Finishing January by Finishing Projects

I've just had way too much stuff sitting on the craft table for far too long, so I continue to move things along.  There's been a matchbox on the table for at least 3 years now.  I finally decided to do something with it.  I'm not really sure why the India-theme came to mind, but in an odd twist of fate, as I was covering the box with paper, I noticed in small print it said 'made in India' on the side.

Glass painted mini jar

Not sure where this faux crystal bottle topper came from, but there was no way to use it hanging in a window.  I wasn't going to attempt to drill through that 1/2" thick, rock hard plastic.  The only real solution I could come up with was peyote stitching around it so that I could add a loop at the top. I'm not that good at peyote, but I do it every now and then just to keep in practice.  Then added beaded hanger.

I can see 9 more projects hiding in plain sight, that need to be done...and by the time this publishes, hopefully more will be completed.  But it's nice to have things tidy for a change, although it's oddly unsettling.

Starting the New Year Off with Cookies & Crafts

Now that I bake, I just can't buy commercial cookies anymore.  They taste so chemically.  The last Seahawks game of the season was going to be on TV for a change, so I decided to use my new cookie cutters to make some Hawks sugar cookies.  Also picked up a Jones Green Apple Soda for the game...based in Seattle and bottled in British Columbia.

Even Sasquatch is a 12th Man!

This is the rest of the batch.

My craft table is, as usual, a white hot mess.  I decided that I have to make the projects on it before I move onto other things.  This pink glass drop needed to get a beaded hanger so whipped that off in a few minutes.

Russell bought me that crystal after LAST Christmas...of 2014....and it, too, was waiting for a hanger. I found these beautiful beads this fall and whipped that one up as well.  Yes that's snow in the background...first of the season.  

I found this little jar in Target...I bought 2 of them.  Stuck glitter tiles on this one.  It's so pretty!

Last year I purchased that gorgeous rutilated quartz wire wrapped pendant from my friend Robin. Also last year, my friend Lynda gifted me with those beads, which used to belong to her sister Cyndy, who passed away a few years ago.  Cyndy was part of my 'group' back in high school and it was so heartbreaking to lose her so young.  I wanted to do something special with them.  It was by happenstance that I pulled out the bag of beads and the pendant at the same time and realized how great they'd look together!

I had these metal and glass pendants sitting around so I added the decorative papers to them finally to get them off my table too....and into one of my many beading boxes for future use.

Still chipping away at the projects on the table but it already looks way better than when I started.  I should've taken a before picture but I was so mad at myself for letting it get that bad!  Next up is one more necklace and add embellishments to the glass float I got up in PTown last fall.  

Blue Goldstone Blog Hop!

Back in January, my buddy Liz over the Bead Contagion offered up some free blue goldstone round and donut beads to beat the winter blues, if she could get some crafters to create something with them for the big reveal today.  Blue goldstone is a synthetic glass stone and sooooo gorgeous.  Dark blue with pretty sparklies, how could I turn down the opportunity to participate??  I received my package of beads and then started to wonder how best to use them.  I've never worked with donut beads because usually people do wire wrapping or create a beautiful hanger from peyote stitched seed beads.

My first thought was maybe I could create some kind of hanging thing for a window or porch or something.  I started out one afternoon at the beginning of February and I wasn't 100% crazy about the way it was coming out.  I got frustrated and started to mutter, 'what have I gotten myself into?'  It was at that point that I noticed the smallest donuts were drilled through the top and bottom.  The large one wasn't but the small ones were.  I abandoned my hanging thing idea, and ended up reorganizing my glitter and watching the Superbowl while I obsessed mulled over what I should do about this project.  I decided that I'd go the jewelry route.

The following day, we'd had some awful weather and that was the day I fell on the ice.  Decided to go ahead and work on the project because I was unable to stop thinking about it (this is what happens to me when I have an idea....I wake up all night thinking about it too), despite the fact that my back was killing and hunching over the table wasn't the world's smartest plan.

Since the goldstone beads were such a dark blue, I had a hard time matching any other shades of blues with it. Clear, silver and white pearl go with everything so I knew those would be the additional elements.  But I really needed something to punch it up a little bit, so I opted for dark red Swarovski crystals.  I had enough donuts to do a matching pair of earrings.

I was able to fit some small crystals in the center of the little donuts. 

The donut center beads alternate clear and red.  Aren't the goldstone beads pretty?  

I'm not a wire wrapper, and I'm not so good at peyote so I just ended up doing a real basic wrap and loop for the larger pendant.

I wish my pics had come out better.  I had hoped to shoot photos of this set outside, but the snow took forever to melt and my friend Clair wanted to purchase this from me so I didn't want to make her wait until the weather got good enough for me to finally take pictures outside.

Thank you, Liz, for hosting the hop.  It was an honour to participate!!!

Candles, Custom Work & Colouring

I suck at candle making, I really do.  I tried it out west....I was so enthusiastic and bought tons of stuff.  I figured how hard can it be?  Well as it turns out, for me, it's hard.  I got rid of all my supplies long before I moved.  Last year, my friend Tracy told me she had a bunch of empty decorative tins she was going to toss out unless I wanted them.  Being the King Moonracer of Misfit Craft Supplies, I told her I'd give them a good home.  

Wasn't really sure what to do with all those tins, but I figured how hard could it be to pour wax inside and make candles?  It's basic enough....doesn't require a lot of technique or understanding.  Got some wicks, wax pellets, a candle thermometer and a melter/pourer.

My first attempt was a little rocky.  I cooled the tins in a pan of cold water with some ice cubes.  It was at this point I discovered that the tins aren't watertight.  Water seeped up the edges and caused the wax to separate.  I had to pour the water out of sides after they were completely cool.

So the next attempt was by keeping the tins in the pan on wax paper.  This time I only poured them about half way full, then I took them outside to set up in the icy cold air (it was about 20).  That worked a bit better except the wax leaked out the bottom around the edges but it scraped off pretty easily.

This time I decided to put some shells and beach glass on top of the first hardened wax.  I was afraid that the top layer would melt the bottom, causing the treasures to be forced to the bottom.  So instead of bringing the cooling tins inside, I brought the melted wax outside and that worked well to keep the first layer from liquifying.

It was snowing by the time I finally brought them in.  This is what the treasure ones look like with their lids.

And without the lids.  I think they came out pretty good!

Then I robbed some tea lights of their wicks and glued them onto some shells, then poured wax in them.  The two smallest shells have been painted with metallic paint and I don't know how safe it will be to have hot wax or an open flame near it.  Time will tell.  

Then I decided what the heck....why not just use up all the wax since I have the tins since the weather is cold?  So I spent over four hours one afternoon melting, pouring and setting about 12 or 13 more tins' worth of treasure candles.  They set up so much faster when it's 25 degrees out. 

A wolf charm surfaced when I was reorganizing all my beads so I made this necklace for my bff Shelly.  She picked the length and the colours.

The Creatures of the Salish Sea colouring book had also just arrived and the pictures were large enough to be quick workups and there were only about 8 pages in it anyway (since the book was designed to be easily completed in the Victoria Clipper's nearly 3 hour journey between Seattle and Victoria), so I did it up one afternoon.  Mine took a little longer than 3 hours because I had to google exactly what each animal looked like and attempt to replicate it with the crayons I had on hand.

Pardon the flash reflection at the bottom....I was in a hurry to shoot and upload these pics.

I rarely work with crayons these days so it was nice to use them again, although I notice they are definitely not the quality we had in the 70s.  I really don't remember the wax flaking and stickiness of them at all.

I have another colouring book of Washington State history and symbols, which is also geared for kids and is another one that I finished in just a few days.  I am using crayons and Crayola brand coloured pencils (usually I use the higher quality Prismacolour) on this one.

I think what strikes me most about this particular picture is the grin on the girl's face.  All I can think about is, 'Girly, you are in for the hardest few months, possibly years, of your young life.  You're gonna have that smile wiped right off your face in the first few weeks of this journey,'  I realize the illustrators had to make the book upbeat for kids, but seeing this girl look like she's having the time of her life on the Oregon Trail is a little disingenuous when you know the history of the hardships faced by the pioneers on their trips west.  

Motivation: I Lacks It

It's been so hard for me to get motivated to make jewelry and stuff for the upcoming craft shows.  My craft table is so packed with stuff that there's no room for me to spread out with all my beads.  I finally broke down and set up the second card table and took everything out.  Keep in mind, most of what's on this table was purchased when I still lived in Washington and bags of old, broken & unwanted jewelry were gave me.

So I have a table full of beads plus plastic boxes (seen on the floor under the table).

Here's Sagan, helping me after I set up the table.

What a sweet face.  He'd just had his fall bath and was so fluffy & soft.

We had such a nice fall that it's really been hard to get back to being inside and making the same old stuff, vs. wanting to try out new crafts.  Plus I was busy carving pumpkins and roasting seeds.  And another horribly time consuming chore is having my name changed on everything.  I should've started it back in September but I put it off. Finally forced myself to the DMV for the new license and registration.  Since the closest one is in Plymouth, I had to get up early and get up there by 7:45 and I was still about 15th back in line when they opened at 8. Luckily they were moving people through quickly, so I was back on the road for home by 8:30.  Of course everyone wants copies of things and don't get me started on the hell that is changing your name on Paypal.  I just did this a couple of years ago and now I get to do it again.

I have been trying to figure out how many miles I've walked since winter ended.  I remember my first longish walk in April, my back, feet legs and hips were aching after reaching the end of my street.  Now I'm regularly doing miles at a time, esp. on the Canal.  My sneakers are worn out too.  Time for a new pair of those.  Just from looking at my pictures, it looks like I walked just over 100 miles since April.  That's a lot, esp. for me, a confirmed exercise hater.

Finally forced myself to start making jewelry and having the beads all spread out has made designing so much easier.  I really love doing it so I don't understand why I couldn't get motivated.  Michelle did the wire wrapped beach glass pendant on this one, and I added the necklace part to it.  I did quite a few necklaces, some bracelets and earrings but my pics didn't come out too good!  I was in a hurry to shoot them and they ended up kinda blurry at the top and bottom.

Here's another 'never again' project.  Shells and glass stuck on a styrofoam ball.  This took over a week to finish because the styrofoam glue takes so long to dry.  The shells are from Sanibel Island in Florida, which friends brought back for me.

November 2 was Fall Back Day; my fave!  We had a wicked storm too. Started the day before with torrential rain and high winds.  The poopies were sticking close together, as they are not fans of storms.

All hell broke loose after about 2:30 AM on Sunday, 11/2, with rain and wind.  I was very grateful that Russell made sure the generator was all charged up and ready to use in case the power went out, which, fortunately, it didn't.  I got up at 8 and promptly set the clocks back to 7, and busied myself packing away the Halloween decorations and putting up the Thanksgiving ones.  When I looked outside around noon, I could not believe what I was seeing.  Snow. Just a tad early.  The temperature plummeted to the mid 30s, I caved in and turned on the heat in the house, and I had to break out the winter coat and boots to take the dogs out.

It prompted me to write this on my car.

But by day's end, the snow and wind had stopped, the cold remained but the setting sun lit up the tree tops.

I am sooooo not ready for winter!!