Are you the kind of person that collects things in your vacation?
Pretty rocks in the mountains or on the beach, various shells, pieces of roots for a terrarium ...
I do and I know people who do. I remember friends moving. It was memorable all right, especially the boxes that said "Rock collection" and "Cigar cases collection". Maybe it would have been a good idea to mix the collections. The rock boxes were incredibly heavy, the ones with the cigar cases you could almost lift with two fingers.
I usually held on to just a few because I didn't know where to put them. I still have the first oyster shell I ever found on a Californian beach, for example.
But this year things changed. I got a whole bag full of goodies from a Danish beach - rocks, shells, pieces of shells, seaglass and they were just as beautiful as a gemstone, granted, with less sparkle, but all those shapes, colors, textures fascinated me.
Why shouldn't a rock be worthy of a silver wire bezel? Why throw a piece of shell away when the colors are so lovely?
Here's a little gallery of them now.
Little piece of shell in a wine red wire crochet bezel
Rock in black and brown in a wine red wire crochet bezel
I really had fun with this one. Blue wire for the ocean, a big piece of a shell and for added interest grey freshwater pearls. Modern, yet romantic.
The "tooth". Somehow this pendant reminds me of an ancient monster's tooth. It's a rock in a silver-colored wire crochet bezel.
I absolutely fell in love with these shell pieces. The cream color with the brown stripes is so lovely! I think they make fun earrings with the contrasting colored wire.
This black rock is the one I had mentioned above. Holding it against the light it has an ever so soft shimmer. I don't think I was wrong when teaming it up with fine silver wire, tourmalines in all possible colors and tiny Bali silver beads. Doesn't it make for a stunning contrast?
And last but not least my favorite piece, a shell with a fine silver wire bezel from which tiny labradorite beads and a pink and a white pearl dangle. The shell has a lovely color, one of my friends said it reminded her of sand. It's a very feminine, soft and somehow peaceful piece to me.
I can't wait to get to work on the other gifts of nature and I hope I'll have enough ideas to do them justice.
The Smooshers have a whole lot of new members AND the Smooshers have a new blog task force. Today I'll combine all those new powers.
Our subject is animal instinct.
Let me think, let me think .... hmm .... what animal would you never expect me to write about? A monkey. Nah, too obvious. A horse. Sheesh, right, that's what you are just waiting for.
Hey, I know. Cats! No one EVER would think that of me!
Ok, so I didn't fool you. Who cares? You'll have to pull this through with me now. I can't risk the wrath of basement cat or the half-vampirette, the cow cat or the lady with the stripes, aka my feline masters.
Here we go. Four new Smooshers with four very different approaches to cats.
Let's start with a cat that probably just lost his or her witch. I'm not sure if she will make it back out of the cauldron. So if any of you wants to adopt a very probably homeless black cat with knowledge of spells, rush over to C Dowdle Designs.
A lot more ancient looks this little faux ivory cat. I'm sure she never had to do with a witch, I can see her much better together with a nice granny.
But even if you are not a granny, you might want to take her in? You can find her at Rueschka by Laurel Steven.
Ha! I remember when my masters used to look like that, cute and cuddly and ... oh gosh. They can still look like that and I'm wax in their paws.
Isn't this little fellow just crying out "Take me in your arms" while waiting in the studio of Artsy Clay?
Last but not least is this cat with the expressive eyes by Blue Jane. Wow, just wow. I'm hypnotized.
Talking about hypnotized, I think it's time to feed the masters ......
I have read the book, I have seen the movie, and I love both.
They have everything (and that is a quote in itself): "Fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles..."
My very favorite quote of the many, many I love is this one, though. I love to say it in most unfitting moments, too.
"Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die."
Any idea yet?
It's what Mandy Patinkin says to the count who killed his father the sword maker. And the movie is ........
The Princess Bride, USA, 1987
The "Old Cemetery" in Goeppingen is one of my favorite places. It's mostly very peaceful and lots of childhood and teenage memories are connected with it.
Wanna stroll along?
Let's start with the scary part, the WW I memorial for the victims of the war. When I was a child (I'm not ashamed to say it was the 60s then), people used to put their children or in my case grandchildren up there and take pictures. It could just as well have been a statue of a horse or a goddess, but it was the only statue around. I hated it. When looking up, seeing the clouds move, I always had the feeling those big guys were moving, too. Even worse, falling. On top of me. Call me crazy, but they still give me that feeling today although it got a little better since they planted that bush in front of them.
This is a part of the cemetery. It was used until the 20s. In 1902 a new cemetery with more space was built on the town borders.
There are chestnut trees scattered over the old cemetery and just like we did as children, kids still collect chestnuts here in the fall. It's hard to resist the shiny brown beauties. Each year I pick up the first chestnut I see and put it in the pocket of my jacket where I carry it until the next year.
Here is my favorite grave. It has been ever since I was a child. I always said I wanted one like that. I have been drawn to books all my life, I guess.
Now to the "Oberhofenkirche", the church where I was baptized and confirmed. It's the oldest building in Goeppingen. Initially the church was built outside the city walls, started in 1436, finished in 1490. It's now in the middle of the town.
Not always used as a church, it was renovated end of the 19th century and opened again as a sacral building in 1902.
I love the gargoyles (just showing one here) and the faces above the doors (there are more on the side walls).
I wish I could show you the windows from inside with the light falling through the colored glass. There used to be only one stained glass window, but they then added the two on the side.
I have a confession to make. As a teenager I often counted the little squares to keep myself awake if a sermon was too long .....
At the moment my writer's block is so bad that it even took me three attempts to just write the title right.
I hope you'll forgive me if you won't read anything here before Sunday as I doubt my brain will come up with something before the quote of the week.
Instead I will try to catch Greebo now and stuff a pill down his throat. Isn't my life exciting? ;-)
It's nothing new that I pretty much got stuck in the old movie times. I'm not at all up-to-date concerning new movies and I don't even mind. Probably because I am a classic myself *grin*
So I picked a quote from a classic for today. Actually according to my mother it was the first movie I ever watched from beginning to end and I still love it today.
When I hear Homer Smith and the nuns sing "Amen" together, I get all mushy.
Sidney Poitier got the Academy Award as Best Actor for this movie.
The quote I picked is:
"Oh! Why couldn't they have asked me to build a bathtub? With nice, hot water?"(Homer splashing himself with cold water outside)
Lilies of the Field, USA, 1963
I already told you about the Polymer Clay Smooshers Masquerade Clay Ball where you can win a fabulous bracelet.
But if you think that was it already, you are way wrong.
Handmade in Europe, my other ArtFire guild, started a great Halloween giveaway game today. There is not just one prize, but a whole lot of them, a coupon booklet for all of the participating studios, among them humble me. I offer a 15 $ coupon for my ArtFire studio.
Come and play with us!
And there's even more.
DaWanda has started a discovery sale. You'll get 15 % off in participating shops that you haven't bought from before, including mine!
Are you as excited as I am? :-D
