Photo Help

Ahhhhh! I cannot decide.
The brown background/the white background?
The white is a pain in the (beep) to adjust, but might get me into more treasuries. But no matter what I do, I cannot get it white-white anyway. Does the brown make my work stand out? Or is it too dark?
Please share your thoughts, and if you have time and are so inclined, please share YOUR photo set-up details - lightbox? natural light? camera?
I hate my photos!

The Danger of Watching Other People's Children

Sometimes, while walking and swaying with my cousin's daughter, trying to help her settle down for a nap, she fits so perfectly along my torso, her head tucked under my chin, her bottom resting on my forearm, her hand curled in my hair, I think, "Maybe one more...."

Thing Two As He Pulled His Dessert out of a Quiznos Bag:

"Hello, cookie. I'm your Daddy."

Thanks Maia and Karen Beth

So, when I came home from vacation I discovered I had been nominated for two blog awards. When I shared this news with Geoff, his response was "What? You?" And when I told him one of them was the "Rockin' Girl Blogger" award, he just laughed and laughed.

Don't let this interaction fool you. He is a very loving and supportive guy. Really.

My pal Maia is responsible for the Rockin' award (I am pretty sure I was rockin' for at least a minute or two in 1991.) and I am thrilled to pass on to:

stilettoheights because, honestly, she really is rockin', even off-line. And her letters to celebrities are the sole reason I am excited to wake up on a Wednesday morning. (Okay, I love my kids, too. And coffee.)

zellmer because she refers to doing a great deal of rockin' pre-baby (and look at her picture - she's still rockin'), and her blog was the first Mommy blog I found that I enjoyed reading.

tracey because, well look at her playlist and try to argue with me. And because she writes a very engaging gardening blog that feels like it is about a lot more than gardening.

______

The other award was invented by Karen Beth of Zazazu. It is the "Uplift Award" and I am so touched that she mentioned me. I am not able to express how much it means to me that someone who reads my little ramblings finds them uplifting. I am also a little self-conscious, because she mentions my One Small Change series as a reason for the award, and I stole the idea from Gillian.

So naturally, I want to pass the Uplift Award along to

Gillian who inspired One Small Change and writes from Nottingham, England, which always gives me a little thrill. Her artwork is lovely, and it is wonderful to read about her process and the inspirations behind her work.

Eva whose blog is so lovely looking. When she is not writing about her beautifully embroidered animal creations, she posts thought-provoking and often spirit-lifting links, poems and quotes.

MissFickleMedia who has been so supportive of my work and my process. She is a kindred spirit and I always look forward to reading what she has to write about her kids. Also, I love watching her process as she develops new products and new looks for her popular pendants and gorgeous fine silver jewelry.

MsBelle because she is the kindest, most supportive blogger/seller out there. She is always the first person to comment on my new work, the first person to congratulate me on my successes, and I swear, she was even more excited about my front-page appearance than I was. It has been exciting to see her develop a signature look for her shop and even more exciting to see her work gain the attention it deserves.

Beck because she is the best writer in blogland and at least once a week she publishes a post that makes me think perhaps she is living in my head.

And finally, Karen Beth, can I pass the award back to you? Karen-Beth's blog is like a little yoga class for your brain. Amazing, serene photos and quotes that remind you to slow down, breathe deeply and appreciate all the beauty and goodness that surrounds us.

Thanks, friends.

Favorite Reading Spot

Favorite Reading Spot, originally uploaded by stephgibson23.

I'm back!
Vacations with the kids get easier every year. We read C.S. Lewis on the long drive out and J.K. Rowling on the long ride home. In between we ate a lot, read a lot, some of us went swimming, we all took long hikes around the lake. There was some marshmallow roasting, kayaking and a treasure hunt organized by Uncle Grant (Arrrrgh! Avast me Hearties!) Vacation perfection.

Summer Finally Caught Up With Me

Over the last two weeks, I have not read very many blogs and I have hardly commented on the ones I have read. I have only listed one new item on Etsy. I have not e-mailed people. I have only posted about things I felt I had an obligation to write.

So where have I been? What have I been doing?

overdue summer playdates with the kids friends
a trip to the northern woods of Pennsylvania
celebrating Thing Two's birthday
playing at the pool
planning and teaching jewelry making workshops at a day camp
reading Harry Potter
selling at Eastern Market
just to name a few of the activities that have been keeping me away from the computer.

What do you do with so many blog-worthy events, but no time to write about them? And I know I am missing great posts from you that I am never going to catch up with - it is strange to feel so disconnected.

And the next two weeks look just as crazy!

But I will be back in a couple weeks. I am looking forward to catching up with all of you.

Oh, and before I go, I have to thank Tamara of BlockPartyPress for so kindly including a feature about me on her blog. She has been doing a a terrific series of posts about inspiration and its sources. She was one of my first Etsy favorites and a source of great support in Jewelstreet's Creative Challenges. Thanks Tamara!

Happiness Swap

I just received these fantastic goodies from Liz Elayne as part of Karen Beth's Happiness Swap.
A wonderful tote from Liz's Maude series, filled with sweet, happy, little goodies: an idea journal, a pencil, lip gloss, gum, a beautiful handkerchief, a lemon scrub bar, and a collection of vintage buttons.
In addition to sweet bags, Liz is also the maker of wonderful flag sets inspired by Tibetan prayer flags.

Thanks Liz! I am so glad Karen Beth encouraged us to get to know one another - I love your blog and your Etsy shop.

One Local Summer - Week Five

This is a bit of a redo of last week's meal. We had a lot of goodies left over. I bought a hot pepper from a farm stand operated by inner-city teens. They have an urban garden in Lancaster (7 miles from me) that they plant and maintain with guidance from the adults who started the program. They have a stand at Eastern Market, which is also where I was able to purchase from Promisedland Farms and the farm that raises the free-range chicken in this dish. The hot pepper led me to make a chicken/veggie saute with a more Southwestern flair. In additon to the hot pepper and chicken, I used green pepper, green onion and red tomatos from Harvest Lane Farms, 3 miles away. My cheats were olive oil and seasonings.

The exciting addition to the meal was CORN BREAD! Last night, while wandering the grocery (our grocery store is a family owned dairy/grocery that puts a big focus on local producers) I found locally milled corn meal. The company is Haldeman Mills in Manheim, PA, about 20 miles from us. So I decided to make corn bread from scratch. This had my husband chuckling and Thing One wide-eyed with amazement. I found some flour in the bulk foods section that is distributed locally, and I am waiting for a call back from the store letting me know whether or not it is also produced locally. The milk came from the dairy at the grocery store. And the butter from Guernsey's Gift Market in East Petersburg (7 miles.) The egg was also local. So the only cheats in the cornbread were the sugar and the baking powder.

We rounded out the meal with sweet corn grown by my Dad's cousin (2 miles) and plums again.

hobbledehoy!! or The Kindness of Strangers

I do not know Liz, the seller behind the etsy shop, hobbledehoy, from Adam, but when she read my forum post asking where I should buy a Tecre Button Machine, she offered to LOAN ME HERS.

For those unfamiliar, a Tecre is the pinback button making machine recommended by all Etsy sellers who use button machines. And they cost $250!

I have been wanting one for the longest time, because I think it would be so fun to send out little stephaniegibson pins and magnets (the machine makes those too) as promos to my customers. I could also use the machine to make rings that I think would sell like crazy at Eastern Market. I have saved up all my sales money for the last three months to justify buying one, but I was still thinking maybe this was an impulse buy that was never going to pay for itself. Now, thanks to the generosity of Liz, I can try one out and see whether it is really something I need to invest in, or whether it is just another craft gadget for the closet where all non-jewelry-related craft gadgets go to live sad, lonely lives, unable to entertain even one another, because, of course, they are all still sealed in their original packaging.

So, help me celebrate by checking out Liz's shop. Not just as a favor to me, but because she is selling fiber batts called Riot in the Batcave!

One Local Summer - Week Four

I am late blogging about this meal, but life got in the way!

Free-range chicken from a farm in Paradise, PA (15 miles), sauteed with zucchini, yellow tomatoes and fresh basil from Promisedland Farm in Millersville, PA (15 miles). Also in the saute were onions left over from last week's meal. The roasted potatoes are from last week's farmstand visit. The gorgeous plums were purchased at our grocery store and the produce manager told me they were grown in York County (30 miles).

My cheats were olive oil, garlic and dried herbs.

The saute was really delicious. I sort of made it up as I was going along. I will definitely make it again.

The only thing the meal was missing was some crusty bread to dip in the broth that was left on the plate! Still searching for a local baker that uses local grains.