Trash to Treasure

In cleaning out my husbands parents home we came across an old upright piano.  They were about to chop it up and throw it in the trash  pile when I noticed the detailed wood work on the front of it.  They were able to save the piece with that detail for me.

We were able to carry it from Pennsylvania to Delaware with other treasures we found there!  It was a few months before I was able to re-purpose it into a coat rack.  I had two colors of Annie Sloan's   chalk paint left from previous projects.  I had a small jar of a salmon color that was a gift from taking a class on using Annie Sloan paints.  It was not a color that I thought I would use so I painted it as the base coat that would show through just a little after sanding.

What I love about the chalk paint is that you do not have to prep the surface that you are painting. The soon to be coat rack had crackled from age so I wanted some of that texture to show.  The top coat is a cream color. I also used a burnt sienna acrylic paint wash to give it an antique finish.

We found coat hooks at Hobby Lobby.  Love that store!

So ta-da!

So happy to have a piece of history hanging in our entry way!

Wishing you a very happy 2017!

Spring!

New life! Eternity! Rebirth! Life is all about that this time of year! Here in the Mid Atlantic area of the US we are waiting for it with baited breath.  The winter coolness doesn't want to go away!  The daffodils and crocuses are coming up anyway!  Thankfully!

I have created something new too!  A scarab that I made was featured in a piece designed by Meg Mullen of Bead My Love in the February issue of Bead and Button.  I have had a great time with selling cabochons on Etsy and making them for Meg to sell at the bead shows.  It has been fascinating to see the response to the different colors of the beads.

I had a request from an Etsy customer to make a scarab bead into a pendant.  I worked on a few different ways to do that and came up with this! Just add a ribbon and you have a pendant!



The back has details too!




Happy Easter! Happy Spring!

New Cabs in My Etsy Shop

 

As seen in February Bead and Button magazine!

Stone Patina Scarab

Blue Bells

Bottom of the Sea

Long Face

Drop Earrings

Loving the look of white clay with chalk and guilders paste.  Made these this week. 

 

 

 Green Drop Earrings

 

 

Had some fun wire wrapping too!

 

Hope you have a very Merry Christmas week!

 

 

Boho Bead Embroidery

I think I have a bead embroidery virus.... I keep wanting to bead around everything! More polymer cabs keep coming out of my clay oven!  This cab is colored with chalks as the cabs in my last few blog posts. I also used the lovely dyed lace doilies.  Love boho... yes I do!

 

 

Vintage with a twist...

 

I drilled a hole in the center and beaded in it!

 

 Fringe is flirty!

 

So ready for Spring... one more snow they say!  I am hoping the bright colors will cheer you up! 

Buttons and Beads

I have a huge stash of buttons.  All kinds of buttons.  I use them for the clasp on fiber neck pieces.  I decided that I also needed to use them for some jewelry.  Pairing a button with my new love of czech glass beads was easy.  I do have a question for the jewelry makers out there.

My question is how do you finish the back of a button that is wire wrapped like this one?

I also made some earrings to match!

 

 

I have worn the bracelet and it actually did not catch on anything.  I do think it needs to be finished on the back to keep the wire from catching on something.  Any ideas would be appreciated!

 

 

Have a great weekend!  M



A Little Bit of Polymer

If you have read my blog in the past you will know that I make bigger beads on bigger pieces of jewelry.  I have gone in a new direction and have been making smaller accent beads out of polymer.  My new interest in "Czech glass beads" has caused this new focus.

So here are a few of my new creations with just a little bit of polymer...

The green round bead in the top left is the only polymer bead in this piece!

The brown nut bead in the bottom right is the only polymer bead in this piece!

There are three polymer beads in this piece but they are still small beads!

I am having lots of fun with all of this and that is all that counts.  Size really doesn't matter all that much now does it?

A Donation

I was asked to make a piece of jewelry for a fundraiser for ALS.  ALS or Lou Gherig's Disease is debilitating and there is no cure for it at this time. 

When someone asks me to donate my artwork for a fundraiser I have a difficult time saying "no".  I want to help.  However I have experienced some frustration because of donations I have given in the past to the point that I have learned to say "no" when asked.  I do donate to charities of my choice and prefer to give monetary donations rather than my artwork.

This time was different.  The person asking had purchased a piece of jewelry from me and they were very appreciative of my creativeness and the time involved in making the jewelry.  I couldn't say "no"!

I created this piece for the ALS fundraiser.

I tried patina on the copper for the first time.  I was surprised at how quick and easy it was!

I started out with the polymer yellow, green and orange beads.  It needed a pop of color so I added the blue.

I think someone will enjoy this late summer - early autumn necklace! 

A Collection of Fun Things

Thrift stores entice me.  Yard sales call my name.  I could spend a day in antique and collectible shops. I can spend hours treasure hunting.  I have been trying really hard to spend time making some new treasures from all of the "finds" I have brought home with me!

This piece has a mix of old buttons, charms from found jewelry, czech glass beads, an earring from my collection of jewelry from an aunt who passed away and it is on a chain I found at the local thrift store.
It also contains some polymer beads that I made.  I purchased a small Wedgewood plate from an antique shop.

I made two polymer molds from the raised relief on the plate.  I made a ball of neutral colored polymer and put a pin in the center for a hole.  Using the two molds I pressed on two sides of the ball of polymer with the pin in it.  This made a coin shaped bead with the same relief that was on the plate.  After baking this bead I antiqued it with acrylic paints.

I love how it all came together!

It is a wearable story... especially when you think about where those buttons have been!

Wool Felting

Always wanting to try something different... I started playing with a wool felting needle and some wool! 

I love making the wool felted balls.  So fun!

Blessings

I have been thinking about my word for the 2012 year.  I wanted it to be something positive and forward moving.  I love the philosophy of thinking yourself into what you want to have happen in your life... but I am a bit pragmatic. 

I have been reminded through situations in my life that I am already blessed beyond measure and that there is little that I should want to change.  I work in a church office and we often have people come in asking for help.   I don't directly deal with most of the folks but I do hear the conversations that take place.  There is a fine line between helping someone, enabling someone, and just plain being taken advantage of by someone.  It takes loving discernment to recognize what someone truly needs.   One conversation I overheard was that if a young woman did not get money to pay her electric bill she was thinking about prostituting herself.... I was sick to my stomach and get sick just thinking about it... she was serious. 

Our pastor in his wisdom always reminds us that we cannot fill every need and will never be able to... we do have a Thrift Shop and a Food Closet in our church and we also have connections to resources to get financial help to those in need.  So we do offer alot to the people that ask for help.

As I was thinking about my word for the year and the path that I would like to take I realized that I need to look back and not just forward. So I have my word for this year..."blessings".  I have been so blessed.  With all of the media advertising in front of us it is easy to focus on what we don't have... so I am going to be very purposeful and think about what I do have.  I am going to focus on the positive things that have happened in my life, all of the awesome people in my life, and all of the wonderful "things" that I already have!  I found this quote on Pinterest by Jamie Mitchell.  I think it sums it all up!

I wish for blessings in 2012 for all of you my blog friends and most of all that you will find lots of  "truth, beauty and quiet joy"!

Circus Fun

Lots of beads and lots of fun!  The multi colored beads were a shared effort with a bead friend.  She was going to make a bracelet with them and decided not to... so I couldn't resist putting them on a neckpiece!

They remind me of a Circus!

Lots of color and texture!

These polymer beads have a wooden base...

Color and fun from the front...

To the back!

Circus Fun!

Screen Catchers

I had seen "screen bugs"  made out of the glass pebbles that you can buy in bags and came up with an idea for my "screen catcher" dragonflies.  Kind of a cross between a "screen bug" and a "sun catcher". Remember the stained glass sun catchers anyone?

Anyway we were having our Friday Bead Friends day at my house and a friend saw some of my screen catcher dragonflies and had to have some for Christmas gifts.  Their legs wrap around your screen and they look awesome when the sun reflects off of the crystals!

I use swarovski crystals so they really sparkle in the sun.

.. and from the front...

Blues and greens are my favorites!

They are a happy thing to look at especially out of your kitchen window!

Repurposed with Love

As I went through the boxes my son brought home from the end of his four years as a Midshipman at the Naval Academy I came accross his work uniforms.  I asked him if he wanted to keep them and he said no... the uniforms had his name and ID on them so I couldn't give them away.  I looked at the buttons and each button had an anchor on it.  I just couldn't throw them away. (...that is a problem for me...  at least I did something with them!)

I decided to make some jewelry from them for his favorite girl in the whole world!  He wore those buttons through lots of hard work and I knew she would appreciate them. 

I made an elastic chain bracelet and hung lots of buttons on it.  I also added their initials and a few heart and "love" charms.  The "love" charms are appropriate because that is what he calls her..."love"!

I also made some earrings from the buttons and charms.  They are not the same... drives some people crazy but I think it makes life interesting when things don't match!

One has a heart charm...

The other has a "love"charm...( it has "love" stamped on it really... sorry I didn't get that part in the picture)

She loved them and looks lovely wearing them.  We called the bracelet her "hoo-ray" bracelet.  That is a Marine thing.  It makes noise when she moves!

I am a happy momma knowing that someone else loves my boy as much as I do!

Hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!

Seasons Favorites

I have to say that fall is my favorite season.  Not sure why because I really don't like winter which comes right after fall.  I sure don't miss the snow and cold of Western Pennsylvania.  We get some winter in Delaware but not so much.  I enjoy the change of seasons and I love the colors of fall.  I suppose I always liked school too so maybe that is why fall is my favorite time of year.
I have been busy in my studio getting some fall jewelry finished.  I made some polymer beads in fall colors and shapes.  My favorite is this blackberry bead!

I put them on a neckpiece and  some  bracelets.... so warm and juicy!

Harvest Owl

I also included a kumihimo braid on this piece. 

The kumihimo braid is really fun and quick to do. 

Harvest Gathering

This bracelet is a chain with elastic through it.  It really swishes around with all of the dangles on it!

Seeds of Glory

These beads are strung on memory wire which always works well to display fun beads!

Happy Fall!  Enjoy the smell of cinnamon and apples and getting out your warm cozy clothes for the months to come!