These past few weeks have been busy ones, so I'm behind in posting here and at a loss as to what I should share. In our Family we have a lot of birthdays and anniversary's in the months of August and September. I spent most of my time getting ready for those. We had another event added to August one of my nieces got married this month, so I'm a little sparse with what I can share. I also made some little pin cushions for an event for a lacing group I belong to. So before I turned them in, I thought I should make a record for future reference.
I went a little crazy with pictures made on my scanner. It was fun.. I finished nine out of the twelve I am working on. I fell in love with three. I know that is a strong word, love, but there is something about them. The fabric and color is really interesting to me. It will not take long to figure out the three I'm talking about. The first picture is to the left. It is of the whole pin cushion family.
I wonder what I found so fascinating about these, but I like the color and shapes and how they seem to want to play together.
The background on this one is a pillow from our couch.
This one is a metal container made in the shape of a heart. I found this on one of my many trips to the thrift store.
The next few pictures are me playing with some old buttons I have acquired over the years. I want to make something with them, but it is hard to let go. I think they are beautiful and remind me of times gone by. They sure don't make them like they used to.
This picture to my right has a set of silver prayer or worry beads I bought when visiting my sister at the little junk shop that was going out of business. The copper dish or pan was found at my favorite thrift store and I store fresh garlic in it.
Next, I added two metal heart bells or chimes to the picture. They make a wonderful sound when shaken.
This is a copper mold I found at the same time as I got the dish for the garlic. I used to have them hung above the stove, but alas, they kept falling down. I had them hung by suction things that just would not hold very long. They where too heavy. I also have a rooster and a cow.
Next, I added a picture of one of our visits to see Dawn when she was living in Vancouver . We got together with some of our cousins. Two of them were from out of town,and another lived in Oregon and has since passed away. The picture was taken by my sister, Dawn. My Husband( he sure is handsome) , little David and I are in the front, Behind is Roy a family friend, and Patty and Johann.They are Henry's daughters he is my dad's brother. Also a man who knew our uncle Benjamin. This next picture I have added a heart and key from the same little shop where I found the poker chips and other items I talked about earlier. Also I added a rock given to me from Relief Society ( a women's organization I belong to in my Church)
The motto written on it is, " Charity Never Faileth". Also there is a piece of a plant I had to prune because It was taking over the living room.
These are some spoons I found at my favorite thrift store. The wooden ones are hand carved. The metal one seems to be brass.From Thailand.It has a great patina and a twist in the handle.
Next are some pictures I added to sheets of polymer clay and have not yet made into anything. Two are of my grandpa as a baby and as a young man. The other is of my grandmother.
The pictures here are of Grandpa, him with his Dad as a baby, his great and great, great, grandfather and a advertising for their business in Salt Lake City, Utah
This one has a heart locket I got in a grab bag, I think, and have never replaced the picture.
This one is with one of my grandmother's amber necklaces I inherited when she died. Dawn, my sister, got the other one. We were always fascinated by them when we were young. I had to restring mine and add some stones to make it a bit longer so I could wear it. Grandma was a small women.
The pendant part I got from a vintage necklace I bought at my favorite thrift store and then I added a oval stone below. On one of the pin cushions I have a glass drop I tried to add a picture of my mom on the back without much success.
Next added is a old pair of hair clippers and a small shell.
We are in the home stretch now. Last but not least is a wooden snake and some more of the plant I had to trim. I hope you enjoyed my little fit of craziness. See you next time with a little more to show for myself.
Let me start by letting you know I'm not talking about smoke but the Peyote stitch in bead work. As I looked back on the work of the past few weeks since I last wrote, I noticed a trend. I chose to work on several pieces that had polymer clay beads that Brad and I had made some time ago. This one is a bit "shabby chic".
The first necklace came about because of the scrap of thread I showed how to weave into the cord in my last post. I have a hard time throwing things away that are still useful. I finished the weaving until I got to the end of the string and then wondered how I could use it. I made another tube with beads added and joined them together with a polymer clay piece I had on hand, and also I used blue and white tube shaped beads Brad had made. I did macrame and bead work to attach them together. Next I beaded around another polymer clay pendant. It was an odd shape so I backed it with black leather and sewed a foundation of beads for the first row and then added more from there until I had it secure,using a peyote stitch. Then I went about making a necklace to attach it too,but as it progressed I didn't think it would look right together. I made that necklace into a separate project. Here are the two finished projects.
The project I worked on next was using a polymer piece that I thought looked like it needed to be a turtle. I beaded around that also with some seed beads, adding more beads for legs and a head. After I did that, I had a problem I couldn't see how I could keep the beads on the legs and so I added some metal rings. One thing led to another, and I was reminded that I had some feather-like polymer clay beads I had made at the same time. I only had two of them, but for this project it was just what was needed. I also used two large turquoise nugget beads along with some tube beads I had bought some time ago. I like the result.
As I was working with this project, looking for things to add I found two pieces of heavy chain and formulated a plan for a bracelet using jasper and a large glass focal bead. The next project to take shape was a tree of life necklace made with rose quartz and pink wire tree with a rose quartz tire swing and some tiny crystal butterflies. On the necklace part I added large rose quartz beads and some vintage glass pearls that I removed the flaking paint from, leaving nice soft white beads. I used enameled flower beads as an accent. This is the result of that effort.
Then I found a piece I didn't feel was finished and spruced it up a bit.
Brad and I had a bit of a milestone this last two weeks. I sold two items on my Etsy site. http://www.etsy.com/shop/RenaissanceHeart Brad's milestone is he got his first check from selling his book on amazon as an ebook. Fun! Fun! Fun!
I finished two more projects. The one I will tell you about next is another polymer clay piece. I used more beadwork in this one too. It was a fun project. I also incorporated some vintage buttons into this project.
Last one for this adventure is one made with a vintage poker chip that I had attached an old picture of my dad to. I put black leather on the back of the poker chip and did more beadwork around the poker chip to attach it. Then I made a bail sort to thing with some beads and then did a beaded necklace to attach it to. So that is it for this time. Hope you enjoyed your visit. Thank you for looking.
The background on this one is a pillow from our couch. 
