward to warmer, longer days.

I miss sitting in my back yard in the warm sunshine.

A nice drive to the coast sounds good.

A long walk on the beach.....just me and my camera.

I need to make a reservation for the trip I'm going to take with my sister in a month or two.

We're going to go to stay at the Magnolia Inn in Jacksonville, Oregon.

We never made it last Fall like we had planned.

It's a bed and breakfast. And we want to stay in this room.  It looks so peaceful, yet fun with 2 twin beds perfect for a sister trip!

We'll go see the old places we lived at while we were teenagers and reminisce.

Find some fun antique shops in Medford and Ashland too.

I bought a projector yesterday so we can

have our own "drive-in" movies in the back yard this summer.

This one projects up to 120 inches so it takes 2 white twin sheets to make a "screen" for it!
The back of our garage will work perfectly.

I'm sure you will see a post about it just as soon as it is even remotely warm enough!

I bought this because I once took our tv and dvd player outside to have a

drive-in movie night for my grandkids and niece.
We sat under the canopy, with our chairs lined up theater style, eating our microwave popcorn.

It was so much fun that I vowed to get a projector so we could do it again.

  When I was little we called it the "Big TV" and my Dad would pop

real popcorn on the stove in his pan reserved only
for that purpose and he would dump it into a big paper grocery bag.

We would put on our pajamas and head to the drive-in in the VW bus!

It was the 1960's you know!.

I love to recreate my own favorite memories for the grandkids!

I will try to make the best of the gloominess and get outside to take some photos soon.

Our family is supposed to go play up in the snow at Willamette Pass.

My husband takes his propane cooker to the sno-park at HooDoo.

He cooks a couple big cans of Chili and we have some snacks and hang out.

Always a good time!

This is the time of year where I scour my favorite

blogs and magazines for home decorating ideas.

My house seems so bare after

we take all the Christmas decorations down.

But, I'm also glad to see them go!
Hasta La Vista!

I need fresh, new ideas which usually leads to

"Spring Cleaning" a few months early.....

I will start putting up my Valentine's decorations soon. I need some color!

Some pink and red to brighten my days....

Maybe I will make a paper banner?
Or ask my talented, sewing enabled daughter to make me a Valentine's Day bunting?

Well, I'm just rambling along today! Thinking out loud again!

I'd better make the most of this winter since there are still a few more months left of it!

What do you do to take the gray away?

Historic Jacksonville Oregon Trip

Just got home from a fun end of summer trip to Southern Oregon. It was a 2 car caravan of kids and adults to Grants Pass to take the Hellgate Jetboat Excursion trip down the Rogue River. We took the same trip last summer and wanted to go again! My sister and I took all of our kids and my grand kids too. We had a great time! We stayed in Grants Pass after the Jet Boat ride and the next morning we headed to Jacksonville.

Jacksonville is a small historic gold rush town near the city of Medford. We rode the trolley around town, listened to the guide give us some history and took as many photos of the beautiful historic homes as we could.

We had a great lunch at the Bella Union Restaurant and Saloon. Great atmosphere! We sat outside on the patio but the saloon looked like great fun too! I had the best Chicken Sandwich....ever. It had a chicken breast marinated in walnut and gorgonzola pesto; grilled with prosciutto ham and fontina cheese on a fresh bun. Yummy! I would drive all the way back just to have another....

My sister and I have decided that we will be going back (sans kids) and stay at the quaint Magnolia Inn sometime this Fall. If you live in Oregon or are considering a trip here you must visit Jacksonville. It was the perfect end to a wonderful Summer!

No Way!

It has NOT been 5 weeks since I posted! It's been a busy summer. We finally went camping at Detroit Lake here in Oregon. Of course the weather didn't cooperate....it rained very hard one night. We stayed dry but it wasn't a very warm trip. We still took the boat out and had a good time.

We had all the kids and grandkids come along this time. I think they all enjoyed it. The bees took over whenever we sat down to eat! The same is happening at home which reminds me of why we stop eating outside in August. Sleeping is always a challenge even with the inflatable mattresses. I had to yell for help when I fell off of mine at 3 am! My husband thought it was funny...he had stacked 2 on top of each other which isn't a good idea. So I fell off the side and was hanging onto the tent pole...also not a good idea.

The weather was best the day we left to go home so we packed up, all got in our boats and took a short ride around the lake. It is a beautiful place! I took LOTS of photos too.

I'm still working on my family genealogy and helping others with theirs when I can. I really enjoy doing it. I know how I excited I was to get even the smallest tidbit of info that would lead me to some new discovery. I enjoy helping others do the same! I'm still working on my Rondo line...hoping to find that elusive long, lost relative who has all the info I am seeking. I know it will happen some day!

Fall is coming soon! I can feel it in the air. School will start. I will be driving my granddaughter to school everyday so my life will have more routine. Therefore my blogging will be more regular...I hope! Keep checking in! Thanks for visiting me.....

Oregon Coast Getaway

I've been wanting to go to the beach for a few months now and I finally made my getaway yesterday! Of course it was sunny when we left home and raining when we arrived. It stopped raining long enough for me to take some photos.

It was just me and my daughter, Chantel. We had a good visit and enjoyed the view!