Recently Completed Projects

This pretty silver locket was included in that awesome bag of stuff I got from my friend Monica awhile back. It was all tarnished so I polished it up nice.

Then I added red suede-like paper on the inside with some steampunk gears and a key.

Spotted this design online and it was a very quick, two day work up for my bff Liz.  It fits easily in a 4x6 frame.  

My stepdaughter loved the black & red egg I made for Lady Axe so I offered to make her one too. That meant hunting down another skull & cross bones cabochon, which I finally found on ebay.  The seller also had a purple and black one so I got that too.  

I used lilac paint and then purple glitter paint on the outside and trimmed the edge with chain, similar to the red & black one.  I gave 'em both to her.  

Marsha commissioned 15 beach-themed bookmarks and 2 bracelets. I assumed that beach-themed paper supplies would be easy as pie to find here, but I was wrong.  There were lots of cutesy pie, cartoonish fish, flip flops, umbrellas, shells, sunglasses, etc. but not a lot of more upscale items. I couldn't even find a nautical map to buy!!  I bought what I could and dug out the rest from my supplies stash.  I made them all in one day.  I didn't take pics of all of the backs, but there are sea-themed quote stickers on each one.  Sorry for the bad pics.

The 2 bracelets were to have a sea theme and the other with 'faith' and a music charm.  Do you think I could find a music charm anywhere?  Liz came through for me by finding one at her local bead shop in Northern Vermont.

I wasn't sure if E6000 would dry enough to be waterproof so this windspinner project started off using LockTite which is supposed to be the best waterproof super glue for glass to metal.  I let all the pieces dry for a couple of days and when I picked one of the discs up, all the glass blobs popped off!!!  Slight delay as I re-glued them with E6000 and so far they've held up through some rain and wind.  We'll see how they do by the end of the summer.

I found some amazing beads 50% off at JoAnn Fabric and Crafts and used one to make another useless hanging thing that's based on a picture I saw on Pinterest and which were for sale in the Moonbeams & Mayhem ebay store.  I have no intention of making these to sell because this one was a pain in the ass.  Seriously.  The frustration to figure out how it was made and adapt it to my supplies on hand and skill level (which, to be honest, ain't so hot when it comes to seed bead art), wasn't worth it.  Also, I had to deal with thread and eye pin breakages at really bad times.

This heart hanger was leftover from that Christmas shelf I made a couple of years ago.  It was already curled on the ends but I had to unbend them in order to get those beads on there and I didn't do a very good job of bending them back.  The steel was difficult to work with.  Then I painted the heart part black and glued wood beads on each end to keep the beads on.

It really does look better close up and in real life.  Used a bunch of the JoAnn Fabrics beads for the bottoms of each strand, with glass pearls, Czech glass, square lavender beads and silver beads of different shapes.

The weather's been so nice and I've been between projects so this is all I've gotten done in May.

Still Waiting On Spring

Wasn't amused to wake up to this on the 10th.  And again on the 13th.  In between the snow, we had mild days.  It's going from 20 to 50 every other day.

Sagan turned 9 on the 11th!  I can't believe it's been that long.  I got him when he was 9 months old and now he's 9 years old.  Getting a little grey on his muzzle but he still acts like a silly, goofy puppy.  Russell's really taken a liking to him, which is so sweet to see.  I tried, and failed, to get him to wear the birthday bandanna and hat.

The birthday boy and Bean.

Squeaky lips.  It looks funny when he looks at you with them in his mouth but he wouldn't look my way.

Pepper made a fort.

Sagan does this with the bed every day in the morning.  Gets it right on his head and tosses it around like a pizza.  It's hilarious to watch. 

On Saturday the 15th, I took part in the Worldwide Minute, which was organized by Paula Wallis Photography of Vancouver, BC.  The premise was to take a photo at 5:47 pm, your local time.  So all day there was a rolling block of pictures as new time zones appeared.  We went down to the beach near the house and waited for the appointed time so I could shoot my entry.  Got home and uploaded it to the page and it was incredible because Cape Cod made a huge showing of photos.  Nearly every photo uploaded for 5:47 pm Eastern Daylight Time was taken in this region.  

I've been spending the freezing cold days inside working on this butterfly cross stitch.  I will NEVER buy another kit with 18 count, black Aida cloth again.  It's too hard to see, especially when it also requires black and dark blue floss.  There are a lot of colour changes in this kit, floss colour combos, backstitching, french knots and couching, which I've never done.  Should be interesting when it's done.

Marsha gave me these killer socks.  So pretty!

My awesome stepdaughter gave me these.  I can't wait to make a giant rainbow cupcake!!!!!

Made this for Marsha.

And speaking of bracelets, here's my win from Krafty Max Originals!  The pics don't do it justice, but it's a really pretty purple.

Steampunked a small working padlock with keys.  Hard to see but the front has gears and a tiny key.

There are wings on both sides, and this shows the back.

St. Pat's Day was bitter cold and cloudy, with just a few flakes that fell around mid-day.  It was a pretty sunset though.

I got up a couple days ago with the intent of going grocery shopping but it was 11*.  ELEVEN DEGREES on March 18.  So I stayed in, cross stitched and make sugar cookies.  Note the maple leaf Canadian flags.

It's hard to believe that over half of the month of March is over....one quarter of the year.  This one's definitely going down in the record books as the worst winter ever.

Paint Chip Crafts, Happy Accidents and Glass Art

Pinterest strikes again.  Saw some pins for paint chip art and I decided I had to try it.  Paint chips are FREE.  You just go to your local Mallwart and Home Depot and grab a bunch of colours!!!  I made a card with some chip strips.  Incidentally, I've found that one chip goes a really long way, as I used them to punch circles and cut strips.  Very little of them went to waste.  I left the names and stock numbers on purpose.

This was really fun.  Just punched out and layered circles then stuck them on some white card stock.

Then I thought I'd try using a snow flake punch and then a circular punch together.  The results aren't what I was expecting but I was extremely excited to see what happened.  I started making a whole bunch of crescent moon snowflakes for future use.

I tried rubber stamping on these chip samples but I'm not good at rubber stamping at all.  There's either too much or not enough ink, and of course some of them got smudged.  These are supposed to be bookmarks.

Celestial themed card using the moon/flake in yellow.

And a birthday card for one of my friends.  I'm taking the chance that she doesn't read my blog.

One for Axe to go along with some stuff I got her from the Lizzie Borden House.

Finally found the right cord I needed without having to drive out to Michael's so I did a couple more jump ring bracelets.  Here's an example of my pain in the ass OCD where I had to separate all the beads out by colour.

Friendship bracelets were really popular back in my Deadhead days.  I remember a girl in my dorm was making them to sell at shows, when I was a senior at Emerson, so that was 1986.  I never learned how to make them though, and no one taught me.  When Diane and the kids were up in July, Maddie showed me how to make them, as they seem to be making a comeback.  This is my chevron-design fail.  I'm gonna master this, I swear it.  

It's amazing the amount of stuff I stockpiled to use in the future if I ever had the time, including glass chips unearthed in a box recently.  Now I have the time.  Layered multicolour, black, purple, cobalt and mirrors in this jar, covered the lid in blue fabric with a ribbon around the edge and button on the top.

This is a teeny tiny jar, filled with multicoloured chips, with fabric and button lid.

Loved this empty wine bottle shaped like a lighthouse.  I took the back label off, then filled it with sand, craft pebbles, a thin layer of quartz rocks, shells and craft beach glass.

It's a local wine, Truro Cranberry Red.  See the door under the label?

Glued chips all over this votive candle cup too.