I’m feeling much better…a bit nervous that I have Lymes, but ignoring that little thought for now.

Two new stores are now carrying Manic Trout…

Anomaly Design Shop in Milwaukee, WI and
Hawk and The Butterfly in Chicago, IL

If you are in either area, stop in and give these ladies some support!

I have a bunch of new designs ready to photo and post, but as always I would rather gather a big pile and do it at once, I know its tough to think about the fall when its not even summer, but the I have been working with fall colors and am getting started on designs for the cooler months already…and a I have a new line of bling rings!

I have also been working on my painting project, I have decided not to show any of it until its done, but I am so far very happy with the results, yay!

Just wanted to post a little update…more soon…

I am not a napper. I basically go and go and go until I collapse, usually that collapse coincides with getting sick. So here I am, home sick. I woke up yesterday feeling off, and half way through an afternoon at my moms by the pool it really hit, I went home and napped for most of the evening and today attempted to be at the restaurant, but realizing that I should be kind and not get others sick, I came home. I am starting to feel a bit better, my appetite is back and I have stopped sleeping for hours at random times of day. Hopefully I will wake up with it all behind me.
Yesterday before the illness took over…

I have been preparing for The Sampler this week, although I forgot Monday was a holiday so I will have to pay a fortune to get it to California by Thursday, but other then that I have been right on schedule with my preparations. This month I am sending in 20 pairs of earrings for the editorial sampler as well and I am spending the afternoon putting them together.

I am exhausted from this week end, very busy at work and my allergies are still annoying me, although I did realize that the sleepiness form the allergies is nothing compared to what the allergy meds were doing to me, I felt as though I were under water all the time, it was horrible. I do have one more night before this weekend is over…not sure if I will be standing around or chaotically busy yet.

I do plan on spending the afternoon tomorrow with Gilly and Thea at my moms, taking advantage of the pool and hanging with the fam, I will most likely spend most of that time working on my new project…not revealing anything yet, but I have finally started working on a painting idea I have been wanting to do for a long time, and so far I love it!

Also, the custom necklace I made last week went over wonderfully, yay!

I wrote a little piece this week for an ad for Manic Trout, and I thought I would share it here…

When visiting my grand mother as a young girl, I would always go to my favorite antiques shop where she would have me choose my favorite piece that she would buy for me as a gift to remember my trip by. I was always drawn to the jewelry and fell in love with the many fabulous elements of vintage jewelry; the look and heft of aged brass and tarnished silver, the bright colors and bold statements of resin and lucite, the sparkle and weight of vintage crystals and most of all the very unique pieces I would stumble across every now and again that were like nothing I had seen before. Most of all, I just loved knowing I was wearing something that only a few others possessed.

In prep school I began to collect broken vintage jewelry and recreate pieces that combined a medley of my favorite elements and mixing them with pieces from new materials that explored the wild color combinations I could come up with. By the time I was in art school I was selling my creations in a store near campus and to my friends and dorm mates.

It was not until a few years later after I had been collecting odds and ends from flea markets, antiques shops and bead stores that I realized I was amassing a huge amount of supplies and that I should consider perhaps making more then the occasional piece to match my outfit or to give my friends as gifts. I had boxes of bits and baubles including buttons, brass chain, beads, yarn, lucite, gemstones, glass, crystals, shells, flowers and charms and I needed to justify continuing to gather, there was no way I was stopping now!

Manic Trout is the result of combining the new and old, the sought after and the collected elements that I have stumbled upon in my travels, creating new combinations of color and texture and matching up the unexpected to create unique looks that will make you feel special when you slip them on and always make you stand out in the crowd!

A sweet design I tried out for myself.

The only problem with working as much as I do is that the bar has replaced free time, I have very little time for family, friends, parties, going out, hanging out, exercise, hobbies…all the fun things in life. I try to fit in as much of these as I can…and I manage to squeeze most of it in, but hobbies have no room in my life right now.
For my friend Sheryl on her birthday that I gave her with big stack of books.

I miss embroidery, I loved it, its like painting with thread, and the colors, oh the colors! I also love to needlepoint and between the two I have made everything from labeled laundry bags to pillows to hankies. I even liked to create and draw the patterns, and I have never been much to draw. I actually used to embroider hankies as part of Manic Trout, but that went away when I re structured (which was a very good thing) I at least could still embroider and call it work.
A wedding gift for my mom and stepfather…they had matching hankies.
One day I will have time to hang out and embroider…until that day I can look at the past designs I have done and miss them. Although it did make me realize that all of my hankies are embroidered with my no longer married name…doh! I was so excited to finally have three initials, I think it was the only reason I hyphenated to begin with, I never used the name…but I finally could embroidered a triptych.
A custom order, this was for a landscape architect…so I went with a floral structure motif.

I actually like to embroider gifts more than for my self…which many of these pictures were.
For my little sister Thea.

I would say its a lost art, but Jenny Hart has made embroidery hip again with her work and Sublime Stitching her awesome company. I have been in awe of her for years already, but that awe increased last week when I received the latest issue of Juxtapoz and read a great article all about Ms. Hart, made me like her even more.
My little Faye on a hankie

Albuquerque
Atlanta
Austin
Baltimore
Boston
Boulder
Brooklyn
Charlottesville
Chicago
Dallas
Des Moines
Denver
Houston
Kansas City
LA
Madison
Minneapolis/St.Paul
Nashville
Nashua/Portsmouth
New York City
Oklahoma City
Philadelphia
Pittsburg
Phoenix/Scottsdale
Portland (ME)
Portland (OR)
Providence
Raleigh/Durham
Salt Lake City
San Diego
San Francisco
Santa Fe
Seattle
St Louis
Washington DC

To be edited down…

I love custom designs, I like being given a mission and then seeing how well I can get my design to match the clients vision. * I like them sometimes, not all the time…I am not encouraging this * Any way, I received a request for a birthday gift for an 8 year old girl…her name is Jade, she likes pink, silver and her birthstone is peridot. She rides horses, has lost some jewelry in the past so a “strong clasp” has been requested. Jade enjoys chokers and charms and her style is a bid on the funky side. Here is take #1 for Jade.

I show her mom tomorrow night, we’ll see if it passes the test…I’ll keep you posted.

I get really a few foods at a time, and basically eat the same thing everyday repeatedly…perhaps not the healthiest way to eat, but we have our weird quirks. I have been very into Frosted Mini Wheats for a while now…I did manage to reduce my intake quite a bit, I will not admit to how much I was eating before…but now I am only eating one bowl a day.

The addiction…ahem…obsession that I have recently returned too is Crystallized Ginger and I LOVE it! I am trying to stop eating candy again…and I know that there is still sugar involved, but the ginger is better then smarties, runts, spree, sour gummies worms and the other sugar loves of my life…but its a start!

I don’t watch TV. I don’t have cable. I do however love movies and buy them weekly and I also to buy my favorite sitcoms on dvd and play them at night on my computer while working in my studio. Currently I have season 6 of Will & Grace playing. So I have one issue with not watching tv…what do I turn to next? I have no idea what I will want to buy next, as I have not watched tv on a regular basis in 5 years. I would have no idea about movies either if it were not for magazines and what amazon.com recommends according to my past purchases. If you feel you would like to recommend…I have Friends, Sex In The City, Will & Grace, Ellen and Mad About You. Where shall I go next?

I love to paint. Its my true passion, and very hard for me to show to people (I realize this will make it really difficult to succeed as a painter), the few times I have had shows have turned into disasters…and I had an emotional shut down with painting for awhile. Well I have been painting again recently and have bought the supplies to put together a large collection of large pieces this summer…although first I have a place to paint canvases this large…but I have some leads…although then I have to store them…

I actually have one of my largest paintings stapled to the wall of my bedroom…I just ripped it off the stretches and grabbed the staple gun. I got the idea from an older painter that lives near me and has had great success with his heart… I figure if he can do it with his much more “valuable” pieces, then so can I! I gave my mom my largest painting ever or Mother’s Day this year, as she has always loved it and had her eye on it for years…well I suggested that she too just rip it off the stretchers and attach it right to the wall, stud finder issue resolved! *Hi Mom!*

So back on track here…I am now working on a new series, well rather revisiting one I started last year and so far they are pretty small…but soon they will grow! Anyhow…I discovered yesterday my new favorite paint color…ooooh so exciting I know, but this year I have developed a rather intense attraction to two particular paints…expect them to pop up often…

Here they are in all their glory (image they are made of pigment and not light…

Old Holland Oil Scheveningen Red Light

and…

Old Holland Oil Indian Yellow-Orange Lake Extra