More Soup and a Unicorn if You Can Handle It!

Since my partner, Gretchen Nation, received her soup - I'll show you what I sent her. She said she intends to blog about it by tomorrow, I think? Since her style is definitely vintage and on the delicate side, I decided to send her a rustic / organic / nature themed soup.

I can't wait to see what she'll do with it! The leaf is by my friend Jessi who's made some other beautiful pendants I've used.

Now, here's some stuff I made over the weekend -- some of which derived from Heather's Big Box o' Vintage Goodness.

I bought that Sterling Unicorn head from Beadaholique some time ago, and I was just waiting for the right piece to come together. That drilled river rock has a purple tint to it that's hard to discern from the photo. I'll have to reshoot it if I put it on etsy.

The gold plated Aspen leaf, as well as the Mexican coins & some of the various beads and chain used throughout are from Heather's box. Now, I want to finish another piece I started the other night, and then I can start playing with my soup!

My Bead Soup Blog Party Beads & Stuff!

I got my package from my partner, Beth of Vintage Sweets this week. She sent me gobs of stuff! And it's all copper, which is the metal I've worked with least. Coincidentally though, I've been recently starting to tip-toe in that direction with some findings and dangly leaves. Now I've got more than I know what to do with, and I'm really excited about it.

Everything was packaged neatly, and enclosed in a lovely vintage tin.

There were some purple & green crystals and pearls in cute little tic-tac containers:

Some Czech glass leaves and a pair of abalone beads:

Some copper wire in two gauges, the focal and clasp (plus a bonus bird):

And some various links, beads, and Viking braid:

I can't wait to get started, but there's so much to choose from I'm a little overwhelmed. I'm excited to see what I come up with. Thanks Beth!

Bead Table Wednesday (BTW)

It's my first Bead Table Wednesday contribution! This week, I've been experimenting with making silicone molds, and then using them with paper clay. So far, it's turned out better than I anticipated - especially because I found this wonderful little silver pill case that had belonged to one of my grandmothers. It's got 5 birds perched on a branch. I have a feeling I'm going to make 100 more because I'm having many ideas about how to paint them. Click on the photo to see everything close up.

Some of the other things here include a few stamped paper clay pendants still not finished being painted, as well as some of my Lorelei style hand made decorative tin bead caps & connectors. They are in various stages of being hole-punched & domed.

My Salon Set Up

Yesterday morning, I went to my hair salon to get my flaming red hair touched up and to deliver Jeanne the necklace I promised her. If you read the previous couple of posts, you'll know how stressed I was while trying to create it. Turns out, she liked it a lot. I'll post some photos below, and they came out well, but it's one of those necklaces that looks better on. She said she'd had a slow work week, so she didn't have any sales for me. Hopefully this week will be better. While my sister was having her hair dried (we make appointments together), Jeanne's friend & lunch date came in. Turns out she was someone I used to know years ago. I told her about my jewelry and showed her a few things, and she immediately fell in love with a pair of earrings made from my home made tin bead cap/connectors. So I'd made a sale after all, and gotten to reconnect with someone from the past.

I asked Jeanne if she'd mind if I posted a photo of my display and of course she didn't. She then suggested I write a bio with a picture for her to post next to it. That's a great idea, and I'll work on that this week.

 The necklace

 My display - small, but it works.

The earrings on the right are the ones my old pal bought. I didn't have time to take pictures of all
my new earrings before my appointment, so I snapped a few in their bags just for my records.

I Definitely Need My Staycation to Get Here!!!

It's not because I'm so burnt out and need time to relax. It's because I cannot handle the amount of inspiration I have going on in my head these last few weeks, and by the time I get home from 9 hours of work, I'm usually too tired/busy to accomplish much. And some of the things I want to do can't be done at night. For example, I was hammering my little heart out the other night when Steve told me he thought he heard our downstairs neighbor knocking. Oops! I've always lived in a house before. I'm not used to worrying about neighbors.

Then there's the desperate need to get to some of the many junk/antique shops and malls around town. That definitely calls for daylight hours. And of course there's all the life maintenance that's required, which currently includes the growing medical bills for my sweet little dog, Crazers. She has a bunch of problems (enlarged spleen, mysteriously tiny liver, fluid around her heart and lungs, arrhythmia, mammary tumors), and tonight she starts some diuretic medication to try to reduce the fluid in her chest. That means she'll be having to go for walks. Lots and lots of walks. At least if I'm stuck home all weekend, that means I have no excuse not to make tons of jewelry right?

Yesterday, I got in some recycled sari ribbon I'd ordered. I can't wait to play with it! I started a little last night, but didn't have much time to get too far. It's so beautiful, though - I have high hopes! Before I started that, I finished up a bracelet from my homemade fruitcake tin connectors. You can see a barn, a window from the house, a horse's head and his legs, and a wagon wheel. The beads are mookaite. It's super cute on, and if you're interested, it's for sale on my facebook page.

I also need to get busy on my necklace for the Art Bead Scene December Challenge. I was waiting for the sari ribbon to come in. The most crucial part about entering that challenge is that the necklace must contain a handmade art bead(s). If you click that link and look at the two paintings offered for inspiration, you'll notice the second one features a robin. Now remember back to a couple of blogs ago, and you'll recall this little fellow! Now could the timing have been more perfect or what?!?!! 

There are also many more ideas waiting in the wings, but I'll save them for future updates. I can't give away all my plans at once!

I'll leave you with a collage of some more recent earrings I've made. I'm going to be dropping them off at my hair salon tomorrow, along with a new batch of day of the dead earrings and pendants. All my other day of the dead stuff sold right away, so I was asked to make more. Yay! And thank goodness too, because with my sick lil doggie, I sure can use the extra income.

And just for fun, here's an old picture of Crazers showing her holiday spirit!

Fruitcake Put to Good Use

I spent much elbow grease and suffered several cuts on my fingers cutting up some tins this past weekend. And for my all my misery, I've got tons of bead caps & bead caps in waiting, and three finished pairs of earrings. I made the pieces pictured below into connectors rather than caps - but you get the idea. The first two come from a fruitcake tin a friend donated to my cause, and the third pair comes from my dad's massive stash of Altoids tins.

Cowboy & his boot.

These were the layers of a lady's long skirt.

Altoids.

I apologize for the sub-par photography, but with these short winter days, the only time I can catch natural light is on the weekends.

Again, I credit the amazing Lorelei for the inspiration for making bead caps out of old tins.