For the Love of Copper

You probably have noticed by now that my blog has a slightly new look. I've been working behind the scenes to revamp Little Brown Bird and become a little more organized **cough, cough, choking** My shop will hopefully have a new look, and this blog needs alot of help!

I'm working on some really cool (well, I think so) new jewelry pieces. Lately I've been playing with different metals and firing up my power tools! I've also been pounding out some frustrations, developing my skills with hammered textures.

I am in love with copper right now! The cutting and shaping, you can do just about anything to it! And I've been experimenting with patinas, giving the metal an aged or weathered look, and adding depth to the colors and textures. You can see what I mean.

There's much more to come! There are days when I get into the zone and work non-stop on new designs. I love those days. But I have to fit them in between life's necessary chores. So enjoy the new pictures, and as always, you can contact me for more information or to reserve an item. They will be listed in my shop soon. Unfortunately, my creative time for today is over already, right now I have to go grocery shopping.

Etsy Down Again!

Ok, I have no idea what happened this time but for several days, if not weeks, Etsy has been running slow. The search function has been a mess with listings not showing up in the correct categories, or sometimes not showing up at all.

Now, Etsy has mysteriously disappeared! It happened about a half hour ago and as of yet, I can find no information as to what happened. My guess is the server finally crashed. Whatever it is. I hope it won't be for long! To stay on top of it, you may want to check out Unofficial Etsy News
to find out the latest.

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An hour later, Etsy is back up and running. No word still on what went wrong.

Pesto Planning!

I wanted to give an update on my summer herb garden experiment. If you remember, I decided to start growing my own fresh herbs because the price fresh herbs in the grocery stores has become outrageous! I would love to have a whole vegetable garden, but I just don't have the space. In my tiny home, growing a few fresh herbs is about all I can do. And how did that idea pan out? Well, with my "brown thumbs", I didn't expect to have steller results. But surprisingly, I do have two very healthy herb plants!

Ok, you're thinking, "but Mary, I thought you planted 8 different herbs." Ya, I did...like I said, I have TWO very healthy herb plants.



I began my herb garden by using the method that I learned in 4th grade. I spread my seeds out on a paper towel and added water. Within days, I had tiny basil sprouts peeking out at me. The other herbs (mint, sage, lavender, cilantro, dill, terragon, rosemary) began to sprout as well.

By the time it was ready to transfer the sprouts to a pot with dirt, I think I was down to about 5 herbs. Some took off immediately, others withered away after a week or so. Still not bad for someone like me. The sprouts you see here are basil.

The basil seems to be doing the best! I'm so glad, because I use basil more than anything. The other plant that has taken off is mint. For most of the summer, I have been enjoying alot of recipes with fresh mint and basil. In fact, the plants have done so well, that I have begun drying some of the basil and I could actually split the plants to give some away. Who knows what the fall and winter months may bring. I'm sure they won't last with little sun and being near a cold window. So I am making plans to make a fantastic pesto should my basil plant begin to look, well, not so lushy. For now though, The basil is "a plenty" and the $.99 packet of seeds has saved me about $12 a week! I figure, given the amount of fresh basil that I usually go through, it has saved me about $90 this summer. Not a bad return on my tiny investment! Now, if my stocks were so lucky...