| My husband and I love creating! Most weekends we have something up our sleeves! His form of art is food and he is such a fabulous gourmet chef! I tend to do more artsy things, but we share and collaborate together on everything! Many times I am creating in the background even when I do not have new things to post for sale on the website. This page is dedicated to our creative and sometimes crazy ideas that we hatch together, our projects that we do that are not necessarily going to be put up for sale, but that are art just the same! And what is LIFE, but a big giant canvas to paint the art from our hearts on?!!! |
| A lot of my projects these days are with ceramics because I have found a wonderful art center nearby that offers ceramics classes! I have made such good friends down at the Willamette Art Center in Salem, OR. And I LOVE to create with clay! To the left is a colorful Hand of Hamsa incense burner that I made for our house. It can hold incense sticks or cones. I always have incense burning so this was a nice addition for the home! To the right is a cool Rhubarb leaf platter that I made in ceramics class! We took actual leaves and pressed them into the clay to get the design and patterns from the veins in the leaves! What a fun and simple project with gorgeous results! I have the faintest idea what I will do with it yet, but I love it! |
| This project was truly a labor of love! It took me almost one whole semester to complete it. Each of the tentacles had to be fired in a special way to get the glaze to be on all sides and not to stick to the kiln shelves. There are 38 dangles in all, filled with ceramic legs, sparkly beads, glass drops, and crystals of all kinds! It has the most magical glass tinkling sound! We have it placed in our home with a vortex style moving light shining on it with blue and green colors, it makes it look like it is moving through the ocean! |
| A fun little project that my husband collaborated with me on! A UFO crystal lamp! I had a dream that he and I were exploring the galaxies and planetary systems in our own personal space ship! So he said I HAD to make it in my ceramics class! So I did! He even helped me with some work on the legs and detail work on the topside. We lit the inside up with one of the lights for salt lamps! The top can hold all kinds of crystals and they are interchangeable! With a personal inscription on the bottom: "Exploring Galaxies Together Forever - J&J Enterprise" (which is what we call anything we do together, and a reference to Starship "Enterprise" of course, haha) |
| Dessert bowls I made for my husband and myself! Fit for a mermaid and her Pirate! Hehe! Joseph says he wants a full set of dishes for us to use.... yahhhh that might take awhile! |
| My husband and I go on many adventures on his bike! He wanted me to make him a little bell to hang on the bike which is a tradition for bikers to do. So I made up some pretty sparkly beads to attach to the bell that hangs from the bike we ride! |
| I got some round canvas and spent most of my birthday weekend painting this sea turtle design, which has a very cool story behind it! It is an ancient Chinese story, but the Native Americans also share a similar view point on how the Earth was created. (I incorporated the moon phases and the four elements in my painting along with the stacked sea turtles, Earth in the center, then wind, water, and fire going out). Here is the story: There was once a man who decided to go on a journey to find the secrets of the Universe. In a far off temple he found a wise man that told him some beautiful things, and told him that the earth sits on the back of a turtle. The man thought about this and then asked the wise man, well then what does this turtle sit on? The wise says to the man "Ahhhh you are very perceptive, this turtle sits on yet another greater turtle". The man again asks... ok, so then what does THAT turtle sit on? The wiseman says to the man "Ahhhh you are very perceptive, that greater turtle, sits on yet a greater turtle". The man starts to ask again... and the wise man interrupts him and says "It is no use asking again.... it is turtles ALL THE WAY DOWN" ~ I have even painted other paintings that I have yet to photograph properly and it is definitely on my to do list to have them available in prints and notecards soon! Including this Turtle one and two others I have painted that I have named "Rainbow Warrior" and "Chakra Lotus". (photos below). All the paintings are acrylic on canvas. |
| Any magical person needs their own magical walking stick! Mine has been about 5+ years in the making and it is still not finished, haha! But I am slowly getting there! So far it has over 100 gemstones set into the wood, along with some of my glass beads and other crystals. I also hand made all of the glass pieces at the top. Eventually there will be wood burned designs and stones set all the way to the bottom. And after that one is done, I already have a new staff that will be a Medicine stick in the works! |
| So here is a fun little project I worked on! Step 1. My fur baby Lakota checking out a wooden horse I picked up at a yard sale to make sure it is fit to be inside, (she does all my inspections). Step 2. A few coats of Turquoise paint, because Turquoise makes everything better. (and a little bit of sanding after the paint dries). Step 3. Get my Dad to drill a hole for the head. Step 4. Make a horn with polymer clay, fantasy film, and a tiny bit of paint. Step 5. A turquoise Unicorn for my home, because who doesn't need a Turquoise Unicorn in their living room!??? |
| I made this cute little offering bowl by burning designs into this beautiful turtle bowl that was gifted to me by one of my best friends. I set in stones for the eyes as well as in the design and a lovely glass piece is set into the center. It is one of my favorite wood burning projects ever! |
| A box that I wood-burned and hand painted to keep essential oils inside of! Some of my handmade glass beads on the latch too! |
| I have always wanted to make a spirit doll for myself! This one started out with a super cool piece of root branch I found. I wrapped her in Sari silks, hand spun yarns and beads and baubles. She tells a story. She is a Shaman in her own right! She has a mermaid tail, yet also stands on her beautiful root legs She is indigenous, tribal, mystical, and magical with her head dress crown, large shell earrings and her double pointed crystal walking stick. She has the gemstones of the Chakra set into her as well as designs burned into the wood. She is also a gypsy with her free spirit and vibrant colors and wild heart. She carries trinkets from the land and sea, and wrapped closely to her side are 3 fish, representing my two living children and also one that I lost in a miscarriage. She has a lovely nest in my home, surrounded by the vast majority of my crystal collection. She is Sea Spirit Guardian! |
I have an infinity for animals of all kinds, but creatures of the sea have always felt like my spirit animals! I created these two animal totems for myself out of polymer clay, gemstones and crystals. I tried to make them look like carved beach stone. Each of the totems has the rainbow set of chakra stones set in. The dolphin has a crystal out of her blow hole and her tail, along with another crystal representing an open third eye and crown. She also has Iolite eyes set in. |
I love making crescent moon creations! Anything solar system or moon...I even go by Luna to my grand kids! These are two projects I have done in the past with the moon phases. The first I did with my best friend on the Spring Equinox. We got cherry blossom and willow branches from her farm and weaved them into our wreaths. This one is hanging out on my front walk. The second ones are crescent moon dream catchers that me and my twin sister made. We found curved natural branches on a day trip to the river and made the dream catcher with colorful yarns and ribbons. My daughter wanted mine so, as with many of my creations, it is now hers, hehe! |