Weekend Show

This weekend DH and I are demonstrating at the West Seattle Gem & Mineral Show. This is our first show of the year and I prepped for days getting everything ready. I never know how much to take or what to take to certain shows. Since this is more of a rockhound type show I wanted to take more gems and minerals but didn't know what I would demo. DH is demo'ing gem trees so I decided to do wire work, even packed my torch and soldering supplies just in case I wanted to get a little bit fancy.

Well we were so busy I didn't get a chance to get the torch going but did have fun playing with my wire. Here are a couple of different pieces. Sorry picture is a bit blurry as I used the camera in my phone.

Hand formed copper bangle with Sari silk and then wrapped with more copper wire and a few danglies of crystal. I love this look and it is so comfortable to wear.

I had in my mind to create some sort of book mark so I did this long swirly piece of copper and tied some silk at the bottom.. didn't like it so I wrapped the silk back up the copper piece and wrapped it with more wire. Much better. It works to insert your book page through the swirl to mark your place. I think I'll try a different style tomorrow that has the dangle off the edge of the book.

We sold lots of gem trees so DH will be frantically making more tomorrow as we have another show (NW Federation Show) in the Tri-Cities area of WA next month.

These are my wonderful buttons I received from Christine for the Button Swap. I'll be using a couple of these in an upcoming jewelry design and I think one of them is going on one of my art journals... fun fun. Don't you just love that tree (upside down) button? Right up my alley don't you think.

Well, it's going to be another busy day tomorrow at the show. If you live in Western Washington or are in the area come check out the West Seattle Gem and Mineral Show. Here is the link: http://www.westseattlerockclub.org/gemshows.htm.

A Button Swap

I've had this fascination with buttons for a long time. I use them frequently now in my sewing and art work. I have even created a button tree sculpture with them. Well I joined a button swap hosted by Cindy Wimmer and on a recent trip to our antique store here in town I found a ton of cool buttons and they were cheap. I think a small bag was only $1.95 with the larger one at $3.95. So, I got all these lovelies for under $10.00. Now my swap partner doesn't know what I'm sending her but at least two of the buttons will come from this stash.

These are the coolest metal buttons. Love the windmill one. Wish I knew how old they were.

Not sure if these are old but they came out of the same metal stash at the antique store, they are metal (probably brass) edges with a plastic button inside. Love the little heart motif.

This button was so unusual, it is plastic but has all these symbols on it. Good size for a clasp on a bracelet I think and since they look Egyptian, I have just the charms to put with it on that bracelet.

Another cute little button, looks like a robot to me.

This didn't come from the antique store but was in my stash and I just had to share. This is my favorite special button that I will probably treasure forever and never use just because.

I hope everyone had a great Easter if you celebrate. We had a huge dinner at my mother's with lots of family and friends and great food. If you want to see what I've been up to in the ART world, check out my blog Basically ART.

Here is a sneak peak:

Home at Last

Well we have been home for several days and it feels like yesterday. I really can't believe how time flies. If you check out my ART blog you will see some of my fun old book finds and what I plan to do with them.

One of the first things I did when I got home was make some more body cream. The last cream I made was a face cream but this time I wanted to add some Coconut oil (shouldn't use that on your face) to see how it would work. So I played around with my recipe and got to work. This one is really moisturizing but too thick. I think I'll try it again using less if no Stearic Acid.

It has a nice light scent of coconut but it doesn't linger after you put it on. If you want the recipe, leave a comment with your e-mail and I'll send it to you.

I had someone ask me about all my supplies... well they do tend to grow like any hobby that you start to get into. The little purple bag holds most of my essential oils. Here are the essentials that you need to make your own lotions and creams.

• Scale
• Whisk or stick blender
• Pyrex measuring cups (I use a 4 cup and a 1 cup)
• Containers
• Spring water or distilled water
• Oils (various...could be grape seed, olive, caster, sweet almond, jojoba, coconut, sunflower, cocoa butter or more exotic like mango butter or Shea oil.
• Emulsifying Wax (this is to help your water and oil blend together and not separate)
• Preservative (I use a paraben free one that you can get at www.thesage.com)

I'm sure that most of you have some of these ingredients already. If you don't want a preservative in your lotion then you will need to either keep it refrigerated or use it within 2 to 3 months. The Sage blog has all kinds of recipes and shows steps in making your own lotion so check it out.

I did play with making some charms this week. I had to finish up a set for the Springtime in Paris swap (forgot to take pictures) and now I'm working on Nest charms for another group. These are fun but I have to make a total of 18 of them - only 9 more to go.

Next up is a button swap hosted by Cindy Wimmer over at Sweet Bead Studio (see button on the right top). I have a growing collection of buttons and thought it might be fun to do a little blog hop swap. I also found some really cool old metal buttons while at the antique store shopping yesterday. I'll be sure to post my finished creation here at well as on my ART blog since I'm not sure if it will be art or jewelry... maybe a little of both?

Have a great Sunday.