Week 17 of 52

Oh my it's Monday again…..where oh where does the time go…..Thank God it's Monday other wise…..well I don't know what the other wise would be……but strange!!
I found something in a pile of papers, that I'd like to share with you to start us off……

"here I am…..playing….pretending…hoping that maybe….just maybe, my meager verse might fill your heart with joy"

don't know who said this…..but who ever did….thanks!
I too hope that what I might have to say, will fill your heart with joy!

So now I'll fill you in on what a whirl wind week I've had……….

It's was my granddaughter's 11th birthday, my son and DIL's 5 wedding anniversary …..my youngest son and his wife's 1st anniversary coming shortly…..whew lots of wonderful things to celebrate!

My granddaughter called last night to tell me how much she liked the necklace I made her…I asked if she liked it and her reactions was "OH MY GOSH MEME I LOVED IT", boy was I thrilled, then she started asking if I had made it, etc.….so cool to have her appreciate something that I'd made….it was the heart rock and Kumihimo braided necklace…..actually two, one purple and one green to match the drilled rocks…….here's a photo again of what it looks like!

I didn't get a lot finished this week and that was a bit intentional……..I had a workshop yesterday that was to show me how to polish and finish my jewelry pieces and I was to bring several things to work on the last hour or two of class…..well didn't get much time to do anything of our own but I have to tell you I learned soooo much…..it was everything I had hoped it would be!

You ever take classes or workshops that just fall short of your expectations of why you took the class to begin with……well I have and it's not fun to pay a ton of money and not get what you were hoping  to get…….WELL this class was EVERYTHING I had hoped for and then some!!  It was at the Craft Guild of Dallas……loved loved loved it!

I had gone with two of my Jewelry Junkie buddies and from what they have said, it met their expectations as well!
We had made a weekend of art shows and then finished it off with the all day workshop on Sunday!

On Saturday we went to three art events and all three were learning experiences…..with the 1st one, Artscape at the Dallas Arboretum, we saw how much we still needed to learn……there was just a plethora of really fine jewelry artist!  They worked in Sterling Silver for the most part, in fact there wasn't a piece of copper in any of their booths..some had a little brass just for an accent….other wise it was 100% SS……so there is the 1st difference between their work and mine……second thing was the delicate look to their things….tiny tiny wire…..especially with the contemporary style!  I just loved that look and feel!  AND OMG…they were all so open about how they did what they did and what they used…it was so refreshing and then we learned that several of them were teachers…..so of course they were use to sharing, but still it was very generous of them to share!

One Artist we met was Sally Wade…..she made her own stamping tools…..soo cool!  You have to go check out her blog to see some of her work…….
www.sallywadesilverworks.blogspot.com

She also told us that she does these weekend retreats, where she will teach you to make your own tools and then shows you how to use them…it's something that I'm going to explore a bit to see how it might translate into some unique work of mine…..I'm at that point where I need to move forward in my jewelry making, know what I mean?  You just get to that point where you don't feel like you are moving ahead, you are just spinning your wheels and it's time to get off center point again and move forward……that's where I'm at today!

Especially after seeing some of the work that I saw this weekend!  Now don't get me wrong I saw some things that I already do a better job at ….. on the same type of things……like my cooper bangles…mine are also soldered but cleaned up sooo much better…where you can't even tell where I soldered…..and I have some fun designs, like my spoon skulls, so I'm very proud of my jewelry that I finish…..it's just not even in the same universe as the stuff we saw at the Artscape show…..so how to I get there from here I ask myself…….I'll tell you….explore other learning options……so this summer you will be hearing about the classes that I am hoping to take at the Craft Guild and other opportunities that I'm exploring!
See there's that word……EXPLORE….it's soooo much fun when you have a open mind to something new!

Let's see I think that about completes my week…..I know I'm forgetting something…..my brain is just on over load right now…..I've got class tomorrow, so I plan on working on the pieces that I started and with my newly learned finishing skills, I hope to bring you some new pieces next week!
Speaking of next week…..not sure how I'll be able to do my posting …… I'll be out of town!
So bare with me and hopefully I'll learn to post while away!!

I'll leave you with this………

"Somewhere over the rainbow, skies are blue and the dreams that you dare to dream, really do come true" EY Harburg
I know I know it's from the Wizard of Oz…..can't you just hear Judy Garland singing that…it was one of my favorite movies!!

Have a great week and go out there and CREATE…..may all your dreams come true!
XOXO

Week 16 of 52

TGIM………..Whew I'm so glad it's Monday……new week with new things to do!!
Hope you all had a wonderful Easter!  We had the opportunity to visit our boys and their wives….together we put on a meal that would surpass any 5 star restaurant …… and I learned a ton of new gluten free websites to help stick to a gluten free food program……now don't get me wrong, I've tried before, but I'm just not ready to give up on all glutens!!
Okay enough about food…..this is about ART…….
So this is what I did this week!
Last week I told you about doing some Kumihimo……well I was much more happy with this weeks work than the last week…..just not interested in adding beads at this time!!
Here are the results………...

This one was a total experiment ….. it's really too thick for what I had in mind….but it was fun to see what this cording would do…….

Now this is the same cording with the nylon thread…..1/2 and 1/2….I like it so far (it's not finished yet!!)  It really makes the turquoise color pop!

I also showed you last week, the stones that I drilled…..well this is the finished necklace I made for my granddaughter's birthday present!  Just found out she thinks I'm sending her a sewing machine….whew we sure had some miscommunications on that one!!

Here's the full view of the finished necklace!!

This is the 1st one I made for her…..I didn't like the purple with the green stones, so I did the other one…..but her favorite color is purple, so I'll send it to her along with the green one…...in fact she just got glasses and she choose purple ones…..gotta love a 11 year old stepping out with purple glasses……just love it!!

Looks like that's about all I got finished for the week…..the holiday threw me off a bit…..then at our Jewelry Junkie meeting I worked on some air chasing on some copper sheeting……it's turning out rather interesting, in a good way….I just need a ton more work on it!

I'm hoping to get it to a stage so that I can take it to the polishing/finishing class I'm taking this next weekend!  I've got a few things that I hope to clean up easier and better than what I can do now…..or at least that's the goal anyway!

So I'm going to leave you with something that I read and think it's a good one for the week!!

Hope you enjoy it as well…………

"Make a pact with yourself today to not be defined by your past.  Sometimes the greatest thing to come out of all your hard work isn't what you get for it, but what you become for it.  Shake things up today!

Be You…..Be Free…Share!"  Steve Maraboli

Go out and create some beauty….. that is inside of you and share it with the world!!

See you next week!

Week 15 of 52

Wow what a week! Thank God it's Monday!  I can't wait to share all that I learned this week!

First, let me share some inspiration ..something to think about…..it seems to be fitting what I'm into  right now……

"I believe it's in our nature to explore, to reach out into the unknown.  The only try failure would be not to explore at all" Ernest Stackleton

So exploring we shall go…..First part of the week I spent hours at school drilling holes in rocks...something I've been wanting to do for a long time!  I had such a blast I couldn't stop, heehee!

Ideas were just popping in my head as I was drilling...all those things that I've been saving up to do.  Can't wait to see how they turn out!
That's the funny thing about ideas....you take that idea, then you create in your mind what you think it should look like...then try and make those two things match, heehee!
So we'll see how those ideas progress…..

Here are the stones before they become ..... Well who knows that they will become....that's the exciting thing about ideas, isn't it?

The 1st project is almost finished.....I've stacked several small stones and am making a small pendant for Miz Riley's birthday present .... There's one special stone that looks like a little heart..can you see it in the top photo??...I've put that on the top and will write her a special note!!  I'm working on a braided  cord to hang it on....that moves me into the next new thing I learned this week....Kumihimo!

On Saturday, I went to the Wire meet up group and our project for this Month was beaded Kumihimo....very interesting!  Can't say I liked it...mainly because mine, wasn't turning out the way it was suppose to....think I didn't understand the importance of tucking the bead under the thread!

Now I'm not saying I'm giving up on learning Kumihimo....just don't think the beading part is my thing!  I'm trying it again...this time I'm using two different colors of purple threads (Riley's favorite color) ....so far it's looking 400% better than what I did on Saturday......I'll take some photos when done....but here's a peak of how it looks now…a work in progress!

Interesting right?  It's not very long just yet……hope to have it finished tomorrow!

Wow and I haven't told you the most fabulous part of this past week…Friday, my husband and I went to the Main Street Festival in Ft Worth...it's an incredible Art show...AND I was wearing one of my spoon skulls necklaces...several artist commented on it, thought it was really cool...I said maybe we could barter an exchange ...they thought that was a great idea....THEN in one booths that I was admiring the artist work, he started asking me about the necklace then one of his customers (friend) asked if she could buy one
...of course I said yes and showed her photos of the ones I had finished...but she wanted one, more like mine..a bit rounder....sooo I now have 4 more almost finished...just need the scribing done...how exciting is that!!  I was thrilled 1st to have them notice then to say something about it….sure makes you feel good about what you are doing when something like that happens!!

Okay I've got to close now, I'm down to the last 5% of my iPad battery and I'm about to fall asleep...it's going to be a fun and full week coming up for....I hope it's a great one for you as well!
Happy Easter to one and all!
Hope you get the chance to explore something new in your life…….go Explore!!
Til next week!

Week 14 of 52

Again I have to say…….Thank God it's Monday!!
It has been a fun filled week kids, can't wait to share with you all that I learned!!
BUT first I didn't get back with you with an inspirational message…….soo let's do that NOW

"Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties" by Erich Fromm

Well this certainty plays into what I did this week…….let me show you!

This was something that Cheryl and Megan from Ten Seconds Studio showed several of us, and I must say we were WOWed…..just loved it!  Yevette and I tried it our weekend together, then I took my leather and some tools over to the Jewelry Junkies and we played some more!!

My favorite was using the embossing envelopes like the "love" one shown at the top!  I can't wait to try the gazillion envelopes I have……I'm sure I'll run out of leather before I run out of embossing envelopes that I have, heehee!  

It's an easy peasy project……you will need leather, spray bottle of water, a decorative embossing envelope and your big shot machine……actually any of the embossing machines will work!

The trick is NOT to use toooo much water, just a good spray all over (front and back)  and NOT too much pressure when you slide the machine over the envelopes…..on some we needed some extra cardboard to put just a little more pressure but not toooo much…….it's best to experiment just for fun!!

Haven't come up with a project for these pieces just yet but I know I will soon!

I had an idea of attaching pieces of the leather to some pieces of copper and make a bracelet…..still thinking on it!!

I finished up my skulls…….added the marks on the faces with the Dremel Scribe…..check it out and let me know what you think!  I might have gotten a little carried away with a few, heehee!

With a little liver of sulfur these bad boys will be ready for Prime Time, don't you think?
They are just a bit toooo shiny for my taste……then it's Etsy here we come!!
Or so that's the plan for this next week…….AFTER I get out of the garage……that's another story NOT ready for prime time, heehee!
I've gotten the back corner of the garage, repacked and tighten up …… even found a few things that had been missing!  Now I'm in the front next to the ART room door……I had been piling stuff up and then couldn't get thru the door…..crazy!  Most of the things that were in the pile were empty boxes that were suppose to be put in the attic…..well if you can't get to the attic….it becomes a pile!!
Sooo after spending the entire weekend in the garage I am proud to say…..there is no longer anything blocking the way to the attic, in fact I've made 4 or 5 trips up there with only one more to go……our Xmas lights….but I need some help with that one!!  Then I'll be able to bring down our old kitchen chairs that have been up there since we moved into this house……I'm most excited about that…..I LOVED those chairs!!
Okay…..it's still early so I want to get back to the garage…..my goal is to have it 100% done from one end to the other, within the month of April…….so wish me luck!!

Here's another great inspiring quote……

"The Future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams" Eleanor Rooseveltt

Sooo much wisdom in those words!
Go and live your dreams!!
Create Create Create