Our new chair was delivered today and I am so thrilled! Excuse me while I run up 4 flights of stairs to the apartment rooftop and sing of my happiness to anyone in downtown Denver who doesn't mind listening to me belt showtunes off-key.

I will be turning 31 in July, and up until this point in my life- thanks to many kind friends and family members and various thrift stores- I've had nothing but hand-me-down furniture. We went shopping for a couch this weekend and ended up with not only a couch, but also a chair which just happens to incorporate my two favorite colors- blue and green.

I'm working on some new charms and hope to get a chance to add some to my shop this weekend. Here's a sneak peek- a real vintage key from Terryville, Connecticut embedded into an antique bronze metal heart. This is the first necklace of its kind, and it was so much fun to make that I've been bidding on vintage keys on eBay like a crazywoman!

Happiness is... sipping coffee while making art and listening to your favorite tunes from your favorite musicals with your sweet dog by your side.

Today is a work holiday, so me and our dog are hanging out and I'm trying to come up with some new necklace designs. I just cleared out the area under my art desk, so there's suddenly this exciting new spot for Koda to check out!

I have an obsession with boxes so this area was formerly the home of my vintage suitcase and my box collection. We live in a 1-bedroom apartment near downtown Denver, so we don't have a whole lot of storage. We finally decided to rent a storage space from our apartment this weeked so we've got a much less cluttered apartment. And Koda keeps my feet much warmer than that old suitcase, anyway...

Inspiration Bubble Bath

I woke up this morning on the right side of the bed. Love when that happens! Not having been a morning person- ever- I admit this is truly a rare occurance. It typically takes a cup of coffee to snap me out of my morning funk.

I decided that rather than my regular morning brushing the teeth and taking a shower routine, I'd take a bubble bath instead- so I grabbed a cup of coffee, some of my most inspiring books and drew a bath. I sipped coffee from my custom mug featuring collage artwork from True Colors artist Sarah Fishburn and perused the colorful pages of True Colors, Pretty Little Things by Sally Jean Alexander and Messy Thrilling Life by Sabrina Ward Harrison. These are all at the top of my list of books to gaze at when seeking creative inspiration. You know it's been a successful Inspiration Bubble Bath when you find yourself suddenly making a giant mental list of art supplies you must have- must buy charcoal, must get more paint, need more little square wooden artist panels... must finish bubble bath and get dressed so I can get my to the art supply store-- STAT!

Just to give you an idea of where the heck I've been... I haven't updated my website with new things in a while because my work has been changing a bit. I've been making things but just not putting them out into the world. It's been sort of a slow and unintentional transformation this past year. Almost one year ago- right after the new year- I was so burned out! Moonwater Designs experienced the busiest holiday season ever, and all my creativity vanished without a trace. It quickly fizzled out and I tried a bunch of things but just couldn't make it come back. I moved to Denver last May and have personally experienced a lot of change within myself, sort of embraced the retreat from art and started focusing on taking care of myself better all last summer, and just know that who I am inside has grown and changed in good ways. I used to LOVE bright colors, so much of my jewelry created back when I started in 2001 was a wild array of strong hues- blues and greens, bright oranges and purples. I've been fascinated with dusty turquoise lately and muted shades aree singing to my heart. It will be fun to see how my style transitions even more. I now live near the heart of downtown Denver, next to the sky scrapers, so there are lots of people always around, buses and sirens and graffiti and old brick buildings that were built in the late 1800's. Such a change of scenery from cities I've lived in before- Sioux Falls, South Dakota... Fort Collins, Colorado... Iowa City, Iowa. All these places were pretty similar in size and had the same sort of feel and look about them.

In any case, I've been working on quite a few little pieces with paper and sometimes paint that I'm putting behind glass. Some themes I've been fascinated with recently are houses and cowboys. Even though the necklaces are tiny and really simple, my love for working in collage is back. I want to venture out to my favorite art store today to pick up some more canvases. I bought one several weeks ago and can't get myself to use it because I don't want to "ruin it." I do the same thing with certain journals- they rest on my shelf, full of promise (but no writings or collage messes) because I am saving it for something really special. That's just silly and honestly goes against my artistic philosophy. I would tell anyone else just to dive in and make a mess and here I am with blank journals and canvases in my art cabinet.