Thursday, July 26



Yesterday, my boyfriend and I got in the car to embark upon our road trip from Denver to my hometown, Sioux Falls, South Dakota. As I blogged about earlier this week, I'm doing a jewelry trunk show at a shop in downtown Sioux Falls called Archival Elements. In addition to Moonwater Designs, I work a full-time day job at a nonprofit in Denver. I'm also training for a half-marathon in October, so this past year, I've learned that there's a fine art to achieving balance. It seems like there are never enough hours in the day, so I thought I would bring some show projects with me, figuring it would be the perfect way to get some last-minute things done for the show and that keeping my hands busy would make the trip through Nebraska go by quickly.

The photo above is one project I accomplished... stringing these letters on pale yellow ribbon to create Merry Unbirthday sign. The letters were a template I downloaded from Martha Stewart's website. I just had white cardstock on hand, which I strung on colored ribbon, but her multi-colored version is amazing! I'll definitely be printing more of these letters when I get home. Perhaps I'll make a "You can do it!" banner for times I find myself questioning the whole running 13 miles thing.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nicole! The photo is so pretty! ALL your handi-work is ALWAYS so breathtaking!!!!

I wish I could find that elusive balance! Can you give me some pointers??? I started working out a lot again (actually hope to do a race in dec.) and now it seems I have no time to craft or even blog! :-( Alas, I've always been a one-thing-at-a-time kinda girl. :-(

: the art of living : said...

I am usually a one-thing-at-a-time kind of person, too. A few things I've done this past year are to try to eliminate some of my time-wasters. It DEFINITELY helps this summer that all my favorite TV shows are in reruns. I've got an embarassing addiction to celebrity gossip, and I've been staying away from the normal websites I'd usually read. Between the two things, I've gained 1-2 hours every night that I use to focus on running and/or creating! I typically focus on a longer run one day and give less focus to jewelry, and vice-versa- create on my easy days. One thing that really helped was signing up for the race and telling everyone I was going to do it-- if not for that committment, I honestly am not sure I'd be doing the race. I'd probably still be totally focused on my jewelry, eating frozen pizzas at 9:00 at night. I sometimes get good ideas while I'm on my run, or sit down and make things shortly after a run, so I'm trying to kind of make sort of a mental connection between the two.

P.S. Congrats on your new workout motivation, by the way! Where is the race in December?

Anonymous said...

Hello again!!! Thanks for the advice and encouragement!! ANY tine you have any pearls of wisdom, please share!!

Yeah, I know what you mean about tv! Sadly, I am a huge tv addict! But this summer I never watch anything - even my beloved "so you think you can dance" I hope I can keep this up come fall!!

My race is in Las Vegas. My good friend Cassie (do you remember her? I think you guys met a couple times??) lives there so I hope to run it there. However, last week I left on Thursday for a vacation and although I got back on Sunday I've still been living like I'm on vacation!! (read eating bad and no exercise) :-( I hope I can get back into the routine! I actually am a person who thrives on routine!!

Ok, gotta go but keep me updated on your race and jewelry!!!

ps - i've kinda decided that while I'm training for my race and don't have a ton of time, and because I'm broke right now and can't afford supplies anyway I'm going to take a break from jewelry and try to just focus on drawing, painting, and collage. we'll see how it goes. if I create anything even half way decent I'll post it on my blog.

Cheers!