Hello Everyone!Welcome to Fini Friday! As some of you may know, Fridays are all about the creation process, particularly when I finish a creation that has been languishing in some state of growth for much too long! A 30 Day Challenge came across my email inbox a few days ago from the folks Fusion Beads in celebration of March as the Craft Month and thought it would be fun to do this! I doubt I'll be able to complete every day, as I have other things lined up for the month of March, but I'm almost always up for a challenge! The Challenge schedule is here for those that are curious! As we Challengers complete each day, we post on Fusion Bead's Facebook page, so you're welcome to check out the challenge there are well!Ok! I've combined Day 2, 3 and 4 both because I'll be out and about this weekend and they dove-tailed nicely with my Fini Friday post! So, you'll get to see a bit of everything in this post!Day 2 Challenge was to use leftover beads and so I have! Title: Fascinating Ruby and Her JewelsIngredients: Swarovski crystals, Glass (Czech&India), brass beadcaps(USA), metal, gold-plated surgical steel earwires. 
Those luscious ruby-coloured glass beads were actually hand-selected for me by a friend, who used them to wrap a birthday present a few years back now! How thoughtful!! I simply had to create something with them, and today's challenge of using left-over beads was the perfect springboard for that!Day 3 encourages us to learn a new technique. I've chosen to expand on my wire-wrapped ring skills with this technique. The creation that unfolded also fit perfectly into Day 2's challenge of using leftover beads and Fini Friday, since I'm always on the lookout for ways to use my existing bead stash in different ways.Title: SmolderingIngredients: Cut glass, Artistic Wire (permanently-coated copper wire, USA).
And last, but not least, Day 4's Challenge was Organize Your Bead Area. This fabulously fit into my ongoing Studio Reorg, so I took the opportunity to clear out another drawer in one of my Creation Cabinets!
Everything that was in the drawer found appropriate homes or were recycled and now I have another empty drawer with which to play! YAY! So there you have it, a Ringing start (get it? A pair of earrings, a ring = ringing?) to the Challenge and a fabulous Fini Friday! WHEEE!!!Have an awesome weekend!See you on Magical Monday!Ciao!P.S. These earring and ring creations will be in my Etsy shoppe by Monday!
Hello Everyone!!!
Welcome to Whimsy Wednesday!!
We've had a bit of winter weather in my neck of the woods and so part of my day has revolved around dealing with that. I do very much appreciate, however, that even with the snow, our temperatures are really quite warm! That really helps!
I noticed a theme of circles as I sat down to write this blog post and thought that was appropriate given the high winds of the past few days!
So, without further ado...Circles!
This first creation is a Popcap Pendant. A little review for those who haven't heard about these yet! These are pendants I create from recycled bottle caps. I carefully arrange the little vignette inside the cap and then pour in one or more layers of a non-toxic resin to secure the bits and bobs inside. The resin requires 3 days to cure. Lastly, I drill the pop cap and thread in the rings by which the pendant will be suspended.
Title: Forest and Sky
Ingredients: recycled bottle cap, Czech glass beads, non-toxic, hand-coloured resin, metal rings.
This is, of course, in my Etsy shoppe! As an interesting detail unique to this pendant...there are actually two pourings or layers of the resin, each with a different hand-coloured, sparkly pigment mixed into the resin. The first layer is the beautiful, glittery gold colour that is most easily seen. The second pouring was a more thin layer of sparkly sea-green.The second creation I have to show you are a pair of earrings that just grew into completion today. I've had them as an idea on my workbench for a while and today felt like the day to finish them!Title: Cosmic RingsIngredients: Czech glass, permanently-coated copper wire (USA), anodized aluminum, surgical steel earwires (hypo-allergenic).
What I love best about these is the perfect contrast of precise circles and organic play of the lovingly hand-wrapped wire between those rings! And you'll find those in my Etsy shoppe here!Well! The circle has come back around to completion and this blog post is nearly finished! Thanks for 'circling' with me and I hope you have a fabulous evening!
See you on Friday!
Ciao!
Hello Everyone!Welcome to Magical Monday!I have nifty stuff and a nifty artist I've admired for some time to show you (and hopefully inspire you) today!I'd like to introduce you to the art of Amy Brown! While I love a great many of her images, the image below is the what caught my eye today!It is titled "The Ruby Gryphon", and the link above takes you to the Open Edition part of Amy Browns page and where you might purchase a copy of this artwork, should you choose!
I really like the fact that Amy has been able to infuse wisdom and a sense of myth and magic around the gryphon!The next nifty I have to show you is a Steampunk Mod to a Nerf Gun that looks like something the Faerie in the artwork above might find pleasing and amusing!Take a look!
Isn't that awesome????!!!! SHINY!!!And speaking of Nerf.... I have a video to show you that I've thoroughly enjoyed watching more than a few times this past week! I hope you have fun with it, too! The Great Office WarRemember, my BlogTalk Radio interview with Cheryl Patton of 1Woman's Wisdom is tomorrow, the 28th at 3pm (CST, USA)! We'll be chatting about Messages From the Faeries #4!Have a fabulous week!Ciao!
Hello Everyone!Welcome to Fini Friday!I hope your week was good and your weekend looking even better!! I'm pleased to say that I've finally got this cold on the run! Woooo!!!You might recall that at the end of 2011, I started a Studio Reorg... Well, I've made another small progress step in that endeavor! I've culled and cut through the clutter on top of one of the Creation Cabinets, which I also consider my "Shipping Station". This is where I lovingly wrap the Sprite Creations for traveling via the Post to meet their people! I've refined and streamlined my system a bit over time and wanted to reclaim space for those supplies I do use and move those that I don't along to more useful climes.Here is the before photo:
And the after:
Look at all that scrumptious space! YAY!!!!And I have a new-to-my-Etsy-shoppe shiny to show you today!I really enjoyed creating the Faerie Barrettes and intend to continue steadily listing them and other creations in my Shoppe!Title: Playing in the WoodsIngredients: Fabric leaves (treated with FrayCheck), Czech glass, permanently-coated copper wire (USA), metal barrette.
Isn't that just beautiful??? I really had a lot of fun playing with the glass beads and wire and leaves!!!This barrette can also double as a brooch on the lapel of a shirt, blouse or jacket!! Wheeee!!!!So, there you have it, more things of beauty to adore!! Speaking of that, I've done a good bit of work in my shoppe... changing up photos and listing some new creations... so feel free to hop on over there for a bit of Faerie Shiny Inspiration!OK!! I don't think there could be a better start to the weekend than that, so go have fun!!!Ciao!
Hello Everyone!!!As I sifted through the beautiful creations to show you today, I realized that the two I picked out are big, expansive and shiny! Perfect things to catch the eye of a Fairy, and artist and I hope you enjoy them, too!The first creation is a sculpture created from recycled CDs by Sean Avery...take a look!
Isn't that awesome!!!!???!!!!!The second is a photo credited to Reuters of the Queen of Santa Cruz Carnival on Tenerife Island! I don't know too much more about these festivals, but the workmanship that goes into each of the costumes is stunning! The article states the costumes can be as long and as high as 20 feet wide and weigh between 150-200 pounds!! Whew!!!!So, there is shiny and the celebration of it, especially right about now on the Canary Islands and Rio De Janeiro! Have fun this week!Ciao!
