I have crafted “Diddle-Squat” since the middle of December.

This year of the Water Dragon has started out with rethinking how I manage, use and express my physical energy and mental will. Many people I know, of every age, not just middle age, are feeling the same way.

This is no small thing.  It affects everything from the work we do, to the work we pursue, to sexual and artistic expression, to how we express anger, and assert our personal will.

What it feels like to me is that I can’t do anything the way I normally do because that no longer works on multiple levels, from health to relationships to work to basic communication.

But what new, more effective “modus operendi” is going to take it’s place???? How do you refashion the very manner in which you function on a daily basis?

This is where getting back to my work bench and refashioning jewelry may help. The parallels between this craft and refashioning life go hand in hand for me.

Today I want to share an immense gift that the Universe put in my path for encouragement in this nebulous task.  It is a purchase I made from another refashioned jewelry designer, whose name escapes me now. Her jewelry is on display at World Cup of Tea in Franklin, Tennessee. (where I am visiting my mother.)

Now I am not one for religious jewelry, but I am one for spiritual messages, and this piece of jewelry caught my heart with a message stamped on copper which was OBVIOUSLY meant for me right now:

It is a Biblical verse from the book of Jeremiah: “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord.”

Whew. I am glad someone knows what’s going on….

 

Recycled Boomerang Gift-Giving

We have several book gift traditions at Christmas. One is called ‘I-got-you-a-book-I-want-to-read-myself,” begun my my husband and adopted eagerly by the kids, now young adults. We also have another tradition, started by me about 12 years ago, where each family member gets a huge box of used books on topics of their own personal interest.

For example, one year our daughter got a nice pile of books about urban graffiti and our son got every used book I could find by Arthur C. Clarke. (There were 40 paper backs in that box…)

This year, I combined both traditions by getting our son, who has been cooking for himself since he was 19, several interesting-looking used cook books that I wanted, knowing that he wouldn’t have room to take them back to New York City where he lives.

Now I’m not a great fan of cooking, but I do it, and I know it’s the best way to eat for optimum health. So today I tried out one of those recipes, in a yummy-looking cookbook called

This is a great time of year in the American northwest to eat hearty stews made from root vegetables, and today I made this white-bean soup with turnips and carrots, with a little pesto stirred in. I will have you know, this is the actual finished soup, not the cook book photo.

I also made some bruschetta with a fresh whole wheat baguette and spices that our daughter recently brought back from her first trip to Italy.

Yum! And soothing. And nourishing. And a wonderful Christmas present from me to son to me. See how it works?

It gots to make me happy!

I promised myself that the minute the work involved in refashioning jewelry and selling became a drag I’d stop. This past November I realized that I had climbed aboard the “what everyone else is doing” CRAZE and had turned myself inside- out to set up an Etsy shop, write guest posts on others’ blogs and give away free pieces of jewelry to gain attention and try to sell at craft fairs.

QUELL DRAG, and very little return, artistically, financially or fun-wise.

So I am returning to my little blog, refashion jewelry in my basement and sell whatever, whenever it works out.

And that makes me happy.

Look at these ethnic beauties that I recently dug out of my post-holiday crafts’ work space:

Bone beads from Nepal and Africa, which I “harvested” off of broken and old pieces of jewelry.

Each of the following bone beads is made of two end caps and a middle. And almost all the parts of each bead had broken apart and had to be reassembled and reglued. These are from the 1960′s, East Africa, given to me by my friend, Kate.

and an incredible string of resin amber from East Africa. This is not the valuable real amber but a synthetic made from resin. Each bead is often sold individually in bead stores, but this entire string was handed to me by that same friend!

Let the refashioning games begin!

Re Evaluating Re Fashioning

In spite of a three-month hiatus, a few people are still subscribing which is very cool.

I hope to return soon, to combine refashioning jewelry with refashioning life and with recycling as an art and craft. The theme seems to be issues that effect many women and certainly Mother Earth.

2012 is going to be an amazing year, and I am looking forward to spending part of it here!