Blogging from my backyard

Today was better than yesterday mood wise and after morning chores we had a long lovely picnic lunch in the backyard!
My girl loooooves picnics
But what kid doesn't?!!

After visiting with the neighbor a bit we came home and I started creating!
It was slow at first but once the first piece was completed I got my groove back and have paused only because my girl wanted to go outside to play soccer!
Nothing is more important than my time with her. We had a good soccer sesh and now we're back inside chillin! Hope daddy is ok with pancakes for dinner because I do not want to stop creating!!

The piece with the square pendant is my first necklace today. It has swarovski crystal beads and a pendant I made out of precious metal clay, the string is nylon coated sterling silver.

The black star pendant necklace is also swarovski crystal and nylon coated sterling silver wire.

I've got many ideas in my head and I can't wait to buy more supplies and really get to it!!

I love Florida

Have I mentioned yet how much I love the great state of

FLORIDA?!!

Well I really and truly do love living here

warm weather pretty much year round

warm sandy beaches all over the place

And we are never too far from this ^^^^^^^

I looove being on the water, even when there's rain about

Hubby took us fishing this weekend and I actually hooked my own shrimp

and unhooked SOME of my own fish ;)

My daughter went along with us and she did an awesome job on a long warm fishing trip

The only time she got really upset is when she wasn't able to fish!!

So you know daddy is happy

She inspired me to drop some of my own fears and become part of the party

And you know what fishing is fun!

:)

I don't know how many times I thanked him yesterday for taking us with him

But it was a lot!!!

Waiting for bait ^^^^^

Shameless selfie ^^^^^

My wonderful hubby ^^^^^

Riding home the clouds were building up so big and fluffy and we were being surrouned by storms

I asked Fi to tell me what shapes she saw in the clouds and found myself seeing lots of things

Sometimes you need some time away from regular life to be inspired and recharged

A whole day of not worrying about whether or not the laundry is done or if there's food for dinner

was very very nice

Today is a new day and I feel ready

I've made a schedule and am doing my best to stick to it

It's flexible because some days things don't go according to plan

Such is life

But I think I have a pretty good life and will be working to make it even better!!

Happy Monday ya'll

oxox

Stay tuned!

Happy Hump day

Happy Hump day!
Oh how I long to dig my toes in the sand
The days here have gotten so warm it's time to switch from park days to beach days
Man I love living in Florida :)
But at the moment my vehicle is useless so I'm stuck here at home or bumming rides
But I'm NOT COMPLAINING
There are many more that have it way worse than I do

Anyway
back to work
I posted an item in my Etsy shop last night
Although I couldn't post it for sale yet you can go check it out!
Click the link below and you'll be directed to my Etsy
http://www.etsy.com/people/AmandaNM1984


Short and sweet tonight
Stay tuned!

oxox



Finally creating

Sooo

I know it's been some time since my last post

Shame on me :\

:)

BUT

I've found some time to create

I call it leaf and flower bracelet! hehe clever I know

I find that the simplier it is the better

The bottle it's hanging on is my experiment with a hot glue gun and crayons!

Did you know that the crayons fit(snuggly I might add) into a glue gun??!!

Why had I never thought of this before

Thank Pinterest for bringing me all kinds of creative ideas!

I've reorganized my workspace and I am getting back into the flow of creating

Feels so good makes me wanna do a dance! :)

Here's a pendant I made from precious metal clay

Click this link and you can learn a bit about what that is

It's pretty neat stuff and I can't wait to set up my kiln again so I can make MORE!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal_clay

I love swarovski crystal beads!

That is all for now folks!

Stay tuned!

xoxox

More about me

It's been a few days since I've posted

Not even sure why

But today is another monday almost gone and I feel like I've accomplished nothing today

My house is a wreck and I have no desire to clean it!

Need to get back to the routine so I can feel right!

Needless to say I haven't created anything lately.

Altho I did try my hand at making my own cheese-its

I failed but I know what to do to make them better next time!!

Got my monthly meal plan done last night and started some of my food shopping today

I'm excited to get back in the kitchen

I like to cook as much as I like to create art :)

I love to try new recipes and make them my own

My hubs is my tougest critic but of course he is he's the one I cook for!

So I'm always interested in his opinion of my food

When he likes something it instantly goes into the recipe rotation!!

Did some gardening also since we last met

My mother and the Easter bunny gave my daughter seeds this year in her easter baskets

So we started some of her seeds

We will hopefully have some wild poppies, sunflowers and maybe even a pepper plant soon!

I love to help things grow and I love the amazing things plants can do

I have plans in my head for turning my backyard into more of a garden oasis than a backyard

I want a patio, an herb and vegetable garden, pathways leading to pretty seating areas

It's all in the future plans for our home :)

My princess loves flowers!

I have a butterfly weed that I started from seeds that is still alive! :)

I also have banana plants that I got when they were very young

I started with 3 and now I have about 15

I've only had one harvest but it yielded enough for me and my neighbors twice over

I had so many that my neighbors started turning down free bananas!!!

I'm excited for this seasons harvests tho

I can't wait to make yummy stuff with them!

I suppose that's enough for now ;)

I hope to get to some jewelry creating this week

Stay tuned

More to come

;)

A couple more pieces

Of course my daughter beads too! ;)

I've taken a few more pictures of things I made a few years ago 

This one is turquoise and swarovski crystals 



The Story of You

The Story of You

I never wanted to have kids

I was the girl who said

"I'm not having kids, I'm not getting married!"

But 9 years ago I met your father

He showed me what true love was

But I was still reluctant to have a kid of my own

He has a daughter from a previous relationship so I was sort of playing mommy

It was after spending a lot of time with them as a family that I started wanting my own little person

6 years together and we made the decision together to have our own child

Here I am pretty pregnant

I cannot remember how far along I am in this one

I guess you could say I had a decent pregnancy

The first 3 months I puked all day everyday

The second trimester actually wasn't too bad

But the third was uncomfortable

I had swelling and preclampsia

Which to this day I'm really not sure what it is

Needless to say on a regualr Wednesday in my 3rd trimester I went for my monthly checkup and got sent right across the street to the hospital to have my baby!

In tears I called my 'hubby' and he left work to meet me at the hospital

They admitted me and had to induce, not fun.

I didn't last long with the contractions and asked for an epidural

Thankfully I was numb from the waist down because apparently the nurse trying to stick me in my spinal area couldn't get it right!

Scary!

After the epidural Fiona's heartbeat wouldn't return to normal

so the wonderful nurses rushed me down the hallway to the o.r. for an emergency c-section.

Poor 'hubby' was wisked into a tiny waiting room all by himself without knowing what was going on

They put me out and the next thing I can remember is waking up to the sight of 'hubby' holding our new bundle of joy, whom by the way was 22 days early!

Just a few days old!

So tiny! 

She was a fighter right out of the gate and has been going strong ever since!

She always amazes me with her intelligence and personality

I can't wait to see what's in store for my girl

Spring cleaning

Ok so I've slacked a little on my blog

Buuuuuuuuut

My house is cleaner and more organized now! :)

Yes, the spring cleaning fever has hit and I'm just about done, only two rooms left!

We've also pulled out the old terrarium we have and set it right in the living room

Forcing us to think about what we want to put in it again

It's a nice tank and it deserves some tenants

Anyways,

I've been cleaning more than I've been creating but I did squeeze in a little bit of crayon melting!

My favorite!

I found this idea on pinterest and didn't believe it at first!

But the crayons are almost exactly the same diameter as glue sticks!

They ae a little tight but there are endless possibilities

Here's my first little teeny project!

I found the saying on pinterest, I love pinterest!

This was a fun one but messy!

I will be doing this more

I've already started on a wine bottle!

As for my jewelry I haven't done anything lately but I have ideas and projects swimming in my head

Time to put them together in reality!

Happy Thursday ya'll

oxoxox

Back to work

Sanibel Island Sunset 2013

Ok so now my feet are a little wet in terms of this whole blogging thing

Now it's time to get back to the jewelry

I remember when I was a young-er girl using colored strings to make bracelets with my girlfriend

And then we would set up a small table with all our creations on it on the side of the road trying to get people to stop and buy something!

I've always like making things with my hands and up until about 6 years ago it was glass beads bought at the craft store paired with strings or hemp.

Then I met my 'hubby' and was introduced to swarovski crystal beads!

Oh my aren't those sparkly!

Mesmerized by the sparkle we were

We bought up a bunch of jewelry and glass blowing equipment and supplies and got to work

with the intentions of packing up every weekend and heading to an art show to sell what we'd made.

Little did we know about that whole scene!

Most of the people doing those art shows are artists or retired folks,

people not trying to maintain other jobs or a house with kids and animals.

I loved every minute of it and would LOVE to do it again but first I think I need to build up a bigger portfolio and do more research.

I think now we know what not to do!

But I've put anything I love to do in the back to play mommy and maid and all that comes with being mom/'wife'

My daughter will be 4 this year and now is my time to start putting my foot in some doors

and getting back to what makes me tick!

I have also had the mind to start an etsy store but not sure about the finances right now

so I've also put that on hold

But the blog I can and will make myself do

I will manange my time better and make more time for creating what I love!

I've also dabbled a bit in making jewelry for wine glasses but I only made this one

and I don't think I have the right materials so I see lots of research in my future!

I recently started drinking wine and I love these little do-hickys and want to make my own!

Need to research and find out what these are called!

Do you know?!

Happy tuesday ya'll

XOXOX