What a beautiful Day!!

The sun is shining, the birds are singing, there's a warm breeze and I couldn't be happier playing outside with my girls. I'm sure however, that mother nature is teasing me with this beautiful day. So for now, I'm soaking it all up in anticipation of 38 degree weather on Monday.

It's funny how much my perspective on my home changes when Spring rolls around. During the winter months I focus on the indoors because basically I hibernate all winter. I could take it or leave it though with regard to my house. It's a nice house but the kids are hard on it and I have days when I'd just like to pack it all in and head south to a milder climate. But then the temperature rises and things outside turn green again and all the flowers bloom and then I'm hooked. By the way, these pictures were taken last year.

We moved here in 2001 and have done a lot of landscaping on our own. Okay, mostly hubby but I had lots of creative input: "that should go there, move this here..." etc. Hubby and I have designed flower beds throughout the 1 1/2ish acres and put in a pond with trickling stream running into it from the hillside above. So when I stand on the crest of the hill in our back yard, on the soccer field, I can't help but appreciate all the hard work and creativity that went into our beautiful surroundings. Even though everything is still different shades of brown, I've noticed buds appearing on some of the trees and I can't wait to see all the beautiful colors that will sprout around me in the next couple of months. I find it inspiring.

As I said in my previous post, I have been dreaming (literally) of warmer weather and beautiful jewelry to go with it. With warmer weather comes shorter sleeves and more skin surface area to show off bling! So after receiveing a very tempting coupon I found myself on-line, shopping with my favorite jewelry supply website , clicking on coconut shell links, capiz shell drops, and assorted wood beads, amongst other things. When I see individual components I have visions of bracelets, earrings and matching necklaces and I can't wait to create. You'll have to check out my website at www.hillcrestjewelrydesign.com to see the finished creations. I'm picturing lots of shells.

I've also been obsessing over Swarovski crystals and combining them in different ways with lampwork beads, semi-precious gemstones and hand forged sterling silver. Pictures will be coming soon. I'm currently oxidizing silver pieces to give added depth and character to the piece. The process takes several hours as I've made a conscious effort to use a non-toxic eco-friendly oxidation method.

More hand forged sterling silver pieces were created in the studio last week. My sterling silver swirly ring has been very popular since I introduced it last month. I've received many requests for this ring and although I pride myself in making one of a kind pieces, I feel that I should give the people what they want! I will be offering seasonal "staple HJD items". These pieces will still be hand made, hand forged pieces but several of the same piece will be available and complementary to other pieces in the staple line. This line will consist primarily of hand forged sterling silver.

Last week I received another batch order for the silver angel pins. If you recall from my last post I was asked to design an angel pin as a fundraiser to help support a local family dealing with Leukemia. So far $180 have been raised. That's a good start but I'd like to get that number closer to $500 so feel free to e-mail me at hillcrestjewelrydesign@comcast.net with your order!

Well, I should get back to playing with the girls and enjoying the warm, sunny weather. Enjoy your day! ~Heather