Graveyard-shift artist...

It's 1:26.

That's am.....not pm.

It's the working hour for all those artists who must dedicate themselves to something other than their craft during regular daylight hours.

Be it the "real" job that brings home the bacon, keeps sprouts on the table, and makes sure candlelight is romantic and not a necessity.

Be it the mom who holds everyone (and everything) together, arriving in a timely manner to all scheduled kid activities, all the while making sure everyone is sporting clean tidy-whities.

Be it the dad who travels for work, coaches the Bad News Bear team, and then cuts the lawn so the HOA doesn't freak.

Or be it a combo of the three all falling on one person, chipping away at any sort of free-form creative time, unless it is obscenely late.

It is at this late hour that we find people who really get to love what they do.

I am not one to normally live on the edge, so I feel like maybe the sleep deprivation can fuel some creative insanity without getting too out of control. After all, its better than some serious loco disease-driven creative insanity..isn't that what most art historians like to say, explaining the whole cut-off-the-ear theory as organic in cause.

OK...I digress.

So to all those artists toiling away on the artistic graveyard shift, may the creativity flow freely for you tonight and every night. I'll keep a big cup of joe on the burner for you, so when that alarm goes off in the morning and you promise that that is the last time you stay up way too late, you'll have something to wake you up.

Until the next night, when you do it all over again.

And you thought that coffee cup was just a photo prop.

Serendipity in artistic creation....

Serendipity: As defined by Wikipedia, serendipity is the effect by which one accidentally discovers something fortunate, especially while looking for something else entirely.

Sometimes I start a design with a very clear idea of how I want it to look.

Somewhere along the way...call it serendipity...something interferes. A mistake, a distraction, and wrong calculation. But suddenly my mistake sparks another idea, an idea that can turn an original design into something so much more.

Take the earrings I am featuring in the photo. One slight distraction and before I knew it, I hadn't hammered my wire flat before I formed the curve...darn, I thought, wasted sterling wire.

But as I looked closer, I decided that I would just hammer the curl flat. The result...I loved it more than my original thought for the design.

So...lesson learned...sometimes going with the flow brings a better outcome than the best laid plans. I need to remember that more often. Serendipity.

Part 2...conquering facebook

A recent post in the advancing myself with technology series....

Ok...Everyone has gotten the email saying Big-Hair Girl from high school wants to be your friend on facebook. There's another one...now Bad Boy Motorcycle Rider Boyfriend from college wants to be your friend too. Hmmm...I think...do I really want to go there? Seriously, do I really want to live the glory, and not-so-glory, days from my past?

In the past my reaction has been...no way...DELETE!

Lately, though, I have started receiving facebook emails from friends and family that are, let's say, a bit older and wiser than myself. Wow...if they are joining, maybe I should consider it. It would be nice to catch up with people in one place, instead of fielding a ton of emails, and feeling guilty that I am not replying to them in a timely fashion.

So I sat down this past Saturday afternoon and just did it. Before I realized what was happening, facebook had sent out 30+ emails to my family and friends who were in my email address book and on facebook asking if I could be their friend. I felt a little desperate. Maybe everyone would just hit DELETE like I had in the past. There it was...that feeling like you're back in high school and you are petrified you won't find a friend to sit with at lunch. Teenage rejection feelings are no fun to relive.

After that flashback was over, I started noticing things popping up on my screen. OMGoodness, my first friend had replied yes. My confidence came up a little. Now there is a second and a third. Wow...three friends in less than 5 minutes. I am like the prom queen, as I daydream of wearing a tiara and waving at the crowd.

Let's just say a little while later...well, 5+ hours to be more concise...I was still on facebook, setting up my profiles, chatting with friends, loading up pictures. I was an old hat at this now.

I did have to place an emergency call to a best friend of mine and figure out how to make my picture tags visible only to me. No one wants their college boyfriend catching a less than stellar shot of my...behind...without me knowing about it. And while we're on the topic, no, I am not making my facebook portrait any bigger or taking off the sunglasses. No one needs to see my wrinkles except for the people I still see in real life!

Word to the facebook newbies, since I now have a couple days experience under my belt, make sure you configure your email settings correctly. Otherwise, you will receive an email everytime a friend or family member breathes, leading to...you've got 352 new messages in your inbox in no time. Thanks H for helping with my technical difficulties!

So, my friends, this concludes part 2 of my advancing myself with technology series. If you would like to see what I am up to on facebook, feel free to check me out here, but I will have to approve you first. :-) http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=12670048...

If you would like to become a fan of lime green modern on facebook, check me out here: As always, a work in progress. http://www.facebook.com/pages/lime-green-modern/53000291945

So on to the blackberry....just kidding, maybe someday soon.

Twitter...what are you doing?

Part of a series of recent random blogs on conquering technology....

Circa 1983...I am the product of the original MTV generation....sitting in base housing (dad was in Army), adjusting the rabbit ears on our old TV so I could watch Video Killed a Radio Star once again, and the other 8 or so videos that Martha Quinn had to play. I felt like I was young, cool, and hip....so cutting edge.

Fast forward to 2009....We've got the second language of texting, bloggers galore, and everyone and their brother asking me to join facebook. Wow...how did I get so outdated so fast? Heck, I still use a paper calendar. Yes, seriously. People actually stare in disbelief when I pull it out as if it is an ancient scroll.

So in this year, on the cusp of my 40th birthday, I vow to conquer many things. And I start now....with twittering. So my fellow followers, I join you in keeping up with what all my friends are eating for breakfast.

If you would like to follow my random thoughts in life and jewelry making, hop on for the ride: http://twitter.com/limegreenmodern

Serious silver bling bling

Part of a series of random blogs from my recent past....

I am tumbling, tumbling, tumbling!!

Ok...so I am always on the hunt for things to make silver have that beautiful shine. I also can be tool obsessed and am storage space deprived and thought I didn't really need a tumbler. Isn't a polish pad and elbow grease good enough?

So one late night recently I was perusing the internet obsessesively looking over all the cool tools and beads, and on a whim, just bought a tumbler. It's small, I rationalized, and can be easily hidden from my husband. :-) BTW, I don't condone that.

So after carefully reading the instructions and watching a couple youtube videos on my Lortone 3A (no affiliation with them whatsoever...just picked this one), I threw in a couple silver pieces to see what would happen. I thought, I bet I won't really see much difference.

HOLY COW...the shine was blinding!! I can't believe what I have been missing!! I feel like a kid with that brand new bike with a banana seat and flower basket circa 1976. My clean, sparkly, purple bike, riding with my gauchos flapping in the breeze for everyone to admire!

I have now rounded up every last bit of personal silver jewelry and been tumbling away all day. I am going to be so bling, bling it won't be funny.

You can bet I will definitely be doing this on every piece I make for Etsy and 1000 Markets.

So shine on!