All of this talk about creativity — and sometimes the lack thereof — had me thinking. On Tuesday, Naomi blogged about designer’s block , and she received some fantastic responses about how people cope with it. What confused me, however, is how many suggestions... Read More

A month ago, I wrote about the idea of Earlifts — little sticky plastic thingies that are supposed to give extra support to overtaxed or just saggy earlobes. I objected to the idea that earlobes were being added to the list of body parts we needed... Read More

Yesterday evening after work a few of us from BeadStyle, Bead&Button, and Art Jewelry magazines joined the Events Marketing team and the Loose Bead Society for dinner. The Loose Bead Society of Greater Milwaukee is a group that began in 1999 with... Read More

On my Cool Jewels blog , I wrote about my recent creative challenges with jewelry. Usually, designing is productive and I can make something I'm happy with. Occasionally, though, it feels like a huge effort and I second-guess my ideas. Do you ever... Read More

I recently took a tour of the first and only Whole Foods in the Milwaukee area to try to inspire myself to eat better — I am eating organic kale as I write this. Tomorrow it could be Jelly Bellies, but, hey, it's a start. Anyway, as we went from healthier... Read More

A week ago I wrote a blog, called, “I get by with a lot of help from my friends”. I am happy to report the basement intervention was a success. Three of us worked from 10:30 until 5:00, with a fourth friend joining us at around 3:00. I alone made close... Read More

Today is the one-week anniversary of my first henna tattoo, and I’m just beginning to see some fading. It’s making me sad because I like the look of it much more than I thought I would. Hazel Wheaton, editor of Art Jewelry magazine, and Linda Augsburg... Read More

This weekend I bought a strand of turquoise from Planet Bead. I loved the organic-looking slices, so this was a must-have. Now I'm pondering the design. I prefer the simplest of designs, so I'm tempted to string silver Charlottes between each... Read More

This weekend I took my annual trip to Spring Green, Wis. There is a theater company there called American Players Theater which does Shakespeare and other classic plays on a beautiful outdoor stage. The drawback is that when is storms, as it did on Saturday... Read More

I'm surrounded by men. My household had consisted of my husband and our Siamese cat, Seamus. Last week, we brought another male into our lives, Potter, a 12-week-old Siamese kitten. Like all new kitty parents, we were anxious to provide Potter with... Read More

I received a lovely gift this week from a young woman I me at this year's Bead& Button Show. Jenna and her mom came to the bead show as part of the Make a Wish program. We met for dinner on her first day in Milwaukee and I saw her at least one... Read More

I’m counting down the hours until this weekend when my gal pals are instituting my first annual basement intervention. They tend to nag me about the clutter in my house. So, when I confessed that the mess had crossed over the line, that I could no longer... Read More

Even though it's only August, I've been working on some snowflake ornaments. If you want to see my tips on finishing them, visit my personal blog . Or, just stop by anyway. I blog about jewelry, books, and other stuff of interest. Read More

I didn't make any jewelry this weekend, but I was up to my elbows in beads anyway. A rare visit from my parents spurred a frantic bout of house cleaning, during which I paid particular attention to the areas I know my friends are too compassionate... Read More

I noticed today that my photo pops up now and then on the Web site promoting the blog. Now, if you've seen the photo and you've see the Audrey Hepburn avatar I use, you may wonder if I'm a bit delusional. I promise I'm not. While I do... Read More