Finally Finished

This past week I have been cleaning and organizing my craft room. What a mess. I think I do this about once a year with various results. Last year, I just created more boxes of stuff that was stuck in the corner and after a year more stuff was piled on top and was just a mess. This year I actually got rid of things and moved the boxes out that I didn't want in the room. So now as you can tell, it is just an organized mess. And if you are wondering where the rest of the room is...that is it. The room is about 6 x 9 and I have a lot crammed in here. The next project is to move the blue-green cabinet to the hall outside the door to this room and get me a corner desk from IKEA. This will give me lots more desk/workspace room and maybe I'll finally be able to get my sewing machine out and use it or painting supplies. I have moved my laptop into this room so I really do need more desk space.

I decided to share this new project with you also today. I was sitting in the living room this morning drinking my coffee and had an idea for a wire wrap pendant that would be easier for beginners. Believe me this is not easy for beginners but is an alternative to silversmithing. This is my first attempt so it is not perfect as the weaving is not as tight as I would like and there is a bottom wire that is funky. I used 18 gauge fine silver wire (.999 % pure silver) and formed my top and bottom then 26 gauge fine silver wire for the weaving. Turned out interesting. Not sure it I like it well enough to make them to sell. As I didn't like the bright silver, I used Liver of Sulphur to darken the metal and then a polishing cloth to highlight the edges. Let me know what you think.

Decal Penny Pendant

Just found this tutorial via One Pretty Thing to Just Something I Made's blog. I've seen coins made into pendants before, but not quite like this one. I usually just wire wrap mine which protects the coin itself, but since this is just a penny, I could probably handle making these. I still have to find the glaze that Cathe used in the tutorial, but thought I would share anyway.

The decals she used are the old fashioned kind that you soak and slip off onto your project. I haven't seen them in awhile, but I also haven't been looking. Now I'll start looking as I'm sure they are out there in a lot of fun images. I can also see using nickles vs. pennies since you would have a larger surface for the decal and a lot of people like the silver tone vs. copper.

So many wonderful ideas out there and so little time to do them in. Enjoy and visit Cathe's blog HERE.

Labor Day Weekend Activities

It is a holiday and usually we are at the beach. My husband and I both came down with a cold, it's been rainy and cool and didn't want to spend a cold rainy weekend miserable at the beach, so we stayed home. Today was lovey, turned on the fireplace and watched a movie this afternoon and then went to my mother's for dinner. No cooking, my kind of dinner. I did manage to make a couple of pair of earrings and a pendant yesterday.

I made two pair of earrings since I wasn't sure I liked the first pair. The bottom drop is a faceted black onyx with freshwater pearl and black sapphires and then a smooth round black onyx. The second pair I added small black tourmaline drops with the other stones. The pendant is a design I made up with just 14 gauge silver wire and then wrapped sterling silver wire around it with the gemstones. The bottom of the pendant also has a faceted black onyx.

I wore the set to my mother's tonight and as I thought, she wanted a set for herself. The design of the earrings is a take off one of my gem tree branches. Very simple to make a very flashy. The pendant and at least one pair of the earrings will be available in my ArtFire shop soon, but I need to take some better pictures, this one doesn't do it justice.

With the holidays coming up, I have been trying to decide on packing materials for items that are purchased at some of my upcoming craft shows. I finally decided to make origami boxes out of some of my old greeting cards. I'll just have them out in a basket and when a purchase is made they can pick out their own little gift box. It will be perfect for a pendant or earrings. I'll post pictures of the little boxes later and if you really want the instructions, I'll post those also.

Have a great Labor Day and don't work too hard...oh wait you aren't supposed to work at all on that day. Dana