Ingredients are assembled.....

My Bead Soup Party ingredients are gathered together and will go into the mail to my partner, Jes Brower, by this weekend.  I'm looking forward to another challenge and welcome the chance to work with components that I didn't pick out for myself.  I hope that Jes likes what I chose.  I actually chose my ingredients before I got my partner, but I think they are challenging enough for jewelry designers of all levels.  I know if I received them, I would have to sit and stew with them quite a while before coming up with something to make. (Not to scare Jes or anything.)

I've also been busy making and trying to sell some earrings.  I appear to be in an earring creating frame of mind.  A good deal of last year was spent making necklaces that went exactly nowhere.  They are wrapped up and waiting for a better time to shine.  I think my regular customers were just not in the mood for necklaces.  Anyway, my earring inventory is running at about 30 to 40 pair right now.

I've also discovered that the best way to photograph my products are on the window sill in the family room.  It is an East facing window and gets great morning sun.  It really gets great light all day long actually.  The sill itself is snarly old wood that looks great in pictures.  I think that I'll be taking all of my pictures here.  See for yourselves....

These are straight out of my phone with no editing.  I ran them through Pickmonkey to create the collage, but that's it.  Obviously they need to be tweeked a bit, but the light and background are great.

Not bad at all...


HAPPY CREATING TO ALL...

Finally....

Better late, than never.  I was very excited to be choosen (even if it was ramdomly) for Lorelei's Twelve Days of Christmas.  I love these types of challenges.  I need to be forced to move out of my box, sometimes.  My problem wasn't creating something, it was getting it together and getting it out there.  But, seeing as how I wasn't putting ANYTHING out there, doing this challenge wasn't the real problem at all.

However, the days are getting longer and I'm feeling much more energetic.  I have been making lots of earrings, which seems to be my thing right now.  They are sellling and people are asking for more.

So, what did I get for my Twelve Days of Christmas.  I put together collages to make it easier to show what I received.

The first four days were from:  Lorelei, Me, Suzette, and Jodi.




Then I received gifts from:  Therese, Amy, Melissa and Erin.

And last, but not least...

Melissa's Mom sent along the beautiful snowflake, Suzanne, Rita and Gina.



Thank you to everyone that sent gifts and played along.


HAPPY CREATING

 

 

 

LETS BEGIN AGAIN.....

So it has been waaaay to long since I was on here sharing whats been going on.  Mostly the new job has been going on.  I had one and a half weeks with my trainer and then she left on medical leave for several weeks....talk about trial by fire.  But I did come out the other side, better for it as is always the case when these things happen.

Then there is the usual winter blahs that have been my bane for several years now.  I always struggle with this, but stress always makes it so much harder.  I tried those light boxes one time, man, talk about manic.  I have found that the best thing for me to do is take my meds and work on keeping myself busy.  So, I have gotten back to making my jewelry and I will work harder at being better blog parent.

To that end...I know that I owe a post about Lorelei's 12 Days of Christmas.  I did create something and send them out to everyone, I just owe the post about what I received in return.  I have one more photo to take, and I've been playing with Picmonkey to create a collage, and then I'll get that up.

The other thing that is going on is Lori Anderson's Bead Soup Blog Party.  I've signed up for that again.  I has so much fun the last time that I played, I knew I had to sign up again.  I've been waiting for the sign ups for months now (along with everyone else, I'm sure!).  So, Lori, when you are checking out blogs, please forgive me for not posting recently and please, please, please let me participate in the party.  I promise to get back to posting at least twice a month, if not more.

That's it for now.  I feel good enough to begin again, making jewelry and blogging.  And because I need to try and have more humor in my life right now .....

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Creating....

7000 Blue Bracelets

Back in October, Sue asked for bloggers to sign up to make and donate blue bracelets for the Global Genes Project.  Basically, the bracelets are given to family members of people with rare genetic disorders.  The bracelets are a reminder that they are not alone, that people are thinking of them and that someone cares.  I think this is a very easy way to let someone else know that you care.  All that was required of me was a little time, some blue beads and a little creativity.  Oh, and postage.

Here is the bracelet I created.  I used my new fold forming skills to create a heart that speaks for its self.  I hope that who ever ends up with this bracelets likes what I created.  Blue is not really my color of choose, but I really like this piece.  I made it ajustable, as asked, because you don't know who the pieces are going to.

Hop on over to Sue's place to see all the other participants and what they have created.  And, please, think about creating your own blue bracelet to add to the 7000 Bracelets For Hope.


HAPPY CREATING....

WHOOT! WHOOT!!

I got picked!!! One of my favorite designers is hosting a Christmas gift swap and I was lucky enough to get picked.  I can't believe it happened.  I was the second person to leave a comment and when you're that low in the count, you usually aren't lucky enough to get choosen by the random draw.  So, I'm a very lucky girl, indeed.

Lorelei Eurto, has been kind enough to act as hostess for this gift swap and I can't wait to get started making the 11 gifts that I have to get done before December 1st.  I am in the second group, so I get to make whatever I want, as long as it is handmade.  I haven't decided yet if I want to do all jewelry or something else, or a mix match of jewelry and other things.  I'm a crafty person, so there are lots of other things that I make, and I should be able to come up something.  There is something about the holidays that really brings out the need to create in me.  For the past two years our extended family Christmas celebrations have been totally handmade.  Not everyone has appreciated this, but I thought it was fun.

Keep checking back to see how I'm doing with creating 11 gifts.  It's going to be a challenge for sure.  On December 25th we begin to open our gifts, and will open one gift a day for the next 11 days.  I'm a greedy girl, and this is right up my alley.  There will be more posts to follow as I make gifts and then when we, as a group, open our gifts.  Fun, fun, fun to come!!!!

HAPPY CREATING!!!

 

 

 

PAY IT FORWARD: HANDMADE ....

So, quite a while ago there was this idea for the makers of handmade products to make some thing with their own two hands and pay it forward to folks who also appreciate handmade objects.  In this case the products were handmade jewelry items.  I wanted to join in, but every time I saw the notice on someones blog, I was too late.  Then, I heard about someone who was waiting for people to comment on her invitation to join in this gathering of like-minded folks.  I commented, and became an official member of the Pay It Forward: Handmade clan.


Cassi, from Beads: Rolling Downhill, was good enough to allow me to play along, and I knew that at some point in the next 365 days, I would receive a surprise in the mail.  A few days ago I did go to my mailbox and found said surprise waiting for me.  How fun to receive something special out of the blue.  Cassi sent me two pair of lovely earrings that are so up my alley.  Please forgive the pictures, I just couldn't get the colors to come out right.

The bottom pair have the word Laugh stamped on them and are made of polymer clay, as are the little yellow hearts.  The top pair are Czech glass flowers in a beautiful red.  I love both pair. 

This was so much fun.  One of the things that I promised to do is to Pay It forward, myself.  I have yet to do my post asking for comments, because everyone seemed to already be on the bandwagon, so I figured I would give it a little time to calm down and then make the offer and see it I could get any takers.

Here is the jist of how this works:  For the first three commenter's that leave their email address, I will promise to make something handmade and mail it to you at some point in the next 365 days.  It will be totally random and a nice gift from me to you.  I will get your regular mailing address and ask a few questions to be used as guidelines.  You, as the recipient, will create a blog post inviting three people to play along, in essence Paying it forward.  How about it, any takers????

Cassi, thank you so much for the beautiful gift.  I will enjoy these earrings, and every time someone asks where I got them, I can say they are a handmade surprise gift from a nice person that I have never met.  But, she is someone with a kind and generous heart.

HAPPY CREATING.....

MY FIRST TIME EVER...

to fold form metal.  I love the ideal of manipulating sheets of metal into forms that create beautiful jewelry.  I've watched others who seem to effortlessly fold metal into three dimensional shapes and wished that I could do that.  It always seemed to me that it would take the skill and strength of a seasoned blacksmith to be able to heat and pound metal into shapes and forms that come alive with fluidity.  In one sense I was right, but in a  bigger sense I was so wrong.

A while ago I received my issue of STEP BY STEP WIRE JEWELRY, (Aug-Sept issue).  In it are instructions for a Battered Heart bracelet by Abbi Berta, using basic fold forming techniques.  I thought about it and read the article several times, and then I pulled out the torch and hammer and gave it a try.  It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.  My product isn't going to win any awards, but we all have to start somewhere...

These are basic, first tries, BUT I DID IT.  I cut, heated, folded, pounded and shaped my way through my first metal fold forming attempt and I did okay.  Now, I want to run out and take a blacksmithing class.  It was so much fun turning a flat, shinny piece of copper into something with character and soul.  Jewelry is always satisfying to me because, no matter how a piece turns out, someone, somewhere will love it.  You, as the designer, just have to get the piece into the hands of the person that it calls to.  Fold formed jewelry has always called to me, and now, I can make it.  How great is that?

Onward and upward, who knows what I can create with lots more practice and inspiration.

HAPPY CREATING, Y'ALL