HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

1-11-2014   Wishing all of you a wonderful and blessed New Year!!  Our time seems to not be our own anymore.  We have been very busy the last several weeks coming back home  for a brief time and trying to get  chores  done.  Our New year has  been blessed with the news life partners cancer is still in remission! Thank-you again to the docs at MD Anderson.  We have also made the  decision to sell our home and become mobile.  We have talked  for years  about going back to the RV life style and since we seem to not be in our actual  brick and mortar home much we thought now was the time.  So  here we go sorting thru a lifetime of memories and "stuff". It is definitely bittersweet but yet exciting to start  another chapter of our lives.  No  worries though we made sure our new fifth wheel has room for us to continue in our creating of jewelry for M&D design.

Sine we have not had much time to create I thought I would share some pictures of happy clients who are  showing off their new unique pieces from our collections.  It is wonderful to see people enjoy our creations.  Remember to continually checkout the Etsy shop for new listings.  Again may this year be a year filled with wonder and love.

Wishes for a Blessed Christmas

 

12-24-2013
To all we send  wishes of prosperity, love and celebration this holiday season.  This year we  are  without our families in person but  of course  with them in spirit.    As we  wind  down this year  we  wish to thank everyone who has  supported us on starting M&D Design.  It has  truly been a labor  of love.   We have added a few more pieces  to the Etsy  shop  so swing in and  take a look.  I will be adding more pieces this week.   I have been experimenting more and more with wire work and  just finished  reworking a necklace and earring set in tiger eye.  It turned out great but it has been sold.  I hope to add another set to the shop soon.  Working with wire is a  fun new  direction  for me and I am  full of ideas for the future.  Once I get the hang of it better  I will try to  share some tutorials.  For now enjoy the pics  and enjoy the holiday  cheer!  Until next time.

Christmas Time

12-14-2013
Well Christmas time is almost  here.  We have been very  busy  creating beautiful pieces for giving.  Stop by our Etsy store and see all the new pieces that would be perfect for Christmas  giving.  We hope this is a peaceful time for all and a time of family.   The weather here as in the rest of the US  has been chaotic.  We have had snow, ice, single digit weather and beautiful 50  degree days.  Last  weekend was a single digit weather day and of course that is the day I decided we needed to take food and treats out to a local no kill animal shelter.  It was so cold  but we managed to visit every dog and give them a special treat or two.  It is heart breaking to see so many loving animals without homes but we are so grateful for shelters such as this.  Please if you are considering adopting choose a rescue pet and if you are not looking for a new companion please if you can support your local shelters.

We are so excited that our business cards  are  finally done.   We are pleased with how they  turned out.  Not sure  if we will leave the colors the way they are but love the design.






I have been exploring more wire techniques and having lots of fun at it.  Below is a pair  of  earrings I just finished  that would be perfect for holiday parties.  Mitch has continued creating amazing steam punk pieces that again would make a perfect one of a kind gift.  Check  them out  below and at the shop.  Stay warm  and remember to tell those you love that you love them every  day.

Thanksgiving and Christmas Creating

12-1-2013
Happy December!  I hope your Thanksgiving was blessed and full of reasons to give  thanks.  We are especially grateful  this season for my husbands remission from very aggressive lymphoma. We pray for continued remission and are grateful to all our friends and love ones who have uplifted us and supported us during this stressful time.  Hubby and I started a tradition when we were dating that if  we were in orphan mode ( too far away from family to  have Thanksgiving with them) then we found a community organization to  volunteer to help them with  Thanksgiving  lunch.  This year it was the Salvation Army in Lubbock.  It warmed our hearts to see so many volunteers. Often there has been a paucity of help in other places.  This organization does so much to help those in need.  My plug for them is this is their greatest fund raising time so when you see a red kettle drop in some coins and be grateful you can help.
We got to get out yesterday and even though overcast was a beautiful fall day in Lubbock.  I have enclosed some pics of a local park we took the "bosses" to.  Still haven't  figured out the waterfowl here as we are a loooong way from the ocean yet   we have seen Ibis, sea gulls, and a pelican!  They are either very confused or I am!
We have been busy creating for Christmas.  We are still trying to get the Etsy shop moving so please check it out and tell your  friends about us.  This week was a lot of pendants and a few earrings. Life partner is back on track with  his antique watch re-purposing.  I think he has some pretty good ones and he is using a lot of the rubies that are in the old 17 jewel watches.  Makes for a particular good combo for Christmas time. Remember any feedback is appreciated. 

Snowstorms, Craft Fairs and Food Poisoning

11-24-2013 Happy Sunday!  This has been a very interesting couple of days out here in the nether lands of Texas.  Friday  hubby and I both came down with bad case of food poisoning (UGGG!!) but luckily was only 24 hours of misery.  During that time winter storm Boreas hit this part of Texas and we went down and found our car encased in ice.  After getting all the ice off the windows we  headed to a large annual craft fair they have here in Lubbock.  I was very excited as it had been quite a while since I had indulged my not so secret passion of going to craft fairs.  Alas I was  very disappointed.  There were in all fairness some beautiful textiles and some great sauces and dips but not much else that I would consider crafty.  I think we would have done very well if we had been able to  get a booth ( however we were  too late to get a booth and they were ridiculously expensive!) We  finished our day  with some chores and settled in for a night of creating jewelry.  We managed to get  several  new  pieces done that we think would make wonderful Christmas  gifts as  3 are set with rubies.  I have pictures below and they are in the Etsy shop.
This morning we woke up to sight seldom seen in Texas- snow!  It makes for a beautiful sight but I dread the thought of driving in it to work tomorrow as there is a layer of ice under all the pretty white stuff. Being a physician I know the consequences of ice on roads and drivers who don't know how to drive on it.  Hopefully people  will slow down and take extra time getting to where they are going.  For now though it is nice to sit back with a cup of apple cider and enjoy natures  show.   Stay warm  and safe.

Hitting the Jackpot at Garage Sales

11-17-2013
Good morning!  Yesterday we hit the garage sales here in Lubbock and had a successful day  finding components for our jewelry.  Our first stop was a large church sale  where we were able to pick up some beautiful hand painted porcelain Texas shaped buttons and pewter cowboy hats. ( we also of course managed to find the "boys" some new toys as they seem to go thru them rather quickly). Next stop was an old trading post that was closing down and we felt like we won the lotto.  We were able to get 10 old watches to use in our steam punk jewelry and we were able to bargain for a great price.  We then hit a few others with various results.  Of course the grand babies always win and we were able to pick up some great  books.  After we got home we had some fun creating some great earrings from our "finds".  Mitch has been busy taking apart the watches and he found some great surprises with one watch actually still in working condition.  The day was beautiful but windy  reminding me of Fall days in Oklahoma.  We made a stop at one of the local parks to let the dogs run and to our surprise there was a beautiful brown pelican  in the pond along with  the Canadian geese and ducks.  That is not a sight you expect to see in Lubbock! Here's a few pics for you to enjoy.  Keep in mind the holidays are just around the corner so be sure and stop in our Etsy shop to see all our designs!

New Listings and RV shopping

11-9-2013
Today was a beautiful Fall day in Texas.  We started the day with  coffee and Face Time with the littlest Granddaughter, Kaiah, then we decided to go look at fifth wheels.  We have thought for a long time about down sizing and with my travel it is is getting to not make much sense to own a house. This is still a decision a ways away but it is fun to look.We should get settled in the extended stay apartment where we will be for the next couple of months and be able to get our jewelry equipment out and start creating again soon.  I have just listed  2 more pairs of earrings in our Etsy shop so be sure and check them out and let me know what you think.  We always appreciate feedback.

On a more philosophical note my husband lost his best friend of 50 years this past week.  It was not  unexpected but still sad.  With my partners own struggle with mortality this summer in his fight with cancer this was an extra hard loss.  It reminds each of us that  each moment is precious and not to be wasted.  So please tell those you love you love them and take time to stop and smell the roses.