Down but not out

Sorry... I've been out of the jewelry making bit of my life. I ran to PA to get my husbands car and the day after I got back I ended up in the hospital for two days.... Tomorrow I get my surgery and should be up and running before ya know it!

Unusually Pretty

 

Knowing me, there are few days that I get all dolled up. These two pieces were completed yesterday and as I took pictures of them I noticed how usually pretty they are. The bracelet started when someone from Etsy asked for a Haute Bride type bracelet with the crystal brooch in the middle and 5 strands of pearls bursting from it. Well, I did what she asked for but then I didn't like it... thought the 5 strand of solid pearls looked boring. SO, I added my own pattern to it and I think it looks like music notes on five lines of music.

The other necklace was inspired from the winter tulips that Franny gave us... they were starting to die, as all fresh flowers do... I was watching the petals lean back and then drop off and thought the rasberry/white mix of colors looked really pretty. So, I took the pictures with some of the fallen petals.

Oldest Necklace EVER

 



If you knew me in High School/College I had this necklace... Depending on WHEN you knew me it was either tied behind my neck, fastened with a safety pin or just literally falling off and in pieces...
I LOVED this necklace that I bought from the stand in front of the lemonade stand that worked at in the Park City mall. So much that I finally bought it after staring at it forever and just recently RECREATED it. I still had the pieces so thanks to the internet I found the knotting technique. An hour later and two different thicknesses of hemp rope I had my necklace back... YAY! It's amazing the things I'll do for something I enjoy. Anywho, thought I'd share!

Project

 

So, someone on Etsy was looking for a 5 strand pearl bracelet with a crystal brooch in the middle. I started this project just to see if I could do it... As you can tell I'm not done AT ALL! In fact I have the bracelet held around my wrist with sticky tack... But I like the look... I used coin pearls and some smaller odd shaped ones... It' still a work in progress but I'll update it when it's completed :)

Tutu Thursday

 

Here is a tutu I made today to show someone on Etsy. It's a duo tone with my favorite dark pink/purple and sewn to a purple ribbon... I sprayed it with sparklies but the camera isn't capturing that :( But I think I'll take this one out and around town tonight :)

Franny Franny Franny

 

I am very lucky to be surrounded by such creative people in my life and Franny is a new addition. Justin, my husband's mom Franny is an artist. She travels around to the schools in Toronto/Ontario and teaches. I love being involved in her projects! Once she saw my work that she had commissioned me to do she hinted that she would love some "interesting brooches that the kids will see and ask what they are made of" for her Christmas gift... well, I decided to do one for each day of the week. Here is a photo of four. "The Daffodil" was my attempt to try another flower brooch different from the others that have more petals. "Three Fish Coral" was one that I really got excited about. The closer you look the more you notice..."Purple Starfish" is made out of computer pieces and freshwater pearls... not something you'd usually see together! BUT I have to say my favorite is the one I call "Blank Canvas"...Franny inspires me to try new things and so when I was putting this one together I tried all sorts of new techniques and items. I'm guessing no one will ever be able to tell what it's really made of :) All the bits and pieces come from special places, which I wrote down and gave to Franny when she opened these on Christmas. We should all try to be like Franny, blank canvases ready to learn and grow no matter how much we think we already know!

Smashing a Digital Camera!

 

I never thought I'd smash a digital camera since my whole use of them has always been by "walking on eggshells" trying to be extra careful not to damage them... BUT Franny asked me to make a brooch for her good friend a photographer, so I took an "old" digital camera places it on my stainless steel kitchen island and whacked it until I got the pieces I wanted :) I ended up making her the "Bee brooch" as I call it. The photo under the glass bead is of my grandmother as a child sitting with her parents. I also used an exposed film strip. My favorite part though is the bee... Like a bee to a flower a photographer is a to a picture, this bee is made out of the lens of the camera... smaller and thicker than I thought it would be... it sticks out about an inch from the flower on a red spring bobbing and floating waiting to get a good shot!

So, after I had harvested the lens it seemed an awful waist to just throw out the rest... so I made two additional brooches for Franny. The "Green Screen", made of the LCD screen and memory chip, and the "Dial Flower" that has the settings dial as the center of the flower.

So, my advice to anyone about to make something, don't be afraid to break that thought in your mind that tells you not to break "expensive" stuff... you just might end up with some beautiful pieces of art.

Christmas Brooches

 

Here is a collage of some of the 30 Christmas brooches I made... some for gifts, some on commission. I especially want to point out the "keys" brooches. These were gifted to the granddaugters/daughters of a deceased love one who had left a string of wind up toy keys with a note that said " Keys for wind-up toys June '89". I was commissioned to make 4 brooches from the keys. Here are pictured two, "Wind-up" and "June'89" or as I call it "The rose". I got to meet the recipiant after Christmas, all wearing their pins proudly and telling me about their granny and how special it was to see her handwriting and keys.

The other brooches went to my mother-in-law, who from now on I'll just write Franny... she gave them as gifts and some I gifted to her... more on those later.

Buttons

 


So I don't know why I've always liked buttons but when I saw something like this while l doing a search online I thought it would be a cute gift idea for my new Aunt-in-law, who from now on I'll just call Barb... it's easier to type! She uses barrettes to pull back her hair on either side and I thought it would be cute to switch up her style a little by adding some cute, non-bright non-kid colored, buttons to some barrettes. She got them for Christmas and loved them. She told me that they hold a lot better than her previous one, which has nothing to do with the buttons but yay! an added bonus. I too have been sporting these around as well, but I like to use them on my growing bangs and I also double them up! OH! I forgot to mention that I got the buttons on Queen street... to bags of buttons put me back $5 but I'll never need to buy any ever again since now I have about a kajillion :)

Cute as a button

 

Here are some more of the gifts I gave out for Christmas. Button hair clips :) My aunt-in-law LOVES them.

Collage

 


Made a collage of my favorite pictures :) Can you tell I love the colors Orange and Purple... They were our wedding colors!

Jana Bell

My college roommate and "love of my life" died in a car accident a year ago. Some of the best times I remember with her involve going shopping... she could shop! Once while visiting her family I bought a dress... don't know how I afforded it on a college income... and her mom/she bought me a beautiful green bead necklace. When I started making jewelry I kept coming across the necklace, that despite it having a broken clasp, I had kept. I finally sat down one day and "talked" with Jana, the way I usually do when I start missing her and the next thing I knew I had these earrings. I've made only 4 four pairs... but maybe next time I miss her I'll make more, not the same but similar... and have already given away 2. If you knew Jana that you know what I mean when I write she was one of a kind and full of life and love.

She'll always be loved. Miss you.

Video of First works

Copy and Paste the link below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jwj94g_btuI

I know it goes a little fast/slow... but it's my first time making a video and couldn't figure out the slide timer thingie.... All of these are available and in about any color you can dream up... email if you want more info... like size and materials oh yea and price!

Follow the link to youtube to see! Thanks!

Whodathunk!

So one of my New Years resolutions was to get started with my Etsy.com shop, which I've started... but still no merchandise. Anyway, as I embark on this crazy handmade journey, I thought it was appropriate to start out saying... Who da thunk?! I was a self proclaimed tom boy, turned into a closet punk and now I'm married, live in Toronto and make jewelry to keep myself busy... WOW, what a journey!

On a side note, I've had a bit of practice now... I had one unsupervised jewelry class in @ Hempfield High School and a bunch of art classes @ Byu-Idaho... but I think I really didn't get started until my mother-in-law, Franny, asked me to make her some special brooches for Christmas. I know what you are thinking, ewwww.... grandma's wear brooches! BUT I've found I have a knack for them and they aren't crystal "I Heart MOM" pins but beautiful accents that look great on coats, scarves and purses. I liked them so much and so did she that I ended up making over 30 for presents. I also made beaded jewelry for my family members who I wasn't sure whether they'd like getting a pin. Every girl loves getting sparklies! :)

So, in the end I'm super pleased and can't wait to start the new Etsy shop. Hope you can spare a moment and take a look at the work I've been doing.

Ciao