Jacks in the sagebrush racing the shadows of their own beating hearts.

Jack of diamonds.

The smallest wolf pack with boulder turquoises, star sapphires, rose quartz, dendritic opal and ametrine. Bound for my shop shelves on January 10 @ 9AM MST.

Happy new year, darlin’s!

I hope you all had a great Christmas and holiday season. This was our favorite Christmas we’ve ever had together. We spent it here at the farm with all our critters and managed to make the most of the meager daylight hours by xc-skiing, riding our horses, hiking, bird hunting and sledding on a 100 year old runner sled every single day. We’ve had days and days of beautiful snowfall here and brisk temperatures, proper wintery weather. The quietude of winter and the precariousness of driving on roads has been a catalyst for truly slowing down and resting. This is the first time in 15 years that Robbie and I feel like we have time, like we aren’t racing against an April 1st fire season start date and we’re thankful for the sense of spaciousness we feel this winter.

I haven’t yet taken much time to think about my goals for this new year but I do have a few projects on the go already. I’m in the midst of a behind-the-scenes website rebuild here. I HIRED SOMEONE TALENTED TO BUILD IT FOR ME and she is worth every penny! We’re talking about building me a studio building which I desperately need. I’ve never been able to fit all my big tools in my current studio — I have a couple big machines in the garage and a couple more across our yard in our big outbuilding. I need everything in one place. Desperately. My current studio space has me feeling like I’m too big a fish in too small a bowl. Which brings me to what I wanted to share today:

I’m deeply dedicated to living like I’m going to have thousands of tomorrows. This mindset causes me to invest myself in my work, in my ideas, in my crafts every single day. I’m building a life over here! This mindset also prompts me to buy the fruit trees and expensive perennials, to develop the berry patches in my gardens, to build new structures on the farm and replace old fence lines. I don’t have time to hide beneath my bed and be afraid of everything bad in the world that may or may not be out to get me. I have life and living on my mind. There’s a chance we might sell this farm and buy a different one that suits our needs more someday but I’ll never regret the time and energy and money and love I poured into this place. I’ll never regret building it up and increasing the beauty and functionality of this little farmstead. That’s a fact. If you are wondering if you should build it, if you should buy the peach tree, if you should expand, if you should hire the assistant, if you should construct the greenhouse…DO IT. DO ALL OF IT. Build. Learn. Grow. Fail. Succeed. Make it more beautiful than you found it.

The last thing I have to tell you today is this: I was going to do a big shop update at the end of the month but I already have a bunch of necklaces and earrings made and I think I’ll go ahead and prepare to list them in my shop on January 10th @ 9AM MST. Jackrabbits and wolves! Turquoise, rubies and labradorite! Mark your calendars and thank you so much for your amazing support in 2021. I look forward to serving your souls in 2022.

XX

A massive swallowtail. My favorite. Larger than life. Just for fun.

https://www.thenoisyplume.com/blog/2021/12/12/16308/

I just know I’m going to have a great day if I am up before the sun, outside in time to watch it rise and let the first light of day shine straight into my eyes. I can feel all my cells firing up for the day — it’s not my imagination either, that first light of day shining into my eyes stokes the fires of the mitochondria in every single one of my cells in my body. The first light of day shines in my eyes and tells my body to wake up and get going. It’s science! The last light of day tells our bodies to power down for the night and to prepare for sleep. Watching the sun set is just as important to our circadian rhythm as watching it rise. Isn’t that fascinating? Even if you don’t find it fascinating it’s the inspiration behind this design.

When I sat down to make these ancient looking necklaces I had the goal of creating something that looked like it had been chiseled into a cave wall and finger painted with ochre. These organic shapes are the result of milling small ingots which I carefully textured and applied snipped bits of wire to the face of in the pattern of an primitive eye. A wash of 23K gold, a dark patina and a selective hand finish add so much dimension to the design. Lovely. I have sixteen made, each one is unique. They’ll all go into my shop on December 15 @ 10AM MST — first come first serve.

Work hard this week, sleep deep, and let the sunrise fill your eyes each morning.