Time Flies

Wow, didn't realize it has been awhile since I posted anything, okay yes I did but not as long as it actually has been. What have I been up to, existing. Yep, just existing. So far this year hasn't turned out to be near the hopes and dreams I had back in January. The creative ideas are there, just not the drive. I really wish this funk would go away, it's been hanging around to long. I have dabbled here and there on stuff. Nothing all that significant, wish I could say otherwise. I'm trying to get a duct tape dummy form done but can't seem to find a willing person to help me. Daughter says it's weird and hubby doesn't want to listen that it needs to be done a certain way not just taking tape and wrapping in a circle, UGH!

1st- Harem Pants. The ones I had been working on, finished, then promptly tore them up and threw them away. The fabric was thread bare and they were just for practicing on. I removed the elastic from the mock up to reuse in the real ones. The waistband on these is made from the runner on the bottom inside of the sari. I did do a bit of color dying trying to match it to a skirt color, eh. I got the sari fabric and figured out somewhat of how I wanted the fabric to be and snippy snippy I went. They didn't turn out exactly as I had envisioned by fairly close. I realize my biggest issue with pants of any sort is the rise factor in cutting the crotch area. Practice, practice, that's all I really need.


2nd- Dyed Pearls. That was some fun experimenting. I went on to make other colors, like silver/grey and black. I tried to make a bahama blue but it came out more like the faintest of blue instead and I left them in a long time. They just didn't want to hold the color. I also made a few things from the pearls I dyed and have ideas for some of the other pearls.

Pink Dyed pearls and pink swarovski 4mm bicone crystals and delica beads.


Close up of Pink Dyed Bracelet/earrings


Purple dyed bracelet


I also made this green bracelet but I bought the pearls this color. Pearls and 2 different sized/color swarovski's and delica seed beads.


I finally put the finishing touches on this hair fascinator.. added a few flowers and a clip.


I also made a skirt using some of the left over from the sari harem pants along with another found odd fabric apparel. I think the main body of the skirt was a head type covering that india and muslims wear. I still need to make the matching arm decor to go with it. It ties in prettily with the harem pants. Once I finish those, then I need to make a top and i'll have a full matching outfit. YEAH!. The skirt is a deep burgandy, chiffon maybe. It flows but it's kinda heavy as well. I should probably get a pic of this. It has a spot on it that looks like paint that I can't get out but it's at the bottom. I thought about doing some beadwork or something to cover it up. UPDATED: Got a pic of skirt.



Lets see I made this ring earlier this month. I'm still a bit iffy on it though. I was trying to use materials I already had without buying more. I have way to much already.




Other than those, not much else. I've been trying to get into sewing but I just don't seem to have the room and without a dress form, be it store bought or handmade, it's really hindering me at the moment. A lot of the things I want to make, I can't because I don't have an extra hand/helper that knows what to do. The teenlette is more interested in satisfaction right now instead of makeing an effort for the long term goal. I do think she is becoming a bit more interested with Faire season here and we now have one that is really close to us.

Just around the Corner

HI! Just another week and Christmas will be here, YEAH! I've gotten almost all of my Christmas shopping done and went way over my budget, oops! I still have a few things to make, just need the motivation. I got some of the supplies I have been waiting on and now just need to find a bit of time to finish up the earrings to go with a necklace. I also need to finish the scarf i'm working on for my grandmother. I can't wait till next week because i'm OFF, OFF, OFF! 9 day vacation, WOOHOO! I'm excited but I'm not, cause probably half of that is going to be sent traveling from one place to another. Honestly, I'd rather just stay home but I can't cause I miss my family too and it's hard to go and see them and this time of year is when I get my vacation so I gotta go.

Creatively speaking, I have earrings to finish and I need to finish up on a prototype ring design. I haven't come across a ring like this yet but doesn't mean that someone hasn't already done it or something very similar. So after the holidays look for my new design (to me anyways).

I have a beef with an artist even though I don't know where this lady is from, just somewhere near El Campo TX., I think. My great Aunt T ordered a couple of floral paperweights for my grandmother. My grandmother wanted red roses and the date of birth and death of my grandfather. When my grandmother recieved the items she told me that she almost started crying and was just going to throw them in the trash. First, they weren't even red roses, they were a reddish carnation and a yellow carnation. Second, they weren't even the same sizes. The reddish carnation is probably the better of the two but not by to much. The yellow carnation one, it's like the lady just decided to hurry up and since she didn't seem to have enough resin to make it the same size the carnation looks squished.The yellow one, it's just horrible, I was upset that this artist actually let that one leave to a customer. They both have knicks like they were cut by something. The bottoms were painted with a crappy green paint that didn't even get into all the cracks and crevices. The bottom was covered with green felt and it was a sloppy job on cutting it to fit the bottoms. The yellow one actually had scraps of green felt stuck to the bottom. As an artist, selling a product, I would never have let those leave my home much less expect the customer to pay for them. It's things like this that give crafter/artists a bad name and make consumers continue to see our creations as "garage sale" type products. Grrr, just thinking about it makes me mad and I have those horrible pieces at my house right now. About the only decent thing I can say about them, the person did a decent job on keeping the air bubbles out. I'm going to have to get pictures so that everyone can see. I just haven't had time yet.

Just a jolt

Well it seems that I've recieved a bigger jolt of creativity than I had thought. YIPPEEEE FOR ME! Some of my readers know that i've been dealing with a major slump the past few years. This has been the longest and hardest slump I've gone through in a really long time. There are many factors that haven't helped in getting me out of this but I have hope and look forward to another year. Around the end of the year, christmas holiday, I get a little more inspiration to create, mostly gifts though. So here is a few things I'm working on at the moment.

Necklace- Sterling silver, fresh water pearls and black czech faceted briolettes.



Close-up


Cute little angel earrings- sterling silver and faceted czech glass rounds



Here are my girls, Kitty (aka Fat cat) and Lira (aka Brat cat). This is one of their more quieter moments. Kitty had been cleaning Lira.

The Muse came and visted

Hi everyone!

Hope ya'll had a lovely Thanksgiving Holiday. We had a small family get together, the hubby cooked a most excellent ham. I made candied yams, green been casserole, 7-up cake, cherry pie and a pumpkin pie. The next day we used the ham bone and made stock for a ham soup, it was sooooooooooo good..Mmm,Mmm Yummy!

I didn't get half the things done that I had planned to do over my little vacation. I had a 6 day weekend. Tuesday I had already scheduled off over a month ago not even realizing at the time it was the week of Thanksgiving. My appointment went well, I now have some medical coverage and assistance through my county for atleast a year. I only have to pay 25% of my bill, unless it's a private doctor thing through the ER then I have to pay the whole bill. My prescriptions won't cost me but about $10-$20 which is good. I also qualified for women's health services, which is why I needed the medical help to begin with.

Later that afternoon however, my good day went to pot. I was on my way to pick up my daughter from school. I didn't even get around the corner from my apartment before I got backed into. I was coming to a speed bump and slowing down because I have bad struts on my car. I caught the vehicle lights come on out the corner of my eye and no hesitation, the lady just started backing up. I tried to swerve and honk at the same time, but I just wasn't fast enough. She got a scratch on the pretty chrome of her bumper and I now have a dent in the rear fender well to match the dent on the same side on the front fender well. I got backed into back in February in a parking lot. It's almost identical except different parking lots. Both vehicles that hit me were trucks and both drivers said they didn't see me, even though my car was past theirs and if they'd bothered to look out the side mirrors they wouldn't have had any problem seeing me. Grrrrrr! So either I'm going to have a great christmas from the money I get or a newer car. Personally, I'm leaning to a newer car, maybe even a bigger car so that noone has a problem seeing me. (rolls eyes) Unfortunately, my car being old and way past it's prime, the replacement parts have all been discountinued and the probability of finding them is like 50/50 shot. Noone was hurt, I was a little shook up from it though.

The rest of my little vacation, went just fine. I have some pics of new stuff.

This is a pair of earrings I'm sill working on. I have some chain coming in so that I can finish them. I glued swarovski flat back crystals into their spots. I have realized that some how I've ended up with A LOT of the green flat backs in several sizes.



This is a necklace I finished. I'm really liking the new Global Nomad line of products by Blue Moon Beads (creativity inc.) that you can find at Michaels. I still have another centerpiece to work on, waiting on chain for that too.


A close up of the center piece.



Another gorgeous pair of earrings. I got the moon like shapes from a seller on Etsy (GreatMusings). I glued on tiny flat back AB crystals and a citrine crystal to give them just a little sparkle. I really like these earrings.



My grandmothers bracelet. She wanted a dice bracelet and charms to indicate gambling. She likes to get down to Louisanna now and then or the bingo hall. hehehe




I also finally took some decent pictures of some stuff I've been meaning to list on my Etsy shop. More handmade jewelry and some more supply stuff, like pre-printed fabric patterns for stuffed dolls. Like this cute little guy.

Something new

Not much of a creative spark lately. I did do a beaded face for SassyArtGoddess beaded face swap but I didn't put the full address and had it sent back. I need to get a picture but I was soooooooooooooooooo disappointed in myself for making that mistake. UGH!

Yesterday I started on this and finished. I had some silver plated jump rings in 2 sizes and got the wild hair to try a weave I haven't done before. I think this is called Helm chainmaille. I used purple glass dagger beads and bicone beads for a little color.

Bracelet is about 8inches long and will fit a wrist of 7"-7.5". I'd say a 7" wrist is the best fit, not to loose but doesn't slide to far down on the hand.



The earrings are about 4 inches from the top of the earring post to the bottom of the dangle. They have a little weight but not much.



The pendant measures about 3 inches from the top of the jump ring to the end of the dangle. The necklace it's currently on is silver plated 30" in length. One end reminds me of ear threads and the other end a barrel that the end of the necklace slides into. I got the necklaces in silver and gold tone for very cheap. They make decent display necklaces. I'd like to do a necklace in Helm, like a choker and have the pendant hang from that.



I'm really happy how these turned out. I actually spent time on making the wraps on the dangles as even and as neat as possible. I only had to redo one dangle and that's because the dagger bead was messed up. Now I wish I had some more jump rings in the two sizes so that I could make a few more like these. I really like how the bracelet feels and the pendant and earrings have a bit of weight but not to much.

Finished Pendants

So it seems that my muse has come back to fiddle with some wire. I've got a headache brewing and I should probably go and take something before it gets full blown. I think it's just a combination of poor sleep and sinuses. I really didn't want to get up this morning. I was comfortable and warm all snug as a bug in a rug.

Last night while finishing up the circular pendant I had another idea for some simple pearl earrings. Off into my own little 3D world I went or starring off into space as other's would see it. I can visualize the shape of the pearls, tossing the design from smooth round pearls to more natural pearls. I toss on posts, french hooks and lever back ear wires to see which one seems to fit. Natural shaped pearls of somewhat uniform size look lovely hanging from the lever back ear wires, simplicity at it's best.

I'm happy to have some things brewing and my muse letting my hands cooperate enough to make things. I'm slower than I usually would be but it's slowly coming back, it's a nice feeling.

So without further boring ramblings from me here are my 2 finished pendants.


Moon Pendant- silver filled and non-tarnish wire in 18g, 22g,and 24g. A small selection of glass beads and seed beads along with a shell heart.




Pearl Pendant- silver filled and non-tarnish wire in 18g, 22g,and 24g.Glass and natural pearls in different sizes and colors.




So maybe tomorrow I'll have some pearl earrings to show. I wish I could come up with witty stuff to say to make this blog a bit more interesting. My cat loves me, she keeps my bed warm.



Edited to add: sorry I had the wire gauges wrong but they are fixed now.

I'm still here

PHEW! work has been keeping me busy and I kept forgetting to grab the camera and download a few pictures. I didn't get to much done over the July 4th weekend but here is what I'm currently working on
This is supposed to be a moon pendant. I'm using the silver filled wire and 11/0 pearl colored seed beads. I have several different types of beads to fill in the center part, just haven't gotten there yet.

This is also going to be a pendant but I haven't really decided anything concrete on it yet. This is silver filled wire, hammered. I have found that if you hammer it to thin it becomes brittle and soft and will break fairly easy. Sorry that I don't have the thickness off this hammered piece, I'll try to remember next time. I did manage to wrap the whole of the frame in a thinner gauge of silver filled wire.


These are a couple of polymer clay cabs that I made a long time ago and I finally got around to sanding and sealing and buffing them. They will be made into pendants.


I made this bead, it's actually got a hole that runs through it, several years ago. It was the first really big swirly bead I made, using black and alazarian crimson premo clay. Such gorgeous colors together. I had started making a wrap for the other 2 clay cabs but I made it way to wide and nothing fit, not even some of my really nice stone cabs. This was the only thing that fit. I'm not real thrilled with it because it just kinda lost interest when the setting just wasn't working. I'll try again another time.

These are just a lovely pair of earrings that I made for myself. I love purple, it's even my birthstone.