Autumn leaves...

I went to see my osteopath yesterday, who made some adjustments in my usual trouble spots; often when I have pain somewhere that I have always thought was a muscular problem (I get terrible hardened spots in my forearms and shoulders since I work with my hands and am hunched over my work table for long periods of time; I'm sure playing taiko also contributes a little) it's actually structural, and a bone has moved or slipped slightly out of position. The muscles then get all wonky since they too are pushed out of position, soreness ensues and well, you get the picture.

Anyway, I ended up walking home, about an hour's walk, since the weather was nice and I didn't do any yoga this week since my back has been bugging me. I made a decision while walking: that I will bring back my collages for my craft shows this season (and I'm writing it here in my blog so I don't try to weasel out of it). A few years ago I started using leaves in combo with Japanese paper, needle and thread to make these little framed pictures. (for some reason, the picture uploads on its side all the time, and I can't flip it once uploaded -strange!)

These would do well at craft shows, but were not terribly cost-effective for the time they take to make and the price of the frames. I have a whole slew of frames that I would keep buying every time I'd see nice ones while out shopping, and yesterday's walk saw me harvesting more leaves for my collection (I've got 4 old telephone books full of them!). So I'm all set - I'll at least use up the frames I've got in stock. Now the only problem is finding room for them at the shows I'll be doing, since my table is usually pretty full with jewellery and cards...

Here's a new pendant I just listed in my Etsy shop yesterday - fitting for fall, wouldn't you say?

This past summer I did a festival in Vancouver, BC, and my sister, Nancy, was also selling there - we had neighbouring tables, so it was a lot of fun. Along with her beautiful pearl jewellery, she makes these ridiculously cute baby slippers using Japanese material. Fittingly, since her birthday is in October, her Japanese name is Akiko, which means autumn baby, and here are some of her autumn-ish slippers. Love 'em!