My long time readers will know just what that title means, and how very exciting it is. But for the uninitiated, let me break it down for you. My friend Heather gets vintage jewelry lots from ebay and from garage sales, thrift stores, etc., because she wants a few pieces in the lot. And there are always plenty of things she doesn't want, or that are broken, or not quite her style so she saves them up in a medium sized Priority Mail Box until it's full and then mails it off to me for salvage!
I'm so glad she didn't tell me this one was coming. It made it all the more exciting when I got home and there it was waiting for me. I've sorted through it all, and picked apart most of what I'm saving but there's still some work to be done. It takes a couple of weeks before I'm ever through.
Oooh just look at how much fun this is gonna be!!!
I see some good stuff in here...
Plenty of glass pearls. And vintage rhinestone rondelles!
Old 50s plastic pearls, some sparkly stuff, lavender and white glass!
I adore the hand painted heart shaped piece of shell. It's one of my favorite things from the box. It's sitting next to the Deco rhinestone leaf buckle, which shall one day meet some sari ribbon and become something beautiful. Any ideas?
Strange plastic mummies - perhaps next Halloween I'll make an orange and black king cake and tuck the mummies inside? (If you're not from New Orleans or around here, you have no idea what I'm talking about.) Another fab rhinestone buckle. A great enameled butterfly bracelet, a cool stacked gold bell pendant and some other fun stuff...
There was so much more than this, including a dark gunmetal shoe-clip that is going to make a gorgeous bracelet some day.
I love Heather boxes!!!
Monday, December 19, 2011
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Artists Helping Artists Silent Auction
Several artists in the blog community have decided to band together to help a fellow artist in need.
I am offering the necklace I recently completed for Erin Prais-Hintz' Color Challenge, as well as a pair of earrings that don't match - but they coordinate pretty well. I do love working with sari fabric, it provides such a fun texture.
Would you like to be the winning bidder?
Please leave a comment along with your bid. If you are the winning bidder, you will receive an invoice after the close of the auction, which ends Sunday the 11th at midnight est. There must be a way to contact you. If you have email preferences turned off in your profile, please leave your email.
Many people are auctioning items to help out! Please visit these the other artists below and place your bid!
List of participants:
Heidi Post http://expostfactojewelry.blogspot.com/
Marie Cramp & Lori Anderson http://skyejewels.blogspot.com/
Barbara Bechtel & Staci Smith http://secondsurf.com/
Erin Fickert-Rowland http://elysianstudiosart.com/
Keirsten Giles http://www.cerebraldilettante.blogspot.com/
Andrew Thornton http://andrew-thornton.blogspot.com/
Karen Totten http://starryroadstudio.blogspot.com/
Kristi Bowman-Gruel http://dreamsomedesigns.blogspot.com/
Nan Emmett http://spiritrattles.blogspot.com/
Maire Dodd http://mairedodd.blogspot.com/
Amanda Cargill Austin http://www.seashoreglassgirl.com/
Janice Everett http://jlynnjewels.blogspot.com/
Rebecca Anderson http://songbeads.blogspot.com/
Shannon Iko Chomanczuk http://formysweetdaughter.blogspot.com/
Jennifer Justman http://soulsfiredesigns.blogspot.com/
Erin Prais-Hintz http://treasures-found.blogspot.com/
Kerry Bogert http://kabsconcepts.blogspot.com
Patricia Gasparino http://www.mylifeunderthebus.typepad.com/
Erin Seigel http://erinsiegeljewelry.blogspot.com/
Courtney Breul http://beadsbybreul.blogspot.com/
Other Fundraisers:
MaryAnne Carroll at LMAJ http://lovemyartjewelry.blogspot.com/2011/12/5-huge-giveaway.html
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Holiday Shop Hop!
Welcome to the Holiday Shop Hop! Michelle from MiShel Designs has organized this big online shop hop! Thanks Michelle! Please click on her link to see the full list of participants.
Starting today and lasting until December 20th, I'm offering 15% off in my etsy shop! The coupon code is HOLIDAY15. Please stop by and see what I have to offer, and then check on all the other participants' pages! I'll be adding even more items over the next few days.
Happy Holidays and thanks for stopping by!
Starting today and lasting until December 20th, I'm offering 15% off in my etsy shop! The coupon code is HOLIDAY15. Please stop by and see what I have to offer, and then check on all the other participants' pages! I'll be adding even more items over the next few days.
Happy Holidays and thanks for stopping by!
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Challenge of Color Blog Hop!
Hi everyone, and welcome to the 2nd Challenge of Color Blog Hop hosted by the lovely & hard-working Erin Prais-Hintz of Treasures Found!
She chose each one of us our very own color palette from Design Seeds based on the main color of our choice. I chose teal (not a big stretch), but as you can see - my palette included pinks (which is a much bigger stretch). Here it is:
The first thing I thought when I saw it was: I already made this necklace! But of course I couldn't use something I had already done. But here it is, just so you can see.
Okay, so the blue's a little blue, and there's no olive or dark dark red, but it was pretty darn close.
I had a wealth of teal sari ribbon lying around though, so I set about knotting it over and over, which has been a new thing I've been doing lately. But then, I was stuck! I didn't have any focals that matched. The only large beads I had in those colors were boring and wouldn't make good focals. I pulled out more of the same cherry quartz you see above. Pearls. Serpentine. Mookaite. Czech glass. I tried a million things -- failed attempts at making a grapes-like cluster of different sizes of cherry quartz. Individual dangles on the sari ribbon. Chain and sari ribbon with dangles on the chain. It was all just horrible. I'm not a dangles kinda girl. Other people do beautiful work like that. Not me.
I opened the pink & purple box one more time, hoping I'd see something new (much like looking in an empty refrigerator 10 times hoping there'll be a forgotten pie somewhere). And there it was! That pink fossil bead! It's just a cheap thing from Michael's, but I'd gotten it and never used it for a reason. It was just the right shades of pink. Suddenly I remembered some olive serpentine chips I'd forgotten, and whipped up this little dangley focal. So it's not my favorite thing I've ever done, but I was finally satisfied with the result. Plus it is the first piece to feature one of my new highly prized faceted pearls in dark dark red.
Make sure to check out all the other participants' blogs! And thanks for stopping by.
1 Norma Turvey ~ Teal ~ Color Crave
1 Norma Turvey ~ Teal ~ Color Crave
2 Jeannie Dukic ~ Green ~ Mineral Tones
3 Mary McGraw ~ Teal ~ Embellished Hues
4 Jo Tinley ~ Red ~ Decadent Tones
5 Rebecca Anderson ~ Pink ~ Tulip Tones
6 Kristi Jaro ~ Red ~ Temple Entrance
7 Stephani Gorman ~ Green ~ Dew Tones
8 Melissa Meman ~ Green ~ Fruit Star
9 Kathleen Lange Klik ~ Teal ~ Silk Hues
10 Cynthia Riggs ~ Red ~ Autumn Comfort
11 Heidi Post ~ Teal ~ Flora Bright
12 Cece Cormier ~ Teal ~ Merino Teal
13 Amy Freeland ~ Gray ~ Cultured Tones
14 Alice Peterson ~ Blue ~ Island Play
15 Rose Noble ~ Gray ~ Autumn Stacked
16 Kristina Johansson ~ Yellow ~ Sunny Flower
17 Kirsi Luostarinen ~ Teal ~ Dragon Hues
18 Tari Kahrs ~ Orange ~ Citrus Tones
19 Mallory Hoffman ~ Purple ~ Petaled Dark
20 Molly Alexander ~ Brown ~ Peppered Tones
21 Regina Santerre ~ Red ~ Frosted Berry
22 Emanda Johnson ~ Teal ~ Color Purl
23 Amy Severino ~ Orange ~ Winged Tones
24 Bobbie Rafferty ~ Teal ~ Lime Hues
25 Tanya Goodwin ~ Gray ~ Pecked Tones
26 Lisa Lodge ~ Blue ~ Nocturnal Tones
27 Hope Smitherman ~ Blue ~ Bloom Tones
28 Linda Landig ~ Green ~ Cacti Dark
29 Ambra Gostoli ~ Teal ~ Perched Autumn
30 Lori Bowring-Michaud ~ Blue ~ Sharpened Blue
31 Pippa Chandler ~ Teal ~ Hungarian Hues
32 Keirsten Giles ~ Purple ~ Mineral Brights
33 Jennifer Justman ~ Blue ~ Autumn Rays
34 Sandy Richardson ~ Purple ~ Moroccan Brights
35 CJ Bauschka ~ Teal ~ Teal Air
36 Shaiha Williams ~ Teal ~ Sushi Hues
37 Kay Thomerson ~ Purple ~ Autumn Spectrum
38 Sally Russick ~ Purple ~ Golden Gate Tones
39 Cilla Watkins ~ Purple ~ Autumn Infused
40 Shirley Moore ~ Purple ~ Frozen Heather
41 Jenni Connolly ~ Gray ~ Paw Tones
42 Tamara Soper ~ Green ~ Field Tones
43 Sharyl McMillian-Nelson ~ Blue ~ Nested Blues
44 Jen Velasquez ~ Pink ~ Sweetened Tints
45 Maria Grimes ~ Red ~ Bright Bloom
46 Elisabeth Auld ~ Gray ~ Petaled Tints
47 Susan Kennedy ~ Pink ~ Zinnia Tones
48 Shannon Chomanczuk ~ Gray ~ Autumn Leaf
49 Holly Westfall ~ Yellow ~ Sprinkled Tones
50 Patty Gasparino ~ Red ~ Color Carton
51 Angela Little ~ Pink ~ Singapore Brights
52 Lizzie Zawinski ~ Green ~ Budding Hues
53 Kristen Stevens ~ Pink ~ Scooped Tones
54 Dawn Doucette ~ Brown ~ Jarred Tones
Saturday, November 19, 2011
My Par-tay!
So a lot of people didn't show up. Aside from my sister, mom, niece, my friend who came with, and the Scentsy woman (who was also hawking her wares), there were 5 guests. So considering all that, I did pretty well. I was surprised I sold anything at all. Plus, I now have some Christmas present ideas in mind for my sister, niece, and friend :) The most valuable thing I think I gained is the knowledge that my display kicks major derriere, and that I can manage to set up on one 6-ft table. I really loved hanging things off the chandelier, and I know that won't happen again. But it worked today! I'm very happy with my necklace display, and now I am way more confident about doing craft shows in the future. Also, I totally bought a Scentsy thinger, and some wax blocks. Hope I like the fragrances when they burn! Here are the photos from today. As always, click to enlarge...
This is me (right) with my friend Ashley who was a massive help today. Thanks Ash!
Sunday, November 13, 2011
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.
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 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).
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!
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Some New Earrings
Seems like all my posts lately are about new earrings. Oh well, that's what I'm making these days. Tonight, I vow I will do a couple of bracelets! I am trying to prepare for the Jewelry Party at my sister's, as well as an online Christmas Shop Hop (more on that soon).
And the pictures are courtesy of a paper towel and my cell phone. Sorry for the quality!
Yay! My new fancy amethyst brios plus some amazonite, LoSed copper wire and coppery settings I got at the show last week.
New rose quartz, little fw pearls, and some antique silver settings I recently got. And ever since, I've been seeing them around. Haha, oh well.
More turquoise and wood plus quartz & brushed silver potato chips. Plus my First Ever Made From My Hoarded Stash of Sterling Wire earwires. Go me! Usually, I'll just bend an eye pin, but I LOVE these earrings and I thought they deserved better.
And the pictures are courtesy of a paper towel and my cell phone. Sorry for the quality!
Yay! My new fancy amethyst brios plus some amazonite, LoSed copper wire and coppery settings I got at the show last week.
New rose quartz, little fw pearls, and some antique silver settings I recently got. And ever since, I've been seeing them around. Haha, oh well.
The new turquoise and long wooden rectangles. I keep repeating this general design, but I love these wooden rectangles for earrings. I wear mine all the time.
More turquoise and wood plus quartz & brushed silver potato chips. Plus my First Ever Made From My Hoarded Stash of Sterling Wire earwires. Go me! Usually, I'll just bend an eye pin, but I LOVE these earrings and I thought they deserved better.
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