Florence sights...

Welcome to Florence Italy. This is where my adventures began last month when my husband and I went on Holiday vacation. As any of you who travel know the flights are extremely long and crowded. Lots of delays and virtually no sleep so that when you arrive at your destination you are so tired you just cannot even think straight. Fortunately for me my husband is a wonderful organizer and planner and therefore he gets us where we need to be with me just blindly following along. I am usually in such a daze and all wonder-eyed at the sights and sounds that I have absolutely no clue what I am doing or where I am going. I have such a child-like wonder at seeing everything. Traveling for me is incredibly mind expanding.

The Duomo in photo at the top is the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore and is the centerpiece of Florence. Neptune's fountain is in the Piazza della Signoria and while we were there was being repaired from damage done by someone. Florence is easily managed on foot and we did a lot of walking. Of course we visited Michelangelo's "David" who resides in the Accademia museum. Absolutely no photos are permitted of this most amazing statue. We also enjoyed the Uffizi and the Cappelle Medicee museums.

I just love the tiny little Smart cars. Of course we now have them here in the States but in Italy they make such better sense as the cobblestoned streets and alleys are all so very narrow and crowded.

Oh the famous Ponte Vecchio which means "Old Bridge". It crosses the Arno river and is lined with jewelry shops. This view we took from inside the Uffizi so you can see some glass glare. Our weather was perfect and we had an amazing time in Florence.

I shall share some food favorites and a special spot in a future post. For now we shall say Ciao to Florence.

I would love to hear of your travels to Italy and what your favorite thing might have been.


Ciao...

Comfort Dolls...

Good Morning and Happy Wednesday.

I feel extra good today as I am mailing out some Comfort Dolls to Pat Winter who so generously organizes and distributes these to womens shelters all over the country. Check out her blog: http://www.comfortdolls.blogspot.com for more information on how you can support this very worthwhile cause.

I merely took a vintage fabric panel and stitched and stuffed these little angels into "comfort dolls". They each have Swarovski sparkle eyes which I like to think shows us all that we can have a "twinkle" in our eyes even when our situation seems the bleakest. And each doll has a heart button to remind us that we all have heart.

I will find comfort just knowing that each recipient will hopefully have a smile and know they are thought about and wished the strength and courage to improve their lives.

Today I shall spend time with some dear friends as we have lunch together and share lots of laughter.

Life is all about the caring and compassion for everyone.

It's good to be home...

Oh it is so good to be home. Dear Hubby and I are safely home after spending 20 days away. I am still recovering from exhaustion but today finally feel like I will survive. This is the only photo of me that I do not look as weary as I felt every day. This was early in the day before the grind of museums or hill towns got me drop dead worn out.
Our destination was Italy...Florence, Cinque Terra, Pisa, Tuscany, Umbria and Rome. In the next few weeks I shall tell more in detail. As for now we had beautiful weather with only one morning that rain drenched us and shortened our plans. We had excellent travel with planes, trains and automobiles. DH plans everything so well that we really were well prepared for this trip.
As you can see from this photo we ate our way through Italy. This was homemade granola (muesli is what they call it...I prefer granola as it sounds so much better to me) with some strawberry yogurt. I have lots of photos of food that we enjoyed which I shall share along the way.
My goal was to find bead shops in Italy for my new jewelry line "Adorn Me!". Well that proved to be very difficult however I did manage to find a couple and will share these adventures as well.
As for now, I am catching up on tons of laundry, reacquainting myself with our beloved aging fur-child kitty and enjoying friends who are all too willing to listen to our travel tales. This entire trip was a no techno gadget time for us so you can imagine how much I missed reading all of your blogs and now I am catching up on those too.
"There is no place like home" and it is so good to be back in my beautiful cozy familiar home. I am extremely grateful for the trip of a life time and the experiences and memories it allowed me.
Now it is time to get into the studio and get to making jewelry.

Vacation Holiday...

Well, after two years of planning Dear Hubby and I are off on vacation holiday.
We will return mid October.
This same time last year we cancelled this trip due to the US dollar being weakened against the Euro. Guess what! It has happened to us again however we are not going to cancel this year. We are going and we are going to enjoy our trip to the fullest. We live only once and this is it.
As we explore and enjoy I am on a mission to also design my newest line of jewelry for "Adorn Me!" which I shall be debuting after our return. I am going to absorb the sights, sounds, smells, tastes and general ambience of each of the places we shall visit.
I shall eat Gelato and savor each tasty tiny spoonful. DH will love all of the food as he is much more adventuresome than I. I will eat paninis and pasta and pizza. I shall try squid with ink however I am not so anxious to do so. I will enjoy every piazza, every fountain, every statue , duomo and every musuem. I shall truly enjoy the people as I love to just watch them no matter where I am. I do not speak the language however I have tried to be familiar with some of the words and sayings.
My bags are packed, I'm ready to go...leaving on a jet plane.
I shall miss checking each of your blogs daily as I have come to do. This trip is a no computer, no "in touch" media time for us to relax and rejuvenate ourselves.
Be safe, be well and be creative.
Ciao

Mystic River...

This is my beautiful necklace from my birthday visit to Gioielli's in the Gold Country. Dear Hubby bought this lampwork bead and the sterling silver findings and the Italian mesh ribbon for me for my birthday. Of course it is much more beautiful in person as my photography is not the best.

The lampwork bead is amazing. Lots of detail that does not show in the photo. I believe the name Mystic River comes from the greenish trail that runs from top to bottom on both sides of the approximate 2" pendant.

As for the Italian mesh ribbon I actually have two colors used here. A beautiful darker blue and a very stunning greenish gold which both are exactly represented color wise in the bead. I have ruffled both colors of mesh ribbon as I like this look. Included in with the mesh ribbon I have added two complimentary colors of mohair yarn just to give the necklace a bit more fiber detail.

This necklace has so much texture with the lampwork bead, ribbons and fibers that it is very soft and feminine. The colors are spectacular and actually are working very well for fall.

I am loving my birthday present and never minded the fortune of being able to help select the components at my favorite bead shop and then be able to actually put it together to fit me perfectly. Thank you Mr. Dear Hubby. I am also thankful you like the finished product. :o)

I look forward to making more very special pieces with these types of materials that I shall offer in my etsy shop in the near future.

Have you worked with Italian mesh ribbon? Please let me know what you have done.