Walls and Windows!

Say hello to my new studio!

Well sorta... it's not done yet but I'm so excited! This was the first chance that I had to actually see inside it... the four walls that would be the home of all my creative endeavors. A very important space. As soon as I walked though the door I could see where I was going to put everything! Every time I look at the pictures I imagine what the room will look like in it's completed state. This wall is for that, my desk will go here... oh and a chair for clients! My mind is filled with ideas and solutions of how to make the space an amazing studio that is just for Celebrated Lady. I mean for goodness sakes it has it's own closet... a frickin CLOSET!

It's so cool to see the whole process as it comes together too. First there is nothing then there is something! I mean come on it's not even finished and I'm running around acting like a kid on Christmas with this thing. This room is so much more then that to me. It speaks of growth for my business and progress not only for my creative life but my whole life in general. I'm so happy I get to share this. It will be so much fun to keep up-dating the progress of my studio and it's journey to completion as well as my personal growth as an artist!

Little Beads

One of my favorite parts of what I do is making my own beads. So... this week when I wasn't busy packing and building towers of boxes taller then myself... I did just that. There is just something so wonderfully therapeutic about it. It creates a wonderful break from preparing for the move. Most of the jewelry in the shop consists of components that I hand craft myself in my studio out of clay. This means I have to spend a lot of time each week molding each little bead by hand and then baking them to their finished state so that they are ready for use. I can't just go out to a store to get more if I run out. This is why I am constantly working on building up my collection, molding and mixing the clay to make vibrant and exciting colors. It's all part of the creative process for me. By making my own beads I get to explore whatever I dream up... whatever I design. I compare it to being able to design your own fabric print. The chance to make your wildest imagination come to life is a very freeing feeling. I thank my lucky stars every day that it's what I do for a living.

I thought I would also share the little Holly Hobby illustration that is on the place mat I use to protect my table while working with clay. It was my Mama's a long time ago and I found it... and started using it. I love the little image that creates a delightful surface to work on. Up in the corner  it says, "Don't go thru life so fast you forget to smell the flowers." I love this because, it's just how I feel when I'm making beads. I take the time to think things through, de-stress, and create jewelry.

Leaving Rose Hill

I love Spring at Rose Hill.  The old boards creak beneath my feet as I walk through each room... every room has it's own smell... it's own story. Light and air flow through the windows transforming the hibernating old house into a lively sun washed escape.  This is my last Spring at Rose Hill... I plan to remember every bit... every moment of it.

Rose Hill is my childhood home. I have lived other places but nowhere as long as I have here. Since I was three these plaster walls have been my home. The almost 100 year old house isn't fancy and in fact needs a lot of work but for me it's always been home. I know I will cry the last day I leave for good.

I have left Rose Hill before but I've always been able to return... this time I will not be able to. My Mama is moving on to a new home as well.  I have had this feeling in a minor form before when I graduated college. A place I lived in for four years. The place I really feel I became who I am in I had to leave. I knew the day would come... goodness I wanted it too. My last days spent there I even felt like I no longer belonged, it was no more my home... and I could never just walk the halls or sit in my sun soaked dorm overlooking the city streets. I feel very much the same way now. I feel Rose Hill is pushing me on like a good parent knowing that I have the rest of my life ahead of me, that this house is no longer meant for me... and knowing once I leave I can never come back.

I am so full of mixed emotions. Excitement for my new home, a new place to fall in love with and to create memories in. A home with so many things I want and need. At the same time though my eyes tear with leaving the home I've loved for so long. Even though I know my Mama and I are making the right decision there are always those little devils of "what if" and "doubt". They creep in at moments when least expected, but I do know that this is the right path.  The time has come to move on, to grow, and that just can't happen here at Rose Hill. 

So with that being said to combat the evil "doubts" and "what ifs" I am choosing to focus on what I am over the moon excited about. Like being closer to family and friends. Having the space to throw dinner parties and for all the new and exciting memories to make that I have not yet even thought of.

 One of the major things I'm super excited about is my new studio. Don't get me wrong I'm very appreciative of even having a studio. My current studio has great character.  Two Large pocket doors lead into a cozy room with a wood stove is in the room and is surrounded by natural brick... I love exposed brick so it makes up for the space the stove takes up.  The room was once my Dad's den, then the family computer room, till I took it over to use as my studio. I have loved working in the space but I have never truly been able to make it mine... in an odd way I have always felt I was borrowing it. At my new home I have a room that will just be mine... and it helps that it has it's own closet! My current studio has no built in storage once so ever. 

Even though it will be sad to move on, when I think about it it's not really that hard to. It's time. I have so much to look forward to and I'm glad that I finally can begin to share this journey with others. A lot has changed for me in the past two years and I know there are still so many more changes to come.  I'm excited for the adventure.

Shop Update: Green & Gold

New Item Tuesday

The weather is warmer and the sun is shining! This week arriving to the shop is the Grayed Jade Chandelier Earrings. A perfect pair to make a fresh modern boho statement!

Grayed Jade Chandelier Earrings
all new this week in the
Celebrated Lady Shop!

Little White Box

For the longest time I thought I had lost something. A box of jewelry that had been my great-grandmothers. It was given to me when I was young. The small white plastic box was filled with costume jewelry necklaces of all shapes and sizes. Plastic beads of bright yellow and a necklace completely made out of shells. I adored every one. Years ago though it disappeared.  Over the years I have searched for it, looked in boxes, torn my bedroom apart looking for it and never found it. I was always so sad when I thought about it because for the longest time it was one of the few things I had of my great grandmother. She passed way a month and one day before I was born. My Mama used to tell me stories of how excited she was for me. My Grandma would tell me how I am like her... to this day I believe my great-grandmother and I are the only people I've ever heard of who made mashed potato sandwiches! This is why I always kept searching for the box.

Well as you may have guessed this past weekend I found it! My Mama and I were going through some old boxes and when she lifted the lid I gasped. My Mama puzzled, started asking me what was wrong. I just reached for the small white plastic box and sure enough inside was the pieces of jewelry just as I remembered them. They aren't fancy but they are a piece of a woman who I wished I could have met. A woman that apparently I am like. I have plans of wearing them. I like to wear jewelry that was once someones I loved... It makes me feel like I take them with me wherever I go.

For so many years I searched for this little box... I would tell people about it with the resignation that I would never see it again and it would only live in my memory. I couldn't be more happy to have been wrong and to now have found the one thing I always thought was lost.