Cyber Monday 3 DAY SALE!

It's that time of year again! Time for my 3rd annual Cyber Monday 3 day SALE! It started last night in full swing and runs through 11:59pm EST Wednesday night (12/1) so don't miss out!

I have 2 new styles of earrings listed at 50% off for the 3 day event - the Harmony Hoops below are available in multiple combinations of sterling silver, gold, 3 different pearl color choices including soft grey, cranberry and champagne and several different finishes including matte, shiny and heavily oxidized. Shown below are the mixed metal version with 14kt goldfill hoops, sterling silver and soft grey pearls. Prices at 50% off range from $13-$15 depending on the metals.

The Millstone Earrings below are another new style at a 3 day special price of $12.50 and are also available in labradorite.

PLUS if you spend $50 or more you save 10% off your entire purchase!

Happy holidays and happy shopping! =)

Oh the cuteness..

I've been completely smitten with Weezie since I brought her home as a tiny little chick from a Blue Ridge feed store the Thanksgiving 0f 2008. So when she decided this spring she wanted to be a momma I did my best to help her out. I snuck her little unfertilized eggs out from underneath her and replaced them with fertile eggs from my other hens that happen to reside with Mr. Edgar, one of my roosters. She sat and she sat and she sat. Nothing happened. After 24 days or so I snuck those eggs out and replaced them with new ones (they should've hatched in 21 days). Same process - she sat and sat and sat. Although several times she was sitting beside the eggs instead of on them.. I don't think she quite had the process down but boy was she determined! So when those didn't hatch either I removed them, told Weezie I was sorry and that she was just going to have to try again next spring and all this sitting was bad for her! She needed to get on with her life as a chicken - out scratching for bugs, taking dirt baths and napping in the sun. But she wasn't hearing any of it. She refused to budge. She continued to sit - on nothing! I'd take her out of her little cage, she'd cackle at me, run around for about 2 minutes and then run right back in and sit again. This went on for nearly 2 weeks - I really thought she'd give up after a few days but I was proven wrong.

This may sound a little crazy but I could tell she was sad. She wanted to be a momma so bad. So on a recent trip to the feed store they had just gotten in a shipment of bantam chicks - it was Weezie's lucky day! I picked out this one odd little black and yellow chick that I just knew Weezie would love and boy was I right! I got home with him, put him in with Weezie, they looked at each other, he chirped, Weezie cooed at him a bit and then he nuzzled himself right under her wing and that was it - Weezie was in love! She's as happy as she can be now and she's just the best little momma a chick could ask for - I'm sure of it!

So here's my completely spoiled rotten Weezie and her new adopted "child" Watson after a long day of scratching up bugs and worms under my shrubbery =).
You gotta love happy endings!

New goodies!

I think I had way too much fun at the gem show last weekend and I've finally listed just about all of my treasures.. all of the ones that I'm willing to share anyway. I have to hoard some for myself you know ;).

Here are a few of my favorites - I absolutely adore these recycled African glass powdered beads! I also have them in Peacock blue and a mossy green shade.. I could stare at them all day!
And who doesn't love Moss Aquamarine w/ it's organic, characteristic inclusions of iron?

These are simply just mesmerizing! Stunning, flashy, rare Spectrolite (blue Labradorite) in a big free form nugget shape. I don't imagine these will last long!

Stop by and take a peek at all my new goodies!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/jNicLoft

And a little happy side note - Cooper, my former foster dog shown in the post below, found his new forever home! Yay! He is now living w/ a family of 5 that consists of 2 little boys and a little girl that just adore him! He couldn't pull himself away from the kids long enough to even tell me bye. I couldn't be happier for him but I do miss his little crooked tooth grin hanging around the 'lil farm!

Cooper Looper

This is Cooper. My foster "child" whom I've dubbed Cooper Looper. I'm not sure how anyone can resist this crooked tooth Cocker Spaniel grin but they have =(. He was originally rescued from a shelter in Augusta just in the knick of time - he was on his last day - and one of the ladies in the group I volunteer with (Athens Canine Rescue) drove down and got him. He was adopted out and then returned back to ACR because the owner felt bad he was by himself all day while she was at work. And then he found another home but sadly was returned yet again when the husband and wife divorced. So now here he is with me waiting on his finally permanent forever home! If you know anyone that needs a little black, crooked tooth bundle of Cocker Spaniel love send them my way!

FREE Hoops!

Now thru Sunday receive a FREE pair of Every Day Hoops with any $25 or more purchase (not including shipping). Hop on over to my shop for details!
http://www.etsy.com/shop/jNicDesigns

Weeze has a new 'do

If you know me or follow me on Twitter you've undoubtedly heard me talk about Weezie - my completely spoiled rotten silkie hen. Normally she's just a big fluff of white feathers but today, thanks to the rain, she's sporting dreadlocks. I can't stop giggling at her new 'do and I think I may be giving her a complex. She's awfully quiet when normally she has a ton to squawk about.. maybe I should dry her off w/ the hair dryer.. nah she's too cute w/ dreads =).

Weekend Special!

How about $15 hoops? Now through Sunday you can choose from several different styles of my Not So Basic Hoops: http://www.etsy.com/shop/jNicDesigns?section_id=6633021
They make great stocking stuffers, a perfect little token of appreciation for your child's teacher, your hair stylist.. anyone really! Or just keep them for yourself! I'm sure you deserve a little treat right about now! PLUS buy 2 or more items and you get FREE shipping!
Happy Holidays! =)

Tweet Tweet Tweet

Would love to have you come follow me on twitter now... =)
http://twitter.com/jnicdesigns

December Specials!

Stay tuned as I will be offering periodic specials throughout the month of December starting tonight at midnight with FREE SHIPPING worldwide in my jewelry shop! Hurry free shipping ends Sunday!

Sneak Peek! Cyber Monday Sale!

It's that time of year again! Time for my once a year 3 day sale and you get a special sneak peek at what's coming! Sale starts tonight at midnight EST and runs through midnight on Wednesday. Below is my new Kalediscope Necklace ($38) which is available in several different gems and birthstones including Peridot, Citrine, Smoky Quartz, Spectrolite, Crystal Quartz, Sleeping Beauty Turquoise, Moonstone, Aquamarine and Ruby!
And here's the exciting SALE part - My coordinating NEW Kalediscope earrings shown below will be offered at 50% off ($12 - they go back up to $24 Thursday!) PLUS take $10 off any purchase of $50 or more (excluding shipping fees)! You can get both pieces for $40 for 3 days only - a great gift for someone special or give one away and keep one for you! I'm sure you deserve a treat =).

Don't miss out! More specials will be available too... check my shop tonight at midnight to see what pops out!

Happy shopping! =)

Fresh Start

Blue skies ahead! It has been pretty apparent that I have been on hiatus the past several months but I have found my creative motivation again. And it's all thanks to words of encouragement from someone that recently entered my life. It's just amazing what impact a few choice words can have on your outlook and I am thankful for their inspiration.
As some of you know and many don't, I am in the process of finalizing a divorce. And if you've been through this situation (which honestly I hope you haven't) you know it takes alot out of you physically, mentally and emotionally. It was as if the life were drained right out of me. But as the seasons change and the trees shed their leaves preparing to start fresh again in the spring, I too am shedding the old and looking forward to the fresh start that lies ahead!
And I thank you all very much for your support whether it was a kind word you sent, a thought or maybe a purchase from one of my shops - it was, and is, very much appreciated!

A trip to John C. Campbell Folk School..

If you've visited either of my shops this past week then you know I was on a little artistic retreat taking a metalsmithing workshop at the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC. If you ever get the chance to go I highly recommend it! I'm already in the process of planning my next visit =). Now the question is which class to take next?!
This was literally the view from my bedroom on Monday - the first morning I woke up there.. just beautiful!

And this is where we (me and my friend Nicole) stayed for the week. It is appropiately named the "Orchard House" as it has a lovely little orchard with a variety of fruit trees right in the front yard.

And here is a little friend I made along the way. Every morning and evening on my walk to and from the dining hall this little guy would be poking his head out of his little bird house greeting everyone that came by. We had quite a few conversations - mostly consisting of me telling him how darn adorable he is. =)

And here's a few more feathered friends that were staying in a bird hotel in the yard of our Orchard House. Wonder if they were on a retreat too...

And this is me (the one w/ the lobster on her head) and my friend Nicole (whom I haven't seen since college nearly 10 years ago) being silly with a box full of funny hats we found. We had a reunion of sorts as we lost touch years ago and recently found each other via FaceBook. We were roommates and good friends but once we graduated we lost touch as she went into the Peace Corps and eventually ended up right outside of Boulder, Colorado. So we planned this little get together as we discovered we both have a passion for metalsmithing and she even has chickens too! It didn't take us long to fall right back into our friendship (or being silly together)! I have a very similar picture of the two of us back in college studying for a chemisty exam with models of cyclo-hexane on our heads. Yes we're dorks ;).

And this is the Blacksmithing studio. Everyone in that class always showed up to dinner and lunch filthy but they all seemed like they were having one of the best times too. This class is definitely on my list of things I would love to take in the future!

And this is the Woodturning studio that was right across the way from our Jewerly studio...

And these are some lovely flowers in front of the Woodturning studio... after seeing this studio and the beautiful pieces that came out of it I thought that class might interest me too...

Until I saw this! The saw mill out back. I do enough damage to myself with my little jeweler's saw. I can only imagine what I would do to myself with that thing!

And this is just a little random, old building behind our jewelry studio. If you've read my blog before you know I have this thing for old wooden buildings and this campus was full of them! Pure heaven!

This was square dancing/ contra dancing night in the Keith Hall... fun stuff!

Little hemlock cones after a rain shower...

Our finished work on our bench after a week of tolling away ;)

And our class =) Starting on the far left is Lisa, Sandie, Trish, Our instructor Molly, Deb (who also has an Etsy shop http://soulwhispers.etsy.com/ so check it out!), Molly's assitant instructor Kim, me and my friend Nicole =)

And what an appropiate way to end the week - a double rainbow! These two little treasures appeared right after a rain shower on our last day and they ended right in the parking lot because I think the Folk School is the pot of gold at the end of rainbow =).

Hope you had a great week!

Time for Peach Cobbler!

There are few things that I enjoy more than the smell of fresh peaches and a hot, fresh peach cobbler right out of the oven (although the smell of a fresh cut hay field comes in a close second!)! My little peach tree went into overtime this year making those delicious smelling little fruits... must've been all that sweet talking I did ;). I've been picking peaches, peeling peaches and freezing peaches all week and now it's time to reap the benefits! We're having peach cobbler and peach daiquiris this weekend before I head off to Brasstown, NC Sunday afternoon to start my week long metal smithing workshop at the John C. Campbell School of Folk Art. (Hopefully I'll have lots of pics and stories to share next week =)
Here's the recipe if you get a hold of some fresh Georgia peaches in your market (or I like to use blackberries too when they're in season, apples work well, cherries or even pears) and it's super easy too!

Peach Cobbler

1 stick butter, melted

1 cup plus 3 Tablespoons granulated sugar, divided

1 cup all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 to 4 ripe peaches, peeled, pitted and thinly sliced

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Heat oven to 375

Pour melted butter into a 2 quart baking dish (11 x 7 or 8 inch square). In mixing bowl combine 1 cup of sugar, the flour, baking powder and salt. Stir to blend. Stir in milk and vanilla until blended. Pour the batter over the melted butter. Toss peaches with the remaining 3 tablespoons of sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon. Arrange peach slices over the batter. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. The top will be browned and the edges will begin to pull away from the pan.

Don't forget to top it off with a scoop of vanilla ice cream!

ENJOY! =)

Free hoops anyone?

Then hop on over to Stacie Vaughan's blog to read a little interview about me and enter the give away! Good luck! And happy Monday! =)

Random Shrapnel

Living on a piece of property that was once a cow pasture and the home to an old farm shed I find some pretty interesting things just walking around our yard where the chickens have been scratching.
Like this warped, beat up old spoon - random.
And this very dangerous rusty old saw blade that I found (by almost stepping on it) nearly completely buried except for the still very sharp edges just poking up out of the soil! Thank goodness for Tetanus shots ;)

Last week I found quite the collection of broken bottles and ceramic pieces. Who knows what will turn up this week.

And speaking of random this guy has taken to flying over our house quite low in his little powered parachute thingy about once a month and scaring the bejeezus out of my critters.

I heard this really loud buzzing airplane/go kart noise and looked out to see my horses and goats running for their lives so I threw on my boots ran out the door and caught him buzzing over the pasture next door. I walked around the yard picking up the random shrapnel as I waited to see if he would come back. He didn't return. I'd like to ask him to please not buzz so close over my barn - my horses are old and they don't need that kind of stress ;).

Until next time... =)

Umm... OUCH!

So apparently I broke my finger last night playing volleyball...ouch! And I'm wearing this nifty little robotic looking splint that Shirley is totally intrigued by so I can keep my poor little aching finger out of more trouble. This is definitely putting a damper on my productivity and my typing abilities =P. We're heading on a little camping trip to Tallulah Gorge in the morning too and I'm almost afraid to leave the house - I seem to be accident prone here lately. Hope your Thursday finds you accident free and healthy! =)

Happy St. Patty's Day Sale!

Hop on over to my Loft shop tomorrow to receive 15% off your entire order if it contains any green stones! Sale starts at midnight tonight and runs through midnight tomorrow night (March 17).
Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone! =)

A week later....

It's spring! It's hard to believe just a week ago we had nearly 7 inches of snow on the ground and this weekend it was 79 degrees! We spent the entire weekend working out in our yard clearing away all the branches that had fallen, raking all the little prickly balls from our Sweetgum trees and getting the spot for our little vegetable garden ready and I have the calluses to prove it - ouch!
Preparing our garden site was a family event and here some of the ladies are helping us spread our "organic" matter around and adding a bit more of their own ;). They had a regular little chicken buffet going on here with all the worms and larvae they were finding.
Thelma and Louise were supervising the activities and making sure no one went out the gate that wasn't suppose to while we made trips back and forth to the compost pile.

Mandy had to come poke her nose in to see what was going on =).

And this is Golly's big mouth. You can't carry on a conversation anywhere near him otherwise he thinks you're talking to him and he likes to talk back. ALOT. And very loudly too. ;)

And I just had to add this picture of Thelma and Louise because they're so darn cute and they look like little abominable snow chickens.

Hope you had a wonderful weekend!

Still coming in like lion!

Welcome to March in Georgia! Saturday it was 64 degrees and the weather stations kept hinting at snow coming in on Sunday but they couldn't quite predict where or how much just that we could see a dusting up to 2 inches. I didn't quite believe them. Boy was I proven wrong! It started here about 11:00 as a very cold rain which turned to very large sleet pellets by 12pm and then the snow started and it didn't stop until a little after 11pm last night! We ended up with close to 7 inches of snow here which is really unheard of in one day (or really several for that matter!). And it was around 34 degrees most of the day so if it had been below freezing we probably would have ended up with around 2 feet of snow!

This is my barn at about 3pm yesterday.. it just kept snowing and snowing and snowing!
And here's the poor little blooms on my confused peach tree!

Golly and Madison seemed to have a blast in the snow.. of course they are wearing goose down ;)

And my Crepe Myrtle tree was getting weighed down by the weight of the heavy, wet snow. Luckily no tree casualities here!

And I couldn't resist building a snow chicken! Now tell me that isn't a piece of art?! ;)

Hope you're staying warm and dry! We're forecast to be back up in the 70's by week's end so looks like I'll be going from snow boots to flip flops in a matter of days!

Coming in like a lion..

And it's not even March yet! These photos are from the tornado that touched down last Wednesday about 9 miles from my house. There were 10 reported tornadoes that touched down in Georgia and one person died. So I don't mess around when they say "Tornado Warning for Oglethorpe County" - this also has to do with the fact that I lived through a tornado in 1994 in Floyd County (where I grew up). Debbie (my pupper) and I were in the hall closet with our bike helmets on and yes we did look ridiculous ;). Dan was at a convention in Columbus, GA which is about 3 hours away so we were on our own.

I remember growing up and my mom pulling us out of bed and making us get in the hall with a mattress over our heads and sitting in the hallway at school with our heads tucked between our legs. Tornado warnings were a regular occurrence every spring and they always terrified me. It's one of the reasons I am now obsessed with the weather.

It really just broke my heart to see these huge, old trees lying on the ground. The house above had a backyard full of downed, large pecan and oak trees. They also had a glass sun porch that was shattered to bits and were missing quite a few shingles from their roof. I'm certain they feel lucky that their house is still standing. There was also some sort of shed in their backyard that didn't fair nearly as well.

This poor tree was HUGE. If I had to guess I would have said it was well over 200 years old and sadly it didn't make it through a direct hit from an F1 twister. There was also an F5 (the strongest recording on the fujita scale with winds up to 318 mph) tornado that briefly touched down in the next county over and completely demolished a home. Luckily they had a storm shelter under ground so the entire family survived. Scary stuff!

Get your bike helmets on folks and hang on - spring is on the way!