Still crafting. . .

It has been ages since I've taken the opportunity to blog.

Not much painting or drawing happening - 

however, the craft bug continues to bite!

"Buoyant"

Mostly beads and yarn these days though - 

Took the Eclectic Beaded Crocheted Jewelry class hosted through Jeanne Oliver's site.  Loved that class and it seems

"Flight"

to have created a monster!!  I can't stop making these necklace/wraps!  I think I've made close to 20 of them in the past month or so.  

"Naranja"

Some are in a local gift shop which thrills me because I seem to be addicted to the acquisition of beads lately. . . 

What have you been up to these days??

Card Patterns Sketch 114 -

Today's card uses this tutorial found on the CARDS blog to make the fabric flower.  Natural muslin fabric, pearls/beads, Stella Rose patterned paper (My Mind's Eye) and sentiment from A Muse|Studio (Essential Sentiments).

Sketch comes from the Card Patterns Sketch #114.  Couldn't you picture using this sketch to make a pretty, removable bookmark too?

I made my fabric flower with a pin back - how's that for multipurpose?  I loved it so much that I've already worn it twice (there's nothing like a nice beige flower to make me happy - hee hee - the parts of me that love kraft paper with a fierce passion also love natural muslin - look at this necklace I made back in December)

 Apparently the sentiment "with love" was to myself since I've claimed this pin for my own personal use!

Rolled Fabric Flower Necklace

I had so much fun making a rolled muslin flower for yesterday's card that I decided to make several flowers for future projects -then I decided that I would make a necklace.  Have you been seeing the rising popularity of the "bib" necklace like I have?  

Got out all my tools, beads and findings to get started.  I took a few minutes to lay out the beads in the order that I wanted to use them.

 Here's my favorite part - Do you see that each flower center has part of a barrel clasp on each side?  This makes my necklace interchangeable!!!  I can wear it with the white flowers and then quickly change out for the linen colored ones!!  I am a VERY slow beader (I've never had a class - I learned from books so I'm sure there are lots of time-saving tips I could utilize that I don't know yet) so making one "beaded necklace" base and then interchangeable centers is a good choice for me.

Here it is with the white flowers - Now my problem is to decide which set to wear while I pick up the kids from school!  WHOO HOO - I am really tickled at how this turned out - FUN!!

Making Memories Necklace -

Part of my Diggin' on Damask loot was a bunch of findings from the Making Memories Vintage Groove jewelry line by Jill Schwartz.  This morning I decided to put a quick necklace together.

I laid out my charms in the order that I wanted to put them together and reinforced the fabric flowers with a bit of E-6000 - not taking any chances of them falling off during the exertions of the day!  Do you see the coral colored charm above - do you find it to be a bit "too colorful" - probably not but I am not one to be too flashy so . . .

I quickly toned it down with a dab of Folk Art Champagne Shimmer Acrylic paint.  Took only seconds and made it "more me".

I could not take a clear pic not matter how I tried once I put the necklace on - There is a reason there are very few pics of me on this blog!  I'm glad the mirror didn't crack!  I'm off to take my Vintage Groove-y self off to the grocery.  Hope you are having a great day!

Beaded Monogram Necklace

I've been experimenting with beading lately - it is a lot of fun but time-consuming for me since I basically do not know what I am doing!! I've been wanting to make monograms with steel stamps for some time -
My "bestest cuz" Selena was in this weekend so while the men watched the kiddos we headed off to Harbor Freight to find some steel stamps. There has to be a better way to add a monogram to a metal blank than hammering it on your back step but until I find that "better way" I guess that is what I am forced to do!

Selena asked me to make a necklace for her friend, Lexi too - I think these turned out pretty good - I'll have to attempt this again soon - Maybe one with an "M" for me??