Linda's Magic Workshop - Linda Britt Design

Back in October of last year, I shared this picture of fungi on a tree with my facebook friends.   I thought it was most unusual with all the ruffles.   Sheri Selles Lesser also commented about the scarf and gave me a link for a scarf pattern.   I was intrigued and downloaded it from http://www.redheart.com/free-patterns/curly-swirly-scarf .   Several weeks later I bought some yarn and a hook.   I could not find where my old one was stashed.   Too many years between crocheting projects!    As my life goes, the pattern and the yarn and hook sat in a sack for a few more weeks. This past Wednesday I started to crochet and this is the finished product!   Not bad!   I also had a photo shoot for my jewelry and had the model wear the scarf so you could see it on her.   You should check out her company "Twitterpated"  by Ashley Spicer.  Very talented lady!  http://www.etsy.com/shop/beTwitterpa...

A survey!   Just the thing to help me know if I am going in the right direction! Don’t you just love to take surveys?   This one is not scientific but the information will be helpful to me.   So if you would like to answer the questions and email them to me I would appreciate it.   Just copy the questions, answer them in an email and send them to me at design.britt@gmail.com   Next Friday I’ll share my impromptu local surveys answers along with yours. SURVEY Take a look at the pictures of the crystal pendants. #1 #2 #3  #4  Do you like the idea and the design ?   Do you like the shiny (#3) or the patina finish (1,2,4) ?   Which style do you like best? What kind of chain would they like to see?     Or would you like to use your own? Any other comments are welcome.   *If you want to see the process, check out my previous blog.   http://www.lindabrittdesign.blogspot.com/2012/01/recyling-cry...

 A few years ago, Peter and I went on a 'musical keyboard' tour in England and Scotland. I've been going through my photos and was reminded of this 'AHA' moment.  I wanted to share the story with you.  Walking along Cromwell Street in London on the way to Victoria and Albert Museum , I stopped and took pictures of a side street lined with sunlit townhouses.   The repetition of the building styles combined with the sunlight was quite a sight. Just as I was putting my camera away, a gentleman down on his luck, came up and started talking to me.   My first reaction, I’m sorry to say was, “I don’t have any money to give him.”   Instead I answered his first question, “Where are you from?” and listened to a very interesting piece of history.   “You can always tell that particular architect by the style of his decorative detail. The layout of each house was designed the same.   The first floor was for welcoming guests and entertaining;...

Cutest Prarie Dog Saying Hello! Remember when you had to write an essay about “My Summer Vacation”?   That is what came to mind when I decided to share my recent visit to Tucson’s ‘Sonoran Desert Museum’ www.desertmuseum.org .   Peter and I spent about 4 hours enjoying the landscape and animals and could have spent more time.   This is one place I visited often when I lived in Tucson; one place I miss and one place you should know about! Hundreds of saguaro cacti line the mountains on the way to the museum.   Half the fun is driving on the winding mountain roads outside of Tucson, getting to the crest and looking over the desert floor.   It makes me feel small and full of wonder. This place is a world renowned zoo, a natur al history museum and a botanical garden.   Walking along the many paths, you see interpretive displays.   The plants and animals represent a large area of the southwest- Arizona, California and many states of Mexico.   Ther...

     This week I’ve been reorganizing my computer.   Peter rebuilt it and that meant I had to save everything and put it back when he had finished.   It occurred to me that I have been pretty sloppy about saving and organizing my many (and I do mean many) photographs.   So instead of just dumping them on the ‘new’ computer, I went through them and deleted, organized, deleted, organized and now they are back in folders where I can actually find them.   That also meant there was no time to play in clay or make jewelry!    “It takes less time to do a thing right , than it does to explain why you did it wrong.” – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow  - and then do it again! The exercise reminded me, once again, to do it right the first time.   It saves time, money, eyesight, frustration and makes more room for joy!   So this small bundle of success has inspired me to take more time for the little things - the first time around.   ...

If you’ve been following my blog posts, you know that I love to photograph birds!   When eight Tundra Swans decided to visit the Prescott Lakes, I was ready with my tripod and Nikon camera with the long lens (Tamron 200-500).   I had my binoculars, hiking shoes and Peter (my resident birder)!   Tundra Swans breed in the Arctic tundra and migrating south to warmer weather.   It is really unusual for them to be this far south. We went to Watson Lake and saw four of the swans near the far shore….too far for any picture.   Then we went to Willow Lake and saw none.   The next day we retraced our steps and found four at Watson Lake and four at Willow Lake.   The ones at Willow were near enough for photography.     I carefully walked toward the water close enough to ‘shoot’ but not to disturb them.    Took lots of pictures in different exposures and happily left.   When I got home and looked, I realized the feathers weren’t as defin...

Small Bundle of Success #1 A small case of crystals has taken up space on my shelf for a few years and this December I decided to create jewelry using them.   There were vintage teardrops, Swarovski teardrops, and chandelier prisms - all have some kind of imperfection.   In the case of the teardrops the tops are broken and I just hate to throw them away.   3 Teardrop Crystals with Bead Caps My solution is to make bead caps with bales from silver metal clay and glue the crystals into the caps.   Since silver metal clay shrinks in firing, I knew I needed to make the caps larger.   I molded polymer clay over the top of the teardrop and baked it.   This gave me a firm form where I could build my bead cap of the silver clay.   I started with 3 forms and made 3 different caps with bales.   This was an experiment that worked!   The forms made the caps bigger than the crystals with room to shrink.  Also I found the perfect ...

It’s the New Year!   Instead of listing all kinds of resolutions or none at all, I’ve decided to share my goals for this year….     I will have fun doing whatever I am doing. I will experiment with new techniques and share them. I will exercise my willpower by enjoying and sharing small successes. Recently while listening to NPR, I heard Roy F. Baumeister talk about his new book, “ Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength ”. Recent research suggests that we might look at willpower as a muscle, exercising it and building it by achieving success in small things. Enjoying the small successes will make it easier to tackle bigger challenges and have success with those.   That made a lot of sense to me. In fact, I’ve used that technique in time management. So this year I will see how I can break down the things I want to accomplish into small bundles. I’ll be able to enjoy the success more easily and build up my will power muscle!   And of course pa...