Antiquing in Colorado

Of course!! I can't go anywhere and not find an antique or thrift store. I have a radar for them. As we were on our way to visit Keystone yesterday we stopped at a rest stop and low and behold we stumbled across this little place called Georgetown. And yes, right there around the corner was the cutest antique store. This is where I found my name in old letter press, a beautiful blue vase, and a dainty tulip necklace. So lovely.
My next find was in Granby, right on the main drag. It is called Crafter's Corner Antique Mall. Not quite a mall more like a "keep your purse really close to you or you will knock everything over" type of place. But, no matter the size I found a small milk glass vase, a wonderful old Colorado post card, and some old buckles. The buckles are a find. Look for them to be a cool piece of joyajewelry in the future. I can say I am fulfilled; great skiing and a couple of antique stores what more can I ask for.

Winter Wonderland

KP, my family and I have been in Colorado since Sunday. This is a momentous trip because I am skiing for the first time since the 8th grade. Mind you that has been 19 years ago. So, with my expectations high I went to ski school and now three days later I am hooked, hooked, hooked!! My hubby is a great skier. My instructor, Steve, awesome by the way, asked me what I wanted out of the class by the end of our 2 hour session and I said I just wanted to keep up with KP and be able to stop:) Stopping technique - check, but keeping up with KP, still need some more practice. But I am proud to say by the beginning of day 2 I was skiing the green and blue runs with ease.

We are at Granby Ranch and we have been skiing SolVista Basin. I love this place and so want to come back next year. So, for all you beginners or non-beginners I highly recommend this place. The people have been so great here plus it is not packed with people like some of those bigger ski resorts.

Thrift stores, Yard sales, Antique stores oh my!!!

I have an addiction!! I am a self diagnosed junkin addict. I love finding beautiful things in the most unlikely places. Most of my home is decorated using items from either thrift stores, yard sales, or antique malls. Let me explain some of the madness. I see something for example in the lovely Anthropologie catalogue but cannot afford it. Well, I take the idea and I go in search of it but in a more economical way. Hence, the thrifting and junkin stores. It is possible to be aesthetically satisfied on a budget. I think in the months to come I am going to highlight what I Love now. This will be a blog about what it is that is intriquing me at the moment. For example, I am a in love with Milk Glass. There is something so beautiful and elegant about it that I just Love and can't get enough of. So, I invite you all to join me in sharing what it is you Love at the moment. It can be anything not just a object but a feeling, a observation, etc....

Book Excitement

My mother-in-law Diane is a very talented artist and crafter. She has written two books and her third book will be out in April. It is entitled Hand Made Paper From Naturals. So, as she was working on it, or should I say up to her elbows in handmade paper, she needed one extra project which she offered to me. I immediately jumped at the chance and decided to design a piece of wearable art using her handmade paper. I created a pin made with rose and hydrangea petals and hasta leaf paper. It is so exciting to be published especially since my mom- in- law believed in me enough to include me. Also, I am so excited to have been published for what I love to do. I think this might have created a monster in me to write and publish my own book. We shall see wink, wink. If interested the book will be available on Amazon.com and at Barnes and Noble.

Inspiration

February and March have always been the months of the year that get me feeling a little antsy, creative wise. I have all these ideas for a new spring jewelry line swirling in my head but feel like I have no time to follow through with it. Working a day job and then coming home to get in the mind frame, you wish you could be in all day, is hard. But I have to vow to myself to find the inner crafter and run with it. Ok, enough about the pity party and more about being inspired.
Lately, I cannot get enough of Jane Austen. The movies old and new and of course her novels. I just re-read "Persuasion" and can't help but feel inspired with love lost and found. The pastel colors that come to mind when Austen describes the scenery of the time. Blues, pale pinks, and the way I envision the light surrounding the English gardens and her heroin Anne Elliot as she searches for love once more. Austen's characters are so flawed yet rich with life. That is what I am trying to embrace in my jewelry. Wearable art that tells a story. The vintage pieces I so happily find in all the antiquing I do will some how come together in this romantic way and become someone else's story.
"Who can be in doubt of what followed? When any two young people take it into their head to marry, they are pretty sure by perseverance to carry their point, be they ever so poor, or ever so imprudent, or ever so little likely to be necessary to each other's ultimate comfort. This may be bad morality to conclude with, but I believe it to be truth; and if such parties succeed, how should a Captain Wentworth and an Anne Elliot, with the advantage of maturity of mind, consciousness of right, and one independent fortune between them, fail of bearing down every opposition? They might in fact, have borne down a great deal more than they met with, for there was little to distress them beyond the want of graciousness and warmth."
Jane Austen "Persuasion"