Ta Daaa! We Did it! Blog Sites

Hi,

I'm Linda! And for a few minutes I'll tell you a tidbit about me and my life!

For as long as I can remember I've been creative! In high school I used to embroider my brother's old jean shirts with rainbows, hearts, bumble bees and other cute things! I had a real interest in sewing too! I took my first sewing classes in Home Ec in High School. It was a great class and the students also had a fashion show at the end of the semester modeling their new wear! This really was the beginning of my creativity.  I also began macramé at that time too! I love macramé, and still do it! 

After high school Mike and I got married very young! During those years we shared a car and he went to trade school three nights a week! So, that meant a lot of time for me to find things to keep me busy! And oh, we were so lucky to have a lapidary rock shop right across from our apartment! Mike and I loved that little rock shop so much! (In fact that was my first anniversary gift, a beautiful opal stone from the rock shop!) I began buying small stones that were drilled and I would macramé them into choker necklaces, that was really the start of my love for making jewelry! 

After our children were born, you'd always find me busy! I loved being a mom! And, I was fortunate enough to be able to spend the first few years home with them! We enjoyed playing and cooking and just being a family! In my free time, or while they were playing, I was always crafting! I cross stitched, did crewel work, basket weaving, fabric weaving, a lot of things I was able to do while the kids were playing! And, as my kids grew, so did my hobbies. 

As a family we camped when our kids were younger! This is where my love of photography grew! My first 35mm camera was a Fuji Camera. I am so glad I had the opportunity to learn photography on a manual camera! Photography really is a skill! When you are using a manual camera, it's important you understand composition, lighting and exposure! What you shot is what you got! No Photoshop back then! I think it made me a better photographer! 

Fast forward a bit! So, I loved my garden in my new house! Mike and I planted every tree and every bush and every flower in our yard! My favorite were my perennials!

This is where a lot of my inspiration began! I'd grab my camera and shoot a bunch of photos everynight! Every weekend, I'd drive to the film processing store and have my photos developed! I'd hold my breath opening the sleeve of photos hoping some would be just right!

Then came digital cameras! I got my first Nikon camera right after they were released! OMG, I was so thrilled, I could take hundreds of shots a night! By this time, I had already been working and I was using Adobe Photoshop, so I was so excited to use these photos on everything! I had flower photo albums everywhere! I would bring my photos into work all the time! I'd make flower cards to give to friends & co-workers for birthdays and for gifts.

By this time, I was also already very into my yoga studies. I made really cute hangers with floral photos and inspirational quotes on them. These were all inspired through my yoga teachings. I'd dangle a gemstone on the hangers with the chakra that was associated with the inspirational quote. I still have some some of those pieces, I loved them!

So after searching for great chakra gemstones, I once again became very interested in gemstones! I was buying such beautiful chakra gemstones, (Garnet, and Amethyst, and Iolite to name a few) that I decided to make some jewelry...Fast forward a few decades and that's where I am today! 

So, after the 90's I left my technical prepress job and went once again back to the creative side! I've been an artist/designer for over two decades! What a blessing it has been! Creativity is what moves me, it excites me, it keeps me up way too late at night, it makes me daydream! And my love for card making has never wavered, and a million other creative things also happened along the way!

I am very into photography, macro photography, nature is my favorite!  And, being in the printing business most of my career, lead me to another favorite interest, Letterpress Printing! I have 4 presses from the 1800's, two are in my basement right now! So I print on the old presses too! (More cards, and more cards) 

I loved beading jewelry so then I took it one step farther! I began to do metalsmithing jewelry! And I got a kiln and do PMC jewelry also! All my styles are very organic beautiful styles using sparkly gemstones, and very earthy stones & Turquoise. All my creations have an inspiration behind them! Here is one of my work areas! Everything in my room here is an inspiration! I love being in there! Parallel to the workbench in my computer. A lot of magic happens in this room! 

So, as you can see I love to be creative! AND you will see my shop grow! This is just the beginning! I will continue with my photography, and card making, my jewelry making and all the other creative ventures that WE get into! Mike is just as creative as me, although with totally other things: radios, turntables, trains, and polishing cabochons for ME! You will hear me talk quite a lot about my tool guru! Without Mike, I wouldn't be where I am today! He helps and encourages me so much! And my favorite thing is that we do a lot of these things together! We go on vintage finding trips, and gemstone collecting trips and nature trips! I wish we had more time together, that's why I look forward to the years ahead! We will never sit still! We have a million adventures yet to discover! I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings! 

The house was way to quiet, so once again we looked to rescue another doggie! And then came Lilly! Here is Lilly in the morning! I'm not much of a morning person, although she thinks she can convince me that I am! Just look at her, here is where the shenanigans are beginning! One by one she brings me her toys! She's so cute!

She loves road trips and adventures too! She has brought a lot of joy to us and has brought me back into the creative world that I love so much. It has been a challenging last few years for me and I am thankful Lilly rescued me! Everyone needs a doggie like Lilly! She's part of the family!

And so happily TA DAA! I DID IT! I finally opened my website! This is something I have wanted to do for years!  I hope you LOVE everything! 

And in closing, I hope that I have inspired you to create! It's a joy for me! Enjoy all of my beautiful creations that I have made! And stay tuned! I have more to come!

Let's stay connected! Sigh up for my newsletter! And until then.

Love and Peace

Linda, Mike and Lilly