The FamiLee Jewels blog is moving to Blogspot. Don't miss a chapter of the story. You can access our most recent posts at www.FamiLeeJewels.blogspot.com.
For all of you Freddyphiles who say I never post any new pictures of the baby Here are some shots that Fred and I took today .
Freddy is growing very fast. He was 12 pounds 3 ounces and 23 7/8 inches long at his 2 month checkup. He still has colic and suffers from bellyaches, champion burps and man farts but it is getting better. He is very alert and is interacting with us more and more. He loves his Pip and Pappy and since Becky went back to work Monday he has been staying with them during the day.
He is a joy to be with.
Fred said to me today that he just loved having a little one around again. You forget how precious they are.
I will try to be a little more frequent with my updates on our most adorable jewel.
Becky Freddy and I spent today At The Warehouse in Albany New York. We had such a wonderful time in it's positive creative atmosphere.
We enjoyed fine coffee from the Bun in the Oven Bake shop and met Deidre who had her first day there selling her line of herbal creams and lotions. She grows the herbs herself!!!! Meda was there with her classic style aprons in amazing fabrics as well as Josh and Jamie in the candle shop and Michelle in the Good Leaf Tea shop.
Mark was there playing his guitar and singing the blues. That was not an easy thing to do with 2 almost one year olds bouncing in their Pack and Play and clapping to the beat (sort of) of the music. He has the most amazing voice and a great repertoire of tunes to keep us entertained.
We did very well today selling a couple of pieces before I even got them listed in the Etsy shop.
These Bismuth earrings are new this week. They started as one large chunk of bismuth that broke into 2 pieces when I wrapped it a little to energetically with sterling silver wire. I was going to discard the pieces but realized that they would make a great asymmetrical pair of earrings. Bismuth is a fascinating mineral. It flashes in colors of pink, blue,green and gold depending on how the light hits each individual crystal surface.
The labradorite pendant pictured below is one of the pieces that found a good home. I paired the labradorite crystal with small beads of rainbow moonstone and amber. The moonstone and labradorite both show flashes of blue when the light hits it. The crystal was wrapped in sterling silver and adorned with the smaller beads then hung on a chainmaille and silk necklace. All of the silver was oxidized with liver of sulfur so that the attention went to the flash in the stones.
The most amazing happening of the day though was a coincidence. In July of this year I made 2 pendants. Each pendant was made of half of the same ammonite that I had acquired at a gem and mineral show. They were mirror images of one another. I wrapped each in a similar copper setting with a matching copper bail and hung it on a silk cord.
They both sold today. One on ETSY to a buyer in the UK. One At The Warehouse in Albany to a buyer who was fascinated by the fossil.
Life is full of funny surprises.
I love them.
They make me smile.
The FamiLee Jewels were lucky enough to be vendors at the Adirondack Nationals Car show held in Lake George New York the second weekend in September. I have never seen so many beautifully restored cars in one place. There were classic cars and hot rods. There were trucks and police cars. There was even the Bat mobile.
We enjoyed it immensely and we really enjoyed speaking with the car enthusiasts who came with them.
Fred loved the 57 Chevy's, Mom liked the old Edsel and made Becky laugh with her description of Rumble seats and how she and her sister used to argue over who was going to sit in it, and Freddy loved the Pink Cadillac with the pink pony in the back seat. I just enjoyed the spectacle--the colors,the enthusiasm and the crowds.
Our Jewelry was well received. We sold several spectacular pieces including my Ebony and Ivory and Becky's pink Passion both of which went to a good home.
Fred has been in the wood shop making some of his much requested wine bottle stoppers and pens and key chains on his wood lathe. They are coming out beautifully and I have been listing them on The Etsy site.
FamiLee News: Ella is away in Washington for the weekend to man the National Service Center for the American Red Cross. Fred had his knee surgery and is doing well. Look at the wonderful things he made while recuperating. Becky goes back to work on Monday so Pip and Pappy's Day Care will officially start. Bonnie has been working on some new chain maille which will be featured in another entry. Nancy is packing up for the winter. Florida is calling her and we wish her and Bob safe travel.
I have been busy making more ocean themed jewelry.
This necklace of multiple strands of seed beads wrapped around a wire frame of beads in colors of white, clear and golds was inspired by the colors of the shells and bits of glass that wash up on the beach with the tide changes at the Rose Island Lighthouse. There are touches of purple to represent the inside of the periwinkle shells that are everywhere on the beach.
It was fun to work on. I have never done such a free-form piece. The pinch and twist of bead and wire has a mind of its own. The seed bead mixes were a bit like mixing paint, a little bit of this and a little bit of that until the proportion is just right.
These lovely delicate pieces of sea glass were found on the beach at the Rose Island Lighthouse. I loved looking for them each morning as I explored to see what gifts the tide had left me.
I wrapped each piece in 14K GF wire creating a bail at the same time. They will be sold on a delicate 14K GF chain.
I love the pastel lavender and pale aqua of these pieces of glass.
This new Bangle bracelet is both fancy and fun. The beads are Ocean Jasper, Aventurine and Bali Silver. They are framed and wrapped in miles of sterling silver wire and beads in the style of Eni Oken whose work I greatly admire (and whose tutorials I have memorized)
The seahorse and turtle charms are added for their charm and because they make me smile.
I will be listing these pieces on ETSY this week and will also be showing them this weekend At The Warehouse in Albany.
FamiLee News: We got Ella moved this weekend, she is staying with us temporarily until her house is finished. She is waiting for a call from The Red Cross any day to send her out on a disaster. She is watching the news eagerly to see where she might be needed.
Fall will send Nancy back to Florida but not before we do another couple of shows together.
Fred and I will be here making jewelry and now that Fred is back in the workshop we will be listing his wood turned items and taking them with us on the road.
Becky is getting used to motherhood. She is making Jewelry again and joining us at the shows----which means I get to spend more time with Freddy J.
The FamiLee Jewels held their first open house of 2007 Friday night.
It was a great success! We all enjoyed snacks and drinks and tried on lots of beautiful Sparklies. Our friends, family members, customers and coworkers were all in attendance. Several people used the opportunity to order a custom designed piece.
Freddy J was the hit of the party of course. Our nieces Kayla and Maddy were here too, showing their Mom and Grandma how to feed the koi and the Bobs and looking for Bubba and Emma ( our cat and greyhound ) who were safely tucked away for the evening.
We encouraged our clients to join us At The Warehouse where we are exhibiting our work most weekends. It is a wonderful environment full of happy people and positive energy.
Many talented artisan vendors exhibit their work there.
The Warehouse also has food venues, live music, a Farmers Market and 10,000 square feet of architectural salvage.
Freddy J is growing bigger and bigger. He was christened on August 12th with his family in attendance. Becky and Dennis were thrilled that Father Goff was there to bless Freddy in his Irish brogue. Freddy was not happy with the ceremony. He objected to getting dressed up and he wasn't thrilled with the water either.
His Godparents are longtime friends Mary and Pat and he has a Godsister Cassie too!
After the church ceremony we had a lovely afternoon at Becky and Dennis' house. There was a lot of good food, great company and everyone had time for Freddy snuggles.
God Bless Freddy J.
The FamiLee Jewels has found a new venue. We will be selling our beautiful jewelry and wood turned items At The Warehouse in Albany New York. It is a year round Arts Crafts and Farmers Market (not easy to find in upstate New York) that is open every weekend.
The Warehouse is an amazing 10,000 square feet of space that houses a great deal of architectural salvage as well as
a wide variety of vendors. There is a tea shop The Good Leaf that serves the greatest number of gourmet teas I have ever seen in one place as well as something very interesting called Bubble Tea. There is a bakery called Bun in The Oven run by 2 Mom's with the most adorable babies and the most delectable baked goods. There is a soap and candle shop called A Candle Station and More that is the best smelling corner of the warehouse. On premises you can also find Spacy Tracy's Pickles with great bread and butter pickles, Cascade Mountain Wineries (tasting is encouraged), Dines Farms selling pasture raised meats, and the most enjoyable woman who introduced me to Bento boxes at Gifts From The Sea. There were many crafts represented including glass painting, macrame, sewing, pottery and of course jewelry by The FamiLee Jewels. I almost forgot!!! A Salsa Dance Studio!
Now imagine all this in an atmosphere of fun and positive energy. It is visually pleasing as the outstanding bits of architectural salvage are everywhere and are used to build the permanent vendor booths. There are tables and chairs and hightops to sit at to enjoy your purchases and to listen to the live music that is performed on the weekends.
Dutch the Warehouse dog wanders through everything and greets every
one, and when children come in they are offered sidewalk chalk and the large expanse of warehouse floor to decorate while their parents shop. Fred even gives them bubble wrap to kneel on while they draw.
I Can't wait to go back. The atmosphere made me feel happy, the people were kind and the artwork was inspiring. I recommend it to everyone who can get there. It's definitely worth the trip.
The FamiLee Jewels has booked dates in August and September check our web page for specifics of our coming appearances. I have been doing some new pieces with chainmaille, Rose Island beach glass and some fossil pieces. Check us out At The Warehouse you will be happy that you did.
FamiLee News Flash.................................
The FamiLee Jewels is celebrating its newest member.......Freddy J. He is absolutely perfect of course. He is surrounded by his proud and exhausted parents who are doing well, his grandparents and great-grandmother and his Aunties and Uncles. He has been most gracious with the Paparrazi!!!!!
You can see him here with his Mom and Dad, happy and very tired after 15 hours of labour.
He weighed in at 8 pounds and 8.3 ounces and was 20 3/4 inches long. He has lots of dark hair and dark blue eyes.
His great Nana was happy to get her chance to snuggle. His Aunties all lined up to cuddle him. and of course his Mim and Pip and Grandma and Pappy. Somehow I don't have a pictue of Pappy Jim. I will correct that at the earliest opportunity.
Fred and I spent a most fabulous vacation at the Rose Island Lighthouse in May. It is something that we have wanted to do for a long time and finally just decided to go for it. The lighthouse is in Rhode Island in the Narragansett Bay Between Newport and Jamestown. We were the keepers of the week. We lived in the 2nd floor keepers quarters and saw to the day to day running of the lighthouse. This included watching over the first floor museum and gift shop, orienting museum guests, monitoring the wind mill and back up generator and recording weather data. Most of the island is a bird sanctuary so we were able to observe gulls, Canadian geese, oyster catchers, ibis and herons during their nesting season.
One of the best parts of staying on an island was that I was the first one to comb the beaches each morning. I found a beautiful array of sea glass much of which has become jewelry.
The glass was for the most part white brown and green, but I did find some unusual lavender, pink and pale aqua pieces. I have made up several of them into pendants, by wire wrapping and then embellishing some with sterling silver charms.
There are 3 pieces that are almost round. They must be the bottoms of bottles. I haven't figured out what to do with them yet but will post when I do.
The piece to the left is one of the pale aqua color. It is very pretty on its own so I just did a simple silver wire wrap and hung a hibiscus charm on the bail.
This white sea glass chunk was wrapped in silver and decorated with a crab.
The shape of this white piece with its convex back was a little more challenging to wrap securely. After several attempts this is the result.
I love the pink color of this glass. It was polished amazingly smooth by the sand. This pieces and several more will be coming soon to the Etsy Shop.
I am very happy to have my island treasure of beach glass to incorporate into my work. The colors make me happy and bring reminders of a beautiful place that we intend to visit again.
FamiLee News:
Tic-Tac is very big now and due any day. We can hardly wait (even though I have already been eliminated from the pool). Becky has another doctors visit tomorrow-hopefully the last one before he arrives.
