Passport to Asia Copyright 2008 Margot Potter
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This is a necklace I made to wear on our vacation. I love these colors, especially the unexpected use of deep carnelian instead of coral and the burst of zesty spring green Czech glass accents. There are three wire strands that weave in and out of single rows of beads and it's completely freeform and asymmetrical. The pendant is a carved Chinese rabbit tile and I've made a simple beaded bail with tiny carnelian rounds. There's one Bali silver bead accent. I wanted it to look like a traditional Tibeten style necklace with a twist. I'm very happy with how this turned out. This is the kind of jewelry I wear on a daily basis when I'm not dressing like a cartoon character. I used Beadalon .015 satin silver wire, that way I could leave some intentionally exposed and it would integrate with the overall design. It's available for publication so any editors who may be interested feel free to contact me.

I've been in a funk since I got back from our vacation. Firstly...it was too short. Secondly...I wasn't feeling 100% so I feel like I got slightly gypped. Thirdly...I had an email waiting for me when I got home that put a damper on something I've been trying to pull together lately. So here I am and I'm having a little trouble getting my groove back.

It'll come back, it always does. It's hard making it up every day. There are no pre-scripted rules to follow. There are no "how to build a crafty empire" books or DVDs. No one else is going to hand it to me no matter how nice my hair looks that day. It's a daily slog and some days are sloggier than others. Some days everything's coming up roses and some days it feels as if everything's coming up weeds. When I feel like this I think it's because I'm too close to things. I'm stuck in the minutiae and not seeing the big picture. You must sometimes look with the eagle's eye if you want to see things you might miss if you focus like the mouse on one small part of the situation. This is that ‘not being so relentlessly specific' thing I talk about here sometimes. Some people say you need to be exacting in your visualizing, but for me that doesn't work. Often the things that emerge for me professionally happen because I stopped obsessing over them, you know kind of like when people say, "Oh you'll find Mr. Right when you stop looking."

I always hated hearing that when I was single.

It seems counter intuitive, but really it's about allowing for unexpected surprises. Mr. Right may not be who you thought he'd be. Besides, there's a fine line between ambition and desperation. Desperation never breeds success. Virtually all of the best things that have happened in my life have happened because I was willing to let go of my need to control the outcome and I paid attention to the road signs that were telling me things I didn't initially forsee. Often the destination isn't at all what you pictured in your mind.

Do what you love and are also good at doing and do it with passion and conviction, when you do the universe will support you 100%.

I'm telling myself this because I need to hear it. I'm telling you because maybe you need to hear it too. I will find the Zen mind galdangy....I will.

xoxo
Madge