New Jewelry .... Yea

Finally for the past couple of days I have made some new jewelry pieces. Most of these will be listed for sale soon on my ArtFire studio but a couple of the earrings are for a special order. I've been playing with my hobbies for so long that I decided it was time to do a re-do in my studio of the jewelry that's for sale.

These first two necklaces are already for sale. Lots of chain and crystals what could be better.

These pieces are made of either sterling silver or fine silver. I really hate to use my supply of silver on pieces that people may or may not like since it is so expensive. I guess the important thing is that I like them. The Bubble pendant necklaces are my favorite. I was just playing around with some extra links and decided to solder them together in a random pattern. They look really cool on.

I'll be making a few more new pieces tomorrow so we shall see what special things I come up with.

What Would We Do Without Hobbies?

I don't know about you but my craft room is overflowing with stuff. I organize and put things away just to get it all back out again. I have a wonderful table that is quite large for the very small room (we put it together in the room) and I seem to only have about 12" of space to work in. I guess when I had the smaller table I had even less working space but really. I do have a ton of hobbies stored in there (room is only 7x9) from all but business jewelry making stuff to my sewing machine, plastic totes of fabric, sewing notions, gem trees and supplies, ATC stuff, rubber stamps, altered art, crochet books and yarns, beads, beads and more beads along with torches, firing bricks, hammers and all those metal working tools. When I think about all I have in that small little room, I'm kind of amazed I have any room to work at all.

I was hosting an art charm swap with a 4th of July theme and those all got mailed this morning so I was able to organize it a bit more. Here are the few jewelry pieces I made out of my stash of charms. I'm sure I will wear the earrings and necklace more than the bracelet but I like the look of the bracelet and after the holiday will hang it on the wall with one other one.

I also started working on some ATC's for a swap with the Red Lead Yahoo group, I haven't swapped with them before and am looking forward to it. I love ATC's as they are little works of art that you can store in a book if you don't want them out. Most of mine I keep in a sports card collectible sleeve in a binder as they are the same size as the baseball or football cards. These are the ones I finished up today.

Now to go and clean up my mess yet again. Maybe this time I'll actually put the boxes away in the cupboard where they are supposed to be versus on the floor.

I guess one of these days I'll have to post some of my jewelry creations with you. I do have some special orders to work on so I better get crack'n.

Hope everyone is having a fantastic week.

What's Up With These Bags?

Today I made a bunch of these little bags. It seems that every time I make some I end up making a ton. These are special bags which I can't tell you why as some people may be reading this blog and I really want it to be a surprise. Oh wait, if I wanted it to be a surprise I shouldn't have posted it right? Probably, but I wanted to post it anyway.

All of the fabric I used commemorate an upcoming holiday. Can you guess which one? Man, was it that obvious. Well hopefully the receivers will like them.

This week is just flying by. We have our contractor here to finish up some of the remodeling and handyman fix it jobs this week and boy is the varnish to the wood floor making my sinuses act up. I'm glad I took the dogs to grandpas house for the day. I can just imagine little doggie varnish footprints all over the house....not going to happen let alone what the fumes would do to their sensitive noses. There is only three places where he put varnish on the floors today but that's enough to smell up the whole house. I did open the windows and doors and turn off the heater...yes, I did say heater and yes, I do know it is June but it is still chilly here. I'm not sure Spring is going to come let alone Summer.

Well time to put a sweatshirt on and plan dinner. Humm, eating out is sounding like a really good idea.

Fun Day Today

Each month I try to schedule a gem tree class at Shipwreck Beads in Lacey, WA. Today was the class. I had 7 students all ready to learn the mystic of twisting together wire to create a tree. What fun, but I always have fun teaching and sharing the hobby. Here are a few picture of my students, their finished trees or working on their trees.

Everyone finished their tree and either glued it to a rock or piece of wood. Some great trees were created today and to look at them you wouldn't know that this was their first gem tree.

If you are interested in taking a gem tree class, the next one I have scheduled is July 2nd. I'll be teaching the Pine Tree style. Here is the link. Pine Tree Class.

I'm still working on my art charms for the Patriotic charm swap but I've painted them with acrylic paint on both sides, resin on one side and spray poly on the other. I still have yet to drill holes in them and then add the jump rings. Since I'm hosting this one I wanted to make something special to send back to the charm participants and I'm leaning towards a small drawstring bag made out of Patriotic fabric that could be used to store charms or another piece of jewelry. I should have them all finished by Monday so I'll post a final picture then.

I hope everyone is having a great weekend. Tomorrow we are off to mom's for dinner so I'll probably bake a pie to take with us. Humm, I think that means ice cream too. Yummy.

What's Next?

Well we have sufficiently recovered from our rock and gem show last weekend although my body still feels like it needs more sleep. I'm just not used to manual labor especially for 4 to 5 days straight. DH and I worked the kitchen making deli items for the workers and attendees of the show. We did have some help which was greatly appreciated. We just aren't used to standing on our feet (on concrete) for 8-9 hours a day. This was our 9th year to run the kitchen and our last. I think I want to do something different next year, but we will see what next year holds and determine our fate then.

I did receive my fabulous round robin necklace exchange completed. What a joy to see the contributions and thought that everyone put into their charm that they added to my necklace.

I know this isn't everybody's style but I love it.

I've said this before but if you are interested in art charms (mini works of art) or want to learn more you can join the Yahoo group or there are a couple of books available on Amazon (I have both) that are great resources. Here is the Yahoo group:  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ArtCharms/

I'm also hosting a art charm swap with a Patriotic theme for the group. So far all the charms I've received are wonderful. Hosting is new for me so I'm sure you will hear all about it. I did start my charms yesterday. I had something in mind and couldn't find one of the components I needed so went with a different design. They are wood stars that I am painting and then will seal. I'm still debating on whether to wire wrap them or drill a hole for the jump ring. 

Hopefully everyone is having a great week and if you need something to do this weekend, I have a couple of spots left in my Standard Gem Tree class at Shipwreck Beads on Saturday. Here is the link to the info.  http://www.shipwreckbeads.com/catalog/Classes/Wire-Working-Classes//orderBy/sku/itemsPerPage/20/page/1/item/14CS0611

Cheers, Dana

The Bead Soup Reveal

Finally today is the reveal of the results of my bead soup. Lori Anderson at Pretty Things organizes Bead Soup parties a couple times a year. This one was a Fairy Tale/ Fantasy based in color and design. Lori paired us up to exchange beads and then we were tasked to make something with those beads. Now I get to show you what I made. I received two soups, but unfortunately I have only had time to make a couple of pieces with the first one. This soup is from Loretta and is predominately green and purple with the purple being Amethyst.

There was so much to work with here with the glass beads, a couple of polyclay beads, amethyst and some cute metal ones with flowers on it. She even sent me some memory wire which I had never used before, so I dug right on in. This is the first piece, a bracelet on the memory wire which highlights the glass frog because as Loretta put it you have to kiss a lot of frogs to find your prince.

This next piece I used only the amethyst pieces she sent and added one of mine which is the flower at the bottom. I donated this piece to the Puyallup Valley Gem & Mineral Clubs raffle. Proceeds of the raffle support scholarships for students majoring in Earth Sciences.

I have one more soup left and several beads that would make a great bracelet that came from Eve. Maybe after this hectic weekend I'll be able to concentrate on making something out of it.

Now if you would like to follow us in the blog hop with our bead soup, check out these links. I can't wait to see all the fabulous things that were made.

Fairy Tale/Spring Bead Swap Blog Hop

Lori Anderson, Pretty Things

Rebecca Anderson, Song Beads

Courtney Breul, Beads By Breul 

Loretta Carstensen, Designs by Loretta

Evelyn Hall, Dragon Lady Evelyn

Sandy Richardson, Sandy's Coloring Box

Dana James, Dana's Jewelry Design

Tara Plote, Newbie Beader

Christine Brandel, A Hot Piece of Glass

Lisa Sittniewski, Alterity Art

Joanna Matuszczyk, Filcowe

Jenni Connolly, Jenni Bead

Geneva Collins, Torque Story

Elisabeth Auld, Beads For Busy Gals

Sally Russick, Wireworked

Mary McGraw, MK's Creative Musings

Norma Turvey, Moonlit Fantaseas

Erin Prais-Hintz, Treasures Found 

Stephanie Haussler, Pixybug Designs

Shai Williams, Shaia's Ramblings

Johanna Rhodes, Fire Phoenix Creations

Sandi Lee James, Do Be Do Bead Do

Sweet Addy Designs

Valerie Norton, Hot Fused Glass

Hopefully everyone is having a great weekend.

A Sneak Peak At Some Soup

A couple times a year I participate in a Bead Soup blog hop. Lori Anderson is hosting a mini one this Spring and we will be hopping all over the blogisphere on June 4th. I just happened to get two soups sent to me one from Loretta and one from Eve. This normally doesn't happen so I must have just been lucky, I love a good challenge.

 I've already made a bracelet out of the Lampwork and smaller beads and a necklace out of the Amethyst from Loretta. The necklace will be donated to the Puyallup Valley Gem and Mineral Club Raffle this coming weekend.

I haven't made anything out of this soup yet from Eve but there are some really pretty lampwork glass beads that I might combine with some of mine and then dangle the butterflies and some of the other beads for a charm bracelet. I think it could be quite whimsical.

To see the finished products and to do the blog hop, come on back Saturday for all the fun.

I also worked on a couple of Round Robin Necklace charms today, got them finished and mailed to the next person on the list. Here is one of the necklaces. The theme is birds. I added the Lampwork bead with the bird on it that has an Amazonite dangle at the bottom which coordinates with the other colors. I love this necklace and how it is turning out. Just one more round for this one and then it is on it's way home. I can't wait to see mine when it is finished. Right now it's in Hawaii getting it's final touch from Cris.

It's really been a productive day with getting some shopping done for the upcoming Gem show (I'll be coordinating the deli) and getting some of these jewelry pieces made. I did have to take the little dog to the vet today as he has been limping for the past couple of days. Turned out he had a laceration on his paw in between two toes and needed 3 stitches. Poor thing. He has also been milking it for all it's worth and wanting to be carried and to lay on you. Right now he is all curled up in the blanket with his hurt paw sticking out.

Have a great day!