Happy 2012!

Blue Christmas

A few weeks ago, I made some jewelry to go with my dress for my company's annual Haolday Gala. The dress was navy blue with an asymetrical neckline and a beaded accent on one shoulder. So I made a necklace that followed the neckline shape and a bracelet to continue the look. All in all, the bead work took about 10 hours to complete and it was the first time I had attempted something like this, although it has been on my "to-do" list for a few years:

I Wish You A Blingy Christmas

Last weekend I went to an open house craft show. I wanted to bring something a little different. While browsing through the craft aisles, it hit me: BLING. Yup. Bling. So rhinestones, sequins and beads galore resulted in a very blingy group.

So fab!

Ornamented

It's that time of year again. Deck the halls and decorate the trees!

Twisted (but in a good way)

My larger tube beads arrived and I am pretty pleased with the results! There was a little bit of a reaction between the yellow and the blue on the multicolored bead, but otherwise, they are bright and fairly uniform. Yay!



All Fired Up!

I am so excited!

Two years ago, my boyfriend bought me an amazing gift- a glass bead kit. I gave him a list of things I would like for Christmas and where they could be found, etc. and that was one of the items. I was SUPER excited when I opened it. He is a little craft oblivious, so he was a little surprised to find out it had a blow torch in it. Yes. You read that right. I was pregnant at the time, so I didn't dig right in. Come the following Spring after my son was born, I decided I wanted a little guidance before I tried it. So I added classes to my wish list the following year. My mom found a great class for me to take where I could learn safety and technique. Here we are, almost a year later and I found the time to take the class. Thanks to two very generous gifts from two people I love, I have a new favorite art form!

My teacher, Diane http://www.dkdesigns.biz was so helpful and informative. She has a lot of experience and it showed. Under her tutelage, I was able to make some really great beads:



 The first few were a little tricky, but in the end, I had some nice matched pairs that I was happy with. We also made some larger beads that I will post another day. They needed to anneal (see how I used my fancy glass art term there?) for strength.

Since I have my own torch and supplies, I hope to have more examples to show you soon!

New Friends

I haven't made anything for the Pumpkin Monkey lately (bad mommy). So I decided to fix that. As I have mentioned before, his room has a forest theme with lots of woodland animals. Here are the latest forest friends:

That Time of Year

Do you feel the chill in the air? We finally have a break in the exeedingly hot weather in Georgia. I walked outside last week and I didn't have my breath taken away by the wall of heat. Instead, it was... comfortable!

When the weather changes, I know all those great holiday things are right around the corner. The first of which is Halloween! Check out the lastest of the creepy crawly Fear Things collection:

Granted, these might create some all-together different chills, but fun all the same!

Feeling Plucky

Jumping off from the last two posts, I decided to do a little drawing. More peacock feathers!:

Concept Realized - Ghost Earrings

Here they are! I think they have an ethereal quality to them. I have had dozens of feather earring concepts floating around in my head for years. I should probably knock a few out before the trend fades...

I think these will come just in time though!



Ghost Earrings

I am excited about my next project. I will be making these in the next week or so for a very special person. I am calling them Ghost Earrings. No, it doesn't have anything to do with Halloween and the reason will be clear once the real deal is revealed!

Fear Things

My endevors as of late have been a little creepy if not down-right gross. Yet, there is a reason for my sudden departure: Fear Things my new Etsy store that is open just in time for Halloween!

Please come by and check it out, but in the mean time, here is a little sample:

His Tiny House

I have been thinking about making my son a play house sometime in the next year or so. This is a little sketch I did while brainstorming. It is color pencil on paper.

Stargazer

Shiny silver beads strung on navy navy hemp cording. Like twinkling stars on a field of blue sky at dusk...

Concept Realized!

I decided to go two with strands. One was nice, but I thought it needed a little more. I used two different sizes of the brass beads on the red hemp cording.

Red Boho Concept

I liked my Rouge Hemp and Copper necklace so much, I decided I want to make a longer version. Here is my initial idea:

I have some small antiqued copper beads that would go really well with the tubes I used on the shorter necklace. In the illustration I have a single strand. Since the cording is so thin, I am torn between making it thin and delicate, or layering for more "heft". The existing piece has three strands and is still pretty delecate, but I kind of like that about it. It is simple and understated which gives it an air of sophistication you wouldn't normally associate with hemp jewelry.

Concept Realized

I made my sister's necklace that I teased and then some. I also made a necklace for my mom. These were designs I had in mind for them for a while and thank goodness, they liked them!

Flight Club

I have a silver feather necklace I made a couple of years ago (I lengthened it and added some silver beads since the version in the link), that I just love. It is on a long chain and it just goes with just about every outfit. It is shiny though, and every now and then I wear something that is a little more "dressed down" or earthy and it doesn't quite work- but more due to the finish than the style. So... what's a girl to do? Make another version of course!

This time in antiqued brass:

Mossy Pebbles

This necklace was something I wanted to make for a while. I love green and copper, so I wore this necklace proudly today. It was exceptionally easy to wear!

Glitter and Smoke

Black is my neutral. I wear black or gray just about every day at work. Yes, I do use a pop of color so I don't look like I am attending a funeral every day. I needed a new go-to neutral necklace for work. I think I made it- it is a mix of smokey gray, black and metallic silver Czech glass faceted beads all on silver chain. Perfect for adding a little sparkle to the daily uniform!

She Doesn't Know It

She doesn't know it, but my sister is getting a necklace. What's the occasion? None. Why? Because I looooove her. Hee hee...

Get to the Point 2

A more vibrant foray into the tri-angled obsession.

Ouch!

I have to go to the dentist to have a wisdom tooth pulled tomorrow. This is my first extraction, so I am a little nervous. Say hello to Mr. Sad Tooth who represents my impending DOOOOOOM.

Dreamy Purple 2

I made some earrings to complement the Dreamy Purple Necklace:



Feeling Bubbly

Bubbles, bubbles, everywhere. Taking away every care. Pop and fizzle, swirl around. Bubbles, bubbles, bubbles abound.

Dreamy Purple

I decided to make something this weekend. I didn't really have a plan going in other than that some "thing" should be a necklace. The result is this long necklace with dreamy, soft purple faceted beads. It is approximately 36 inches long landing at about mid-torso for most. It is a little heavier than most of my necklaces to date, but I like the extra heft to it.

Happy Monday!



Rut

I am feeling like I am in a bit of a creative rut. I have more supplies and ideas than I could go through in a year's time- yet... I can't seem to make much these days. Yes, having a 13-month-old is a big contributing factor. However, I do find time to answer e-mails for the day job or watch TV after he goes to bed. Before he came, I would work while I watched TV. I don't seem to have any issue with motivating others or coming up with ideas for them. Am I more tired? Less motivated? Who knows.

I really am trying to pry my backside out of this well-formed rut and get the creative juices flowing again. I am not going to say what I'll do or make any big announcement to do more (mostly because I don't have much faith in my current rut-removal capabilites). For now, I'll just say I'm going to try to find my pry bar and do my best to keep this thing going.

Friends for all!

Last week I went to Costa Rica on business. Prior to the trip, I made some little "friends" for my team members there. I had a lot of fun making these little guys and my goal was to put a little of each person's personality into each. Each is also the person's favorite color and animal:

Acorn

Once he lived in a high, high tree.

Now he's come to earth just for me!

Armadillo

Am I the only person out there that is fascinated by armadillos? Surely I can't be! I got a bug to sketch up this little guy. I like him- I think I'll keep him.



Everlasting Easter Egg - How To

Easter is such a fun holiday, a great opportunity for family time and crafts. To honor the holiday, I decided to create a tutorial for everlasting Easter eggs. Real eggs that you can hold and reuse year after year!

The first step is to make a hole in both ends of the egg. There are Ukrainian Easter Egg kits that include a little blower that allows you to only use a single hole by injecting air into the single hole and allow the pressure to push the egg out. The two-hole method allows you to extract the egg without specialized tools. You can use a nail, screw or rotary tool. I chose to use the rotary tool because it uses the least pressure and there is less chance of crushing the egg.

The next step is to use a needle, wire or other long, thin item to puncture the yolk within the shell. I used an eye pin. This will allow you to blow the egg out by blowing into the top hole with a steady and strong breath- kind of like blowing up a balloon.

Waste not, want not. I caught the egg in a bowl for an omelet.

Once the egg is out, rinse the egg shell out to the best of the best of your ability. Then gently dry off the egg shell with a towel.

You can then dye the egg (again, the Ukrainian Easter egg method is a lot of fun, but takes patience), paint it or decoupage.

I chose to gild mine, I may choose sheets of leaf if I do it again. I am not sure the leaf flakes accomplished the effect I wanted. For this or decoupage, I would start with a clear sealant which can double as a sizing for the leaf or glue for the paper.

The finished product! I made Ukrainian Easter eggs a few years ago- that example is on the left. The gilded egg is on the right. The flakes are yellow and rose gold with some oxidized pieces with green and blue coloring.

Happy Easter, everyone!

Two For One

For Christmas '09, my mom bought me some lovely beads. She gave me two strands of the same type of glass beads, in two different shapes: round and oval. They have beautiful variegation and have shades of blue, green, amber and everything in between. I have had them in my collection for a while and have been trying to think of the best way to use them together.

I chose to make a double strand necklace that doubles as a long necklace (24 inches). The short strand uses the round beads alone and the longer strand uses the oval beads with Celtic inspired connectors.

I am very happy with the versatile result and I can't wait for my mom to see it!

Just Visiting...

I was recently invited to be a guest blogger on my fun, fashionable and crafty friend's blog.

House of April is a great read and always inspirational! Please take a look around and please share some love and leave a comment.

J'aime la manière que vous écrivez!

Courtesy of Bable Fish ;-)

Happy Birthday!

The Pumpkin-Monkey turned one yesterday! We had a really good time with our friends and family. Here are a few of the hand-made goodies that made his special day, all the more so:

Here is the banner I teased a few days ago. It fit perfectly with the rest of the decorations, don't you think?

Mommy made dino sugar cookies to fit with the theme. Mmmm... Pteranodon.

I didn't make the cake, but the ladies at Publix made his crunch cake extra special. Loved it!

Our crafty friend Annie made him a fantastic card. How awesome is that?

We all had a wonderful time, especially the Pumpkin-Monkey! Can't get better than that :)



What I Have Been Up To

I have been very busy the past few weeks (as you can read here), so I have not been able to post very often. After this weekend, I hope to resume business as usual and ramp up my creative game again.

In the mean time, here is a sneek peek at one of the party decorations:

In Bloom

Spring is in the air again! Besides all the sneezing taking place, it is blissful. The flowers are in bloom and there are sprouts of fresh, bright green everywhere.

My inspiration today is one of my favorite Spring flowers- the Iris:

Concepts Realized!

I found some old sketches There were several things from this sheet (that was covered with ideas) that I actually made in the last year.

The first is the Tulip pendant I wrote about earlier this year:

The second is my Butterfly Facinator. It you don't know what a facinator is, it is an eclectic hair piece that is kind on in between a barrette and a hat. You wear it when you want to stand out. If I did a little more research, I am sure I would find it had some sort of Victorian root. Not today.

I am not sure whether I have featured it on here before. Note my original sketch had three butterflies and the leaves and curly-cues were a little more spread out. When I actually made it, I condensed it. It is a fairly large facinator with one. I like the end result much better than the concept sketch.

 

I love making little discoveries like this. It brings me hope to know that many of these ideas knocking about in my head actually come to fruition from time to time.