The Smart Bird

Bead Stashes In The News

I saw this article yesterday about a great new archeological find on Saint Catherines island, off the Georgia coast.  Archaelogists have been excavating around an old mission there, and have uncovered thousands upon thousands of ancient beads!  The beads are from all over the world, including China, France, Italy (Venetian crystal, sigh), the Netherlands, India, "Bohemia," Spain and some of Baltic origin (amber).  Wow!  All in all, they say they've uncovered about 70,000 beads.  Now that's a stash that would make any bead collector swoon.

I found it touching that more than half of the beads recovered were buried with small children.  I wonder what the significance of that is...

Drizzly Easter Sunday

 

I hope all of you had a lovely Easter Sunday.  We dyed eggs and had a smallish Easter egg hunt for my daughter and the neighbor's girl who is the same age.  The girls donned strands of Mardi Gras beads courtesy of an uncle who lives in Louisiana, adding a bit of color to the gray, drizzly day.  Much cuteness ensued, as you can imagine. 

I haven't dyed eggs since I was a little girl, and so it was kind of a rude awakening.  It's harder than you might think to get even, saturated color, let alone any sort of design incorporated into the mix!  So rather than bore you with pictures of my sad eggs (I've already promised myself next year will be better.  I'm going to do research, read some Martha Stewart books, and generally become an egg-dying expert over the next year), I thought I'd share a charming Etsy shop I recently found.  It's called The Handwork Group, and she sells dolls, tiny felted animals and lovely Ukranian Easter eggs.  The dolls and animals follow a Waldorf aesthetic (simple designs that allow children the most freedom in play and imagination), and are just adorable in every way.  Here are a few of my favorites from her shop.... 

{Photo credits belong to The Handwork Group}

Happy Easter!

First Glimpse Of Spring

Although the weather has turned, again (welcome to Colorado!), and is now cold after two weeks of warm, balmy days, it is now officially spring.  Yay!  So it's high time I show you pieces from two of my new lines. 

First are the Lyre necklaces.  14K gold "lyres" festooned with colorful clusters of gemstones: 

Next is a series of sterling "cups," filled with hand stamped designs and hand forged shapes:



Also I'm just in love with these Botanica earrings.  They're vintage brass leaves given a modern gold plating; so detailed and lovely!



All are currently available in my shop.
Happy Monday!

Heidi Klum Wears Smart Bird Jewelry???!!!

Well, maybe not yet, but she might!  I received a lovely email today from H Style Magazine letting me know they had featured a pair of my earrings on their website.  Under the heading "Where to find earrings fit for a princess like Heidi Klum," they've linked to my Mist earrings.  Wow!  What a nice surprise on a sunny Wednesday afternoon.    
See you soon, and have a great week everybody!

Busy Bee

 

For the past week or so, I've been rushing to get a big order out to the lovely boutique in Breckenridge that carries my work (Wandering Daisy; see link at right).  Jana requested a few specific pieces, and also I wanted to get the heart-themed pieces there in time for a Valentine's Day party she's throwing tomorrow.  Well, I am pleased to announce that I got the package in the mail today, and it will be there tomorrow.  Just in the nick of time.  Phew!

 

I'm also very pleased with my new display cards.  It's kind of a crummy photo, because I took it late in the afternoon just before packing everything up, so you can't really see the true color balance (despite wrangling with them in Photoshop.  Drat).  The main thing I love about the cards is the background:  it's a color I "invented" that I'm calling Lemongrass, and it was inspired by the color of the dress Michelle Obama wore to the inauguration (the color of which was...um...lemongrass).  I was so taken by the cheerful yellow/green color, and thought it was such a bright spot in the midst of a cold winter day.  These cards are quite a bit lighter than her dress, for obvious reasons - if they're too saturated, they'll clash with the different colors in the jewelry.  But in person, they are the perfect pale shade of lemongrass.  Yum!

Speaking of yummy, I also managed to make a batch of fruit and yogurt smoothies for the bebe and me.  This particular blend includes strawberries (frozen), peaches (also frozen), fresh blueberries, a touch of lowfat milk, whole milk yogurt, and a smidge of honey.  I freeze them in cubes, so they keep for a couple of weeks and we can work our way through them at our leisure.

   

And, speaking of leisure, of course I have to wish a happy birthday to our 16th (and by all accounts our best) president, Mr. Lincoln.  What grace.



And, last but most definitely not least, speaking of bees, I also have to wish a very happy birthday to Charles Darwin.  Thank you for everything! 


 

Welcome Back!

Well, I guess I'm really welcoming myself back, because apparently I took a bit of a blog holiday.  I'm happy to be back, and have lots of great things planned for Smart Bird this year, so check here periodically for news, updates, new pieces, etc.  Here's to a wonderful 2009 for all!

I wanted to share one of my new pieces that I'm especially proud of.  It's the first necklace from a new series I'm calling Into The Woods.  It features genuine salvaged (e.g., fallen branches; not cut from the tree!) wood slices punctuated by one blue tourmaline slice.  The wood is hand cut, sanded and drilled, then each piece is given a beeswax coating for protection and to enhance the look of the bark and woodgrain. 

 

The tourmaline is a natural gem crystal, as it was unearthed, with the exception of a bit of hand-drilling I did to enlarge the hole so I could thread it directly onto the chain. 



Each Into The Woods piece is one of a kind, and this necklace is currently available in the shop.  I have more pieces in the works, so please stay tuned. 

Also, a huge thank you to Charlotte over at fancypicnic for featuring this necklace on her Saturday Shopping List.  Her blog is lovely, and is worth a look if you have a moment.

Scenes #1

 

It's beginning to feel like Christmas around here, finally!  We went up to the mountains two weeks ago and cut our own tree, but we were storing it in the garage until last weekend when we finally made room in the living room to put it up.  We had to rearrange my daughter's play area, and bring in a table so we could keep our little tree out of reach of curious hands!

My parents first introduced us to cutting your own tree a few years ago during the first Christmas after we moved back to Colorado from Tokyo.  You get a permit from the Forest Service and go to an assigned area in the mountains to pick your own tree.  It's really fun to meet up at the Ranger station first, where they serve hot cider and cookies, and then pile into the truck and head up the road.  My family has always seemed to go for the spindly, orphan-looking, Charlie Brown-esque trees, even when we used to buy them from tree lots.  There's an added charm, though, when driving past stands of tall, full, proud trees, and someone inevitably thrusts their arm out the window and exclaims "Over there!  That one is totally the Charlie Brown Christmas tree!"  So my husband and I have sort of adopted the tradition, and love picking out a little straggler to take home and spit-shine with our folksy ornaments.

Highlights include the little gnome smoking a pipe:


A hand-sewn heart:


And this bride and groom set my sister picked up in Switzerland years ago:


We still haven't found a topper we like, so we've gone bare the past couple of years.  Oh, and since taking the picture of the tree, we lost the maroon glass ball to a freak accident involving the window blinds.  Oops!



And the bebe really got excited when I unpacked the mini tinsel tree, grabbing it from me then running all around the house like a little Christmas ambassador.







I finally caught up with her in the kitchen and, thanks to the magic of Dr. Seuss, I managed to trade her one "Hop On Pop" for one silver tree.  The tree is now safely parked on a high shelf, where she can admire it from afar.

Holiday Shopping on Etsy

With the exception of a couple of things for the bebe, and one gift for my husband, I've managed to do all of my holiday shopping on Etsy this year.  Pretty nifty!  Not only that, but I came in well under budget, which seems appropriate given the current economic situation the U.S. (and the world) is experiencing.  It seems like a good year to go "small" in the gift-giving arena, while going "large" in the enjoying-the-holiday-and-your-family arena. 

So here is a sampling of some of my favorite Christmas '08 gift purchases:

(photo credits belong to each individual shop)

*Vespa magnet from Circa Ceramics.*


*Faux Bois magnets from Jessica Jane.*

 
 
*Assorted soaps from Anderson Soap Company.  Clockwise, from top left: Beer Buzz Soap Set, Cedarwood and Sage Massage Bar, Mild Almond Mini Soap, Exfoliating Milk and Honey Oatmeal Soap Bar.*


*North Country Lamb print from Golly Bard.*


*Handstitched baseball from Lemon Ball.*



*Assorted bath products from Daisycakes Soap.  Clockwise from top left: Animal Bath Fizzies Pack, Mini Animal Soaps Pack, Honey Bar Assortment Gift Box, Hockey Puck Soap.*


*Snail Jockey print from The Black Apple.*


*Bird ornament from Shoshona Snow (who I previously featured here).*

 
*Mini Dwelling ornament from Petite House.*

Such an amazing assortment from so many talented artists! 

And how about you?  Have you found some great gifts, from Etsy or elsewhere?  Please share.  I'd love to see them! 

Misty (Sunny) Water-Colored (Fall-Colored) Memories (Forgotten Moments)

 

Up until the cold weather finally arrived about 10 days ago, I had been taking full advantage of our Indian Summer by going on near-daily bike rides with my daughter.  Mostly I took her for rides along the Boulder Creek bike path, an extensive trail system that does follow the Creek, but also criss-crosses town every which way.




 
Although bicycle trailers are by far the most popular mode of kiddie-transport around here, I went old-school and bought a child's seat that is mounted behind my seat.  I wanted my daughter to have a genuine bicycling experience, not another getting-pushed-(pulled)-around-in-a-reclining-position, stroller-esque experience.  Between our car seat, regular stroller and jogging stroller, she gets more than enough of that.  No, I wanted her to feel the wind in her hair.  Feel the crisp fall air on her cheeks.  Feel the thrill of going downhill and around bends. 

But you know what the funny part of all that is?  Apparently, brain development dictates that most people don't actually remember anything about their lives before the age of 3.  Which is very intersting, considering that the first 18 months of development play such a crucial role in how our personalities take shape; especially concerning if and how we are able to bond with others. 

So while my daughter (who is now 15 months old) won't literally remember the light glinting through these golden leaves...



...or the lovely stone wall spied across a twinkling creek...



...or walking through a bed of fallen leaves...



...part of me believes that surely something of these rides will survive in her memory, in some form or another.  Maybe it will just be a visceral kind of thing: the smell of burning wood in the distance, the sound of dry leaves crackling underneath the bicycle's tires, the crisp kind of sunlight you only get in September and October.  Or maybe it will be an emotional memory: squealing with delight at every dog we pass, giggling when I reach back and tickle her knee, smiling when I say "echo, echo, echo" as we pass through tunnels. 



Maybe when my daughter grows up and tells me fall is her favorite season, I'll tell her all about our bicycling adventures of 2008.  Or maybe I'll just smile and say, "You know what?  Fall is my favorite season, too." 

Throw Your Love Around

So, the other day my husband went running on one of his favorite trails near our house.  It's a broad, groomed trail that is very popular with runners, bicyclists, parents with strollers, dog walkers.  Everybody.  Well, the trail was crowded, and my husband began to notice that everyone he passed either smiled or waved a little wave or said "hi!" a little too enthusiastically.  Not that people are usually unfriendly on this trail, but that day they seemed a lot more friendly.  At first, my husband thought it was him.  "Is my form especially good today?", "Do I look really happy or something?", "Was I smiling and didn't realize it?"  But then he realized what it was.  "Oh," he thought, "it's not me.  It's...Obama."