A Set of Painted Wrist Cuffs with sayings

I've actually been working on these off and on all week ... a couple minutes here and there. First, Lilly came to Visit for 4 days, and right before she left, Pam & Stella arrived for Jazz Fest, and, of course, Jazz Fest itself ... leaves little time to get much done.

Anyway, cut 2" stripes (of various lengths), from the painted canvases I'd created a couple months ago. I transferred writings into a photoshop document and printed out onto fusible canvas fabric. Cut felt stripes to match up with the canvas. Fused and stitched them all together. I originally planned on attaching snaps to these (bought a bunch of snaps last week), however, the snaps I bought do no line up with the tools I have (great planning). So, I went ahead with the fusible Velcro as I know I won't get back to shopping before we return from vacation in June.

I finished them up this afternoon, took the pictures and labeled them for inventory. It will probably take me a week or two to get them posted on Artfire, as I still have not finished listing the last set with the lace. (Or perhaps, some of them might sell at the Trailhead this weekend).

I like this set ... each set is just a little better than the previous. They are thin, comfortable and move nicely.

Toe Rings and Margaritas

The last two nights we've sat on the back porch with Pam, watching Stella swim in the hottub, and drinking Margarita's. As it would be near impossible for me to just sit, I pulled out a collection of beads, some elastic cord and put together a bunch of toe rings. I made three of them for myself last year and am still wearing them ... surprising at how well they hold up. (The ones Beau bought me for Christmas last year have already bit the dust). After beading and tieing them, I'm putting a dab of clear caulk on the knot, and sliding the knot inside the large bead for protection.

Anyway, they were great amusement. I'll keep a couple for myself (a girl really needs a toe ring to coordinate with different outfits) and the rest I'll put into the next shoe ... on Saturday.

The Last Pull, for this week anyways

I picked these ornaments up at a yardsale over on Destin this morning. I'm not exactly sure of their original purpose; I guess for inclusion into a wreath, or perhaps tree ornaments of some kind. I picked them up because I thought the ends had potential.

Decided to use one now; since I already have the findings out. (The other 5 I've put into the drawer for inventory). Drilled a small hole in the top and inserted (along with some adhesive) a small eye hook. In the packet my sister sent were a variety of great translucent beads in blue/green shades. Added these too some amber beads that came off a necklace awhile back and put this piece together.

It looks a whole lot better than this picture shows ... honest. 

P.S.    I've listed it in my shop if you'd like a closer look. 

It all started with some wood Red Hearts

I'm trying to do better at using some of the materials I'm always bring home ... my found objects. I said I was going to randomly picked something at least twice a week and create with it. This morning, I opened one of the 'hanging objects' containers, reached in with eyes closed and came out with a small set of red hearts. And, since the buttons are still calling me, thought I'd add 5 of them into a bead, button and heart charm bracelet.

So, drilled little holes in the hearts, selected a variety of beads and buttons and pulled out the container of findings. I started with the 5 hearts on the bracelet, and, deciding it was too chunky, changed it to 3 hearts. And then, after getting half the beads on, decided they were still too chunky and removed the hearts altogether ... back into the container and back into the drawer for some other random pull ... lol.

But, continued on in bits and pieces and before the day was over, created two bracelets and another pull. What do you think?

Using a Couple of the Found Jewelry Objects

I'm going to continue this idea of pulling out an item and making something out of it. At the moment it's a bit heavy on the Pull side. This is because 1) I like the Pulls (I have them on my purses, I list them in my shop and I give them to friends) and 2) I'm creating a stand and will bring them to the Palmer Art Market in June, so need to build up a good number in case others like them as well.

1st:
Pulled open the drawer, reached in and the packet that was pulled out contained a set (6) of victorian era shoe ornaments. I think they were probably Christmas Tree Ornaments as each have a small ribbon attached. Removed the ribbon, and attached the shoe to a small piece of chain and a lobster clase. I decided to use 'already made' bead sets (I frequently have bead sets left over when creating something; these I toss into an 'extra' box for future use) and a few buttons.




2nd:
Instead of the drawer, picked up a piece that was sitting on the side table. Now this is a Pull that I created a year or so ago ... among the first. It's funny how these firsts are. You make it and you think it's wonderful ... and then, sometime later, you start to realize how not-wonderful they were. I think I listed this on Etsy and when it didn't sell after the 4 months, it found its way to my side table. Well, in looking at it, I can see full well why it didn't sell. But, that's always the lesson to remember ... Just because I made it doesn't necessarily mean its of value.

Anyway, I still like the idea of using the 3-prong earring base with chain and the lobster claw. I took the rest apart. I decided to add in a key (must have several hunderd keys now), and a number of the already bead sets. AND ... DRUMROLL ... this Pull is recreated and I hope it will, one day, be loved by someone.

Ribbons & Lace, Wrist Cuff Extravaganza

I have designated this week to be the week of the Ribbons & Lace Wrist Cuffs. I keep finding more and more fabrics and lacy stuff out there in the yard sale circuit and I want to play with it.

Selected a group of cotton fabrics and cut pieces 2" wide with lengths between 7 1/2" and 9" (the cuffs come out about 1 1/4" smaller) as I like the end pieces to be a variety of sizes ... as one size certainly does not fit all. Brought in the felt container and selected several shades, which were then cut to match up with the cotton fabrics.

Brought in the ribbons/lace container and started routing through, matching up, etc. etc. Finished 3 cuffs and have 2 more in progress. Tomorrow I'm going to concentrate on layers.

Experimenting with Poker Chips

The Poker Chips I picked up at yard sale a couple weeks back have been sitting on the little table waiting for me to establish a container for them. I picked them up to put away, and then got to thinking about their potential. The center area is perfect for design, and the plastic is quite thin, which makes it great for drilling of holes. So, that's just what I did ... took a handful of them out to the garage (whereI have a little drill area setup), and drilled some holes with my Dremel.

I started by finding a round object that matched up to the center area. I selected one of the childrens books I have in inventory (wonderful colors/images in the pictures) and cut out 4 rounds, which I glued into 2 of the Poker Chips; one on each side. Checked after they had dried well and decided the paper is too thin. Poker chips have a slightly raised pattern and this pattern shows through the paper. But, not to be discouraged, pulled out one of the books of grafitti painted papers (which I'd painted last year) I have on my bookshelf, selected a sheet and cut out 6 rounds, which I glued down to the blue chips. Dried up and they look good; the underlying pattern does not show through. Decided to try some poster paper as well ... I have a good number of posters in paper inventory. For some added interest, cut these rounds with a scrapbook paper punch and then trimmed to fit into the center section and glued into place. These look good as well. Applied several coats of sealant to all five of the chips; both sides.

My plans for the day was to reorganize the studio a bit ... I feel like working on some more wrist cuffs. But, hated to just drop these into inventory, so I pulled out some found objects and beads and put together another two Pulls.

One Pull has little green Monopoly houses and red round wooden game pegs from someother game (which I know not the name), along with misc beads from inventory. The second Pull has pink and round plastic gem things (I have no idea what they are, other than cute, shiny and durable) which I drilled holes into to make beads, along with other misc. beads. Everything on these except the clasp, chain and findings are found objects ... yep, even the painted pages ... I pick up the paint and paper from everywhere.

Rising Sun Zipper Pull From a Very Ugly Pair of Earrings

Awhile back I came across this really ugly pair of clip earrings. I'd say they were vintage, but the only possible proof of that would be the tarnish, how the circle part stayed in place only be inserting it inside and clip and, they are REMARKABLE OUT OF STYLE. But, maybe there not. Anyway, they are really ugly. I had placed them on my side table, where they've been for awhile as I just couldn't decide what to do with them.

Well, I'm (again) trying to clean off the side table and picked them up AGAIN. Decided it was time to do something with them and that I'd turn, at least part of them, into a zipper pull.

So, took them part and pull all, except the black beads into the tumbler for a couple hours with some of that stuff for cleaning metal. Then, started the decisions .... ummmm ... silver chain, add in a few other beads, use a little of each of the original beads .... and then, ... introducing the new zipper pull. Actually, it's not quite finished. The back of the earring part is not that attractive, so in the morning I'm going to pull out a Gold Button and glue it to the back.

The Playing with Buttons Continues

As usual, when I create a piece, I lay out the materials I think I'll be using and then the fun start. First I selected a variety of pink buttons and beads and put together the pink beads and buttons charm bracelet. These take me about 1 1/2 hours to put together, and I'm using jump rings between 6mm and 10mm, depending upon the size of the button.

I was going to put it all away, but I just had to do another one, so I switched everything out to blue buttons and beads and made another bracelet. And, since I still had quite a few blue buttons laying out, pulled a silver heart out of found objects inventory, drilled a couple holes in the bottom for buttons and put together a Pull.

I'm liking working with the buttons and I'm going to make an effort to incorporate them into more pieces.

Playing with my buttons

I, of course, collect buttons, and have been for at 4-5 years. I remove them from clothing that has passed its useable life, sometimes I find jars of them at yardsales, and periodically I just find them laying in parking lots, etc. Two weeks ago, from the Abita All-Town Yardsale, I came home with a big bag of 'Vintage' buttons someone else had given up on collecting. SO ... I've been thinking about using some of them in the charm bracelets. I've seen bracelets before using buttons and they are great fun in appearance.

Thought I'd start out simple ... beads and buttons ... and then, consider adding in more found objects. I decided to start with white buttons as I have a huge number of these. I'm using chain here I recently purchased.

The 1st bracelet went remarkably well; nothing really new, just have to use jump rings in a variety of sizes depending upon the width of the Beads. I decided to call it :Buttons and Beads, An Upcycled Braclet in Shades of White. Since this went so well, switched out some of the buttons/beads and completed the second one, which I'm calling "Black & White, An Upcycled Charm Bracelet using Buttons and Beads". (That's one of the hardest parts of having online shops ... coming up with names for the creations).

I'm going to list both of these in Artfire ... sooner or later. I'm getting abit behind on processing my pictures and getting the accessories posted.

I also started on a third bracelet ... pink with hearts, which I'll finish up tomorrow morning.

The Last Two Fabric Beaded Necklaces, for now anyway

I'm one of those great sleepers. I generally go to sleep right on cue ... the minute the Seinfeld rerun is over, and sleep through the night. But not last night. I woke up a 1am, wide awake. By 2am, decided enough was enough and just go up.

So, there I was, in my space in the middle of the night working on the last two fabric beaded necklaces. I'm going to try to hold off buying more styrofoam until I determine whether or not these are going to sell.

Yet Another 3Fabric Bead Necklace ... Greens, Blues & Pastels

I pulled another 5 scarves from the 'oblong' container. Think these will finish off the remaining styrofoam balls I have onand. Completed 3 of them this afternoon ... between sorting through the yardsale stuff, sitting in the hot tub, etc. etc. etc.

Creating these are going much better. It's probably a combination of things ... my sewing skills are (I like to think), improving. I attribute this fact to how I'm now longer having long and ugly one side conversations with my sewing machine, and that I have a better understand of what scarves are good candidates of these necklaces. Who'd think that all scarves are not created equal !!!

I keep thinking that I need to order a couple more sets of styrofoam balls so I can make so more, and then my better sense kicks in and I think that perhaps I should wait and see if anyone likes these enough to buy them, and then I find myself thinking about buying more styrofoam balls, etc. etc. etc. Gosh, if they don't sell, I'd sure hate to find myself with 3000 of them in the attic in a couple year, but other the otherhand, gosh, I'm having a good time making them. And, so it goes ....

The Red Fiber Necklace is Almost Finished

Actually, I thought it was finished until I looked at the picture and realized that I didn't put anything in the bobbin holes .... I think it's a nice addition. So, I'll pick something tomorrow ... probably black. And then I'll get them (this and the brown one finished yesterday) photo'd for the shop. I made two changes on this one ... the bobbins are E6000's together versus sewed, the the threads coming out of the bobbin are stitched to stay securely in place and not have an opportunity to slip of the outside bobins. I'll go back and make this change to the brown fiber necklace as well.

I like these and have no doubt there will be more .. probably when I again come across a necklace or bead combination begging to be reinvented.

The 2nd Fiber Necklace is almost finished

Off and On through the afternoon, put together the bead work and made the clasp. This piece is just about finished ... tomorrow I'll trim it up a bit here and there.

Pulled out the red Fun Fur and I'm starting on the 1st red fiber necklace.

My second Fiber Necklace, also in Brown -- In Progress

The Beads and Baubels Show was requesting entires into a competition and I thought that I would make a fiber necklace similar to the one I made my sister a couple months ago (which she liked). I started it last Monday; stitched the bobbins together (versus wiring) and got the yarns cut and then, instead of continuing, watched Lilly for a week, went the Bywater and the Palmer Art Market ... even cleaned house a (very) little ... everything but finished the fiber necklace. As a result, I entered ... nada .. to the show.

And then, on Sunday, my dearest sister called and indicated she had a friend who was in want of a similar necklace ... red. So, I thought that I'd make several of these and put online in my store and let her choose which one ... i.e., get my sister out of the middle.

Now, back to the necklace. Cleared off my table this afternoon and pulled the necklace back to the center. Selected the probably beads and started making the bead sets. I'll continue tomorrow.

Chub Chub Chocker & Pull upcycled from an sad belt

I don't remember when I picked up this sad little belt, but it's been hanging out for some time amongst my found objects. I came across it yesterday while looking for something else, and ... not really sure why, but it demanded it's turn for a new life.



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I pulled it out and started taking it apart. And, by the time I was half finished, the idea of the choker sprang forward. So, pulled out the beads ... purple of course (you know, gold & purple ... LSU Tigers and all that) and added a new clasp.


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Then, still had 9 of the gold ball/beads and some chain left, so made a few more bead sets (well yes ... purple), and made a matching Zipper Pull. Changed out the Lobster Clasp as the one on the original belt was in bad shape. There are still 6 of the ball/beads left; I returned them to inventory.

With the exception of the findings and the clasps, everything in these two are found objects. I'll be listing them in my artfire shop.

A Charm Bracelet with Silver Leaves and Green Beads

I brought home a green necklace & earrings from yard sale last Saturday. I took the necklace apart this morning to put away to inventory, and noticed there were a couple links of metal leaves I'd picked up at Hobby Lobby a month or two ago also laying o the side table (waiting to be put away). Seemed these two would match up to an attractive bracelet. Liked the idea of the leaves being silver (to correspond with the chain) and the beads being green. (Versus green leaves and silver beads).

Pulled a silver necklace chain from the inventory drawer. Cut it down to be bracelet size and reattached the same clasp. Dug around in the inventory drawer and pulled out some small accent beads in lighter green, yellow and orange. Seperated 8 silver leaves and made up 14 bead sets and attached all to the silver bracelet.

So, for this piece, the leaves and findings were purchased new, everything else is found object.
Packaged up the remaining materials and put away in inventory. I'll add this to the charm bracelets for sale on Sunday, and should it not sell, I'll list it in my Artfire shop next week.

Five More Charm Bracelets

I made these right before Lilly came to visit to add to the items I'm taking to the Beads and Baubles show.

I like Charm bracelets; the way they clink about and have a variety of interests. I've not yet made just a simple bead bracelet ... seems a bit boring ... I start with selecting chain from the 'chain' container .. quite a few bracelet chain in there, then select somethings from the found items, and fill in the rest with beads. This set of 5 bracelets is a good 90% found items. All the findings are new; 2 of the bracelets have new clasps and about 10 of the beads. Whatever doesn't sell this weekend will be listed in my Artfire shop next week.

I have one more in progress using Pegasus Doubloons on the workbench, and, if time permits before Sunday, just might do another one or two.

Charm Bracelets and alot of being sidetracked

Around 10am, decided I was going to spend a day or two putting together some charm bracelets. This seems like a logical move as my beads and found objects containers are almost overflowing. Need to create something with them so that I can, at least, move these items to another container ... finished items.

But, did I mention sidetracked .... I had just pulled out the 'chains' container (where I put all those chains I find at yard sales), and selected a few, when .... my dearest Farmer Beau ... shows at the back door with an entire bucket filled with Green Onions from the garden. It seems the jest of our household is Beau is responsible for the veggies until the are brought inside. Then, they are my problem ... uh, woops ... opportunity. So, I found myself standing at the sink washing probably 4 pounds of green onions .... what to do with them .... freeze, give away (did I mention there is probably another 4-5 pounds waiting to be pulled). Then, inspiration hit me and I pulled out the dehydrator and cut all those little onions into slices. They will be wonderful in future soups, stews, etc. And then, since I'm already in the kitchen and it's almost 11:30am, I cook up some Broccoli Cheese Soup and then we have lunch, and then we do the dishes and clean the kitchen and then I go to the Gym (with a quick stop by Grans, where I find a wonder red scarf that will be perfect for something), and then back to my studio to continue working on the bracelets. Gosh, it's 3pm !!!

But, was able to make some design decisions and work on two of them.

Big day tomorrow .... Yard Sale Saturday !! Sure hope it doesn't rain.

Enough Fabric / Scarf Necklaces, for now anyway

Over the last three days I created 13 of these necklaces, to go along with the 10 I created a month or two back, for a total of 23 to take to the Beads & Baubels Show.

I took photos of the 13 new necklaces this morning, and then pulled out the other 10 and applied sales tags and descriptions to all ... getting them ready. The only thing left to do is decide how I want to display them in the tent ..... hummmmm

All but three of the necklaces are created using the scarves from my yard sale finds. The three not scarves ... one is a heavy silk, one a tapestry material and one a medium weight cotton. Of these, I like the scarves the best. I find the fabric ones are a bit stiffer on the ties. Don't get me wrong, they are attractive and great necklaces ... just a bit stiffer to tie. I did learn that the scarves have to be of a certain weight ... the shears shred in the cutting process. (Or, perhaps, I just need to upgrade my sissors .... again, hummmm ).

I'm not planning on creating anymore before they show. This number should be adequate to determine if there is community interest in these, as well as give the shopper some variety to choose from.

I'll be posting these in my Artfire shop, as well, as I go through the next week ... evening TV time activity.