I just love etching...

I love etching.. and on copper I am in heaven.  I have been looking through my stash of rubber stamps and decided to play and see what kind of etchings some of them would make..

As with all experiments some work and others not so much. I liked this one so much that I put it together as a gift for my mom. Hopefully by this posting it has arrived to her in Florida.

Cackling Witches and moon flowers

It's been a busy week. So busy that I forgot to share this project with you. Feels good to jump back in and play. My first project since my rotator cuff surgery in June. Still not at 100% but sure felt good to get my hands dirty again. I'm participating in a couple of swaps over at ArtCharms. One is a halloween and the second is the monthly color dangle which is, what else but black and orange with copper findings.

Our challenge for the Halloween swap was of course Halloween and copper findings. I chose this profile witch image stamp. I have been wanting to get the etching pot out for some time.

I created a moon flower dangle. Of course copper wrapped. I'm excited to get these back. I think I will have some wonderful additions to my halloween charm tree.

Junque Jewelry Charms

I recently participated in a Junque jewelry swap over at ArtCharms. I completed 2 sets. One was using a green beaded necklace.

You can see the bundle of beads from the necklace after I had disassembled it here.

The other set was created with some 1996 Atlanta Olympic Pins that I was lucky enough to run across a stash of them at a local recycle store I shop at called Learning from Scratch.

Here is a short pictorial overview of how they were created. Here are the components I started with.

Some of the steps I took in coloring and assembling. First time I used Ranger Vintaj dye patina. It has some interesting effects. To get the full color you really need to let it sit over night. It does change from the initial look of first application. Overall I am happy with the coloring.

This swap has gotten me interested in what else I can create from unwanted pieces of jewelry. Has me looking at sales for more.

Charms..

Belinda Spiwak over at Crazy Art Girl's Musings hosted a charm swap for those of us attending CREATE. I had so much fun designing my charms. My bird in a nest was assembled by twisting several strands of fine wire. Then I wove the wire into a nest, added some small seed beads for eggs and had this cute little bird bead to sit on her eggs. My flower is created with lucite flower beads that I purchased at this adorable bead shop I found in Downers Grove called Bead Heaven. If I ever get unpacked I will share what everyone created.

Another Create Day

This workshop was presented by Belinda Spiwak. We made ATC's with lots of dimension covered in resin. This was way out of my box. For some reason I have a had a fear of resin and I'll admit it, I'm not a big fan of making ATCs. Love to collect them though. It was a great class for my last day. Belinda was charming, set up a wonderful workspace, shared a treasure trove of goodies with us and made everyone feel relaxed. Everyone created some wonderful pieces. A must do with Belinda if you are interested in resin.

We used Tim Holtz dies from Sizzix and the Vagabond. This was a fun class. It was my first experience with Smooch and Little Windows Resin which I see myself using more of.

Another fabulous retreat day.

Create Chicago 2011

I'm back home from a wonderful artful week in Chicago at Create. Cloth Paper Scissors Retreat. I had a blast, learned so many fantastic new things, met some fantastic people and had a chance to work out of my box. I'm going to share this week what I did. The first workshop was Burlap and Paperclay,instruction by Sue Pelletier. Both of these items out of my box and color that I don't normally work in, unless in a RR and it is required... with no more tadoooo here is what I created ....