My Crafty Girl...

So our 8 year old, Aidan, who is  smart-as-a-whip, and mostly loses her, uh, composure during unstructured breaks from school (we often joke about the scene from The Simpsons where Lisa is out of school and having a breakdown, frantically crying, "Grade me! Grade me!"), has found something to keep herself occupied over Christmas... She's taken up sewing!

On Sunday we celebrated Christmas with our dear friends Michael and Laura. Knowing that Santa is most likely going to be bringing Aidan a sewing matching for Christmas, they got her started by giving her some "learn to sew" books. Aidan hasn't put them down since. Well, except to pick up her needle and thread. The girl is beside herself with pride over these little creations:

Echo the Bear:

Poochie Pup:

Valentine:

And a work in progress (this one is a Christmas gift for Foxy!):

(excuse the unbrushed hair; it is Christmas break after all)

She's made about six more since then but I'm not able to upload pictures because at some point when she and I were sharing a workspace on the table, the cord that connects my camera to my laptop got snipped by a pair of wayward scissors. Ahem. (Okay, I could stop here and lead you all to believe it was the eight year old who accidentally snipped the cord, but truth be told, it was me).

So as far as this break goes, so far so good (you should congratulate me for resisting the punny urge to change one of those "so"s to "sew")! As for me, I spent a few frantic days over the weekend finishing up last minute custom Christmas gift orders and now I've had a 4 day break. I'm itching to get back in there, but for now I'm enjoying some truly quality time with my family.

♥

PS. Buffalo Lucy now has its own Facebook page! Check out the link in the side bar on the right... (then click "like" to become a fan and get shop-related status-updates).

And Winter Break Begins...

After an absolutely fabulous weekend full of friends and family and food and cocktails, today marked the first official day of winter break. The girls are out of school and Foxy and I are taking two weeks off (although the foxy one had to work today, darn it!).

Aidan, Alice and I spent the morning lounging about in our pajamas and then we took advantage of the warmish weather this afternoon and went for a walk to the playground.

Here's what joy looks like:

Curiousity:

And exhausted elation:

I'm sad there's no pre-Christmas snow, but I think we're making the most of it...  :)

Had to share...

I promise a *real* post this weekend, but I just had to share...

Alice ♥ Lilah :

List it Tuesday!

Had my last exam and turned in my last paper last night! No more school for 5 weeks!

Check out List it Tuesday over at artsyville for some other great lists!

Attention Last Minute Shoppers...

Just a quick post before my big Western Civ exam (who gives a final from 7:30 to 10:00 at night??) to let all you Christmas shopping slackers out there in on a little treat:

Use code

LASTMINUTE2010

for 20% off the purchase price of anything in the shop

Order by December 19th  for Christmas delivery (within the US).

Happy Holidays! (and please, send us some snow!)

Christmas Trees and Such

So I'm home today with my sweet wee-one who's fighting a bad cold (it's almost always bad when she gets one since she suffers from asthma). But she's doing fine, busily playing with her Little People farm.

Anyway, thought I'd take the opportunity to post some photos!

Last weekend we got a tree and decorated it. I tried to take some pictures, but as you can see, Alice didn't think there should be any that didn't include her:

She's such an adorable (and wheezy) little goofball!

Our other little goofball lost a tooth last night! But she was at her dad's so I haven't had a chance to take any pictures (or even see it for myself) yet. Speaking of the artsy one (who wants a sewing machine for Christmas so she can make stuffed animals!), here's what she and Cynthia made before we got our real tree:

Very Seussian, don't you think?

And as for what I've been making, I finished a very special custom order this week. It was commissioned by an old friend (one whom I've never actually met in person, but we've been friends through the magic of the internet for over 8 years now!) as a gift for her mother, who, as my friend put it, "kicked cancer's ass" :

Amazonite and sterling (each component sawed by hand). It was such an honor to be a part of the creation of this piece.

I was hoping to add at least a few more lower-priced items to the shop before the Christmas shipping deadlines pass but I have a final paper due AND a final exam on Monday, plus a couple of other custom pieces in the works, so I'm not sure how much else I'll get done. But you never know!

Okay, gotta run, apparently Alice needs someone to make cow noises.

xo

note: It totally looks like I photoshopped Alice into that photo with the tree!! But I didn't, it just looks funny because the camera was focused on the tree and then she popped in just as I was snapping the image.

Friends, old and new...

Well, I was planning a big blog post for today but I seem to have misplaced my camera! (and honestly, I can't even remember what pictures I had on there that I wanted to use but I'm 90% sure there were some!)

I did, however, want to say thank you to two friends who featured me and my shop on their blogs this weekend:

Aimee, of artsyville included me in her annual handmade holiday doodletour. Do stop by and take the tour. I am honored to be included among such an amazing group of artists! Aimee and I met through our daughters, who've gone to school together for 3 years now. But we only realized last year (because I stumbled across her blog) that we were both blogging artists!

And Lara, of Bazant, has written a beautiful and flattering post on her blog about our childhood friendship and how we found each other again many years later (beware, there are pictures there of me with very big 80's hair!). Thank you, Lara, for your sweet words and  lasting friendship! xo

It was a busy week with Foxy gone last week and I didn't manage to get back into my studio until last night! I'm working on some custom orders and then hope to add a few more things to the shop before Christmas shipping deadlines pass (December 20th for orders within the US and December 9th for most international destinations).

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas in our house! Here's Lilah last night enjoying the holiday glow from Aidan's bed (taken with my iPhone since, as you know, I can't find my camera):

Foxy Goes to Washington

She just left this morning and already the house is a mess, the cats are restless, and I'm exhausted. In fact, I just now, at 10:30, got back from the grocery store (which was only possible thanks to our wonderful Cynthia). I always find grocery shopping at night a kind of surreal experience. The too-bright lights, the shoppers contemplating their cookie options while clad in pajama pants and slippers (or maybe that's just in Lawrence?)... I don't know, something about it is always slightly disturbing to me. But not as disturbing as brining two tired and hungry children to the grocery store during the 6:00 rush. So instead, I wait until they're in bed and our wonderful Cynthia is busy doing her homework and not going anywhere anyway (as far as I know) and I sneak away.

But, yes, Stephanie is in DC this week for work. I don't know how single parents do it. And I even have a Cynthia!

Foxy, come home! We miss you!

Lilah is so distraught that she's fallen into a coma:

One more for the weekend...

It's been such a fantastic long weekend! Yesterday we spent a good amount of time visiting with our friend Aimee at the Bizarre Bazaar (and did some shopping too!) and then I got to spend some quality time with Alice while the foxy one went off to work in the screen printing studio for a while (I'll post pictures of her work this week!). After dinner I had a little time in my own studio and finished this:

It's already in the shop and my 15% off coupon code (BLACKFRIDAY) works through tomorrow, Cyber Monday.

I have more to share with you from the weekend but I'll save it for another post.

Love to all!

xo 

Black Friday ~ Cyber Monday Offerings

Taking a quick break from visiting with family and stuffing myself full of turkey and cranberry leftovers (I'm not sure there are many things I love more than cranberry... good thing we had THREE different varieties of cranberry sides!) to let you, my faithful blog readers, know about my Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale:

Enter coupon code BLACKFRIDAY at checkout to receive 15% everything in my shop.

(Yes, that includes gift certificates! Keep it on the DL ;)

Freshly listed this evening is this little (and I do mean little, this one's for a small boned girl much like myself) heart-charmed bangle:

Hand rusticated sterling silver, turquoise, and rhodochrosite. Each sterling component completely fabricated by hand. In the shop now!

Stay tuned... I might have a couple of more items to add before the weekend (and the sale) is over.

For now, back to the visiting and the eating... I think I heard dessert come out!

List it Tuesday - Canadian Edition

With American Thanksgiving coming up (and the fact that our young American housemate asked me yesterday "who's Tim Hortons?"), I've been thinking a lot about my beloved homeland and its fabulous idiosyncrasies. I've been in Kansas now for 13 years  (13? Oh my gosh!) and I'm still discovering words and other things that I didn't even realize were strictly Canadian. So here's my list for this List it Tuesday:

(bonus points to Americans who can identify any of these things without the help of Google)

We're hosting Thanksgiving this year, and Foxy's family is due to arrive on our doorstep tomorrow afternoon, so I may not get a chance to post again before the end of the weekend. But you never know. I am working on a few more items that I hope to add to the shop before the end of the week so if I get those done, I'll try to post them here.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my American friends and family! And happy 4th week of November to my Canucks!

xo

New Jewelry!

Well!

I've had quite a productive week so far! Three new pieces for you:

First, one of my favorite stones ever, Tiffany stone (also known as Bertrandite), simply set in rusticated sterling silver:

I knew as soon as I got this stone that I would set it like this. The stone speaks for itself.

And this one came from an idea I tried to execute way back in March, but I was so new to smithing that I made a million and one mistakes and despite my attempts to make something of it (all the way up until late this summer!), I finally decided to scrap it. Here's the same idea in it's new (and properly executed) form:

Yellow jasper and sterling. Sits pleasingly and comfortably asymetrically:

And finally, a necklace similar to the custom order I completed a couple of weeks ago:

Resin (I did not make the resin cabachon), amethyst, turquoise and sterling

Hoping to get these in the shop a little later tonight (gotta get the kiddies in bed first!). Oh! And if you haven't already, join my email list (link to the form in the sidebar on the right) because I'm going to be sending out a discount code to email list members in the very near future.

PS. I know I missed list it Tuesday. Next week!

PPS. It's almost Friday! :)

PPPS. A note about pricing: the price of silver has almost doubled since I bought my first piece of silver sheet less than 1 year ago. The prices of handmade sterling silver jewelry items may seem like a lot (especially if you're not used to buying handmade), but I use expensive, quality materials and each piece takes many hours to complete. I use a formula based on the cost of the materials and the time put into the piece to arrive at a price. Feel free to send me a note if you have any questions about prices (or anything else!).

Kansas, as big as you think.

You know that's the Kansas state motto, right? Yep.

We (actually, I think it was Foxy) spotted this handsome fellow on our Kansas City detour to Costco  on Saturday morning. It was on the side of an auto shop. The burly men who worked there seemed bemused by the fact that I was taking pictures of the wall. I'm sure they thought I was a (lost) tourist.

In shop news, I'm hoping to have a few new things for you by the end of this week. I didn't get any studio time over the weekend (busy going to Costco and taking pictures of auto shop murals and all) but last week I finished my very favorite piece EVER. I can't post pictures yet because it was a custom order and is going to be a gift for someone. Once she has seen it, I'll post the pictures. It's fabulous (if I do say so myself) and if I hadn't made it as a custom order I would have ended up keeping it for myself. My creative fire is stoked and I can't wait to get back in the studio!

See you tomorrow for list it Tuesday!

I know it's been a while...

But I think I can make it up to you!

I have a bunch of goodies to share with you today. Finally! I've been a little under the weather the last week, and I'm still working on catching up, but I did want to try to get some of these things posted, lest you think I've abandoned my little ol' blog.

First of all, I've been a busy beaver in the studio. I added these to the shop today:

Carnelian (swoon!) cabs set in rusticated sterling silver (what else?!). I love these even more than I thought I would. The color is amazing and the weight of them is somehow pleasant. Not the kind you'll forget you're wearing but you just might smile a little as they swing to-and-fro beneath your lobes. ;)

AND

Just in time for the holidays, Buffalo Lucy is now offering Gift Certificates!

AND

I haven't forgotten about List it Tuesday! Here's this week's list (click for a bigger version):

So THERE!

xo

The Birthday Girl

My sweet little Alice turned 2 yesterday! (that's right, she was born on Halloween!)

I mentioned before that Alice, who was born with some pretty serious challenges, took her first independent step back in July. Well, stubborn little thing that she is decided walking wasn't all it was cracked up to be and pretty much refused to take anymore until last week. Here's a short video taken yesterday, on her birthday (please excuse my excitement-induced helium voice):

http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/GkufxkNaRsg?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999

We're pretty proud of our little miracle (and as you can see, she's pretty proud of herself, too!). ♥

 Of course, both girls had a fun Halloween. Alice was starting to come down with a cold but donned her elephant costume and joined us for a little trick or treating anyway:

And Aidan was the prettiest little lion you ever did see:

~~~

In shop news, I'm finally wrapping up a round of custom work and will be making some new items for the shop this week. I'm also going to be listing some gift certificates (the perfect Christmas gift?) in the next day or two.

I hope you all had a safe and spooky Halloween and have a few minutes to relax before the impending holiday rush.

Treats (not tricks!) to all!

xox

Happy Halloween

From the whole (damned) family

x

List It Tuesday

Dance on over to artsyville for more lists!

Perfectly Content

I was busy in the shop last week working on a few custom pieces:

And I made some changes to this piece and listed it in the shop!

Over 6 feet of sterling and leather and semi precious stones! Super versatile; can be worn as a bracelet or a necklace (long or short).

And then I had the most perfect weekend I could have asked for! I took Friday off of work because Aidan was out of school so we had a breakfast date and then ran some errands together for the rest of the morning. Her dad ended up getting off for the afternoon so he came by and picked her up and I got 3 uninterrupted hours in the studio before the rest of my lovely family returned home. Bliss!

Saturday the four of us went to a really fun Halloween party. I'll save the picture for Halloween but we all dressed up. I think the dressing up part was just as much fun as the party itself!

Yesterday was dedicated to house cleaning and cleaning out our car (ooh boy! did we need to do that!) but it feels so good to have it all done now.  I know, doesn't sound like all that much fun, but it really was a perfectly relaxed, perfectly family-filled few days.

I'm ready to face the week!

List It Tuesday

My friend Aimee over at artsyville has started a new series in which I am enthusiastically taking part: List it Tuesday. Each Tuesday I (along with a host of other creative bloggers) will post a handwritten list. Any random list.

Here's today's:

Stop by Aimee's blog to see other lists and play along!

House Tour Part II

First of all, thank you all so much for your overwhelming and positive response to my post last week for National Coming Out Day. You are all fabulous creatures and you give me hope! *muah!*

A ways back I posted pictures of our bedroom re-do and promised that I'd post more house pictures in the future. Well, it appears that the future (at least part of it) is now!

I love our house. It was one of the first houses we looked at when we started house hunting almost 3 years ago. We forced ourselves to look at others but it was the one we both kept coming back to. Something about it just said "home" to us. I love our house.

This afternoon I took advantage of one of the few moments when there aren't toys scattered all over the living room floor and took some pictures. Some of my favorite things, collected mostly at garage sales and antique stores, are in this room:

I finished mid terms last week and have been working busily on some custom orders (when I'm not working my day job or taking the kids to the Maple Leaf festival or decorating our front porch for Halloween! :) ). But I promise to have some new treats for the shop very soon!

Oh, what I wouldn't give to have whole days to spend in the shop...

Maybe someday!

xo