Whimsy Wednesday! Bright Colours!

Hello Hello!
Welcome to Whimsy Wednesday!
Let me start with a huge THANK YOU to everyone who visited with us at the Saint Paul Art Crawl this past weekend!
There was laughter, fun and creation adoptions! Thanks!!!
I've some beautiful, brightly-coloured materials to show in today's post that show a little of a new direction or two that I'm going!
TheHello Hello!
Welcome to Whimsy Wednesday!
Let me start with a huge THANK YOU to everyone who visited with us at the Saint Paul Art Crawl this past weekend!
There was laughter, fun and creation adoptions! Thanks!!!
I've some beautiful, brightly-coloured materials to show in today's post that show a little of a new direction or two that I'm going!
These are bits of glass!

Some are tumbled bits of glass with hand-drilled holes and some are Czech glass beads of excellent quality and intriguing colours! They all remind me of bits of stained glass and are lovely to see! I've some designs in mind for some of these so stay tuned for that! 

The second thing I've to show is some new fabric that I obtained on Walkabout today!
Isn't this fabulous!! The colours! The shiny! The whimsy!!!
Many ideas have popped to mind for this... pendants...little Faerie pouches...little purses...accents in bracelets or other jewelry....and who knows what else?!!!  I'm so excited to see what happens next!! You are most welcome to join me on that adventure!!!

Speaking of adventure!
My next BlogTalk Radio Interview is coming up soon!
Next Tues., Oct 15th at 12 Noon (CST, USA) is the October Messages From the Faeries!
Pull up a chair and a cuppa of your favorite beverage as Cheryl and I discuss the insights the Faeries have to give for the mysterious month of October!
See you Friday!
Ciao!

Whimsy Wednesday! New Inspiration!

Hello Everyone!
Welcome to Whimsy Wednesday!  
This is a bit of Magical Monday, a bit of Whimsy Wednesday and a lot of an artist's life! 
I've photos of what I've named my Faerie Friday (which you can read more about here) and I'll share those soon!!
There has been much travel, time spent in the woods and cultivating of ideas in around here lately!  It is good and I look forward to sharing those insights and creations in their time.

This post is about sharing some of the treasures collected on Walkabout this weekend.  

 Here we see a few lengths of different chain as well as gorgeous pendants!  I've used the black leaf/feather chain before and really enjoy the look it imparts to specific creations!  It was time to play with more of it!  The bar-style chain is unusual and more difficult to find, so homeward-bound it came with me!  I love to experiment with the uncommon and this chain is no exception!
Dragonflies seem to have captured the imagination of the folks around me (as well as mine) lately and I had to bring this beautiful one home!  The lovely heart pendants whispered ideas to me even as I was procuring them!  That is one of my more favorite moments of an artist's life!

These are a small collection of stone and glass animals and a singular glass shape.  The sparkly black bead at the top of the photo is that unique thing.  I'm not certain if it was meant to be an owl...or a PacMan Ghost or ...?  I love Goldstone (which is a man-made glass) for its luster and this was so strange I had to create with it!!  Can you spy the Elephant, Lion, Cat and Dragonflies?  Dragonflies were a minor theme on this Walkabout and these nifty stone and Goldstone examples were cute enough to bring back to the studio!
The electric blue cat is carved in a curled ball and is reminiscent of a blue moon.  There is a story and a creation wrapped up in that!  And who could resist the majesty of a lion and elephant! YAY!
There may be new creations with some of these materials at the Saint Paul Art Crawl....just sayin'!
Stay tuned for more details!

Speaking of that Art Crawl...I've an update!!! 
I'll be on the 3rd Floor Atrium, rather than the previously-mentioned 4th, so do look for me there!!!
And now.. the details!!!
The Saint Paul Art Crawl Friday, Oct. 4th through Sunday Oct 6th!  3rd Floor Atrium of the Lowertown Lofts Artist Co-op!
We're doing a new thing this Art Crawl!! 
Myself and other Artists throughout the Crawl are creating and hiding one piece of FREE art somewhere in the downtown St. Paul area! 
I'll use Twitter (sc_amysprite) to give clues as to where to find the Art as the Crawl commences! 
SO EXCITING!!!! 
Hope to see you soon!
Ciao!

Magical Monday! Around Home...

Hello Everyone!
Welcome to Magical Monday!
This post represents a bit of a shift in what I'll be showing for Magical Mondays. I still intend to find nifty and beautiful things in and around the world to share with you. I'm shifting gears to include more magical, beautiful events that happen at home and/or on a more personal level.
This post is the start of that!
Let's begin with some visuals, eh?
We have a few farm cats around the place.
I realized that I've photos of the lady cats but none yet of our resident tomcat, Lenny. As I was coming back inside to stow the food from the evening feeding a few days ago, I noticed how stunning the sunlight was as it filtered through his handsome grey fur, creating a nimbus around him.
So I grabbed my camera and captured a few moments of this evening enchantment!
Photo #1 with a bonny column of light shining through...

Isn't that stunning?

Photo #2 Focusing on Lenny...
I hope you can see his striking, glowing green eyes!
Normally he is pretty cautious around most people-things.  Yet for these photos, he lay in the grass and looked the very picture of a majestic, domestic grey lion!
It seemed that he completely understood what was transpiring and was amused and entertained by it all!
Such a courtly, refined fellow!

Other gorgeous bits of magic...
Yesterday, I spied a huge flock of wild turkeys, right outside our window!
The closest fowl came withing 5 feet of our house! They were absolutely graceful, hunting and pecking (literally) at a stately and leisurely pace through our yard!
I'm happy to have them here as they eat all manner of bugs including ticks!
Hooray!
Today as I stepped outside and moved to and fro through our yard on errands I noticed several lovely feathers standing up like flags in and amongst the grass!
What a fabulous reminder of our gracious visitors!

Also on the list of charming events for today are dragonflies!
They've been around for a week or so now and really help with the mosquitoes! WOOHOO!!!
Where the magic comes in is that everywhere I stepped, when I was travelling quickly on errands that I "should" get done, were red dragonflies...right in my path! They hovered a little over knee height directly in my path for a few moments...as if to capture my attention and remind me of the joy in each present moment...and then flew on.
How awesome!

And speaking of joy... let me announce my next BlogTalk Radio Interview!

Tuesday, August 19th at 12 Noon (CST, USA)!!!

I'll be chatting with Cheryl Patton of 1Woman's Wisdom about Faerie Wisdom specific to the month of August!

It would be so much fun if you could join us!

See you Wednesday!

Ciao!

Whimsy Wednesday! Winging Towards Spring!

Hello Everyone! 

Welcome to Whimsy Wednesday! 

This post is chock-full of whimsy and winged-things! 

The perfect thing to help celebrate many of us as we look forward to Spring! Whee!! 

Both winged creations are earrings and we'll start with a bit of buzz! 

Title: Abuzz 

Ingredients: Honey Bee Mood beads, Czech glass, lead-free pewter(USA), metal, surgical steel earwires. 

The Honey Bee beads are Mood beads, which means they change colour according to the temperature around them! Isn't that nifty? They are accented with honey-coloured beads and dangle from hypo-allergenic surgical steel earwires! Honey was considered to be the food of the Gods in Mayan and Greek cultures. Bees have long been associated with kings and gods and even the birth of the human race! Little wonder given the yummy richness of the honey they produce! 

 

Let us turn to another winged creature - the dragonfly! 

Title: Dragonfly Alights 

Ingredients: hand-made metal dragonflies, Czech glass, Artistic wire, Sterling Silver. 

I found the hand-made, metal dragonflies on Walkabout and knew they were destined to grow into some much more! Don't they have such a wonderful, architectural feel to them? 

I suspended them from a lush green vine from sterling silver ear hoops, wrapping in a vibrant leaf the colour of new growth. The idea was to capture the vision of a dragonfly pausing to rest on a stalk of grass. Dragonflies have long been associated with the ability to see through the illusions of life and that which holds a person back from their dreams and goals. 

Both of these creations will be available for adoption at my first show of 2013!

Burst Into Spring!

It is in Cambridge, MN, USA and details are here! 

It would be grand to see you there! 

In the meantime, I'll see you Friday! 

Ciao!

Whimsy Wednesday! Out of the Cocoon!

Hello Everyone! 

Welcome to Whimsy Wednesday! 

I hope your week has been full of good cheer so far! 

Like many people, I'm turning my thoughts towards Spring and my first show of this year! 

The title of the show is Burst Into Spring, organized by Master Gardeners, and I'm taking that as inspiration for a new batch of creations! 

Let me show you the start of it! 

Title: The Joys of Flight Ingredients: hand-carved and painted wood dragonflies, anodized aluminum, repurposed acrylic butterflies, sterling silver. The hand-painted wooden pieces in these and the necklace I'll show you in a moment are repurposed. I fell in love with them as soon as I saw them and knew I had to play with them! I love the colours, the textures, everything!! The idea was to update them with punches of colour. The green jumprings are woven in a mobius-strip pattern and bring out the verdant shades of the leaves behind the dragonfly. The lilac-coloured butterfly softens the colour palette and adds interest and becomes a companion to our dragonfly! These are so lively!!! 

Title: As Yet Unknown 

Ingredients: hand-carved and painted wood dragonflies, hand-dyed fibers (USA), anodized aluminum, Swarovski crystals, sterling silver, lead-free pewter clasp.

Everything that was mentioned above for those fabulous dragonflies holds for this beautiful wooden Monarch butterfly! 

The anodized aluminum is woven in the same chain maille style and the colour themes are along the same lines. The gorgeous fibers that comprise most of the necklace are hand-dyed from an artist in Idaho. 

The tiny butterflies seen here are Swarovski crystals to give a bit of sparkle and additional texture! Also! It is rare to see just one butterfly and so our Monarch gets companions, too! 

This necklace is especially long, roughly 32 inches, as I wanted to give the option of draping and tying it as a scarf. The pretty and petite clasp (with another sparkly butterfly!) will weight the ends and hang beautifully down the back! I've included a view of that lovely, lovely clasp!  

All in all, a post filled with whimsy, wings and definitely a coming out of Winter cocoon! 

My first show of this year, as I previously mentioned, is Burst Into Spring! 

It is in Cambridge, MN, USA and details are here! 

It would be grand to see you there! 

In the meantime, I'll see you Friday! 

Ciao!

Whimsy Wednesday! Dragonfly and Faery!

Hello Everyone!
Welcome to Whimsy Wednesday!
Whew!! This has been a busy, busy week so far!!
As I mentioned earlier, I've been participating in Fusion Beads March Blog Challenge and have a few creations inspired by that to show you today! Both of these creations incorporate chain in what I feel are innovative ways and I'm pleased to show them to you!
Let's get started!

Title: Fairy's Secret Garden
Ingredients: Artisan Furnace Glass, Mood Bead(Secret Garden design), upcycled chain, lead-free pewter, aluminum.

That wonderful chain is diminutive enough that the artisan-made furnace beads, Mood and lead-free pewter beads slide freely along it! Instant fidget toy!!! Isn't that awesome? Also! The centre bead is a Mood Bead in the Secret Garden design! I finished the bracelet with vivid violet-coloured rings and a beautifully detailed toggle clasp that has a star-shaped opening with Dream imprinted on it as the toggle and a wonderfully-detailed Faerie (in flight!) as the bar. There is so much I love about this magical creation!

I love the play of colours and textures in this next creation!
Title: Dragonfly At Play
Ingredients: Aluminum, metal, lead-free pewter.

Upcycled chain in silver, gold and copper tones are playfully weave through a recently-created electric blue aluminum chain in this eco-friendly creation, reminding us of the path a dragonfly might take as it weaves through the currents of air and stalks of grass! And speaking of dragonflies... all of this fabulous chain culminates in an enchanting dragonfly clasp! I love that this necklace is so sleek and modern, yet has a whimsical and fairy-tale feel to it!

Both of these creations are available for adoption in my Etsy shoppe now!
So, there you have it! A Wednesday full of wings and whimsy!
I hope the rest of your week is fabulous and I'll see you on Friday!!!
Ciao!