Sneak Peak

It's Metal Clay Monday!  
This summer while attending the PMC Conference in Kentucky I ran into Lori Phillips from Metal Clay Today, an online digital magazine publication.  She was looking at the necklace I was wearing that day, so I took it off so she could get a better look at it. The one thing I love about the conferences is the networking and seeing all of the mouthwatering eye candy created by the talented creative jewelry artists who attend. So when Lori  said, "you owe me an article", I was flabbergasted and excited!  What an honor to be asked to write a how to article.  Several days later the reality sank in, what was I thinking, I've never written a how to article!
The task before me was new, and full of twists and turns but after several sleepless nights, multiple photos and rewrites I finished the article and put it bed last Friday.  Stay tuned for the publication date, for now, here's a teaser  photo of what the article is all about!

Art Show Season

The 2012 Art Show Season is slowly winding down for me and I only have two more scheduled shows on my agenda.  I am thankful my next two shows are indoor shows especially after doing the Chapel Hill Show last Saturday; I felt like a Popsicle when all was said and done and I'm still trying to get warm!  The sun never came out, it rained in the morning making it damp and with temperatures of 48 degrees it just didn't make it a fun environment for anyone, shoppers included.  

The weather this year was either extremely HOT or really COLD!  Then add to that a mix of rain and wind making it one of the most frustrating show season for both artists and shoppers.  I do hope we payed our dues this year and the 2013 show season will shine upon us and provide great weather so everyone can enjoy the wonderful world of art we all works so hard to create.

I will be at Orchard Hills Country Club on Monday October 15th for the Southwest Michigan Garden Club District Meeting.  Then, be sure to Mark your calendars for December 8th!  My last show of the season!  St Julian Winery in Paw Paw MI along with the Southwest Michigan Artist Association will  host an evening of fun from 5 - 8 pm at their Holiday Taste of Art held in the Apollo Room. 
Come out  and sample St. Julian Wines and some great appetizers while you shop for gifts made by local artists.  I hope you can make it, and I look forward to seeing you there.
Don't forget - December 8th, 2012 from 5 – 8PM
 
It may be the end of my art show season and outdoor shows but never fear you can purchase Magdalena Moon Designs from my Etsy site!  I should have several items posted within the next two weeks and will continue to add new designs throughout the upcoming season.  So, if your looking for something special do check out my shop.  If you don't see what your looking for don't hesitate to send me an email and let me know what you need and I will try to help in any way I can. 

While your at it, make sure you  "like" me on Facebook at my Magdalena Moon page.  I may have some special holiday offers you won't want to pass up.

THE BEST VACATIONS 
ARE THE ONES YOU DON'T PLAN! 

The Carmel art show was over; my body was tired and sore and sporting some new black and blue marks from a weekend of struggles with the wind.  My car was packed and a 3 hour drive was ahead of me when my daughter in Kentucky teased me with the idea of spending a day or two with her.  It was also a 3 hrs. drive to her home in Kentucky, hmm, same distance and I could see my grandkids too.  Why not!  I called my hubby back home and informed him of the change and he thought it was a great idea too.  Now, the 3 hour drive headed south was the only thing between me and great big hugs that night!

I was talking to my granddaughter on the phone telling her how tired I was from the show and that I couldn’t wait to get home and get to bed as I walked into their house.  She was coming down the hallway with the phone in her hand talking away to me when she saw me standing there talking back to her, the look on her face was priceless!!!!  Then she cried and ran full force into me.  Next was my grandson, Noah, who came up for the lower level and the reaction was the same, more hugs.  It doesn’t get any better than that!   

Monday morning rolled around and I was moving slowly to say the least.  My daughter made me breakfast and we planned our day. We did some shopping and I found some great old pieces of jewelry for a new line of jewelry I’m working on.  We had BBQ chicken that night and made our plan of attack for the next day once the kids were off to school. 

Tuesday it was pouring down rain as we headed north to explore the Kentucky Bourbon trail and found ourselves in Bardstown, the Bourbon Capital of the World.  

 Bardstown, KY was named the Most Beautiful Small Town in America by USA Today and it lived up to its reputation.  It is also mentioned in the book “1,000 Places to see before you die”.  Where to start, oh my! Armed with flyers and pamphlets from the tourism center we started to explore. 

We toured Heaven Hill Distilleries and sampled the bourbon; it wasn’t that bad considering I’m a wine drinker.  Our tour guide was terrific and I found it fascinating to learn about the history of Whiskey and Bourbon; it was really worth the trip!  

We were hungry after our tour at Heaven Hill and decided to have lunch at the old historic Kurtz Restaurant located across the road from "My Old Kentucky Home".  The food was great!  We started with butter bean soup, moved on to the homemade corn cakes, and enjoyed the best coleslaw I've ever had. Kelly had the mushroom burger and I had the chopped steak with grilled onions, yum yum!  Then we had coconut pie and bourbon bread pudding for dessert !    We were stuffed when we left!
  

 From there we toured an old cemetery, drove through the Jim Beam distillery and then headed back home to make dinner.  Instead of packing my bags to head home we planned another day trip for the two of us on Wednesday!

 

Wednesday once the kids were out the door and off to school we were off to tour the Abby of Gethsemani.  The Abby was founded in 1848 by Trappist Cistercians and is still home of Trappist Monks today.   The grounds were beautiful, the church was stark and fascinating and at the gift shop we found fruit cakes, fudge and cheese that were made by the monks there at the Abby.  We tried the smoky style cheese.  Not a wise choice unless you like Limburger; guess we should have bought the fruitcake!  

 

  

 

 We were only a few miles from Bardstown so decided to go back and explore some more.

As we came into town we stopped at the Basilica of St. Joseph Cathedral built in 1816; it was the first Catholic cathedral west of the Allegheny Mountains and was much larger than I expected for being built in that era.

 From the Cathedral we headed over to the famous Old Talbott Tavern for a much needed lunch.  This old stone building built in 1779 was once a major stopping spot on the stage coach route. It has had a long list of visitors including presidents, kings and outlaws too.  According to local lore the tavern is haunted and is the site of many ghost appearance including the notorious Jessie James. Again, lunch was great but dessert was better.  Our waiter was so nice and even offered to give us a key to tour through the guest rooms upstairs!

 

The Lincoln Room at the Old Talbott Inn

This room known as "The Lincoln Room",  is  where  Abraham Lincoln and his family stayed when they found themselves in the middle of a nasty land dispute over there property.

The walls were a rich green and the old oak bed was huge, no, we didn't sit on it but I was tempted to. 

There was a sitting room next to the bedroom complete with and old writing desk, fireplace and a modern day TV.

The bathroom was really tiny but it had an old claw foot bathtub that you could soak in for hours.

Oh, if these walls could talk the tails it would tell!

After our tour of the hotel rooms at the Talbott Inn we walked next door to check out the  the Old County Jail built in 1819.  It was used as a jail up till 1987!  

The jail has since been converted into a bed and breakfast and has 6 rooms guest rooms to choose from.  I'm not too sure I'd want to stay in an old damp jail house considering the colorful history it has from what we heard.  Can't imagine how many terrible things must of happened there back in the day.

Kelly and I took turns "hanging around" in the stocks outside the old jail house just to see what it must of felt like. I was sure we were gonna get stuck in them but thankfully that didn't happen!
We concluded this would have been a nasty way to spend ones day.  

The weather was just right today, not to hot, not too cold.  The leaves were changing color and the smell of fall was in the air.  We had had a great day together and head back home to make dinner.

My plans that night were to pack and head back home the next day. Those plans quickly changed as I was told, why don't you stay "one" more day! So I did!!!

Thursday Kelly and I got down to business and spent hours upgrading my website.  We hadn't had time to do this in ages and it was much needed for sure!  Can’t wait till we get the new pictures  of my jewelry added to the gallery!

Another day down and my plans to head home Friday were again, greeted with, why don't you stay till Saturday so you can spend some times with the kids. So I did!!!

Saturday the six of us head out to spend the day in the town of  Glendale.  We'd been told it was a great place to go antiquing and knowing I was looking for old jewelry for my new jewelry line  we shopped the many old antiques shops there and I did find several new pieces to work with.  Lunch at the Whistle Stop was good but not as good as we'd been told but I really did enjoy my roast beef with mashed taters and gravy.

We had a great time and Chris found and old metal air plane from a long ago carnival ride at one of the antique shops.

The day was almost over and on the way back to their house that evening we made a detour to a really nice pumpkin farm.   

We played in the maze, bought pumpkins, gourds and squash and took lots of pictures under the full moon that night.  

We loaded our pumpkins and headed back home and to enjoy ice cream sundaes for dinner!  

It was time for me to head back home (for real this time) so I packed my bags and got a good night’s sleep before I headed home the next day.  Sunday the skies were blue, the trees were starting to show some nice color and the weather was warm; it couldn’t have been a better day for my 6 hour drive home.

 

A couple of days turned into a week-long vacation filled with great memories.  It couldn’t have been better or more fun if I had planned it!  Kelly and I have not had the opportunity to spend one on one time or have a mother-daughter week and we enjoyed each and every moment of our time together! 

 I’m so glad I decided to stop by for a day or two, hehe.  

 So the next time opportunity knocks at your door embrace it and see what comes your way.  Thanks everyone for a fantastic week!!!

CARMEL INTERNATIONAL ART SHOW

I love the the Carmel Indiana Art Festival.  The people are great and love their art.  However, this year the show proved to be a real challenge, to say the least, because of the weather. It could of been worse I'm sure, but it sure played havoc with the artists' as we put up our booths Friday night.

The skies were dark as I unloaded the car and set up the tent.  Within minutes the skies turned black, thunder and lightening and high winds tore thru the main street of Carmel just as I was putting up the last wall of my booth. Crashing and clattering sounds were everywhere and all we could do was to wait it out.  The storm stopped, the booth had weathered the storm.  I guess hanging from the frame like a monkey in the pouring rain and lightning wasn’t the brightest thing to do but I didn’t have much choice since the storm hit so quickly.  

The storm left one tent a few booths down from me mangled and lying like a rag doll in the street.  After checking to see if everyone around me was OK, I quickly finished my tent and found my friend Christie who's booth was down the street a few blocks from mine.  We had weathered the storm and everyone was OK.

I was soaking wet and chilled to the bone when I arrived at the hotel and no doubt I looked like a drowned rat. I had one thing on my mind – HOT TUB!  You would know the hot tub jets were down but that didn’t stop my roommate Christie and me.  We were an unnatural shade of blue when we got into the hot water and stayed till we could feel our limbs once again.  We headed back to our room and stumbled into our beds knowing the weather didn’t look promising for Saturdays show.  

You'd never guess by the picture above that we battled wind gusts over 30 mph all day long Saturday and those tents sure were swaying, but I managed to stay put for the most part.  My new magnetic tables and jewelry displays and stands were put to the test here at Carmel and worked beautifully!  I need to tweak them just a little bit more and they will be perfect.   

You know you have great family when they fly in from Atlanta to visit you or come up from Anderson and not only buy Christmas gifts but bring you lunch too!  Thanks Dawn, Cathy and Desi, it was the highlight of my day to see you all.

The ever present wind gusts wore out the most seasoned of us art show artists and we were so thankful when 6:00 pm rolled around to close up shop.  My arms were a few inches longer and I felt like I’d been stretched on some medieval torture rack after struggling with the wind and the booth all day.  Once Christie and I got our booths secured we were off to Bub’s for burgers.  Even though we were exhausted the long wait was worth it, the burgers were terrific.  

Sunday, the alarm didn’t go off.  Really, after the last two days this isn’t the way we wanted to start our day!  I dashed around the room, got dressed, actually got makeup and hair looking pretty good, packed the car and arrived at my booth in 45 min. flat - amazing what a crazed lady can do in 45 min!  

Sunday the winds had died down and gone their mischievous ways so we could  enjoy our customers and the event.   Thank you to all my old customers, new friends and my family for their support! 

                                I love the Carmel Art Show - well, everything but the wind!