Giveaway & American Made

I have something for you,

bits of intention-filled loveliness that you surely deserve to grace that beautiful neck.

The last month has see my work become very architectural with so much heart going into the building of the metals and the elements that marry together...

pieces (both parts and whole) have felt like a recipe

for greater and specific healing.

I am taking off for a few weeks with the not-so-wee O for a trip to Minnesota

and time with the family there.

This break is SO crucial: I'd just exhausted myself finally after a whirlwind

and unusually long stay from the muse.

The thing is, new ideas are already beginning their haunting songs! Armed with a sketch book and time to myself (courtesy of my own mama)

I'll be able to order the raw materials

research the techniques

draw the components

and breathe

. 

This time feels like a gift before it's even begun.

There's something else that's pretty exciting:

I have entered the American Made Contest and there's quite a bit at stake, including ten thousand dollars for brand and business expansion. My heart beats faster just thinking of it...

won't you take the time to vote for me?

You can do so 

HERE

up to six times a day for the next few weeks. It would make a tremendous difference in my world if I was recognized!

These Stars are truly shoulder dusters and yet they are light as a feather.

Hammered stars have been given a sense of place with texture from the concrete of this lovely century-old cottage I call home.

Jacaranda laurels cradle the sterling chain that is hung with sweet and beautiful vintage repurposed coral beads and a dot of chrysoprase green grounding.

Leave a comment to enter: I do moderate them, so know that even if you don't see it immediately it will show up when I get to check in.

Write to me about yourself, take a moment to share your light here!

As for American Made, vote daily up to six times and know that your time and care will absolutely make a difference.

From the bottom of my heart thank you for the amazing opportunity to serve you, to create and make with such big reciprocal love.

 xoxoxoxoxoxoxox,

Sunny

Summer Fades

I can barely breathe on nights like this

having tucked thirty five summers under my starry belt

with no guarantee that I'll see another one

and every hope that I'll see double and then some.

My breath gets caught somewhere sad during late August sunsets.

I was just reminiscing this afternoon about how much Orion used to sleep in my arms last summer;

we'd go out on the porch swing and he'd look around and express interest and 

the swing's motion would lull him into my chest

and dreaming so fast.

I miss that feeling.

Orion version eighteen months is more of a crib sleeper

though unlike last summer's baby this one comes up and hugs my leg while I wash the dishes

and says, "Hi, Mama" with a sweetness that makes me turn off the water and crouch down

to kiss that round and tender cheek.

We have the luxury of that kind of time, my babe and me.

I love him so much that I cannot help but tear up just looking at these pictures.

If there was more time I'd document every last new thing he says and does

because I hardly remember all of the things I'd previously known of him.

Every day is a symphony and I cannot find my staff paper to pin it down into notes, so it just kind of becomes the ever-evolving tune I hum.

It's beautiful and melodic, his song.

Then I ask myself gently, "What would they serve, the lists?"

and the answer is that they would not serve anything but my reminiscing

and eventually like all things we love those items must be let go.

Life feels like a long and beautiful goodbye on late August evenings

rich and present with melancholy

and heartfelt everything
.

The universal feeling of my life that's never been escaped,

never seen resolution is a deep yearning that says

"Oh don't go, I've loved you so much!"

and yet the years come and the years pass

with ever so much to show for having been
here.

xoxo,

Sunny

In the Shop Tonight

Loving the heck out of you all this week:

the convos and emails have been really something.

I feel you all with me, I feel us all walking this journey together

a tribe of beautiful daring women and the men and women who love us.

Everything dainty and delicate and woven together like lace

is in the shop over the next few hours

HERE

I have a little something for you, too: stay tuned.

xoxoxo,

A

A Peek and a Tale

Torn Wing and Labradorite Magic Spell Necklace

Something so soul-good happened last night.

Five years ago it wouldn't have been joyful; what I saw would have reduced me to feeling inadequate.

I would have been waving from the seashore at the 'boat to China' as I would tearfully call it.

Sara Bareilles is a singer who I used to do voiceovers with in Los Angeles

before we moved, before I was even married.

My sister-friend Terra was the reason we met when she recruited us both 

to be backup for a song that Will Ferrel was joke-singing at the ESPY awards.

We lived close to each other so we shared our hired car to rehearsal and the event.

We got along beautifully - she was (and I imagine still is) a really great girl.

We exchanged our little independently made CDs. She gave me a plant (which still thrives these six years later!) and in the coming months we three singers had such a good time making tracks for commercials at a beautiful little studio in Venice.

Her career is no surprise and quite a thrill - when 'Love Song' was a big hit I smiled every time I heard that great heavy-bottomed piano intro, but behind the joy was a nagging sadness, a reminder. I had not yet owned my life, I hadn't found the rock of purpose to ground me.

The success of others was somewhat painful for me: even though I had just set out to create SunnyRising I didn't know if it would go anywhere or if I would be happy without having music as my first focus.

When anyone I knew reached a certain level of acclaim I would imagine them as international travelers leaving port and me with a handkerchief waving them off from The Ordinary Shore, sad and missing out on something.

Gem Chrysoprase Magic Spell Earrings

RESERVED

Fast forward to last night - while I was getting ready to turn in I caught a video of Taylor Swift and Sara singing her new song 'Brave'. I watched it beaming and then set about getting ready for bed.

There was no thought behind the thought this time.

Coastal Lichen Delicate Earrings with Vintage Repurposed Coral

I brushed my teeth, checked the doors, checked to make sure the torch and pickle pot were in their off positions.

I climbed into bed and heard the peepers through the open window

and the breathing of my boys on both sides like some sort of heavenly stereo.

I snuggled under the covers and imagined what tomorrow might bring,

what needed tending most and what projects would see completion.

Turquoise Magic Spell Earrings

I thought about my previous iteration, so not-yet-found in her center

but striving and trying to be better and trusting that someday

life would be so rounded and nourishing that comparison would not be between

herself and her peers but instead between moments of living that no one else could claim to know.

Mexican Fire Opal Petal Magic Spell Earrings

RESERVED

As sleep made thoughts hazy I smiled and kissed Anthony's shoulder.

His hand reached out for mine and our fingers entwined, warm and familiar.

There is nothing more I want out of my work than to do it.

There is nothing more I want out of my people than to love them.

There is no greater joy than to breathe in and breathe out and give life my all.

There is no other life, no other woman's experience that I would trade for this that I call Mine.

I don't know when this happened, this shift

but I've built a home on The Ordinary Shore

and everything is in its right place,

even the boats that sail out to sea without me.

.

When did you realize your life was extra-ordinary, friends? Have you yet? I'd love to share thoughts.

.

These Magic Spell beauties will be in the Metal Shop Friday.

For reserves, contact me

HERE

.

xoxo,

Sunny

Toddler

Sadness.

Happiness.

Deep existential angst.

Gleeful running.

Slapstick humor.

Bawdy laughter.

Hobbled grumbling.

Slapping.

Furrowing.

Shy smiling.

Jazz hands.

Lamentations.

Supplications.

Proclamations.

Ablution.

Requests.

Demands.

Begging.

Pleasure.

Pain.

Emotional gluttony.

Stumbles.

Victories.

Celebration.

Battle.

Concession.

Repeat.

Snuggle.

Kiss.

Nuzzle.

Sigh.

Be bitten.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand......

My days are full, friends. I have never in my life imagined the joy and utter BEDLAM of having a toddler in my care. It is awesome and exhausting and life-affirming

in ways that blow my mind and move my bedtime up by several hours each night.

I am alive to the ends of the peach fuzz on my arms.

I am challenged and fuck-yeah-giving-my-all until I drop from sheer bonk.

I have some really exceptional pieces to share with you this week, the last week of making before I leave for a much-anticipated long trip.

In my keeping are four pairs of Magic Spell Earrings and a necklace of the same tribe.

The last of the series for some time....new thought forms are cycling in.

I will hold out to you

Chrysoprase.

Fluorite Faceted Crystal, cabbed here.

Labradorite.

Stars.

Wings.

Feathers.

Petals.

Lichen.

Vintage Coral.

So excited to share them, they are sublime. 

Loving you,

Sunny

Magic Spells Part II

Eclipse Stone Magic Spell Earrings with Hand Cut Brass Stars, Faceted Hematite and Brass Flower Petals

The hand cut stars have seen moonlight

the flower petals have been given mighty intentions for growth and ripeness

.

The stones of the asymmetrical Magic Spell Earrings have had their fair share of prayers (sorry, too much Dr. Seuss as of late it would seem)

and good energy from my hands.

Sometimes I can create while feeling less than happy, but now it seems imperative to do some energy work before I even set foot in the studio.

Arizona Turquoise with brass star and long Scrubjay feather with 'protect this woman' tag

RESERVE PENDING

Each pair of this intentional trio has design elements unique to its pair, be it feathers, wings, petals or outrageous Southwest-steppe hand-cut and textured Fine Silver Bezel, as is the case with the turquoise. 

These pairs are palpable.

Full of my best moments, slowly wrought and built for greatness on your gorgeous ears.

I am so so so so excited to show them to you.

Dragonfly Wings from opposite ends of the country marry petals and perfectly textured sterling-dotted circle, spanning the seasons and this great continent.

A rivet and a heart sets them apart, gives you half of flight.

A little lift, if you will.

I have so much to tell you all, so many stories of baby words and 'oh-my-Goodness-what-did-we-feed-this-kid-to-deserve-that-diaper' and then the day zooms past and all I can do is watch it, slack-jawed.

I feel like a granny on a porch in some small farming town and time is a man bearing down on a century in his Porsche on my dirt road. The whoosh of speed blows my hair back and gets me a little steamed but I cannot keep from smiling. 

I've never felt better, friends but I've never felt more like seven p.m. sees me deflated every time, no matter my good intentions, never mind the meditation and fabulous exercise (start leaping in front of your babies young, they'll hang with you later, trust me) or the organic freshness we eat (I have a wonderful beef story for you soon, oh my goodness we did something right!):

I have no air by sundown

but

oh you should feel my heart right about then...

I wish you could see me glow- it's kind of like a sunset.

I had one more day to love people 

one more day to work hard at something that satisfies my everything

and I am rich with memories I'll have to write down soon

Lest they climb into a fast car of their own

.

This trinity of prayer-pair magic spells

will be in the Metal Shop

tomorrow.

Give a holler and I'll hold a pair for you if it calls.

xoxox,

Sunny

The Thing With Feathers

They say hope is the thing with feathers but I would be hard pressed not to argue

that there are other things that feathered be.

Like time.

It is truly in flight right now, riding warm currents and making me crane my neck to catch sight.

RESERVED

Dragonfly and Scrubjay feather earrings with repurposed vintage coral rounds

Is that why feathers are the sum of my work of late? Wings?

In wearing them, in touching them will I somehow catch up to the quick hours?

With Feathers Necklace, sterling scrubjay feather with gem chrysporase

In working with plumes there is a sense of connection with the present in a rich way...

gifts left for me in the backyard, parcels from afar.

Packages of wings from family and friends who know I am always on the lookout for dead bugs...

it's a role I never thought I'd play, the woman to whom people send dead things.

I like it very much, though. I am honoring things that would otherwise get swept up, brittle and empty containers of nothing.

Mostly of late my heart is the thing with feathers, flying alongside the ever-quicker footsteps of a blonde cherub. I love him so much it hurts.

With these beautiful pieces I will be tucking "A Little Grace" petal necklace into the shop this evening.

To see them listed travel

HERE

this evening.

With love and lift,

Allison

Mama's Little Wolverine

Do you see that red dot on the pink of my lips?

This morning while we snuggled after a good night's sleep my kid accidentally headbutt-ed

my lip.

Joyfully threw his head back against my groggy and still-waking form.

He cried, I bled. 

We are in toddler territory, friends. Orion has become something of a wild beastie with a heart of gold. I referred to our relationship yesterday as one in which I love a wild wolverine who adores me right back.

He cannot help his fierce ways, and I am here to domesticate and mold him into someone who walks through the world doing right, touching nice and saying 'thank you' after that second helping of peas.

It is my job to ensure he knows how to use flatware and hammers, his spirit and his hands.

It is a time of lassos and games and chasing and falling and choosing one's battles carefully.

You can imagine we are often at an impasse. This was very hard to adjust to, coming from the pristine calm of infancy where the only thing that made him cry was an unmet need and I never once remembered seeing the devil-spark in his eye that he gets right before his hands go all slappy

and he puckers his mouth in frustration.

With some amazing solicited advice I have found the right combination of distraction and gentle discipline that allows us to continue having an awesome time together but also ensures that he is learning empathy and gentleness. Learning, not yet mastering.

This experience of toddler parenting is doing something supremely alchemical in many other areas of life. Patience, calm and a sense of everything being very universal are benefits that arose unexpected.

I have mindblowing respect for parents of multiple children.

My husband's generous contributions to parenting thrill and delight both mother and child.

Diligent scheduling for our daily activities have given me (in his napping hours) time in the studio

and time to BE.

I understand now what they say when your friends or when your books chirp "your children teach you as much as you teach them"- it's not in the way that their ego-centric little despotic selves navigate the world necessarily, though I would be hard pressed to say I've ever smiled more than I do now. That's mostly from his wonder and excitement and infectious giggle.

I am seeing that they teach you about layers of self and love and archetype that might go unearthed if not for the sometimes not-so-gentle push and pull of living out this phase together.

When the day is done and time for reflection presents itself there is a sense of pride no matter how good or lacking the waking hours were summed up to be.

A little boy sleeps in his pajamas, warm and safe and dry and fed and LOVED.

After a day of mothering I become acutely present for the other aspect of life that literally feeds me

and smooths the rough patches into silk.

He wakes happy, I wake awashed in gratitude.

The dot of crimson I sport now is just a funny little reminder of the bumps on our path

to loving more and learning 'please' and 'thank you'.

A little fang mark from a wolverine's attempt at a kiss.

xoxox,

Sunny

Magic Spell Labradorite and Feather Earrings

RESERVED

Back in the early spring I made a clutch with a squirrel skull and magnolias on its front, a series

of circles and ideas on the back.

It was magical.

In its description I wrote, "I want to explain all of the elements to you, but my heart tells me not to, that it would break the spell I wish to cast..."

and I feel likewise the same about these completely one-of-a-kind shoulder dusters.

They are suuuupppper powerful and I don't want to dull their edge by blabbing about the

rich and abundant intention that went into their creation.

I will so happily tell you what they are comprised of, though.

The steeliest cobaltiest blue hunk of labradorite

a feather (pressed in brass) from one of the scrubjay pups that are learning to hunt in my back yard,

learning the art of feeding themselves.

hand-hewn brass stars

A 'protect this woman' brass instruction tag for God to read no matter where you are

and what you're doing

Draping elegant lengths of sterling silver chain

fern rolled sterling backplate for the labradorite earring,

handmade sterling silver ear wire for the feather earring.

And a metric ton of

LOVE.

In the Metal Shop tonight.

xoxox,

Sunny