The handmade birthday box....

So my husband's birthday is on December 1st.

My 5 yo daughter asked me for a box that one of my supplies came in and took it off to the kitchen. She would not let me see what she was up to. :-)

Here is what emerged....the birthday box. Markers, tape, colored pencil, crayons....they were all used. Note the number of times she used "so" on the card....do you think she's a daddy's girl?!

Inside she made a giant cut-out snowflake as the actual present. Definitely gives new meaning to the words "handmade with love". She added the pink bow that she had saved from one of her own birthday presents.

By the way, my husband just loved it.

Will definitely go in the bin of things to keep to bring out and embarrass here when she's 16.

Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays Everyone!

My 5-year-old daughter brought this little message to me the other day while I was working. As you can tell, it's spelled phonetically but yet it somehow has just the right tone. :-)

So however you celebrate....Happy Hanukkah, Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Celebrate Kwanzaa....make it a good one!

FREE worldwide shipping on Black Friday!

Do you really want to wake up at 3 am to fight the crowds for mass-produced stuff!

Lime green modern is offering free worldwide shipping on all items on Black Friday! No need for codes...all shipping prices have already been adjusted.

So grab your cup of coffee, curl up in a chair by the fire with the laptop, and shop!

Lime green modern at the PONSHOP...

The PONSHOP......an uber-cool studio, shop, gallery and classroom space in Fredericksburg, VA.

I loved this from their great blog:

"The vision of the owners, Scarlett Suhy-Pons and Gabriel Pons, is to provide a place that embodies what they love: art, design, and creative education. The gallery features a variety of work from artists both near and far. Their studio doubles as a classroom, providing workshops in everything from painting, ceramics, and architecture to street art and skateboard graphics."

I'm excited to announce that lime green modern is part of their shop currently, so if you happen to be in the Fredericksburg area, go check them out.

PONSHOP
712 Caroline St.
Fredericksburg, VA 22401

Who gets the wishbone?

Very clever treasury by Grah-Toe Studio....who gets the wishbone in your family? Thanks for featuring my half wishbone earrings!

Here's to a happy healthy Thanksgiving!

Freedom from the Big Box....Studio Slant

I am happy to say you can now see lime green modern at Studio Slant, a new Art Gallery and Handmade Boutique in Owensboro, Kentucky!

When the owners contacted me about being in their shop, this really got to me:

"The Premise of Studio Slant is to provide our town and the people who live in it an outlet from the Big Box. Wearing or owning something unique makes the wearer feel unique. We hate to look like everyone else, and so we plan to do our part in combating the oatmealization of the world."

Now that is right up my alley! Studio Slant has just opened and is doing great, so if you are in the area, go check them out.

Studio Slant
412 East Second Street
Owensboro, KY
42303

Happy Trick-or-Treating!

Happy Halloween!

Remember the add-a-bead necklace circa 1984?

Anyone remember the add-a-bead necklaces popular back in the early 1980s?

I remember loving them, but no amount of babysitting could earn me enough money for one.

Here is my modern version of that necklace... simple, minimal, sleek but delicate.

I decided to different amounts of beads to mix it up a little... a solo bead, a trio, and a 5-bead version.

Fall colors in Vail....

Took a trip up to Vail just in time for the fall colors. I love going during the off-peak season, before the snow comes. The aspen trees are all such a gorgeous golden color, spotting the mountains with large bright yellow patterns!

Looking forward to our first snow dusting....I'm sure it's coming soon.

Don't put all your eggs in one basket....

You know you've heard the saying a hundred times...Don't put all your eggs in one basket.

I've been thinking about this for the past week, especially after the sudden close down of the 1000 Markets site, so I have decided to diversify my eggs a bit.

So I'm excited to announce that lime green modern will open on ArtFire soon, another great site for handmade items. I've put up a couple of items in there to see their process, but will have a full shop soon!

Coincidentally, the picture of the egg above is actually a sunny side up stress-relieving gadget...how appropriate as I get ready to ramp up for the holidays and add a whole new shop at the same time!

Lime green modern on ArtFire coming soon.....

Controlled chaos....

Continuing on my posts of how to have a better holiday season....

Step 3: Clean up the work space.

No matter how neat I try to stay, the working surface of my deck always looks a bit like a bomb went off. I like to refer to it as controlled chaos.

Here is a "before" picture of my desk while I'm in hoop-making mode.

As far as the "after" picture...well, it's just not going to happen. I know myself well enough to just live with it like this.

So I'm just skipping Step 3...lol.

Uncomplicated wardrobe...

I definitely like an uncomplicated life.

That definitely includes my wardrobe...pretty much wear my uniform of black top, dark denim capris/jeans/skirt depending on the time of year, but do occasionally like a splash of color.

Made some fun little mini modern earrings recently...just a little pop of color (or my standard black), super lightweight and small, and easy for every day.

1000 Markets no longer....

Well, I'm sad to say that 1000 Markets, a wonderful site dedicated to artisan handcrafted work only, has been sold to Bonanza.

So lime green modern on the 1000 Markets venue will be no longer.

At this time, I prefer to keep my work on sites that are dedicated to handmade, so I will not be making the move to Bonanza, as they are a site very similar to eBay, that sells a bit of everything, manufactured and all. Nothing wrong with that, just not for me right now.

Of course lime green modern on Etsy is still in high gear, anxiously awaiting the start of the holidays! If you are one of my 1000 Markets customers, feel free to contact me on Etsy anytime!

I am currently looking into some other handmade only sites, so I will definitely update everyone on what I decide to do.

Thanks so much for your support!

50 pairs of scissors....

I don't know about you, but I bet if we were able to gather all the pairs of scissors in our house in one place, it would total 50.

But does that mean I can ever find one pair? No...lol.

So this is why I created a packing/shipping station in my studio, and it is OFF LIMITS to everyone, especially my kids. :-)

Everything I need is there...bubble mailer, scale, tape, scissors, bus. cards, thank-you notes, tins, etc. I find having everything right there greatly helps with the shipping process, especially when things get busy!

Even if you just set up a temporary one for the holidays, it will save your sanity if you don't have to hunt for the scissors!

94 days until Christmas....

Ok...it might be a little early to put up the tree, but believe me, I've been thinking about it.

With my online Etsy shop, I definitely feel the impact of retail Christmas shopping, and have actually already sold my first "going to be a gift" item this week.

Usually international sales really hit in October, then domestic sales in Nov./Dec. Last minute boyfriend/husband sales round it out at about Dec. 18th or so.

So why the picture of ugly boxes? Well, this year I am trying to be really prepared.

Step 1: Getting together a plethora of lime green modern tins...stickers printed and put on, lime green tissue placed inside. Sounds easy...but times that by 1200 tins and it take a bit of time.

Coming soon....Step 2: Packing/shipping station stocked and set up.

It's a Teal Kind of a Day...

A little love for teal! Check out It's a Teal Kind of a Day by crystal glow design.

Art in Nature : Nature in Art

Found this amazing sculpture of the Singing Trees in Vail last week at the Betty Ford Alpine Gardens.

These trees were killed by the lodgepole pine beetle that has devastated many pines here in CO. The artists (Ben Roth, sculpture designer, and Brad Watsabaugh, creator) dissected the trees longitudinally from the top down with chainsaws, creating benches with the remaining half of the split trees.

Simple tiny hammered circles....

Added a couple super simple tiny hammered modern circles to my shop.

Love the little touch of bright silver around the neck!

It's done!

A few "after" shots of our summer project.

It's been done for two weeks, but I'm finally getting some pictures taken.

Definitely a great place to enjoy the great Colorado summer evenings!

It has to look ugly...

It has to look ugly before it can look pretty again. I keep telling myself that over and over when talking about a landscaping project going on at my house this week.

I've been so preoccupied with the sounds of saws and the color of flagstone that I have not made much this week for my shop. My kids go back to school in a week, so then I will kick it in high gear then.

So here are some pics in the middle of the process.....finished product coming soon!

Etsy Finds email....

So a couple days ago I'm going through the latest Etsy Finds email and, as always, I scroll through all the pictures to see what cool things are out there.

Then...there they were....my medium circle hoops in the email! I was so surprised and quickly got to work making more of that pair. :-) It was great to have a little sales boost from all the hoops!

Check out the summer jewelry guide for lots of great summer accessories.

Thank you Etsy for the feature!

Like her entrepreneurial spirit!

So my DD likes to watch me in my studio and bring in her own crafts to work on, unpack tins, organize scrap paper, etc.

She always asks questions when we take things to the post office...Where is it going? What did they order? etc, etc.

So I thought it was quite industrious when she decided to set up her own shop this morning, all on her own. See picture above.

Now I'm not sure if there is such a great market for used shoes sold out of our family room, but I definitely admire her entrepreneurial spirit.

Twist of lime...

Great treasury..."Sexy with a twist of lime"! Thanks for including my long wispy line earrings ZionShore.

Of course, I am partial to that lime green color. :-)

Cooler than Rio treasury....

Super fun feature in the Cooler than Rio treasury designed by themefragrance. Thanks again!

You can see the full treasury here and the super cool shop of themefragrance here. Enjoy!

Great summer bag....

So I was looking for a new summer bag that was lightweight, brightly colored, and modern, when I stumbled upon the store appetite....and there it was.

I'm loving the color and design, plus those large outside pockets for my phone are perfect. The purse is super well made and the screen print design is perfect. Definitely coming back for something else in the fall!

Solving the Rubik's Cube....

So I just had to put up a shot of my 9-year-old son's handiwork and brain power.

After much diligence using websites dedicated to solving the cube and pages upon pages of complicated directions (that I could not understand to save my life!), he solved it!

Very proud. :-)

New fine silver tribal circle pendant...

New tribal circle design from my Etsy shop.

Ever heard of precious metal clay (PMC)?

PMC is a really unique and fun material that I love to work with, but the trick with this stuff is you have to work fast! It starts to dry very quickly. Basically PMC is made up of silver particles in an organic clay binder.

This is how I create pendants from it:

-Roll out the thickness I want for the pendant (I like mine chunky, about 14 gauge after fired).

-Next imprint or draw a design . I like to use old buttons or make my own molds out of various textures I find everywhere.

-Let piece dry completely, then sand it using graduated sanding pads until it's nice and smooth.

-It's ready for the kiln so fire away! The organic clay binder is fired away leaving 99.9% pure fine silver, but it comes out looking very white and matte.

-Using a vibratory tumbler, tumble the pieces to strengthen the silver and start shining it up.

-I do a "finishing" polish on it with graduated sanding wheels until it's ultra shiny. Sometimes I oxidize (blacken) the details, sometimes not.

Spent the afternoon last weekend creating some new pendants for my shop...so check out my modern silver necklace section for some fun new summer designs.

Handwritten thank-you notes aren't dead...

I'm kind of a stickler for the old-fashion thank-you note (just ask my kids...can't you hear them whining about it?).

I like receiving a nice note card in the mail with a handwritten thank you, as opposed to the email thank you. (Not that I haven't done the email thing when in a pinch and they are severely overdue.)

The problem is finding cards that "fit" my personality and modern taste. Then I found a gorgeous shop on Etsy called Sweet Perversion Designs. I had a really hard time choosing a set of cards, since I loved them all! But I settled on the beautiful Grazie cards in yellow.

These cards are just beautifully done, very high quality materials/printing, and packaged so nicely that I could have given them as a gift straight out of the mailer. Now I just have to decide who is worthy of my new note cards (I kid, I kid).

Now as an aside, also make sure you check out her great section, A Little Inappropriate. The one that starts with Crafty is my favorite, of course. :-)

The Japanese wave design cuff bracelet...

I'm always on the hunt for jewelry that is unlike what I do but still pairs well with my own work. So when I saw this Japanese wave design cuff bracelet I was instantly enamored.

At first glance I thought this was done in leather. Upon reading further, the artist actually makes these out of polymer clay. What a totally cool and modern take on that material is what I was thinking.

This cuff is great to wear, as it is really lightweight and comfy against the wrist. Theshagbag shop has pretty much a color choice for everyone...hip and edgy, but a with a soft side too.

Check out her awesome shop on Etsy for lots of great cuffs and earrings... theshagbag.

Modernism in nature....

The ultimate modernism in nature...plus one of my favorite colors too. A large succulent from my recent trip to Laguna Beach.

Unofficial Etsy Featured Seller....

Yay...I'm a featured seller!

Well, not quite THE featured seller on Etsy, but an unofficial featured seller on a great blog.

Check it out here: unofficial featured seller-lime green modern.

Thanks so much alliteration!

Just give me a few days....

I have to admit my first love is the beach, so when my DH recently had a trip for work in S. California, we all decided to tag along for a mini vacation.

Since we lived there for many years before Colorado, we visited all our favorite hang-outs, with #1 on the list being Laguna Beach.

Here we are overlooking the spectacular scenery, just north of Main Beach. Truly so breathtakingly beautiful, even on this foggy day.

Nothing quite as rejuvenating to me like a few days at the beach.

15 minutes of fame....

So I'm standing in the drug store line waiting to buy some sunscreen when I get an email from Statsy (a site for tracking your Etsy store stats) that tells me an item from my shop is on the front page of Etsy.....right now!

I quickly head to Etsy's front page and see my modern bow necklace there, with a lot of other great items all found with the keyword "modern".

I'm sure the people in line with me wondered why I was smiling at my phone but, hey, I was just glowing a little for my bow's 15 minutes of fame. :-)

Scrub-a-dub-dub

When I first started on Etsy, I used a lot of props with my earring pictures, so my dad found some great handmade soap in an amazing green color for me to use.

My "props" phase quickly passed and I decided my earrings just looked better photographed by themselves. But....I really loved using that soap!

Recently I decided I needed some more of that great-for-your-skin natural soap and found a wonderful shop, BeSem Natural Scents. I couldn't decide on a scent, so I decided to order the sample pack where I got to choose 6 scents.

I just love the clean scent these soaps have and I can definitely tell the difference in my skin. Check out BeSem on Etsy for all sorts of soaps, candles, and creams that smell delicious!

The black hole of my purse....

So I pretty much always buy handbags with black interior lining...so when I forget to put the cap back on my Sharpie no one is the wiser. Black hides a multitude of purse spill disasters.

But the downside is that when I have all those small things floating aimlessly around (lip gloss, small brush, ponytail holder, etc;) I can never find them in the black abyss.

Enter this super cute and bright retro flower pouch I got from JPAT. It is the perfect answer to hold all those little things and the bright colors are perfect to spot in the black hole. What I love is that it makes transitioning to another purse super quick....just grab the pouch and my wallet and I'm done. Love it!

Check out her shop for all kinds of cool little pouches in different sizes and wallets in every imaginable style of fabric... JPAT Purses.

Simply amazing...Kathy Panton

Anybody who knows my decor style recognizes my love for bright colors.

So when I saw these amazing prints by Kathy Panton, an Australian artist, I simply had to have them! (These are just two of the four I got!)

I can't even describe how brilliant her artwork is...really just love-at-first sight for me. Originally I got them for my studio, but I just cannot fathom tucking them away in a space where I often have to shut the door because of the mess factor. :-) So they are going to be hung somewhere front and center.

If you love these pieces too, check out Kathy Panton's shop on Etsy.

Fresh and clean...

It's almost here.

Summer....my favorite season.

Felt like sprucing up the blog, so I did a little almost-summer makeover. Clean white background, more modern fonts, and some brightly colored pictures...really makes me hopeful that the winter gray foot-of-snow on the ground days are gone.

Modern meets nature...

Modern meets nature in the most amazing way.

Happened to be searching modern abstract art and these just hit me...absolutely love them.

And I share a first name with the artist...cool. These tree rings are definitely on my "will buy soon" list.

Check out more really cool work in his Etsy shop Focus Line Art .

Being carefree...

So last week I was reminiscing a bit with the very first piece of jewelry I ever bought.

It got me thinking about my childhood....that carefree feeling, where excitement meant learning to read a new word, a tooth under the pillow for the tooth fairy, or waiting to hear the hooves of Santa's reindeer...totally, wholeheartedly believing.

Visual things are powerful reminders for me.

The ring above, as you might have guessed, is one I remember wearing on my middle finger as a child. I don't have any idea where I got it or anything about it, but just remember getting to "be a child" wearing it. That feeling of being taken care of...no worries or concerns looming or constantly thinking ahead.

I only hope my 4-year-old daughter (whose hand is now wearing it) can remember those wonderful feelings of feeling loved "just because".

Feel free to leave me a comment about something that invokes one of your best childhood memories...would love to hear it!

This is what started it all...

I've been a minimalist my whole life, except when it comes to my personal jewelry.

I don't think I've ever gotten rid of any piece I've ever bought or been given. From cheap trinkets I bought as a teenager, to beautiful vintage pieces from my grandmothers, I still have them all.

1990s: Classic silver hoops of all sizes: check.

1980s: Giant obnoxious bright (fake) gold earrings to my shoulders: check.

1970s: The clay pendant that started my jewelry addiction: check.

That's the pendant in the picture above, still a part of my jewelry box. I bought it (with my own money) way back in first grade (circa 1976). ----You don't need to do the math: I'm 40 and am totally OK with that.-----I still love the funky 70's hippy feel of it and don't think I'll ever give it away.

Now if only I had kept all those lovely bell bottoms and 80's sweaters too, I could be doing a vintage store on Etsy...lol. I think I better stick to jewelry.

Thank you...

Main Entry: thank–you

Pronunciation: \ˈthaŋk-ˌyü\

Function: noun

Etymology: from the phrase thank you used in expressing gratitude

Date: 1792

: a polite expression of one's gratitude

Thank you Merriam-Webster's Dictionary for that definition.

Now my mom always taught me that is was proper to write a thank-you note, and I have passed this tradition along to my kids (though begrudgingly on their end) for various birthday and Christmas gifts. (It may not get done for a month, but it will get done!)

But what about a business? I feel that handcrafted items have a mix of personal and business, so I like to write a handwritten thank-you note (with my favorite ultra-fine Sharpie) when sending out all my items.

I happily personalize thank-you notes to my buyers sending gifts, and I usually get the biggest "thank you" from them for that. No giant-business computer generated sterile gift card message from a mega-store, but an actual pen-on-paper personalization just for them.

So thank you for stopping by my blog! :-)