Adventures in Wire

I didn't mean to go over a week without a post but well, I did. Last weekend I went to a juried arts and crafts fair at the Morristown Armory and ordered my wedding band and bought Christmas presents. The wedding band is being created by Finestra (http://www.finestradesign.com/). She had this fantastic gold band that I loved but I wanted white gold so she said to give her 4 weeks and she'll have it ready. I'm going to try to not get too excited since the wedding isn't until July, lol!


So besides shopping I've also been creating lately. A few weekends ago I was playing with some tiny charm blanks and made these little ladies. Once my sterling wire order arrives I'll be turning them into earrings. I really enjoy making earrings, especially as gifts. It's funny, because even though my ears are pierced I hardly ever wear earrings. My friends never get tired of receiving them.

And since I'm getting ready for my wire order to arrive I've been practicing making earwires out of copper wire. I love copper because I can mess up over and over and it doesn't cost much to replace. I also attempted to make the pin base from Sharilyn Miller's wire book. I dont think it was bad for a first try. I didn't put any beads on because I didn't want to take the time to remove them if I messed up horribly.

Well, that's all for now. Join me next time when I post about my misadventures in glass fusing!

Just because it's not Christmas...

Doesn't mean you cant send your friends gifts! I finally finished the box! Stacey has been patiently waiting for a package to come from me and I had to keep telling her I wasn't finished with it yet. I have a bunch of goodies to put inside of it and a few that don't even fit in. I'm almost done with a pair of earrings for her too. I used some of Humble Beads (http://www.humblebeads.etsy.com/) wonderful polymer creations in the pair. When they're done I'll post em! Can you tell Stacey and I love the color blue?

So the nitty gritty about the box is that it was a papier mache base decorated with acrylic paints, krylon spray, ribbon, crepe paper, vintage french text, buttons and a glittery letter "S". The glitter is from the Martha Stewart collection. I normally wont buy her products but the glitter was just so sparkly (and I had a coupon).

I also attempted something other than collage and jewelry over the last few days. I made my first batch of lip balm. It's unscented with a beeswax base. It didn't come out as smooth as I'd hoped so I picked up some cocoa butter at the health food store on the way home today. I'll try my second batch tomorrow or this weekend. It does look pretty though.

And last, but certainly not least, I want to give a shout out to Hidden Haven for sending me an amazing package today! I ordered the unscented goat milk soap and lotion and she sent me a ton of stuff. Also, the bars of soap are huge! I tried the lotion before typing my blog and my hands feel so soft! So if you are looking to pamper yourself, go check out Hidden Haven.(http://www.hiddenhaven.etsy.com/)

That was fun!

I just got back from Atlantic City...literally. What a great weekend! I didn't win anything but it doesn't matter. I had fun playing some slots and doing some shopping. The Tropicana has this great shop called Farmer's Almanac. I got a sign that says, "There will be a $5 charge for whining", some tea and a stuffed turkey decoration since we currently have no holiday knick-knacks. I also bought tons of Jelly Belly jelly beans (they are soooooo good) at Sugar and some bath and body stuff at Borgata.

Since I wasn't around this weekend I didn't have time to craft but before I left I started on a surprise for my best friend. Once that's finished I'll post photos. As for the picture above, that's a piece I made before I started doing collage. It came at a time when I was starting to move away from stringing and in to wire-wrapping. It's a favorite of mine. I love the color, the beads and the texture of the entire piece. Sometimes it's just nice to take a look back.

Excuse the mess...

Why is it that every time you clean a room it suddenly ends up messy again? Oh, maybe it's because I keep collecting things! For instance, last weekend I picked up some nice minerals and fossils at the Franklin show. Aren't they cool? There were vendors inside and outside the school. I had no idea that this show has been held for 51 years. We originally went to the mine because we thought that's where it was being held. When we got there, they informed us it was down the road but since we were already at the mine we could take a tour or go digging out in the dump site. We went digging. Well, it's more like picking up and dropping. It shares the old dump site with the mine up the street. These mines are "famous" for mineral fluorescence (you can learn more at http://www.franklinmineralmuseum.com/) We managed to find some rocks that glow orange and pink. We didn't find a good green one so I bought one at the show. The odd looking white rock in the back turns green under a black light.

In addition to digging in the dirt, I've been working hard at getting ready for the holiday season. I just completed my cat pendants (the photo needs work). I absolutely love these! I was inspired by the neighbors cat who always follows me around. This week I'm going to start a dog series.

With all these pendants I needed someplace to store them. Well, I just received my new pendant display in the mail. I cant wait to do my first show and actually get to use it! It holds a ton of pendants and it rotates. It's got a great vintage look which is perfect for this line of jewelry. Time for me to get back to work.

Stopping In

It's been almost a week since my last post and I dont have too much time tonight to share as much as I'd like to. Last weekend I went to the rock show and I bought some fantastic little pieces. Apparently this show has been going on for 51 years! I dont have my camera with me right now so I'll be taking some photos over the weekend of the rocks, minerals and fossils I purchased. I'm also going to finish up the kitten series pendants this weekend so there will be photos of them as well. Tomorrow morning I'm heading off to an antique show at the Morristown Armory. I'm doubtful there will be anything in my price range but I think it will be fun just to go and look. Until then...