Old Mr. Herman is moving on.

I call this necklace 'Sling Your Hook'. It is what pirates used to say when they were ready to pull the anchor and move on. It also has a British meaning of let's go , or move on. So, there ya go, let's all sling our hook, move on from whatever is holding us back.
This is Herman. He is moving on from that yucky Jefferson County Pound. He is 10 years old, skin and bones. I think once we kick the cold and get him on something for his hind legs, he will be a little spunkier. We had to shave him because he was so matted. He looks a bit like a gremlin now, but will have really pretty curly hair, once he grows it out. I miss having an old dog around. They are so much sweeter than the young spunky ones.

Isn't he handsome?

I hope everyone has a great wonderful and relaxing holiday weekend.

NO MORE PUPPY MILLS.

If any one reading this knows someone looking for a specific breed of dog at any age, please educate them on how to find their perfect dog. The videos below show a raid of one mill in TN. These horrific puppy mills are all over our country. There are rescues all over the United States that will have THE breed of puppy or dog that you want. There is NO need to go out and buy one from a store, or a breeder. It is such a small thing and YOU can make the difference for these dogs. If no one purchases dogs from the puppy mills, then they will no longer have a reason to do what they do. Please spread the word. Watch these short videos to find out what you are supporting by purchasing a dog from a store or puppy mill breeder. Please rescue your dogs! And if you are having trouble locating the specific breed at the age that you are looking for, please contact me. I will be more than happy to help. Click on the videos below to see the puppy mill rescue in TN.

AND I pulled that German Wiredhaired Pointer from Jefferson County Pound today, now known as Herman. I officially have too many dogs. He is the sweetest guy. I will post pictures when he feels like letting me take them. His bones hurt and he wants to lay in his kennel because the Clarence monster scares the bejeezus out of him. He is skin and bones, a senior dog at 10 years old with some hind leg issues. And he has a cataract. I have not had an elderly dog in my house since Bailey. I have a great affection for the old guys. Thank you to German Wiredhaired Pointer Rescue of Kansas for funding the rescue of Herman!

Rescue Me

I call these earrings rescue me. It is stamped on the back. I think it is fitting.
This is Steve's car. He picked me up on our first date in what we now affectionately have coined 'Blue Thunder'. He was lucky I liked him so much, because when he pulled up, I had to bite my tongue to not say, "What possessed you to buy this car?" I didn't and so he asked me out on another date. Now that we are married, I need a mini van for my art shows. We had the option to either sell my brand new Yaris that gets 40 mpg, or Steve's turbo blue thunder that gets, not a bad, 25 mpg. That's no 40. I was ok with either I swear. Steve chose to sell blue thunder all on his own, I swear. Ahh, married life, trading the sports cars in for mini vans already. So, I don't know who is sending out the S.O.S; me from the get go of having to ride around in the sporty, ground affects, huge spoiler car we call blue thunder, or Steve who after only 1 month of marriage has to sell his blue baby. I think it might be Steve. I dedicate these earrings to you, honey. Soon, you will have your motorcycle, and you will feel rescued. I promise.

Front Page, so pretty.

Thanks jennreese7!

Pointless Picture

This is the chair I was supposed to be sitting in to take a picture of myself wearing the necklace below.
I call this necklace Teach & Grow. You can put your own meaning behind it.

I am getting ready to go out to the Jefferson County Animal Control to take photos of a cute 8 year old German Wired Haired Pointer. Trying to get a specific rescue to take the poor guy. He just looks so miserable. I will post pictures of him when I get home. He is probably going to be euthanized tomorrow if someone does not rescue. It is the same for all of the animals there. Always in danger of being put down. It is so sad. And people put their animals in this position. There are so many owner surrenders to this place where they know their dog or cat will be killed. I just don't get it. I will show you this cutie when I get home.

Fling, Flang, Flung

Flang is not a conjugation of fling.
I just flung toothpaste in my eye. There was no one else to tell about it besides the dogs, and it burns really bad. I flushed with water, so I think I will be ok. I used to wear contacts, and had to use eye drops all of the time. One time in high school before the Switch dance (is that what it was called?...girl invites boy), I accidentally put ear drops in one eye. Only one eye, trust me. It hurt so bad. My ma wanted to take me to the emergency room, but I just HAD to go to my dance. My aunt Colleen had made this cute, sparkly, gold dress, and I could not pass up the chance to wear it. So, I flushed and danced the night away. What all this has to do with that cute lady bug up there, I have no idea. I was just in my garden and there she was. I thought she was pretty, so I ran in and got the camera. I set the camera on the patio table after I was finished and then turned the sprinkler on. Almost lost another camera. If you remember, Steve jumped in the ocean with our camera on our honeymoon.

You're scaring me a little bit, little puppy, please don't kill me.

Oh, wait, I'm bigger than you.

Actually that was Frankie yawning. But, she is a little scared of the puppy. As are all of the big dogs. They don't get it. I try to tell them that they were all once little pups, but they don't believe me.

I took Xena: Warrior Princess to the vet to investigate a few problems. The sores on her foot and tail are from her sitting in her own feces for an unthinkable amount of time. Who leaves a puppy sitting in her own feces long enough for it to eat through her skin? This is a prime example of why I need to start the animal rescue people education camp I spoke about in this blog entry. Not only do a ton of animals need saving, but a TON of people need some teaching as well. I thought I would document the process of beginning the rescue camp in this blog. Eventually I will start an entire new blog devoted to the camp, but for now, events should be far enough in between that I will talk about it here. Currently, I am reading this very exciting book. It would be quite the snore if I was not so excited about doing this. As soon as I get through this, we will begin writing our articles, file to incorporate, and then file as a 501(C)(3), tax exempt charity. Woo! I think I got all that right. I am still learning. I have been looking for land too. LOTS of land. We are going to have to raise the money to purchase the land, so it may be a little bit of time, but I know we have our first donors. I am looking at 150 acres in Marthasville. I would prefer to do it somewhere a little more touristy, like Ste. Genevieve, but land is quite a bit more out there. If you have any suggestions where I can find 150 or more acres, near St. Louis, please let me know.

Xena: Warrior Princess

Look how vicious she is. She is a 5 week old Akita mix (we think). She terrorizes my 80 lb dogs and has no fear of any two legged creatures in the house, including my 6'6" husband. Our cries of pain from her little sharp puppy teeth do not seem to bother her either. I pulled her from the Ladue pound. She has horrific sores on her tail and leg. They have healed quite a bit, but I am surprised they did not amputate her tail, with the looks of it now, "healed". I also think she might be blind in one eye. She has a cloudy spot where it looks like she was poked. I have been trying to test her, but she doesn't really pay much attention to me anyway, so it's hard to tell. Who ever had her partly shaved her too. Weird. Why would anyone shave a puppy? This is her being cute. Which is how she normally looks. Luckily she is young enough to still be turned into a lovable dog.

I am in love all over again

Just now I was reading one of my favorite blogs, and came across her mention of the band She & Him Volume One with M. Ward & Zooey Deschanel. You know, that hot chica from Elf. I immediately went to iTunes and downloaded the entire album. The song that Alicia had on her site is what made me decide to download the entire thing without listening. I am listening as we speak, and I think it might be my favorite album since I first heard The Cowboy Junkies The Trinity Sessions. And that is HUGE! Holy Cow! This is huge.

Why not start a rescue?

Have you ever stepped back and taken a look at what you are doing and said, "humm, what else?" It is something I probably do too often. Not always in a philanthropic way, for me, but sometimes. This is one of those times. Unfortunately, the Chesterfield show this weekend was quite a drag. There was not even anyone to ignore my cute booth. I at least would prefer for some potential ignorers. So, I sat for a long time thinking about what to do. This is not a reflection on how I feel about the jewelry I am currently making, nor on art in general, but more like I had too much time on my hands to think. It always gets me stirring, and gets me onto other things. I am not sure how many of you know that I started, and did not finish, a masters degree in Social Work at Wash U, here in St. Louis, two years ago. So, there, I tied it all together, that is what I am about to tell you. You know I foster, you know I love art, and now you know that I have a strong desire to work in some sort of social bettering element. So, the story goes that I was sitting alone with my free glass of white wine (the only thing that compensated for the deadness of the show), and all I could think about was opening a wildlife, farm and domestic animal sanctuary. It will be a camp for children, to teach compassion for all living things, a rehabilitation center for the animals. I think a week of animals might not be enough diverse curriculum for an entire week, so it will offer art classes, music classes, yoga, and maybe even an organic gardening lesson or two. I believe that what a lot of our schools are lacking and cannot afford to offer children are most likely some of the most important things that we can give. So, if you were wondering where the "saving the world, one necklace at a time", came in I think I finally nailed it. It is a multi-multi million dollar daunting undertaking, but I am reading a "how to start a non-profit" book, and I am pretty sure that by page 230, I will be an expert, and will have 30 mill sitting on my door step. I will keep you posted. The Doyd has already donated a dollar.

Chesterfield Art in the Parking Lot This Weekend!

Well, it started last night. Again, my tent almost blew away. I guess I didn't tell you about last weekend. There were crazy rainy winds that came through Art & Air. For some reason I stayed in my tent. I think it was because it was raining too hard to run the two feet to the car. I am glad I stayed because I caught my tent mid air. I had weights, but they are not good enough. Apparently, I did not learn my lesson, because I did not bother to get new weights. Out of site, out of mind. So, yesterday, I was caught in the same position of holding down my tent with all of my might. By the next show I WILL have stabilizing bars and better weights. I am going to lose my tent one of these times if I do not figure it out. It is all such a matter of trial and error. I see artists that have been doing this for 40 years, and they really have it down pat. I hope to catch on faster than 40 years from now. Speaking of artists who have been doing this for 40 years, I met the most wonderful couple at Art & Air this past weekend. Richard Gruchalla & Carrin Rosetti make the most beautiful pottery. And, to top it off they are the sweetest couple who travels doing their art all year. They adopted Winnie, the most wonderful small dog ever. So hard to give her up, but it is reassuring to know what a loving family they are and how much love and attention she is going to get in her lifetime now.

I have more stories about last weekend to share, and I am sure that there will be plenty more from this weekend. It is always an adventure. But, now I have to get ready to go. I hope to see you all at the Chesterfield Art in the Parking Lot!

Oh, and above is a close up of my new booth. I have it set up differently this weekend, so I will take a good over all photo today. The material you see is by Anna Maria Horner. Check out her website. She makes the best material, kitchen towels, aprons, paintings and her house is an inspiration. I have never been, but I sneak peaks of it on her blog. Have a great weekend and a wonderful Father's Day!

Art & Air this weekend!

I hope to see you at Art & Air this weekend. I am so excited to have my first show of the season. It has been a little delayed because of the wedding/honeymoon. This show always has a great array of artist. There is some real talent that comes from all over the country. It is my favorite show that I have done.

The art shows are not the only projects that were delayed because of the wedding. If you remember, last year we had to put straw down in the backyard, because The Bobs tore up the grass with all of their huge playfulness. Steve tilled up the entire back yard and we laid seed. I made my food garden. It is huge! I will take proud pictures when all of the seeds begin to sprout. Right now, it just looks like a bunch of labeled piles of mud. As far as you know, I could have just put those cute little signs out there and planted nothing. The following weekend I bought all kinds of native plants, and made my little native garden. A native garden can be a good choice for less maintenance. They are a little easier on the environment since they don't require as much water as those plants that do not naturally grow here in Missouri. Those blooms are Poppy Mallow. I think they are so pretty. It is the first flower that bloomed for me in the combined Simmons' household.

So, I really shouldn't be sitting on the couch, procrastinating, talking to you. I should be getting ready for the big show. Talking to you is so much more fun than getting ready. I hope you have a great weekend, and if you can, I would love to chat it up at Art & Air.

Amie who?

Oh my. It has been so long. I have missed you pretty bad. Please let me explain. First, I got married, and then we went on our honeymoon. And then, that guy I married jumped into the ocean with the digital camera in his pocket. And then, I lost the little attachment screw on thingy that holds my camera on my tripod. And now, I have my first show of the season this weekend, and not that it is a very good excuse to take such a long hiatus from you, but there they are; weak, but true. 

I have all kinds of jewelry to show you that I still have not photographed, so I will get on that soon. That is, unless I sell it first and am too busy or lazy to photograph. But, I have all of my gear back in place. Check, check. The dining room table is ready for my little photograph tent and such. It gets quite neglected as a food table because of all of my art stuffs that takes over. I am a piles person. It drives me crazy. My piles are insane. Piles here, piles there. I get so mad because I think that I am a neater person than Steve. I look at the piles, and say to myself, "Ahrg, I wish he would clean up his piles." And then, upon further inspection, lo and behold, it is all of my crap. Touch it once, isn't that the rule? 

The wedding was wonderful. Everything was yellow and gorgeous. If you would like to see a quick slide show, click here. Will Jackson was our photographer, and I don't think we could have found a photographer who suited our idea of how the pictures should look better than him. Oh, how I love those pictures. There are a total of 450. If you really want to see them all, just email me. I have only looked at them in their entirety, about five or six times. Oh, maybe more. 

Our honey moon was supers fabulous. The place was ridiculous. I felt silly being waited on like that, but now would like to have it back. 

And then the dogs. I caught the tail end of that repeat Oprah show on my first day back. You know the one about the puppy mills. I cried my eyes out, and then immediately got on the petfinder site of the most heart breaking animal control shelter that I know of in MO. Found a couple of dogs I thought I could find homes for and went to work. My wonderful friend Sarah Kalish took one of the Jack Russells that was going to get put down. She already adopted it out to her neighbors. They sound fabulous. I would really like to go back for this Beagle too. Any takers? 

In the mean time, someone dumped Winnie, this adorable Terrier in my vet's backyard. He thought his dogs had a rabbit when he looked out the window, but it was this little girl. He asked me if I would foster her, and I couldn't refuse. She is so cute, and Dr. Diesel has done so much for our rescue. I think he is the best vet around. Anyway, Winnie is all healed, and I think I have found a home for her. She is a sweet little lap dog with very little baggage for what she has been through. 

I promise I will be back soon with jewelry. Jewelry blog, right?

I got nothin'.

It is killing me because all I have been working on is wedding stuff. Most of the projects are gifts for people, so all of my creations cannot be shared until after the honeymoon. Sorry, I got nothin'. Except, I woke up and was on the front page of etsy! Thank you Kelly Baldwin Design!

Breakfast in bed!

That's why he's my future husband. Thanks honey!

The BEST advertising ever...

Etsy front page. It really does not get any better. Thank you Storque!

Wedding Geek

The big day is approaching. I did not think I would nerd out about the wedding, but I have gotten pretty into the crafty. I do love the crafty. As mentioned in an earlier blog, our colors are yellow and brown. I have become quite obsessed with the theme. Above is the cake topper that I made. I totally snagged the idea from PatchNYC. I would have purchased it from them, but our budget has gotten a little tight. In the end, I did not spend quite as much on it as they charge, but with the time, thought and effort put into finding everything to go on it, not to mention painting those faces, the ones they sell are totally worth every penny.

Steve and I did the invitations together. He, of course drew the cute little people and did most of the design. Ok, I will stop geeking out about our wedding. This is a jewelry blog, right?

Speaking of jewelry, after I sent the charms out to the contest winners, I received a lovely surprise from two of the sweet people who won. Michaela sent me this beautiful drawing. It actually looks like my dog Frankie. She won with the word "Dogs Rule". And now she knows they rule because it is stamped on a necklace. She is eight. Don't you think she is going to be a famous artist one day?
And, Lynn Kaiser sent me this beautiful purse charm. She sells these in her etsy shop. It just so happened that one of my bridesmaids gave me this vintage purse for one of my showers to use at the wedding. I think they look so nice together.
Thank you ladies!

Strong Deer

I have so much to talk about, but so little time. I will post more in a little bit, like tomorrow, but here is a new piece I made. Another one of the set of deer that I cast in my class, decorated with 14kg filled wire, fresh water pearls, and the prettiest turquoise I have ever seen in my life. I like this one because it's another doe, but the gold reminds me of the buck's antlers. Almost like she is carrying the weight of both mother and father. I think she is so sweet and graceful.Have I ever told you about that time, when I was in college and my dog Bailey was attacked by a deer? I was at my parent's house getting ready to leave the country and they were watching Bailey for me. The house I grew up in backed to some not-so-serious woods, yet we always had deer in our back yard. I was making breakfast, and all of the sudden I heard, Bailey howling in pain, crying like I had never heard him cry before. I ran out to the deck only to see a buck lifting Bailey (a 75lb English Setter mix, mind you), and Bailey rolling while being trampled by the deer. I watched this happen three times before I could get down the steps to very wimpily clap my hands. It was enough for the deer to pause and let Bailey loose. The deer stared me down, until I yelled, "Get out of here." And he did. Bailey was ok. I am now late getting ready for my first dance lesson. I'll let you know how it goes. yikes!

Juicy

I just read my cousin and fellow artist, Heather Haymart's, latest blog entry. She has a fabulous idea about an awards ceremony for artists. Kind of like the Emmy's or the Grammy's, or the Tony Awards and such. Wouldn't that be great, to at the very least, be able to watch on tv, attend or win an award! I think it is such a great idea. Maybe we can get something started by just blogging about it. Pass on the blog until someone picks up the idea with some connections. The arts could definitely use more recognition and funding in schools than what they get, and maybe this would be a way to get that initiated. 

It's Friday! I hope everyone has a super weekend. I am starting it off right by going to Chaumette winery with my friend Sarah to get massages and drink wine and eat delicious food. Chaumette is where Steve and I are getting hitched. I think I am more nervous about this massage than getting married. I have never had a professional massage before, and it kind of creeps me out to think about. But, Sarah insists that it is the best thing ever, and I trust her, so here we go. 

Circus Weekend

I made this necklace yesterday. The center piece is an old dime that my Aunt had cut out and made into cuff links for my late Grandpa King. I cut the back off of the cuff link and then made a surround for the dime out of silver. The green button sits in a 14kg bezel. It was my Grandma's button. She gave me a bunch of pretty buttons a while ago. The back has the word 'Love' stamped on it. It is not for sale because it is a little near and dear to my heart.

Yesterday I had my first wedding shower. I am not used to that kind of attention. It makes me paranoid. But, I had so much fun and my cousin Heather did such a beautiful job putting it all together. I wish I would have brought my camera because she made this fabulous Tiramisu style cake. And there was this oh so delicious fruit salsa. I need the recipe for all of it.

Kind of a circus weekend here at the King/Simmons household. I have two wedding showers, a trivia night/silent auction for my rescue, and an artist friend is coming to stay in town with us! I love circus weekend. I also have a friend coming in town for one of the showers, from Indiana, who I wish I had more time to spend with.

Speaking of the trivia night, I would just like to thank all of the folks who donated to our rescue. Peg Fetter, a brilliant jewelry artist here in St. Louis gave a gorgeous necklace and a beautiful bracelet. If you have not yet checked out Peg's jewelry, please do! She made both my engagement and wedding ring. Cindy Neal of Neal framing donated gift certificates to her fabulous frame shop. She does not have a website, but can be found in a phone book. Remember those? Also, Purina foods donated a years supply of dog and cat food. It is amazing how generous people are.

I hope everyone is well, and you have a relaxing weekend. I think I will be able to relax again after May 10th. Well, definitely on our honeymoon.

Howdy Doody

Steve and I were talking tonight at dinner about what a strange thing the food chain is. And what strange creatures we are that chew, swallow and digest food. Anyway, I used to think about it a lot when I was young and thought it was even stranger then, than I do now. My brother and I used to have this ventriloquist Howdy Doody doll that seemed, to be at the time, life sized. (kind of looked like the one in the picture above, except I remember it having a gray suit.) I used to feed it potato chips. Read, didn't understand the digestive system at the time. Suffice to say, my Ma threw the darn thing away. I was so upset. Apparently, it had a pretty foul smell. Now that I think about it, I don't know where those chips would have landed. I guess his stuffing. I do not remember the smell. I just remember Howdy Doody, who really liked ruffled potato chips.Today I finished this piece that I thought of in the middle of the night a couple of days ago. The deer was done in my lost wax casting class. The copper is hand cut and then I use a patina on it to give it that blue effect. A pearl is set in a 14k gold bezel. I call it 'Guardian'. The deer seems so maternal to me, sitting on her beautiful egg with all of that insanity going on around her. Just like a mama.