Simple Joys

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!  This is a picture of my first heart rock.  I'd been seeing pictures of other heart rock finds and collections that people have posted for the past few years now (ever since I started blogging actually) and I've always wanted to find one.  Well, this one was actually given to me.  A co-worker was placing rocks in her orchid plant a couple of months ago when she found this rock and said, "Look!"  I looked over and exclaimed, "Ooo a heart rock!"  She smiled and said, "Here, you can have it."  "No, you have to keep it.  It's a heart rock!" I said to her.  She insisted that I have it.  I love it!  And I'm so excited to post it here on Valentine's Day!  Thank you Carrie!  Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

 

Little Valentine Cuties

Wow.  It's been a long time since I've posted.  I've thought about it so many times.  I've even planned what pictures I'd use or what things I could post about but never got around to doing it.  So bad.  I'm such a slow transitioner.  I started back to work full-time a couple of years ago and fell out of so many things - exercising, crafting (everything but jewelry), Christmas cards (haven't sent any the past two Christmases), keeping in touch with people, keeping the car maintenanced, putting pictures in albums, and on and on, and of course . . . blogging. 

Well, I am yet again going to attempt to blog more frequently, with hopes that somehow it will be the catalyst to bringing back other enjoyable and/or important things in my life that have been put aside.

I've wanted to do some other crafting besides jewelry for some time now.  Actually, the first project was this Christmas.  Ray and I combined our resources and made some adorable jars of candy for all the clerical staff and P.O.s in our unit (P.O.= probation officers).  They turned out really well and Ray even personalized each one with their first name initial.  Sorry, no pics.

Okay, I know, nothing about this post so far has anything to do with the title of the post - "Little Valentine Cuties" - but I had to do a little catching up.  Sooo . . .  Ray and I again pulled our resources together and made these little valentine cuties for everyone!

Ray has a wonderful diecut machine called a "Cricut Expressions".  It cut all the templates for the boxes.  It still took time to score and put together all the boxes, but it would have been a huge task to also cut out all the templates without this machine.  Actually, it would have been next to impossible because with the Cricut, we could customize the size of the box!  How cool is that?  We programed it to 4", but if you plan on making these, use 4 1/4".  Ours came out a little tight but we found out a little late - grin.  We just gently tapped down the slight arch on the last candy - ha! ha!  We made it in three colors - pale pink, dark pink, and red.

We didn't plan this, but the word "Bliss" fits perfectly in the heart shaped window!  Ray also had cellophane with little hearts on it so she cut pieces out and taped them to the back of the windows.  So cute!

We also didn't plan it, but the heart cutouts worked perfectly for out tags.  We tied them on with red and white bakers string.  No waste with this project!  Yay!

Here they are already to gift!  Have a Happy Valentine's Day!!

 

The Pics I Promised

Here are the pics I promised days ago - finally.  These bunch of pics are very poor in quality.  I must have been really shaky when I took them.  They are pretty much all out of focus, but I hope you can get through them okay.  Sorry.

First of all, I have to totally apologize to Andy.  She gave me this cute bag as a giftie for starting my new job and I totally missed it in the pics in that post.  Not only did she give me this awesomely cute bag, but she gave me 3 bags of clothes to start me off at my new job!  It's the first time in 20+ years that I've had to actually "dress" somewhat decently (no scrubs, no shorts, etc.) for my job and I had nothing to wear!  She generously donated her very expensive and cool clothes help me out.  OMG!  She is so generous!  I have been wearing them and getting compliments on them all the time!  Several of them still had the tags on!  I could have never afforded the kind of clothes she gave me and I am totally appreciative of her generosity.  Thank you, thank you, thank you Andy!

Here's an inside view of the bag.  It has a drawstring closure/lining and pockets!  So cool!

Rendy also gave me a Scrapbook Page a Day calendar (sorry, no pic because it's at work), a little sachet that she made and other goodies!  She also was so thoughtful and brought me a whole bunch of bus schedules before I started and went through each one, explaining how to read the time schedules and maps so I would know which buses to catch.  She is a doll.  Thank you Rendy!

Yuck!  Okay, I know this next picture is the worst.  These are earring I finally made to go with the gold and silver lariat I made a while ago.  I'm so glad I got them done!  I was meaning to do it for so long.  I really like them although it's such an awful picture.

I actually made a few more pairs of earring at the same time, but I couldn't find them to take the pictures.  I guess it's just as well since I obviously didn't have my picture taking mojo on this day.  Which reminds me of the night I made these earrings.  We had dinner at Kathy's house.  Steak and King crab legs, baked pototoes with an awesome sourcream topping, super delicious salad, and a sinful chocolate cake!  It was such a wonderful evening!  Not only did I get earrings made for several necklaces that I had been meaning to do for a while, I also got to see the long British version of Pride and Prejudice!  Such a wonderful movie.  I was at Sam's club yesterday so I looked for it, but they only had Sense and Sensibility.  I really want to get the Pride and Prejudice DVD's.  Oops!  Okay, sorry for that tangent.  Back to pictures.

This green stone necklace was inspired by a necklace I saw at the Soft Flex show I worked at in March.  The one I saw had different stones and pearls in greens that were wire wrapped to each other to make a chocker length necklace.  I really liked the idea of using all the different green stones and pearls.  I used a couple of different chains that I had to link my stone together. 

Elaine suggested another way of wearing this necklace.  It's a two-in-one!  I love it!  Thanks Elaine!

This necklace was originally made for me by my husband (who actually started making jewelry before me!)  I wanted to wear it to work with an outfit one day and it was too small!  I had to lengthen it to wear it - Oiy.  Here it is all ready for me to wear with my outfit!

This bracelet is made with vintage glass beads I just fell in love with.  I just loved their shape when I found them at the Talisman booth at the Whole Bead Show that was here a few months ago.  This picture is so awful, but the vintage glass is faceted and flat, not round.  I wanted to keep the bracelet simple so I could enjoy the vintage beads.  The bracelet is longer than I usually wear my bracelets and just dangles.  I love it!

 

Well, that's it for now.  I just made a couple more earrings tonight.  I'll post them a little later.  Maybe I'll find the other earrings and post them with my new ones.  I'll sign off with pictures of our youngest family members - the furry ones.

Pal relaxing in the sun on the front steps.

Mocha checking out the ants.

Bye! 

Troubling Thought Process

I was rode the bus this morning, as I usually do, to get to work.  This morning was no different.  I caught the bus when it was still dark.  The air was warm and there was no wind.  I had to hurry down the hill because I knew I was cutting it close and I didn't want to miss the bus.  Just as I crossed the street to the bus stop, the number 54 appeared at the intersection.  I got on the bus expecting the cool air-conditioned air to greet me as I stepped up.  Yuck.  It was warm and muggy.  The windows were fogged up.  I guess the bus driver was cold (or had a cold).  Even his windshield kept fogging up.  He finally turned the a/c up and it started to get cool as we merged onto the freeway.  What this also did was clear the windows just as the sun started to come up and brighten the morning sky.  I looked out the windows as it cleared and thought, "What a beautiful time of day - dawn.  It looks like it's going to be a beautiful day."  Then I stopped myself.  I thought, "What if it turns out to be a tragically awful day?  Anything could happen.  I better not jinx it.  I better not notice the beauty of the morning.  If it turns out to be a terrible, tragic day, the pendulum swing from beauty to tragedy may be to great.  Too much of a risk."  I noticed what had just happened in my mind and was very troubled that I would allow a beautiful thought and a beautiful moment get extinguished so quickly by negative and fearful thoughts.  Auwe! 

I took some pictures yesterday afternoon.  Hopefully, I'll be able to post tonight.

Starting a New Job!

Well, tomorrow will be my first day as a state employee.  It will also be the first time in almost 30 years that I have to actually "dress up" for work (I wore scrubs at the hospital and really casual clothes at the bead shop.)  It will be the first time I will be catching the bus to go to work since there is no parking available downtown, and I got my first bus pass ever!  I'm a bit nervous, but I think it'll be good.

Health: Since my last post 2 months ago, I have had strep throat and intestinal flu.  Yuck!!!  Hopefully, I'll be healthy for a while now since I'm starting this new job.  I don't want to call in sick in the beginning!  I actually didn't get sick at the bead shop for about 10 months before I got the strep throat.  Got my OB check up done this week so predictably I won't be going back for another year!  Yay!  BP was okay, but again, this doc said the weight has got to come down.

Exercise:  Not yet, but I'm hoping I'll get more exercise in since I have to catch the bus and walk to and from the bus stops.  Since I should be reaching home about one and a half to two hours earlier, I'm hoping to get about 40 minutes of exercise in as soon as I come home (either on the treadmill or one of my videos.)  We'll see how it goes.

Creating:  I'm still beading and have a few pic to share below.

Oh, last night was the last performance of Iolani Schools, "The Wiz."  It was awesome!  I was so impressed!  All the kids and adult directors and choreographer did a great job.  It was one of the most enjoyable plays put on by a high school that I have seen yet.  My dd did a great job, had a fabulous time and wants to tryout again next year!

Okay, enough talking, here are some pics:

First and foremost, here are some gifties from friends:

Elaine went to the Tucson bead shows and to CHA in Anaheim.  She brought me all kinds of goodies!  There were gemstone beads, glass beads, findings, a bead spinner, leather components, a pashmina wrap, a Miyuki glass bead card, a Simple Joys sign that she made, and all placed in this cool bag!

Karen brught me back some goodies too!  Some cool strands - coin pearl, opalite glass, and turquoise chunks:

Donna also brought me back some cool gifties!  A button card with awesome buttons and a Clover pin (I collect pins!)  Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of them, but trust me, they are way cool! 

Now for some awesome "leaving one job and starting a new one" gifties:

Sandy created this super cool and thoughful gift basket:

It's an office survival basket!  Here's some closeups of what's in it:

Okay, how cool is this tag?  OMG!

 

And all of this was in a cool green (yes, green!) and white striped box!

Kathy gave me this Russian Leaf Necklace kit from Crystal A-1.  I don't have a picture to show you what the finished necklace looks like, but it is absolutely beautiful!  I'll post pics when I'm finished making it.

Karen took some of us out to dinner as a Bella Beads farewell.  She gave me this beautiful polymer pendant:

 

Thank you all so much for your thoughtfulness, creativity, and generosity.  I really appreciate all the wonderful gifts and all of your precious friendships. 

Here are some bead pics:

This is a simple beaded bead I made following directions in the book, "The Art and Elegance of Beadweaving" by Carol Wells

I made several and strung them into a necklace with other glass beads.

Deb and Sandy started making another beaded bead from the same book.  I decided to modify the shape to a smaller one and then Sandy and I together decided to modify it again using a different size bead for a particular row in the beaded bead.  I copied Deb's colors exactly.  Thank you guys!  Sandy made hers with a bead combination we had bought together.  I haven't done that color combination yet, but I will post it when I do.

The next two bracelets were inspired by Andy.  She made two bracelets almost identical to these and I copied them using some of the beads I had, but most of the beads came from Andy.  She also gave me the chain, the cool leaf, the dragonfly and thai silver beads to use.  Andy is super generous and talented.

I love brass!  I made these simple drop tulip earrings.  It's the first time I used the large kidney earwires.  They're pretty cool!

Amanda made this cool polymer clay ring and gifted me with it!  I love it!  The colors are so-o-o cool!

I made this bracelet using a pattern from either Beadwork or Bead and Button.  Sorry, I can't remember right now.*  The one in the magazine was done with carnelian rectanlgles and wasn't floral.  I had these MOP rectangles for a while and kept it in the back of y mind looking for a cool project.  A customer had come into the shop in October or November last year with a floral garden bracelet done in black, bronze and bone.  I loved the color combo and kept that in the back of my mind too.  When I saw the carnelian bracelet it just came together (although it looks really different because of the components used.)  I love it when that happens.  When a project comes together like that.

* At the request of Barb, I was able to locate the mag with the pattern.  It's the Aug/Sept 2007 issue of Beadwork, page 66-67.  Thanks Barb for the request!  I've been meaning to look it up.

   

Karen had a puffy heart necklace in the shop and I wore it one day since I didn't have any jewelry on.  I loved it.  I'm not usually into the crystal beaded objects and critters.  I love to look at them, just not make them.  I really wanted to do this one (maybe because it was so close to Valentines, plus it was strung on a yummy gunmetal chain.)  Sandy said she had a pattern for it and that it was pretty easy.  I bought the crystals and she taught me how to make it!  Yay!  Thank you Sandy!  I messed it up a little when I was reinforcing at the end so I'm thinking of redoing it. 

 

Well, that's it for now.  Wish me luck on my new job!  I hope it doesn't rain tomorrow morning when I have to catch the bus!  Ha! Ha!   

A Belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Hope everyone had a very merry Christmas and a wonderful New Years celebration!  We had a nice simple Christmas this year and a great welcoming the new year celebration. 

Here's a little update on some things in my life:

Exercise:  Still on that "to do" list of getting into my regular routine.  Ugh!

Health:  Got scoldings from my doc about my weight - gained 20 pounds in the last 4 months.  That means, of the 35 pounds I lost last year when I was all gung ho on the exercising and eating well kick, I've gained back 30.  Yuck!  I am currently home sick - sore throat, coughing, sinus problems, and had a little fever yesterday - double yuck!

Job:  Still working full-time at the bead shop.

Family:  New family member!  Pics will follow!

Creating:  Have made some new jewelry! Pics will follow.  Am starting to really crave working in other mediums again.  Perhaps I'll do something with paper and collage, or soldering, or painting, or fabric.  I don't know.  I'll look through some of the new books/mags I got.

Okay, enough boring facts.  Here's some pics of some jewelry I've made in the last 2 months and our surprise addition to our family!

I learned this design for encasing the Swarovski Rivolis from Karen at Bella Beads - thank you Karen!  She did a bracelet, but I just stuck to earrings.  I'm not much of a "blingy" person.  I got the color mixture from Kathy - thanks Kathy!  It's a wonderful combination!  The pattern for turning the rivoli into earrings came from Elain.  Thank you Elaine!

Here's a different color rivoli in the same earring pattern:

Elaine made some earrings like these and I just loved them!  They were so simple, but so nice!  She gave me the materials to make them, so these are my pair!  Thank you Elaine!

Elaine also made a lariat that matches with the earrings above.  I again, had to have one, so I made one too!  Here's my lariat:

Here's a close up:

Andy showed me some of her bracelets at our family new years celebration and I fell in love with them.  I am in the process of making a few of them.  Here's one that I've completed.  Her cousin made it for her.  I did it slightly different, but I just love it!  It's so textural and funky!  Thank you Andy!

I made some cutesy flower drop earrings.  They were fun and fast to make. Jenna has already chosen a pair for herself.

Kammie made some valentine earrings that were so cute I had to have a pair.  Elaine, Kammie and I got together and made some.  I wore them the next day! Here they are:

 

This is a new bracelet at Bella Beads that Karen and Sandy came up with.  It's called the "Mardi Gras" bracelet.  Great name Sandy!  It was so "happy,"  I had to make one!

I bought a kit at Bead Gallery for this lariat and earrings.  I finished the lariat.  I like that it uses both gold filled and sterling silver chain.   

And now the best part of this post! The new little addition to our famiy:

Oops, she's being a little shy.

Here she is!  Our little Mocha!

That's all for now!  Bye!   

It's Been 6 Months! That's 1/2 a Year!

It really has been 6 months since my last post!  OMG!  Since starting my full-time "J-O-B" in April, I have not been able to get my time management in sinc.  I guess I was just too spoiled, not having worked full time at an outside job in 15 years!  My exercising is still on my list of things to get incorporated into my daily schedule.  Hopefully, this post is the beginning of a regular blogging schedule too.  I miss my blogging friends!  I have peeked in on a few blogs, but not really caught up with anyone (including my own!)  The one thing I have been doing is making some jewelry and learning some bead weaving techniques that I've wanted to try for some time.  I have a lot of pics to share so I won't be writing a lot on this post.  It's great to be posting again!

Here are pics of some of the jewelry I've made during the last  6 months:

The above two bracelets are simple strung bracelets.  The top one is done with chinese crystals and swarovski crystals from Bella Beads.  The bottom one is done with a kit from Creations By You.

I purchased some jewelry made with brass findings from some indie artists and reallly like them!  I decided to start making jewelry with brass findings and I love the vintage look.  I want to make a lot more.  I have some simple designs with simple stringing in mind for bracelets, necklaces and earrings.

This is another pair of earrings made with some brass findings.

I normally don't do Halloween, but a customer came into the shop and inspired me to make this bracelet (Thanks Catherine!)  I also bought some orange beads and used little green flowers turned upside down for the leaves on the earrings.  I wanted to use the earring findings and combined some crystals and the mini pumpkins to make these earrings.  The findings are really fun.  The loop opens on one side and you just string on whatever beads you want to.  You close the loop and crimp it and ta-daa!  So much fun!

This bracelet is done with peyote stitched tube beads, Swarovski crystals and button flowers.  Thanks Emilie for teaching it to me!  I made earrings to match.

These green earrings are made with Czech beads.  They are done with a Right Angle Weave stitch.  They were fun to do!  Karen from Bella Beads taught me how to make them.  I may put a couple pairs in my etsy (that has nothing in it right now due to neglect).  I have to start that up again soon!

These earrings are made with fun earring findings (from Bella Beads) just like the round ones I used for the Halloween earrings.  One side pulls out and you string on the beads you want.  You do a wire wrap for the center and ta-daa - you're done!  I love these!  I call them my "Raindrop" earrings!  Thanks Elaine for the perfect name for these earrings!

The bracelet above is called "Stirling's Bracelet" at Bella Beads.  Stirling made this bracelet with pearls years ago.  The same pattern has once again become popular in Hawaii and people are teaching the pattern under several different names.  This one is done with Swarovski crystals and pearls.  The turquoise earrings were fun to make.  I just wanted to try the wire beadcap technique and coiled the sterling wire down the turquoise briolettes.  I love them!

This is probably one of my most favorite bracelets right now.  I've wanted to make jewelry with river stones for several years now, but have never gotten around to getting river stones and learning how to drill them. We had a bead show here a few months ago and Elaine and Deb were working for Soft Flex (the company that put on the show).  Their booth had these onyx pebbles that were already drilled and looked like stones!!!  I was so excited!!  Deb made her friend Steph a bracelet out of the pebbles and inspired me to make this one that is very similar to the one she made (thanks Deb!)  I used the onyx pebbles, thai silver seed beads, a thai silver leaf and clasp, a sterling silver bead that says, "Family," and tiny faceted onyx rondelles. I am absolutely thrilled with it (yes, I'm doing a little dance!) 

This is a bead crocheted necklace that I finally finished.  I had made a bead crocheted bangle last year and was not happy with it.  I decided that bead crochet was not for me.  Then, Sandy came into the store with a bead crochet she was working on.  I really liked it!  I decided to try it again.  With a lot of help from Sandy, this is what I made and I love it!  The focal bead is from Calvin Orr.  He is a local lampwork bead artist that does fabulous work!  It was the perfect bead for this project!  I kind of worked backwards (yet again) and started the crochet without knowing what I would do with it.  I paused after doing some crochet and decided I would make a necklace instead of a bracelet.  Then I had to look for a focal bead (yes, my backward approach).  I stopped working on the crochet for a few weeks until I found this bead at the bead show.  I brought the crochet with me and Calvin helped me pick out this perfect match!  I found the other beads and the sterling beadcaps at Bella Beads.  Thank you so much Sandy for renewing my interest in bead crochet and helping me create this piece!

At the bead show, a woman had a booth full with seed bead jewelry  done by women from different tribes.  I was fascinated because I had been wanting to do brick stitched earrings after seeing it in one of my beading books.  Amanda helped me learn the brick stitch that I used to make these earrings. All the beads for these came from Bella Beads.  They were really fun to make and I am planning on making more in different colors and using different beads.

These polymer clay earrings were made by Amanda and given to me as a gift.  I love them!  Her workmanship is awesome and so intricate.  Thank you Amanda!

 

Emily taught a herringbone necklace class at Bella Beads a few months ago.  I've wanted to learn that stitch ever since.  Lynn helped me one day when she came in to volunteer.  I picked out my beads (size 8/0) and started this necklace.  I finished it with a beaded toggle and clasp that I tried for the first time also.  I think I could've done a lot better on the clasp.  I wasn't going to hang a pendant on this, but had the perfect leaf already in my stash.  I did a simple wire wrap so if i get tired of the leaf (which I doubt, because I love leaves!) I can just cut it off.

I did the top necklace with different stones and pearls just as a fun project using gunmetal wire.  I love gunmetal wire!  Elaine made the above necklace also with gunmetal and different stones and beads and hung an amberlike pendant on it.  She gifted me with this necklace and I wear the two together,  They look great together!  Thank you Elaine!!

Close up of Elaine's gift to me!

Karen - owner of Bella Beads, taught me this rivoli pendant.  I decided to put it on a herringbone necklace.  I did it with 15/0 seed beads.  I started out with a color that I thought went with my rivoli pendant, but it wasn't quite right.  Because I was using the 15/0's and had gotten a couple of inches already done, I didn't want to start over.  I decided I would gradually introduce the correct color randomly and see what happened.  I'm pleased with how it turned out.  I don't know if I'll ever do another herringbone necklace with 15/0's again though!  It took a really long time! Sandy convinced me to make the toggle with Swarovski crystals.  I like it.  Thank you Sandy and Karen!

A customer came in and told me about these Russian leaves that she had just learned and she really loved them.  I asked her to bring it in the next time.  They were absolutely beautiful!  The one's she made were done with Swarovski crystals mixed in - wow!  Just by coincidence, Sandy was also planning to do some Russian leaves and Joanne came in saying she was working on Russian leaves.  It was really freaky how we were all on the same "beading wave."  About a month later, there was a Russian leaf project in Bead and Button!  Go figure!  I did these with just seed beads, but love how they came out.  They are done with a diagonal peyote stitch.  They are pretty fun to do!  Not a boring project at all.  The combinations that you could do are endless.  I just love leaves and am thrilled to learn any type of leaf. Thank you Anne and Sandy!

The above earrings were done as a "make it and take it" a while ago at Bella Beads (before I worked there.)  I wanted to learn it so Elaine showed me how to make them.  I really like the look.  The technique is a twisted wire technique.  Thank you Elaine!!

This is my current project.  I call these beads my "frog eyes."  I shouldn't have named them, because now I'm kind of attached to them!  I just hold them in my hand and roll them around and want to keep them like this - aiyyy!  I was going to use them to do a seed beaded necklace project from a current bead magazine which I'm not sure if it's Bead and Button or Beadwork, but I'm thinking I might just wire them to brass chain.  I'm making about 17 or so of them and will wait for inspiration on what to do with my "frog eyes."

So, I guess that's it for this post.  Hope to post again soon!  Bye!

      

New Cuff

Okay, I know this post is titled, "New Cuff," but I have to quickly update a little of everything.  Exercise:  I just started back to walk/jogging today - again.  Yes, I went three times three weeks ago and then nada.  I went to the doctor last week and got the lecture - again.  So today is a new day!  I'm back to my routine.  Hopefully it is a routine and not so sporadic!  I'm such a slow transitioner.  Once one thing changes in my life (j-o-b this time)  I get all thrown off.  Okay, enough whining. 

Health - last check up last week - not good.  Gained 12 pounds back from the 35 I lost.  Yuck.  Cholesterol went up 30 points - however, not all of that is bad cholesterol.  My good cholesterol and triglycerides were much better this time.  Bad cholesterol is worse too though.  M.D. advice - get back on track!

Okay, now for the fun part of this post (for me anyway), my new cuff!  I took a class this weekend for the Hawaiian Bracelet at Bella Beads.  I had my own way of doing it, but I wanted to learn Emelie's way and I'm gladd I did.  It's much easier.  Sorry, no picture of the bracelet yet, it's not finished.  Emelie showed me a cuff after class and I bought everything to make it.  I finished it a 5am Sunday morning!  Here's some pics.  I used burgundy artistic wire, freshwater pearls (from Bella Beads), glass, bali silver, pewter, some kind of stone bead, rose quartz, base metal spacers (from Bella Beads), the coolest iridized pearls (from Bella Beads) and memory wire.  I like it.  I want to make another one in a different color.  Maybe with only 5 rows.  Hmmm . . . . we'll see.  Anyway, here's the pictures.

The first picture is the front, then the back.

Gotta get ready to go to work! Okie dokie - bye!

Floral Inchies!

My floral inchies arrived a few days ago!  I haven't gotten to take a picture of them all.  They are so cool!  Little one inch works of art from all these different people.  It's way cool.  Here's a pic from the group site:

This was a fun swap!

Flowers from the Vine Bracelet

I took a class at Bella Beads this past Saturday.  That in itself was a rare thing because I think I've only taken maybe 4 classes in the last 12 years since I've been making jewelry.  The class was called Flowers from the Vine and was given by artist Lilla Le Vine.  I really enjoyed making this bracelet. Lilla was very generous, sharing with us her personal stash of hand dyed silk velvet, 18kt gold woven ribbon that she says you can't get anymore, antique buttons, and other embellishments.  Her freeform style was refreshing and brought out the creativity in everyone.  It resulted in everyone's bracelet being unique and different, but every single one was gorgeous!  If you have the Somerset Studio special publication, Belle Armoire Jewelry Vol.2, the bracelet along with a matching necklace and brooch are on page 53.  It was so nice to learn something new and the best part was that Val and I took the class together!  We haven't "played" in so long since we are now both working so much.  What a wonderful Mother's Day gift to ourselves!

Here's some pics:

Some beautiful bracelets made from the class participants.

My bracelet:

Happy Mother's Day!

Finished Deb's Bracelet

Here's the finished Deb's Garden Bracelet.  I just had to add the leaves on.  I added them on in sort of a random fashion.  This bracelet was pretty fast to make.  Sorry, the pattern is someone else's so i can't give it out without permission.

Long Time No Blog

Long time no blog (pidgin english for "It's been a long time since I've blogged).  I have been quite busy with my schedule at Bella's and keeping up with the kids schedule and family things and my own creative endeavors.  I've been working at the store four days a week and helping out sometimes in between.  It's a great place to work!

Club volleyball season is coming to an end as well as the school year and the schedule is pretty hectic.  It's manageable though with everyone chipping in.  The transition of going back to work has been gradual (thank goodness) and pretty much pain free (thanks to having a great place to work and a flexible husband, mom and kids).  I am a slow transitioner though and still have not quite got everything time managed yet.

Oh, oh, oh!  I met Barb (of Acornbud's Yarns) at the store this past weekend!  It was so-o-o cool to meet her!  We chatted for a while.  It was great.  She's my first blogger friend that I met in person!  We do have other connections though (her father was my husband's and my pediatrician when we were kids - weird huh?).  Also, she lives next to my husband's uncle and aunt and my husband actually worked on her dad's house several times.  I was even going there for lunch when I was pregnant with my first daughter.  Such a small island.  It was so great to chat with you in person Barb!

Here's what I've been working on in my stolen creative moments:

This bracelet was a class offered at Bella Beads in April.  The class did one that was three rows wide.  Mine is five rows wide.  Karen did one like this and I loved it so much I had to make one.  I did a button and loop closure though because I found the perfect button in the store!

This bracelet is made with czech glass.  Karen had it hanging up on the back display wall and it caught my eye because, yes, I am still attracted to the cuff style bracelets.  I needed a black bracelet, so I decided this would be the perfect one!  I love it!  It's so comfortable!

I was inspired to make this ring by Angela who also helps Karen at the store.  She makes these types of rings and sells them at craft fairs.  She wouldn't let me buy one because she said I could make it.  She told me how to do it, and, well, my first attempts were not that great.  It's actually Karen's design and Karen taught her how to make it so I asked her for help.  She said she had changed her design a little since then and helped me fix it.  I love it now!  Yay!  Thanks Karen!

Here's one of my current projects.  It's Deb's Flower Garden bracelet.  Deb helps at the store on Sundays.  I am at the last step where I have to add the glass leaves.  It sits really comfortably on the wrist.  The base is a great one!  I love how it feels on.  I also had to use the new toggles we just got in with the little butterfly on it.  Too cute.  Sorry, you may not be able to see the butterfly since I forgot to take a close up of the toggle.  I'll try to remember to take one when I finish the bracelet.

Okie dokie, gotta go to the store!

Bye!

Jewelry Day with Val!

Val and I went on our last Thursday playday - :(  We went to global Village in Kailua, ate at Maui Tacos (yummy nachos!), Bead Gallery, and Creations By You.  It was a good time!  Val is going back to work full-time next week - no more Thursday playdays - boo.  We decided to play once a month on Saturday after sewing.  Yay!

Here are some jewelry we made on Thursday after playing and on Saturday.

The pieces for these earrings were all purchased at Global Village in Kailua.  We decided to go with copper wire and findings.  That is a copper cube bead at the top.  The rectangular piece is some kind of gemstone.  The circular disc is shell between copper daisy spacers.

We made these on Saturday.  We had a little over an hour to play before I had to pick up J from sewing.  Val usually goes to sewing with J, but hurt her knee while making jewelry with me on Thursday.

Oops.  Sorry, I guess I forgot to take this picture.  I'll post it as soon as I can take the picture. Sorry!

Here's the pic.  The one on the right is the one we designed together.  Val had the ceramic bead with the orange and blue spots.  We used what we had and combined and collaborated to come up with this one.  It took some time but it was fun!  Val had the blue semi precious gemstone beads from Bella Beads she purchased a while ago that was the perfect blue to match.  I had the orange carnelian round beads.

The earrings on the right was made with findings given to me by my friend Elaine.  She is so generous.  She gave me eight of these and a whole lot full of fresh water pearls, and gemstone chips and some other gemstone beads.  I gave two to Val to make earrings.  She made hers with leaf beads and other smaller beads to make it dangly - sorry no pic.  I made these with yellow jade rounds, gold filled balls, and yellow jade briolettes.  Thank you Elaine!!

Here's a bracelet I was working on this past week.  It's a pattern from Beadwork - April/May 2006 issue.  The pattern is called Serpentine Brocade Bracelet by Janel Gradowski.  I gave it to Val as a "mend soon" giftie.

Val made a coolio earring frame and gave me the extra supplies to make one.  She gave me the frame she had originally bought to make it with since she already had a cool round wooden frame.  The plastic mesh is from one of those bamboo massage seat cushions.  She found it at Saver's.  I took off the bamboo rectangles and saved it for another project (I know - I'm a major packrat.  Val dumped hers, I had to keep them.)  Here's how it turned out.

Here's a closeup of the earring hanging on it.

Thanks Val!  I love it! 

Shrug?

I forgot to post this crocheted shrug I did during my time away from cyber blog land.  It's supposed to be a shrug, but it didn't come out right.  Oh well, it's my first attempt at crocheting clothing.  I'm glad I did it.  I'm glad I did it with the cheapo Red Heart Yarn that I already had.  J modeled for me even though it's too big for her.  Thanks J!Here's the pics:

Here's some information on the patterns I used to make this:  I used a combination of patterns from a DIY network show - Uncommon Threads.  This episode had women who made a shrug, a shracket (shrug / jacket), and a shroat (shrug / coat).  I made the rectangle shrug first, but felt it was too small for my "rounded" figure - grin, so I added the instructions for the shracket.  Then I added some of the shroat to it.  On the show, that's how they did it.  The first woman made the shrug, then to make the shracket, you just add more to it and so forth for the shroat.

Keep creating!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!  I hope everyone is enjoying their Easter and hopefully time together with friends or family on this long weekend.  This year for some reason, the girls got Monday off too, which turned it into a 4 day weekend - whoo hoo!

I've been a very, very, bad blogger.  Let's see . . . what have I been doing in the past 3 weeks besides blogging?  Hmm . . . the girls were off on Spring break - T for one week and J for two weeks.  We cleaned, had a birthday sleepover, went to the movies, and basically enjoyed the time off from school.  Since the girls have been back at school, I've tackled my beads.  I haven't really organized them all properly in about 12 years!!  Yikes!! I thought it would take me a couple of days, but . . . it's now been over a week!  I'm almost done, but am waiting on some  acrylic box organizers that I ordered from the mainland to finish them up.  Hmm . . . I also finished our taxes - yay!  This is the latest I've done them in  . . . ? ? how many years? . . . well, since I was eighteen and filed my first tax returns.  Yup, I'm one of those that gets them done early (usually in the beginning of February) so I don't know what happened this year.  I'm just glad they are done!  I hate doing the taxes!!! 

I've also been creating and purchasing.  I'm going to overload this post with all the pics of the past three weeks in one long post.  Sorry, but it's the easiest way to catch up.  Plus, we have to get going to our Easter activites - bowling with volleyball and dinner at the in-laws.  So without further ado . . . here are the pics:

First of all, I am still in my "cuff craze phase" and had to make a couple these from this mag:

Here are the bracelets:

Here's a tip about making these bracelets.  When I did the fringe on the first one (the blue one) I pulled too tight and the bracelet got a little wavy.  You can't really tell when you wear it, but if you lay it flat you can tell.  Instead of doing the second one looser, I added another 11/0 bead on each of the curves outlining the bracelet before the fringe step.  If you plan on making this bracelet from the magazine, this may help.  The second bracelet lays flat and doesn't look any different with the added beads.

I am also into circles and discs right now.  While cleaning, I found some of my girl's scrap felt and went into this obsession to cut circles.  I didn't use a template.  I just cut.  It was weird.  I could actually "see" the circles I wanted to cut on the felt without drawing it.  My daughter J thought it was so weird.  I didn't realize it was pretty weird until she brought it to my attention.  Oh well, so I'm weird.  Here are the circles and a few other shapes.  All done in one evening.

I also purchased some circular beads from Creations By You in Hawaii.  It had been a long time since I purchased vintage glass and I kind of went a little crazy:

I also made some jewelry purchases:

I absolutely LOVE this piece from Jane Wynn:

These are from Global Village in Kailua Hawaii

I made an orange bracelet with a kit from Creations By You in Hawaii.  Then of course, I had to make earrings that would match.  I found some glass faceted rectangles at Bella Beads that inspired me to make the earrings.  I found the vintage square glass beads in my stash and added a couple crystals and gold filled 2mm balls.

I also made these earrings with rose quartz faceted rectangles (I'm really starting to like these rectangles!), fresh water pearls, and pink crystals.  I copied a pair that Karen made at Bella Beads. 

And finally, I crocheted an Easter basket for Val and put in a couple of goodies:

crocheted basket with pink tulle:

added some Dove chocolate eggs and ME inspired earrings:

and tied it up with cellophane, pink tulle and a precious Easter tag from Flea Market Studio!

Oh, I want to show you the ME inspired beads up close.  They were made by Karen from Bella Beads. 

These cute beads were the inspiration for the whole basket.  I wanted it to be all handmade items (except for the chocolate which I bought).  First I made the earrings.  I found a set of avian stamps that I purchased a little while ago and made the earring card.  Then I thought about purchasing a wicker basket since it would be like a nest.  I started looking for one, but couldn't find one I liked.  I was browsing through a crochet book and - lightbulb moment - thought of crocheting one!  The purchased handmade tag from Flea Market Studio with the vintage image was the finishing touch.  It was a basket full of handmade things from several different artists.  Cool.  Wait, did I just call myself an artist?  Ha! Ha!

Have a Happy Easter!

I'm Famous!

I have this box on the bottom left corner of my blog site that says,"sites linking here."  I don't know how it got there, but I like it there.  Anyway, today I clicked on one that I hadn't noticed before:

http://www.counterfeitchic.com/knockoff_newsbriefs/

and this is what it said,

"And finally, it seems that rampant commercial copying has sparked a bit of do-it-yourself imitation as well:

• Project knockoff:  Reporter constructs copy of LV Tribute Patchwork purse:

A shopper-style bag with a gold chain handle, the Tribute Patchwork is made up of samples of 15 bags from the Louis Vuitton spring/summer and cruise collections.

However, it is the most counterfeited brand in the world - just one per cent of all products claiming to be made by Louis Vuitton are genuine. With this in mind, the Tribute Patchwork was created not just for aesthetic effect but in conjunction with the company's anti-counterfeiting unit, which is confident that this may be the first Louis Vuitton product that cannot be faked.

A Louis Vuitton insider said: "It takes all the best parts of the season's creations and rolls them into one. We are confident that the bag is utterly exclusive and that it will remain so."

Well, I've got bad news for Louis Vuitton - I've made my own.

• Pin pricked:  Gap sued for stealing copyrighted zipper flower design

Not only does Brooklyn designer Kate Cusack have to contend with alleged copying by The Gap, but enterprising crafters are working on -- and publicizing -- their own versions.

That's my zipper flower.  Just to set the record straight, I only made it to see if i could make one of those $70.00 zipper flowers.  C'mon now, how could I not try it.  $70.00 for a zipper flower?  I have never sold one, nor do I have any intentions to.  Putting it on my blog was simply to share it with my friends.  I thought it was interesting.  So sue me.

If you look above at the Louis Vuitton bags, she (Susan) did the same thing and made her own.  Yikes - watch out Susan you may end up on a counterfeit watch blog!

Just me and my PMDD in full force.

More Inchies!

I've made more inchies for the swap I'm in.  The inchie swap members are growing so I decided to make the second batch.  I did flat collage instead of dimensional collage this time.  I also decided to border them with gold paint and ended up actually bordering the first set too. The members in the Yahoo group are "inchied out" in the discussions so I'm going to just quietly stick a photo in the inchie swap folder - he, heh.

Here's some pics:

This is the whole second group:

Here are some close ups:

I painted "gardenia - looking" flowers on these and embellished with words cut out of a magazine.

The rest are just collaged with cut out images and words from a magazine.

Okie dokie - gotta get ready to go to the bead shop!  Bye!

New Earrings!

Despite just getting over . . . yes, I'm going to say it one more time . . . the "dreaded stomach flu," I just had to pop in for a short while to the Whole Bead Show at Ward Warehouse.  I called Val and told her I would pick her up from work and we could go until we had to pick up J.  I told her I think I could make it through without fainting, but if I felt faint I would just sit down (he heh - I really wanted to go).  I picked her up and we headed straight to Ward Warehouse.  We had 1 1/2 hours to browse and shop.  I did feel light headed a couple of times, but got through it okay.  We then started out to pick up J, when she called asking if she could go with a friend and her mom and meet me at vball practice later.  Well . . . I knew I couldn't stay out much longer because I wasn't feeling all that great, but I wanted to take advantage of the few free hours we had.  We ended up going straight to my home and created some new earrings with our purchases!  I tell you, it is ten times more fun to create together with your best friend than it is to create alone!  It was so-o-o-o much fun!  Here are the earrings we made.  Yes, we made 3 of the same earrings!  Woo hoo!  We love them!

 

Princess Eggwhites New Fashions!

Val's been working on some egg cozies. She's got another one in the making, but I wanted to post these since they were done and so-o-o-o adorable! 

Here is Princess Eggwhites with two adorable cozies to keep her warm.  She will be modeling them in this post to show you how wonderful her new ensemble looks.

The first one is crocheted.  It sort of looks like a crown for a very special egg - Princess Eggwhites!  Here she is wearing her cozy crown:

Her second ensemble is made of wool felt and covers her entirely to keep her extra warm and cozy.  She especially loves the brightly colored wool felt flowers that adorn her cozy - just in time for Spring!

We couldn't close the show without showing you the wonderful cotton fabric that lines this adorable cozy.

Stay tuned for more Princess Eggwhite fashions coming soon!

Inching Along With My Inchies

I made some progress on my inchies.  This is the first twenty five.  I think I'm pretty much done with this batch.  I might border it with  metallic pen.  I'm not sure.  Here they are!

Here are some close ups:

I love these tiny creations.  They are so fun and addictive!

Bitten By A New Bug!

Okay, the "dreaded stomach flu" is on its way out.  Yay!  I'm feeling better today.  I finally ate something without it running right through.  I had a delicious bowl of udon.  Mmmm-m-m-m.  It was such a good choice.  Sorry no pic.  I ate it before thinking of taking a picture.  Anyway,  I know it's been a while since I posted, hence the two previous posts about things that happened in the previous week.  Today, I had just enough energy to tackle something new.  I took it real slow, but enjoyed it thoroughly.  I've been bitten by a new bug!  No, not like the "dreaded stomach flu".  This one is a nice, fun, creative bug!  It's the "inchie bug!"  I've been seeing inchies all over blogland.  I've been intrigued for a couple of weeks now.  I was going to tackle the fabric inchies, when a Yahoo group I belong to introduced an inchie swap.  Just in time.  It's a paper inchie swap, but I thought what a perfect way to jump into the inchie craze.  Here's the backgrounds I did for the swap.  I looked at this tutorial and followed some of the steps - used the torn book page idea and stamped some images. I don't even know how many I will need because the sign up is open until March twenty-something.  There are 20 swappers listed so far.  I totally enjoyed making them.  I used watercolor paper, glued strips of torn book pages, painted with Lumieres, and stamped with a vine like stamp with white Colorbox pigment ink then heat set it.  I then cut it up into 1 inch squares.  Easy peasy and instant gratification!  The theme is floral so now I have to decide how to embellish these little beauties.  I love them!  Here's some pics:

Sorry the pictures aren't the greatest.  The shimmer in the Lumieres didn't come out in the pics, but you can get the main idea from these.  I'm kind of stuck now on how to embellish them.  I just want to make more backgrounds!

Happy Birthday J!

J received this beautiful bouquet from her Aunty Val for her birthday yesterday!  It's her first bouquet ever that was delivered for her.  When she came home from school and saw it she was so tickled.  The Precious Memoried balloon attached was adorable.  The family went to eat at Makino Chaya last night, but I stayed home with the "dreaded stomach flue" still attacking me.  The first thing she said when she came back from dinner was, "I'm so-o-o-o full!"  They all had a wonderful dinner.  Happy birthday J!

Happy Birthday Cards

Here are a couple pictures of some birthday cards I made.  My girlfriend Shelly started me on making cards.  I've done paper crafts and stamping for years, but never really got into card making.  I think I've only made a couple cards in all the years I've been doing paper crafts.  She couldn't believe it because I had all the supplies.  So I made a few easy ones just to get started.  Here they are . . .

I made these backgrounds and then embellished them a little.

Here are the finished ones:

Here's a couple close up:

Free Vintage Images

Hi.  I've been MIA for over a week.  We had a really busy week last week, and then . . . the dreaded stomach flu!   I do not wish this on anyone!  I literally slept on the bathroom floor.  Okay, sorry, maybe that was too much information.  Anyway, I'm still trying to get over the dreaded stomach flu, so I'm just popping in to let you all know that Lisa Vollrath is gifting free vintage images for your own artwork here.  The images are really nice in my opinion.  Perfect for ATC's and collages.  I'll post some pics of some cards and tags I made last week before the . . . dreaded stomach flu.

Cloth Paper Studio Challenge

I joined a challenge for February with the Yahoo group Cloth Paper Studio that I belong to.  The challenge was to create a collage with two colors that are randomly picked and assigned to you.  Some also chose to have a word selected for them to incorporate into their collages.  My two colors were caramel and rose.  Debbie the coordinator of the challenge sent me sample ribbon and paint chips which I incorporated into my collage.  It was my first time joining in on an art challenge of any sort.  It was fun.  I just gathered things that I felt went together with the color theme and . . . voila!  Here's my collage.  It's really simple, but I like the colors.

Collaborative Effort - Bird Collage

This was a collaborative effort.  I made the collage part.  I used book pages that I adhered together using gel medium.  After letting that thoroughly dry, I stippled it randomly with Brilliance inks in coffee bean, a green, a blue and a beige.  I adhered transparency film with some images of eggs onto the front.  Then I adhered a torn picture of an egg and a nest to the back and an image of a bird that I cut out to the front.  A touch of glitter was added to enhance the bird image and randomly sprinkled on the back of the collage also. I sprayed it with Krylon spray varnish after it was dry.

I punched the holes and added copper colored eyelets so that it could be wired.  Then I handed it over to Karen.  Karen (owner of Bella Beads) added the hammered wire and beads to finish it off.  I punched one of the holes in the wrong place and covered it up in the front, but forgot the back - oops!  I will cover it with another jewel to hide the hole.

Sorry these picture are really bad.  I was in a hurry and then ran out of space on the card and I had to leave it at the store and go.  It was a fun project.  I want to make more.  I may use a thin piece of wood (maybe a 1/8 inch ply) for the next one and drill the holes for the eyelets.  Hmmm . . . maybe I can paint the whole thing - like a little picture.  Yikes, it's been about 9 years since I've painted!  Oh well, it's a thought to be pondered more. 

Chirpie Giftie!

Val gave me this little chirpie!  I adore him!  He is so cute!  Thank you Val!

Clothespin Bags

Val made these adorable clothespin bags for the etsy shop.  She used a vintage pattern and cute fabric from her stash.  She added some vintage trim to a couple of them and all hang from vintage wooden hangers cut to size.  I love them!  Here's some pics:

Repurposed Vintage - I love it!

Val made these coolio pincushions for the etsy shop!  I absolutely love them!  They make me happy!  I wanted one, but she said I couldn't buy one.  Booo.  They are made from vintage juice and nut caddies.  They are the sweetest light pink colored plastic.  The flower design is just beautiful.  She made the juice holder part into a pincushion, using wool felt. She appliqued flower shapes to the pincushion and topped it off with cute buttons.  I just love them!  Here's some pics:

The little blue chirpie is a giftie to me!  Thank you Val!  I love him!

New Cuffs

I am still into making cuffs.  Here are two that I made this weekend.  I used a simple flat even peyote stitch for both.  It worked up quickly with the size 8 transparent hex beads that I used.  I followed the example that Karen had at Bella Beads.

I used fireline in a .010 for this bracelet.  I've done peyote before using conditioned Nymo size D.  I really liked working with the fireline.  The cuff is still flexible, but not as soft as the Nymo.  If you make one, you'll have to try it out to see what "feel" you like best.  The celery colored cuff is 1 inch thick using 10 beads to make the width.  The amethyst cuff uses 6 beads and is 3/4 inch wide.

The closures are sewn on.  I am really considering redoing the closure on the amethyst one because I don't like how the smoke colored thread shows up against the amethyst.  I will probably change it to the crystal colored thread since the amethyst bead color is so light. I glued crystals into the openings on the closures (Karen's idea).

Seeing it up close is making me cringe!  Okay, I had to stop typing and take off the closure on the amethyst one.  I did it.  Yay.  It was also a little big so I'm going to try to move the closure in a bit and see if that works better.  Gotta go put the closure back on!  Bye!