Brenda Walton

I had a conversation with a lovely lady and her husband at CHA, After a few moments of discussion I asked what her connection to the event was and discovered that I was speaking to Brenda Walton. I have loved her papers for years! It is always so nice to meet someone who you admire and discover that they are just as nice in person as you had hoped. It gave me the opportunity to tell her how much her book on paper crafts and papers have inspired me. Brenda gave me this package showcasing all her latest papers. The collections are spectacular and I just know I will do something extra with this information package. So I did a little search and she has a blog! I love her samples and I am so pleased that I can check in on her work regularly!

Art Cards

This was a great weekend for prepping. It was just so cold and we had no commitments so I really dug into several projects. There was paper to cut, buttons to sort and card bodies to score. I feel like I really got a jump on the week!

Easy Knotter - Part Two

Are you attracted to the same colour palette? I figured out years ago that if I bought a piece of paper or bead that I didn't have to worry about fining anything to go with it. No doubt somewhere in my stash I would have already bought something that matched. That's why I had a little chuckle when I finished this necklace yesterday. It perfectly matched my Dove Of The East paper.

Yup, I am addicted to the Easy Knotter tool. It is so easy to just sit down and add beads to a length of ribbon. This necklace represents an hour or two of bad TV.

And look at those knots! Exactly where I want them!


You might be wondering why I am using silk ribbon. I have to. I have a whole drawer full that I bought when the Michael's store near me moved. They cleared them out to 80% off...and took them all. I have a mostly pink stash, but I always knew I would use them at some point!
Winter might be long, but I have a lot of spring colours to work with indoors.

The Beading Gang was pretty Busy this week. Here are their links!

Earthenwood Studio Chronicles
Melanie reveals the delicious ingredients she received for the Bead Soup Party.

Katie's Beading Blog
Katie introduces her new line of findings: Katiedids™ Creative Components. Look what you can do!

Lorelei's Blog: Inside the Studio
Lorelei's blog has a new look. And she heads to cooking school!

Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done!
Kim Miles! Who makes prettier Valentine's day, or "just for yourself" gifts than Kim? Wait til you see what she has up her sleeve...the Ace of Hearts, so to speak!

Strands of Beads
Melissa is giving away a $25.00 gift certificate from Artbeads.com this week!

A Bead A Day
Lisa is hoping to get some ideas for using a bright red, swirly stoneware pendant just in time for Valentine's Day.

Art Bead Scene
Searching for a way to achieve an etched metal look? ABS has a free tutorial for you!

Barbe Saint John - New Jewelry from Forgotten Artifacts
Are you a follower? Barbe has a giveway for her blog readers.

Beading Arts
A beautiful glass bead becomes the focal point of a Valentine's Day necklace!

Carmi's Art/Life World
Carmi did "knot" stress out making this new necklace!

Cindy Gimbrone aka the Lampwork Diva
With the help of Vintaj brass, Cindy whips up a set of tethered butterfly earrings with her bronze floral charms.

Collecting Stamps

I never thought I would become a stamp collector. Really, I can't collect one more thing. Plus I can't even say the proper name for stamp collecting: philatelist: a collector and student of postage stamps. But I adore series!
Canada Post has been releasing a new design every January to celebrate the Chinese New Year. This year it is the Year of the Tiger. They have used technology to print the most beautiful foiled and embossed stamps. I can never use the stamps...so the collection began. The sheet of stamps is lovely. I just discovered today that the artist involved used polymer clay to sculpt the gold seal. If you want to read more you can go here. If you click on my scan it will be easier to see. Each individual stamp has all the lunar animals collaged into the background.

The single international mail stamp is over the top though! Truly a beautiful piece of art. There are going to be 12 years of stamps to collect...until they have completed the lunar calendar. I need to get my stamps sorted properly into a book.

The Details

The cards are coming together really nicely.

I make so many embellishments that I forget what I have on hand till all the card projects begin. I made these resin embellishments in December. I had a feeling then that I would appreciate these for the spring show.

This vintage image of a shelf is fabulous. I could use it over and over.

This is a layered card. Hard to photograph but the top layer is acetate.

The Easy Knotter

There is a new tool in my studio that I just had to try out. I have a pretty new necklace featuring my favorite colours because of it.

Last month when I appeared on The Shopping Channel to debut a new crafting paper arts line I met another artist debuting an item. Maureen Oliveto invented the Easy Knotter and she made her first appearance on television that day to show off this new tool. In the greenroom that evening we all got to talking about who we are and what we do and before you know it I had the gift of an Easy Knotter in my hot little hands! I really wanted to try it the very next day but with the Craft and Hobby Show later that week in California I had to leave it in the centre of my work space where it taunted me daily with its cries of "try me try me!" Then I saw the inventor again at her booth at CHA. More inspiration for me to test this tool when I got home!

Using the instruction booklet I did as was advised and pulled out some sample beads and threads to play with. My first thought was to use my stash of hemp cord but I had a flash of inspiration and decided to try out my silk ribbons instead.

I have had NO luck with projects involving knots. The hand held tools have alluded me and to be honest, I really should not be learning any new skills right now. I figured that sooner or later I would be in a class and see a live demonstration which would sink in. Well, I got live demonstration from Maureen and I knew exactly how to get a knot exactly where I wanted it!

You would knot (hee hee play on words) believe that such a simple idea could result in perfection. Look how perfect those knots are...and spaced exactly where I want them! This tool is all about perfect measurements.

Maureen demonstrated with silk cord which I need to buy but she also uses everything else too.

I could not stop. I made these three pretty strands in an hour.

I can't wait to get the silk cord and try out some faux pearls next!

If you feel compelled to do some knotting now, The Shopping Channel in Canada has the Easy Knotter for sale in their web store. They have a video of Maureen demonstrating the tool too. If you live in the USA you might want to order from the inventor herself via her website linked here.

Cards I am Creating

Yesterday I made a group of cards that I can only attribute to all the new supplies I have.
Fabrics from Paris, the new rectangle button maker, felt and my polymer clay experiments

I was all over the map colour wise.
Clearly, I want to play with everything right now.

I do love these embroidered chiffons. In person these cards are very delicate.