Monday Challenges

This week can not end with out me doing something with one of these wooden curtain pulls. Now that I challenged myself here I have until Sunday to make good on this promise.

Time and The Hour

It is Sunday again. This past week was not my finest. Although I still managed to get some work done, the heat wave and our broken air conditioner got to me by Thursday. From that point on...I was too hot to create or think straight. Air conditioning is not a luxury for me. It is a necessity!

But today is a new day. The heat wave continues but our new air conditioner was installed yesterday afternoon. At some point last night the house returned to an optimal temperature. I feel like a million dollars today. Even though I feel like I lost a lot of time last week, I am celebrating the cool air by staying indoors today. No projects. Just fun.

I have pulled out this very old necklace I received from a family friend when I was a child. It came from India. I have not worn it in 30+ years. I think I will finally restring it and see if I can add a little extra too it.

Enjoy your Sunday where ever you are. I hope you are cool and comfortable!

A Bead A Day
Looking to make some super-sized jewelry just perfect for a princess? Lisa uses large blueberry briolettes and a swarovski mix to create just that!

About.com Jewelry Making
Tammy ask in this quick poll about how you use social networking to promote you and/or your jewelry business.

Art Bead Scene
ABS is here to help you with your business. Check out Zazzle to customize your earring cards for your jewelry business.

Barbe Saint John - New Jewelry from Forgotten Artifacts
Book Review: Wrap, Stitch, Fold and Rivet

Beading Arts
How many people out there are participating in the Bead Journal Project this year?

Carmi's Art/Life World
Carmi's button maker is the reason for this new vintage image necklace.

Cindy Gimbrone aka Lampwork Diva
This week's Wednesday Wire is a free tutorial, "Matchin' by Wrappin'."

Earthenwood Studio Chronicles
Learn about the Raku firing process and see the results of Melanie's new Raku adventures!

Humblebeads
Heather shares some time management tips for creatives.

Jean Campbell
Jean reviews Kate McKinnon's wonderful new addition, Sculptural Metal Clay.

Snap Out of It, Jean! There's Beading to be Done!
Jean is delighted to review Totally Twisted by Kerry Bogert! You will LOVE this book which focuses on wire and art beads!

Strands of Beads
Melissa discusses the process of reworking a weak necklace design - the revised version of which now appears on the cover of The Best of Step by Step Beads.

The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton
Like Czech glass? Andrew hosts a giveaway courtesy of Raven's Journey. Find out how you can win these luminous beads!

Me and Mr. Travelocity

There is a huge new gnome in the garden. Even though gnomes have been a popular garden ornament for decades, many of us think of them as the Travelocity mascot now.

He was at a garden statue centre where we were looking for a bigger piece for the front of our house. Nestled among these cement mushrooms I just knew "we had to have him." All winter long I enjoyed his commercials where he mumbled under his breath "got to get out of here."

Mr. Travelocity needed a tropical vacation. I did smile at all the snow he was griping about. I love winter, snow and cold cool air. Summer....not so much.

He was installed on Sunday, and coincidentally, our air conditioner died later that day. We are in the midst of an unusual extreme heat wave so going an entire week without air conditioning has been very hard. If you saw me this week you might have heard more than a few "got to get out of here" mumblings too. Alaska is looking like a sweet destination for me right now.

Here's hoping the new air conditioner gets installed today. Otherwise, I might think Mr. Travelocity is a jinx.

The Turtles and Susan Lenart Kazmer Bezel

A few weeks ago I did a post featuring a necklace I made with these vintage turtle beads from Paris. I have tried several different ways to show them off in a necklace. I had the light pink one's out on a table when this bezel came to my attention.

This is a hand made Susan Lenart Kazmer bezel. Many of you know that her new jewelery components line was released at Michaels last week. I bought this bezel after participating in a two day workshop with her. I also bought one of her necklaces which I am thrilled to own now that Susan is so busy and popular!

Some time ago I filled the bezel with this floral image and added it to my "too good to use" pile.
But yesterday I decided to introduce my turtles to the bezel. One evening of TV later I have yet another necklace to enjoy. The bezel may end up in another necklace at some point in the future. But at least it is out of the drawer and acting as the focal point it was meant to be. Does anyone else have one of her original bezels? Did you use it?

Vintage Image Button Necklace

There were four image buttons to choose from before I settled on this grouping of three.

I was editing some very old postcard files in photoshop this week to make some new buttons for my magnet wall at the Blue Banana store in Toronto. After making a few, I decided I just had to find a way to wear them. I love these 1920's woman. They are so glamorous. This kissing series is one of my favorites.

I knew when I bought my button making machines that I would do more than just make pins or magnets. Since I have so many jewelery components it is easy to see how quickly I joined these classic 1 1/2 inch buttons into this bigger pendant.

I am sure it will catch they eye when I wear it.
Perhaps I will put it on when I go downtown to rearrange my magnet wall.

Flash Cards And Paper Quilts

This is a fun project. Creating a set of your own flash cards.

I have had this huge tag die cut in my Accucut collection for well over two years now. I finally figured out a way to use it.

The 3 Bird card stock is a pastel set so I really loved working with a soothing colour wave.

The alphabet letters are card stock stickers from this new 3 Bird stack. I will have them on the show the next time I am on The Shopping Channel.

The card stock I am using is linen textured. It has great body and I decided to run it through the sewing machine. The texture gives the sewing machine foot something to grip. It really looked fantastic with the zig zag stitching.

I wanted to make a quilted paper back ground to show off these pictures of Magnus on his new quilt.

The beautiful edges are from another set I will show you tomorrow. I love this little layout!

So since the sewing machine was out.....I decided to make a number of 12 x 12 paper quilts.

I might use them as backgrounds for some beautiful postcards. I'll be experimenting with that idea today.

Shadow Box Cards with 3 Birds

Yesterday I finally got to spend some time making these fun shadowbox cards.

This Saturday (Correction: Friday, June 4rth) I am back on The Shopping Channel with three new products from 3 Birds for whom I am a guest host. I love going on TV with crafty products I use!

The new paper stack I am presenting contains the nicest range of pastels colours, so I was looking for a project that would show off the card stock and how sturdy it is.

As you can see, I glued, glittered and attached all sorts of embellishments to it.

These shadow box cards are cut from two sets of dies I bought for my Accucut machine. When I first saw them I said I might actually teach a class using them since I think they are so new and exciting!

The designer of these shadow box card dies is Vicki and I have her as a link on my blog roll. She creates so many amazing samples using a variety of products.

I'll have posts all week about my samples for the shows this Saturday!

Beaded, Collaged Memory Bag

These images represent the most thoughtful and kind gift I have ever received.
A box arrived in the mail for me and when I opened it I was thrown completely off balance.
I was not expecting such an amazing gift. I was certainly not expecting to see our two best friends remembered in such a beautiful way. This is the front of the bag.
The back is equally spectacular.
A few of you will know right away who's hand work this is because you have one of her bags too.
This was made for me by Sharon Ginsberg.

There is no part of this piece that isn't embellished with photos of the boys.
We lost Shadow in the summer of 2008 and Shamus followed him last summer.
Although they are gone, we still talk about them every day.

Sharon managed to use my favorite pictures of the boys. I have no idea how she accumulated them.

The hand embellishing is so thoughtful. Little charms and stitches are everywhere.

But Paul and I both agree that this spot might have to be out favorite. This is Shadow, our King. We must have called him that one million times.

Sharon added extra fiber here and you would swear it was Shadow's fur. The hand is surely representing the one million massages this dog demanded and received in his life. He was a cuddler. They both were, but Shadow just had his own way of getting twice the love.

All these details and embellishments are overwhelming. The bag will need to be displayed and protected. I am thinking about getting an acrylic box made. For now, it is the most tactile reminder I have to celebrate Shadow and Shamus. Thank you Sharon.
We love you.

A Reminder For Jewelery Artisans

Before you start to drool I want to say right off the bat that this was not made by me.
How I wish it was though!

I have several pieces from this fiber artist. I buy them at the same one of a kind shop I always go to in Paris. It's one of those places where you want everything but the prices ensure that you need to make a special one time purchase.

Her use of thread, yarn, dimensional glues and other fibers makes me want to just create something on my sewing machine. Now I say "her" because I have asked about the artist while I have been in the shop. This winter she made about 12 pieces and the store owner was explaining that they don't usually sell as well in the summer.

This week while photographing the neck piece I started to think about labels. If this artist had just taken a minute to print out some labels onto a sheet of cotton with her name or email address on them she could have sewn that to the inside of the piece. Then I could have told you where to contact her. She has amazing art floating around the world and no one knows who she is. Hopefully all my friends in the beading world have tiny tags they attach to their pieces.....lesson learned.

A Bead A Day
Lisa explains her thoughts behind part 1 of a new bracelet project.

About.com Jewelry Making
Tammy recently took a trip to the Bahamas and discovered some souvenir pennies in her purse. They were so bright and shiny they had to be turned into jewelry.

Art Bead Scene
It's the fifth month anniversary of the ABS Carnival Blog! Come see how we've grown!

Barbe Saint John - New Jewelry from Forgotten Artifacts
Take a jewelry class with me at CREATE!

Beading Arts
The new Rubber Glass silicone has inspired Cyndi to create some beginner projects!

Carmi's Art/Life World
In an effort to use all that she buys, Carmi repairs and recycles vintage metal from Paris.

Cindy Gimbrone aka The Lampwork Diva
Cindy's starting a new feature on her blog - The Wednesday Wire! Come take a look!

Earthenwood Studio Chronicles
A gift from a local potter starts Melanie on a new clay adventure: Raku!

Humblebeads
Heather explores 23 days of inspiration as she gets ready for the Bead & Button Show. See how Van Gogh has inspired her through the years.

Jean Campbell
Jean's just full of travelogues, isn't she? This time she went to a Kansas bead retreat.

Lorelei's Blog: Inside the Studio
Voting has now opened in the Bead Star competition, come check out my 5 entries!

Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done!
The best wedding I never went to! My editor's incredibly romantic wedding -- Australian Beading Magazine

Strands of Beads
Like several of her esteemed colleagues, Melissa has a few pieces in the Bead Star competition to show off this week!

The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton
Andrew has six finalists pieces in the Bead Star competition. Please take a moment to vote!

Missficklemedia.com
Vote for your Bead Star Favorites!

Canadian Long Weekend

It's Friday of the first summer long weekend. Monday is Victoria Day and almost everyone has it off. It means today lots of people will try to leave work early to get a jump start on the weekend. Working from home as I do, I am surprised to still get excited that there is a long weekend coming up. I have some classic long weekend projects. Gardening and grass cutting. Finishing a deck project. The usual. But, I have art work to do too. Next weekend I'll be back on the Shopping Channel, so I have samples to prepare and boards to make up. I'll be posting those images soon.

Repaired Vintage Jewelry Piece

My new big piece!

On Sunday I posted this image of a piece of broken metal we found in Paris. I was hoping to repair it and reuse it for something special.

My first step was to lighten it with paint.

It definitely falls in the found object category. I used all sorts of things I found in my junk drawer. Single earrings, old rhinestones and the metal flower. They would be homeless if they didn't go onto this necklace.

The images I embedded in resin. I found these vintage royal ladies some time ago. They were very small images, so even though I brightened them up in photo shop, I knew I could only print out a size that was about 1 inch wide. So for the main section I used them at about 1/2 inch tall.

I wish I had more time to play with my photography for this entry. I just set it down on this only paper and loved it. For now, I am just so happy to have reclaimed the piece and recycled it into something I will love wearing. On time too!

The Puppy Quilt

The most beautiful gift arrived in the mail this week.

Our friend Ludgera made us a special puppy quilt. It truly is perfect for the arrival of a four legged companion! It came with the funniest tags too.

Look at all the puppies on the quilt. I thought her addition of the red border was perfect.

But then the puppy took the tags......

And he decided that the edge might be a chew toy...so the quilt will have to be used when I can monitor him. Thank you Ludgera!