From My Bench ~ Gold Snowflakes!

My popular silver snowflake earrings are now available in GOLD!

Each disc is lightly hammered around the edges and stamped with one
delicate snowflake. 

Lightweight and lovely for all snowbunnies!

All gold is 14k goldfill wire and sheet metal.

Seeds....

...autumn 

My Girl ~ Happy Caturday!

love ethel xo

Tablescapes ~ Ready for Autumn!

Crisp red and white and a splash of fabulous yellow!

What's for lunch!

Lovin' me some HUGE sunflowers!

From My Bench ~ Facelift and Reorganization!

And it needed it! My jewelry bench is in our basement - read "no windows". So even with all kinds of lighting, the room is dark and without some nice natural light. When hubs built my bench, I painted the top surface my favorite green for brightness and carried on. Honestly, though, the color is not helpful - it adds to that yellowish hue cast by indoor lights (even with white bulbs) and I have never really liked it.

Now, I love this little room because it's ALL mine. I have room to spread out, make a mess, leave things set up, create, LOADS of storage space and even a computer work space on my favorite vintage enamel top table. Every little thing in it has been placed by me and no one moves anything except for me - read "I have room to make a mess and I therefore do!".

So, yesterday, after completing work on some orders, I decided it was time to correct both of these little issues. I thoroughly cleaned the whole room (yes, EVERY corner - moved EVERY tool, supply, box, etc). I painted the bench top a a very pale blue, reorganized my tools to make a larger workspace, built a wall 'thingy' to store my hammers, tossed all the garbage, cleaned and treated my tools and equipment, filled the torches, organized my enamel powders, placed all my soldering supplies on one metal tray that can be moved to my bench when needed, set up a little bed for Ethel, and gathered all wire and sheet metal together in one easy to locate area! I was exhausted but it feels GREAT! And I'm excited to get to work- that clean bench top needs a project!

Biker Chick, Road Trip and Winery Tour!

Well, the planets aligned and we finally got all the bits and pieces for the motorbike to make longer trips more comfortable AND a weekend we were all free to adventure! Heading slightly northeast from the lake, we traveled some quiet and pretty back roads almost straight across New Brunswick to Richibucto, located on the east coast.  Our destination was Richibucto River Wine Estates where we were signed up for a tour on Saturday afternoon. It was a gorgeous sunny day with perfect temperatures for biking - it's HOT wearing all that equipment on (the girl at the bike shop very seriously when she suggested dressing 'for the slide, not the ride!) so I was well padded! And looking very attractive, I might add, hehehe :)

Living with NB weather all my life, I didn't realize there was any part of the province with a climate suitable for growing grapes - I was wrong.  Right along the beautiful Richibucto River, the winery spreads out over 20 acres of vineyard (with a area for growing Christmas trees as well). Guided by the owner's daughter, we learned about the history of their winery, the grapes they grow, their processes and sampled several of their wines - whites, rose and reds! Delicious! I may have bought a few bottles too :).

We rented a cabin at Chateau de Havres, also right on the river and overlooking the Northumberland Straight. It was breezy and cool, but also beautiful - and the cabins were modern with every convenience.  Although it was too cold to swim, they have a pretty and well appointed pool area and even provide firewood for each cabin's private fire pit! It was a lovely weekend!

Entering the winery

Row after well tended row of beautiful varieties of grapes.

Biker Chick - that's hubs driving and me in the rearview mirror.

This winery even hosts a UPick in the fall for those who want to pick their own
grapes for eating or jam making.

The gang

The owner's daughter preparing for the tasting.

In our travels, we've seen another sign for a winery in Cambridge Narrows - this may be our next trip!

From My Bench ~ A Little Excitement!

Artisan Jewelry Times magazine featured my orange copper coil enameled earrings in their August issue! How fun is that? 

Thank you so much!

http://artisanjewelrytimes.com/

Life at the Lake - Once in a Blue Moon!

Last night's Blue Moon was a gorgeous finish to a beautiful evening! The sky was clear and the weather was fabulous and after a few games of badminton and a rock skipping championship event, we had some fun photographing the blue moon.

Here are some of the results!

We'll have to wait until January 2018 for the next one!