This Artist's Journey

Destash Beads Blog Hop

2012-01-06T01:00:00.001-06:00

Out with the old and in with the new and just in time for the new year. I'm joining a group of bloggers who are having a bead destash sale tomorrow, January 7th. We are putting some of our bead collection on sale to make room for new beads and supplies. See the list of participants at the end of this post.

This past month, I've had confirmation on the direction that I need to take my jewelry-making and art. Selling out of what I entered in a local gallery sale last month and getting an e-mail just this morning from someone wanting to sell my work in their gift shop is all the confirmation and motivation I need to move forward. So with that said, I'll be selling many of my beads and participating in this online destash bead blog hop put together by Copper Diem. OK! Now go out and find some bargains!

Here is a list of participants selling their destash beads:

GreenBead

Kit and Caboodle

Sharyls Jewelry

Beads 2 Die 4

Gem Crazie

Creative Every Day Challenge

2011-12-27T10:28:00.002-06:00

I've participated in the Creative Every Day Challenge now for the past two years. It is a great program started by Leah Piken Kolidas where she provides a creative prompt and people share their creations of all sorts and mediums on her site. The prompt for January is "NEW". I'm looking forward to participating again this year. I've made some resolutions to simplify my life and to make a deliberate effort to create every day. Want to join me?

We Have A Winner!

2011-12-22T08:21:00.002-06:00

Congratulations Gloria!

Rafflecopter chose you randomly to be the winner of the Cutey Bracelet!

I'll be contacting you shortly!

Thanks to everyone who participated!

Giveaway Ends Dec. 21st.

2011-12-19T20:05:00.000-06:00

Be sure and not miss the Cutey bracelet giveaway that ends December 21st. Easy to enter! Click here to go to the post.

Giveaway Bracelet from Cutey

2011-12-15T09:02:00.003-06:00

I think it is time for a give-away! I love jewelry. I love to look at it, make it and of course wear it. And that is why I was thrilled when Ashley from Cutey sent me two bracelets to review. These are so much fun to wear as well as beautiful to look at! The beads and charms slide along the snake chain bracelet and move as I do. The clasp is secure and the price is reasonable for a bracelet like this one.

I'll be giving away the above red bracelet at random for all of those who simply follow the directions in the Rafflecopter box below. Contest closes midnight eastern standard time on Wednesday, December 21st. Winner will be announced by noon on Thursday, December 22nd. The winner will be contacted by e-mail and I will ship the bracelet soon after getting a mailing address. Please note that I will not share e-mail addresses or mailing addresses and will not send you spam. I'm anti-spam. :o)

To enter to win the red bracelet, follow the instructions in the box below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway Cutey.co.uk gave me the above bracelets to review free of charge. I have written this review about the quality of their product and service, but I have not been paid for any endorsement. I give my honest opinion on the products that I receive, so that you, as a reader of my blog, can feel confident in what you order from the companies I review.

Handmade Holidays

2011-12-06T12:25:00.002-06:00

Every year I make some of the Christmas gifts we give each year. Sometimes it is a handmade Christmas ornament that I use to decorate a package. Sometimes a piece of jewelry, a knitted scarf, or a painted picture. I wish I could tell you what I am making this year, but the recipients may just read my blog, so I better not divulge that secret. After the holidays, I will have to do show and tell.

Anyway, my point is that handmade Christmas gifts to me are so much more special, because we all know that more time and effort goes into making something by hand. In an age where everyone has everything they "need", and whatever they "need" can easily be bought at the neighborhood Wal-Mart, a handmade one-of-a-kind gift means so much more. So before we make out our list and head to Target, think about what we could make for those on our list. Need a little help? Here is a list of tutorials to get you thinking:

Rows of Ruffles Scarf Pattern
How to Create Soldered Art Jewelry
Hot Cocoa Cones
Bath Salts Recipe
Cookie and Brownie Quart Jar Recipes
Sewn Felt Slippers
Block Printed Tea Towels
Needle Felted Handmade Pillows

So tell me what are you planning to make this year for those on your Christmas list?

My team mates from the Aspiring Metalsmith Team on Etsy are doing a blog roll on Handmade Holidays. Take a look at what my they had to say...

Mary Anne Karren - silverpearlmetalworks.wordpress.com/
Jessica @ Abella Blue - www.abellablue.com/blog
Stacy - formandfunktionaccessories.blogspot.com
Elizabeth Brown – resurrectionsilver.blogspot.com
Lilian Genebra - www.girllovesglitter.blogspot.com/
Pennee- All Wired Up Jewelry Designs - allwiredupjewelrydesigns.blogspot.com/
Claire English - brightstar109.blogspot.com/
Nancy - nancysjewelrydesigns.blogspot.com/
Autumn Bradley - www.autumnbradley.blogspot.com
Amy Estelle - amyestellemetalworks.blogspot.com/2011/12/handmade-holidays.html

Freebie Friday

2011-10-14T08:00:00.001-05:00

I'm starting a new thing called Freebie Friday. Liz from MyMemories Suite digital scrapbooking software has given me several links for free downloads of their scrapbooking page kits. If you own the My Memories Suite V2 software these are pages you will want to download to use. If you do not have the software you can use the following code when checking out to get $10.00 off your purchase of the software which is $39.97 - $10.00 = $29.97 and includes some free pages with it.

CODE: STMMMS61931

What I like most about the software is that you can print hard-bound books of your scrapbooks to share with family and friends. Below is the first Freebie. Just click on the picture to go to the MyMemories site to download! Then come back next week to download the next set that compliments this set.

In the meantime, use the code to download your own copy of the digital scrapbooking software from MyMemories! Freebie links will only be active for about 14 days.

MyMemories.com has given me the My Memories Suites digital scrapbooking software to review free of charge. I receive these links to free software to share with my readers. I am now an affiliate for MyMemories Suite and get a portion of each sale of software when customers use my coupon code.

My Old Beads Given New Life

2011-10-10T20:32:00.001-05:00

Sharyl from Sharyl's Jewelry and Reflections recently purchased some of my destash beads from my etsy shop, Kit and Caboodle. She was kind enough to show me what she created with the beads she purchased. I have to say how much this thrilled me. I'm actually very excited to see these beads used to make such a beautiful jewelry piece, and in a way that I would not have thought of. It just reminded me that our creativeness is unique to each of us as artists. Our creative thought processes are different and that is the beauty of handmade work, the uniqueness. So here are the beads she purchased:

And here is her beautiful necklace creation using two varieties of the beads she purchased in one design. I love how the copper metal links the beads together and gives the overall design a nice warmth. I also love the color combination she put together with the reds and blues of various shades as well as the asymmetrical color placement.

Thanks so much for sharing these photos of your creation, Sharyl! See more of her designs on her website, Sharyl's Jewelry.

Anyone else care to share what they've made from my destash beads? I'd be thrilled to see and share what you've created!

And the Winner is...

2011-10-04T11:57:00.000-05:00

First of all, I want to thank all eight participants for entering the giveaway. The winner of the My Memories Suite V2 digital scrapbooking software is:

Congratulations Jessica!

If you missed the giveaway and want to purchase the software the following code will get you $10 off the My Memories Suite v2: STMMMS61931

MyMemories.com gave me the My Memories Suites digital scrapbooking software to review free of charge. I have written this review about the quality of their product and service, but I have not been paid for any endorsement. I give my honest opinion on the products that I receive, so that you, as a reader of my blog, can feel confident in what you order from the companies I review.

Give-away Ends on Monday

2011-09-30T10:18:00.000-05:00

I'm beginning to really like this scrap booking software! In just a few minutes with a free template package, I'm well on my way to producing my daughter's senior book for her graduation from high school in May. There is still time to enter the giveaway of the free scrap booking software, My Memories Suite v2. Deadline is Monday, October 3rd. Winner will be announced and contacted on Tuesday, October 4th. Enter give-away HERE.

Here is what I accomplished in just 10 minutes!

I'd love to share this great tool with my readers! Enter today!

Digital Scrapbooking Software Give-Away

2011-09-22T09:30:00.012-05:00

I have all of the tools, paper, albums, and stickers for scrapbooking. I collect this stuff as with all other hobby, craft, or art supplies. I've not touched my scrapbooks in several years although I have started three albums. "Someday", I say, "I'll get back to it".

Well, thanks to Liz from MyMemories.com, that someday, may be now! For a product review this week, I received the “My Memories Suite” digital scrapbooking software. It is so easy to use! And the best part of this is that I don't have to put away my scrapbooking tools, clean up my paper scrap mess, or find a place to store all of my supplies! I also like the idea of being able to print several scrapbooks at one time to save for my daughters as they get older. This is going to save me time and money!

Here is a sample of what can be done with the software...

The above page of my grandmother actually took me only a few minutes to create using elements in the scrapbooking software and a free page kit. It took me about an hour to figure out how to upload the free page kit to the software after I downloaded from the site, but I did manage to get it figured out (I have limited computer skills). My Memories was also very helpful with support when I contacted them with questions. They also have video tutorials that take you step by step through the software.

My Memories has picture calendar download kits that I can use to create personalized calendars for Christmas gifts. I've been wanting to take my artwork and make portfolios of my work, and this would be a great solution for that. It is possible to share these albums and pages over the web, print out or send to have them bound as books. For prices on the bound photo books click here and scroll down to the list of prices for various size books.

As for the Give-Away, I have another downloadable digital scrapbooking software package worth $39.97 to give away to one of my readers. It is very easy to enter...just follow the directions in the box below:

Contest will end October 3rd at midnight EST. Winner will be announced and contacted by noon on October 4th. Let's get back to scrapping!

If you are not interested in the giveaway and want to purchase the software the following code will get you $10 off the My Memories Suite v2: STMMMS61931

MyMemories.com gave me the My Memories Suites digital scrapbooking software to review free of charge. I have written this review about the quality of their product and service, but I have not been paid for any endorsement. I give my honest opinion on the products that I receive, so that you, as a reader of my blog, can feel confident in what you order from the companies I review.

Recycled Glass Earrings

2011-09-12T14:11:00.000-05:00

Recycling...the big buzzword for the 21st century. I've started making recycled glass earrings like those shown below. A friend of mine who is a glass artist inspired this new jewelry endeavor, and it has been a wonderful adventure. Since I am moving away from beaded jewelry and toward metalsmithing and metal clay, I have an abundance of glass beads I will no longer use. I've been looking around at all of my destash glass beads, heating them in my kiln and finding what works and what doesn't work.

Opening the kiln each time when the firing is done, I find such wonderful surprises. Each glass bead comes out a perfect circle cabochon of glass that I can glue to earring posts, or in the future, bezel set in rings or other pieces of jewelry.

Stay tuned for a tutorial on how I make these! In the meantime, you can find these in my shop, Kit and Caboodle Shop.

My Art on a Canvas by Easy Canvas Prints

2011-08-25T10:20:00.002-05:00

Downloaded Image of My Art

I was contacted by an Easy Canvas Prints' representative, Brendan, to do a product review on their art canvases. I ordered an 8"x10" canvas and downloaded an image (photo) of some of my past art work that I've sold and no longer have the original. I received my canvas in less than a week, and I was very pleased with the quality of the canvas, materials used and the printing of my artwork. Easy Canvas gives you different options in size anywhere from 8" x 8" to 40" x 40". Also you can choose the thickness of the canvas, 3/4" or 1-1/2".

Since canvas edges are printed with a reverse from the image or a solid color of choice and each canvas comes with a sawtooth hanger, the canvas can be easily hung as is or can be placed in a frame for a more finished look.

Art Print on Canvas Hanging on My Wall

In four easy steps, choosing a size, uploading a photo, choosing border style, and selecting image options, my image was on a virtual canvas and ready to order. Easy Canvas Prints also has ready made art that you can choose from. Putting a family photo on a canvas would make a wonderful gift to the family at Christmas. I may have my Christmas shopping done already!

I wouldn't hesitate recommending Easy Canvas Prints to my readers.

Easy Canvas Prints sent me an 8"x10" canvas of my choice to review free of charge. I have written this review about the quality of their product and service, but I have not been paid for any endorsement. I give my honest opinion on the products that I receive, so that you, as a reader of my blog, can feel confident in what you order from the companies I review.

Finding New Color Names to Describe Products

2011-08-17T21:09:00.000-05:00

Just a short post about finding new color names for your product descriptions. Wikipedia has a list of colors with the names of the colors. I just searched shades of brown, red, blue, etc. to find the charts. For the shades of blue, scroll down to the bottom for the chart.

Shades of Brown
Shades of Red
Shades of Blue
Shades of Green
Shades of White
Shades of Yellow
Shades of Orange
Shades of Violet
Shades of Gray
Shades of Pink
Shades of Cyan

Very handy, don't you think?

Mixing Metal Clay with Glass

2011-07-25T17:56:00.002-05:00

Yes, I've been a little quiet lately in the virtual world. But that's a good thing as it means I've been busy with some new work like experimenting with mixing metal clay and glass. I've been working once a week with a friend, Connie, who does beautiful fused glass work. We're combining our work to make unique metal clay and glass jewelry pieces for an upcoming show.

My teammates of the Aspiring Metalsmiths Team is also sharing what they've been working on. Go and take a look:

Esmeralda http://jewelry-by-silverblueberry.blogspot.com
Happy Tortoise Designs http://www.happytortoisedesigns.blogspot.com
Crow Steals Fire http://crowstealsfire.blogspot.com
Contemporary Jewelry by Beatriz Fortes http://cjbf.blogspot.com
steph http://stephstargell.com
Jessica @ Abella Blue http://www.abellablue.com/blog
Pennee- All Wired Up Jewelry Designs http://www.allwiredupjewelrydesigns.blogspot.com
Sylvia Anderson http://www.sylviaanderson.blogspot.com
Stacy http://www.formandfunktionaccessories.blogspot.com
Mary Anne Karren http://silverpearlmetalworks.wordpress.com
Brightstar109 http://www.brightstar109.blogspot.com
Amy Nicole Artisan Jewelry http://Rubymtnbeads.blogspot.com
Resurrection Silver http://www.resurrectionsilver.blogspot.com
Kwant Essentials http://kwantessentials.blogspot.com/2011/07/show-and-tell-from-start-to-finish.html
Julie http://jamauerer.blogspot.com
Lilian http://www.girllovesglitter.blogspot.com/
Autumn Bradley Jewelry Design http://www.autumnbradley.blogspot.com

How about you? What have you been up to?

Bezel Setting Stones

2011-07-05T10:28:00.004-05:00

I've created two pieces of jewelry with bezel sets. I didn't do too badly with both, and I learned so much from the process. My first bezel I did have to redo several times: See post "The Challenge Continues...". That is where all the learning came in. Fixing mistakes is a great learning tool and helps you reinforce the basic steps to the process.

I've been surfing the web for other stones to set and have found two round stones of different sizes that I want to tackle next. One is a kingman turquoise and the other is a cougar mountain chrysocolla. Both are blue (my favorite color) in case I don't sell the new pieces, I can keep them for myself.

Thanks to Laura and her family of Cabbing Rough on Etsy, for letting me use the pictures for this post. They have beautiful stones. Sometimes I just stop by their shop to dream.

To do this the right way, I'll first be drawing up some designs to scale. The turquoise will be a pendant, the chrysocolla a ring. I'll show these designs in a later post. In the meantime, I'll be studying further on how to set bezels and learning as much as I can beforehand so that I don't have to re-do the next time. I've listed my resources that I'll be studying below in case you want to learn along with me. It's always better to do things with someone. Let me know what you come up with.

Here is my list of useful information on bezel setting:

Art Jewelry Magazine's Videos on Making a Bezel:
Part 1: Measuring Bezel Wire

Part 2: Solder a Bezel

Part 3: Shape Bezel to the Stone

Part 4: Troubleshooting

Part 5: Solder Bezel to Backplate

How to Set the Stone in the Bezel:

Part 1: Adjusting the Height of a Bezel

Part 2: Using a Bezel Pusher

Part 3: How to use a Burnisher

Update on Flame Painting Copper Finish

2011-06-23T13:54:00.001-05:00

In a previous post, "Flame Painting on Copper", I show the results of the bracelet below after heating with a torch a piece of shiny patterned copper metal. The colors turned out beautifully and varied from a yellow to an iridescent blue. I researched online and found conflicting infomation as to whether I could put a finish on the bracelet to keep the color vibrant. Some resources said that you can not add a finish as the iridescence comes from the play of light on the surface, and if you alter the surface you will lose the color. Here is one such resource: Preserving heat coloring of copper when clear coating.

So instead of putting a finish on the piece, I decided to just let it go au natural. The first picture is the bracelet right after being flame painted with the torch.

The second is approximately six months after the heat treatment. You can see that I lost the nice iridescent blues and some of the reds, and the bracelet is starting to look like the change in my pockets.

I'm going to continue seeking advice and trying new experiments. I keep thinking there has to be a way to protect the nice colors. Back to the drawing board...I mean the torch.

New Bronzclay Work

2011-06-07T15:12:00.001-05:00

Summer always seems to be a busy time for me. With two teen girls who love sports and the outdoors, it is hard to get any work done inside my studio. But I have been setting some time aside with a friend to create. Here are a few of the new things I've made from bronze metal clay.

I made some bronze roses and soldered them to a sterling silver band - inspired of course from my miniature rose bush that I received as a gift from my girls a few years back.

This is a replica of an ancient Chinese coin. I've made it into a pendant to be worn as a necklace. Very bold and beautiful, yet sinple.

And finally a key chain molded from a head of wheat from my Kansas farm. I guess being outside and not stuck inside had inspired me more than I realized, at least with two of these pieces....I should get outside more!

Rhythm and Pattern in Nature

2011-05-24T10:41:00.001-05:00

It has been awhile since I've entered a challenge from the aspiring metalsmiths team...actually, I've never entered a challenge...oops. For this round I've got a whole month during the summer to come up with a piece to depict rhythm. Not sure why I like this challenge so much as I have a hard time even spelling the word rhythm. I have no rhythm, but this challenge is open ended enough to artistic interpretation that surely I can come up with something!

When I think of rhythm, I think of music, beats, even poetry. I've never really thought about the visual aspect of what that would look like. Repeating intervals of shapes or patterns are what come to mind. Nature is full of order and pattern. Here is my visual research for rhythm in nature:

Green Leaf Detail by Petr Kratochvil

Spiders Web by Steve Gibson

Frozen Waterfall by Peter Griffin

Grey Sky by Kim Newberg

Pinecones by Joy Shrader

What do you think of when you think of rhythm in nature?

Vintage and Upcycling

2011-05-14T13:56:00.004-05:00

Do you like to see old items that have lost their usefulness upcycled and put to a new use? I do. And when Artbeads.com challenged me to come up with some new jewelry pieces using some of their vintage-style findings and my own authentic vintage beads, I had to say yes to that challenge.

Starting off with some vintage glass beads that I salvaged from a pair of old clip-on earrings that were broken, I made a simple bracelet by linking the glass beads together using brass wire. Using Artbeads base metal chain, I finished out the bracelet and hung a charm from their Kabela Design collection. Using a chain with larger links enabled me to make the bracelet adjustable to fit a number of different people.

Next, I cut apart an old glass pearl necklace that needed to be re-knotted and the clasp replaced and used a few of the beads to create this new vintage style necklace using base metal chain and this antique brass two filigree link also from Artbeads Kabela Design collection.

Upcycling vintage jewelry not only can be beautiful, but also a very meaningful experience. When my grandmother passed away a few years ago, she left a bracelet project unfinished that she had wanted to make for all the great-granddaughters. She had the findings and memory wire but not the beads. I took her old jewelry pieces that reminded me most of her and used those to make the new bracelets for the girls in our family. Each great granddaughter received a bracelet to remember great grandma. That was the beginning of my jewelry making career. I've enjoyed the journey.

Artbeads.com sends me beads to review free of charge. I use these beads in my designs and write a review about them, but I have not been paid for any endorsement. I give my honest opinion on the beads that I receive, so that you, as a reader of my blog, can feel confident in what you order from Artbeads.

Harvesting Alpaca Fiber

2011-05-06T10:54:00.000-05:00

Being new alpaca owners, we were intrigued by the whole shearing process. A community of alpaca owners gather together to hire a shearer to shear all our alpacas for the day.

It is quite a team effort and a very streamlined system. This might be a do-it-yourself project, but it is definitely not a do-it-by-yourself project, if you know what I mean.

The whole process took about 30 minutes for our three guys to get their haircuts. We bagged the blankets (the main body fleece from the back) separately from the seconds (the less desirable fleece of the legs, tail, and head). We found that a woman in Arizona will take the seconds and make them into rugs for you that you can sell or give away as gifts. I'll be checking into that more.

Now we have six bags of fleece. Alpacas, alpacas, have you any fleece? Yes ma'am, yes ma'am, six bags full. So these guys look very different after their shearing. We may need to knit them some sweaters!

Need more information on Alpacas? I've put together a page of information entitled, All About Alpacas. I'll be adding to this site as I find useful information.

Lessons Learned from Clearing Clutter

2011-04-26T17:55:00.000-05:00

I've just finished my Spring cleaning for the year. Our church has a garage sale every year that I donate my unwanted items to raise funds for a mission in Mexico. I've got a lot of STUFF to donate this year. As I was clearing out the clutter, I kept in mind a saying that I heard or read somewhere, "Only keep what you use and love". I've tried keeping this in mind as I shop during the year too so that I don't bring home things that I won't use or eventually get tired of.

I've been thinking about how I can use this thinking in my jewelry making business. I'm sure that I'm not the only consumer that is tired of purchases that break, wear out, shrink, or go out of style. I have jewelry pieces that I don't wear either because it was given to me and I don't love it, or it is just uncomfortable to wear. This has given me a new goal to produce items that are comfortable to wear, are easy to clean, and are in a timeless style that will not become outdated. I want my pieces to be things that people love and keep...for a long time. Can this be done?

Foldforming

2011-04-10T21:02:00.003-05:00

No...I really do NOT need another jewelry making technique. No, I do not need more tools. I can't help but want to try foldforming, though. I've purchased Charles Lewton-Brain's book, "Foldforming". I'm researching online and viewing videos like the one above.

I really do need to try this. I've bought copper sheet and a vise. All I need now is the right hammer. It looks very simple and I love the rustic natural look that results. Yep, I've got to learn this one new technique and then I'll stop. Yep.

Easy and Elegant Beaded Copper Jewelry Book Review

2011-03-29T20:20:00.005-05:00

"Easy and Elegant Beaded Copper Jewelry" is a wonderful book for anyone interested in making their own jewelry. With just a few basic tools and this book full of precise instruction and pictures, anyone can make beautiful jewelry pieces from copper wire and beads for themselves or for others as gifts.

The author, Lora S. Irish, starts by introducing the basic tools required. With detailed pictures and instructions, she explains step-by-step how to create over 300 links to transform into beautiful jewelry pieces. She demonstrates many different link/bead and clasp designs to get anyone started in creating their own wire and bead designs. This book would be great for a beginner just starting to make jewelry.

Easy & Elegant Beaded Copper Jewelry

How to Create Beautiful Fashion Accessories from a Few Basic Steps

Lora S. Irish

Fox Chapel Publishing

Pub Date: 04/01/2011

ISBN: 9781565235144

Genre: Crafts & Hobbies, Home & Garden, Nonfiction

I have not received any compensation for this review.

Three New Fiber Friends

2011-03-18T10:13:00.000-05:00

My husband and daughters brought these alpacas home yesterday. They are adorable and so sweet.

Now we have and endless supply of fiber for knitting and crocheting. I guess it's time for me to get serious about learning to knit!

Of course, I will be sharing my journey along the way here!