Now I REALLY need to buy a Lottery Ticket!

I also won Lynn Davis’ Braided Circle she created out of pewter. Isn’t it beautiful?

In other news, I have stocked my Etsy Shop with Rosary Bracelets of my own design. (Also, check out the little Etsy List to the lower right on this page.)

And now through the holidays, if you buy a rosary, you will also receive a matching pair of earrings. Just look for this holiday badge:

Oh, and the bindweed beetle bracelet is also listed, so if you want to wear a winner, here’s your chance.

Now in Etsy!

I am going to buy a Lottery Ticket!

My luck is turning and I need to cash in on it while the getting is good. I won the bug-bracelet challenge hosted by KJ at Silver Parrot.

My Bindweed Beetle Bracelet was selected to win a stash of beads and some art books, including GreenGirls Studio’s new Enchanted Adornments. I am so excited I can hardly see straight. And what is more, the company was pretty impressive, Lorelei Eurto did a couple of bracelets, Cindy Wimmer, and . . . well, the list is long and bracelets are gorgeous, so check out KJ’s blog to see the contenders.

This luck comes on the heels of an intense weekend. I was hostess for the regional chapter of Studio Art Quilt Associates . I was nervous about this because I am a relatively new member and I was concerned that we would have a light turn-out. We did, but it was great because several of my fellow guild members showed up and filled out the ranks.

After the meeting I went to the local arts center to hear an artist talk about her show she just installed. The artist is Susan Lenz, and she is one to watch! Her installation is titled “Blues Chapel” and it is a mixed media installation piece (the whole exhibit is considered a work of art in and of itself). Textiles, graphics, sculptures, found-objects all represent some aspect of the early female blues singers who, for the most part, are forgotten. It is a very moving show.

In her talk, Susan also showed us another body of work that is taken from an unusual source. She makes small, beautiful, hand-embroidered quilts that began their lives as silk fabric grave-rubbings . I saw her blog and read every word about this second series and was just over the moon to get to see it in person in her artist’s talk. She has been kind enough to let me use this image here in this blog.

One of the loveliest things about this weekend is the openness and encouraging spirit I have encountered from KJ, my guild friends, the SAQA members, and Susan Lenz. I feel the “reveal” for the next part of my life/career is just around the corner and it is going to be artistic and wonderful.

Bracelet Challenge

When I saw KJ’s Bracelet Challenge with the beautiful bug photos I kne­w in an instant that the bracelet I was going to make would have to be from those beautiful beads. I purchased these beads over a year ago because their colors took my breath away. The round beads are resin and the ovals are stone, but I never found out what kind. The golden beads are AB faceted Czech glass and the leaves are dyed mother of pearl.

I choice this photograph for my inspiration.

Not only was I thoroughly inspired by these really cool bugs, I found more information about them. They are called Tortoise Beetles or Bindweed Beetles and this particular variety is found in Nicaragua (LINK ).

Here’s my bracelet for the challenge.

I love a challenge, don’t you?

Bug Bracelet Challenge

Found out from reading Lorelei’s blog that KJ of Silver Parrot Designs is having a Bracelet Challenge on her blog this week using one of these bug pictures as inspiration.

Check out KJ’s Blog for the rules and details and leave a comment there.

I happen to have the perfect beads for a bracelet inspired by those gorgeous beetles!

I "Heart" Fall!

I love this time of year, when the leave change colors and the air is crisp. In North Texas, we don’t get a real fall, but I will gladly accept this brief transition.

I was washing dishes the other morning and looked out to our vine-covered arbor. Our backyard is a wild mess, but the arbor is beautifully decked out in its fall colors. I went out and snapped a couple of photos and was reminded of my first visit to the UK, to York, specifically. There I visited a woolen shop and was told that both sides of my family had surnames that were “septs” or protected families under Clan Buchanan. I also was told that the tartan for clan Buchanan was “one of the jazzy ones”.

Well, it is.

Don't know why it is rotated. Go figure!

That was 25 years ago. Since that time, I have visited the UK about seven or eight times and at least four of those times were month-long stays in Scotland. You might say I have fallen for Scotland in a big way!

In the Woolen Shops, especially in Scotland, there is always a wide array of tartans made up in several different forms: Kilts (for men), Kilted Skirts (for women), scarves, ties, caps, jackets, vests and so on. Some of the tartans are “jazzy” – even more so than the Buchanan tartan! And some are rather muted.

What most non-Scots do not know is that most tartans actually come in three forms: ancient, modern, and hunting. Ancient tartans tend to have a more muted tone because of the use of natural dye-stuff. Modern tartans have clearer, bolder colors because of the use of synthetic dyes. And Hunting tartans are a lot like the ancient tartans in that the colors are muted – sort of Scottish camo, if you can imagine that.

I have seen the “Bonny, bonny banks of Loch Lomond” – Buchanan stomping ground -- adorned in the colors found in my tartan. The Buchanan tartan is no more jazzy than Mother Nature herself.

Welcome to a Brand-New Blogger

Please welcome to the blog-o-sphere, Sandy -- my mom! We just set up her new blog and she would love to have some visitors. Please follow this LINK to her blog and leave a comment.

The Enchanted Adornments Giveway Winner is . . . ?

ME!

I have been following Lorelei Eurto’s blog for about as long as I have known about blogging and recently, I have been entered every single one of her Green Girl Studio Giveways. I won the very last one: This is what I won.

They are fabulous and I cannot wait until they arrive in my little mailbox. All this is in aid of promoting GreenGirls Studio’s new book: Enchanted Adornments which promises to be the hottest and best-est of the best in jewelry-making books of the year.

Thank you, Lorelei and GreenGirl Studios.

Question: Have you entered any contests or giveaways? Would you be interested in one if I hosted a giveaway? Please tell me now while I feel generous!

Round Robin Swap (#1) Details

By now, Alison Hodges should have received the box of necklaces for the Round Robin Necklace Swap (#1) arranged by Lorelei Eurto. I posted the group photo of all the necklaces with my additions a couple of days ago, but here are a few details I am quite pleased to share:

Alison’s double strand was warm and autumn-y with muted greens and carnelian rusts. I added a few Unikite ovals separated by carnelian beads. She sent along some beads for us to use, and one of them was a little leaf, which I wire-wrapped as a dangle. On the patinated chain tassel below the faux emerald, I added a muted green millefiore round.

I decided to not add anything to my necklace.

Gaea’s necklace was so much fun with all sorts of colorful baubles on it. I added one of the house-shaped freshwater pearls I wrapped to dangle close to a hollow Venetian-style swirl bead in red

Lorelei had some sweet flying bird beads and a few wings dangling and so I made a copper wire nest wit two small oval lapis beads for eggs. I dangled it near another of the house pearls. I hope she likes it.

Mollie created the loveliest resin and copper piece with a picture of a robin in a circle (“Round Robin” –get it?) . I want one of my own! I added a dangle and wire-wrapped a nest on one of the large oval links, Just as if a little birdy decided that link was the best place to settle down for a while.

Nancy’s necklace is so fun. There are some of her ceramic beads and then there is a strip of green trim with turquoise blue flowers that has been wrapped with copper wire attached to pearl and flower beads. She wants her necklace to be long, but it definitely needed some length if it was going to be what she requested, so I rosary-wrapped some pretty beads and pearls to help it along.

There you have it, my additions to the swap necklaces. I did not do a whole bunch of stuff to each one, just a little bit. There are two other designers after me – have to leave them something to do, right?

I am overwhelmed

Okay, so I am happily blogging along with a small but growing group of followers and, all of a sudden, in one day I have nearly one hundred visitors -- 97 -- visitors!!

You could have knocked me over with a feather!

image from Wikipedia, not copyright protected

So, if you are coming back today after your visit yesterday, (or if this is your first visit), I'd like to know how you got here. Take a moment and just add a comment at the end of this post. Sign up to follow this blog if you like -- I would be very pleased if you did.

Did you find Artemisia's Studio from following one of the
Round Robin Necklace Swap-ers?
What caught your eye?
What types of items did you enjoy most while you were here?
(if, in fact, you did enjoy your visit.)

Inquiring minds want to know (er, mine does anyway).

SPOILER ALERT!! Necklace Swap Update

I finished adding to the beautiful necklaces making the rounds in the Round Robin Necklace swap organized by Lorelei Eurto. From Left to Right they are by:
Alison Hodges {link and link} , Emanda Johnson {link and link} Gaea Cannaday {link and link},
Lorelei Eurto {link and link}, Mollie Valente {link}, and Nancy Schindler {link and link} .

In about half the necklaces I added a little bird’s nest I learned to make from a tutorial by Cathe Holden http://justsomethingimade.blogspot.com/ I also had some sweet little house-shaped cultured freshwater pearls that I wrapped with wire. The rest have wire-wrapped beads, some even “rosary wrapped” links of beads. Anyway, I am very pleased with the additions and I look forward to seeing what the rest of the group will do to the necklaces. And, yes, I am really looking forward to getting my back!