gear monkey jewelry, frogs and a dinner "out."

Well, I've taken a break from working on the scarecrows, since I do have a bit of time before Fall falls.  Thank Goodness!  Recently in a magazine, I read an article about the jewelry stylings of an artisan that were unique and interesting. At least I found them so.  To me, the unusual elements, coupled with the 'random' connections made for a challenge.  It was like collage, which I love, but in jewelry form....necklaces to be precise.  So, I gave it a try, and found it much more difficult that I imagined to make the pieces look "thrown together."  I'm not sure that they will appeal to a broad spectrum of jewelry wearers, but for someone looking for something truly unique: may I present what I am calling my, "Gear Monkey" line.

I am making these necklace photos large so that its easier to see the individual elements and details.

A few unique offerings in this piece include parts from an 'old' push button telephone that I found a garage sale and disassembled.  Not being telephone savvy, I can't say what the pieces are called, but to point out, in the center, near the top, is a long metallic piece that has beads attached to the front of it. This metallic piece was originally part of the guts of the phone. Also, of note, a face watch, disassembled with gears linking to the chain and hangin below. A key, a small light bulb attached to a spring and soldered in place. So, as you can see its really a mixture of unconventional elements along with some more familiar offerings like beads and the angel charm.

This second necklace ended up having a nautical theme. Elements again include both the conventional and unconventional to make a unique piece.  These necklaces are fun to look at, and like any good collage, keep offering new things to find which may have been missed at first, or second glance.

Now for the much awaited frog update. My darling eldest child came home a couple days ago, after I was already in bed. Hearing some commotion in the living room, I went to check, and found Michael and Kallie looking satisfied over the introduction of a "new" frog, which Michael had discovered and had been kind enough to capture for me.  We named this second frog "Sport" as he is very active, quick, and has the high jump down!  Introducing the second frog ended up causing me some concern as after they initially encountered one another, both frogs went into hiding for about 3 days.  They were eating, but not moving around the cage other that to seek their food.  You can imagine my elation (or maybe you can't...my family is beginning to think I'm nuts) when I checked on the two frogs last night and found them sharing a dip in the vivarium's pool.  I was so happy.  I had to take pictures, of course.

This is our disabled, Luda.  The frog that started it all.

Luda is on the left of the photo with Sport on the right.  We do have one other frog, "Peeper," which stays in a separate vivarium until [it] grows (we still don't know the sex of our little friends).  I don't want to take the chance that Luda and Sport will think Peeper is food. I really don't think she'd fit down their throats, but I've read a bit (quite a bit) and frogs can be quite persistant, so even if it didn't work...no point in stressing them out unnecessarily.  Soon I will post pictures of their vivarium. I was so happy today to get a substrate manufactured especially for this enviornment and the safety and health of the frogs.  It also looks really great!

And finally, our dinner out.  Its just another take on the enjoyment we are getting out of our back deck this season.  With a salad made of lettuce and carrots from our garden, with store bought vegies thrown in to complete the vegie diversity, and egg-salad sandwhiches on those tiny deli rye breads, Tony, Kallie and I had a really lovely dinner together. We lit the tikki lights that brother Eric had given Tony for his birthday, as well as the fire pit, which was perfect as that particular evening had cooled off just enough to make the added heat a welcome addition to our dining atmosphere.  Kallie told us all about a recent vacation she had taken with a friend (and  her friend's grandparents) in which they took a speed boat trip and ate at a buffet as part of the charter.  We actually, took our time and lounged, enjoying one another, our good food, Tony's fire pit and tikki's and just having a quiet evening in the country!

Thanks for visiting...I'll be back soon!

4th of July, Frogs and Scarecrows

Well, that title seems to give me a lot to cover in one composition, especially since the subjects have absolutely no relation to one another, but I'll give it a whirl.

First of all, we had a lovely, if somewhat subdued 4th of July.  On the 3rd, Tony and I had taken our youngest, Caleb, to the airport to fly off to his grandparents' for the month.  We even attended a party that evening, although it was against my better judgement, at a friend of Tony's.  He'd met this friend at the gym and had gotten to know him a bit over the course of some work-outs, helping "spot" one another's over-loaded bar-bells (or whatever they're called.)  In all actuality we really had a lovely time.  The main-event of the party centered around the huge screen t.v. and the pay-per-view WFC (I think that's right..) fights.  Not caring one wit for WFC, I was lucky to find another lady-friend who felt the same way and we spent the evening getting to know one another.  The rest of the party goers seemed to enjoy their fights, so I guess, a good time was had by all.  The next day, I was exhausted from the long day on the 3rd, but we made it to church, which was a lovely service with a fabulous message from Pastor Dee and a moving tribute to our country and those who serve.  Afterward, however, Tony and I were both just plain tired.  We came home, stoked Tony's new fire-pit and had a fun time roasting weenies with Kallie and her beau, Justin, then, taking a few photo's, in which, Michael was even cooperative, and then...napping as much of the afternoon away as we wished.

Now, about the frogs.  I guess, its just a bit of a new interest.  Somehow, this spring, I got stuck on wanting to find some tad poles and watch them hatch.  It turns out that the "tad poles" I found in our rain soaked wheel barrow were actually, mosquito larvae, so, I was not off to a good start!  A few days ago, I asked Tony to move one of my potted plants from the front of the house to the back of the house, by the fire pit (ooh, notice how I'm linking those two subjects :) and he found a tree frog in the wheel barrow...could I have been right about those "tad poles" after all? I don't think so, this is a fully grown tree frog with a handicap.  It seems this unfortunate fellow was hatched without one of his back feet.  Apparently, these types of deformities and more, are becoming increasingly common.  In doing just a bit of research, this seems to stem from the use of pesticides and as for our little tree frog, which we believe is a Northern Pacific Tree Frog or Pseudacris regilla, it affected the development of his left foot.  While, I am beginning to think, our little guy is a little girl, for now, he has been named "Luda," as Ludacris rhymes with "Pseudacris" (his scientific name) and in honor of  the well-known artist, Ludacris.  This, of course, was the kids' idea.  Not mine!  Anyway, "Lou" as he is sometimes called, just may be a Sue, but I have much more research to do before I decide, and some of the research tends to indicate that you can't really know until they begin making mating calls...So, I'll research away, and see if I can find out. What we did find, is a friend for Luda, which we are hoping is the opposite sex, but this frog is much smaller so we are keeping them in separate vivariums (as I've come to learn is the name of home-made habitats for frogs) until the second frog, which is thus far, nameless, grows to a size where it will not appear to be food for Luda.  If my curiosity continues, I really do have an interest in these frogs as they are becoming more and more rare in their natural habitat. Most likely, because their rich natural habitats are also just suitable for farming which introduces pesticides, which means less frogs either from being out right killed by the pesticides or birth defects which make the frogs easier prey. 

These first two photos are of Luda.  The bottom one, shows a good image of the stump where his left foot should be.  He does pretty well without it, but he does have a way of making me feel sorry for him as he cannot just "hang" on the walls of his vivarium as his little friend can. However, I'm not sure if thats all because of the missing foot, or possibly the difference in size of the frog and the difference in their habitats as, the new friend lives in a large, upside down, plastic pickle jar until she grows, which has grooves and rounded corners which may afford her more purchase.  Hmmm. I just used "afford" and "purchase" in the same sentence and it had nothing to do with shopping!

A shot of the nameless frog looking toward the center "bridge" that I made for the bottom of her vivarium...also where crickets are wandering blissfully unaware that they are the lunch menu.

A froggie cubby rock, bridge and water plate that I made out of polymer clay.  These frogs don't drink water, but I just can't seem to set up a habitat without some sort of water available.  I mist the vivariums a couple times a day (in the heat we've been having!) as the frogs absorb moisture through their skin.

And finally, a note on the progress of my Autumn Scarecrows.  I have all seven of the actual Scarecrows finished.  Their clothes are completely hand-stitched, with stitching even around the patches. Now, its a matter of adding their hats, garden tools, etc.  I found a recipe for making pumpkins out of dough, and I think I'll give that a try. Although the pumkins I used on my first Scarecrow decorations were store-bought,

I like the looks of the dough pumpkins. 

 I may end up trying polymer clay also, and if all else fails....I'll have to make a trip to Michael's craft store...awwww.

Everybody's working (photos)

As I begin my afternoon, I decided to take a break from my "work" and catch up on some photo's and some family and crafty news.  Today's title is in relation to the pics I'm posting as, right this minute...not everyone in the family is working. Tony is of course.  He's actually had a very long work week made up of an average of about 14 hour days.  That is HARD work...but, its tamed by the weeks where, because of the economy, his job has only been able to offer him 2 or 3 days work. Apparently, the company hired a new sales person and he is bringing in business, which is obviously a good thing...but, making for some long hours for the drivers.  As Tony drives, Caleb is preparing for his month-long trip to Juneau to see friends and family.  I was about in a 'fit of nerves' last night, thinking of how much I will miss him.  He is always a ray of sunshine for me!  Luckily, however, Oregon is finally getting some of nature's sunshine (although its rainy today, the forecast is for a holiday weekend in the 80's increasing to almost a heat-wave next week, with temps reaching into the 90's!) so while I'll miss my big-little guy, I'll be tending a growing vegetable garden, and by the time Caleb returns, we should be just about ready to make salsa!  So, Caleb is doing laundry and packing, Kallie is watching T.V.; waiting for her beau to come for a visit and Michael is in town playing some basketball if the court's not too wet...in which case, he's just chillin' with friends.

My "work" today is continuing progress on 7 Autumn decorations/center pieces.  Its funny to think of preparing for fall, as I am the one person who would never rush summer, but I've already received applications in the mail for fall craft-shows...so that's what I'm working on.  These little center-pieces will be available for the first-time for the public.  I created them a few years ago for some of my family members, but have decided to create a series to sell at the craft fairs and in my Etsy store.  Here's a sneak preview of one that I made and have used for Fall decor the past few years:

This photo includes some of the angel ornaments I make for Christmas, but its the scarecrow piece that I'm working on now.  Since they are all hand-made, each will be slightly different, of course.  They all include my original poem: Scarecrow Philosophy.  More about that and more photos to come when the set is finished.

The next worker featured in today's blog is Caleb, although, if you could see the rain coming down, you would know that these photo's were definitely not taken today!  However, they were taken just last week. I love how green everything is! And all the variations of greens,topped off with spashes of color in my flowers!

And finally, a group of pictures of Tony and Michael working-out. 

Michael came home from a weekend trip to see some of his buddies with this 6 minute ab work-out that the boys would all gather and do together.  It is a work-out posted on You Tube.  The guys do it about 3 times a day and swear it works... having not tried it myself, I have no first-hand knowledge of the results, but if just watching the exercise could give me a six-pack...I think seeing this work-out a couple of times would do it!  Michael generally does it twice in a row, making it a 12  minute work-out.  You can see from the photo's that it didn't take long, when Michael got his Dad to join him in the fun, for the two of them to work up a bunch of manly sweat. 

Ummm... I'm pretty sure this is not what a couch is made for.  And, I would know!  In the photo where they are reaching to the side, you can see that they are watching the You Tube work-out  on Michael's lap-top as they do it themselves.

They aren't finished yet...the video gives a couple of 10-20 second rests.

Well, that's about it for today's account of different types of work being done around the Jacobsen house in the last week.  I realize, unfortunately, that none of these photos includes Kallie or the work she's done...and she, is in all reality, one of the best workers around the home.  She is pretty faithful to clean the kitchen and can be coerced into cleaning the bathroom from time to time...but, she shares that bathroom with two boys- so I don't blame her that she prefers that one of them be responsible for the bulk of bathroom cleaning!

If you see the prior post about Tony's birtday, you'll see the cake, brownies and decorations Kallie made, not to mention all the other cleaning preparations!  She even made another pan of brownies last night...sabatoging all the boys' ab work-outs, I'm sure!

Well, keep a watch for the finished scarecrow center-pieces.  There will be a limited number.  Feel free to leave a comment to reserve yours now.  When they are finished, I will post them AND replenish and update my Etsy store.

Until later....