Something Seedy and Something Blue

Got your attention?   The something seedy, sorry to say, is just that seed bead necklace I made started in a class I took with my friend Kahena last week.  I finally finished....all 7 strands.....and put it together.  Kahena was right; it is an easy mindless task to do while watching TV.  This is what we received in the class, and all you need to make seed bead jewelry.  Well, not all you need.  You also need some monofilament thread.  We used fishing line.  You can get the thread in a craft store, but Kahena thinks the fishing line is stronger, and it certainly costs less.

The little plastic gizmo is called a Beadalon, and low tech as it is, it really does work.  You pour some seed beads inside the bowl (which is a separate piece and rests on a stand), and spin it while angling the hooked needle inside.  Once you get the feel for the right angle, the beads really do automatically slide onto the needle.  This is a picture from the box the Beadalon came in, showing it in action.  Though action is a poor choice of word.  It's really very boring, and best done either in front of the TV or in the company of friends.

I chose a combination of black and silver beads, and this is my finished project:

I'm thinking of some sort of pendant to hang from it, but that's for another day.

I've covered seedy, now on to blue.   Also probably not what you were thinking of.  Nothing sad or sexual, just the color blue.  I'm in a blue tag swap, and this is my contribution:

The background is music paper, gessoed and inked, then stamped with light blue pigment ink, embossed with clear, then inked again with darker blue, so the fern stamp pops more.  I used all my border punches and some Jenni Bowlin mini papers in blue for the top and bottom of the tag.  The cage and bird are cut from Tim Holtz's new Caged Bird die, the cage in dark blue cardstock, the bird in some patterned paper from my stash.

Don't know if it shows up in the photo, but I used some Sakura glaze pens to doodle over the cage, and (if you can see it) the little bit of sparkle on the bird is from a Sakura stardust pen (at least I think that's what it is called) in clear.

Steampunk Jewelry

The theme for the May lottery at ArtHaven is "steampunk," a favorite genre of mine.  I haven't decided which piece I'm entering.  I have this one that I did a while back:

The base is a game piece, covered with some collage bits, a faux watch face and some Tim Holtz idea-ology, with keys dangling off the side.

I wasn't sure if I wanted to give that one up, so I created this new one:

I filled a bottle cap with some glossy accents and then piled in a bunch of watch findings and innards, and then dangled some idea-ology pieces and an old watch face from the bottom.

Now, I kinda like this one.  Well, one will wind up on a lapel, and the other will be in the lottery.  Or maybe I'll just enter them both and let the winner choose.  Hmmmmm.....

Cards and Jewelry and.....

Oops!  Has it really been 5 days since I've posted anything?  I've been trying to reorganize and destash, and that just sucks up all of my time.  Well, maybe not all of it; I have managed to create a thing or two.

On Friday I had my usual wonderful time at the monthly shoebox swap at my friend Heidi's place.  This time there were four of us, and we each brought two projects for everyone else to make.  These are mine:

This little 4x4 wall hanging was totally inspired by one of my new Wendy Vecchi stamp sets.  Just love that little blouse!  It's hanging on a tiny wire hanger (apologies to Joan Crawford, LOL), which is looped over measuring tape which is actually a stamp.  The sentiments are Wendy's, and the pen nibs on the bottom are from a new Tim Holtz set.  The background paper is a Jenni Bowlin mini.

Graphic 45 paper was the impetus behind this greeting card.  Plus, I just had to use one of my new Tim Holtz On The Edge dies for that scallop touch on the side.  

Heidi's two projects involved birds.  OK by me; I love bird images.

We layered two different patterned papers, added a pop of sparkly ribbon, then placed a doily (previously sprayed with glimmer mist) in the corner.  The flower was also sprayed (it started out white), and the bird is a punch, also done with two different papers.

This one was inspired by a steal Heidi found on a recent trip to Pennsylvania.  The bird is from a Martha Stewart set, which she found for UNDER ONE DOLLAR!  In fact, she gifted each of us with a set.  It was stamped on patterned paper and then glitzed up a bit with stickles. The gorgeous frame is a transparency.

Rocker Jen had two awesome cards for us to do as well.

The tiny trees are part of a Stampin' Up set, and we formed the hills with a large oval punch.  Brilliant idea! I love the colors on this one.

Jen's second card started with cardstock that was embossed with dots.  The flowers were punched from patterned paper, grunged up a bit with ink and layered, held together with brads. The stems were just cut free hand, the leafy branches are from a die, and the larger leaves by the bow are actually bird wings,that I think look like leaves.

Pat's projects are gorgeous, though I managed to screw up the first, and not take a great photo of the second. Trust me, both were mega fabulous in person,

This one was shimmery, yummy looking loveliness, but I put the flowers on the wrong side of the folded paper.  The scallop edge was supposed to pop out from the edge.  Oh, who cares?  It's still a delicious looking card.

I really hope you can see the detail on the right side of this black and white beauty.  The black cardstock was embossed, then sprayed with glimmer mist.  Then a sanding block went over top, and removed the layer of mist from the embossed areas.  It feels like flocking!  Another brilliant idea from Pat, and I'm just sorry you can't see it and touch it.

And now for something completely different.  Over at the ArtHaven group, we have a monthly lottery, and the theme this month is water....think ocean, beach, lake, whatever.  When I think of water I think of blues and greens, my favorite colors.  I did a necklace using those colors, and just to reinforce the theme a bit, added a few shell and fish charms.  At the end of April, someone will win it, along with all the other lottery submissions.

Back to my organizing project.  Sigh.......

A Great Mail Day

Sometimes the mail carrier brings me bills, and sometimes he makes my heart sing!  Today, my heart was belting out an entire soundtrack.

The photo above is the end result of a several months long progressive swap masterminded by my friend Liz in the ATT group.  Liz sent out nine plain unfinished frames, about 5x5", and the same number of those vials used in drawing blood.  That was it!  Each of the nine people in the swap added something and the little masterpiece you see above is what we came up with.  The pieces traveled a total of 16, 344 miles, and crisscrossed the country several times, going from Liz in Arizona to Allie in Oklahoma, to Jason in Texas, to Nancy in California, to me in New York, to Pam back in California, to Peggy in Ohio, to Barbara in Oregon, to Julie in Montana, and finally, back to Liz in Arizona.  Liz finished them off and then mailed one to each of us.
I doubt if the photo does this justice, but click on it to see the details.  I don't know how it happened, (and I have to credit the final participants here) but it became a wonderful and cohesive work of art!  Thanks Liz and everyone else for this great experience and unique and beautiful piece that I will cherish forever!

As if that wasn't enough, also in the mail was a totally unexpected package from Japan.  Jessica, a military wife from my ArtHaven group sent me this cool RAK:

 

I just love that the package of pink lace has a label in Japanese!  Trust me, the label will find its way into a project.

Speaking of ArtHaven, I was lucky enough to win the February Lottery there, and everyone who submitted a piece (the theme was Happiness) will be sending theirs to me.  Today I received this beauty from my dear friend Angie:

 

I love the sentiment, and would you believe that the base started out as one of those coffee cup sleeves you slide over the cup to keep from getting burned?  Angie is an amazing artist and just loves to find interesting uses for what most folks would toss in the trash.

No photo for these, but there was also a new journal to work on.  Yea!  This one is from my Journal of Dreams group, and it belongs to Sarah, who lives in Australia.  

And the new idea book by Wendy Vecchi was in the mail too.

Like I said, a great mail day.   My email brought me a few surprises as well.  Several of my very kind cyber friends decided to pass along various blog awards to me.  I would like to acknowledge them and thank them for thinking of me.

Lori sent me this one:

 

Valerie sent me this:

 

And Celeste sent:

 

I decided a while back not to do this blog award thing any more.  I absolutely can't think of any more interesting things about myself to share and I love too many people and too many blogs to try to pick out the five or seven or ten to pass them on to.  So, I'm not adding these to my sidebar or passing them forward, just saying thanks to those who gave them to me, and hope this doesn't offend anyone.

Some New Art and A Palm Tree or Two.....

I'm still getting used to being back in the northeast, and all that implies, weather-wise.  I actually love being home, but can't say I don't miss those swaying palms and days spent by the pool.  Anyway....a few projects, and a few shots of Paradise.

 

While I was gone, PID had a "doodle me" challenge, which I completed last night.  We were to alter, with doodling one of their images, and I went to town with my gel pens!

 

Not sure what I was thinking, but it was very therapeutic.  Now, back to Paradise.

This is what the entrance to the dining room looked like:

 

This nice man cut open a coconut for me:

 

And I enjoyed it!

 

Ahhhh, well, back to art.  At ArtHaven, we have a monthly lottery.  This month's theme is "happiness," and we were to enter anything that made us happy.  I've been enjoying altering mini notebooks with both real and faux metal, so this is what I did:

 

As you can see, we had  a very relaxing vacation:

 

We enjoyed Hokkaido, the Japanese restaurant at the resort:

 

  

When I returned home there was a package waiting for me.  It contained a very timely gift from my secret sister (something my SU! team does each quarter).....a picture frame already decorated to hold a vacation photo.  So, I did a little photo collage and popped it in the frame:

 

The new challenge theme at PID is "green or clover."  Yes, it really is almost March, though someone needs to inform the weather people of that fact.  They seem to think we're still solidly in winter.  But, I digress..... I found this cute little guy in my PID stash, and did a St. Patrick's Day card:

 

And I'll end this with a few more random shots from the gorgeous Melia Caribe Tropical Resort in Punta Cana, the Dominican Republic:

 

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

Button Fairy

Well, this is a new art form for me....the button fairy.  Someone at the ArtHaven group started a swap of them, and I decided to give it a try.

All it involves is some buttons, maybe a few beads, wings, and a pretty face.  The adorable face I used is from a Paper Imagery Designs collage sheet.  The butterfly wings are from a Tim Holtz grungeboard set.  I covered them with a concoction of glossy accents and perfect pearls.

Most of the ones I've seen have a loop on the top for hanging, but I think a tie tack finding on the back would make these into nice pins.

And a great way to use up some of my hundreds of buttons.
If you'd like to know a little more about this, click here.

And Now For Something Completely Different

And I do mean different.   I signed up for a swap that involves making a "hanglie danglie" for Valentine's Day.  So, I took a break from all the Christmas oriented stuff and worked on it.  For those who don't know....a hanglie danglie is something with things dangling from it AND something on top so it can be hung up.  Clever, huh?
OK, is anyone besides me thinking, "over the top?"
It's so far over, it went way past the point where I would have hated it's fussiness, and into the land of "so bad it's good."  At least in my opinion.
So, here is the front, and then the back, which doesn't have to be decorated much. 

 

Have you OD'd on the sugar yet?  LOL!  You know, sometimes it's OK to work outside of your comfort zone.  Or am I just being too apologetic?  I await (with some dread) the comments.  Oh, and did I mention the most amazing thing of all?   I  like it!