Happy Anniversary to Me and My Sweetie!

This is a picture of the man I have been married to for eight years.

Today is our 8th wedding anniversary.

Very simply, what I would like to say about this man is how special he is to me and how lucky I am to have found him, especially so late in life.

He is very quiet and unassuming, at least, on the outside.

And then, sometimes he can be wacky and crazy.

He makes me laugh.

He makes me think.

He quiets me down when I am wired and uptight.

He is there for me.

He makes me believe that there is a man out there that really loves me.

He supports me in my decisions, whether they be good or questionable.

He accepts me just the way I am.

Even when I am not made up, he makes me feel beautiful.

Even if I am on the heavier side, he makes me feel sexy and desirable.

He doesn't stand in my way, but supports me no matter what.

With him, I have been able to explore who I really am, without feeling I need to hold back because of fear of not being accepted.

He has allowed me to ride this journey of finding out who I really am, and he is still there for me.

I really love this man.

We were, cliche or not, really made for each other.

Thank you, my sweetie, for being there for me.

Thank you for bringing hope back into my life.

Te quiero mucho.

I will love you for always.

Por Vida,

Carol

Ice, Ice, Baby!

Here is a picture of my latest necklace:

I am having a fun time making jewelry, but I am having an awful time trying to get a decent photo of my work. As you would have noticed, most of the photos I have been showing you look like this:
It's a bummer because in person they look real purdy, I promise!

The photos I have been showing you I have taken with my little Kodak camera, not an expensive one. However, my husband is an amateur photographer and he's really good so I asked him to take some photos with his good camera and even though he takes outrageous close up photos of flowers, his photos of my jewelry honestly didn't turn out any better than the ones I took with my cheap camera (I can say this because he never reads my blog).

He recently upgraded to this even more expensive camera which I cannot tell you what it is because I am not into fancy cameras, though my out-of-state cousin can tell you because she also has a fancy-dancy camera.

But since he has now upgraded he said I could use his Canon Rebel anytime I want to but like I said, even with his fancier camera he couldn't do any better for whatever reason, so if anyone out there knows what I can do to take better photos of my jewelry, I would appreciate any advice you can give me.

For now, though, I am having a great time making jewelry, although I do also want to get back to my painting.

I want to be able to do both, as well as write (I like to write fiction) and exercise and cook healthy meals and do a better job of decorating my house and become a more spiritually grounded person and bring about world peace and marry Antonio Banderas..

Oh, sorry.

Got carried away.

How about someone just tell my how to take better photos of my jewelry?

Hoping you are making all your dreams come true.

'Til later,

Carol B.

Art Necklace

Here is the latest necklace I've made:

I bought the pendant at a small gallery. I wish I could give credit to the artist who made it but there was no name. Whoever made it, I loved it and had to have it.

When I bought the pendant it was on a key ring. Many years ago, I used to love buying key ring pendants (if that's what you call them). I would hang them all on my key ring. As you can imagine, after a while my key ring became too heavy to continue carrying all those pendants so I took them off and put them away.

That was sad because I love the art you can get from key pendants and I hated to stop buying them as well as keeping what I did have stuffed in a drawer.

Now that I am making jewelry, I got the idea that I can get all those pendants and make jewelry out of them, whether it be necklaces or bracelets.

Although the pendant is beautiful, I have to say that I love the necklace that I designed myself to go with it.

And look what it just happens to say on the back:

One of my favorite words.

A beautiful word indeed to live by.

'Til later,

"Createfully" yours,

Carol B.

Following Her Dream

Here is my hurry-up-and-be-my-daughter-in-law, the lovely Janine.

As well as working, she has been in her local community college, making her way through the academic world.

She has tried out a few ideas to see what she wanted to major in, and then she did what it takes so many of us way too long to do; she followed her heart.

Janine has such a love of animals, and she did the perfect thing; she saw what it was that she really had a passion for, and she has decided to become a veterinarian.

I am so happy for her. How many of us wish we had discovered what she discovered at such a young age. I know she has made a choice that will allow her to keep her spirit at peace, through times that are challenging, as well as those that flow with ease.

I wish you all the best, Janine, and you know you have family everywhere that is rallying around to support you.

God Bless you in following your dream.

Love Always,

Carol B.

Blue Necklace

I wish I could take better pictures of the necklaces I've been making.

One day I will, but not right now.

Meanwhile, here is another necklace and no, I'm not going to make up a story to go with it. I would actually like to but today I subbed for a kinder class, so again, I'm running on empty. That's why I didn't post yesterday but I wanted to make sure to get here today.

I'm thinking about this and it's a bummer because I realize how much I really like writing something I feel is thoughtful and significant.

Oh well.

For today I'm showing you this necklace and always keep in mind that they look much more beautiful in person.

I really want to start up my Etsy shop again and put these in, in which case I will make sure to put up better pictures.

I think I'm rambling so I'll stop right here.

Hope my thoughts are working better next week.

'Til later,

Carol B.

Ocean Breeze

I am finally learning how to make jewelry, something I have wanted to do for a long time.

I have not as yet taken a class, although I am anxious to. I am simply experimenting by myself, so if you are an expert jewelry artist please look with kind understanding! ;)

I call this "Ocean Breeze," because it reminds me of an evening standing by the ocean, watching as the reflections of the night stars sparkle like diamonds across the sea.

Ok, so it sounds corny, but I am very tired after working all day with a class of first graders. I love them, but by the end of the day I am ready to come home and relax. But I am really trying to get up and continue working, so I will get up right now and walk into my art room.

'Til later,

Carol B.

Color Your World

Even though I have a teacher subbing gig all week, I am determined to be here anyway!

Let's see if I make it!

So here is a picture of my Baby Girl that I took on her birthday. This was in February but it goes to show that yes, even though I felt like I was not doing anything at all, I really was.

Instead of buying wrapping paper, I got a huge sheet of butcher paper and painted and dripped and squirted and just plain had fun ala Alisa Burke (a fantastic San Diego based artist. I don't have the link here but google her and check her out!)

It was sooo much fun to paint and it added that touch of living artfully by touching unexpected areas of your life with art.

Everybody really liked it and of course it looked better in person than this pic can show. My daughter Dionna said she could frame it and Janine said she could use it as a background for scrapbooking since my daughter likes to scrapbook.

Either way it feels great to make something more personal by touching it with your special form of art.

How do you color your world?