Terrific Tuesday!

I am just enjoying my day today. I only have a few left, so I am doing what I want and relaxing. Today has not been that eventful, haha. I got up and had some tea, did some laundry, and worked on a new project. We don't have many plates to eat off of, after having broken a couple, so I bought a new set of four. I am hand painting them, so I worked on that for a while and am taking a break now. They're dark blue and I am using pale green paint and painting a floral design on them. I found a pattern I liked, and transferred it onto my first plate this morning and painted it. Doesn't look too bad! They will probably become fixtures in our hutch, rather than in our kitchen cabinets. Picture of first one is below. Should I paint a border or just leave it as is?
Other than that I am just hangin' around in my PJs. I cleaned cleaned cleaned the house yesterday, but did not wash the floor. Ugh. Hate that job because there is SO much sand and dust here that they never really look clean after a washing anyway. I'll do it tomorrow, in the morning, before it gets too hot. The whole cleaning thing to go into labor hasn't been working, though! I was on my hands and knees washing the bathroom floors yesterday, and running around dusting and sweeping, and polishing the stainless steal appliances...but...NOTHING. No labor. And I feel pretty good overall, so at this point it's like, well...maybe I'll just be pregnant forever? Just kidding. I am due next Saturday. I have a feeling that won't happen though and that I'll go late. Pretty much betting on it. Boooo. However, I really am taking people's advice and enjoying my days now! How great is it to sit with a cup of tea and watch TV? Without any distractions? Pretty nice. Mike and I are going swimming tonight...it's been nice to do little things like that, and I can tell we are both making the most of it.

One thing I find weird is that I am trying to like, set up the house and constantly have things in place and clean. I always want NO laundry, so I pretty much do a little load every day or so. It's like if I get all things done now, I won't have any to do later. Which is so not true. There will always be laundry, there will always be a mess in the kitchen at some point, there will always be the everyday clutter of shoes and bags near the front door. I guess I am just trying to keep it all at bay and not let anything get backed up. At least for now, because I am sure it will get backed up pretty fast in the coming weeks.

So anyway, speaking of letting things get backed up, I am going to go take care of some things. Maybe work on the second plate...then meet Mike for swimming. Mmm so nice.

Happy Tuesday.

I'll finish this baby blanket, I swear!

Hi! I have been working on this cross-stitch baby blanket for a few months now. I took a two month hiatus until recently. Not sure what happened...just fell off the bandwagon. It happens. But I am back! As you can see, there is still a lot to go. Like...the whole bear. I'm scared to start that part because it is the BIGGEST part of the blanket. AGH! For the backing I want to find some really cool/cute fabric. I don't know if I want to go with a flannel to make it more cozy? (HA! It might be winter by the time I'm done - so that's fitting right?) We'll see. For now....focus on finishing the thing, Lisbet. Really.

A Rainy Afternoon Here!

Well, at least for a little while. It is monsoon season here, so that means our afternoons are usually plagued by thunderstorms that come and go. Today we got a good one! It is POURING! And I love it.

I got up super early this morning, and researched some jewelry sites and magazines to find where I can submit pictures of my work. I then sat down for a good two hours to work on a new necklace and pair of earrings. The lighting wasn't so great, but I attempted to take some photos as well. It really sucks because my house just doesn't have the greatest light pouring in...my windows must not face the right direction. It's frustrating! So, I do the best I can. I never knew I'd become a photographer, too! I'm so multi-talented. Anyway, here are a couple of the pics!
I love Etsy and all, however I am looking for other venues to showcase my work - hence looking to submit it to different magazines. Why not? It's really hard to get publicity because the jewelry niche is such a HUGE one. We all get lost in it! That doesn't mean that someone's work is poor, it's just harder to find them. I think we all work very hard at our craft/art! We must all remember that we love to do it, rather than let it become a burden. I know sometimes I get sucked into "working it" online, when really I should be at my desk working on new designs.

Also, as of late I have been on a major budget when it comes to supplies. I REALLY want some jewelry displays, though. So, I found some fun DIY ways. I'm sure we've all researched this, but my favorites include this cabinet display, and this easy necklace holder. I already made one out of mesh, where I hang my earrings. I am going to frame it with an old wedding frame we have left over because it's pretty!

I just got a call that my dogs escaped the yard during the thunder/rain. They are such babies! And such a nuisance...ugh. Gotta go pick them up at the neighbor's. Have a wonderful wknd! Signing off for now...

New Stuff in my Shop!

I have a few new things listed in my shop - this Blue Topaz Bracelet is one of them! I think it's pretty summery ;-) I may do some anklets, as I think they're pretty popular in the summer.

Just popping in to say hi - that's all for now.

Yes, I am still pregnant.

Yep, just so every one knows. I am at the point where people see me and are like, "You're still pregnant?!" Um, YES. I think people should be nicer and say something like, "Oh you look so cute" (even if I don't). Just humor me. Come on people.

Not much to say today as I am just bumpin' around making the time pass by organizing the baby room, closets, trying to stay active, and MAYBE taking a nap every now and again. I succumbed to the "nap" which is something I never do. What a great idea, though, because I feel much better throughout the day and am probably less cranky. Plus, all people tell me is "get all the sleep you can, because you won't ever sleep again." I usually just brush them off, but now that I only have a couple weeks left, I'm realizing they're right...and freaking out!

I did hit the gym today for some elliptical..only 1/2 an hour. Boo. Maybe later I'll drag Mike there to go for a quick swim. The pool was PACKED with summer campers and family today and I didn't feel like fighting them for a lane. Granted, I could probably have just cannon-balled them outta the way. (Baby probably wouldn't have like that, though....) Anyway, I am so not fun today, so I'll see you all later!

Wish List Friday

Happy Friday all! Another week has passed...I am in countdown mode these days, so if you all get annoyed at how I check off the days, well, it will be over soon. Just waitin' on this baby.


If we ever move to another house (which we will), I will be SO excited to decorate it. The house we are in now is very generic. We live in an area where all the houses are similar, so it's hard to make your own seem personal. I've hunted down furniture, art, etc. to fill the inside with character. If I had an unlimited budget to makeover a room or several rooms I would be in heaven. Don't those designers on HGTV have it good? What an awesome job to have. So, I browsed around Etsy for some finds that I would buy if I could, and created a short wish-list. What do ya think?
I love the idea of working with different wood to encompass different colors in a room - it makes it seem extremely organic. Light and airy rooms are a must...I like white bed covers and furniture (however unpractical they may be...) My husband, unfortunately, leans toward dark woods with traditional yet clean lines. I'll have to work on him, as I do go for cleaner lines but don't go for the dark and drab look.

~~Father's Day is Sunday! Mike keeps reminding me that he IS a father-to-be, so we must celebrate. I think I will drag him to Art in the Park first, and then we can do whatever he wants. He made me volunteer at a triathlon on Mother's Day! (when I much rather would have been racing in it - so depressing). Art in the Park features all the artists in the Corrales area, I can't wait to go see their jewelry and other goods!

Alright, time to get going. I slept in way too late today, and was dreaming crazy dreams. They all have baby-related things in them - is that a sign? Haha. Have a great weekend all! I may check back in.

~Lis~

Hey all! I set up a facebook fan page for TripleL, so take a look! If you want, just go down the right column of this blog, and "facebook" me. My fan page is located in the "info" section, under "pages." Or, try going to this link. It is, of course, minimal for now as I have not gotten much on it. My personal facebook page is much more impressive, haha. Be my friend through that as well, if you want. ;-) I like friends!

Some new things to add to my shop...what do you think?
I like silver and blue ALL the time. Blue is my favorite color. So, I had to go out the other day and I was searching for a pair of really simple earrings to wear...I didn't have anything so I just made these blue glass dangles! They are simple yet with a splash of cool color.

The necklace came to me later on that night. I wanted something that was delicate but with a cluster of dangling beads...and this is what resulted! These are things that I would wear, and I like to create things for my shop that I love. If you don't create what you love, who will love what you create?

Driving around a few days ago, I snapped a few pictures of my surroundings. I'd like to show you all that New Mexico does in fact have greenery! Flowers! Trees! ::Gasp!:::

See? Some roses (with the Sandias as a backdrop-not bad), some flowers, and more roses around a house.

On that note, have a lovely evening.

Where have I been?

I've been busy, okay?! And this baby in my belly is pushing down more and more everyday - I have taken up the waddle now, especially if I need to pee.

I sold one of my fave bracelets - for the second time! And I have someone else who wants to buy it as well, so I must get out and stock up on more materials. You can see it in my Etsy shop here.

So...I spent a bunch of time last night and today working on some new designs. The copper and pearl earrings are my favorite (see below).
My second favorite is this necklace...
I am working on streamlining my look...simple, elegant, crisp. Sometimes it's hard when you have all these ideas, and you just can't pinpoint what you're GOING for. So basically I am focusing on my final products, and how they speak to people. I will take any comments or suggestions!

Alrighty, hate to cut this short but I have work to do. Hope you all had a wonderful weekend, I will check back in tomorrow!

~Lisbet~

My dogs are lucky they are alive.

Just a camping trip last summer...Brandy (brown and front and center) is always at dad's feet.

These dogs should be dead right now. If it hadn't been in the middle of the night (12:30 AM) I would have taken 'em out back and....(okay jk). But really. Mike went to bed early because he had to get up at 4AM for a run, so I was up watching TV then tinkering with some new jewelry ideas. I go to bed around 12:30 (I know, late, yadda yadda yadda), open our bedroom door and am hit with a wall of lovely puke smells. Both dogs jetted out of the room, so I am still unclear as to who the culprit is. It was EVERYWHERE. All over the bed, projectile onto the foot-board, all over the floor. Disgusting. So, in my pissed off state I cleaned it all up (I won't get into the consistency of it etc...however, I felt like throwing up myself). Stripped the top blanket off and threw it in the wash, banished the dogs to the garage, and went to sleep in the guestroom. I was not sleeping in that pukey bed, plus it smelled gross. I don't know HOW Mike didn't notice the smell, or the probable dry heaving of the dog who was on the bed. Yek.

Aside from that, one of them had already had and "accident" in the garage earlier that day. So. My case rests. I have said over and over again that the dogs are no longer going to be treated like kings and queens. Seeing as we live in the desert basically, our house is a constant sand-pit from them trekking around. Dog hair, sand, dirt, puke and dog crap are not welcome in this house anymore. Especially with a baby coming. I don't want Logan crawling around in that? Mike is hard to deal with because he always slept with Brandy in the bed before he met me, haha, and then she got replaced. He is strange... he loves the dogs one minute then wants to boot them to the moon the next. Long story short? These dogs will have a new home soon - the great outdoors. I love dogs now, come on...but I have better fish to fry these days.

Ahem! On a lighter note - I got some baby clothes washed yesterday and will do more today. People say they wash it all before the baby comes...but then as they get more clothes they just slap 'em right on the little guy or gal w/o washing...I'm sure I'll fall into that category. Unless he shows some blowout of an allergic reaction (I hope he's not one of those kids...who sees a peanut and his throat closes up. Uggghh). I'm starting to like, waddle. I didn't think that day would come. It's not too bad, more like a way to lean back and keep all that weight from making me fall flat on my face.

Alright, time to get myself together here! Have a great day!

Good Read

Have any of you read Beautiful Boy, by David Scheff? You should. Look through that link and you'll be able to read more about it. It's about a father's path alongside his son's meth addiction. I find these books mesmerizing. They are mind boggling to read, and I always wonder what on earth I would do if I were ever presented with the same problems. People don't think they will produce a beautiful child that will one day become an addict. It happens, though...and what would you do? Would you feel like a failure? Perhaps. Would you give up on your son or daughter? Some parents might. Anyway, I saw him on Oprah the other day (long after I had read the book) and it struck a cord all over again. Read the book. And if you have, what do you think of it?

Baby is moving around in there as we speak. I have CORNERS. I am not round, I am SQUARE. My belly has started taking on the most bizarre shapes. Is this normal? Or do I just have a monster in there. Yikes.

So, I read the "Quit Your Day Job" article featuring KahiliCreations. I thought it was totally inspiring, moreso than some others I've read. I love that series, because it makes me believe people truly do succeed at this! Haha. Plus, I loved her work. It is gorgeous and simple...definitely wedding-day worthy (and she does say she gets brides' orders). Besides liking practically all of her jewelry...this one drew me in the most...


Off for now! Have a good one all.

I am going blog, banner, Etsy crazy!!!

Ahhhhh! I have totally gone off my rocker, people!

I am sure you are all wondering if I have had an identity crisis. No, this is not so. However, I have changed my blog background and Etsy banner about ten trillion times over the past few days. I just can't DECIDE on any of them, because I love so many of them. So. I SWEAR, this is the end of my schizophrenia. No more changes, things will always be the same from here on out. For real.

The problem I have is that I appreciate so many different things. So many colors, fonts, designs, blah blah. My brain is like a tornado of smashed-together colors and designs...and I can never choose just one. But, for every one else's sake, I will keep things constant. No more confusion. When you come to my blog and Etsy shop, it IS still all mine. I have not moved away and gone nuts.

Oh, and speaking of being nuts - thanks so much for all your comments on my last post! MUCH appreciated, and so glad to know you feel my pain. Hahaha. It is actually slightly humorous (when I'm not in a raging MOOD, that is). So again, you are all great for sticking up for me.

So...today is cloudy and so-called "dreary" here in NM (um, I'm used to dreary meaning downpours in the Northeast...but whatever, it is what it is). I took all morning designing some new jewelry and putting it together, and have been listing every since. Again, I have too many ideas to ever get them all done. I am sure all of us artists/designers/creators will never be "done" with our creations. That is the way we are! It is never-ending, but so much fun. I am so much happier being artistic than sitting at a desk doing monotonous work. I worked for AT&T until recently, and boy am I glad to be done with THAT. Those kinds of jobs truly do turn your brain to mush. Will NEVER do that again.

Moving along here! In case no one knows, I have an earring fetish. Besides loving to make them, I love to look at and buy them. It is a disease. Check out these cool green turquoise earrings- pictured below - from the Etsy shop Island Girl Designs. So cool. The shop is pretty sweet, too, so pop in and have a browse around.
And as for some new things of my OWN....you can see them all at my shop! See below for a sneak-preview. Some aren't in my shop yet, but will be...
Oh. And ONE more thing. Check out this quilt my friend and her mother-in-law made for me (or, Logan, but whatever). It is ADORABLE.
Okay, enough for now. I'll see you all next time.

I know, I HAVE been bipolar lately.

I am SORRY! I can't help it! Mike says, "Geez, you're so hormonal lately." Um. Yeah? And I can help that by doing....?

I woke up on the wrong side of bed, and it took me until about 2PM to feel normal. Not sure what happened, other than maybe a bus ran over me in my sleep. I woke up more exhausted than when I went to bed. Gladly, I felt better and have been getting things done i.e. laundry, cleaning, organizing.

I won't lie, I have been like a total roller coaster lately. Mike was gone camping Saturday night, and then Sunday I went down to Old Town to a couple bead shops, then went to swim at the pool, and hit up the grocery store on the way back home. I knew he was home at around 1PM because he called me to see what I was doing. So...when I got home at around 5PM I walked in to him laying around on the couch (in his birthday suit) eating, drinking, tinkering on the laptop, and more or less doing absolutely nothing. His "HEY BABY!" when I walked in sort of ticked me off even more. Why did this scene that I walked in to bother me so much? Probably because I am, oh, hormonal? Maybe? I walked in and washed the dishes and started laundry and organized some baby shower gifts...and as I was doing things he goes "would ya settle down? sit down." My response was something like, "Well, I am doing LIFE things. You won't have any clean clothes if I don't." We went to see a movie at 7PM...and he succeeded in sitting on his (indecent) ass until then. Not until later did I tell him he had pissed me off. That is totally my fault, as I should have just told him right off. I'm learning.

So here are my questions. Why and when do men forget how to do laundry, or even better, forget where the washing machine is? Why do men think the sink is the dishwasher? Why is it okay to take their clothes (ALL of them) off in the middle of the living room?

...and most importantly...

You live with a pregnant woman, it is about 85 degrees in the house, so WHY isn't the AC fixed yet when if I've asked 10 times???


Well, men and women will always be different I realize. Most of the time I really love him, but of course, I have my bitch moments. As long as I can get over these moments, and he can sometimes realize I can't help it, we'll be okay. I can accept him if he can accept me. It's a work in progress. Thankfully, I live with a guy who can hear what I say but not take it too seriously. And thankfully for him, I realize he just can't HELP his stupidity. :-)

Baby Shower...MORE Stuff!

I had my baby shower today! So basically, that means I have more stuff to find room for. Apparently this is going to be a never ending battle. I will always have stuff, I will get even more stuff, and when I think I can't find any more room - I will get even MORE stuff. People will give me their "stuff", I will stuff it in the closet, and hopefully use it at some point in my life. The house is quickly becoming smaller with the accumulation of our, well, stuff. All these THINGS....toys, stuffed animals, baby clothes, baby jumpers, tummy mats, mobiles, tricycles (um, hello, he won't even be able to use this for another 2 yrs?!) Yep. We have it all. And we will only get more. Yikes. I honest to god have NO idea where we will store things...our guestroom looks like a storage room what with the bed, two desks, my jewelry and supplies, file boxes, the BOB stroller, etc etc. I hope no one needs to stay in there any time soon...they'd be better off at a nearby hotel.

The shower was great, though. Of course, it is great seeing all the ladies. What is funny is we literally "oohed" and "aahed" over every cute little onesie I unwrapped. Yep. So stereotypical but so true. Cute little boy things.

I love this gift - figure of mother, father and baby. :-)

In the spirit of all things baby-related, I looked through baby bedding on Etsy and found the CUTEST little blanket. Now, I know it is pink and that I'm not having a girl...but I can still think it's cute! Maybe, possibly, IDEALLY I will have a baby girl next. So anyway, the blanket is adorable, and you can visit the Etsy shop, Truly Bella! The shop is full of cute baby blankies, burp cloths, etc. so have a look!



Alright people, my baby-day is over...and that is something I will not be able to ever say again in the near future! Time to try and get some sleep, we'll see how that pans out. ;-)

Alright, another week is just about DONE

A brief shower I caught in Santa Fe...

I have a baby shower tomorrow! Super excited! Not that we need any more baby things (or have the room, that is). It's always fun to just hang out with all the ladies, anyway. So the fact that we get presents is just the icing on the cake.

It is totally cloudy here in Rio Rancho today, which I am LOVING. I need a day off from the sun - I sweat bullets just doing things around the house.

So...I am 35 weeks pregnant and starting to feel a little anxious. Having a hard time anticipating this. Plus I'm not loving that I can't move around as quickly, my back hurts, I'm tired, and cranky...and god knows what else. Oh well. Anyway, that's my mini rant for today. I am lucky if I get out to "work out" every day, sometimes I skip a day now (which I have never really done!) Now, I wouldn't call these "workouts" per se, more like moderate activity. I'll probably get on the elliptical today for 1/2 and hour and then stretch. Might possibly bike a bit.

La La La

I am la la la'ing around lately! Hangin' out, watching baby move, planting flowers, making clay pendants that I will list on Etsy tomorrow, making new jewelry, swimming, and staying busy!

I have a fave item today from Etsy. The shop is here. I love the blue and yellow contrast - and I love watercolor as well so this was an easy pick. There are some other great paintings in the shop so take a look!

Time to go plant some plants/flowers around my fence. It's hot as hell out there, so we'll see how I fare. I got some zinnias :-) and other goodies.