LWM ~ Old Stuff, New Stuff

Been listening to some older stuff this week, especially Lyle Lovett's album Pontiac. This song is from that album. . . (and, I just gotta say, I LOVE his hair!)

Wearing - The weather's been cooling off a bit again, so it's been back to boots (instead of sandals) and warmer skirts, like this thick, knit one I thrifted a couple of months ago.

The necklace is hand-painted lace from a fellow maker I met last month at the Apple Blossom Festival in Sebastopol. Her shop can be found here: Spee-Sheez. The woman who is the creatrix behind this brand is a truly lovely spirit, and one I hope to connect with again in the future. The earrings are an old Tangleweeds design.

Annnnd. . . Making! I've been scheming up some new designs, which aren't ready for sharing just yet, but I've been making dozens of my River Rock bangles and Curves rings. You guys have pretty much unanimously declared these designs as two of your favorites this year, which is probably why I'm constantly finding myself almost out of stock on these two designs. In preparation for fair season I'm busting out tons of these!

It's felt good to be back at my workbench this week. (Last week I was busily catching up on lots of admin. details.) I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! And don't forget about Mother's Day on Sunday if you have special moms in your life to honor. 

Full Circle ~ Flowers and Jewelry

Some photos from the last week. My week was full of pretty flowers and lots of jewelry (per the usual ;-) Craft fair season has officially gone into full swing and things are getting busy! See more at my Tangleweeds Instagram account. 

I hope everyone is having a lovely week! I can't wait to see lots of your smiling faces at Patchwork this Sunday. 

April Giveaway Winner!

Oh dear! So I was supposed to announce the winner of the April giveaway on Monday! April REALLY has gotten away from me in ways the first few months of the year didn't. Better late than never, right?

The winner of a pair of the Raindrops earrings is. . . 

Cheri! CHERI, you are the winner of these great, classic, easy-to-wear pair of earrings. Shoot me an email at tangleweedsjewelry@gmail.com and we can arrange for you to receive these soon!

In the meantime folks, it's pretty obvious that I'm without much time for blogging these last few weeks. I'll drop in here as I can, but regular posts may not resume until I finish up catching up in some other Tangleweeds-related areas of business.

In the meantime, you can always follow my Tangleweeds endeavors over on Instagram!

Wise Words

Just a little bot of motivation for all of you, especially you friends out there who feel like things are just never gonna come together. . . Just give it some time =)

(I'll be back next week to announce the winner of my most recent giveaway contest. This week's been a big administrative week for me, and I've had to let a few things go while I catch up on other areas. But I have more blog goodness coming soon again!)

LWM ~ A Typical Week

In a typical week, I always listen to quite a bit of country/americana. . . Like the album Begonias by Caitlin Cary and Thad Cockrell. . . 

I usually wear at least one outfit that is a combo of floral print skirt/boots/sweater with Tangleweeds jewelry. . . (earrings are from a fellow maker)

And I make several of my lariat style necklaces (you guys have nearly unanimously decided that these are some of your favorite Tangleweeds pieces), especially theses River Rock ones. . . 

Just a short and sweet Listening-Wearing-Making post for all of you this Thursday. I won't be back in this space until next week, so I hope everyone has a great weekend! 

Full Circle ~ Birthday Weekend!

My birthday was this past weekend. I turned 34! It all feels good, it all feels fine. I have slightly older friends who kind of hint at that I'm going to start freaking out once I hit 35. . . I'm sure there's some validity to all of that, but right now I feel good. I did have some BIG revelations around my birthday, things that sort of worked themselves out in my head in a rather unexpected way. That felt good and humbling. Humbling because sometimes you just keep pushing and pushing on something, trying to make your mind up about it. And you get stuck and in this place of limbo-indecision that feels like it'll never end. Finally, you get so exhausted by it all that you sort of just let go, and that's when the picture starts to get more clear and everything starts to make more sense. (Sorry to be a bit vague about the details, it's not something I want to share at this moment, but I will share at a later date and time when it's all sunk in a bit more for me. But I did want to share the process, as I think it's something one learns more and more with age.)

My actual birthday was on Saturday and was pretty mellow. Went to the farmer's market where my honey bought me a new piece of clothing from Susan Eastman (I love her stuff!), worked on a weaving project (the same one I've been working on a for a while. When it's finished I'll definitely share it here) and enjoyed some thai food from a favorite local Oakland spot for dinner. Then on Sunday I went out with my good friend, Alice and my sister for brunch, bowling and treasure hunting at Urban Ore in Berkeley. Sunday was really my version of the perfect weekend day!

And, of course, there was much jewelry making time in last week. Below, some snap-shots from the week's work. (And my safari-backyard-cat, Otis =)

I hope everyone's week is off to a great start! This is a capital "B" busy week for me. While I know it's gonna be a lot of work, I feel ready for it after a wonderful weekend!

April Tangleweeds Giveaway

That's right folks! With a new month brings a new Tangleweeds Giveaway. For this month we're calling to mind the old adage "April showers bring May flowers. . . "

We're offering up one pair of our Rain Drops earrings for one lucky winner! Simply leave a comment on this blog post with a little anecdote or detail about what you love about the spring time. I've really grown to love the comments everyone leave on these giveaway posts. You guys obviously put some thought into what you share!

We'll announce the randomly chosen winner here and over on Instagram on April 27th. Feel free to share this with folks you think would love Tangleweeds!

Full Circle ~ New Designs and Aries Birthday Parties

Spring time, a time of newness, a time of great energy and swift change, sometimes overwhelmingly so. I'm an Aries/springtime baby, so by nature I love this time of the year. I love the revved up energy of it, the funneling of so much passion into new ideas and new goals. It's all too easy for me to get going in so many different directions that I exhaust myself tho. In a way, having just been very sick for a while, it's offering me up the perfect balance of easing into this time of the year. 

Below, a snapshot of my studio (tidied up of course), some workbench ephemera, my home office buddy Otis, and one of my new Woodland Featherlight necklaces now available in the Etsy shop!

This past weekend I had the pleasure of going to not one but two kid-birthday parties. On Saturday my friend Katrina's little one, Keira, turned one. Katrina and I have known each other for about 13 years. Seeing her as a mom is amazing and Keira is the sweetest!

Then, on Sunday, my nephew, Noah, turned 7. Since it was also Easter, there was an easter egg hunt in the morning followed by birthday celebrations in the afternoon at my sister's home in Modesto. I love that action shot I got of him (second photo from the bottom)!

For those of you anxious to know when more of the new designs will be listed in my Etsy shop, fear not! I'll be posting more new listings later this week. I'm spreading out the new pieces over the next month or so, allowing me to catch up on a bunch of things while still making the new designs available to all of my lovely Tangleweeds collectors!

Happy Monday everyone!

LWM: CAT Leggings!

Listening to. . . The new Brandi Carlile. I seriously can't stop listening to her newest album The Firewatcher's Daughter. It's a bit folksy, a bit pop, with great stories woven into it all. Enjoy! 

Wearing. . . The most amazing CAT leggings. Love these so much. In case you simply must have a pair, they're from NooWorks in San Francisco. 

And making! Well, I've been busy on so many designs lately, it's hard to narrow it down to just one, but if I had to, I'd say I've been making bunches of these covetable Featherlight necklaces. I'm slowly getting all of the colorways into my Etsy shop. Finally too! This is something I had hoped to have done a couple of months ago. Feels good to be rolling these out. 

I hope everyone's weekly is providing all you're hoping for!

Of Interest Lately

Back when I still had my blog over at Blogger, I intermittently posted about what was catching my eye on the inter-webs. I want to bring that series back to this blog as it's a great way of sharing both what's inspiring me and my work, but also what's keeping me focused and grounded, and, no less importantly, simply what's fun and entertaining (to me and maybe to you!)

1. The Two Most Important People in Your Life to Hold You to Your Dreams - a great read if you're looking for encouragement in following your dreams (especially if it's a bit "off the beaten path.")

2. Astrology for April 2015 (by Sarah Varcas) - I LOVE this website for updates on the general astro-weather, especially when there are BIG things happening like eclipses. My love of astrology springs from a belief that everything in this universe is inter-connected in ways that we don't fully understand. I think astrology is a beautiful working metaphor for this way of thinking. 

3. Maryanne Moodie's amazing woven art - if you follow me over at Instagram you know I've recently taken up weaving (very, very much on the side). This woman's work is so inspiring to me. 

4. Michelle Tea's memoir, How to Grow Up - during my recent sick days I finished reading this great book. I discovered this woman's writing back in my early 20s. She's a bit older than me (early 40s) but the way she writes about growing up when you're not the person who takes the straight shot to steady job, marriage, kids, is very relatable to me. 

That's all for this week. Short but sweet. What has caught your eye on the inter-webs lately? I'm always overwhelmed by the wealth of amazing folks and work just waiting to be discovered!