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These silver "triangle" earrings were inspired by the slot canyons in southern Utah & other places in the western, which are incredibly dramatic and beautiful. I have missed traveling so much over the past year - looking forward to visiting a few of these remarkable canyons in just a few weeks!!
Painted my nails is this SO COOL lavender color specifically to photograh these silver square earrings but then realized.....my cuticles are not "pretty enough". Bummer. Just crop it!!!  With family in town, we decided to go to the Aquarium of the Americas in New Orleans. It was wonderful as always and, as usualy, the jellyfish exhibit was one of my favorites. (Followed closely by the albino alligator and the pregnant seahorses!) Here are the earrings inspired by those oh-so-cool jellies!!
These silver and quartz drop earrings are really hard to photograph, I think because of the crystal clear quartz. I love quartz - it has always been a favorite of mine. I was born and raised in Arkansas, which is where a lot of quartz occurs. So, I grew up with quartz all around me - it's one of the reasons I like rocks of all sorts - I guess rocks remind me of home! (Here in Louisiana, few to no rocks anywhere!)   Missing being able to travel! National Parks are kind of a passion for us and we have not had our "fix" of parks in over a year. With that in mind, these earrings were designed as a tribute to those fabulous archways that occur in so many National Parks in the western U.S.
If you want to see others in this collection, click here and here!  Part of my new collection, inspired by National Parks of the US. I have missed (and still miss) traveling so much over the past year and a half. One of the things we love to do is visit national parks in the western US.
One of the natural features you see in many of the parks is the archway. Eye candy! Plus, two of my favorite "gems" - freshwater pearls and "opals" (in all honesty, these are called "opalized quartz but, between you & me, I think they are glass but, who cares, really. They are amazingly beautiful!!). Want to shop the look? Click here! These new silver earrings are from my new, developming collection, inspired by National Parks. This past year, I have so much missed traveling to see my sons, and the national parks along the way. These earrings are inspired by the arches present in many of our wonderful national parks, especially in Arches National Park in Utah. Can't wait to get back on the road and see the sights in person again!!  Since I was doing a lot of knitting in 2020, I realized that I could make sterling silver stitch markers. I had the silver, I had the need and I had the know how. So I made it happen. Several different designs, all made by hand, one at a time in my studio in Baton Rouge. Turns out these are by far my favorite stitch markers. So clean and easy to use. 2020 was a year of surprises in so many ways.
I hope you found knitting or some other meditative, relaxing activity that makes you breathe easier during this time becuase, you know, it's not over yet. Hang on.
At the very beginning of the pandemic I read (on the MDK blog) the expression, "Bob's Your Uncle". After that, for awhile, I heard or read this expression in several different places and it captured my imagination - now my husband and I (well, mostly I) use the expression often. So colorful! So much fun in a world of so often bad news. Just a moment of lightness - sometimes that's all I need to life my day up a little bit!  Awkward segue: handmade silver stitch markers for knitting!!! Click to see!!
So, we have a new game we are playing at our house - it's called "What were they thinking?". We have a short list (getting longer every day) of folks who have, in our opinion, done things that really didn't make sense if they had thought it through. This is my opinion and my opinion only. So.....here is the list 1. The folks at the Capital on January 6th 2. The "Disney guy" - thought he could bypass the temp check at Disney with no repercussions...seriously? 3. Harry & Meghan....again, they expected NO repercussions?? 4. Sweden during the Pandemic.......  So that's my list so far; it could probably be a LOT longer but I'm being kind of fussy about what goes on it. It's all good fun, right?
Awkward segue: would you like to see some wonderful handmade zippered bags?? CLICK HERE!
 Another Netflix series I discovered, thanks (I think) to the good women of Modern Daily Knitting. This is overall a fun series although it certainly has it's dark moments. Celia is aggravating and sweet, Alan is completely sweet, Gillian is hardworking and grounded with sometimes frustrating behavior (how can she "fall for" some of those guys???), and Caroline is a problem solver struggling with reactions of others to her sexuality.
This series is a roller coaster ride and we watched every episode. That in itself says something doesn't it? Awkward segue (again). Want to take a look at the handmade bags? They are great for knitting projects or anything else you need or want to carry from place to place! CLICK here to see the handmade zippered bags!  A friend recommended this Netflix series and, for the most part, I loved it.
It got a little dicey for me in what I call "the dark times" and, believe me, the dark times were VERY dark. I was very tempted to put it down a couple of times but kept watching really to see the interaction among the three siblings. Jimmy was a loose cannon but so charming, Billie was a pain in the neck but was always there for her sister and Nina was, well, frankly a mess in her personal life but absolutely spot on at work. I finally put it down for good in the last couple of seasons. Too dark, too consistently for me. You know, I like to watch TV for enjoyment - same reason I read books. Real life is often too dark - I need an escape from reality when I read for watch the "telly". Awkward segue: Would you like to look at the jewelry I make? :) CLICK HERE to take a look!  Like a lot of people, I guess, I have done my share of TV watching. Early on in the pandemic, the good folks at MDK (Modern Daily Knitting) recommended Schitt's Creek as good fun. Having had my COMPLETE fill of made for TV Hallmark "movies", I was pretty much ready to try anything. So, for a delightful month or so, my husband and I binge watched Schitt's Creek. The MDK people set me up by saying yes, it's a comedy, but watch for the love. So, basically, I was already primed to love it. Not disappointed. LOVED this show. We have seen all the episodes at least twice...well, ok, maybe three times. David. Patrick. Johnny. Yes, look for the love. ❤❤❤ P.S. Want to see the newest silver earrings?? Sure! Click HERE to shop. Full disclosure, they are currently sold out but I'll make a pair just for you! 👌  I know I mentioned before that we love to travel, especially in the western US, where are sons live. We almost always drive so that we can take our time & enjoy the journey. One of our favorite things to do is stop along the way and look for cool rocks. We live in a place (south Louisiana) with no rocks at all but I grew up in Arkansas, so most all rocks could be described (by me) as "cool". Anyway, we have gotten a little bit pickier with what we pick up & haul back across the country. So, early in the pandemic, I decided to switch out all of the "knobs" in our house with knobs made of the the rocks we have collected over the years! It was a fun project and we love the results. Each knob is a little work of art!! Rocks rock!
In between rock stops, I knit. Want to see the sterling silver stitch markers I make? Click the button below!
 So....technically, it was my husband who learned to make yogurt but I helped (by watching the thermometer....) so, yeah "we" learned to make yogurt. We make a gallon at a time. I made yogurt regularly years ago with one of those little yogurt maker things but this is a whole different ballgame. Why? Because of the digital/remote thermometer!!! No more watching like a hawk for minute temp changes! No more worrying that it's too hot or too cold - this thing actually sounds an alarm when the temp is perfect! How cool is that? So now it's a gallon of yogurt every few weeks - whew, that's a LOT of yogurt!!!
Wanna see the handmade bags, perfect for knitting or whatever you need to carry around?? Makeup, meds, toothbrush, yeah any of that stuff! So cute! Click HERE to see all the bags!!  We have taken lots of "mini" road trips in the past year. We love to travel and, with our sons living several states away, we missed that a lot so we started taking day trips. One of our favorite places to go was Ponchatoula, LA. At just about 45 minutes from our home, it was an easy drive and provided a nice place to walk around and window shop the antique stores. Another favorite was Ann Brown Preserve near St. Fancisville. This place seems like an undiscovered gem, providing a nice easy walk in the woods and the terrain is hilly!!! What a concept.  Awkward seque: want to see some handmade zippered bags that are perfect for knitting or makeup or anything else you need to "tote" around?? >>>>>>>> ClICK HERE!
Continuing the painting journey during early Covid times, I took a couple of online courses in acrylic painting. So much fun!!! No goal in mind, nobody to please but myself; really no chance of anyone even seeing what I was doing was very freeing. I just painted. Just for me. It. was.amazing. I recommend it sometime.
I took a class (in Spanish, with subtitles!) on watercolor painting, with a focus on the cosmos! What a fun thing to do - I learned so much about how to use watercolors, which had always been a pretty scary thing to attempt.
So, here is what I learned - with the proper instruction, all sorts of things can be learned. It's really more about motivation ("want to") that anything else. Interesting concept, that. Motivation is the key! We raised monarch in the spring of 2020!! What a fun thing this was!! I saw some friends raising them on Facebook & decided to jump in. A friend sent me seeds for milkweed (the only thing monarchs will lay eggs on and then that's what the caterpillars eat) and they grew well! Then the monarchs came (and kept coming) and laid their eggs. We ended up protecting them from the birds and then watched them make their chrysalis and then emerge into gorgeous butterflies. The entire process took about 3 weeks - what an amazing transformation!! That's my husband in the middle photo getting a close up look at the chrysalis!
This video shows how intricately the chrysalis is attached to the structure. I pulled this off AFTER the butterfly emerged!
I think maybe a lot of people got interested in new hobbies during the lockdown due to Covid. The first thing I did was continue my love affair with knitting. I was a relatively new knitter last March when the lockdown started but I have done a lot more knitting in the past year. All I knit are socks....I love a small, more or less "bite-sized" project and if it's portable, even better!
 This is the brightest project bag for your spring knitting projects! It's a medium size so, pretty much perfect for everything you have planned. Handle so you can carry it around wherever life takes you!   I have been on a real run of making these little makeup or jewelry bags - they have zippers so things inside are both secure and easy to access. The best thing? That little matching fabric tassel attached to the zipper pull! It can double as a keychain or place to hang all sorts of miscellaneous things that you need easy access to! Click below to take a closer look & shop!
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 Hello!I am Laura Teague, a metal smith, knitter and sewist living and working in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and traveling the western US whenever I can! Categories
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