Almost at 36 Weeks... and the Twilight Phenomenon

i hate to admit it. i'm addicted to the Twilight series of silly, young adult-geared, first-love-is-oh-so-dramatic! novels. sigh. it partially happened because i first fell in love with the mittens that the main character, Bella, wears in the movie... no, i haven't seen the movie, but those mittens are to DIE for! being totally hopeless with knitting needles, the wonderful CupcakeCardsAndGifts (http://cupcakecardsandgifts.etsy.com/ ) traded me some jewelry for a custom made pair and i've worn them all winter. so, of course, with all of the hype around the movie, i started reading reviews of the book but was able to resist for the most part. seriously. i am 35 years old, 36 weeks pregnant, and a grown up, for f*ck's sake!

then i visited my friend Tia's blog (http://christopherandtia.blogspot.com/ ) and saw that SHE had blogged about how SHE got addicted, thanks to her husband. yeah, thanks, Chris!!!!! she and i got started talking about the books, and that was it. i went and got a copy of "Twilight" and the rest is history. yes, i am kind of horrified at the fact that Bella is a somewhat co-dependent, klutzy, mopey teenager. that Edward is kind of overbearing. that it only seems to rain all the time in Forks. that i think it's about time that they go further than first base (yeah, i know that they'll probably get around to it eventually). seriously though, i think that i'm just going to chalk it up to hormones and the sappy romantic feelings that i've been having as i get closer to the mini-muffin's due date and just go with it.

speaking of due dates, i went to the doctor today and i'm 1 cm dilated. wow. seriously. yeah, i know that i can stay this way for a few weeks yet. i'm getting to the point where i'm quite unwieldy and uncomfortable... but i realize that i don't think i'm ready for her to come yet! i'm going to be a mom. i'm going to be someone's mom. the husband is going to be someone's dad! eeek! talk about exciting... and nerve-wracking!

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The Humble Egg and it's Oxidization Powers!

three of my oxidized sterling rings worn with three polished skinny sterling stacking bands

so i've been experimenting some more with polishes and finishes for my metalwork. i've always loved the look of heavily oxidized sterling silver - the patina is rich and dark and so lovely in contrast to shiny, high polished silver! however, i've been a little reluctant to use silver black or liver of sulfur - the whole chemical thing isn't conducive to pregnancy, you know? so i did a little digging around on the internet and discovered the joys of oxidizing with a hard boiled egg. and yes, it DOES work! i really have to thank my friend lauren from http://jerseymaids.etsy.com/ for inspiring me to try this method - because i never would have done it without her encouragement!

i'm posting a little how-to here so that i can share the instructions - and make sure that i don't forget how to do it!

above: here are the rings prior to oxidizing. they've been tumbled for strength and polish. make sure that your pieces are work hardened/tumbled/pretty much finished. i would suspect that if i threw the oxidized pieces back into the tumbler they would just polish back up to a relatively high shine.

here's my hard boiled egg, straight out of the pot and still HOT, in a plastic container that has a tight fitting lid. (i'm assuming that everyone knows how to hard boil an egg, right? if not, let me know.) you can also use a ziploc bag if you like. you need a container that seals. the more pieces you do, the more egg you'll need. i found that one egg worked just fine for these rings.

smoosh the egg, shells and all, in the plastic container or ziploc baggie. i found using a container a little better for me and my pregnancy clumsiness since i'm not too great at handling hot things.
i laid the rings on top of a paper towel on top of the smooshed eggs inside the container. you can also put the pieces right on top of the eggs - i just am a little bit of a neat freak and don't like touching the egg. if you put the pieces right on top of the eggs, it seems to speed up the oxidation process a little. make sure that you cover your container (or zip up your ziploc baggie) to keep the nice sulfur fumes in there!

and here are the rings - all deeply oxidized! this is only after about an hour on top of the warm eggs. i kept the container in the microwave for insulation purposes, hoping to keep the egg warmer for longer.

and here is the finished product! i love the rainbow-y finish that the oxidized rings have - not totally uniformly dark like you would get from some of the chemical methods, but really nice and rustic! who knew that the humble egg could conquer metal like THIS?????

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Springtime Stacked Rings GiveAway!!

if you've been following my metalsmithing journey, then you'll have realized that i've become addicted to making these lovely stacking rings! in celebration, (and also because i can't stop making them!) i'm giving away a set of my lovely Simply Stacked rings! the winner will receiving a custom made set of three in either 14 gauge brass or copper.


all you need to do is:


- go to my etsy shop - http://muffintopdesigns.etsy.com/ and find the item that you love the best! heart it, then come back here, post what it is and why you like it! make sure that i can find you later (i.e. email address, blog, etsy shop) if you are the winner!

- become a "follower" of my blog! (see the sidebar for the button to click to "follow" me!)

for extra points - if you purchase something from my shop and mention the contest in the "notes to seller", you'll get an extra 3 entries!


easy enough, right? well, get to it! the contest ends April 3rd, 2009, at which time i'll get the husband to draw a winner from all of the entries!

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A Little Look at the Mini-Muffin...

probably the only thing that is distracting me from thinking about jewelry making these days is the mini-muffin and her imminent arrival! yesterday, the husband and i went to get one of those new fangled 3D/4D ultrasounds... all afternoon, the mini must have picked up on my excitement because she just kicked and rolled and bubbled around! then, of course, we drove 30 minutes to get to the ultrasound office... and she FELL ASLEEP!!!!!!!! the technician was fabulous - she tried to get her from different angles, gave me candy and cold water, the husband tried to talk to her, but to no avail. the baby just held her little arms in front of her beautiful little face and slept. wow. (secretly i'm hoping that this means that she'll be a good sleeper!)

the mini at 34 weeks. i don't know if you can see her, but her arm is over her face, obscuring half her nose and mouth.

anyways, we did get some almost recognizable baby pictures - and we're definitely in love with the little we saw of her precious little face! it was also reassuring to hear her strong heartbeat and see her move around. i know that she's running out of space in there!

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