Whimsy Wednesday! Sheriff's Star and News!

Hello Hello!
Welcome to Whimsy Wednesday!
This post will be more of a highlight reel of what is new in both creations and Sprite Creations event news, so let's get to it!
If you were able to join us at the Holiday Geek Expo, these two creations will be familiar to you!  So many of you are unable to join us in person that I wanted to show them off to YOU!
Title: Cycles of Time
Ingredients: lead-free pewter, suede, leather, aluminum, metal. 
I love the mystery of this bracelet...and the contrast...both of colours, textures and symbols!  The Sheriff's star makes me giggle and I hope you do, too!  The close cuff-style of this leather bracelet in space-age, yet antiqued silver suede evokes the idea of a law-person's bracer from another culture!  Add to that the red leather wheel and unusual key charm and you have an enigma wrapped in sumptuous suede!  There is a story just waiting to be written by this creation!  Are you the one to write it?

And now for the news!
Due to some last minute glitches, Sprite Creations regrets to announce that we are bowing out of the Women's Art Festival this Saturday at the

Midtown YWCA. If you are in the Minneapolis area, we highly encourage you to visit the Festival and support all the fabulously talented artists there!
If you were looking forward to seeing us there, please keep in mind that we are also available for home Sprite Creations shows as well as shows via Skype!
Feel free to visit my website or contact me for more details!  


Last, but certainly not least....
I've ONE more BlogTalk Radio Interview in 2013!
Welcome to Being Human!!! December 22, 2013, 5:00pm to 6:00pm (CST, USA)! 
I'll post the link for this as soon as I have it!
Ciao!

Whimsy Wednesday! An Unusual Slate!

Hello Everyone!

Welcome to Whimsy Wednesday!

I hope your week has been grand so far!

Mine has been sprinkled with surprises amidst fun and learning!

I'm doing a lot of revamping and re-imagining these days.

Stay tuned to witness the changes that are blossoming on the horizon!

Now for what I've been up to lately...

Painting my car! Yup!

The same one with the coloured windows from last Whimsy Wednesday!

So!

Let's start with the tableau rasa - the blank slate!

 

And the first round of embellishment! 

Comets to the left and right!  The silvery comet streaks through a star-filled sky, whilst the firey comet has a shooting star as a companion!

There absolutely MUST be a rainbow!!!!

All of this is still a "work in progress".  

I'll add to it in the upcoming days.  My medium is spray paint, which I've never used for this application before.  The experimenting is fun as well as learning how the paint reacts and blends in various stages of drying.

That's my Whimsy Wednesday for this week! 
Perhaps you'll be able to tune in for my next BlogTalk Radio Interview?  

It is Tuesday, August 20th at 12 Noon (CST, USA)!!!!

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

It would be wonderful if you could join us!

See you Friday!

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! Playing Hooky!

Hello Hello! 

I’m writing the bulk of this post whilst listening to The Cars “Moving In Stereo” in stereo, in the car and on the road to visit a friend! 

I’m playing hooky from the studio for a little while! Wheeee! 

This feels grand!

I’ve been rather busy preparing for both a home Sprite Creations party tomorrow and the Women’s Art Festival this Saturday and I’m excited about all the new creations I have to share! 

Below are just some of the newest shinies! 

Title: Transcend 

Ingredients: 4GB (working) Flash Drive, non-toxic resin (hand-coloured & hand-painted), Swarovski crystals, vintage German glass, Czech glass, lead-free pewter(USA), aluminum, metal. 

There are all sorts of details in this creation, and let’s start with that fabulous Flash Drive! It is a working 4GB Flash Drive! The swirls are part of the factory design of this drive and it was named Transcend before it arrived in my studio. Since the creation design of both the Flash Drive and the necklace centers around the Drive, it seems fitting that it lends it’s name to the entire creation. The shiny flashes of colour on top of the Flash Drive are Swarovski crystal rhinestone, set in a rainbow pattern. (Some believe this pattern of colours also matches those of the 7 major charkas of the human body.) I would have loved to place each rhinestone in the center of each circle or swirl, but too much resin too close to the edge of the convertible flash drives can be a problem. The rhinestones are set and sealed with non-toxic resin that I’ve hand-coloured with pigment and literally paint onto the Drive. The Pegasus, Star and Sun all speak to traveling to other realms, realities or mythologies. The “Love” circle is also hand-painted with hand-coloured resin by me and fits the title quite aptly! After all “Love transcends all things”! Even in looking at the “Love” ring, there are hidden details. This is a repurposed charm and so while the Love is immersed in flecks of gold, there are marks of wear and age in the shiny metal underneath the golden resin. This is a love of strength, beauty and wisdom, wrapped with whimsy in the mixing of both modern and timeless. 

The second Flash Drive creation I have to share is just below… 

Title: Traveling With Turtle Island 

Ingredients: 8GB Flash Drive (Iamakey), non-toxic resin (hand-coloured & hand-painted), hand-finished brass, old watch parts, metal. 

The key-shaped metal bit is actually the working 8GB Flash Drive! I’ve worked with this shape before and had so much fun, I played with it again! The turtle charm enabled me to mix both dark and shiny metals and the turtle shape echoed the more boxy key shape of the Drive. 

I placed the old watch parts in a column down the shank of the drive, four gears and all over-lapping. This is what I love best about creating! I had no set vision of what to do with the gears, only that I wanted round gears on the shank. It seemed right to have four overlapping, and then the story of the "Four Ages of Man" popped into my mind! Very fitting since the Earth has been named Turtle Island by many aboriginal tribes in times past! The myth of the "Four Ages of Man" by Ovid is recounted here. While the resin is speckled with golden flecks, I also meticulously dropped alcohol ink onto the resin once it was painted on. That is the ethereal green you see. The ink pools and flows as I work with it and the resin and I love the “swampy”, yet misty and mysterious feel that it created! Perfect for a turtle in the water and the legends described above! And, again, wrapped with whimsy in the blending of both modern and timeless! 

So, there you have it! 

I'll leave you with information of my final show for 2012!

When is that, you ask?

The 20th Annual Women's Art Festival! Come join us at the Midtown YWCA in Minneapolis, MN (USA)!

Saturday, Dec. 15th only!

10am to 5pm.

There will be live music all day, an on-site coffee shop and art of all kinds and for all budgets!

I’ll wrap this up as I am almost at my friend’s house and see you Friday!

Ciao!