Thank you

Thank you friends near and wide for the love and sympathy.

-Lori

God Speed Beloved Badcat

Our beloved Badcat (nee 'Sox' when adopted at the shelter, but never took to Natasha or Francesca) has joined her friend T-Bone in kitty heaven.  We are grateful for the 14 years we had with our baby girl but the sadness is beyond the beyond.

My 1000th post (featuring Joanna!)

My friend and fellow jewelry designer Joanna has graciously consented to model a few pieces for me. It definitely helps people understand the length of certain pieces, but for me it provides design inspiration and a whole lot of laughs when we shoot. I'm so grateful to celebrate 1000 posts by saying THANK YOU to Jo!

Winchester Prom 2010

Oh my, time is flying and I'm flipping out. Tonight was Suzi's senior prom. The town does an actual promenade and turns out to cheer and clap for the youngsters. Adorable on one level - throwback on another.  I have known this child since she was in the second grade and here she is on the cusp of graduation and entering college - and dressed so perfectly that my heart was filled with joy. An honor to know and love her family and a thrill to be so proud of my almost Godchild!

Early Morning Shine

Help a couple of good kids get to Cannes!

PEEPS! Please help my awesome Miami Ad School students win a trip to Cannes. (It will take 2 minutes!)

1. Enter www.youtube.com/canneslions
2. Type: PILU in the search box and click go
3. Select the "RAISE WATER AWARENESS" video
4. CLICK ON THE GREEN THUMBS UP!

**The contest set up is random so I can't link directly to their project. It is a silent video - it's a minute long - just find it and give it the green thumbs up.

Your kindness shall be re-paid 1000 times!

The Age of Conversation THREE (OMG! OMG! OMG!)

How is it possible that the third (all new!) edition of the Age of Conversation is due out this year? How I ask you? You know me, so you know that's a rhetorical question I'm about to answer.

It's due out this year because of the tireless efforts of the dream team Drew McLellan (The Iowa Instigator) and Gavin Heaton (The Thunder from Down Under).  It takes a lot to write a book. It takes a lot more to edit a book with 170 authors spread worldwide.

I'll share more details in the next few days and weeks - but the most important things to know are 1) This book is filled with nuggets of genius and; 2) Every dollar of the purchase price of this book goes to charity. Neither the authors, nor the editors make one penny. (The authors even have to purchase their own copies of the book!) Stay tuned for more dazzling details and introductions to my fellow co-authors.

Adam Joseph	Priyanka Sachar	Mark Earls
Cory Coley-Christakos	Stefan Erschwendner	Paul Hebert
Jeff De Cagna	Thomas Clifford	Phil Gerbyshak
Jon Burg	Toby Bloomberg	Shambhu Neil Vineberg
Joseph Jaffe	Uwe Hook	Steve Roesler
Michael E. Rubin	anibal casso	Steve Woodruff
Steve Sponder	Becky Carroll	Tim Tyler
Chris Wilson	Beth Harte	Tinu Abayomi-Paul
Dan Schawbel	Carol Bodensteiner	Trey Pennington
David Weinfeld	Dan Sitter	Vanessa DiMauro
Ed Brenegar	David Zinger	Brett T. T. Macfarlane
Efrain Mendicuti	Deb Brown	Brian Reich
Gaurav Mishra	Dennis Deery	C.B. Whittemore
Gordon Whitehead	Heather Rast	Cam Beck
Hajj E. Flemings	Joan Endicott	Cathryn Hrudicka
Jeroen Verkroost	Karen D. Swim	Christopher Morris
Joe Pulizzi	Leah Otto	Corentin Monot
Karalee Evans	Leigh Durst	David Berkowitz
Kevin Jessop	Lesley Lambert	Duane Brown
Peter Korchnak	Mark Price	Dustin Jacobsen
Piet Wulleman	Mike Maddaloni	Ernie Mosteller
Scott Townsend	Nick Burcher	Frank Stiefler
Steve Olenski	Rich Nadworny	John Rosen
Tim Jackson	Suzanne Hull	Len Kendall
Amber Naslund	Wayne Buckhanan	Mark McGuinness
Caroline Melberg	Andy Drish	Oleksandr Skorokhod
Claire Grinton	Angela Maiers	Paul Williams
Gary Cohen	Armando Alves	Sam Ismail
Gautam Ramdurai	B.J. Smith	Tamera Kremer
Eaon Pritchard	Brendan Tripp	Adelino de Almeida
Jacob Morgan	Casey Hibbard	Andy Hunter
Julian Cole	Debra Helwig	Anjali Ramachandran
Jye Smith	Drew McLellan	Craig Wilson
Karin Hermans	Emily Reed	David Petherick
Katie Harris	Gavin Heaton	Dennis Price
Mark Levy	George Jenkins	Doug Mitchell
Mark W. Schaefer	Helge Tenno	Douglas Hanna
Marshall Sponder	James Stevens	Ian Lurie
Ryan Hanser	Jenny Meade	Jeff Larche
Sacha Tueni and Katherine Maher	David Svet	Jessica Hagy
Simon Payn	Joanne Austin-Olsen	Mark Avnet
Stanley Johnson	Marilyn Pratt	Mark Hancock
Steve Kellogg	Michelle Beckham-Corbin	Michelle Chmielewski
Amy Mengel	Veronique Rabuteau	Peter Komendowski
Andrea Vascellari	Timothy L Johnson	Phil Osborne
Beth Wampler	Amy Jussel	Rick Liebling
Eric Brody	Arun Rajagopal	Dr Letitia Wright
Hugh de Winton	David Koopmans	Aki Spicer
Jeff Wallace	Don Frederiksen	Charles Sipe
Katie McIntyre	James G Lindberg & Sandra Renshaw	David Reich
Lynae Johnson	Jasmin Tragas	Deborah Chaddock Brown
Mike O'Toole	Jeanne Dininni	Iqbal Mohammed
Morriss M. Partee	Katie Chatfield	Jeff Cutler
Pete Jones	Riku Vassinen	Jeff Garrison
Kevin Dugan	Tiphereth Gloria	Mike Sansone
Lori Magno	Valerie Simon	Nettie Hartsock
Mark Goren		Peter Salvitti

Another Awesome Customer Note (Cross-post)

It's always thrilling to get notes from customers telling you that they love their item, it's mind-blowing when they make a photo montage and put it on your Facebook page!  My other favorite thank you photo is here. Thank you to all of my lovely and amazing and talented customers - you make this a joyful art and for that I am so grateful!

Marina purchased the Right Round Neckpiece from my brand new shop on Makers Market.

About Makers Market: Introducing Makers Market. A collaboration between the creators of MAKE and Boing Boing, Makers Market is an online marketplace bringing together our favorite entrepreneurial makers selling products and services directly to DIY enthusiasts – people with a thirst for life — enriching exploration through hands-on science and tech projects, risk-taking, art, sustainability, self-reliance, and hands-on learning. Not to mention a pinch of mischief-making tossed in for good measure.

Even More Music

For the 9th night in a row beloved husband and I have had an event, or dinner, or such 'you many not wear your pajamas' event. On Saturday night it was the Spectrum Singers pre-spring concert featuring their favorite music.  Some of their favorites are mine as well - Four Motets by Anton Bruckner, Rejoice in the Lamb by Benjamin Britten (it's 8 shades of crazy, but there are elements that I really love) and my favorite of their favorites - Vivaldi's Gloria in D. You've all heard bits of that in films, but to be sitting up front and hearing those magnificent voices (featuring Tom's brother Henry) along with the orchestra of Emmanuel Music was such a treat.

I am slightly ashamed to admit that every time conductor John Erlich steps to the stage I turn to Tom and quote something from Philip Seymour Hoffman in The Big Lebowski. Usually "Dude". Tell me if I'm wrong about the similarity to PSH.

Conductor Erlich:

A side by side comparison.

Henry glaring at me because he probably knows I'm writing this in my head as I take the picture.

The chorus at work.

A clip from one of the best movies ever.

Session Americana: March 5, 2010

 Session Americana took the stage again on Friday night at Lizard Lounge in Cambridge. Took it and owned it as they kick off their tour. The place was packed (fortunately with music lovers who wanted to listen to the music) and while we stood in a great spot for the first set, we sat in the front row for the second (thanks Miranda!) It was another gorgeous night of music with special guests Rose Polenzani, Buffalo Tom's Bill Janovitz, Will Daily and Asa Brebner.

I've tried to synthesize what it is about this music/band/setting that makes me so happy.  So here it is, wonky, inartful and groupie-ish as it may be.

1. Down home, handmade, sitting around the fire drinking and laughing music.  The only thing I have to compare what I witnessed at Lizard Lounge is my comedy days when the comics would stand out back of the Comedy Store and dissect our set, each others' sets, particular jokes, riff on jokes that worked, kind of worked or were GOING to work, dammit. It's a connection between people who love a thing in different ways but bring it together and make it even better.

2. Variety. The musical variety just makes me swoon - from real Red River country fried steak to the Beastie Boys to The Band, their amazing original music and beyond, Session Americana covers the waterfront. If you can't find something to like then I'm very sorry for your ears.

3. The 'Whatever-May-Come' factor. Will drunk people show up and demand songs (and put booze and glasses on the table for the band?) Will special guest musicians be available when their name is called? Will the Pleasure Society do their job and entertain all? Only the shadow knows, but the vagaries of live shows don't seem to throw these guys at all.

4. Community sing. Yeah, I said it. Peeps like to sing along - and outside of church where do you really get to belt it out? Listening to Jon Bistline sing 'I Can't Get Out' with 90+ people singing backup was pretty sweet.

So blah blah blah I think they are wonderful and I feel good having heard such special music two nights in a row all I can do is recommend you check out Session Americana.

Here are a few snaps from the show - all my pix from this show are HERE.


I love it when Dinty Child plays the squeeze box. 

Will Daily sitting in.

Jim Fitting ponders and sings.

Billy Beard back for an encore.

Session Americana: March 4, 2010

Billy Beard's Drum kit, originally uploaded by Moda di Magno.

The ticket Gods smiled on me and I managed to get second round tickets to Session Americana at the Lizard Lounge in Cambridge last night. I have tickets for tonight as well - talk about awesome luck!

Last night's show was fabulous. This is such an amazing group of talents that anything I cold say would just make them sound lame - so check them out for yourself at SessionAmericana.com - I'm dying to know what you think.

I wrote about my first experience with Session Americana this past December. All of my photos are HERE.

Oh, and if you are a young person attending a musical performance - keep your voices down. If you want to talk and drink there are tons of places for that - in the presence of musical genius is not one of them.

Especially if you are this girl. Seriously, if you cannot be respectful of artists in mid performance then PICK ANOTHER CLUB.

Pong

Where to Begin?!

February - in a nutshell: prepped for the Buyers Market of American Craft wholesale show in Philadelphia. That's pretty much it.  Worked on creating a shared space with artist-friend-supertalent Christine Street of Chocolate and Steel. Designing a space based on our common banner colors and personal styles took some time - parallel, as it were, with creating new Moda di Magno designs.

I am very pleased with the way the booth turned out. Will we make a few changes before we bring the show to the August Buyers Market in Baltimore? Yes, a few minor things. We were gifted with a consultation from a long-time exhibitor at the BMAC who shared some tips and tricks to make our booth even better.

Creating new designs - well... that alternated between flashes of creativity that I could barely keep up with; ideas on scraps of paper, post-its, edges of newspapers, OMG I HAVE TO GET TO THE BENCH RIGHT NOW - and moments of staring at a notebook, starting a piece and then (thank you metal clay) rolling it up and putting it back in the package. Yech, blech, blah. With no pressure except the pressure from within - creating work that you want to share with the world (let alone the wholesale buyers of some pretty fancy places) can be a painful experience.

Artist, judge, warrior for your craft, it can be difficult to remember that order. Staying free in your mind when designing, in your hands when trying to execute that design and being prepared to stand up and explain what it is you've created (and why it is right for someone's customer) can knock you for a loop. Trying to do all of this while maintaining a normal life - tougher still. Trying to balance family, work, fulfilling orders and all the other things we do can make you feel like a trainwreck, but with a lot of help from beloved husband I pulled it together.

Communicating (sometimes in-artfully) with beloved husband about what I needed help with, what I needed opinions on (and thank God for talent in the family) what I needed photographed (everything. And for both of us.) Tom not only helped review the master plan for the trip to Philly, as a neutral party, he made recommendations about lighting the booth, he converted light fixtures for us, he drove me to not-near-our-house IKEA (twice) and he prepped the Magnomobile to depart day early to beat SNOWPOCALYPSE, part deux (the second blizzard to hit Philly in a week.) Oh yeah - and he drove me to Philly and helped us set up the booth. That's a good man.

While we were in Philly we rolled with the craziness. The fact that we were only one of two artists in row 400 to get to our booth on set up day was pretty scary. The lovely and talented Paul Dannecker managed to get in early and was quite kind to Christine and me, giving us a 'BMAC pep talk' and tips to survive the show. We worked a little MacGyver action in the evenings - generally building things out of foamcore and gluestick and reviewing what was working and what we could optimize.

We were blessed with really delightful people in our row - Donnabeth Mitchell, Eric Nelson, Ricky Bernstein and Deirdre Olson (and Jeff) were our nearest and dearest for the show. I am grateful for their humor and help. I got to meet some of my Internets peeps, Twitter friends and a blog crush. I got to meet Danielle Miller (a show veteran whose work I admire) I met Meghan Riley and Rose Braunstein and Kendra Roberts and Lauren Henry and Jill Italiano  and Annette Martinsen Kapfer and gloriously tall Kristen Stein and so many other lovely, talented and fabulous peeps.

I became part of the C.R.A.F.T. organization by virtue of winning the 2010 Craft Design Challenge at the BMAC. I also won $250 to spend on the show floor, so I sought out a Massachusetts artisan and selected Beehive Kitchenware. This Fall River, MA company is a gem and one of my favorite kitchen items (ever) is my coffee scoop that I use every day. With several weddings this year - everybody's getting goodies from my score at Beehive!

I'll write more soon - but this is a good start.

Getting Ready for the Buyers Market

I'm way deep in preparation for the Buyers Market of American Craft show February 11 - 15 in Philadelphia.  I'll be sharing all of the new work very soon - but here's a little 'metal mantra' to keep me driving forward with my best stuff yet!

Hearts for Haiti: Etsy Metal Clay Style

Here are some photos of a charm bracelet created by the Etsy Metal Clay team as a donation to a worthy charity. There are 25 silver, bronze or copper charms -- some with gemstones, some with polymer clay, some with concrete or enamel or resin; but every single one made with love.

The bracelet is for sale via the Hearts for Haiti shop on Etsy THE BRACELET HAS SOLD!!! and is only $350 - that is a crazy good style bargain and providing aid for people so desperately in need.  Get on over to the shop and get yourself a piece of EMC awesomeness!  FREE SHIPPING because we love you.

The artists involved in this amazing project are (in alphabetical order)

*Click the name to visit the shop

Dina Alexander	DinaAlexander.etsy.com
Ruth Baillie	BirdlandCreations.etsy.com
Teresa Boland	TeresaBoland.etsy.com
Cherylyn Bredemann	ClynStudio.etsy.com
Nicola Callow	MuranoSilver.etsy.com
Christine Childress	CleverEndeavor.etsy.com
Lisel Crowley	HeartoftheFire.etsy.com
Janice Doner	DestinysCreations.etsy.com
Penelope Dunham	PenelopesPassion.etsy.com
Jane Font	DaisyjaneDesigns.etsy.com
Beverly Gallerani	MangoTango.etsy.com
Linda Gielen	Clayology.etsy.com
Judy Gordon	TeefeeBijoux.etsy.com
Liz Hall	LizardsJewelry.etsy.com
Lora Hart	LoraHart.etsy.com
Louise Hunter	PeculiarForest.etsy.com
Molli Koltun	ModernMetalJewelry.etsy.com
Lori Magno	ModadiMagno.etsy.com
Zoe Nelson	ZoeNelson.etsy.com
Martha Sanchez	AmordePlata.etsy.com
Christine Street	ChocolateandSteel.etsy.com
Kathy Voss	Kvossdesigns.etsy.com
Karen West	EggToothoriginals.etsy.com
Karena Wiker	KalePrimitifs.etsy.com
Catherine Witherell	Happydayart.etsy.com

Hi Watson!

Just saying HELLO WATSON to Watson.

I know in my heart that WATSON WILL CALL ME when he reads this.

You are on my blog WATSON.

xoxox

VOTE MASSACHUSETTS!

Seriously people? Really?

Get off your butts and vote today in Massachusetts.  I don't care who you vote for - just go VOTE.

Dial back the selfish instincts - give a thought to the greater good and vote.

----------

Nice thoughts aside.  Scott's photo is right justified today to remind folks of his right-wing stance.

Vote for Martha Coakley to preserve the health care bill in Ted Kennedy's name.

A Perfect bill? Not by a long shot.  A start at something critical to our country and your fellow citizen's long term survival? Yes.  Let's get something passed and work hard to make it 'more perfect' as in "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

The Mitten Pendant made it to Etsy's Front Page!

Well that's a nice way to start the week!

Fare thee well, you fabulous girl

Fare thee well Alexandra, we hardly knew ye. A foodie, a traveler, a wit. Alex was too young, too funny, too smart, too sweet, too snarky and far too fabulous to leave us so soon. While there can be no doubt that God needed another angel, we are left one short on our team.

Sending love and hugs to all those who knew her and especially those who loved her. As for me I'll just sit home and cry.

:::::::::::: Update 1/6/09

To quote Alex's mom "She would want you to live for today. If you have something nice to say -- say it today. If you don't have something nice to say, don't say it." The wisdom and kindness of a mother in mourning for her only daughter.

So I'll buck up, and try to do better at those things. Now go say something nice to someone.

Happy New Year: 2010

It was a Dremel XBR 400 (with jig saw attachment) & DeWalt kind of day!

Today is the first day of the year, so why not tackle a project that's been out there for oh, five years or so. I removed a layer of particle board (formerly covered by carpet that was also removed) on the landing at the bottom of the stairs to the basement. All I have to say is the contractor who originally half-assed job this deserves the full Barton Fink wallpaper treatment at home.  Mission successful with the help of several other tools and some creative swearing.

Tom and I made Giada DeLaurentiis' amazing Beef Short Rib with Tagliatelle as a birthday treat for his brother Henry and our friend Harold. A lively dinner and good company to kick off the new year is a good thing.

I hope you cooked something amazing with and for people you love too.