Melissa Loves

Closer to home

Hello friends! 

                Sorry to have been gone so long....the storm that hit Jersey really knocked us for a loop & we are just getting back to some semblence of normal. We were extremely lucky in the storm. Yes, we lost power & heat for a tiny bit over a week but, when I hear some of the stories about what other folks went through, I feel incredibly grateful. It does mess with your head though. Suddenly not having certain things that you take for granted. As much as I love my home, and I really do....the soul of our home seemed to be gone. Strange to say, because I think we are the soul of our home but, with no light or heat suddenly we didn't want to be there. It struck me as sad. We were so lucky to have Joel's brother in law just down the road, who had power. They kindly hosted us every night for dinner, and let us recharge our electronics. We got warm and the kids had fun and then we would head home for bed. We didn't want to leave our dogs in the cold house at night, for too long. Although, they didn't seem cold really, just stressed. It was weird, Joel and I noticed they wanted to eat much more than they normally do. Maybe because they were using up a lot of energy staying warm? However, they are back to normal now. I thought I would share a few photos of the past week or so with you. Because that is what we have been up to. I hope, whether you were in the storm or you weren't, that you are doing well. 

~ The first casualty of the storm in our little area but, so many trees fell around the neighborhood and did much more damage than this one did. 

~ Some bright spots in all of the gloom, watching movies with my girls, all snuggled under lots of covers in one big bed! ( we were lucky to have the electronics to play a movie) 

~ Eventually, we pushed the couch up to within inches of the fireplace and all sat there for as long as we could stand it. Another bright spot was reading there & looking down the line to see our two girls reading their books too. 

~ Normally that chair is by the fire & the couch is in that blank space but, Luna was unperturbed & trying to catch a little warmth & sunlight. :) 

~ Another bright spot, my copy of  Holly's book arriving and devouring it in front of the fire. It was a little portable bit of hope. 

~ And yet another ray of sunshine, our president winning & Joel's drawing of it for our eldest gal's lunch that day. YAY! 

~ Light, light, light! What a welcome sight. And a new little lamp for our guest room/study. It is coming along....

~ I think Maddie sums up how we all feel right about now....happy, grateful & content. (Didn't Joel get an amazing capture of her? Especially as she is very camera shy) 

Here is my hope, that all those who truly are suffering from the storm, have power, heat, peace and help very, very soon. 

I will see you back here on monday, my friends! Until then, be well. 

xo

Melis

Closer to home

Hello lovelies, 

                I am glad it's the weekend. Nervous about this storm they are talking about, that is supposed to hit Jersey sunday evening. They are calling it "Frankenstorm".....ugh. Supposed to last for 5 or 6 days...ugh. I guess we will batten down the hatches, hope everyone in Jersey has shelter. We will be laying low this weekend, maybe some visits with family, a sleepover or 2 and yummy food. How about you? Any fun plans? I thought I'd share just a few snaps from around the house and progress on my 3rd project from class. Snippets of what is going on with me these days! 

~ There are specified projects you get to work on in class; a set of stacking rings ( which teaches you soldering, bezel making, band/shaft making & twisting wire, stone setting, polishing, etc), learning how to make chain & then for the 3rd project, I wanted to make another ring & learn the process of granulation ( which are the tiny balls you see around the bezel, above) It all requires a lot of patience, effort and skill. I can't say I have aces in any of those departments but, I am learning. The band above, required shaping the piece of metal ( silver) on a ring mandrel, with a padded hammer & an anvil. Then many, many other steps ( sizing, soldering, sanding....trial & error) Eventually the bezel and stone will be soldered onto the shank/band and set but, that will be next week. I love the pink sapphire I picked for the stone and love how it is turning out. Did I mention I love this whole process? Oh! I did?! :) 

~ My study is in progress....photos up, a lamp I love from Home Goods,a really pretty little laquered box from Target ( part of the new Nate Berkus line) & my lovely paperweight from my friend Susy's line. 

~ It was funny, before we moved our rooms around, that I loved the 3rd floor bathroom sink so much but, never used it. Only cleaning it for guests and gazing at it admiringly. I can be very black & white sometimes. To an irritating degree. "It isn't my sink, it is the guest sink. So, I am not using it! Even though I really want to!" Weird. Now....it really does feel like it is mine. 

I hope, whatever you are doing this weekend, it makes you happy and well rested. I will see you back here on monday assuming all heck hasn't broken loose ( with the storm). 

Until then, be well. 

xo

Melis

Closer to home

Hello darlings!

                 The weekend,Yay! Have you had a good week? Any fun plans for the weekend? We have playdates, sleepovers and relaxing in store. I have been having fun moving stuff around, reorganizing the new spaces and getting rid of more things. I have had to get creative & re-purpose many things. One, I really loved so, I thought I'd share it with you today. 

I haven't totally figured out what I want to put on top of this newly painted dresser but, I do love the light there and the frame, which is now a mirror! I got this awesome, large puffy frame from the great gals at SCAD, here ( by working class studios). I have had different things inside it but, when I was thinking I needed a mirror above this dresser ( in my new office/guest room) I thought "Hey, what if I could get a simple unframed mirror and stick that in there?" Done. Found one for less than $10.00 and I love how it turned out. There are still lots of things I would like to get for this room but, they will have to wait. Not bad so far, though! Makes me happy. 

I hope, whatever you have planned this weekend, leaves you happy and relaxed. I will see you back here on monday. Until then, be well.

xo

Melis

Closer to home

Hello, hello, 

            I have said, that I am not that different from when I was 9. I loved dogs, jewelry, climbing trees, the ocean & a really good book. I am exactly the same, in those respects.  I can remember obsessing about jewelry even back then. Whenever we went into an antique store I would go straight to the jewelry cabinets. My dad had a little rotating display case, in his pharmacy, filled with earrings & I would stand there, endlessly, daydreaming about which pair would best suit me. My favorite present, on my birthday or for Christmas was always the ring my mom slipped into my stocking or the bracelet my cousin gave me. So, a couple of years ago when I began designing jewelry for my idea of a shop, I felt it was a natural progression. But, now, this jewelry class I am taking is what I really wanted all along. It is exactly what I wanted, and I didn't even know it. 

* learning to make silver links for a chain *

I love everything about it. The readying the kiln, all the different tools ( which there seems to be a different one for every single task), the very particular, labor-intensive & focused work. 

* the kiln, torch & soldering block* 

Learning how pieces are made, from scratch, has given me a whole new appreciation of handmade. The time & intricacy involved. The patience it takes to make even the smallest thing & how you can work for 3 hours and at the end, you have made a bezel or a band. 

* 2 silver bands that will eventually have bezels soldered on and stones set* 

For example; making the two bands, above ( and one not shown) took me three hours. If I was an expert or more experienced, I am sure it would have taken me half the time. But, I thought I would share a little bit of the process because I think it is so cool & maybe you will too! :) 

1. You start with silver wire which you take over to the vise and clamp in to be straightened. Once you have it straight, you make a loop at the end to hook it onto a tool that looks like a funny egg beater. That is the twisting tool and you extend away from the machine to begin rotating the handle, twisting the wire into a taut twist like you see above. But, you have to do that one or two more times to make it even tighter and harder. 

2. You begin the process of bending it into a circular shape, starting it with your pliers and then using a ring sizing mandrel to find the size you want. You mark the metal with a sharpie, where you want to make your cut, cut it and then file down the ends. 

3. Then the hardest part, for me, begins. You have to align the end pieces perfectly, so no light shines through & they have to lay flat when you put them on the soldering block. This requires a lot of working the metal ends back and forth to create tension, then adjusting again & again til you are happy with the alignment and flatness. All of this is to assure that the solder adheres correctly to fill in the seam where you cut. 

4. You then lay a piece of solder on your soldering block ( cut from a larger piece of solder) and lay the seam of the ring right on it. You have to make sure the seam is touching the solder evenly. Then you put a drop of liquid flux on the seam and fire up your torch. 

5. You heat the ring all the way around and then gently go at the seam & solder. You have to watch very carefully ( magnifying reading glasses help with all of this immensely) so you don't overheat the metal and watch for the solder to fill in the seam. 

6. If it is done correctly, you can then put the ring in "the pickle" ( a mild acid solution that cleans the ring) and get ready to move on to making the rest of the ring. I had to redo two of the rings, which involved cutting the seam with a jewelers saw & beginning the filing & soldering process again. 

Still with me? :) I love every single thing about it. Which makes me incredibly happy. It is also teaching me patience. I don't think that is my strong suit but, I am trying to let the work teach me to be more so. 

It's funny how you can take to something so quickly. Feeling like it comes naturally to you, as if it had been there all along, waiting for you to take notice. 

This is what is occupying a lot of my thoughts these days. Trying to retain all of the new information coming at me & daydreaming about what it holds in store for me, as I learn this craft. 

Thank you for letting me share this with you & I hope you have a wonderful weekend, my friends.

I will see you back here on monday. Until then, be well. 

xo

Melis

 

Closer to home

Hello my dears,

                       What are your plans for the weekend? Anything fun or exciting you want to share? We will be pretty low-key around here this weekend. Taking it easy and resting. I thought I'd share this quote with you, today. It is a beautiful reminder, that we are all in this together. 

~ H. Jackson Brown Jr.

I hope, whatever you do, you have a great one. I will see you back here on monday, until then...be well. 

xo

Melis

Closer to home

Hello, hello! 

                  Ah....friday. We will be helping my little nephew celebrate his 2nd birthday this weekend and going out with a friend. Looking forward to not having the rush of school for 2 days. Last week, I got it into my head that I wanted to re-paint my kitchen floor. Ideally, someday I would love to just replace it( or uncover the old wood flooring that must be lurking beneath the ancient linoleum). But, until that day comes, I have painted it white, then grey with white stenciled doilies and now.....a bright yellow. Please remind me, next time I say I want to paint my kitchen floor, to NOT paint my kitchen floor! :) It ends up being worth it, in the end but, boy is it a pain. Once I had finished the initial 4 coats (ugh), I realized it needed something else. I wasn't sure what that was...

~ It's a bright, cheerful yellow. But, all that blank space...I wasn't feeling it. Ya know? So...I thought about it for a little while. 

~ That's better....a scatter of blooms makes me happier. For the record: I copied this design, free-hand,  from this beautiful decal.  First in pencil & then went over it with white paint. I scattered them all about the floor, in varying sizes. Can you say, cray-zay? :) 

How about you, my friends? Any little projects around the house that have been keeping you busy? Next up: painting dressers. :) 

I hope you have a wonderful weekend...any fun plans? I will see you back here tomorrow, until then be well. 

xo

Melis

Closer to home

Hello my friends! 

                      Happy friday! Any fun plans for your weekend? My hubby has been gone for work this past week and boy, we have missed him! When I find myself with time on my hands I start rearranging and reorganizing. Do you do that too? One of the things I did, was rearrange my desk, open up the glass doors and put some of my favorite things on display. I have been futzing with it all week, off and on. So, I thought I would share the latest incarnation with you, just for kicks. :) 

~ The two prints on the bottom right are from here & here 

Maddie says: " Don't look at the bows! Just have a great weekend!" :) ( she is a tad embarrassed by them) 

I will see you back here on the 23rd ( taking a little vacay) but, just before you go.....

~ love these

~ covet covet covet

~ so beautiful 

xo

Melis

Closer to home ( & a little bonus)

Hello my sweets, 

                       Sorry for the sporadic posting this week, summer schedules make for wonky posting. :) I thought I would still share my "Little things" post with you, even though it is friday. And an extra special posting about my friend Kimberly's mom, who is raising funds for an amazing project (below). First, here are some little things that are making me happy today.

Little things: 

~ ooh la la...that bracelet is a dose of badass sunshine for your wrist, no? here 

~ loving this twist on the traditional boat shoe here 

~ and talk about sunshine?! love this suit top here 

Little moments: 

~ watching my girls have such a good time these past couple of days, up at the lake with old friends

~ swimming in the lake 

~ coming back home 

Barb's Home of Angels Orphanage

    Now, onto the really inspiring part of this post. Kimberly is my sweet friend, who is incredibly inspiring with the beautiful life she creates on her farm, here. Turns out her mom is incredibly inspiring too & began trying to raise money to build an orphanage,for children suffering from HIV/AIDS, in Uganda. She began by making banana bread and selling it, using the proceeds towards her dream of building this safe haven for these kids. And now, she has raised enough to have it almost completed. See?

Amazing. Truly, so many amazing and kind people who are making this dream a reality. Doing things for free and working so incredibly hard. They just have a bit of the security wall, around the orphange, left to build and are asking for a little help. Here is the Indiegogo fundraising site, begun by a friend of Barb's and here is Barb's blog, telling you a bit more about the project. I, for one, will be running over there and donating as fast as my fingers can carry me! :) Kimberly puts it very well, here, on her blog. A donation could be the equivalent of the cost of a coffee at Starbucks. But, even if you can't swing that, they are just asking for a little help getting the word out so, they can get this wall finished. Once they do that, the kids can move in! Hurrah! So, won't you help us spread the word, my friends? Thanks. :) 

Barb's blog here ( images from Barb's blog & "one brick at a time"  type by Barb. )

Fundraising site here 

Kimberly's blog post here 

 

Have a wonderful weekend, darlings! I will see you back here on monday. Until then, be well! 

xo

Melis

Closer to home: Bob Page & Replacements, Ltd.

Hello my friends, 

                   Today is a post that is very dear to my heart. A few months back, my brother in law brought to my attention an article about Bob Page, the owner of Replacements,Ltd. The company has been on my radar forever, as my mom has always trusted them for china, silver and crystal replacement pieces. Recently, Bob was in the news for standing up for gay rights & gay marriage by opposing  Amendment One. Bob has owned & operated Replacements,Ltd. since 1981, he lives in North Carolina ( the company's home base) with his partner, Dale & their two sons. 

( Bob & one of the china patterns they carry, which is also my wedding china :) 

The reason I wanted to talk about Bob and his company is because when he stood up for what he believed in, he started to receive negative mail. Some people even threatening to no longer give Replacements,Ltd. their business. It broke my heart so, I reached out to Bob and told him that I thought what he was doing was brave and that he had my unconditional support. He wrote me back personally, thanking me and letting me know that despite the negative emails, he also received a huge amount of supportive ones, over 90% were positive ( that restores your faith a bit, doesn't it?). Even one from a customer, a gay man of 45, who came out to his family, inspired by Bob and his taking a stand. I had a lovely chat with some of the awesome ladies who work for him and it sounds like an amazing company to work for. Bob even created a company policy that allows employees to bring their pets to work, every day, how cool is that?. When I approached the folks at Replacements,Ltd. I said I would love to post about Bob and his story, and host an ad on my site, free of charge, in a show of support. Tiny little things but, I wanted him to know that I believed in him and wanted to help in any small way I could. 

( Bob,Dale & their sons; Ryan & Owen & Bob giving some of the "employees" a treat.) 

It is no small thing to stand up for what you believe in, especially when it isn't the popular opinion or the easy decision. And sometimes it makes all the difference in the world to have even just one person let you know that they are behind you, they admire you and support you one hundred percent. Right? 

Bob & company, thank you for inspiring me and for standing up. Proof that, most of the time, just one person can make a very big difference. 

Have a wonderful weekend, my friends! I will see you back here on monday. Until then, be well. 

xo

Melis

Closer to home

Hello sweet ones, 

                       Summer is in full swing now & we have spent the better part of our last couple of days, poolside. The pool in our town is super nice. The fish market in town runs the food stand, there is a baby pool, medium pool, big pool and a diving pool! For this summer they put in two slides and there are Adirondack chairs about for folks to lounge in. It could use a bit more shade but, other than that it is pretty near perfect. We feel incredibly lucky to have it and happily pay the fee every summer because it is heaven on a stick for my girls. I love to be by the water....any water so, I love it when the pool opens for the summer. Just a few snapshots from my week ( from around the house) and a few poolside.

~ I just love this sweet little mushroom, she always puts a smile on my face. ( I know, I am so predictable...I will give you one guess as to who made it...yep.) 

~ I went shopping in my house & reclaimed this beautiful table. It had been languishing and I had been meaning to paint it and bring it out again but, finally got around to it. It is perfect in this window to hold some of my favorite things. :) 

~ Funny how this color has been sneaking into my life more and more lately. I picked up the blanket for $15.00 on Fire Island a few weeks ago and my bright red shorts put me in a good mood. 

~ Picked up a new beach bag ( my old one was falling apart) and the interior of it makes me happy. Plus the sight of little flip flops and pool shoes hanging out makes me smile. 

I hope you have a wonderful weekend, my friends! We are going to take our girls to see Brave today, and then dinner with friends tonight. I am headed into Renegade tomorrow, and can't wait! I will be strolling around with lovely Brandi & Jennifer. If you are there & see me, be sure to say "Hi". :) 

I will see you back here on monday, until then...be well! 

xo

Melis