Seasons Greetings

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas!  Santa brought me a white Christmas this year.  It is already melting, but the big storm will soon come tomorrow.  I'm sure I'll find that less enjoyable :-)    But it was nice to wake up to a pretty white coating of snow.

Kuan Yin Navy Blue Pendant

Kuan Yin is often seen as the saint of mercy and compassion in Asian religions.  I created a pendant based upon a vintage form and used it as a pendant on this necklace.  I've used shades of dark blue, crystal, and silver.

She is painted clay, made in my silicone mold.

Navy Molded Clay Clipon Earrings

These clip on earrings were an experiment.  Firstly, I made a mold from a vintage button.  I created a cabochon from white polymer clay, and painted it many times over with different colors of blue paint and then sealed it.

The second part of the experiment is to glue these cabochons to clip on backs that have a glue pad.  They seemed to adhere well.  I spent a long time deciding how large a cabochon I could use (I have many vintage buttons I can mold!).  These doorknocker motif molds are rather small.  I could not use anything too much smaller, or the metal clips would show when worn.  I could not decide if a bigger cabochon would look odd or not.  I'll leave that for another experiment.

Happy Thanksgiving 2012

I wish you all a wonderful Thanksgiving.  Here are some flower pictures for you.  Enjoy the day!

Anyone for clay?

I found these photos in my computer.  A while back, I was making some decorations with polymer clay and I was experimenting with color mixing.  Do you do this too?  I was attempting to get the correct color of dusty red.

I need to cut out tiny even circles of different colors to see how the colors came out.  I had a color in my head and was trying to match it!  The tough part is remembering the formula and documenting it to find it later.

Of course, now I cannot remember what item I made with it. 

Cream Oval Pearl Earrings

I recently made these clip on earrings using oval (rice) ivory pearls, accented with the tiny round white pearls.  I think it is a nice classic look, and will probably make a pierced pair for myself soon!

Silver Cable Necklace

I found this cute pewter pendant and thought I would try it with a cable necklace.

The cable chain is a bit flexible but stays in a circle around the neck.
It closes with a barrel clasp.  I think it is an interesting look.

Brass Fan Earrings

I've used these cute little brass fan connectors in earrings.   I thought the olive green and turquoise crystals were nice accent colors for the brass.

I'm not so sure about using these connectors in necklaces or bracelets.  They might flop around.  They do show off nicely in earrings, however.

Pink Crystal Illusion Necklace

This is a 3 strand crystal illusion necklace.  I have done them in clear crystal using either gold or silver wires, but this time I decided to do it in pink.  It was nice to find some beading wire in pink.

Name that Flower!

These were such pretty flowers that I had to take a picture.  But what is the name of this beauty? 

Aren't they nice with the other blue whats-its?  They are at least 3 feet high, with plummy-mauve petals and creamy white petticoats.  Yes, I am just making up the flower terminology here. 

Can you also see the purple spikey things?  Like most of my photos, these will enlarge if you click on it.  I was very impressed with these flowers, and when I get a garden again maybe I will plant some (if I can figure out what they're called).

Decoupage Patio Table

This table is part of a patio set bought some time ago.  The table originally had a tile top that apparently was extremely fragile.  Yes, I broke it easily when attempting to move the table.  My goal was to get a top for the table that would be less fragile and not as heavy as that darn ceramic tile top.  Here is the poor unfortunate table without any top.  How can I rest my lemonade on this?

As I was browsing in a local A.C. Moore store, I found an easel that was just the right size.  I removed the metal clips and painted it with DecoArt Americana paint in "Mississippi Mud", a taupe color that coordinates with the patio furniture.

I cut photos of flowers for a floral decoupage and mod podged the living daylights out of it.  At first I had issues with wrinkles in the photos, but I was putting too much mod podge on each piece.  The first layer needs thin coats.  Then I used a roller to smooth out the photos and added several more coats of mod podge, allowing each coat to dry thoroughly before applying the next. 

The finished project is a nice little table which brings the look of a flower garden on to my little patio.
I'm ready to relax outside with my lemonade now!

Pretty Pewter Goodies

I recently won a pack of pretty pewter (say it three times quickly) from a twitter contest at Happy Mango.  There are some charms, findings, and other things in this nice little pack, and I haven't yet decided what to do with them.  I have a photo of each piece, so you can think about what you would do with it.
 

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Happy Easter

Happy Easter!  I have the Easter Bunny in my backyard, and hopefully he'll bring us all some chocolate eggs.  He doesn't appear overly ambitious to me, but he's got until Sunday to finish his tasks.  We are having lovely Spring weather here, and I hope wherever you are, you have sunshine also.

Large Gray Pearl Clip On Earrings

I recently made these large gray pearl earrings for a member of a wedding party.  I think gray is such an elegant color. 

These are 16mm which are a bit difficult to find sometimes.  They are on clipon earring backs.

Purple and Lilac Stretch Bracelet

I used this really pretty crystal and brass connector to make a two strand stretch bracelet.

One row has pearly pale lavender beads.  The other row has translucent glass beads in two kinds of purple, a blue based purple and a red based purple. 

Jade Buddha Head

I picked up a strand of antique jade Buddha head beads at a bead show a while back. I liked them, but then had a difficult time deciding what to do with them.  They are a bit large and heavy, so they don't lend themselves to earrings.

 I eventually made a necklace with one bead as a pendant, using organza ribbon.  I think I was in a "ribbon phase" at the time.  I combined it with some pewter beads.

The bead is also too large and awkward for bracelets.  I might attempt a different design with chain or cord.  I don't want it to be paired with anything heavy, because then it would make for a really heavy necklace.  I'll continue to muse over this for a while.  I still really like the beads.