Housekeeping

Well, I think I'm ready to take the plunge and get the blog re-organized! I've spent the past several days trying to figure it all out and copying down code I don't want to lose. Eek. Wish me luck! I'm going to start this in the morning but since my son will be home this weekend I anticipate it probably taking all weekend to get it all tweeked since I'll have to do it in spurts in between entertaining him, lol. So please excuse the dust while I renovate - and if I have to take the blog down temporarily, rest assured it will be back! :) Crossing my fingers it won't come to that...

Meanwhile, I thought I'd leave you with a couple of jewelry pieces I've made semi-recently.

Nothing difficult about this one - it's just strung - but I just LOVE these stones!!

This one isn't difficult either and because I used wood beads (which are REALLY inexpensive) and some Czech glass, it's super light and has been a staple this summer!

Yikes - it's August?

I know I've been a horrible blogger this week - I really do have a ton of stuff to get posted if I can just find some extra time!

But to make it up to you I'll leave you for the moment with my happy find of the day. The incomparable Suze Weinberg has a blog! Seriously, she is absolutely amazing and her blogging style will inspire you, make you laugh, and make you want to be her BFF (yup, I'm her new stalker)! I spent a good chunk of time at CHA (eek, PROMISE I will post more than just a few of the videos I took!) just watching her create (kind of a CHA tradition for me - spend some time soaking up the Suze inspiration!). I had a million things I SHOULD have been doing but it's just so hard to walk away until you see what she comes up with next! Anyways. Go check out the blog. Subscribe to the feed. And don't forget her favorite saying - "There are no mistakes - just opportunities for embellishment!".

Oooh! And also, check out Irene's blog today for a great tutorial on distressing acrylic. Her tutorials are always great but I REALLY love this one and intend to play with this later today (sigh, in between errands, a quick trip to Champaign, picnic lunch at school with the kiddo...)!

And to wrap up this morning's ramblings, here's a semi-failed pendant. I used one of the pendants from Provo Craft. They are nice and heavy and sturdy and should have been perfect. And would have been if it didn't turn green immediately in spots from the Glossy Accents. Which if there had been any green in the piece to begin with might not have been so bad. But I just don't like green with this particular piece.

I started with a piece of 7Gypsies paper (cut from the swatch book of the new line from CHA, lol, I was just so desperate to work with this line!) and added just a touch of Scribbles to glitter up a few of the lines. Then I added a tiny Prima and a faceted gem (note to self - Glossy Accents really removes any faceted effect - looks more like a mirror in person). I truly loved how it looked at that point and was excited to fill in the pendant with Glossy Accents and wait for it to dry. Well. This is how it dried. I guess you live and learn!

And some more!

Hopefully I'm on the road when this posts, lol - if not, I'm running WAY behind! I'll be in Chicago for the next few days at the CHA (Craft and Hobby Association) Show basking in all the creativity and new products. I'll have some posts for while I'm gone to keep you busy, then I'll be back on Sunday (probably won't blog until Monday though, lol) with lots of pics from the show! Check back in!

These are some more of the earrings I've been making. Please note that these are NOT actually finished in the photographs. They've been dipped about 6 more times each so are MUCH shinier (and stronger!). It really makes a big difference. If you look at the bottom two, you'll see I tried Stickles rather than Scribbles like I've been using. In the photo they look rather rough, right? After a few more times being dipped in the Future, those rough glitter edges smooth out beautifully! All four of these are using American Crafts papers. Different weights of paper REALLY make a difference in this project, both in the finished result and especially in the creation process. Thinner papers, while they CAN be used...are NOT easy to work with. I have a bunch I've been working on using older Chatterbox and cherryArte papers. The look - gorgeous. The paper is a nightmare to do this with though. I've had my best results with American Crafts, Prima, and My Mind's Eye. Making Memories doesn't do a lot of double-sided papers (although they've been doing more!), but I did some with the original Noteworth line and they are thick enough papers to work quite nicely. Looking forward to finding some new papers at the show to try!

Lots of Butterflies!

Ok, I'm now officially addicted to making these! Still perfecting the technique. I've found several different ways to do this with varying success. They all come out fine in the end, I'm just hoping to find a way to reduce some of the time in between. But anyways, here are some of my recent butterfly earrings that are finished! Forgive the photography - I couldn't find the little doodad that attaches my camera to my tripod so I just took the photos trying to be as still as possible...which resulted in some weird angles, lol! I'm hoping to have some of these earrings up in my Etsy store (no, don't bother trying to find it yet, lol, it's empty still!) in the next week or so. We'll see after I get back from CHA. Speaking of which...24 more hours and I'll be on my way to Chicago! I don't know that I'll have a way to blog from there or the time, so I'll be pre-arranging some posts for while I'm gone.

Butterfly Earrings from scraps

I hope everyone here in the US is having a wonderful holiday weekend and for my visitors not in the US, I hope you are enjoying your weekend as well!

Remember the Cosmo Cricket butterflies I punched too many of for this project? Well this is where they ended up!




Cosmo Cricket papers, Stickles, findings from Cousins, the EK Martha Stewart butterfly punch and Future Floor Finish.

Scrappy Jewelry

See this in the July issue of Scrapbook News + Review!
I've been experimenting with these tile pendants for weeks now but just finally put one into a full necklace. I have quite a few I made out of scrabble tiles and other bits of wood, but have been working with different ways to use chipboard. I haven't found a version I really like yet though. For this particular piece, I used chipboard "chips" from Creekbank Creations. They are really thick and really hard. However, after Mod Podging the paper to the tiles and inking the edges silver, what I did was dip it into Future Floor Finish...about 20 times (drying completely in between each). While this works fantastic on wood tiles, even this super sturdy chipboard puffed up a little bit (especially where i had inserted the bail).

I have another one I did with Glossy Accents I will share as soon as I get it strung. It fixed the moisture issue of making the chipboard expand, but gave a new problem in that you had to add the Glossy Accents to each side separately and the overlap wasn't as clean as I'd like.

Anyways, for this one, I used Molten Madagascar paper from Zsiage and the beads are all gemstone beads from Cousins. The clasp is from Blue Moon.

Beadutainment

Gotta love being a crafter on days like today! Because of Spring Break I agreed to watch the two girls from next door today and Monday. A bucket of beads I'll never use, some safety pins, and some sequins and I've got hours of almost quiet with these three (which is rare, lol)! With a boy in the group it goes beyond the "princess" jewelry making and those pins of "jewels" are suddenly princesses and dragons themselves with Michael building castles with cannons and whole storylines are being played out while they create. A hint for a project like this - I laid down an old baby blanket that pretty well covers the table. This keeps the beads from rolling onto my hardwood floor and becoming cat toys!

Handmade paper beads tutorial

Basic paper beads are an easy way to make a unique embellishment for jewelry, altered items, album covers, and more! There are very few tools you'll need and about 1/3 of a piece of patterned paper (scrap paper alert!) will make enough beads for a nice length necklace. Just a few inches of scraps of paper? Anything from a bracelet to unique embellishments for a journal cover, a layout, and more.

Supplies needed:
Patterned paper (see notes below)
Trimmer
Ruler
Pencil
11-12" pieces of heavy gague wire (see notes below)
Future Floor Finish
Drying rack (see notes below)
Quick hold adhesive
Optional - paper piercer

Notes:
Patterned paper - thinner paper is easier to work with, however cardstock-weight paper will also make beautiful beads. For your first attempt, start with a thin paper until you get the hang of this. Once the beads are rolled, it will look totally different than the original paper so you can really alter the way a paper looks. For instance, a script larger than 1/4" will not even be recognizeable as script. Themed papers with flowers or bunnies or skateboard - yup, gone. So look for good color distribution and ignore pattern - this opens up a lot of ground with papers whose color schemes we might love but not the design! If you've got an inch swath of one color, remember your bead will end up solid colored so you're actually looking for fairly busy patterns.

Wire - I keep a set of 6 around always since I do this much more often than I actually post them. I have a lovely little glass vase full of the beads I've made out of scraps...just in case! I use wire "sticks" from Amaco that I found in a tube near the metal mesh and sheets etc. They are meant for clay, paper machier etc. sculpting to be used for armatures and such. However any good, sturdy heavy gague (remember the lower the number the thicker the gague) wire will work. It must be able to be stretched very straight, however, which is why I went with the nice pre-made straight pieces. With a good set of shears you can trim off the straight side of a wire hanger. Whatever wire you use, you'll want to take a pair of pliers and bend a 90 degree angle (about 1/4 to 1/2") on one end only as shown below.

Drying rack - I use an actual bead-baking rack from Amaco but it's pricey so there are tons of alternatives. Basically you just need some way to prop your wire holders at a slight angle over something non-pourous (wax paper is good) to dry with the occasional drip. Two little chunks of scrap styrofoam would work.

Cutting:
These instructions are for a full length necklace worth of beads. You can drop down to a 1"x4" piece of paper for just one bead. Also, these measurements can be changed tons of ways to end up with variations on the bead shape, but again, we're going for a nice, simple basic for this tutorial.

Cut a strip of paper 4"x12". On the backside, mark one long side in 1" increments. On the opposite long side, start at 1/2" and mark 1" increments from there (so they are exactly halfway between the opposite marks). Starting in a corner of the side marked in 1" increments, cut across to the next opposite mark. Discard this first piece. From the point you just ended at, cut across to the next mark - you'll end up with a perfect equilateral (is that the word I'm looking for? Eek - geometry was a long time ago...) triangle. Keep cutting in this fashion across the rest of the sheet. You'll end up with a nice little pile of triangles as shown below.



Rolling the Beads:
Starting from the bottom straight edge of the triangle, you'll be rolling these into beads. One option is to get them started by wrapping them around a paper piercer. Personally, this ends up taking me longer for some reason. I've found the easiest way for ME is to start by using my fingernails to make small creases as I go. Having that inside roll perfect is totally unecessary as it will shape up nicely as you get further along. The more you play with this technique, the easier it will get for you. Again, this is really easier to learn on a thinner paper as it takes a lot more coaxing to get a thicker weight paper to curl up nicely. Once you get a good start, continue rolling it between the fingers of one hand, using the other to nudge it now and then if your point gets off-centered.



When you get to within 1/4 to 1/2 inch of the tip, add a dab of a quick drying glue. You are going to be sitting there until this dries well enough to let go of so the shorter the drying time the better. I love super glue except for the fact that it WILL ooze out onto your finger. And you will probably lose a layer of skin because of it. This is pretty much unavoidable no matter what kind of glue you use. The glue must hit the very end of the tip of the triangle so that it lies flat - otherwise once you dip it, there's a good chance it will pop back up and your bead will unravel. You can always tell when I've been making beads because I have a layer of glue on my index finger and thumb that I'll be picking off for a day or so.

Sealing the beads:
I like to string my wire pieces with about 8 or so beads and dip them all at once directly into the bottle of floor finish. If you hold up the wire next to the bottle while you are putting the beads onto it you can see how many you can fit - go right up to the bottom of the neck of the bottle, even if the bottle isn't that full anymore. Hold onto the tip of the wire (the bent part should be at the bottom, holding the beads on) and dip it into the bottle. Gently squeeze the bottle with your other hand if you need to raise the liquid level to cover your beads. Give it just a few seconds - you'll see bubbles raising from within the beads - you want this as it means it's coating the inside of the beads as well. As you pull out the beads, brush them against the inside of the neck of the bottle, removing most of the drips (a quick little shake once you've cleared the liquid is also good). Next drape it over your drying "rack" and using your fingernails or a piercing tool, separate so that the beads aren't actually touching each other while drying. They need to have a slight angle so that any drips will drop back to the corner and onto your wire instead of pooling at the bottom of a bead.

You'll want to repeat the dipping process a minimum of 3 times - I tend to do more like 6-8 - and then allow to dry overnight. Each time you re-dip, give each bead a quick nudge and twist to release it from the wire - it will tend to stick and this is ok, just get it unstuck before dipping again. It really takes about a minute to dip about 6 wires, so if you leave this somewhere handy, just stop by every half hour or so, do your dipping then go back about your day! How much time lapses between dips is completely irrelevant - you can do it after 20 minutes or you can do a dip a day! The more times a bead is dipped, the smoother the end result will be. So if you WANT that little ridged texture, stick with 3 times. Smooth, go with 6 or more.

What to do with your finished beads:
Anything you can do with a regular bead! Make jewelry. Dress up a card, layout, or album. Attach to a zipper or light as a pull. Make tons and hang them in a doorway (those beaded curtains popular in the 70's? They were inspired by the Victorian women who made these out of beads they had created by rolling wallpaper!). Decorate the bottom of a lampshade. Keychains. Cell phone dangles. The sky is the limit!

Here's an example of a really simple bracelet strung onto stretchy cord and interspersed with some inexpensive glass beads. I've put the original paper behind it so you can see just how different the pattern comes out when you create these beads.


Well, I hope you've enjoyed this tutorial and if you have any questions, feel free to email me! I would love to see the results if any of you try this!!

Two Projects from the Bringing it Back Challenge

Here are the two projects I made for last week's Bringing it Back Challenge - Magic Mesh.

This little harvest basket was super easy. I spraypainted a basket black, then added this rust colored Magic Mesh to the side panels. The rest of the decorations are from two packages of Jolee's stickers from EK Success. I did quite a bit of rearranging of the different elements to make them fit where I wanted them. Then I used some Twistart to cover the handle and form two bows.




I've had this cheap little bracelet blank hanging around forever. I don't even remember where the heck I got it. But I had all these little scraps of mesh from the project above and realized I could make them fit inside the rectangles of the bracelet. I then covered each with Glossy Accents from Ranger and added some tiny Prima's with copper Scribbles as the centers (I just poked them right into the wet glaze). Rather different looking. Not sure if I like it...but I don't hate it, lol!

Handmade bead necklace - Bellisimo

Here's another necklace I made with beads I handmade from scrapbook paper. This is soooo easy and generally uses about 1/3 of a piece of 12x12 paper for a full necklace. For this one, I think I used a little over half that amount (I cut a 4x12 strip and used 6.5 inches of it). The paper I used is Bellisimo from Zsiage's Ti Piace Italy? line. For added dimension, after I rolled and glued the beads, I added some embossing. To do this, I threaded each bead one at a time onto a piece of wire I had bent a small "holder" out of. I took a stamp with a small design and inked it with Versamark. The choice of stamp is absolutely of no consequence as you will not actually get the design on a bead this small - the point is to simply get some random ink onto the bead. Hold the bead by the wire and roll it around on the inked stamp. Then dip the whole thing into your embossing powder and tap off the excess - again, you're looking for random so if extra falls off, don't sweat it! Your little wire holder provides the perfect handle to heat the embossing powder. I also didn't heat beyond the "pebbly" stage - I didn't want smooth sections of silver, just a random mottled effect. I dipped these a few more times in my finish that I usually do because of the bumpy texture and wanting to be sure this didn't get chipped off. They were probably dipped 8-10 times (I lost count - I just dipped them every time I walked by, lol) and left to dry overnight.


It's snowing here still so my light is kinda funky. Here's a closeup of the beads themselves and I'll try to photograph the necklace a little better later on. As always, you can click on the pictures themselves for the gigantic version.

Bead Trends March/April 2008 Issue

Well, I haven't gotten my copies yet, but I flipped through this last night in Michael's and this magazine just keeps getting better and better! The photography in this issue is simply stunning! I have four pieces in it - two necklaces and two bracelets - and I was just amazed how the photos came out! I'll get the page numbers up here once I get my copies and can sit down with it.

One piece, in particular (Wood Dreams necklace) really stood out. I knew just how gorgeous these stones were (they're yellow wood jasper) in real life but MY photos of them didn't relay it. The pics in the magazine - WOW! They really show off how incredible these stones really are!

Oh, and there's a bracelet (In Full Bloom) made with scrapbook supplies too - remember those plastic flowers American Crafts did in those cute little canisters? Yup - they made a really cute stretchy bracelet!

I can't even put into words how excited and honored I am to have had my jewelry featured in the first three issues of this magazine! I'm sad I won't be in the next two (a submission date got moved up and I didn't notice since I had it written down elsewhere), but am currently preparing submissions for the next one! Wish me luck!

A slideshow of some of my jewelry

I make a lot of random jewelry then usually end up "needing" to go shopping...to buy something to wear with whatever I just made!

Wishing everyone a Happy Valentine's Day!!

Bead Trends January/February 08 Issue

I'm so excited! I just got mine yesterday and they have made some really great changes from the first issue. Rather than just the one great picture of each project, they have added some closeups of details - I LOVE the way this issue looks! I have projects on pages 17, 36 and 151 and am soooo proud to be in this publication!!! Just wanted to share!

I DO occasionally make other stuff!

I know, I've kept this blog pretty consistently focused on altered items, but I really do other things as well, lol! I make a lot of jewelry, some of which I'm so honored has been (and will be) featured in Bead Trends magazine, and SOMEDAY I will force myself to part with and sell on my lonely, empty Etsy shop. I scrapbook sporatically (and I probably just butchered the spelling on that) even though I mean to do more! I can knit a scarf (anything beyond that is out of my league). I dabble in clay (I can make beautiful things...I just ruin them when attempting to bake them!). I stamp. I make cards. I help my son with neverending Perler bead projects. I love crafting!



So, as I frantically finish up the ever-growing number of projects I have invading my house at the moment, I thought I'd post a mini-book I just finished up the other day, and some bracelets that are way out of my style (experimenting with different products) just to have something a little different. I have a pile of altered things to photograph so hopefully I'll get to those here in the next few days too!

This is the chipboard stadium book from Zsiage. I haven't photographed the inside pages yet, but used the Vintered line of paper throughout. The cover is inked randomly with Distress inks from Ranger, and also the swirls are inked over the negatives from Zsiage film shapes. The numbers and letters are also film from Zsiage - the numbers painted with paint daubers from ranger then outlined with a Ranger marker and the letters are dabbed with Distress ink. I went a little ribbon-happy, but just loved this ribbon!

These two bracelets are really simple, using these cute little crochet-covered beads from Plaid. As I said, totally not my style, but fun!

The Puzzle Results!

I've been tweaking for days but finally have the pictures to show you! I ended up with 10 little projects out of my simple $1 quilt puzzle I picked up at Michael's (it's from Darice, if you're interested in that information). While there were a couple of pieces that just didn't turn out how I planned, I simply turned those into magnets - after all, you can never have too many of those! All in all, I made 2 magnets, 2 bracelets, a frame, 2 pairs of earrings, a Christmas pin, and a paintbrush rest (lol, yes, see the story below the picture!). I also went back to Michael's and picked up another handful of these as well as dug out some other wood pieces I've had around for years for more play! It's a tiny size to work with, but the possibilities (and scraps to use!) are endless - I haven't even pulled out my stamps yet!



So here again is the original...

And here's the finished 10 projects!


As you can see, I'm still in a pretty big Basic Grey Blush kick, but mainly because I pulled everything for this project out of my scraps (lol, see my post of my organizer spinner to see one of the reasons I have lots of small scraps from this line right now!). I tried to grab a few things that had been sitting around gathering dust for years too, just because!



Starting with the magnets. The pink and brown one is BG paper, covered by a clear acrylic faceted "gem" from the Tulip (think fabric paint) line a few years ago (not sure if they even still make them but there were a whole bunch of different shapes and sizes) and "grouted" with dimensional paint from PSX. Used an acrylic butterfly from the same line on the other magnet, but used glitter underneath. This looks really neat...up really close. The paper was from an old Making Memories line. Both the magnets were originally intended to go into necklaces, but I just didn't like them well enough to bother. Attach the magnets with E6000 adhesive. I promise they'll never move again! Another note on working with magnets (I used the little button type) - always test your magnets before you adhere (especially with E6000) to be sure you know which side to adhere to and which side will be stuck to your refrigerator or wherever you put it!
For the snowflake ornament. I used the blue diamond pieces as is! I glued together 8 of them - they didn't fit EXACTLY in the middle but that gets covered) and then edged the whole thing in silver Stickles. I then embossed a technique tile from Technique Tuesday in silver and glued it on top and drilled a small hole to thread some metallic string for hanging.


On the earrings. The red and yellow ones I also left their original color. They were just scattered on my table and the color combination just looked kind of fun so I went with it! I drilled through from top to bottom (more on the drill later - I used it on almost every project!) then strung them like beads. The diamond ones were covered in paper from 7gypsies and while I liked the look, I just thought they needed something...so I dug through my embellishment drawers and came to the drawer I had full of those little spiral clips that were "in" years ago...I have a LOT, lol! These little ones added just the touch I wanted. I then drilled through the tops and created the earrings using these like beads again. I didn't have jump rings big enough handy so I grabbed some of the bigger spiral clips and they were the perfect substitute!


The pin changed forms many times. I had painted the square black because I meant to stamp on it with an interference ink. But I was being lazy and didn't feel like hunting down a stamp (again, this is a TINY size) so I dug through my scraps and found this paper from Prima. After I Mod Podged it on, I added some gold glaze over the top and sides and loved the look. Again, it needed something. I was putting away groceries and came across a bowl that for some reason got stuck in a kitchen cabinet (no idea, lol) that was full of charms...yup - back from when charms were "in" and I bought gobs and gobs of them! I found this little gold candy cane and snipped off the hanger and voila - the Christmas look for my red and green paper! I haven't attached the pin back to it yet because I'm still debating - might end up as a zipper pull or something instead!


I had several mishaps during the course of all this because I was working with several paintbrushes at a time and hanging them off the lids of the paints and Mod Podge. My table picked up a few new colors. But again, serendipity reigned while I was scooting little pieces here and there and four triangles glued together became a perfect little paintbrush rest! A little bit of Basic Grey paper and some DecoArt paint in rich espresso metallic (same as I used for the kitchen spinner - gotta have my little matching details!) and it now holds two paintbrushes handy yet off the table (and they won't roll off like they do off of lids...).


The two bracelets are by far my favorite projects out of the bunch. The Asian bracelet was actually the first project that came out of this. I had the red squares and had some paper from Zsiage that had the perfect sized characters - for the record, the symbol is double happiness - what a cute concept for a bracelet! I used an old Family Treasures punch that just happened to be the ideal size and Mod Podged them on - I used glossy to give it that lacquered feel. Side drilled them and strung them onto stretchy jewelry cord with some silver beads and blackstone. For the pink and brown one, I painted the squares with the same espresso metallic paint and also painted some wooden beads with the same to match. I covered the squares with Basic Grey paper (the squares are identical front and back) and really wanted to put rhinestones in the middle. Well, I couldn't find exactly what I wanted. The flat-backed Swarovski just seemed like overkill, yet the cheap plastic was just too...cheap plastic. I was in Michael's and happened to find a cell phone sticker set with little rhinestones in the clearance section for $1! Yea, I'm all about the clearance and sale and $1 items, lol! I used an Xacto to pull single stones out and adhered them to the centers of the designs and found matching glass beads from Blue Moon Beads to finish the bracelet off (again with stretchy jewelry cord). Love it! Note to self - there's a reason I despise working with stretchy cord though - I just didn't want a clasp interfering with the design on these!

And finally, I used the base as a little dimensional frame. Same espresso paint (can you tell I really love this with the Blush line?) and also another metallic, kind of a light teal that's used on the inside edges. Added the Basic Grey paper, a photo, and a tag from the Blush collection. Then I took some of the remaining diamonds and painted them and added the letter stickers.


A few notes about supplies. When altering small items (trust me, after working with them, I think trying to line up an actual photo on them would NOT be easy!), the 6x6 pads of patterned paper REALLY are the best answer! I used full-sized patterns on a lot of the Basic Grey (just because I had all these scraps!), but have a lot of my trusty 6x6 pads handy for later! I very rarely scrap in 6x6 but just can't resist the cute little pads and paper packs in this size and am always glad when I'm altering something small. MOST manufacturers shrink the entire pattern when doing 6x6 and 8x8 sizes and this can really make a difference in how things look!


Now, I'd like to introduce you to the tool that really inspired most of the projects - my handy dandy hand drill. This is from Forster (they do wood dowels and such you'll find in craft stores - I know Hobby Lobby has this drill right there with them but don't think Michael's carries it) and probably the #1 best craft buy I've ever made. They're on sale right now at Crafts Etc. for $3 (regularly still only about $4) - you get the drill handle and 3 drill bits. Seriously. Buy several and keep one in your toolbox, one in your scrapbook tote, one in your junk drawer... There is a bit of a learning curve to keeping it straight while drilling, but a little practice is all it takes. It will go through wood, acrylic, chipboard, etc. It is invaluable for altering small items. I. Love. This. Tool. I have several other craft drills (such as the Fiskars that you have to crank) and real drills, but this still gets pulled out more often than anything just because it's simple and does the job.


Well, I hope you've enjoyed the fun that has come out of this little $1 find as much as I have!