Picture this...

...my version of a necklace and bracelet organizer. 

I made one for my mom as well. 

Ssshhh...don't tell her...it's a surprise.

Fabric collage

My friend Patty let me know she got my package so, as promised, here is the full view of the fabric collage I created a while back.

I've been so inspired by others fabric collages in blogland but hadn't ever attempted or even felt the inclination to attempt one until now.

I just kept layering pieces until I felt happy with it. The tree book page and the rust colored fabric were my starting point. I knew I wanted something dimensional so I searched through my jewelry stash and found this berry piece. I think it may have been a clip to dress-up a shoe in its former life.

I even got to use some of my CitroSolv background paper.

I'm definitely going to do some more work combining fabric and papers in the future.

Sneak peek at something new

I felt totally inspired this morning...I'm sending this off to a friend who reads my blog so I'm only going to show a little snippet or two until it arrives.

More Bottle Cap Earrings

I went a little nuts last evening and made a bunch more...

I've been saving bottle caps for years....as well as having others give them to me. I went through and found the ones I had pairs of. I still have a few more pairs but they'd look better with gold findings.

When I was a kid, my dad had a huge collection from all the bottled pop he drank. Bummer...it was thrown away 20+ years ago. There would have been some really fun ones in there!!

These ones with the phrases in them are fun. You could totally mix and match these depending on your mood.

Bottle Cap Earrings

I was recently gifted with a handful of fun bottle caps by my brother-in-law and his girlfriend. Thanks guys!!
I love it that they've been saving them for me!! One persons trash is another one's treasure!! 

Bracelet for a friend

Not being Catholic, I had to look up what the medal meant when I found it. It's called the Miraculous Metal.
Here's a little blurb from the site I looked it up on.

There is no superstition, nothing of magic, connected with the Miraculous Medal. The Miraculous Medal is not a “good-luck charm”. Rather, it is a great testimony to faith and the power of trusting prayer. Its greatest miracles are those of patience, forgiveness, repentance, and faith.

The hummingbird also has powerful meaning in her life.

I hope she likes the colors I've choosen. 

Thanksgiving morning necklace

I confess, I procrastinate. BIG TIME. Lucky for me, I work fast under pressure.

I recently found this choker necklace at a thrift store and had to have it. Of course, I hate chokers. Heck, I can't even stand a turtleneck collar but I saw the potential of it being repurposed.

Now after my quick change up I have a necklace and pair of earrings. Only then did I realize that one of my earring holes had partially grown closed...OUCH!

Spoon pendant

I've been finding all kinds of interesting little treasures lately. Such as a sterling spoon that had no handle. I put the stub of the handle in the vise and slowly started working it into a loop.

I love steampunk so I used some gears and the heart goes with the word LOVE. The heart is from an earring. Next time I try something like this I want to use resin. This was Diamond Glaze, which I'm pretty sure isn't supposed to be used as I tried.

It is a fun little piece though. No mistakes... just opportunities to learn.

Costume jewelry

Ooh the possibilities...

Steampunk necklace

While watching Robots with the kids last night, I was inspired to create this necklace from watch parts.

New Pendant

Last month I won at BINGO on ABC and received a fabulous package from Marie.

In the bottom of the cigar box there was a lone earring. I immediately fell in love with it...I like sparkly things!

What's a girl to do...why, make a pendant, of course. I simply removed the french hook and put a jump ring in it's place.

Wine charms, chili and snow..oh my.

After getting dressed this morning I decided to accessorize, something I rarely do, and put on this bracelet. It got me thinking about beads, so since I had the time I made these wine charms.

The chili feast was a success. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures. The ones that were taken are either blurry or have too many people that I don't have permission to post pictures of. Our neighbors have the perfect house for this large group so we could hardly tell there were that many people plus 2 dogs in the house!

Before noon today it started to flurry a bit and while we were at the chili feast it was snowing big time! The ground is still too warm for it to stick but the meteorologists were right about the arctic front!

Gifts for a friend

I can finally reveal the full picture from the sneak peek I gave last week.

Theresa got her gifts in the mail and is very happy, so I'm happy too!

Awesome day!

Today has been just one of those wonderful days that everything seems to fall into place. Usually it's just the opposite. I forget or misplace things, someone is a crabby butt, nothing productive gets accomplished, etc...you get the picture.

Here's my list of wonderful things for the day:

• both kids slept in--HOORAY!
  
• beautiful gift from a friend arrived (spoon book w/knife)
  
• get to see my bracelet in print (pages 101 & 225)
• baby girl graduated from preschool
• tried welding for the 1st time -- it's REALLY fun

"1000 Jewelry Inspirations"

I just got word that the book my bracelet is published in is on Amazon for pre-order.

As far as I can tell my bracelet didn't make the cover shot. It was sent off with 49 other pieces as to be photographed for possible cover shots. Bummer. I'm certainly not going to complain though!! It just would have been the super sweet icing on the cake to be on the cover as well!

Charms

I almost forgot to post these with my crazy mixed-up day.

I've started on the charms for the ABC 5th Anniversary charm swap. So far I have 16 put together. I'll be adding something to the backside of the scrabble tiles but haven't gotten it on there yet.

I can't take credit for the design concept...I received a fantastic charm in a swap on Latest Trends that these are based upon.

Recycled Charms

These are for a challenge and swap. They are made from links off and old belt and my handmade paper beads. I can't wait to see what the others players come up with!

PS...thanks to Theresa for the coaster I used for my backdrop. :)

Charms, beads and quilts, oh my!

After nearly a week of no arts or crafts I was starting to go through withdrawals.

There has been quite a bit of chatter on the Yahoo groups I belong to about charms lately. I made these since ones today from some MahJong tiles I had laying around.
My only question is: Do I have these in the proper direction?

The next item I played around with was some more paper beads. I had used up almost all I had made before. They are so simple and very addictive to make. Now I really want to make some smaller ones. I'm thinking if I get some coffee stirring straws, they'll be thin enough to make some small beads on.

I have also started cutting fabric for a quilt. I've made an all flannel quilt using this pattern but this time I am planning on doing flannel on one side and denim on the other. Today in celebration of a 16lb weight loss...I cut up 3 pairs of jeans to put to good use in the quilt!


UPDATE: 26LB WEIGHT LOSS NOW!!!

Game piece charms

I've made 2 sets of charms for a challenge on TheLatestTrendsinMixedMediaArts. I'm hoping I'll be able to swap both sets. You can only have 1 entry for the vote so I'll have to choose. I didn't realize this when I uploaded the pix to the group...opps.

I could use some help deciding which to enter for the vote.... Dice or Bingo?

3- strand bracelet

I've been wanting to do some more jewelry making/beading lately...mostly because my altered art muse has taken an extended vacation. Here is the bracelet I made yesterday.