Kicking and Screaming - Bad Photo Day

*beats head against monitor*

Found some time this morning for me - *queue Mormon Tabernacle Choir* so I took advantage of it and made some new things.
Once again I struggled with the pictures...


How can I use a flash and they come out so dark???

I hunkered down and learned abit more about manipulating the color with Gimp



Light box Schmite box...............
Little better, but the contrast really mucks with the image and it is grainy.........



This one came out a little better.


God it felt good to sit at my workbench again! I have been wanting to work with these pendants for some time. I got them from my good friend Davinia of Back Pocket Designs. I love her work so much. My daughter has claimed the first one :)

ArtFire.com is doing a daily give away for $100 - I keep checking my numbers - one day it will be mine and I know where I will be shopping :)

Back Pocket Designs - Pendants

I have this wonderful friend - who is an AMAZING artist - Davinia of Back Pocket Designs. I am a complete and absolute junkie for her work. Not only can you buy her beautiful creations, but she is now sharing her polymer pendants on her store as well!!!!

Look what I bought!!!! She posted the blue flower pendants and the large spotted one on her blog and I just had to have them. I can't wait to work with them. Then just to sweeten the pot - she added a couple more as a big surprise!


While I am on her shop - I can't help myself - I have to buy this necklace I have been ooogling over for ever! Seriously - can you blame me???



Being the dear she is, she snuck in this wildly adorable pin - Mort is so cute :) He has found a home amongst the pins and buttons on my jean jacket :)



Stop by Dee's store and see her wonderful creations or stop by her blog and see what is churning in the wonderful creative brain of hers!

What a Surprise!! - Deez News

What a surprise when I went to the mailbox and found a package addressed to me. What a thrill it was when I saw who it was from!!!

Davinia from over at Deez News!!!! She had slipped a package in the mail with a few goodies for me for my birthday. I was in tears.

I am a huge fan of her work, no wait... I think it goes beyond fan and over into hero worship. The way she thinks and combines and creates and.... you get it don't you?!!

In this package was a necklace that I ADORE!! I hot listed it on ArtFire.com and also put it on my Amazon wish list. Did you know you could do that on ArtFire? Yes you can!! What are you waiting for??!?!?

Am just a bit manic right now and all over the place, please forgive me - but the excitement has got me!!!!

Look what she sent me!!!!


This necklace makes me swoon! Two beautiful pendants, two matching pendants - mebbe earrings and that LOVELY shawl brooch. OMG! I have the perfect hand crocheted poncho to wear it on. These are so fun, because I will make something for ME with these!!! What a treat!

I love her work and what she does with polymer clay! I am always hinting she needs to sell them as well on ArtFire as accessories. I would be a customer!

If you haven 't stopped by her studio, Back Pocket Designs, please do. There is so much color and texture and trendy hotness. She really has a handle on what's what. Stop by her blog - Deez News and get to know her. She is funny and warm and brilliant - you'll not be disappointed!

Thank you Davinia - you have made my year!!!!!

It's like christmas! Great things in my mail box!

Like a double whammy, but in a good way - I go to my mailbox and there I have not only my selections for the Sept. Rings & Things blogger challenge, but I have the necklace that I ordered from Dawno.

I squealed and danced in the street in front of my mailbox when I saw this wonderful double bounty.

Here is what came from Rings & Things -



4- Sterling silver rope design "S" clasps.
1 - Strand of 10 x 10 faceted fan beads - multistone.
1 - Sterling silver leaf face charm
1 - Sterling silver key charm
1 - 100 ct. India dancing bells
1 - Ocean jasper T-Drop pendant
1 - Moss agate T-Drop pendant

I grossly misjudged the size of the pendants, but I am not disappointed at all - They are Beautiful!! I can't wait to work with them. The faceted fans are brilliant. The bells made my heart happy - so many uses for this little gems. I had the design in my head when I ordered the pieces. Now all I have to do is sit down and build them. I will get started tonite.

Dawno had blogged about a necklace she made a month or so back. I fell in love with the hand made pendant and the necklace design. I began to pester her, asking when will I be seeing it on her ArtFire store so I can buy it. Come to find out - she had made it, and intended to keep it for herslelf. :( Dawno was so gracious as to order a focal pendant and create another one for me!

I love this necklace. It is fun and bright, and honestly will go with anything. I dont' want to limit it to just spring and summer wear. It is so lovely and the beautiful spring flowers are sure to lighten any winter duldrum!

Dawno was kind enuff to share with me where she got all the componets to make the necklace so I can share them with you.

The pendant is a beautiful. It is a Patti Stoll creation.



The blue beads are vintage Lucite - Sapphire moonglow rice ovals 9x15mm, from The Beadin' Path and the opaque yellow glass are 6mm Czech Druk beads from Fire Mountain Gems.


Now look at this craftsmanship - brilliant, sturdy, and beautiful! What a combination.



The scrimps are from Rings & Things. They cost a bit more, but are worth the investment. They add a polished touch to the design, very professional. The benefit to the scrimp is if the design needs to be re worked, you do not damage the beading wire by removing them. Just a turn of a little screw and you can do what you need to re work or even repair the piece. Not like crimp tubes, which require being cut off just so, as to not ruin the coating on the beading wire and cause fraying.

Now look at the Wire Guardians - cable thimbles. This keeps the beading wire safe from fray and crimping by threading the wire thru the 'stay' and then around the jump ring or the connector ring to the clasp. It prevents the wire from mashing or the protective coating from being damaged and causing the wire to fray. That can be uncomfortable and prickly!



And of course I am wearing it :)

That duck has taken wing

Remember that duck? That depressed duck? I'll refresh your memory -



These little guys came out of a glueable challenge from Rings & Things. It was a happy mistake and I was sure I would find use for them later. Well as luck would have it, I did.

I toss and turn alot in my sleep thinking, planning, plotting the next day and the next project. Alot of my ideas come to me as I dream, and I wake up and jot them down, or I just get up and start to work. I was mulling over these damn'd buttons, obsessing. There were'nt sturdy enuff to be a real button, they would have been cute as an accent button on a purse, hat or corner of a skirt, but it wasn't right, something wasn't right with my thought process.

Stay away from the button...

Then it hit me - the ducks take flight, and their feathers ruffel in the breeze. hrm... *think* *think* I don't have any feathers. This doesn't look like a real duck tho - so it don't have to look like real feathers, it just needs to represent a movement....hrm.....*think* *think*


*snap*


Taken Flight -



I tied the buttons on with waxed linen cord and tied on several pieces of the cord between the buttons and knotted a crystal onto the end of each.







I tied the two ends thru the last button and used it as the 'clasp'. It is a pull it over your head type necklace. I have work it with a black crew neck and blue skirt.....it is really cute!!!!!

Glue-able challenge - 2 & 3

Here is a real serious attempt at the polymer clay and the glueable bracelet from Ring & Things.

I wanted to try and do something with a mill-ee-fee-your-ee style. I wanted to play with the idea and get a feel for how it is done.

I didn't document this one. This is my first attempt at the millefiori technique with polymer clay.
I created the pieces with the sculpty clay, baked them and finished them with a spray can of hi gloss.

I made a blue 'log' about 2" log and 1/2" in diameter. Then rolled out thinner 'logs' of brown and orange, and pressed them around the log. Then I flattened a piece of white and wrapped it around the 'log'. I compacted the log with my hand to make the design tight, and then rolled it lightly back and forth on the table to lengthen the log. Then I sliced it up, and pressed the pieces a little more with my fingertips to make them a bit more square. After baking them, I gave them a quick shot of hi gloss, and here ya go!

I used part number Stock#: 40-367-1








When I see gold I think of christmas and I think of those Brach's nougats...the peppermint ones. Dave from Rings & Things made a comment about making valentines type insult candy - So I went with a candy theme. I dug around and found a few more scraps of polymer clay. Using the same technique as before, I made an attempt at making a christmassy type candy style adornment to glue to the gold bracelet.

I used part number - Stock#: 40-349-2




This has been fun, and I am rolling with more ideas!

Thanks Dave!

Glue-ale challenge - attempt - FAIL

My brother and sister in law have been in town for several days so I am behind on my challenges - I apologize

BUT I AM BACK!

I was going to be clever and document the process and share with you - in case it was brilliant. Now I will make myself vulnerable, and show you the documentation of the thought process, and the intent. Be gentle :)

Thinking on the side of brilliance, I was going to glue on little polymer clay pieces. Could be cute, could be colorful, and fun designs. I thought because I am working in a new area - with the glue-able, I would also try and work some with the polymer clay. I have been wanting to do some stuff with that anyways. First I wanted to try making just some patterned squares.

So...

I didn't have much of a selection left over. The clay is always the hit when my g/f comes over with her kids. They play with it all nite. Here are a few scraps I had.



I made them into squares bout the size of the metal glue pad. I went about this all wrong, as an after thought, but I am secure enuff in myself to share :)



Made designs with spirals and straight pieces.




Here is where I thougth I was being clever - i was going to mash them flat, and the shape them to fit on the glue pad..


After I mashed them, I realized they were too big, and I was only going to have blue squares on the bracelet instead of the fun design.

*think* *think*

BUTTONS!!! I will make them into buttons!!! - This is my depressed Duck line.



This attempt altho failed, was a fun learning expierence, and I have some fun buttons.