Not Quite Back to Normal

I haven't blogged in ages - I'm sure you've all been crying yourselves to sleep at night about it, right? Okay, maybe not. But I have a good excuse. About a month ago I hurt my back. I wish I had a fun story about it like a battle with a Sasquatch or a unicycle-on-a-tightrope mishap, but no. It had been generally sore for awhile (bodies are not meant to sit at a desk for 8 hours a day), and one day - and you beading ladies will understand this - I was at Michael's. There was a big sale on Bead Gallery beads, plus I had a 20% off everything coupon, so I wanted to make sure I took advantage and bought all the little filler beads I wanted. You know how at Michael's, you look at the beads at eye level, then you have to stoop down and look at the bottom beads. Then stand up, take a step to the right and repeat 8-10 times 'til you've seen everything? Well that's when it happened. Every time I stooped down I thought, "OUCH! I probably shouldn't stoop down again." And then I kept doing it until it all went very very wrong. 

So I spent the following week on the couch watching The IT Crowd on Netflix and napping. I finally got an appointment with my orthopedist, and he made me wear this torture device of a brace for 2 weeks (even while sleeping). It was miserable. As you can imagine, I didn't particularly feel like making very much jewelry. Plus I was doped up on painkillers and muscle relaxers, so I wasn't very interested in doing much. During that time, I had to make my Bead Soup pieces, and managed to pull it off. I am very sad to report that this past Sunday, I was wearing the bracelet when it flew off my wrist and that gorgeous toggle shattered on the tile floor. It broke my heart -- I really loved it!

Anyway, my back's still kinda sore but at least I'm out of that dangbusted brace. Of course it hurts most when I'm sitting down at work, but I can't take a month off, so I must suffer and remember to get up every hour and walk around. I've got a kneeling chair now, but I can't sit in it all day. It's good to switch back and forth with my other chair. 

Point is, I haven't made a whole lot of jewelry in the past month! Other than my Bead Soup stuff, this is what I've done lately. 

 Focal by Lynn Davis, birdie by me, hematite nuggets, mookaite, agate, dalmatian jasper, & carnelian.

Copper poppy clasp by Daisychainextra, ceramic focal by Bo Hulley, faceted pearl, carnelian, mystery purple and tan stone, copper, waxed linen. 

 Ceramic bird focal by Kylie Parry, Czech glass, crystal, antique brass,  wood beads, waxed linen.

Ceramic focal by Round Rabbit, bone bead, and copper. 

Ceramic Shotgun House by Jessi, mookaite, new Czech glass (green), and vintage Czech glass (blue) from old Mardi Gras beads.

Sardonyx agate.

I custom ordered this mini-me bead from Soul Silver and I just LOVE it! I'm totally not vain at all, no. I'm going to make a necklace out of her eventually, but for now she just keeps me company in my computer/jewelry making area.

Memorial Day Weekend

Nothing like spending an entire day of a holiday weekend sneezing your head off! Oh, stupid allergies. Anyway, I did manage to accomplish a little bit yesterday. Crazers went for a much needed trip to the groomer (photos below), and I watched about 75 episodes of American Pickers. I love watching that show, but they never pick the stuff I would want. I don't care about vintage motorcycle parts! I just know that they're amongst some really super cool old stuff that I would love, but they don't even show those things.

My first Marsha Neal order arrived yesterday, which was very exciting. You know how it's either MUST USE IMMEDIATELY or HOARD FOR MONTHS -- well, I was compelled in spite of the allergies to make a necklace right away. I had it mostly assembled last night before the extra strength allergy meds kicked in and I passed out. I just attached the clasp and focal, and I'm quite happy with the way it turned out. And I got to use some of my most recently acquired gems from April's gem & jewelry show.

Friday night, I threw together these little earrings with some new pieces from Dimestore Emporium.

And that's about it on the jewelry front. I was out and about most of today, so that's all I really had time to accomplish. I'm quite pleased with the necklace though, and I have a few more exciting goodies on their way to me right now, such as this extra awesome Lynn Davis piece:

Now for some pics of Crazers on her way to and from the groomer.

She's MUCH happier now :)

Art Bead Love Tour!

It is time for the next stop on the Art Bead Love Tour!!! The winner could be you -- read the details below, copied from Love My Art Jewelry's original blog.

The winner will be chosen Saturday May 5th. 

(Both Cinco de Mayo and my dog's arbitrary birthday!)

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We here at Love My Art Jewelry are always trying to think of new ways to spread the love of handmade, and the message to create handmade with handmade. So we put our brains together and came up with this idea, the Art Bead Love Tour.

 

The Art Bead Love Tour is an ongoing project to spread the love of handmade to new and exciting places. It’s a way to reach people who may have never stumbled upon our blog on their own, and give them a chance to share the love of handmade. We chose to use a chain to link beads as a symbol of how this project links us all together ~ in our unity to stand behind handmade.

We have filled one and a half feet of chain with handmade beads, charms and pendants, donated by our own Love My Art Jewelry Group. There are 60 beads on this chain, worth approximately $450. It includes ceramic, glass, polymer, various metals and metal clay beads. It’s a true tribute to handmade in all its beady glory! These beads are ready to go on tour…….the Art Bead Love Tour! This tour is basically an art bead swap, which will go on and on and on.

Here is how it works.

PLEASE.......

....please read the entire post before entering).

We will have a giveaway for this chain (how to enter is explained at the end of the post)

The Details:

1. The winner of the chain will be allowed to take up to 30 beads from this chain. They will then replace each bead they took, with another handmade bead, charm or pendant of equal quality. It is so important that the quality of the beads be maintained, so that we can keep the Art Bead Love Tour alive. We want to share consistent quality with the next winner. If you make your own handmade beads or components, it’s a great way to get your beads into the world for people to try them out, or, if you hoard collect art beads, it’s a great way to share your collection and get some new additions as well. (Art Beads should be handmade by an artist, and not mass produced, such as Hill Tribes Silver beads or others like them). Remember the focus is on creating handmade with handmade and beads/components taken should be replaced with beads/components that are made by an individual not an organization.

2. The winner will post pictures of what was taken and what was added, in order to keep an account of the chains progress and to keep our followers drooling. Please be sure to give credit to the bead artists as well.

3. The winner will then have a giveaway, just like this one, to keep passing the chain on and on. Rules can be copied and pasted from here.

4. When you re-post your giveaway (remember you can copy and paste from here)-a list should be added to show where the chain has gone, with links to each previous blog. Ultimately, this will end up being a very long list!

5. Chain must be shipped to its new home via Priority Small Flat Rate box with delivery confirmation. Please package it carefully.

 

6. There will be a button on the Love My Art Jewelry Website that links to the current blog and giveaway- so if you have the chain, it will link to your blog, that way our followers can have another chance to win it.

 

7. You MUST exchange your beads and have your giveaway completed within two weeks of receiving the chain.

(Please please please, if you can not adhere to the above rules, do not enter the giveaway at this time. It will go on and on and you can always enter at a later date.) There will be a button on the side bar of our blog so that you can track where the chain currently is.

Look where the chain has been……

Love My Art Jewelry

Lorelei's Blog: Inside the Studio

Shaiha's Ramblings

Jen Judd Rocks!

SilverRoseDesigns

My Life Under the Bus

Ex Post Facto Jewelry 

 

 

 

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With a little help from my friends...

Ever have one of those pieces about which you just CANNOT make up your mind? I'm a huge fan of Lynn Davis's gorgeous connectors (btw, she's currently having a 10% off sale). They always beg me for pearls, wire wrapping, and sparkly beads. Two of my favorite pieces I've ever made are with her connectors. This and this. So in this latest piece, I was going for more of the same, but I wanted to mix it up a bit. I was relatively happy with the main part, but I was fairly certain that the dangle was all wrong.

It's hard to tell, but that's a teeny faceted ruby above the rhinestone. I often wish those rubies were redder than pink. And I didn't have any garnet cut the right way. I was hearing various fellow bloggers' voices in my head, "don't be a perfectionist! don't be too precious! don't stress over every little detail!" and it was late and I was tired, so I just let it go. But every time I looked at it, it disappointed me more than it thrilled me. But then I didn't know if it was just me or I was being too picky.

So I snapped this photo with my iPhone and emailed it to Rebecca and Malin, who have become good friends whose styles I love and opinions I trust. They both agreed that they liked the idea of a group email confab to help when someone's stuck. I'm so glad, as I didn't want to seem a pest ;)

They both offered completely differing ideas, but they also both agreed it could be improved. Obviously, my inner voice was correct - and I was so glad to have their input. Rebecca suggested dangles (which she liked from another recent necklace I'd made) in either moonstone or ruby or both, as well as adding more to the dangle at the bottom. Malin suggested getting rid of the ruby altogether, and stacking some pearls and moonstones as a new dangle.

I thought about it and combined both of their ideas - but not necessarily exactly how they were describing them. Of course I can't picture what was in their minds and they don't know my stash, but I had a plan and I got busy. I stayed up a little later than I wanted to to finish it (who here hasn't done that a million times?), et Voila! I think it looks a lot better!

Thank you so much, ladies, for your input!

(Click to enlarge!)

Recent Happenings

The Bead Soup Blog Party was a lot of fun - I still have a few more blogs to visit - but I've seen a lot of really beautiful creations so far and made some new friends along the way. Lori sure knows how to host a good party!

This past weekend, I was asked at the last minute to fill in for a vendor who'd cancelled at the Mandeville Trailhead Market. I was excited to put all my new props to use, and while I wished I'd had more last minute cram time to make a few extra things, I went with what I had, plus 2 new necklaces I did rush to make two nights prior.

Here's my table!

I took this before everything was out, but this is the general idea. However, I only managed to sell three pairs of earrings. Of course, that's better than nothing at all, and it did cover the cost of my booth (which was a ridiculously cheap $15 anyway). Plus it was a gorgeous day and lots of fun. My friend Ashley helped me out, and we sampled lots of cookies from the old Italian guy next to us. Ultimately, I decided that since this is a weekly market, and it's the same vendors every week, people don't really attend expecting to buy a lot on a random day, not close to a holiday. They might be there to get fresh eggs from the lady that sells them every weekend, or the plants sold by the guy at the front, etc. I did get a lot of oohs and ahhs and plenty of people took  my cards, so hopefully that will result in some etsy business or something.

Here are the two necklaces that I made at the last minute.

Check out this cool Lynn Davis pendant!

Yesterday, I was so ready to make something new and springy and use some of my new Irish Waxed Linen Thread. I'd been eyeing this mermaid focal I've had for months when it suddenly dawned on me that I had the perfect coordinating lavender beads from a recent Heather Box! Before long, it all came together like magic. I love when that happens. Here she is, and she's available in my etsy shop right now! I'll list the other two a bit later. Speaking of my etsy shop - I'm having a 15% off sale through the rest of March in honor of Daylight Savings Time! The code is FORWARD15.

500 Coats of Paint Later...

The knobs for my display arrived Thursday, and after many failed attempts at geometry, I just gave up and eyeballed their placement. I decided it would probably be a smart move to prime the thing first. The cheapo 2/$1 craft paint I got at Michael's (mainly because it was called Robin's Egg Blue) was never going to cover all that stained brown wood. I got some primer at Lowe's, and gave it 3-4 coats before most of the brown was covered. Then it got at least the same number of coats of the blue. It was flat and hideous but yee haw, I remembered I had almost a full thing of Mod Podge somewhere in my art supply closet. A few coats of that, and at last! I'm pleased enough. I still have to clean up the edges where the primer/blue/Mod Podge accidentally landed. Here's a photo of the nearly end result.

 

I also priced all the jewelry that wasn't priced yet, and put 20 or more pairs of earrings on their cards and labeled & bagged them. And in the meantime, I tried to make more necklaces. Only one bracelet (after my vow last blog to make more, but I discovered I had more than I realized). 

The white beads are vintage, everything else is new - I've only got one more of these flowers left. I bought 4 a few years ago. I'm glad I didn't use them all up at once. I originally made this necklace with a different pendant, but decided it was a bad match. The necklace has been hanging around for a month until I finally made the connection that this flower would work. A friend of mine pointed out that the other black beads on the necklace sort of looked like they may be closed buds of more flowers. Never would have seen that, but I like it!

Another beautiful Lynn Davis connector, various pearls, rhinestone, glass beads, wire & sari ribbon. I started it, got frustrated, slept on it. Kept going, got frustrated again, slept on it once more and finally finished it on the third try. Guess the 3rd time really is a charm!

Another gorgeous raku pendant by Jessi of Ecclectic Trinkets, some knotted sari, sparkly crystals which perfectly complement the pendant, and annealed steel wire. That wire is SO hard to bend, and my right thumb/hand joint is crying today.

I usually try not to make things like this: pearls all around and a silver pendant. It's so common around here, though the pendant is usually some New Orleans themed item, but I had the (Hill Tribe) pendant and I had the pearls, and I can guarantee that it will go over well with my sister and her friends next week. They may be weirded out by all my sari and copper, but they'll at least like this.

I've had these black rhinestone balls for awhile, but haven't been able to figure out what to do with them until last night. They're pretty heavy, so I have 3 strands of stretch cord through them. And it is for someone with a very thin wrist. I made this one a few times over before I found the right combo to make it wearable for someone!

Sister Hair Day & More

Every couple of months, one of my sisters and I make our hair appointments together and make a big day of it with lunch and shopping or whatever other hanging out. I've mentioned it on here before. Well today was one of those days. I was in such desperate need for a cut, she took about 5 or 6 inches off! It comes just to the top of my shoulders. I didn't take pics, 'cos it was rainy and humid all day, so as soon as I left the salon, I was stuck with way more puff than is desirable. Maybe tomorrow.

So while at the salon for the first time since the end of May or so, I replenished my jewelry stock. I'd taken it all away back then, and I gave her all new stuff today with my new packaging. I think it looks a lot better. 7 necklaces and 21 pairs of earrings. I haven't made any new bracelets because no one ever buys them! Plus I have the majority of them listed on etsy. I thought for sure I took a picture of this beautiful agate, quartz and copper necklace I'd made. But apparently I hadn't. I'm so upset, 'cos I like to have pictures of everything I make -- at least the really nice things. Well, maybe if it doesn't sell in a couple of months, I'll take it back and put it on etsy.

Anyway, here's something I did remember to take pictures of. I'm really in love with it -- it features a Lynn Davis  pewter Fauxtique connector, freshwater pearls, a vintage rhinestone ball, a piece of aquamarine, and antiqued silver craftwire plus a pewter clasp. Part of me hopes no one buys it so I can steal it from myself. I know I'm not the only one who does that, right?

 

 (Click to enlarge!)

Another exciting piece of news is that my friend Charlotte started a blog today! She wants to participate in the upcoming Bead Soup Blog Party, and she's been meaning to do a blog anyway. She hasn't posted any photos of her jewelry yet, but believe me - it's fantastic. I'll let you know when she's got something to look at, but click on over and read what she had to say in her first blog anyway. She cracks me up.

AND! As if that's not good enough news, my friend Heather informed me she's got another Big Box of Jewelry/Stuff almost ready to send! Remember that last big box she sent in March? I can't even wait to dig through it and see what kind of goodies are in there. She's teasing me with, "deco era Czech glass, art glass, &  half a Victorian enamel buckle" !!?!?!?!!

Also, just a reminder -- my etsy coupon code (FINALLY) is still good for 15% off through the end of July, and there's no shipping! So if you've had your eye on anything, now would be a good time...

Finally Finished!

You know those projects that take you forever, right? The moment I saw the gorgeous copper connector on Lynn Davis's etsy, I knew exactly what I was going to do with it. I had this old crystal necklace I've had forever, and I knew this is how it needed to be used. I just needed to do some things first: procure the chandelier crystal from my mom; get some Liver of Sulfur; learn how to properly use Liver of Sulfur; get some copper wire (which until the Bead Soup Blog Party was something I'd never used); darken the wire with the LoS; make a clasp during acceptable daylight hammering hours; etc. And of course life, houseguests, a million other projects, and the ginormous treasure box from the previous post all took up a lot of my time.

I had started it, and worked on it periodically for a few weeks, but last night, I decided I was going to finish it no matter how late I had to stay awake. So finally, here it is!!!

Click for close-up.

I just want to mention how much my thumb's about to break off from all this wire wrapping!

And now, a bracelet.

I finally used my first missficklemedia piece! I don't have much in the way of art beads or art-components (is that what you'd call it?), so I'm hesitant to use them. But they aren't going to do any good packed away in my stash. It's a saffron toggle clasp - and I also included some of the beads I recently bought from Michael's new selection. I don't make bracelets often, mainly because I don't seem to sell many bracelets. I like them, but at the salon where I sell my jewelry, it's the necklaces and earrings people want. I really need to get an etsy or bigcartel shop started soon. Maybe I'll work on that this weekend...

Anyway, the bracelet.

And if anyone were to want coordinating earrings, it seems I've already made them! 

Another thing I'm particularly excited about is this lovely piece I've ordered from the talented Lynn Davis.

I still haven't used the last piece I got from her, but I just had to get this anyway. I did at least start the necklace for the other piece. I just need to get a couple more findings for it. I'm not entirely certain what I see for this one, but it might involve pearls & chain and maybe a hint of sari ribbon. Actually, some missficklemedia chain might look good with this. Etsy, here I come!