One More Day

I can't believe that it is already Sunday night.

Tomorrow is my last day at the Christmas One of A Kind show. It will be a long one since I pack and head home after the show closes at 10pm.

I did want to share my bead links though! It has been a wonderful week!

Strands of Beads: Melissa is thankful for generous friends – who share their beading supplies!
A Bead A Day Stop by A Bead A Day for a wonderful week of cubic zirconia sparkle sponsored by Artbeads.com. Ideas are always welcome!
About.com Jewelry Making It’s is so easy to get into the holiday spirit when you have the perfect lamp work beads to get you there. Just think of all the jewelry possibilities.
Art Bead Scene Are you a Twilight Fan? If yes, then check out the Twilight inspired jewelry on the Art Bead Scene!
Carmi’s Art/Life World Carmi uses embossing powder to make a bird pendant…a fun idea!
Cindy Gimbrone aka The Lampwork Diva It’s Double Dippin’ Week – a week full of ideas for the Double Dips. Try a necklace and become “Entwined.”
Earthenwood Studio Chronicles Melanie gives her review of Enchanted Adornments, and gives a reminder to enter the Art Bead Scene monthly challenge for your chance to win a copy of it and some other great beads, including new Earthenwood beads!
Snap out of it, Jean! There’s beading to be done! Ah, Etsy! So many of our problems solved by visiting Etsy for gifts for our dearest friends at this time of year. Take a look at this premade pendant, which also comes in a kit so you can teach yourself if you prefer. It’s all jump rings and it’s all beautiful. The Alchemist’s Star!

One of A Kind

Here is what my booth looks like...there were a few more places to add items too, but I managed to get the one picture. My lights take the longest to set up.

This was my inventory. I was amazed that 6+ months of work could fit into these 13 small boxes.

But, it takes a whole van load of stuff to display all my items...so that is why my set up took two days.

There are days I dream about a cardboard display unit. Light, airy and recyclable at the end of the show.

Heading out to my second day now!

Book Assemblages - My Final Sneak Peak

I think this is my 2009 show stopper. I wonder if and to whom it might sell.

This is in the collage in the bottom covered brass container. I named this book "Love to Dance."

Josephine. I never get tired of the Coronation.

I love this image. I'll think of it today as I drive downtown for Day 1 of the 2009 One of a Kind Christmas show. I'll post an image of the booth tonight!

Ultra Thick - I Dreamed About This!

I bet this bird image made you laugh.

Isn't it sweet? I made it with Suze Weinberg's Ultra Thick embossing powder, a cookie cutter and some beautiful paper.

But let me show you. I have Suze's melting pot. If you don't know about this pot or the powders...you really must go to Suze's blog. She's been putting all sorts of cool demos up lately and this technique was the reason I tossed and turned earlier this week. I had an idea for a bird necklace and was dying to test it out.

Suze has been teaching this technique and I saw that her students were pouring Ultra Thick into cookie cutters over a photocopied image. A great idea! But, I have all this beautiful paper...and these cool dollar store bird shaped cookie cutters, so I didn't need an image.

It was impossible for me to hold the melting pot and take a photo, so here is a picture of each cookie cutter with clear Ultra Thick poured into it's opening. The cookie cutter popped right off the paper when it cooled and then I cut the bird away from the rest of the paper.

Voila! Bird necklaces!

They are light as a feather (no pun intended) and fun to wear. I love jewelery that I can just spark conversations about.

I made an effort to hang this bird unadorned...for those of you who prefer jewelery to be simple. When I tire of wearing them...I'll just turn them into ornaments!

That's my demo for the week. Off to continue setting my booth up!

A Few More Book Assemblages

Today is day one of my One of a Kind show move in. Wish me luck. My goal is to build my booth, hang the curtains and get all the lighting set today.

My Book Assemblages

The last items I need to pack up for the One of A Kind show are my book assemblages.

I think of them as "Wall Jewelery."

I'll post them on my blog over the next few days.

Greetings From Canada

Every year I think about making some cards that are "Canadiana." This year they are done. Perhaps someone needs a more traditional card to send to Europe? I made these flat too...international postage is pricey and I wouldn't want my embellishments to get stuck in too many postal machines.

I am continuing to work...right up until I leave for the move in on Tuesday.

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My beading friends all had busy weeks too. Its that time of the year again.

A Bead A Day Do pearls go with everything? Lisa pairs glass pearls with chain and interesting findings. What do you think?

About.com Jewelrymaking What do you do with a weird piece of chain made from wood? How about making a fabulous necklace out of it.

Art Bead Scene Art Bead Scene gives you the scoop on findings worth finding - check it out!

Barbe Saint John I've been a bad blogger!

Carmi's Art/Life World Carmi makes a brooch with a cameo and other odds and ends.

Cindy Gimbrone aka Lampwork Diva Cindy has a new shop on Etsy - the bleeding heart. Check it out!

Earthenwood Studio Chronicles Melanie shows the piece she made for the new book Chain Style, and talks about her struggles with letting go of her published jewelry pieces.

Jewelry & Beading Gather up some little beaded flowers and turn them into a very special necklace!

Lorelei's Blog: Inside the Studio Lorelei's annual craft fair adventure is over and she share's some photos of the Aftermath.

Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done! Artbeads teamed up with Nintendo DS to create a fantastic virtual learning game for jewelry lovers! Style Lab! Jean shows it off in a youtube clip! FUN for the HOLIDAYS!

Strands of Beads Melissa discusses the virtue of buttons in jewelry-making.

Final Days

Two more days are left. I am sorting through my materials to see which cards I will still make and which will have to be set aside until year. I have way more ideas than time!

A new favorite. I thought this little Egyptian girl looked lie she was reading Santa's list....so I couldn't resist making her a featured card.

Still loving my monkeys too!

Red, Green and Gold

I think the cards are starting to make themselves now.

It was so grey outside yesterday that it made me automatically work with some brighter colours. Hence the pinks and flowers below.

Leftover Cameo Brooch

I have a new brooch for my collection. It is about 1 1/2 inches wide.

I was clearing up part of my studio table and noticed how many singles I had left. This one wooden disk and gold bezel were floating around the edge of the table for a while. I don't know why I never tried it before, but the disk fit inside the bezel. Hmmmm.

These were all the other tiny bits and bobs I cleared up. All pieces of jewelry I broke up or were leftovers from embellishment projects.

I gave myself 30 minutes to just relax and make a collage on the wooden disk with what was already out. I happily glued everything into place. Working on a non stick sheet is so helpful because if glue squeezed out from an edge I can just simply cut it away later. These sheets are from Ranger.

The only thing I had to do this morning was glue on a pin back.

This is the brooch on a sweater I love. It has tiny hand sewn flowers strewn across the left side. The brooch looks perfect here.

I am Framing

I finally found a company that could cut a special mat for my art cards. Because the mat is an odd size I was worried that my order would not be big enough. They are white and I really like them! They fit into a standard 5 x 7 frame now and holds my art card perfectly! I wanted to give my customers the option to buy the mats....since a few of them do frame my cards. I spray painted one mat gold and as you can see it looks great in the frame!

FYI. My art card mat is going to be $2.

Marie Antoinette For The Holidays

I can't resist.

She is such an icon.

I have Marie "all occasion" and holiday cards.

Another big studio day. Just wrapping up my biggest special order.

Happy Hannuka/Chanukkah Cards

Just finishing up these cards. I love working with blues and gold. It hasn't been easy finding papers or embellishments for this holiday so I made my own resin filled bezels and selected fabric for the card backgrounds.

Necklace Giveaway!

Good Morning!

I wrote the numbers 1 - 14 on tiny slips of paper this morning representing the 14 comments left on my necklace blog entry Thursday. I figured if I drew a number and counted down the comments that I would draw again if the comment was from me....but no second draw needed.

I drew number 3 which was the comment from Sara Goes to Calgary! Send me your address and I will mail this out to you! I must do this more often, it was fun!

carmimail@aol.com

More Kokeshi Dolls

My little Kokeshi Poufs (c) have a new mascot in the studio.

Karen brought me this Kokeshi doll from Japan!

The last thing she wanted to do in Japan was to search out a doll for me....there was so much fabric and paper and beading to see. But in the end, she said she started to like the dolls. You can read about her Japan trip on her blog.

Happy Sunday friends. I am off to see my godchild play hockey in arena across town. I hope they have hot chocolate! Here are my Sunday beading links.

Lorelei’s Blog: Inside the Studio: Setting up a table at a craft can be daunting, but Lorelei put together a perfectly Vintage Chic display that will hopefully lure people in.
Snap out of it, Jean! There’s beading to be done! In the spirit of the season, whereby “you can get nything you want” as in the famous Alice’s Restaurant song by Arlo, you can get some fascinating things at Andrew Thornton’s store. Great for holidays to come!
The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton Using a hand-painted Russian pendant from Artbeads.com, Andrew creates an enchanting response to Art Bead
Scene’s November prompt: Dadd’s The Fairy Fellers’ Master-Stroke.
About.com Jewelry Making Tammy has another installment of Make It Merry this week.
Art Bead Scene November is full of fairies at the Art Bead Scene. Come check out the inspiration painting for the monthly challenge!
Carmi’s Art/Life World Carmi has a give-away offer on “the ugly necklace.”
Cindy Gimbrone aka The Lampwork Diva Cindy reflects on how to live life at a slower pace. Her reflections inspire a pair of earrings.
Earthenwood Studio Chronicles Melanie starts a new project, an upcycled film themed jewelry line called Now Showing! Read the story behind this fun new idea.
Jean Campbell Jean finds her first piece of beadwork in a junk drawer and discusses how important it is to reinforce your work.