October: So Far, So Good....

Spending almost all my time at home lately (which is actually fine by me) has afforded me the opportunity to get back to beading.  My craft table was overloaded with projects ready to work on when life went sideways at the end of August.  It's been so great to get back to it!  

Picked up a couple of glass floats up in PTown this summer and added the beaded strand to it.  I need more of those mirrored tiles to work on the second float.

Drilling the hole through this agate slice was time consuming and required 3 drill battery recharges. Then added the beads for a window hanging.

I'd started this in August and just wasn't feeling it at the time.  I was glad to get this one finished at last.  That red bead on the left strand glows in the dark.

Labradorite & glass beads on the left, watermelon tourmaline on the right.

Matching necklaces

I just love those funky bead strands that are in craft stores and Walmart's craft section!  I restring them in the exact order as they are in the store.  

Another necklace.

I found this rainbow string of beads at Walmart.  Put them on memory wire with a prism on the bottom for a swirly effect.

My friend Ruth has commissioned 3 driftwood hangings from me, one which was requested to be blue & brown.

Annette commissioned this from me, in memory of her sister Debby who passed away this spring

I love love love mini bottles.  I got 4 up in PTown at the same place as the floats so I had fun embellishing them. 

I made this for my stepdaughter.

And this one too

Ta-Da!  My Bear cross stitch is finally done too!

Cool clouds one night

And THEN my friends Deb & Jim sent this Seahawks goodie package to me!  Russell wanted to tear into the M&Ms but there is no way I'm opening it!  The bracelets are wicked pretty and I can't wait to use the cookie cutter.

This one is the coup de grace!  The Space Needle in chipboard to assemble and paint!!!!!  I can't wait to start working on it!!!!  If I do the Hawks colours, I will have to tone down the lime green.  I can't stand it.

I have never been a 'one day at a time' kind of person but this whole past month has forced me into that mindset.  Just taking one day at a time to catch up on my crafting!

Spring Fever?

I think spring fever is definitely setting in around here after a series of clear days that were in the 50s.  We're all hopeful that we've seen the end of the snow for the season.  It makes me feel like doing more stuff like socializing, crafting, baking and going for walks.  One of my friends spent a few lovely hours of laughs and chatting on a Sunday afternoon.  She said she felt like something cakey so I whipped up a batch of funfetti vanilla cupcakes with homemade cream cheese icing.  I sent her home with most of them cause I will EAT THEM ALL if they are in the house.  hahaha  I kept 2.

Beads were half off at Michael's so I picked up a few strands to match some new pendants.  My stepdaughter gave me two beautiful fairy pendants.  One is on this pretty coloured stone.

 And one on abalone.

This purple dyed druzy pendant is from Fire Mountain Gems.  It's a bit too big for me though.  I don't wear pendants that big.

I'm not only a sucker for all things celestial, I'm a sucker for Venetian glass.

I've been a bit lax on my stitching lately.  I started a cross stitch kit but I haven't worked on it in weeks.  But I did start this Zenbroidery pattern.  It's going to take awhile to finish this but it'll be pretty neat when it's done.

I'm using different kinds of floss/threads as well as beads and sequins.

We had 2 days of 70 degree weather!  It was so nice to feel the warm breeze.  I took Sagan out for a walk wearing shorts and a tshirt!  In February!!!!  

Puppy enjoys all the sniffs.  So. Many. Sniffs.

From a distance, all I could see was the cross and I thought someone left their Halloween graveyard scene up.  When I got closer I was blown away.  

Still trying to shake this exhaustion by forcing myself to get out.

"One of These Days..."

I think we all have the tendency to say, 'one of these days, I'm going to [fill in the blank].'  For me, it's with craft projects that I was going to finish, fix or scrap.  So many projects were skillfully hidden in plain site on my craft table.  So today was finally 'one of these days'.  

Pink agate slice that I tried, unsuccessfully, to drill through last year and ended up scratching badly.  I grabbed my glass engraver and used the stencils that came with it to carve this on one side.

The carousel horse was done with etching cream last year but as I said, I scratched the surface badly with the drill, so I attempted to freehand that scalloped border around the horse.  Oh well...I tried. Should've used the stencil and made it more even.

I also broke out the little metal frames with glass squares and tried some alcohol ink on it.  I love how it looks, but I know now that the sun will fade this right out if I put it in a sunny window.

There was also an old 70s era bangle bracelet buried in the pile so I wrapped it with variegated floss. It's still too big for me though.  

I had baggies of projects to fix and finish.  The 2 necklaces had to be repaired and I just had to put the crystal back on the silver & amber hanger.  I got those silver earrings and the ring next to it in a grab bag, so I added beads to the earrings, and clapper bells to the ring.  It jingles when you move your hand around.  That other set of earrings needed something on the bottom so I added rings.  The green bead is held by a clothespin spring.  Then I added silver chain to it to make a necklace.  

All of them went in to my craft show box to try and sell next year!  Glad they are done though.  

The Project Book

I've gotten so used to seeing my 3 ring binder Project Book over the years that I've ceased to actually 'see' it anymore, until the other day.  I decided to pull it out and take a look at some of the projects I've been saving since the 1990s.  I started this binder back in California.  A lot of the rhinestones have popped off over the years.

This sucker weighs a ton and is 4" tall.  (I have two other 3-ring binders that contain just pictures of beautiful arts & crafts. I call them my Books of Pretty Things).

All the pages are in page protectors, of course.  The first section of pages is just devoted to tips, techniques and stitches.  The rest of the book has all the projects.

So many jewelry and ornament ideas!!!  There are some that I know I lack the skill to make.  Like for example I don't think I'll ever be able to make Huichol earrings and they aren't at all in style anymore. 

I showed it to Russell, sighed wistfully and said, 'I always meant to get to these and never did.'  He goes, 'So what's stopping you now?'  Hmm...good point!!  I've been so busy doing Pinterest and internet crafts that I haven't made any time for these (although there are quite a few in here that I have done)!!  Time to fix that.

The first one I decided to do was a decorated vase.  I found the cobalt vase at the Whatchamacallit Shop on Easter for $3.00.  So I used the glass etching kit to put a sun on the front.  

Then I strung the coloured glass beads around it, added the drops and finally the blue and silver swags.

I swore I wasn't going to make any more jewelry till my current stuff sells but the instructions for this were really simple and I had all the supplies at hand without needing to dig too much.

And then I made this Christmas tree 'one of a kind cause I ain't doin' that again' pin.  I now remember why I don't work with seed beads all that much.  It's tedious as hell.  I haven't done brick stitch in years and I was very clumsy at first & I nearly gave up a few times.  I also couldn't understand the instructions on how to increase the rows to make the tiers, so I ended up doing 3 separate pieces and joining them up the best I could. 

And here is a pic of it after the backing was put on (green felt).  I just need to find a small pinback for it.  I used a green marker to hide the white thread! 

That's a good start!  Now only about 200 or more left to go.