Fini Friday! Spookiness Fini!

Hello Everyone!
Welcome to Fini Friday!
I hope your week had been full of mystery and fun so far!
I've a finished creation (just on the cusp on Halloween!) to show you today!

You might remember mention of ideas, plots and plans a few Fridays ago...
A photo of that beginning...

 
And here is the Fini! 
Title: All Hallows, The Old Way
Ingredients: Czech glass, Artistic wire, metal, surgical steel earwires(hypo-allergenic). 
Can you spy which beads and charms took root in the beginning and which wove their way in later?  
All Hallows is one of three days of ancient Christian celebration spanning Oct. 31 to Nov. 2 (See Wikipedia for more details!).  It is a day to celebrate saints and martyrs both known and unknown.  A celebration similar to this and around this time of year spans several cultures and there is much lively debate as to the beginnings of these holidays.
I leave it up to you, Dear Reader, to decide what you like best. 
As for me, I love the ancient symbols of wisdom, life, death, intuition, mystery, Faerie, stars, and so much more woven through these!
Have a most excellent weekend!
See you Monday!
Ciao!

Fini Friday! Fini and Reborn!

Hello Everyone!

Welcome to Fini Friday!

I hope your week has been fabulous so far and that you are looking forward to the weekend!! I've a two sets of creations to show you today.

One is finished and one has been reworked and reborn!

Finished creation first!

On Whimsy Wednesday, I showed you a few design ideas with these red swords. Here is the fini creation!

The sword on the right actually snapped in two as I was wrapping the wire around. It seemed important to show this natural step of the creative process as there is so much concentration on a finished, perfect art piece. The sword on the left is whole and unbroken.

 However, these are not identical!

 The piece of wire used was not long enough to finish in one pass, so a second piece was cut and intertwined amongst the leaves.

Again, all part of that wild and wooly creative process! I'm not quite certain what will happen next with these creations. It may be that they will become an art pieces with a more rich story because of their imperfections and differences!

Stay tuned!

Onward to the rebirth!

Title: Spirit Moon

Ingredients: Amethyst moons, Mother-of-Pearl stars, Czech glass, lead-free pewter(USA), sterling silver.

I actually created these quite a long time ago, with very modest materials. They were the best I could do at the time and the design was awesome! However, I'd always wanted to create them with sterling silver wire, rather than base metal, so that the other exquisite materials could shine through. And now it has happened! The moons are Amethyst. Legend has it that Amethyst is a stone of spiritual intuition and connection with the Divine.

 The stars are Mother-of-Pearl. Myths surrounding this this material ascribe healing and soothing properties to it as well as that of protection and connection to the Ocean. The metallic feathers are designed as spirit feathers, with four levels that represent the Four Ages of Man (by Ovid).  

Silver is also associated with the Moon and Sea and nurturing intuition and soul connection. 
Beautiful!

And now.... your weekend!!!
HAVE FUN and see you Monday!!!
Ciao!

Fini Friday! Beautiful Beads and Beginnings!

Hello Hello! 

Welcome to Fini Friday! 

The weather has cooled off for us here in Minnesota and I am truly enjoying the lovely, cool breeze!! 

(Did I mention that it is cooler today? I think I did! *wink* *grin*) 

I hope there are similar blessings in your neck of the woods! 

This post is all about beginnings and beads! 

First up! 

A menagerie at the beginning stages of growth...

The ceramic pendants are hand-made by Melanie of Earthenwood Studio. I adore her work and love the colours, textures and simple shapes she brings into the world! 

The two pewter-coloured pendants to the left of the Earth and tawny Cat are three-dimensional, with different designs and words on both sides. I've glued in Swarovski crystals on opposing sides. 

The first photo shows one side, whilst the second shows the other. 

The spiral is one of the oldest sacred symbols that is found in every culture that I'm aware of and it always seems to represent eternal life.  How fitting to pair with the Earth!  Also completely appropriate is the word "Live". After all, if you're seeing this, you're living upon the Earth! 

Cats have always symbolized mystery and the unknown, so matching them with stars, a colour-changing crystal and the word "Imagine" was truly natural.

The second, seafoam-coloured cat pendant is growing on a path of it's own and undoubtedly will be accented with the hand-coloured fiber seen in the photo as well as other interesting charms, bits and thingees (Yup! That's the word I'm going with, though it likely isn't an official word in the English language *grin*).

Let's wrap this up by showing you those beautiful beads mentioned in the title!!

On the left is a stunning nugget of sunny Citrine.  

Citrine is thought to help with creativity, personal clarity and help weed out self-destructive tendencies, whilst helping the liver, digestive tract, heart, and muscles. 

The center bead is a gracefully cut Agate with dramatic flowing inclusions.  Agate is purported to be helpful in discerning truths and is an excellent healer for emotional upsets.  Legend says that it assists with memory, concentration and focus.

The last stone on the right is probably a sort of Jasper.  Legends surrounding Jasper state that it is stabilizing, healing and can help bring joy into life.  This stone would seem to have been formed by sedimentary action, then pressurized for eons to become this beauty!  There are so many different patterns to see in this single bead, I'm excited to see what happens next with it! 
Stay tuned to see!!

And so, at the conclusion of this post, I wish you a very joyous weekend!
See you on Monday!
Ciao!

Whimsy Wednesday! Starry-Eyed!

Hello Hello!

Welcome to this Whimsy Wednesday!

I hope the weather in your neck of the woods is just as beautiful as ours!!!

This post is all about star-filled creations!

Let me show you!

Title: Starry-Eyed

Ingredients: Czech glass, Artistic wire, metal, surgical steel earwires(silver-plated, hypo-allergenic).

I love mixing copper and cobalt blue, as these earrings clearly demonstrate!  Both colours have an ancient vibrancy that fascinates and almost never more than when they compliment each other in a creation!

YAY!

Next up!

Title: Moonlight In the Forest

Ingredients: Swarovski crystals, Czech glass, Artistic wire, metal, surgical steel earwires(silver-plated, hypo-allergenic).

These are the more lush of the two creations and feature a crescent moon and lots of stars on a smoky background!  The Swarovski crystals are the colour Vitriol.  The dusky flashes of metallic colour are hard to capture with a camera!  The silvery leaves echo the moonlight-colour of the earwires, just as moonlight weaves it's way inexplicably through all things! 

Look for these earring creations in my Etsy shoppe soon!

Onward to the upcoming events!!! 

Saturday, May 18th only! 

Spring Psychic Faire at Lake Harriet Spiritual Center! 

Many of you have seen me at this Faire offering my Sprite Creations jewellery and creations. 

However! For the first time ever!!! I'll be offering Faerie Readings during this fundraising-event! 

There will be good food, hand-made art of all kinds and wonderful insights offered, so consider joining us! 

PLEASE NOTE! THE TIME CHANGE OF THIS INTERVIEW!!!

I have another Faerie-inspired BlogTalk Radio Interview!!! 

Tuesday, May 21st from 12 Noon to 12:30pm (CST, USA) with Cheryl Patton of 1Woman's Wisdom! 

Join us to see what insight the Faeries have for the month of May! 

See you Monday!

Ciao!

Whimsy Wednesday! Moonlight and Air Travel!

Hello Hello!

Welcome to Whimsy Wednesday!

I hope your week has been filled with fun so far!

This post is a bit of a celebration of the full Moon currently gracing us with her brilliance as well as Steampunk and whimsy!

Let's start with a little Moon magic!

Title: A Sliver of Moon, A Twinkle of Stars.

Ingredients: Swarovski Crystal (Opal Rose), Czech glass, metal, surgical steel earwires (hypo-allergenic).

This design centered around the moon light-coloured half-moon shaped Czech glass beads.  The cobalt stars seemed a natural addition and Swarovski crystals in shades reminiscent of Rose Quartz to soften the contrast makes the perfect earring creation!  The colour Rose is also thought to be a gently healing colour, which was a nice contrast with the celestial, sometimes a bit cold, remaining colours.  Beauty, fascination and gentle grace would aptly describe these!

Moving on to the Steampunk and whimsy!

Working Title: Vintage Ride

Ingredients:  Vintage acrylic, Czech & German glass,  Artisan-made Furnace glass (USA), lead-free pewter, repurposed chain, antiqued copper wire (USA), Czech glass.

The biggest piece of whimsy, for me, comes in the form of the repurposed, vintage acrylic beads that adorn the chain.  They are in primary colours of red, blue and yellow.  They remind me of hot-air balloons!  I love the mix of textures and colours that abound in this creation! We have brilliant primary colours, darker, more mysterious and antique colours, shimmering silver and intriguing copper and brass-tones!  This necklace creation will truly match just about any outfit, especially once the proper person is found!  The pendant is created by me and you can read all about that here!

And that will wrap it up for this Whimsy Wednesday!
See you on Friday!
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! Beautiful Moments!

Hello Everyone!

Welcome to Magical Monday!

I hope your weekend was fun of magic and joy!  I'm pleased to say that mine was!

I have three beautiful moments to share with you today!

The first I have to share with you is really a series of moments, as it was taken with time-lapse photography...

Isn't that gorgeous?!

The second beautiful photo to share is all about a lovely moment of kindness!

 

Isn't that awesome?!!!

 

And the third and final beautiful moment is this...  

There is so much to love about this photo and this moment in time! 

And that's it for this Magical Monday post! 

Have an excellent first part of the week and I'll see you on Wednesday! 

Ciao!

Whimsy Wednesday! The Sun, the Moon and...the Beach!

Hello Everyone! 

Welcome to Whimsy Wednesday! 

This is a summery post, as is quite appropriate for June! 

I've been pretty busy in the studio this week and it feels good to play with materials and techniques that have been languishing on the sidelines for too long as well as to finish (or atleast move forward) designs old and new! 

Whee! 

So? What do I have to show you today?? 

Let's take a look! 

Let's start with the Sun! 

Title: Sun Satellite 

Ingredients: Vintage lucite, Amy Fill lampwork glass, faceted acrylic, glass, metal, surgical steel earwires. 

These were born out of those luscious orange vintage lucite beads!! I knew the Amy Fill firey-spiral glass beads were the perfect compliment to them and the rest fell together as many awesome creations do! 

Next up is the Beach! (I want to save the Moon until last!) 

Title: A Day At the Beach 

Ingredients: Vintage lucite, sterling silver. 

I fell in love with the wonderfully colourful and fun vintage lucite pink and white beads that reminded me so strongly of beach balls and knew I had to play them into a whimsical creation! Still, while they so reminded me of play, there is a certain timeless elegance about them and so I matched them with sterling silver shell (complete with pearl on the back/inside!) and three-dimensional seahorse charms! These were to be both beautiful and yet a bit non-traditional, hence the two different sea denizens merrily playing at the ends of each earring! 

And now, let's finish this post with a little Moonlight Magic! 

Title: Cat and the Moon Temple 

Ingredients: Swarovski crystals, sterling silver, metal, rayon, quartz.

 

This is a lovely necklace that is an excellent choice for those with metal allergies as the neck cord is rayon and the clasp is a sturdy quartz bead that slips through stretchy cloth links! 

This is all that is, at once, serene and mischievous, elegant and playful, and subtly colourful...just like The Moon and all that is Cat! 

All of these are available in my Etsy shoppe now! 

Also!! If you'd like to see these and many, many other creations in person, I'll be in Saint Paul this weekend! See below for details!

This weekend you can find me in Saint Paul in air-conditioned splendor!

Arts and Crafts Show Sunday, June 24th Only!

10am to 5pm

Temple of Aaron

616 So. Mississippi Blvd Saint Paul, MN 55116

See you soon!
Ciao!