Bits & Pieces

Well this time I decided to finish some old projects and make some new things using little odds and ends. I also learned a few new techniques I will explain as I go along. 
    The little miser  bag on the left is made with a bit of thread I had left over from a grab bag I bought at a thrift store. I added a clip from an old garter. It says Felina on it, and I thought it might just add a fun touch. I wonder how many people even know what a garder clip is?  I also wove a small piece of silver braid through the middle and  I added a few acrylic beads
onto the ends. 
     Next is a little bracelet made with a small piece of heavy thread I had left over from another porject. 
This one has a focal bead made of agate. I put a couple of metal rose beads on either side of the focal bead. 
Simple but fun, and it used up some small scraps.


    The necklace below is made with  more black and silver thread, same as the little miser bag,and macrame over a large wooden bead.  I used a bit of cream and gold thread too. 
On the necklace part I added  old vintage black and gold acrylic beads I had in my stash of old beads. I put  leaf shaped beads from that same stash.  Also I added some black and white beads and clear glass beads. 
 

Next is a little bracelet made with glass beads in a flower pattern, and  some more thread leftovers. Fun to see what you can do with just  bits and pieces.

 I call this a little fiesta bag  because of all the bright colors.
This started at the bottom with a tiny ball of yarn,then I added the next color of the bag with a crinkle sort of yarn. I put bright assorted bone beads and a few small glass beads near the bottom. I finished it off with a button closure and some orange cotton thread.  Kind of a ball shaped bag. 

This necklace turned out to be a fun learning experience. I learned how to crochet a tube. I used to see people with long ropes of these tubes. I always wondered how they did it. Now I know. 
I attached a fringe with some micro macrame and added glass beads and little shiny bright disks like sequins.

This little bracelet is made with  micro macrame and the same kind of thread as used on the fringe of the necklace above. 
Added are some assorted glass beads as charms. I made part of the bracelet with some cord I  learned to make on a large comb. I will talk about that more below.

Here is the comb I used. I used it to make the strap for another bag I will show you how I went about doing that. It turns out the same way as the spool knitters I used when I was young. I think it is a lot faster than that way of doing it. On the internet I learned  the cord is called I-Cord. I never knew it had a name.
        The picture below shows the first step.Make a slip knot like you are going to crochet.  Put it on the first tooth of the comb just next to the edge, then  wrap the thread from behind  in a sort of e shape. Put it around as many teeth of the comb as you want. I used four in the picture, but when I did it for my bag I used 5. 
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 Here is the little bag I made with the cord handles. I saw a program a few weeks ago making a bag like this using cloth and grommets for the holes to put the bag handles through. This bag has two sides.because I was trying to use up my small bits of yarn. The pink side has a cotton thread  with another thread wrapped around it which gives it a shaggy look.  On the blue and pink side, I added  pink flowers with small blue glass pearl beads in the center. On the cord ends for the handles I added pink vintage beads with a small glass bead used as a stop bead to hold the bigger beads on.

Last is another tree of life necklace I made with supplies from projects my grandmother  made and I had taken apart to make something else someday.  I finally figured how to use some of them. The necklace part is from another necklace. I didn't like, The pendant part of that so used it here and I like it better and still get to use the fun  vintage twisty silver glass beads. I think it is much better now. I used  metal leaves grandma had put on the tree she  made a long time ago. I wanted to still find some use for them.  

 

The wire on the tree part is from a piece of costume jewelery grandma had too. It looks great and gnarly. I used a couple of freshwater pearls I think they are called potato pearls. 

Hope You enjoyed our little jaunt see ya next time.

                                                                                                                                               

Mind Shift & Marbleing Moment

In the past few weeks I have noticed a shift in my thinking. While I was working on the bag with the dragonfly  from the last post, I felt a euphoria and  was really enjoying my work. I've struggled a long time with my thoughts, thinking I should have a better reason for doing what I like to do. Maybe it was not important or a valid use of my time. I realized that I had been laboring under a false assumption.  I also had fears of how it will come out and that it needs to be perfect. Silly thought. It takes work to become good at something. I guess that is the sweat and tears part of things.   I was looking at things in a negative light .   I felt I needed to hang on to these false beliefs. It was weighing me down and putting a cloud over the whole process.  I felt like God was watching, and he gave me permission to go on and with his blessing.  I could look to him for help. It was a nice surprise. I had felt in the vast scheme of things, that my little world was just too insignificant to be important. As I learned these things, I have felt a shift in my whole way of thinking. I have been able to drop many of my fears and find joy and excitement in learning new things and have been able to be more accepting of myself.  I feel a excitement and flood of ideas coming to me.  This journey of discovery has been a great one. I have much to learn, so the prospect is brighter.
       I also had a nice bonus, My African violet bloomed. It was a start from one of my sister's plants.

Beautiful, don't you agree? Thanks Dawn! ( my sister). It's amazing that such a beautiful plant can come from one little leaf.  Just takes time. I too am just like that  little leaf. 
I just need to be patient with myself and enjoy the journey. 

      First I jumped into a trial of marbling  and learned it takes a lot more trial and error to learn how to do it.  I started out having trouble with the paint. When I dropped it onto the surface of the medium of thickened water, it would sink and leave only a small trace of paint.  So, as most of us would do,  I went and read from the book I had to see if it would give me some helpful tips. Well I discovered I was suppose to dilute the paint.  As a result, I wasted quite a bit of paint.  Here are some  pictures of my first attempts.

       I also made a bracelet with thread from an unfinished project. I even enjoyed taking the old project apart.  Weird is'nt it? I liked the results.In this project, I used vintage glass beads, ceramic cubes, some jasper, and  small glass beads. I think it has a nice, earthy look . 

     Then I went on to learn how to do some more tree of life pendants. The first one was made with amethyst chips. A nother one with jade or adventurine with some more little flowers and grass added with green wire and small seed beads. One was made with tiger-eye chips and I added a fringe on it. Another is made with what I think is  Blue Lapis Lauzi chips. This pendant has a shell moon added and the trunk is made with black wire. Another one with agate I added pears to this tree. At least, that is what these little glass beads look like to me. These are a work in progress, I still need to make the necklace part and cover the rings more.

     
 

Last of all, I made crystal Buckyball earrings. The crystal surrounds a cats eye bead, and is topped with a small blue flower bead.  Hope you enjoyed your visit this time. See you next time with another chapter in my little adventure.