Tree of Life Cufflinks

We had a custom order for the holidays - Tree of Life Cufflinks. They came out great and the recipient loved them! We will definitely be adding them to our store - what a nice bridal party gift for the best man!

Christmas

My buddy Gia drove up for Christmas last Monday - driving between storm fronts. Sadly she needed to be home on Friday and had to leave on Christmas before the next storm came through - which would have trapped her until Sat!! Even though the holiday was disrupted we still had a good time - did some baking and cooking and even managed to play with PMC and enameling!

Snow

The only thing I don't like about the snow is cleanup. Constantly sweeping the porch and Sammy. :)It sure feels Christmasy here!

Thank You

I want to thank all our existing and new customers for their business! We've happily been working away in our snowy mountain home - only taking trips to the post office to make deliveries. We hope that you and your loved one enjoy the gift we've created for them! It's so exciting seeing all the places our jewelry is traveling to. Hope you have a great Holiday!

Picture is our road - really only making trips to the PO right now. :)

Our Christmas Tree

We got our Christmas tree this past Thursday. (I've been waiting anxiously for 2 weeks after we got our permit.) It was a lot of fun. We drove outside of Alpine towards Big Lake a few miles then 100' or so up a hill and there it was! I spied it through the forest. It was marked for thinning so it would have been cut down anyway. Instead it get's to be enjoyed - not be cut down and wasted. The pictures are of Mark next to the tree in the forest, by the truck on snowy Big Lake Road and the tree decorated at home. Sam also had a great time on our trip! It's snowing right now - around 6" today. Supposed to get 1-2' tomorrow! I'll post pictures. :)

Casting Tree of Life Pendants

Mark did casting tonight. Actually all day. The wax has to slowly burn out of the plaster "flask" up to 1300 degrees then the flasks need to come down to 1050 to cast into them. Pictures are of Mark heating the metal (where the flame is blue) to just before casting (where the flame is gold.) After the metal is melted he releases a spring and the caster spins throwing the it into the flask. The last picture shows how molten the metal still is just after casting.

New Press Coverage

We're soooo excited about our current press coverage! We are in the Dec/Jan gift guides for Seventeen Magazine and Pregnancy Magazine. Please see more details on our website http://www.blackmountainjewelry.com/PressRoom.html

Paisley House

I'm so happy for our neighbor Heidi Beaubriand! This is the new home of her coffee house, bistro and gift shop Paisley House in downtown Alpine, AZ. Pictures don't do it justice. It is the cutest old house and the rooms downstairs make up the resturant area (pics coming soon - too many customers today:) The rooms up stairs are the boutique area. There's a great outdoor eating porch with comfy lounge chair. The area by the window as you come up the stairs showcases her delicious all natural soaps and soy candles. She has a creative light menu which is a great break from yummy - but not healthy country cookin' from other local resturants. If you ever come up to Alpine this is a must stop. Congratulations Heidi!!

Santa's Workshop

Here's some pictures of our workshop - yes it's very small and cozy - just the two of us. (Casting is done outside.)

Alll ready to fill orders. :)
Mark's Bench - the Santa Hat (because he IS and Elf this time of year)

November Jewelry Winner

Susan Williams of Sun City, AZ won our November jewelry drawing. Just waiting to see her selection so we can send it out to her. :)

Escudilla Mountain After The Storm

Hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving

We did - I made the whole spread then packaged up three huge plates that went to friends - including pumpkin pie. :) We did get a little snow before the holiday. This is a picture I took driving up the mountain from Springerville. The top of Escudilla (almost 11,000') was covered by clouds and still getting snow. We live on the opposite site - driving around the base to the right.

After Thanksgiving we had a few days of wind. All weather reports said gusts up to 20mph - we are pretty sure we had sustained winds 25-30 mph and gusts 50-60mph! It sounded like a freight train constantly for those few days then a switch was turned off at 3am this morning - it's calm and beautiful now!

We're drawing the November jewelry winner today - I'll post the winner by the end of the day.

At our recent shows many people told me that they read my Blog. Thank you and thank you for your condolences about Belle.