Studio Time: Crazy Cluster Bracelets

Sometimes beads just beg to come together in various assortments. I've been working out charm bracelets and after doing an elegant, lush bracelet, I wanted to let my creativity out of the bag and put together a crazy assortment of colors and sizes. The assortments have purpose, though, and because there are various colors, can be worn with a lovely array of outfits.

Beach Bum: for some reason, the banana yellow beads scream "beach" to me...pair that with a little bit of turquoise, light and dark, and you have banana trees and ocean. Beach Bum!

Vineyards: the grape-y assortment of beads in transparent purple, violet & lime swirls, lavendar swirls, and opaque lavendar evoke ideas of a vineyard.

Both available in the shop! Both can be custom-sized to fit you.

Squishy Update (Creative Toothpaste Squishing)

Ain't that the way it goes

Always stumbling into something

Life's an open road, you got to take it

If you just let go

Lose your way to find that one thing you've been missing

- The Way it Goes, Gloriana

I love country music and this is one of the top songs getting the most play on my i-Pod. It seems appropriate considering the diversion my art has taken. The cool thing is that I did take the silver class and have now opened up a world of possibilities with silver that I was too intimidated to try.

And the leather store I mentioned that has DIY workshops? Through connections, there is a potential lead on shared studio space. At the very least, there is space near my home that offers rented space for giving workshops. There are some lampwork teachers that have expressed willingness to teach in Hong Kong if I could find enough students to make the cost feasible. Cool, hey?


Confessions of a Shoe-A-Holic

Sigh. I miss cute shoes. I see them all the time here. I work in Times Square. I see high fashion all over the place. I see these gorgeous Asian women wearing all the crazy things in Vogue. And they look good in it. (Because they're stick thin.) Although I'm still not a fan of bloomer shorts. Even on skinny girls.

I embraced practical clothes. I know there are classic fashions that I can adapt to the heat of Hong Kong. I need to get a sewing machine. I brought my US one, but all my US electronics have suffered untimely deaths due to the higher voltage (220 volts vs. 120 volts). Knitting, crocheting, sewing...it will all come with time.

But. Shoes. Sigh.

Most of my adult years, my wide practical streak has ruled mostly due to budget issues. Occasional indulgences in cute shoes were okay, but they had to meet a stringent comfort/cuteness quotient. If I found a pair that met that sweet spot, I bought the same pair in different colors.

You know what kind of issues two pairs of the same color bring...

Did that twice. I'm surprised it wasn't more. (Maybe it was and I didn't notice.) The first time it was one brown shoe and one black shoe. The second time it was a blue shoe and brown shoe. No one would have noticed if I hadn't pointed it out. Will I ever learn?

Then I went through a true shoe-a-holic phase where I could afford the cute, trendy shoes. No...not the Jimmy Choos and Manolo Blahniks. More along the lines of Etienne Aigner, Steve Madden, Paolo, Nine West, Jessica Simpson. I had amassed a truly "girl-worthy" collection of cute shoes. The fun thing about being a shoe-a-holic was that I didn't have to do the "repeat in different colors" thing. I always got a lot of compliments on the shoes. (I'll have to tell you another story about the combo of cute shoes and klutziness, though. Story for another day.) I think I miss my red, patent leather sling-back pumps the most. They were SO cute. They were taller and pointier than the pair below. But, hmm....these might work for me in HK... um... we'll see. I've tried so many comfortable-looking shoes that only tortured my feet. Even my blisters had blisters.

Now I'm back to the "repeat in different colors" methodology. Only they are in the granny-shoe-comfort style. Sigh.

These are under the "Women, Ultra-Comfort" category. I wore out my first pair in two months.

So, I bought two more pairs. One black. One brown. I had cleaned up my flat yesterday (loving a smaller space...lickety-split cleaning!) and put my two pairs of shoes in my wardrobe. Only I mixed the pairs. Putting my shoes on this morning, I almost did a wear-two-different-color-shoes day. It's a good thing there is a lot of natural light in my flat. I was able to notice before I even put them on. I wonder if anyone would notice? ... Pause... Um. Yes. I have friends who notice absolutely everything about me. No getting away with anything here!

On the other hand...my feet are happy in their comfort. I mean, singing-in-the-shower-I'm-in-love type of happy. I have a pair of semi-cute comfortable shoes. And my feet grumble. They love to stride and walk. And you can really only do that in a pair of granny-style-comfortable shoes.

Happy feet. Disappointed fashionista.

Eh. I'll live. My inner shoe fashionista can live vicariously through other people's feet. I have too many other things to enjoy right now.