Cysts, cysts and more cysts!!!

It seems that if I were to name a theme for me for 2009 it would have to be CYSTS! My first one developed after my knee injury in May after I munched the cartiledge and then a cyst grew on the damage in the knee capsule. OUCH! Then I had my annual mammogram and I have an unusual breat cyst that needs a biopsy and to top it all off now I have a cyst on one of my ovaries. None of the medical personnel seem overly concerned so I'm following their lead and will try to have a good Christmas and not worry too much also. My gyno doctor says that all of these cysts are not connected in any way but I wonder if some people are just more prone to developing them?! Anyway...I am keeping myself busy making jewellery and have finished all the Christmas presents I'm going to do for now and so yesterday spent the day with my jewellery tutor and made myself a ring. I'm really pleased with the results, hope you like them too.

Breast lumps and keeping busy.

Have just had my annual mammogram (I have them every year because I'm prone to cysts) and I still have lots of cysts but there's also a lump that looks a bit different. So I have to have a biopsy, which I've also had before so I'm keeping positive and keeping busy. This is one of those times when been a crafty craft maker is a good diversion technique. Here's the latest offerings, again using recycled copper that my brother in law gives me from his spouting jobs.

Latest installment!

YAY, my latest jewellery making installment. Am really pleased with how these turned out and they were much quicker than anything I've done before. Must be getting the hang of this jewellery making mallarky!!! It also helps to make multiple items along the same theme.

Thanks for a fabulous concert.

Last Sunday I had the pleasure of attending a Pearl Jam concert in Christchurch, and they were accompanied by Ben Harper and Liam Finn, with the added unexpected bonus of Neil Finn doing a set with everyone. It was brilliant. Not only is Ben Harper still the sexiest man alive but I have a new found respect for Eddie Vedder. What a lovely man! As my brother said (he went to the Auckland concert), he's the kind of guy you'd love to have round for dinner. He was so concerned about everyone's safety, I just thought he was groovy. It was the best concert I've been to for ages and the rain didn't come until the end which was also good!!!

I love Wednesdays - Part 2

The latest installment from Wednesday jewellery making nightclasses is my Clematis neckart piece. Why is it that I keep picking designs that I think won't be too hard and then they end up taking ages to finish? I go along to class and think, "this week I'll have it finished" and another week goes by and it's still not finished! Someone did say I should crawl before I tried to run (or however the saying goes!) but I guess that's not really my way. It was worth it though, am feeling very pleased with this little effort. On to making some Christmas presents now, and these really are going to be easier...I hope!

Garden Art

My very clever husband made this garden art in the weekend with only a few terrible splinters. They are representative of our little family (Awww cute!) I was making Christmas wreaths for the Mistletoe Market. So a very crafty weekend we both did have.

My new book.

Just received my new book from Damien Rice (you might remember my book buying addiction!) which again arrived really early, nice work guys! It's The Art of Jewelry Design, from Idea to Reality by Elizabeth Olver. It's amazing and I love it!!!! So it's highly recommended but the reason I mention it here on my blog is that there are some pages about keeping a visual journal, which I already do. But there were some really cool ideas such as "A visual journal need not necessarily be in book form" and that got me thinking that maybe my "work bench" is a sort of visual journal. So here's some photos of it. The white board at the back of the bench that everything is pinned to, is a large artists canvas. Things can be removed or moved as I find other bits and pieces. A work in progress if you will. It also sometimes has pictures of shoes and clothes I'd like to own. I know that's a bit consumerist but then I do love clothes and shoes as much as crafts! Oh and other things that inspire me like the Greenpeace sticker and art work from a Damien Rice CD.

BOO HOO!!!

I'm feeling sad today. It is six weeks since I had my knee operation and be perfectly frank it's worse now than before the op! Silly me, I believed the surgeon when he told me I'd be back on the bike in a week. It took five weeks and it's quite painful, even waking me up at night because it aches so much. Thank goodness for jewellery making, I can sit down (mostly) and it makes me happy. So I guess things could be worse but at 41 years old I feel more like 81 and it's too soon!!! Anyway I'll keep biking to school and hopefully in time it will improve. POOP!

You Are a Geek
You love to learn, especially when it's about technology. No subject is too obscure for you.You enjoy tinkering with things to see how they work. You aren't a traditional learner either... you need to hack around to figure things out.You may have the brains to be a super rich Silicon Valley geek, but you're truly content to have your own favorite projects, subjects, and toys.For you, being a geek is not about the glory. It's about a love of digging deep and truly understanding the world.

And I always thought I was a hippie. Just goes to show how well I know myself, although I do agree with all this above. Maybe I'm a geeky-hippie-enigma!

I'm in the paper!!! YAY me!

It's still such a buzz to be in the paper and I didn't even know until someone at work told me about it. It's been the highlight of my week, what with job insecurity for next year and a teenage son who won't study enough for his exams! Any hints in that area, gratefully accepted! But I guess he's doing better than the young man next door who lives with his Aunt. She likes to start every day by yelling really loudly at her poor nephew, with lots of swear words. Don't get me wrong I LOVE to swear too but not at people. The poor lad got a bad report at school and they arrived home with her screaming, doors slamming, their dog barking. It was all on! No wonder he's not doing very well at school if he has to start his day that way all the time. I think his emotional bucket is a bit empty!

Summer holidays in the Marlborough Sounds.

Living in New Zealand and more specifically in Blenheim can be so cool! We're so lucky to have the beautiful Marlborough Sounds as our own little playground. I spent some time there last weekend and this photo brought back great childhood memories of growing up in 'safe little New Zealand' and camping with my family for the summer holidays. This was where kids at camp grounds forged rapid and strong bonds and went biking here, there and everywhere. Partaking in outdoorsy pursuits like fishing off a wharf. Great stuff! Makes you glad to be alive.

Workshops are fab.

As I embark on teaching another round of creative computing night classes (the last round for some time due to the government cutting funding because they don't see them as a necessary part of education, but that's a blog for another time) I am struck by the sense of enjoyment that I get out of teaching adults and that's over and above the fact I get paid to do it. For the most part it is turns into a collaborative session between people who have just met but perhaps much more in common than you realise. Over the last ten years I have taught jewellery making, flax weaving, spreadsheets, beginners computing and creative computing. I feel really happy when the participants get that sense of achievement and confidence in their own creativity and I feel priviledged to be the one who gives them that. It goes to show how individuals can grow and the sense of self-fulfillment when involved in group activities, the sense of community can be really nurturing and positive.

Pink snow

It's beautiful at the moment as the cherry trees have blossomed heavily and now the rain and wind has bumped off the blossoms so they're all lying around like pink snow. It's gorgeous...apart from the rain and wind. When you drive down the street, the blossoms swirl up like a little pink snow storm. It makes me feel glad to be alive. Sometimes it's good to see the beauty that's all around you in one form or another and try not to get too bogged down in the negativity that surrounds us. Because sadly there can be lots of that too sometimes! Look for the smile from a stranger at the supermarket, the kind motorist who lets you in to the traffic when they could have easily kept going, the younger person who offers their seat to the pregnant lady or the elderly man on the bus and the children who appreciate the kindness of a shop keeper and show their appreciation with a polite and genuine "thank you".

The best job in the world

Sometimes I swear I have the best job in the world. I teach a few different subjects at an Exclusive Brethren school (after leaving the local boys' high school due to a horrible bully boss) and today was the year 9 and 10 Commerce class's market day These students are aged between 13 and 15. Today was the culmination of a whole term's work where they learnt about marketing and getting a product planned and up and running. The kids were amazing. Even the roly poly puppy boys really got it together at the last minute. In fact the two rolliest puppies of the lot were waiting for me when I got to school this morning wearing their little red pinnies and they worked and worked all day. Admittedly some of their big sisters did pitch in to help but then that's another great thing about the day. The sense of community. It was splendid. We even had school work on display for the grandparents to look at. I have taught this subject here for two years but this is the first time we had a market day. It was such a success we'll be doing it again! I sure am plum tuckered out now though. But it was worth it. This is one of those "teaching is such a rewarding job" moments!

Dare to dream

Tumble Weed Glass Pendant
Originally uploaded by Jewels By Renee

"What you believe you can be is what you'll become". Nita Leland, The Creative Artist. This may have been stated so many times in slightly different ways but it is really true. The glass in this pendant started its life as a car windscreen, protecting the drivers eyes from the wind and insects! Now it will end its days as a unique adornment that beautifies its wearer. Sadly it can also work in a negative way too so that we sometimes hold ourselves back with the underestimation of our own talents and abilities. So my challenge is dare to dream a better reality for yourselves and with enough 'will power' it might just come true. If you like this recycled (upcycled) piece of wearable art please feel free to stop by my Etsy shop - www.RenJewels.etsy.com

I've just had a lovley lunch with one of my bestest friends from old school days (that was some time ago now!) who has just come back to New Zealand to live after being in Dubai for three years. I didn't know she was back for good, thought it was a fleeting visit, so that made my day! I'm so lucky that most of my friends from school still keep in contact even though some of them are very far away. They are like family to me now and my life is so much richer for them being in it. Attached is a photo of five of us at our combined 40th party (it was dress-ups, we don't normally look like that!). We had a combined one because we had also had a combined 21st so it was kind of like a reunion. Twas a grand affair. Anyway, I digress...I had worn a brooch out to lunch today that I had made at jewellery making classes and I had so many good comments about it I thought I'd blog it (again!), so that's the other photo.

Poochie

Poochie
Originally uploaded by Jewels By Renee

This is Max my Poochie (Max is short for Maximus or Maxwell depending on whether you have a preference for gladiators or undercover agents!). I've discovered I'm really at cat person at heart but he is quite cute inspite of his penchant for digging. Which has been problematic come spring flower season and has seen him disappear under the fence on several occasions. He is rather splendid at shaking hands and when he does something naughty he takes himself to his kennel (see digging). I guess a cat wouldn't bark at the burglers or play with the kids.

Wow, look at this cool competition...

Wow, look at this cool competition...Hope I win! Have a look at http://olivebites.blogspot.com/2009/10/giveaway-bymariannes-stunning-bracelet.html and on my FaceBook page http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/renee.clothier?ref=name
ENJOY!

Nature's influence

"You are not copying nature, but responding to nature in full awareness, to the way nature expresses itself in that object." Frederick Franck, The Zen of Seeing/Drawing. I found this quote in a book that I use for getting my students inspired to create things, so many young people seem to have lost the art of imagination and creativity. I think this is largely due to technology wasting away their creative juices, as in many cases they now seem content to 'watch' rather than to 'do'. At the risk of sounding like an old dinosaur (I am only 41!), when I was a child we didn't have much money but lots more time. Some of my best childhood memories are of my mother teaching me to sew or my grandmother teaching me knit. And these skills are some of things I use now to calm myself and they often bring me much joy. And what is my greatest muse, it's nature in all its awesome glory.

Diamond Bud Ring with Air Plant

Diamond Bud Ring with Air Plant
Originally uploaded by Ginga Squid

This is a most amazing and quirky piece. I love it so much so that I'm adding it to my blog. I'm relatively new to the hurly burly world of blogging but I can see that it can be used in a philanthropic way. So here it is, someone else's awesome creation.

Thanks Mum.

As I said in my last post I had a knee hop-eration on Tuesday and my dear old Mum came to look after me because my dear old husband is busy as a beaver mowing lawns (he's Mr Green). Isn't it amazing that even at 41 I still need my Mum. I think it will always be that way. Noone else can look after you quite the same. Anyway the pictures are of my poor old knee (this one isn't so bad- You should have seen the synovial fluid on the bandage ECK!!! Looked like the kind of stuff that would leak out of your ears and nose if you had a brain trauma) and one of Mum and I about forty years ago. I think she's very pretty. By the way the arrow was drawn on me by the surgeon so he didn't operate on the wrong knee by mistake and the pink stuff apparently killed all the germs. Sadly it doesn't seem to come off and the pink combined with the swelling makes my knee and lower leg look like a saveloy! Hopefully a temporary problem!!!

Awww sweet!!!

The cutest thing happened to day when I was putting the rubbish out. It has been raining and when I was standing by the rubbish bin outside I must have brushed against a bush which then deposited a little green gift on my shoe, which stuck fast with the rain drops. It was with great amusement when I returned inside, that I discovered the bush had given me a leafy love heart. Soppy I know, but I'm having an operation on my knee tomorrow at 7.30am (I've affectionately namde it my hop-eration) and I'm looking for good things wherever I can find them, to take my mind of IT! Actually I don't think it will be too bad as I am having a general anesthetic but the hop-eration will only take about half an hour and my surgeon assures me that I'll be back on the bike in a week. So watch this space.

I love Wednesdays!

Who would have thought Wednesday nights would make me so happy. I am finally doing something I've dreamed about for years and it's like salve for the soul. I am doing jewellery making nightclasses with a retired jeweller and I love it. These are photos of my latest creation. A silver and copper brooch (and I even made the brooch pin from scratch!) Not only am I making jewellery but I get to hang out with one of my dearest friends who is also doing it with me. It's official...Wednesday nights are my favourite time of the week! If you want to visit me to see what other crafty things I've been up to (felting is my other crafty love) call by http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5544405

Sunny Sunflower

Wow, look at this cool sunflower I made with felting. Not my original idea as I used the great new book I just bought off Amazon called Creative Felting by Lizzie Houghton. It's a beautiful book especially for a felting junkie like me! I think I might be an Amazon junkie now too. So many lovely books and this one got to me in little old New Zealand really quickly. Highly recommended, Creative Felting and Amazon.