I'm a little Lost

     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.

The End,at least for now.

Practice & Play with Polymer, Paper, Pop, Peyote, Pink & Peachy

        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.

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.