Repurposed
A few weeks ago we added to the chaos of our house by dogsitting for our friends' bichon. Mix three territorial cats, a crazy terrior, and a new dog and it makes for an interesting week.
As a thank you, Kim brought me the conch shell bracelet seen yesterday. Conch is one of the main industries where they were vacationing. The shells are so gorgeous, but as she handed it to me she said it was huge and I'd never wear it, and of course I protested, said it was beautiful.
But the truth is I probably wouldn't wear it very often, so I carefully snipped the elastic and used the beads to make a few new pieces of jewelry.
The conch beads will see the outside of my jewelry box a lot more often this way!
Labels: jewelry
Jump Start
I know I mentioned two special order necklaces on my list, but I decided to take a quick break to make myself a necklace.
I needed a little something to wear with one of my favorite shirts, and it's been a long time since I've made anything with the intent to keep it!
These beads are so sparkly and pretty in person, I kept it simple to show them off.
Making something quick and fun like this often kick starts my crafty drive - now I can get back to work on my other projects!
P.S. - I joined
twitter. Picture me rolling my eyes!
facebook,
twitter, before you know it I'll have a
myspace page! Anyway, there's a little gadget in the sidebar to see my updates, in case you don't get enough of me!
Labels: jewelry
Getting Back Into It
Thanks for all your comments on my lost mojo. I'm feeling much better, and got some much needed crafty time in this evening...
Working on a tote for my cousin.
Planning two necklaces for special orders.
Figuring out how to make my master quilt the right size.It was very... restoring... to have some time in my craft room. I definitely get fidgety when I'm away too long!
Labels: jewelry, quilting, sewing, wip
Like Candy
Despite a plan to avoid stash enhancing, I have been having trouble resisting all the vintage glass beads I keep finding on
etsy.
They are just so pretty and colorful. I get mesmerized and just keep clicking "add to cart."
I have a few upcoming projects that will be a lot easier with a well-rounded bead stash, but that's a pretty poor excuse. I know I would buy them anyway.
Luckily these aren't all new, I have a teeny bit of self control.Since a lot of these will get used in the near future, I can't make myself feel too guilty!
52 Nights Update: Night 12 I switched it up a little - after work I headed to a friend's house to take pics of her sweet 9-week-old daughter. Izabelle was pretty grumpy, so we're going to try again one morning since she's usually happier! Then home to work on some projects and make dinner. I had a few nights last week with an open schedule that I could have worked on projects and instead got sucked into the Tivo backlog, so it felt good to get back on track!
Labels: 52 nights, beads, jewelry
Playing Around
Some nights I want to play around in my craft room, but am not motivated to work on any of my "to do" projects. Does that ever happen to you? At times like these, I usually pull out my beads.
I've had a ring blank around forever, and finally made it into a pink party ring to go with a new skirt.
I also figured out how to make my own earwires from silver wire. I love the flexibility this gives me!
And I did eventually sort back out all those tiny silver pieces the cat dumped onto the carpet...
Labels: jewelry
The Other Piece
In addition to
her bag, my grandma requested a colorful necklace. I hope this qualifies!
I was able to do something I've always wanted to do to make this - just rummage through my containers of beads and pull together ones I love. I'm not sure I could do this with other colors yet, I do seem to be drawn to blues and greens!
Of course, something also happened I've been expecting but not looking forward to... One of the cats jumped up onto my desk while I was working and knocked my entire divided organizer of tiny silver beads and pins off, onto the carpet. It's all picked back up but it will be a while before I get it resorted! The craft room is
off limits to kitties until future notice!
Labels: family, jewelry
Auction Jewels
52 Nights Update - Night 6 went well. It was my first true test in a while since our internet is *finally* working again. I took the dog for a walk, got the filing together for our taxes (procrastinator? who, me?), made dinner, and read my book for a while... Not as productive craft-wise as some nights but still a nice break!
I have one more auction bag to share (my favorite!) but I thought we might need a little break from all the bags... Since there was a debate among my friends at work about whether a handbag or jewelry would do better in the auction, I did both.
Above is my first attempt - pretty green beads, bali silver. I really like it but decided green wasn't a versatile enough color to appeal to everyone.
So I copied the exact design in gray pearls instead. It's funny - the work auction just ended, and the purse and jewelry were won for the same amount, so that debate ends up moot!
Labels: 52 nights, jewelry
Etsy Love!
Thanks for all the positive feedback on the
tea towel apron!
I have been having so much fun browsing
Etsy lately! Almost everyday I add a few new favorites to
my list. Recently I went on a search for cute bookplates for my growing library and instead picked up these stamps from
Sweet Paperie.
Wouldn't an address stamp and stamp pad with some personalized stationery make a cute bridal shower gift? I got a bookplate stamp and an address stamp. Here's the bookplate in action...
Rather than use a stamp pad, since I wanted the two colors, I used my favorite stamp pens.
A neat trick I learned - take as long as you need to color your stamp, a different color for every letter if you want, and then just "huh" your warm breath on it before stamping to make the ink moist.
I also treated myself to a new pair of earrings - I seem to wear pink all the time, and that was all the excuse I needed to get these from
Shy Siren.
I've even found shops for supplies -
beads,
fabric,
vintage, etc! I sneaked these beautiful beads into my cart the last day of January, just under my
"No New Supplies Month" deadline:
And the title of the post comes from a fairly new blog,
Etsy Love. Between blogs like this and the always fresh
Etsy front page, it won't be hard to keep finding new shops to love!
Labels: jewelry, paper craft
Collaboration
One Sunday before Christmas my sister was hanging out at my house with Charlie, helping me bake cookies for neighbors. (Hmm, my life is
well-documented...) We had agreed a little pair of handmade earrings would be a nice addition to my mom's stocking, so I asked if she wanted to check out the options in my bead stash.
A few minutes later we had a very cute pair of earrings! Red chalcedony, a square wood bead, and a little silver.
Since Katy really like the chalcedony beads, I made her a similar pair with a blue bead. She wears smaller earrings so I left off the wood bead, but I thought they were still nice.
Well, turns out I gave her a very similar pair of earrings
last Christmas so she asked if I had other red beads like Mom's. Unfortunately I didn't, but she was happy with my substitute...
It's fun to know my family is accumulating quite a collection of "my" jewelry!
Labels: family, jewelry
Quick Fix - Literally!
Sometimes it is the simplest things I have a hard time getting around to... Like these sweet earrings. A souvenir from our honeymoon in Hawaii, they broke years ago. Just the flower coming off the post - no pieces lost, nothing a little glue couldn't fix.
And yet it took me this long to dab on some E6000 and have them wearable again.
I am feeling an urge to take care of more things like this, things on my "to do" list way too long... For example - the fabric in that first photo (from
ReproDepot) has the perfect colors for my craft room.
Though I didn't realize it when I got it, I think it would make perfect window treatment fabric, bring some color to the colorless corner
I noticed. What do you think?
Labels: jewelry, quick fix
Black & White
I had a few minutes to spare over the weekend and was feeling productive, so I pulled out a few beads and made these earrings:
They're really simple, but I love black and white together! Made with moonstone, onyx, and a freshwater pearl. It was fun getting back to some jewelry making!
In other jewelry news, I found
Etsy Metal recently... What a great way to find unique handmade jewelry! There is some amazing stuff featured there. Definitely a source for some Christmas shopping this year!
Labels: jewelry
Etsy Birthday Spree
My sister's birthday was way back in June, but since we had a few other things going on at the time, a gift for her managed to slip by me. I couldn't leave it that way! So I did something very fun - went on a little Etsy shopping spree!
Earrings from pleasebloom
Necklace from littleput
Cards from Satsuma PressAnd of course I had to contribute something of my own, so I finally got around to doing her tea towel tote!
I use
mine so much - I took it to England and used it to take snacks and my book to the park, or swing by the market, and if I have a lot of extra things to take to work it is the perfect size. Hopefully she'll enjoy all the little gifts!
Labels: bags, jewelry, sewing
Jet Setting
Thank you so much for all the blankie love!! I really am so happy with it. Luckily I don't have to wait too long to find out if my new niece/nephew loves it too.
Sorry for the slight absence! Much shorter than you've put up with in the past, of course. I went down to the Los Angeles area for a few days for my cousin's wedding. It was gorgeous - overlooking the ocean at sunset, perfect weather... They couldn't have asked for a better setting!
The bridesmaids all loved their necklaces. For once it occurred to me to take a picture of the gift recipients!
Otherwise I didn't take very many
pictures - I think I photo'd myself out in England!
Labels: jewelry, photography, travel
Auction Time!
For a few years now (
2005 and
2006) I've donated jewelry to our United Way silent auction at work. With everything else going on this year, the deadline snuck up on me!
So not only was I almost late with my donation, I didn't even do a
new design! I'm so ashamed.
I do like these, and I'm glad I was able to donate something. I used a little tin I picked up a while ago for the packaging to keep things simple.
Maybe next year I can do something a little fancier!
Labels: jewelry
For the Bride
After
making the necklaces for my cousin Megan's wedding, I really wanted to have something for her, too. She had mentioned needing a necklace for the rehearsal dinner, and said her dress is black and cream with red flowers.
The first thing Peter asked when he saw this was if the red stone was supposed to be in the middle. I did it off center on purpose but am having second thoughts.
I do like it. I'll send the pictures to Megan - the bride gets final say in everything for her wedding, after all!
Labels: jewelry
3 & 4
This post is much later than I planned - our internet is down at home and we haven't quite found the time to call about it. So I'm being naughty and posting this from work!
I finished all the necklaces for my cousin, with over a week to spare. The third one is a lot like the
first one except with less spacing between the beads.
The fourth one has a beautiful lampwork bead as the focal point, with more vintage and glass beads on either side.
And of course I had to package them in card boxes!
All I have left to do is a necklace for my cousin for the rehearsal dinner - I actually made a first attempt and need to send her a picture to see if she likes it! If not, back to the drawing board!
Labels: jewelry
Another Necklace!
I finished the second of the four necklaces for my cousin. This one uses mostly the same beads as the
first one except for any that were too big.
Instead of being linked in with the chain, the beads dangle from it. Same chain, same beads, same clasp, just a different style.
I've got #3 and #4 planned out, hopefully I'll be able to work on at least one of them this weekend!
Labels: jewelry
Circle of Pearls
I've been spending a little time trying to use up some of my jewelry stash... I always buy things with a project in mind but often don't get around to doing the project. I needed a necklace to wear to an anniversary party Saturday so I dug around in my supplies and came up with this:
The hoop is actually part of a pair for making earrings, but I think I'll wear it a lot this way. The beads are freshwater pearls, a type I'd never seen before but love. They'll probably show up in something else before too long.
I have a few other ideas for this type of pendant. Now if I could only remember where I found those great affordable chains...
Labels: jewelry
Easing Back In
I had a long list of things I wanted to do this weekend. I am always so impressed, reading other blogs, when people talk about making several handbags, or the progress they made on a quilt, just in the few hours they had free on the weekend. From my long list, I got one thing done:
It is part of the project highest on my list - four coordinated necklaces for the bridesmaids in my cousin Megan's wedding. I have the second started. It's a lot of fun picking out the beads, making the necklaces go together without being the same. The beads are mostly vintage glass, some swarovski crystals. And I love the clasp I found.
Hopefully I'll start crossing other things off my list, too. But a slow start is better than no start!
Labels: jewelry
A little late...
I have been seeing yellow all over the place this spring,
on craft and
design blogs.
Granted, I'm a little late to the party, but looking around my house I have caught the yellow bug. I have multiple boquets of yellow flowers and I actually bought something yellow to wear despite my usual misgivings.
I also made these earrings:
I have been doing some sewing as well, a spring handbag - but spring is rapidly disappearing here in Texas, so I'd better get going!
Labels: jewelry
Hi everyone!
One of the unexpected side effects of my
dad's blog is a lot more people I know in real life have found my blog. What's especially fun is that this has given me the opportunity to make some things for friends and family.
A close family friend emailed my mom to ask about some of the earrings I'd made, wondering if I'd be able to make some for her... Well, of course!! She didn't have a specific request on colors or style, so I got to just pull out my supplies and see what looked nice.
The first pair is a bit of everything - vintage glass, pearls, labrodorite, and swarovski crystals. The second pair is just vintage. I love the combination of red and champagne glass. It's fun to be able to put things together from my (still growing) stash of beads.
Labels: jewelry
Quick Fix Wednesday
It was a very stormy, wet day today, which has turned into a very stormy, wet night. I have so many things to do - clean the house, do laundry, get things ready to pack for a trip this weekend, work on taxes... Instead I ignored it all, pulled some jewelry supplies out in front of the TV and made these earrings:
They are made with moonstone and labradorite, similar in style to things I've made before but a little fancier. I wish you could see how iridescent these stones are, but stormy nights are not good for photography!
Labels: jewelry, quick fix
Ring!!
I
mentioned recently that I've been taking a jewelry class this year, and tonight was the last class. Luckily, I was able to finish my two projects. One requires a little assembly, but the other I got to wear home!
This ring started as a flat sheet of silver. I cut out the strip, ran it through the roller with a piece of mesh to make the texture, soldered it into a ring, made the bezel, soldered it on, and set the stone. I am so proud of myself!
The instructor,
Mary Rogers, has made some gorgeous pieces, and it was really great learning some of her tricks. Unfortunately, since doing this sort of thing at home would require a huge investment in equipment, I won't be able to do anymore soldering, but it's still a great process to know. And I have a lot more silver cut and ready to become earrings and necklaces...
Labels: jewelry
New Tricks
I've been taking a jewelry class on Monday nights for several weeks now without a whole lot to show for it... I am determined to finish two projects in the two remaining classes, and I think I can do it. In the meantime, while I'm waiting for the soldering torch or to ask the teacher a question, I've been practicing my jeweler's saw skills with some simple charms.
I really like how this looks, and I think it's something I can keep doing from home. Drilling the holes is the tricky part, but I think I can figure that out, either with a hand drill or some really good clamps and our power drill. (Though that sounds a little dangerous!)
It feels really good to be making jewelry again, but I'm going to try not to let it cut too much into my time at the sewing machine! I've still got that baby quilt to finish, after all...
Labels: jewelry
Christmas Aftermath
I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! I managed to finish everything I had on my list that mattered, and successfully prepared my first turkey, which was quite tasty. I must say, it is more fun to plop down at my mother-in-law's table after preparing one measly side dish than it is to put together a whole Christmas Eve meal for nine. I won't take that for granted next year!
I have so much to share over the next few days - things I unwillingly gave away (I am so happy when I love something so much I want to keep it, it's that much better of a gift!) and things I very excitedly received - but I'll start with this jewelry I made for my sister.
It is made simply with sterling chain and chalcedony - she has always said she loves this color, and I'm so happy with the result!
The matching earrings:
Have a wonderful week-between-holidays! I have to rush to finish my mother-in-law's present, but I made good progress yesterday, so I am optimistic. Thank goodness they went out of town and gave me a little cushion to get it finished!
Labels: jewelry
Vintage vs. New
I made these earrings with vintage glass beads and sterling silver because I needed a pair of red earrings. I really love them, even though they're quite simple. All the silver findings are new, and I'm not sure how old the beads are - "vintage" can mean quite a few different things.
I really love vintage glass beads. But I also love new gems and crystals, and new glass beads. I like the idea of scavenging thrift stores and garage sales for that special find, but more often I settle back to the ease of online shopping. The concept of reusing, and reinventing discarded objects, really appeals to me, but again, I am often an easiest-path person, and it is so much easier to just buy new things that are exactly what I need. I'm going to try to be better about only buying new the supplies that have to be new - earring hooks, etc - and using what I have in my stash or what I find that can be refashioned. Sort of a "use what I have" mindset. We'll see how that goes!
Labels: jewelry
Blog Confusion
My book club group came over Sunday before our "official" meeting to watch
Ever After, since last time we met we discussed
Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister and several of us were reminded of the movie. I do love this movie! One of the girls brought a baby blanket she's crocheting, and when I saw that, I thought about getting out the ornaments I'm working on for the
swap. I stopped, though, because I didn't want to have to explain why I was making them. "See, there are these people that have websites about crafting..." It felt silly.
After everyone had left, and I was on the couch suffering from my
fever with plenty of time to think, I realized
I was being silly. I get so much inspiration from my fellow bloggers, whether they are crafting or cooking or just sharing a glimpse into their lives. Why should I be ashamed of that? I am so touched by the comments on my
50 Things post, and I am happy that I have a creative side and I've found a place to share it. In a similar situation in the future, I'll be getting out the ornaments!
The earrings above, as you probably guessed, were inspired by a pair in my new book. My wonderful husband fixed the computer, and all is right in the world!
Labels: jewelry
Glamorous Jewelry
Wow, not even halfway through the month and I missed two whole days posting. So much for
NaBloPoMo. If it makes any difference (which I know it doesn't) I have a good excuse! We were out of town Saturday and got in a lot later than I thought, and yesterday evening when I had planned to get some posts ready, I had a relapse of my cold and had a fever of 101. A true blogger would have posted anyway, I know. And to top it all of, when I went to get the pictures off my camera of what I did do yesterday, our computer crashed! It's all backed up, and Peter's going to work on it tonight, but I don't even have pictures to share.
I did want to tell you about a book I got... It was a birthday present to myself, shame on me, but I love it so much!
I made a pair of earrings inspired by it this weekend, and it's something I probably wouldn't have tried on my own. If you're interested in trying some easy beading that produces jewelry that looks anything but easy, I highly recommend this book!
I was planning to do a little more jewelry-making tonight, but I went into my craft room this morning to find my sweet kitty had knocked my carefully organized box of jump rings/head pins/other tiny things off the desk and they're scattered all over the carpet. So I guess that's what I'm doing tonight instead!
Labels: jewelry
Corners
This is where I would show you a picture of the messy corner in my craft room... As motivation to get it cleaned up...
However, the sun has failed me! It was dark when I left for work this morning, and dark when I got home.
So I should have taken the picture ahead of time, you say? That would require too much planning!
Instead, I will leave you with this gorgeous jewelry by
Fiery Lion Designs, a new-to-me Etsy shop I am dying to try!
Aren't they gorgeous?
I think tomorrow I might try my hand at one of those "100 Things" posts all the cool kids are doing...
Labels: jewelry
Chalcedony Earrings
I found a new source for beads! I might have mentioned this already, but just in case I haven't... If you love beads and gems, you must check out
The Earth Bazaar. They have so many pretty beads, and weekly sales where lots of things are really cheap.
When I got my first order, I whipped up these little earrings:
I wish the color came through better on the photo. They are practically irridescent. I can't wait to try something else with them!
I just placed another order yesterday. To make Christmas presents... yeah, that's why I bought more beads... I hope it comes soon!
Labels: jewelry
Meredith's Necklace
A few weeks ago a friend of ours invited us to her ice skating party to celebrate her birthday. It was so much fun! I don't know why I never thought of doing something like that - since "growing up" I've never done something like ice skating or a slumber party, but it was great fun.
I didn't want to go empty-handed, but I also am just getting to know this friend, so I went with my old fallback - jewelry! I dug through my stash, and made this necklace out of glass beads and freshwater pearls.
I think she really liked it! I really liked being able to make something all from things I already had. Just what I need, another excuse to stockpile pretty beads!
Labels: jewelry
Lucky Thursday
Thursday sure seems to be my lucky day for posting lately! As I've seen various other places around the blogosphere, I am in a bit of a posting funk. My crafting, and posting, seem directly proportional to how busy I am at my "real" job - I've been very busy at work lately, and I am lucky to get some crafting done at night, much less take pictures and write posts...
For example, I made a bracelet for my sister-in-law back in September, took pictures, and never posted them! I saw some awesome silver links on
Fusion Beads that just looked like her, so I made this:
It has a magnetic clasp, with a little chain so the bracelet doesn't fall off if the clasp comes undone. I quite like it!
I have a few other works in progress, but for the most part I am enjoying relaxing, organizing my new room, and crawling the web for inspiration for when I get my groove back...
Labels: jewelry
Input
Thanks for all the great feedback on my
quilt idea! I especially loved
Michelle's suggestion to use just the matching fabric and some solids, so I worked on the plan a little more last night:
I will need even less of the green fabrics for this design, so it fits with my low price goal. Which do you like better? Fewer or more greens? I'm going to try not to overplan this project and get started soon...
To actually post some craft content, it's
auction time again and I really wanted to contribute something.
I discovered
The Earth Bazaar recently and just had to place an order (all their chalcedony was on sale!), and these gorgeous freshwater pearls were part of my first order. I think it's interesting to see how my style has been changing over the past year.
Tonight it's going to be all about painting...
Labels: jewelry
Crazy Shoppers
Yesterday I shopped
all day. I met my sister at 10am and we went to
Ikea to get my craft room bookshelves. Woo! I love how much you get for your money there - I think everything will have a place to be put away! That's the only chance I have of keeping my craft room neat.
Then we went to lunch, and moved on to clothes shopping. Katy just switched from a business formal job to a business casual job, so boy did she have a long wish list. We had such a blast shopping! I managed to control myself and stick to my much shorter list of needs. I'm quite proud of myself.
Of course, I couldn't go see Katy empty handed! The
dangle necklace was her idea, so I made her one of her own!
I do like this style! I think I'd better find more ball chains...
Labels: jewelry
My Turn
I finally got a half decent picture of the necklace I mentioned. It doesn't really look right laying flat, and I was too impatient to set up a fancy photo shoot, so you just get a picture of me wearing it.
It's just a finished ball chain, with swarovski crystals hooked on with small enough loops they can't move. I really like it!
In other news, I am now the proud owner of a
Small Things necklace!!
My sweet generous sister got us both one (hers is red) since it has sister birdies on it. I love it!!
And just to prove sewing is still on my mind, here's my kitchen table in its current state.
I have big plans for a crafty weekend, including the start of my study to craft room transition. I can't wait!
Labels: jewelry
Thanks, Amanda!
I think I've mentioned before that I'm settling into a style when I make my jewelry... I think part of it is having more to choose from when I browse my stash - I organized it recently and now I have a better feel for what I've been collecting of the past year or so. The point is that when
Amanda emailed to request
another pair of earrings, I had so much fun designing something for her.
These are very similar to
some other earrings I've made recently, but I love the combination of pearls and crystals. I hope Amanda likes them! (And of course I sent them in a little
box.)
Labels: jewelry
Back in the Saddle
Things are finally starting to feel back to normal. The house is picked up, the suitcases are in the attic... It only took a week and a half!
I just had to share the crafting I did on vacation - I couldn't last over a week without doing
something. My aunt-in-law (hee) taught my mother-in-law and I how to make adorable boxes to recycle greeting cards. I mentioned posting a tutorial on my website while we were practicing, and my aunt was horrified since she thinks it wouldn't be as special if everyone could do it, so just pictures for now. Chances are you'll get one if you ever do a swap or something with me, and I bet you're all clever enough to figure it out!
Here are the ones I made on vacation:
These were all out of Christmas cards. When I got home I had to make sure I still remembered how to make them, so I dug through the cards I've gotten this year and made a few more:
I wanted to give one to my sister and one to my mom as a souvenir "look what I learned" present, but I can't be giving away empty boxes, so I made...
These for my mom:
And these for my sister:
(I realized too late that the picture is wonky - they've already been gifted!)
I have since made even more boxes - I pulled a huge box of saved mail down from the attic and picked out so many good cards... But how many pictures of little tiny boxes can you stand?? I'll spare you the rest!
Believe it or not, I think I'll have another post before the end of the week... But don't hold your breath!!
Labels: jewelry
For Amanda
I got a great comment from
Amanda on
this post, and I emailed her back to offer her a pair of earrings... She said she liked pink and the chunky style of the crystal earrings, so these are on their way to her:
I also got one final order to go with the
earrings and
necklace I made earlier - a bracelet!
I haven't made many bracelets, so it took a little while to get it the way I wanted, but I actually quite like it. It is so much fun to make jewelry for other people, and know I'm not the only one who likes it!
We're heading to San Antonio for the weekend, so I'll be radio silent, but I'm taking a project for the car ride, so hopefully I'll have some good pictures when I get back!
Labels: jewelry
Eastward Bound
For Memorial Weekend Pete and I are taking a day off to spend an extra long weekend in Alexandria, Virginia, with my sis and her husband. I'm using her computer to post this, so I'm going to keep it short - I'd rather be visiting than blogging, if you can believe it! I made my sister a couple pairs of earrings to match
the necklace I made a month or so ago...
I wasn't sure which she'd prefer, so I made some simple shorter earrings...
And some longer sparkly earrings...
I get to keep the long ones (they're not really her style, as I suspected), but she loves the shorter ones!
Labels: jewelry
Tag!
Dacia organized a
gift tag swap, and I finished my tags and got them in the mail on time!
I was a little worried I wouldn't have time to do them before my trip this weekend - we're going to Virginia to see my sister and her husband (hi, Katy!). Luckily, my husband and I are playing soccer two nights a week, and the games aren't until 8:30pm - I'm so wide awake after the games I end up staying up really late, giving me plenty of time to get things done!
I made a coordinating card and some earrings to thank Dacia for organizing this...
I can't wait to get tags back in the mail!
Labels: jewelry
More Commissions!
Well, I can happily say I have a regular customer! The lady at work that ordered the
Mother's Day jewelry requested a coordinating necklace for the small
black sparkly earrings. Again she didn't have much input, but said it had to be simple and match very closely to the earrings.
The clasp fits through the chain itself, so this can be anything from choker length to quite long. I really like it!
Stay tuned for some more jewelry, and my tags for
Dacia's super fun
gift tag swap! They went in the mail this morning, so they'll actually get there on time...
Labels: jewelry
Unseasonable
The weather here has been amazing! I have wanted nothing more than to be outside, but of course I've had to go to work. And now that it's the weekend, it has gotten hot. Why do the weather patterns have to frustrate those of us with traditional work schedules?? Gorgeous during the week when we have to be inside, but hot hot hot when we could be outside enjoying ourselves... Argh!
I have once again resorted to jewelry as a quick, satisfying night time craft.
Looking back at my first jewelry posts, though, I feel that I have improved so much, and am finally developing a "style." As usual, all I really care about is that I think it's fun!
Labels: jewelry
Custom Order
Ages ago I donated some
jewelry to the United Way silent auction at work. One of the ladies responsible for collecting the donations really loved the jewelry, and she contacted me to see about getting some Mother's Day presents for various members of her family. She picked out
two pieces I made a while ago, and then commissioned two custom pieces by giving very vague guidelines.
For her cousin, who is a flight attendant, she wanted something sparkly, dainty, and not very long. Voila, swarovski to the rescue!
For her sister-in-law, she wanted something delicate, a little longer, and sophisticated. To me, sophisticated means pearls.
And because I liked the pearl earrings so much, I made some in pink:
Since packaging is fun, too, I made little fabric pouches for each piece of jewelry.
I hope they like it!
Labels: jewelry
Blog Break?
A few bloggers in craft-land have been taking blogging breaks lately... and here I go and do it without announcing it, with just a lousy vacation picture to sit on my front page for over a week! How embarassing. I can't promise things will pick up - although I have some projects in the works, they are big, and not postable (is that even a word?) since they're gifts. Anyway, I do have one picture I can share, with a scroll down. Katy, this is on its way to you, so don't look if you want it to be a surprise! (I know, you're such a faithful follower of my blog, and I finally post and you can't look! I'm so mean!)
With bead suggestions from my sister, I made this (in my opinion) beautiful necklace!
I ran out of chain making it, but I have more beads, so I'm going to my favorite
bead shop to get some more chain so I can make this for myself, too!
Labels: jewelry
Vintage Lime
My favorite
eBay vintage bead shop had these adorable tiny green rough cut beads when I made my last order. I wanted to make some delicate earrings with them, and I'm quite happy with the result! Unfortunately, they were quite hard to photograph, since they're so tiny! I waited for some natural light over the weekend (thank goodness it's starting to stay lighter later!) and snapped this photo.
I used the lever back earring posts so that the light earrings wouldn't be at risk of falling out. I'm not sure if I have enough readers to try this, but I have plenty of jewelry right now (especially green), so these are up for sale for $9. Email me at semikkelsen(at)yahoo(dot)com if you're interested!
Labels: jewelry
Finally!
Well, I am sort of back up and running... Things take a lot longer than normal, which is frustrating, but it should get better! I am using
Gimp to edit pictures since we don't have Photoshop on this computer, and it's pretty cool! It has all the features I use in Photoshop to fix up pictures, and it's free!
Here is a necklace I made a few weeks ago, out of some pink quartz pear-shaped beads. They are such a beautiful color, I just had to wait for some natural light to take pictures of them...
My sister came up with the design for this necklace. The beads split off right at the hollow of your neck. I really was just in love with the color, and had to make something else with these beads!
Labels: jewelry
The Black Pearl
(Can you tell I was watching Pirates of the Carribean while folding laundry last night??)
Tonight is our company "end-of-year" party - whether they were being thoughtful or ran out of time, they didn't schedule it during the craziness of the holidays, which I find quite nice! The dress is "formal/business attire", but for once I didn't take that as an excuse to buy a new dress. I did want something new, though, so I decided to make a necklace and earring set to wear! I am quite pleased with how it came out, though as usual it was hard to photograph.
It is funny how this is nothing at all how I intended it to look. I thought I had some wine colored freshwater pearls the same color as the dress I planned to wear, but when I compared them, the pearls were too orange and didn't coordinate with the darker color. I also had planned to use crystals with the pearls for some sparkle, but I tried a few different variations and couldn't get it to look right.
Still, I really love these iridescent pearls, and the necklace came out just the right length. I tried to take a picture so you could see the necklace on, but this was all I could get. I need to follow up with my New Year's goal of procrastinating less and figure out how to use my digital camera better for things like this!
In other news, I got a walking foot for my sewing machine yesterday! I am very excited to try it on my next quilting project. Maybe I can finally finish Wedding Quilt #2!!
Labels: jewelry
Easy Necklaces
I have so many lovely beads and I want to be able to show them off, so I whipped up some more
quick necklaces over the weekend.
Sorry the pictures aren't that great - I miss my beautiful afternoon sunlight when I get home from work! It was dark again today when I got home, and these pictures were actually taken this morning.
The green bead above is from the same auction as the beads in
this necklace and it's a beautiful milky green - very hard to capture on camera.
I love the glow of the faceted vintage crystal. I also made a necklace with one of these yellow beads but could not get a picture I was satisfied with:
Okay, time to go sew up a quick jewelry pouch - a coworker of Peter's loved the
jewelry set I made for the United Way auction and requested an identical set as a gift for his wife, to be paid for in real money! Very exciting. I made the set this weekend but want a little cloth pouch to present it in.
Labels: jewelry
Quick Update
I've actually been quite productive this weekend, but don't have too much to show for it. I'm finally making progress on some of my scrapbooking - I'm mostly just a photo album girl, but I have a few major scrapbooks I'm working on, including an
anniversary album to keep for myself. I also got a lot of work done on the other wedding quilt. I'm still learning a lot even on this second try.
Here is the one thing I do have to post... a super simple necklace with a vintage bead I got on eBay a while ago:
The nice thing about making jewelry is how quick it is. I like this loose bead look, but I think next time I'll make the wire a little longer so it's not
quite so much a choker. Still, it looks great with this shirt!
Labels: jewelry
eBay Score
I found a wonderful lot of green vintage beads on eBay a while back. I finally got around to making a necklace out of some of them.
There are still a lot of beads left over from the auction so I'm looking forward to figuring out another project for them!
Labels: jewelry
Coral & Onyx
My mom received her birthday present last night, so I can finally post it! I love how this set came out.
It is made with sponge coral and onyx, and sterling silver. I had her in mind when I got all the supplies, so I was very happy when it looked wonderful on her!
I especially love the matching earrings. They're fun but elegant, and again look great on my mom!
It's hard to wait to post things I'm so happy about, but I wanted it to be a surprise... Speaking of happy - I got a totally awesome birthday present from my parents, but I'm trying to avoid a blog dry spell so I'll save it for tomorrow!
Labels: jewelry
Frosted Necklace
We spent all morning working in very hot weather (isn't it September??) on a Habitat for Humanity house. It was a lot of fun, but I am worn out! We had just a little while between Habitat and another commitment, and instead of doing any of the planned things on my list, I made a necklace to wear to dinner!
It hangs quite nicely:
And since the beads are white, I can wear it with anything!
Labels: jewelry
Chalcedony Pendant
I finally made a necklace with one of the
chalcedony pendants I got a while back.
Combined with the amazonite cubes and tiny butterscotch-colored freshwater pearls, I think it is quite pretty.
It is about 16" long plus the pendant, and I think it will go with a lot in my closet. Here's the full necklace:
Matching earrings to come!
Labels: jewelry
