Whimsy Wednesday! Happy Halloween!

Hello Everyone! 

Welcome to Whimsy Wednesday and Halloween!!!! 

I hope this day and night are filled with many, many treats and no tricks! 

Also, let me wish a most fun-filled Samhain, All Hallow's Day and All Saint's Day (tomorrow) to those that celebrate! 

So! I have new creations to show you today! 

One is elegant and creepy and the other is noteworthy and fun! 

First up! The noteworthy and fun! 

Working Title: The Dragon's Garden 

Ingredients: Dragon bead (Green Girl Studios) hand-cast of fine pewter, Mood beads, lead-free pewter, steel pen (USA).

Did you see my pun there?  Note-worthy?  It's a Pen..Hee hee!!!

The beads that flank the Dragon are Mood Beads, which means they will change colour with the temperatures around them! That fabulous Dragon is three-dimensional and is hand-cast by Green Girls Studios! He is so awesome!!! I love the mystery that this simple design evokes!!! 

And now! The elegant and creepy! 

Working Title: Gothi-Pop Elegance 

Ingredients: Chalk Turquoise skulls(dyed), cut crystals, vintage and non-vintage Czech glass.

I generally prefer to stay on the lighter side of the Goth/Noir aesthetic and that includes any type of skull or bone. With that in mind, I brought these colourful skulls home to experiment and stretch my creativity a bit. If I was going to play with skulls and so forth, they needed to be colourful or whimsical or unusual in some manner!  Speaking of stretching, this bracelet stretches too! It is strung on stretchy cord, so no clasp is needed! Just pop it over your hand for instant skull-appeal! I love the mixture of textures, colours and the feel of this bracelet! It is a bewitching mix of elegance, creepiness, intriguing colours and a bit of the Fae! 

And that's a wrap (though perhaps not a mummy's wrap - HA!)! 

Have a fun-filled Holiday and I'll see you on Friday! 

Boo!

Magical Monday! Flights of Fantasy!

Hello Everyone!
Welcome to Magical Monday!
I hope your weekend was filled with awesome and win!
This Magical Monday post is filled with beautiful balloon art, yummy geekiness and a brilliant audio parody (also of the geeky variety)!
Let's start with the balloons!
This is a photo of the festivities at the Albuquerque Ball Fiesta!
  Credits and details are here!
This is absolutely amazing! I bet it is yet more stunning in person!!

Next up is an nummy treat that I would happily visit the Dark Side to knosh on! Credits and details are here! YUM!

And now!
 A link to video that is my new favorite thing for Magical Monday!
Nintendohemian Rhapsody! Clicky!
Hee hee hee hee hee hee!!!! I love it!!!
And it is really well done! YAY!!!
And with that bit of magic in mind, I'll see you on Wednesday!
Ciao!

Fini Friday! Re-working and Musing...

Hello Hello!

Welcome to Fini Friday!

I hope this post finds you well and ready for a fabulous week-end!

As it seems to flow in the Fall of the year... I've been struck by an urge to clear out, clear up and organize!  Along this line, I took a look at some of my personal jewelry that have been traveling companions for years now and realized that we may not be suited to each other anymore! Upon further examination, I determined that some of it can be repurposed and used in creations. Some of it will be moved on to more loving homes.

I stumbled onto some very early creations (pre-Sprite Creations, even!) in the midst of this sorting, which begat some musings on how my skills, techniques and styles have changes over the years of creation. A great many of these creations will be up for adoption after I tend to any design or material improvements!  Overall, it is obvious that while much has been refined, both through better materials, skills and techniques, there was an "undomesticated" quality to my early creations that I anticipate revisiting with future creations!

Well, enough of this reflection!

Let me show you one of these early creations, all grown-up and refined!

Title: As Yet Unknown

Ingredients: Clay Manatee, hand-dyed fiber (Idaho,USA), glass, lead-free pewter.

These next creations are part of my experimenting with a recently-acquired batch of steel neckwires closed with magnetic bayonet clasps. I don't often procure pre-made neckwires such as these as I prefer to create as much as possible myself and yet it is refreshing to play with different and easily embellished materials from time to time! 

Title: Cherries!

Ingredients: Lampwork glass, acrylic, steel and metal neckwire.  

These necklace-creations are in the still-growing/idea stage.. 

It is difficult to capture the wonderfully mysterious red-wine-purple colour of the faceted crystals on the left, but I intend to play with the smokey mystery they evoke! The focal beads are Mood beads and so will change colour with varying temperatures! I'm excited to be mixing the casual, pop-culture essence of Mood beads with the faceted elegance of the cut crystals, all woven (somehow!) around these very modern and simple neckwire! 

Stay tuned to see what these grow into! 

And with that...Fini Friday is Fini! 

Have an awesome weekend! 

Ciao!

Whimsy Wednesday! BookMarks Abound!

Hello Everyone! 

Welcome to Whimsy Wednesday! 

My week, so far, has been productive so far and I hope the same can be said of yours! 

I've been playing with some of the loot I brought home at the end of September and have some of the first finished creations to show you! 

I found the bookmark blanks and fell in love with the details stamped in raised into them! I chose one each in an antiqued brass and antiqued silver finish, which showed the stars, moon, flowers and etc. in lovely detail! 

Here is what they grew into! 

Title: Fairy Tale 

Ingredients: Vintage German Glass, Czech glass, metal

  Did you see the pun in the title? Hee! 

My vision was to combine a variety of colours and textures in this creation much like a tapestry!  The golden-yellow bead is actually Vintage German glass and always reminds me of the sun!  It seemed a fitting match to a lovely strand of flower beads and a leaf dancing in the breeze with our Ballerina Fairy in the midst!  if you look closely, you might be able to see the extraordinary chain from which these are suspended!  It is an infinity symbol and two hearts set back-to-back!  Isn't that just intriguing!?!

And now! 

For the second bookmark! 

Title: Stars and Fish 

Ingredients: Earthenwood ceramic starfish, cultured Pearl, Czech glass, metal.  

I relish the bright ocean-inspired colours!  Perfect for warding off thoughts of the upcoming winter chill!  

I was delighted to find the star-shaped cultured pearls and have had so much fun weaving them into various creations!  That's the star you see beside the Ocean Blue spiral bead at the top!  I treasure the whimsical addition of the bright green, petite fish swimming just above the ceramic StarFish!  Speaking of the StarFish.... that's a hand-fashioned porcelain bead from Earthenwood Studios! I adore Melanie's work and have so much fun playing with her creations as materials! 
Whee!

Well there we have it!
The end of another Whimsy Wednesday!
I'll see you right back here for Fini Friday!

Ciao!

Magical Monday! Seeing Beauty in the World!

Hello Everyone! 
Welcome to Magical Monday! 
I hope your weekend was awesome! 
Mine was full of rest and quiet time as a wee bit of illness took hold. For those of you who were looking forward to seeing us at the BellaWeen Show, I apologize for the cancellation. Better to see you when we are well! 

And speaking of wellness, let's move on to some beautiful sights, shall we? 
First up! Man-made beauty! 
These are LED lights in a swimming pool! Credits and details are here! I would definitely swim there!!! 

Next up is a bit of a branching out into a tree theme (HA!)... 
This gorgeous photo is of Yew Trees somewhere on the road to Wales! Credits and details are here! I'd love to walk through there!!! 

This is a wonderful glimpse into the beauty of kindness that folks give to each other.. read the receipt on the left first....Credits and details are here! 






 Let's wrap up this post with a little bit of Science, Space, Wonder and Beauty, shall we? 
Credits and details are here! 
That's it for today! 
See you on Wednesday!!! 
Ciao!

Fini Friday! A Case of Halloween Finery!

Hello Everyone! 

Welcome to Fini Friday! 

I hope your week has been fabu so far!!! 

I have an update and news to share with you today so let's zoom into action! First, the update! You may recall that I brought home a few display cases in mid-September! I've modified and "Faeried-them-up"! Take a look!

These first two photos are of Stage 1 of Faerieing-up! This includes all manner of cleaning and new display fabric!

The Dark Wood Case:

  

 

The White Wood Cases:

Stage 2 includes paint and Faerie Dust!!!! 

Dark Wood Case:

  I kept it pretty subtle on this case...so you may not be able to tell any modifications from the photo... 

The White Wood Cases: I think it's much easier to tell the liberal use of copper paint and Faerie Dust on these!!! Heee!!! 

Contrary to what I thought on this day last week, I have one more show before Halloween! So you have one more chance to see and adopt a Sprite Creation (or two) to augment your Halloween finery! 

Here is one of the Sprite Creations that might suit you or your loved one on this Holiday occasion! 

Title:Graveyard Guardians 

Ingredients: Brass charms, anodized aluminum, surgical steel earwires (hypo-allergenic) 

We'll be at BellaWeen at BellaLuna tomorrow (Saturday) from 10am to 6pm (CST, USA)!!! There will be Faerie Finery, Faerie Readings, gifts, crystals, and all manner of alternative services such as Reiki Healings, Animal Communications and discounts by BellaLuna!!! 

Also... organic food!!! 

Come join us!!! 

Ciao!

Whimsy Wednesday! Lights, Cat and Dracula! ...and Zombies!

Hello Everyone!!!

Welcome to Whimsy Wednesday!

I have a spookily-whimsical blog post for you today!

Mwuuuuaaahhhahaaahaha!!

Let's start with the lights and cat!

I found this cat light on Walkabout today and just had to bring it home! I'm usually pretty minimal about my seasonal decorations (I'd rather spend the resources on loved ones than on things) and so any additions have to be quite worthy before I'll bring them home. I think we call agree that this is worthy! Heee!

The last portion of this post are some highlights from the 20th Anniversary of the Saint Paul Art Crawl, which I and Sprite Creations celebrated with the Artists of the Lowertown Lofts Co-op!

For those who are unaware, the Crawl starts on Friday evening and is open through Sunday early evening.

Saturday evening also happens to be the Zombie Pub Crawl in Downtown Saint Paul! Hundreds of people dress up as zombies and have a good time shambling about! It is really quite a remarkable sight!! The make-up is absolutely AMAZING!!!!  We never expected to be visited by a small horde of Zombies at our spot in the 3rd Floor Atrium of the Lowertown Lofts, but these fine ghouls took the time to stop by and mob our table! Feast your eyes on the scene above (Courtesy of the PhotoGhoul that accompanied them)!

Fortunately, Faeries and Faerie Friends don't seem to be very appetizing to the Undead as we emerged unscathed and they continued on their never-ending quest for BRAINS! So Much Fun!! My many thanks to that throng of wraiths for including us in their spirited adventures! I hope that when this is reposted to Facebook, they'll tag themselves in the photo so I can give proper credit and Thanks to them for livening an otherwise dead last moments of Saturday evening at the Crawl! (HA!! See the pun?!)

Ahem... Ok!

Speaking of the Undead... let's chat about Dracula for a moment! Or atleast the first actor to play Dracula - Bela Lugosi!

This necklace was born in 2010 and created around the coffin-shaped pendant and the photo-reproduction of Bela Lugosi in his famous role as Dracula! It's title is Undying Elegance and that sums up my assessment of Mr. Lugosi's Dracula! He did such an astounding job of creating a creepy and dangerous, yet intriguing and sensual villian! Bravo!

So... why mention that in this post? This creation found it's perfect partner this weekend!!! The lady who adopted it is writing a book about vampires that is filled with humor, whimsy and originality! (That's all the more I'll say about it, as it is not yet published...) If that is not enough of a fabulous connection with the necklace, she told me a story about her father that sealed the deal! Her father was a soldier in World War I (as was Mr. Lugosi) on a train in Europe. As he landed in a seat on the train, he turned to the man seated beside him and exclaimed, "Are you Dracula?!" Bela replied in the affirmative and the tale was resolved with the description, "And my Dad spent the next 2 and 1/2 days partying on the train with Bela Lugosi!" Absolutely marvelous!!! And so here is that creation that found such an excellent home!

And there you have it!

I'll wrap up this Whimsy Wednesday with mention of a newly-scheduled show coming up this weekend!!

This Saturday, Oct. 20th, I and Sprite Creations will be celebrating All Hallow's Eve with the fine folks at BellaLuna! 

We'll be there from 10am to 6pm for all your Faerie Finery and Halloween shopping needs!

Come join us!

See you on Friday!

Ciao!

Magical Monday! A Colourful, Wonderful Life!

Hello Everyone! 
Welcome to Magical Monday! 
This post is quite a bit about repurposing or making art of the mundane, a small bit about history and a good bit about an artful or colourful life! All things near and dear to my heart! 
Let's dive right in to the history bit (HA)!
  Credits and information about this photo are here! I'm not certain about the model of the plane, there are some who believe it is a United States Army AC-47C, which is based off of the DC-3. I love the photo and the sentiment behind it! 
 
Shaking ourselves dry and continuing on a land-based route, let's start with with a key! Or rather... a Keytar!
Hee hee!! So awesome! Credits and information about this photo are here! 

    And what might this be a key to?  Perhaps this!!! A gorgeous repurposing of an old school bus and that looks to be put to beautiful use! Credits and information about this photo are here! 

And let's finishing up with the making of a colourful life! This is a fabulous and intriguing short move! 
Click the link to view! Amazing, intriguing and fun!!! Whee!!!

And that's a wrap for this Magical Monday! 
I hope you had as much fun as I did!
I'll see you on Whimsy Wednesday!!!
Ciao!

Fini Friday! Loot and a Show!

Hello Everyone!

Welcome to Fini Friday!!!

 I hope your week has been grand so far!!!

I'll be a little more succinct in this post as I'm in the midst of last minute preparations for the Saint Paul Art Crawl - which starts tonight at 6pm (CST, USA)!

So! I have photos of more Loot that was found and acquired on Walkabout at the end of September!

 One of the Faeries seen in this photo has already found a home in her own Faerie Wreath!  (You can see that here)!  What you see in this photo is what I love creating with most...all sorts of intriguing, mysterious, inspiring or whimsical charms and images!

The photo on the right is of a second assortment of nifty materials I also love to create with!! Lampwork cats, owls and cute yellow duckies snuggled right next to luminous vintage Czech glass, faceted beads of wonderful colour and texture and all sorts of fun finishes and shapes abound!!! And how could this not be a batch of Sprite Loot without stars??!!!!! YAYAYAYAYY!!!

These are some of the new shinies I will play with soon!! 
For now, please join me (if you are in the Mpls./Saint Paul, MN, USA area) in celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the Saint Paul Art Crawl!!! Starting tonight (Oct. 12th) from 6-10pm, tomorrow from Noon to 8pm and Sunday from Noon to 5pm!  I'll be on the 3rd Floor Atrium of the Lowertown Lofts Artist Coop! 

It would be grand to have you celebrate it with us! 

Whee! 

Ciao!

Whimsy Wednesday! Photos and a Faerie Wreath!

Hello! 

Welcome to Whimsy Wednesday! 

I have a new type of creation to debut in today's post as well as a little more celebrating of Autumn with cats! 

Let's keep a little bit of the mystery going and take a look at our serene feline companion! 

Title: A Mellow Autumn

Isn't that just a wonderful contrast of colours and textures?! I love it! 

Ok! Next up is the first of the Faerie Wreath creations! 

I was on Walkabout when I encountered these dyed grapevine wreaths and had to play with one! 

Here is how it turned out! 

Title: As Yet Unknown 

Ingredients: Green Girls Studios Cat pendant, Faerie charm, vintage and non-vintage Czech glass, goldstone, fiber, organza ribbon, coated copper wire, Fray-check, lead-free pewter. 

 

There are so many wonderful details wrapped in and around this wreath! The fiber and ribbon, the hand-coloured Faerie charm, the wrench charm, the Cat charm with "Kitty Comfort" written on the back, the vintage Czech beads with the lovely swirly patterns and the sparkly! goldstone star... just to name a few! 

I'm really pleased with how this turned out! I'll have it ready for adoption this weekend at the Saint Paul Art Crawl! 

What is that, you say? 

Sprite Creations has a show coming up? 

Why yes! 

Yes, I do!!! 

 I and Sprite Creations will be helping the Downtown Saint Paul Artists celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the Saint Paul Art Crawl Oct. 12th, 13th and 14th in the 3rd Floor Atrium of the Lowertown Lofts Artist Coop! 

It would be grand to have you celebrate it with us! 

Whee! 

Ciao!

Magical Monday! Lights, Steam and Star Wars!

Hello Hello!
Welcome to Magical Monday!
I hope your weekend was a blast!! Mine was full of good company, excellent food, much laughter and fun! YAY!
We're going to hop around a few different universes this Magical Monday post! We'll begin our adventure with Star Wars, wind through a bit of a Faerie and Enchanted Forest and end up landing solidly in the Steampunk Realm! Let's go!

Whoever did this in their freezer is awesome! I'd a little sad that we don't have a freezer that lends itself to recreating this because I would giggle every time I opened the freezer and glimpsed this!
Then again, perhaps my electrical bill (and freezer) will be grateful that I can't make this a reality just now!
Details and credits are here! 

Shaking off that snow, let's flit into a much warmer and magical world of woods, faeries and mysterious lights!
Aren't those just wonderful?? 
I'm not exactly certain if these are real wood or composite and how they are constructed, but I'd love to know!  
Here is where I found them on the 'Net! 

Our final destination continues to be warm (some would say steamy, even!) and full of imagination and invention! 
The Museum of the History of Science at the University of Oxford in the UK held a Steampunk Exhibition! 
It was chock-full of delightful curiosities and has been recording for your viewing pleasure here! 
Fabulous! 
And as we circle down and into our own worlds, I hope this gives your imaginations a recharge! 
See you on Wednesday! 
Whee! 
Ciao!

Fini Friday! Woodland Critters Fini and Loot!

Hello Everyone! 

Welcome to Fini Friday! 

I hope this week has treated you well so far! 

I've a finished creation and shinies to show you today! Whee!!! 

First up is the finished creation!  If you remember, I was working on creating a bracelet with leather and a collection of "Forest Critters" buttons on Wednesday.... I'm pleased to say that there were no set-backs today and the bracelet is fini! 

Title: Forest Critters 

Ingredients: Leather lacing, plastic buttons

I'm so pleased to be able to use the porcupine button as the clasp! Just slip him in-between the forest brown and green leather lacings on the opposite side and voila! He'll keep his compatriots (Deer, Owl, Fox and Beaver) securely dancing around your wrist! Very fun! 

I traveled to a Gem show this past weekend and have some of the loot to show you today! 

I've ideas for the chalk Turquoise skulls to the left in the photo. I'll probably whip up a few pairs of earrings for Halloween and/or the Goth at heart. It was also suggested that the beads look like owls when turned upside down...so you can bet I'll be playing with that as well! 

I'm looking forward to working with all the fabulous chain shown here! I'm particularly pleased to be able to debut the matte black leaf chain at the far right. This is a new finish for this type of chain and I've ideas for it already! That piece of metal that is reminiscent of a shepherd's hook is a bookmark blank!  Now to attach shinies!!! YAY!!!  I'm really looking forward to creating Steampunk and Neo-Victorian wares with the rectangular beads with the scroll designs.  And sparklies in the middle are just fun!  Stay tuned to see what grows into completion with those!!  Woohooo!!!

So there is a little bit of what I have to celebrate!  I hope this weekend brings much for you to celebrate, too!

Speaking of celebrating... I and Sprite Creations will be helping the Downtown Saint Paul Artists celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the Saint Paul Art Crawl Oct. 12th, 13th and 14th in the 3rd Floor Atrium of the Lowertown Lofts Artist Coop! 

It would be grand to have you celebrate it with us! 

Whee! 

Ciao!

Whimsy Wednesday! Autumn Leaves and Forest Critters!

Hello Hello! 

Welcome to Whimsy Wednesday! 

I hope this mid-point to the usual work-week is treating you well! 

This post will be a bit of whimsy and a bit of a peek into an artist's life! 

The creation I anticipated finishing and showing you hit a snag and will probably require a redesign. So, I'll show you all of that! 

But first... lovely photos of autumn leaves and kitties! 

Title: The Purrfect Halloween Cat Photo 

This is indeed (atleast to me) the perfect Halloween cat photo! 

Title: An Autumn Invitation 

Can you see the impression of someone laying in the leaves? Perhaps someone who has raked the leaves and then fallen into them? What a fabulous invitation to enjoy Autumn! Also....When we leave impressions in the snow, we call them Snow Angels and so it occurred to me that there could be Leaf Angels as well! So this could be the first record of a Leaf Angel in all of human history! 

Hee! 

These next photos are of the still-growing creation mentioned earlier...the first photo is of a collection of buttons I acquired yesterday on Walkabout. 

They are a menagerie of Forest Critters and every one of them is so charming and whimsical!!!

I envisioned creating a bracelet with them on twin strands of brown and green leather... and so I did... the first attempt proved that I cut the leather strips too short to accommodate all the necessary knots. 

The second attempt is shown in the photo. All went well until the green lace snapped as I was adjusting the tension on the knot! So.. here is where this will rest tonight and I'll have another go at it soon! 

 

So! There you have it! 

A Wednesday full of Whimsy! 

See you on Friday! 

Ciao! 

P.S. Want to know where I and Sprite Creations will be "in person" next?

Oct. 12th, 13th and 14th, we'll be at the Saint Paul Art Crawl in the Atrium of the Lowertown Lofts Artist Coop! 

This is the 20th Anniversary of the Saint Paul Art Crawl and it would be lovely to have you celebrate it with us! 

Whee! 

Magical Monday! Creating the Extraordinary Mundane!

Hello Everyone!

Welcome to Magical Monday!

I hope your weekend was fabu!

Mine was! I'll tell you more about that on Wednesday! 

Today, I have all sorts of magical things lined up for you, so let's get started! First up... Banana Art!

Credits and links for more information are here. I admit that I've not ever thought or encountered art of this sort and I love how obviously talented this artist is! 

I would love to see Art and Beauty everywhere, everyday and banana art is one step closer to that vision! 

YAYYAYAYAYYY!!! Next is a Bedroom I would *love* to have!

Credits and links for more information are here. Doesn't that look so inviting and fun?!!!! 

Let's wrap up this post with a beautiful idea and a video about it... 

Entitled, "What One Man Did to Celebrate His 22nd Birthday"... Click Here! 

Let Us Be Kind, indeed! 

Want to know more about what inspired this? Details about this idea and movement are here! 

That's a wrap! 

Have a brilliant day and I'll see you on Wednesday!!! 

Ciao!