Colors of Fall

Check out Pantone's Fashion color report for Fall 2010! It's a beautiful combination of colors. I'm always drawn to the purple colors, this time was no exception. "Purple Orchid" and "Chocolate Truffle" are both striking colors, as well as "Woodbine" which is a lovely rich green along with "Endive" which I interpret as a pale jade green. These colors were inspiration for new jewelry! Grape colors if you ask me!

When Artbeads.com contacted me again about making something for their Fall Design Partner's Gallery, I came upon this beautiful maple leaf and these beautiful silver lined round twist beads which I thought would be perfect for a grape cluster design. Grape leaves and maple leaves aren't the same, but close enough.

So I started with a sketch. This is a bit unusual for me, but I had some time to think about this idea until the beads came. 

I also made some polymer clay beads, they are the swirly round ones that are a combination of the "Woodbine" "Purple Orchid" and "Endive" color scheme along with some copper.

I added in some copper wire to the design.

Then I worked late into the night in Studio Nine.  And by morning I had this:

I wanted to try to show the back part also, because I like the copper chain, the different textures and the copper wire twisted into a clasp.
$295 email me at CarmenRose at comcast dot net.

A detail of those glass beads from Artbeads.com plus Amethyst, Jade, Faceted light Amethyst Crystals, Vintage Jade beads, Swarovski Pearls and other great beads from my stash.  I really think the "grape" leaf is the star of the show in this piece. 

It's structured on chain so it has lots of wonderful movement.  These are my colors.  I'm going to enjoy wearing this one! 

It's been years since I've done much by way of jewelry design even though I worked in this media professionally for quite a few years.  And much of this year I was emotionally unable to get in the studio and do the work that is closest to my heart.  I've moved my studios recently and it took considerable time to begin to set up another studio in my new home.  I finally have a jewelry design area.  More than that, I have once again felt the stirring of inspiration and I can't tell you how good that feels.  It's been a long dark season but this is a very good sign.  The creative juices are moving once more and I am grateful.

And that night after I created this piece, I just couldn't stop making jewelry.  It feels so good to be back in the flow again.  And I think I'll enter this piece in the Artbeads.com Inspiration Competition when I get a chance!

May your creative juices surprise you with a blessing this week!

-Carmen Rose

FTC disclaimer: I received some of the products shown in this blog from Artbeads.com free of charge, I have not been paid for my endorsement of these products and I am reviewing the products honestly.

Flying and Feasting

After enjoying the Zip Line Canopy Tour, I went back with Mary and her family to their timeshare at the Resort.  I've seen these places and wondered what they were like inside.  They've got an amazing view and lots of wildlife.

I had fun taking photos from the balconies and enjoying the wild life.

The sun was starting to go down.

The sky turned more beautiful than usual.

They are all lined up like soldiers, very orderly.

It was dusk, the sun was setting.

Such a pretty sky.  So we jumped in the car to go up to the top of the ridge.

I grew up in a house with a view of Massanutten Peak, it was the landmark of my youth.  Whenever I got lost, all I had to do was look to the Peak and then I would know exactly where I was.  Now I'm looking out at my "home land" from the very mountain that I looked to.

The sun had set, we were hungry, it was time to make some dinner.

We played with the groundhog, who didn't mind eating right from our hands.

Fat ol fella.  That peanut butter cracker seemed to slow him up a bit.

Later on the night shift came out to gather up whatever the groundhog had left behind.

Jody did steaks on the grill.

I fried up some green tomatoes until they were nice and crispy.

Now THAT'S a feast!  I don't think I've ever eaten such a big steak!  And there were hot fresh biscuits also.  And yes, I ate it all.  And it was good!

A lovely time around the table with friends from a distant time in my life.  It was so fun to enjoy their time together, it was a place of warmth and lots of laughter and stories of practical jokes.  I nearly laughed myself off my chair with the tale of the imaginary bear.  Mercy, it was good!

Some moments in life are so sweet, often made more so when in contrast to the darker things.  This was one of those and I'm so grateful.  I have the best friends in the whole wide world!

Flying and Feasting to you,
-Carmen Rose

Time of my LIFE!

I have never been on a zip line though I've seen photos of a number of my friends who did the zip line canopy tour in Costa Rica.  And I really want to do that some day.  So when a friend of mine mentioned she'd be in the area and they were going on a zip line canopy tour, and invited me... I GOT EXCITED!

I couldn't decide which gadget to take.  The phone that takes fuzzy photos if I'm jittery (and I was sure I WOULD BE jittery) or the old unreliable camera that I wouldn't mind loosing. 

My hostess, one of my very best friends in college.  I haven't seen her in approximately 17 or 18 years. 

We started the course with a little training session and some fun little obstacle course type things. 

Jody was getting ready to fly, that's me behind the guide in yellow.

Two of the best guides ever, these two were amazing.  We were laughing the whole time!

Me on top of the world.  I was terrified but they didn't give us time to stop and think about anything, just move, move, move.  And it was SO exhilarating! 

This just goes to show that there was never a serious moment, the whole time.  He was a RIOT!

That's me showing good form.  I'm not spinning, which means I'm doing a good job steering.  That hand in the air is ready to brake if I started coming into one of the bases too quickly.  And I won't tell you how  many times I was yelled at for doing it wrong but it didn't matter.  Your body has instincts that aren't consistant with good flying form.  So... I did learn how to do it and I was pretty pleased with myself!

That's me flying.  I can't begin to describe what a rush that is!

They called this one "The Step of Faith."  I figured that each time I'd stepped into thin air up there in the sky I was making a step of faith.  I was up there on that platform in the sky, and I stepped off that platform like it was the most natural thing in the world.  Did the falling and the landing quite nicely.  Actually, they thought it would be fun to dangle me while the guy at the bottom spun me.  I was laughing so hard I could barely yell "Hey, don't mess with the white girl!"

View from the top.  When I look at this photo I can almost feel that platform swaying under my feet and the wind in my hair and that exhilaration feeling I had up there.  I still can't believe I did it, I was certainly scared.  But it was SO MUCH FUN!

One of these days I'm going to do that canopy tour in Costa Rica!

If you ever get the chance to take a zip line tour, do it!

Living full tilt and loving very moment,

-Carmen Rose

The Ninja Award

The Ninja Award is a simple one. I don't have to do much figuring. The Ninja Award simply goes to the JV player who racked up the most wins during the season. Regardless of position, this just comes down to who was our biggest winner.

The JV have been "ninjas" for the past couple of seasons. Part of this is just giving us something cool to call the drills that we have to work on to become better players, lending a little excitement to practice. But part of this is because of the way that I hope all players in the Bethany program identify their tennis games - "aggressive and attacking." Many of the drills teach players how to consistently make aggressive plays that lead to winning matches.

So amongst our ninjas this year, Wade Troyer had the most wins - 11 to be exact. Interestingly, he got the first half of those wins playing doubles positions, before moving to #3 singles JV for the second half of the season. But he succeeded there as well.

So congrats to the "Tower of Power" on a double award week. Speaking of week, in honor of Kyle Miller week, it should be noted that Kyle is a great personification of the Ninja qualities. He is attacking as he plays doubles, willing to put it out there and force the action. That's why Kyle consistently rules games like Doubles Passing, Action Paction and Overhead Jail.

Yep, Kyle Miller is ninja-tastic.

Oh, and if you want a Michael's ninjas shirt, click here.

The Amann Award

The Amann Award honors the player who has come the farthest after being a beginning player their freshman year. This award is given in honor of Kyle Amann, a player from years ago who played his freshman year without any success. During the summer he worked very hard and made significant improvements and I was projecting him to eventually be a varsity player. Unfortunately, he moved. He would have been part of the 2007 graduating class with Weston Troyer.

But like him, we have two players who deserve this award this year. So I'm giving it to them both. Evan Grimes, who's mother literally called me the day before practice was going to begin, put together a 7-4 record on the varsity this season. That's a far call from the 8-15 record that he put up in his first two JV seasons, as he slowly learned the game. This year, he made a huge leap forward by actually taking lessons and committing himself to the game. What I'm excited about is that if he commits himself again this offseason, he may make the complete change from awkward beginner to dominant senior. We've never really seen that before, the closest being Jonny Shenk.

On the JV, Joel Gerig began this season as a beginner, more or less. A couple of middle school matches, a couple of open courts, but no real training. At the beginning of the season, it looked like he might be a train wreck, as he was winning very few of his challenge matches and hitting the ball all over the place.

Slowly but slowly he got better, then he started winning matches. As the JV season went on, Joel piled up matches to the tune of a 9-7 record. Watching him hit at the end of the season, Ben Mast remarked that Joel had probably improved more than anyone else on the team throughout the course of the season. Agreed. So Joel Gerig gets the Amann Award.
As for Kyle Miller, he was deeply involved in encouraging Evan's transformation throughout the last year. He was pushing for Evan to become his doubles partner much of the offseason, which happened twice but they couldn't pull out the wins. Kyle was instrumental in getting Evan to believe, and the "mentality always precedes the reality."

The Triple Wildebeast Award

No award has more prestige than this award I'm sure. The nicknames that have been bestowed on our team throughout the years have slowly gotten better, year by year. In the early years, you had Joel King becoming "Kinger," or Jordan Kauffman becoming "JK," or me being deemed "Mills." I mean, they are nicknames, but they aren't great.

Then there came an explosion of creative. Daniel Buschert was called "Angel" based on his Jesus-like hair. Jonny Shenk was "Kashmar," which was Russian for nightmare. Luke Hostetter became "Luke Hostennis" based on his love of the game.

But we didn't end there. Last year, the ultimate for nicknames saw us endear Misha Rebec with "I Will Kill You Later." Then, Austin and Nick Rebec received a nickname from an opponent, when the Mishawaka player they faced called them "Testosterone Filled Monsters." And of course, this award's namesake, good old Jake Gerig who will forever be the "Triple Wildebeast."

And the nicknames came back this year, and all of the old traditions. Justin Zehr got the easy way out and was called "JZ." That was made even more comical considering the rapper who goes by the same name, although spelled differently, and our JZ's complete lack of "rapper-ness." Joel Gerig, little brother of the Wildebeast was deemed "Double Wildebeast," one step down from big bro. Abe Thorne got the ninja nickname "Aby Baby." Ryan Minter, for no apparent reason, was known as "The Blitz." And perhaps the coolest Star Wars take-off of all was "Parth Sidious."

But in the end, only one nickname really fit. We all know who it is going to be, unless we forgot that it was a nickname because we called him by this so much.

Indeed, Wade Troyer was the "Tower of Power."
Funny enough, despite Kyle Miller's prominent role on the team for four years, I don't remember one single nickname he ever got. It seems like he deserves one, considering the ridiculous things that he has done and said. Hmm...

Anyways, I know I'm behind on the awards. For some reason I have teaching work to do now that tennis is over... I'll try to post up two awards tomorrow. They will be the Amann Award and the Ninja Award.

Keep rockin' Kyle Miller Week.

Adventure of Mine, Part 2

We visited a mine in Amelia County, Virginia.  The coridors had an otherworldly quality to them.

Combination of Amazonite and some other rocks.

I was amazed at the variety of things to see in the walls.

A variety of colors and textures.

Even a tiny little bat.

This is looking out from inside.

This was one of the smaller places we crawled through.  There is a change of ladders from the metal to wooden right there and it's tight, especially with all that stuff on your hips.

Don't go until the last guy is off the ladder, otherwise you'll be sifting down sand and rock on the guy under you.

Shatner was patient with us.  My turn is coming!

Looking down into the mine from one of the upper levels.

Squeeze!  Going down was easier than coming out, on the trip back up my pockets were full of rocks!

And then the final ladder out into the sunshine again.   Oh, that was fun!

William Shatner, our guide (otherwise known as Mark) was the last one out. 

Then we went back to collecting rocks outside for a while.

I found some fun things... maybe I'll share photos of the rocks when I get them all cleaned off.

What an amazing adventure, I loved it SO MUCH!  If you get the chance to visit a mine near you, DO IT!
Create an Adventure today!

Grace,

-Carmen Rose
PS, thanks to Wolfie (Stuart Mercer) for many of these great photos - you ROCK man!