Still On A Rampage

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YUP!! I'm still going strong on making more jewelry. I finished this one yesterday after lunch. Seems like a rather simple one compared to the others but I had to redo the beaded loops that go around the focal pendant 4 times. (UGH!) By the fourth time I just wanted it done and over with but I am happy with the way it turned out.

I thought I just had to share this little story with you all as it applies to the necklaces I have been making the last few days. Thursdays when I get my nails done I usually stop at my parents to visit. Her retirement community has a craft get together every Thursday so I stop at the clubhouse to visit with all the ladies. I had taken the other 3 necklaces to show then my latest work and as I was passing them around the table for people to look at my mother quietly put on the lime green necklace. There were various conversations going around the table and all the while she sat and chatted with the necklace on hoping I wouldn't notice that one had gone missing. So as I am putting them back in their bags I notice the lime green one is not on the table. (Still not a word from my mom.) I am looking around and not seeing it but I still haven't said anything and then I spy it on her neck. I hand her the bag and say you know you can't keep it mom. She just replies "I figured it was an early Christmas present." Then she whispers to me....."I can't seem to find the clasp to get it off." Likely story!

Just Simply Lovely

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Aren't these just the sweetest photos you have ever seen?

What's In My Drawers? (I forgot Wednesday for the thousandth time!)

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This is the last set of drawers in the cabinets where all my punches are. Don't worry though, there are still many other drawers, with punches in them, for you to peek into still.

This is pretty self explanatory... all of my larger trees.

This is all of my smaller trees and transportation.

These all my seashore punches. Again I know these are out of alphabetical order. I think it is mainly because some drawers fit better in some slots better then others so they never got moved to the proper order.

These are all together because most of them are from specific "travel" collection. The rest of the travel related just went along for the ride.

These punches are all together because they are all by Anna Griffin or Brenda Walton. They didn't fit anywhere else and I wanted to keep them together. (I'm not even thinking about alphabetical anymore.) The flower punches by Martha need to go in the flower drawer but they won't fit either.

This is the first drawer of my alphabet set by EK Success. This one has all the numbers, punctuation and "inside" shapes for certain numbers and letters.

Lower case from A to N.

This has the rest of the lower case letters and half of the upper case.

Upper case from G to Z.

Last weeks total (1,034) Plus the total from this week (167) = 1,201

Looking For Romance

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Making Smiles Award

Heather Fenn-Edwards passed this award on to me and I think it's one of my favorites so far. (Thanks Heather!) It's always nice to know that you have potentially brightened someone's day by making them smile. The whole idea of the award is to pass it on to 5 other people and then list 5 interesting (but little known) facts about yourself. The hard part is passing it on to 5 other bloggers because I have little time to follow other blogs or they have been given the award already. So here it goes.

Eileen Bellomo - Art Saves LIves I love the title of her blog and I have been living precariously through her latest trip on a cruise with the "infamous" Tim Holtz. (I'm so jealous!)

Alison Brandist - Ali's Art Factory Ali seems like such a quiet individual but underneath lurks an "idea" genius when it comes to swap themes. They are always unusual and thrilling to participate in.

Tracy Kaufman - Enjoy The Ride I always do enjoy the ride on Tracy's blog. She does the most awesome "fantasy" type art you have ever seen. Where does that girl get her images?

Lillian Mederek - Canadian Scrap Tramp Lillian always has beautifully textured art to look at and her ability to collage is unsurpassed by very few artists.

Sarah Walker - The Rambling Of... I don't know how Sarah does it but she manages to do all these wonderful things for her 2 girls and her husband and still find time to make art. I get so tired just reading about what she does in a day sometimes. LOL!!!



OK So here are the 5 interesting facts you may not know about me. (OK they may not be too interesting but at least they are facts.)

1. I have an associates degree in Graphic Art & Illustration but I never used it until I worked as lead designer for a scrapbooking company about 5 years ago. (They have since gone out of business.)

2. Before working for the scrapbook company I used to do a lot of freelance work for Fiskars. A lot of the page samples you see on their packaging are mine. I also did sample pages that were used on QVC and endcaps in Walmart and Targets.

3. I used to make wedding dresses and bridesmaids dresses as a business out of my home. After tiring of dealing with bridezillas I made specialty clothing that I sold at a local boutique.

4. To pay for college my sister and I had a business where we made buttons that we sold at craft fairs. (The kind of "campaign" buttons that have sayings or pictures on them, not the kind to button your shirt.)

5. I get my artistic ability from my grandmother on my mother's side. She was a long time oil painter which is something I never learned to do.

Sugar And Spice

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Aren't they just the sweetest things?

My First Give Away

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As you can see I have been busy again today. I went to a local Hobby Lobby where they carry the Vintaj line of brass pieces and I went nuts. I also found these beautiful handmade beads in my favorite local craft store when I went there afterwards to get more chain. (More on the beads later.)

Anyways in honor of having 100 followers I decided to make a necklace to be given away to one lucky person. All you have to do is leave a comment with an email where I can get ahold of you and I will randomly select a winner one week from today. (REMEMBER I need your email to show in the comment field or else I have no way to contact you about winning!!)

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OK Back to the beads. When I went into the Munro's to get more chain I saw a sign saying that they were having a bead "trunk sale" in the back classroom. I had never been to a trunk sale so I was curious. (Boy I wish I had more money with me when I saw all the beads.) They are handmade in Africa by disadvantaged women in a factory set up by Karen Blixen (of "Out Of Africa" fame) in 1988 using clay out of the Mt. Kenya area. They are called Kazuri beads which is Swahili for small and beautiful. Anyways the giveaway necklace has 2 Kazuri beads on it and these are some others I bought that will be made into jewelry someday. If you want to get some of these beads for yourself they are quite inexpensive. Click here to visit the website.

Children Of Fashion

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Another One Done

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Well I just couldn't stop at one so I also made this necklace in shades of purples and hot pinks.

Just For Me

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This morning I was so excited to work on this necklace for myself that I forgot all about posting new images to my blog. (Of course I was also getting the Halloween swap in the mail finally too.) Anyways I got the idea from perusing the gallery at the Vintaj site.
They have all kinds of yummy brass pieces and I wish I could have at least one of each of them. Of course there isn't a place around me that carries their items so I went shopping at Michael's. Thankfully they were having a sale on a lot of jewelry stuff so I bought a pile of stuff and went home to get to work. This is the result and I am very pleased with the way it turned out.

A Nice Thank You

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Yesterday this little handmade doll arrived along with some gorgeous pages for a Christmas Garland swap. She is about 5 inches tall and is lovingly hand painted by CT Hawes for little old me! How lucky am I that I get such wonderful things from people I have never met in person?

When Fur Was Fashionable

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It looks like fur used to be the thing to wear. I mean look at the first photo... She has an entire dog on her arm! (YIKES!)

Those Fabulous Flappers

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YUP it's time for more women in hats. Enjoy!

Sunday Digital Download

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A Visit To The Vineyard

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I just thought for some reason that a stop at the local winery for some wine tasting would be a nice trip. (Don't forget the bread and cheese with that.)