Life has been crazy.... Some of what I have been up to.

Wow, life has been crazy and I did not realize I had not made a post in so long. A lot has happened both in my creative life and in mom/grandma world.. Where to start. I am still making jewelry, mostly piece by piece commissions. And always tourist trade pieces.

We are having a run on babies this last year so guess I will start there and tell what I have been up to.

 These little books have become my passion. First up my latest. Actually finished last night.

My latest project this lovely fox/squirrel house. This was a Master Class I took with Olga @ https://vk.com/club38293465.

Then there is this little over the moon gem. Still on top of my favorites list. This pattern cam from LittleDear on etsy. https://www.etsy.com/shop/littledear . 

My first jump into the quiet book world... well, first one in many, many years. I made them for my kids... um 30+ years ago.. was this fairy doll house.

Pattern and inspiration credit must be given to Noialand.  https://www.etsy.com/shop/Noialand

Here is a start of what I have been up to. I will try in a day or so to show my new jewelry..   Deb

Getting a start on Christmas

It's been hot here. So metal work is out of the question. Just can't bring myself to fire up the torch. So I am getting a start on some Christmas presents.. First is some bunny slippers. Followed by by a whale tote.. Next on the to do is a lady bug tote. Hope it turns out as cute as the whale.

Hot Days Of Summer

It has been exceptionally hot here in Michigan this summer. I have not spent alot of time in my studio because of this. Here are some of the things I have created.

Took a liitle creative adventure and made some specialty aprons for my daughter. i have never purchased fabric in a fat quaters bundle. These were fun to piece together. It was fun getting the machines out and playimg for a couple of days.

Ohh boy I did it again… got sucked up by life events..

Sorry again.. that it has been so long since my last post. But I have been busy. I have a new toy. A hydraulic press. I am enjoying creating with it a lot. Here is some of what I have been doing.

It's been a feather kind of month. I will get around and show some of my other creations. These can be a little teaser for whats to come. ;p

Still here...

Boy.. it's been awhile. I had a fun and very hectic summer. Most of it spent with my grandkids. I did manage to have a little creating fun too. I was also lucky enough to add to my tools dream list
The latest of my finds is this ring stretcher.

Excuse the bench mess. I'm getting ready to pour some resin

I also picked up these interesting shaped vabs.. looking forward to playing with them.

Out of my box

My focus has been on improving my metalsmithing skills and I'm sad to say my blogging has felt the results of that. I will try to do better.

One of my goals for the second half of 2014 is to "work out of my box" two times a month. I struggle with beading. I would much rather be pounding metal. One of my other goals is to incorporate some of my past skills from the fiber industry.  One of those skills is kuhimiho. I used to do this japanese weaving on a much larger scale. Lately I have seen beaded necklaces created in this style... here is my first attempt.  I already see changes for the future.. but it was fun to do a dip into my past.

Winter is over and spring has sprung with lots of inspiration

Hello everyone… Welcome spring and new adventures.

I have been off the grid for a bit. Well, the blogging grid that is. It's been a busy winter. And what a winter it was. I'm going to do a quick catch me up.. so be prepared 6 months in a flash…..

******One quick disclaimer.. At this time I have no affiliation with any products or shared tutorials. Other than maybe belonging to a shared interest group. I simply share this information to pass on knowledge.

Give me a hammer, a flame and a piece of metal and I'm in heaven.

My latest project was been this air chased bracelet. The inspiration came from this tutorial video posted in a metals group I belong to. Kharisma is a wealth of inspiration and energy. It's fun to watch her videos and get all caught up in her enthusiasm . This was so much fun that I have made a few more.

My Mule Team earrings. I am addicted to this process. Sarah Boo's Musing shared her process here. As you can see I did not get the red but love the purple and coral tones I did achieve. I have my notebook out and taking notes. Will be changing up the water (used tap here) to bottled and distilled. I used my MAP torch. Going to try it with butane and propane. Sounds like a whole blog post dedicated to the process.

In my Charming world.. I participated in a bird, a caged bead, game piece, watch parts and a gift card swaps. At one point this was sitting on my bench.

Up close and personal… charms, charms, charms…. Fabulous swaps and so much fun.

Lucky Squirrel white shrink plastic,  sharpie pen and rubbing alcohol. I created a faux bone effect with my chick in a dress by Invoke Arts. I wish I could remember what die the bird cut out is. Its a set of two and a fairly new die.. like released the last 6 months.

Bird pendant using Spellbinder/SLK Media Mixage  house die cut out of some 30 gauge copper and then embossed with Vintaj's India Archway and Woodland birds dies .

Caged bead swap. I made these brass cages first. Then reread the instructions to realize they needed to be made of silver..  No hurt feelings here. I was really debating on sending them any way. I like them so much. They are created with brass beads, bead caps and jump rings. I colored the center bead with Vintajs Opalite patina.

Caged beads that were the result of following the rules.. lol. Don't you hate it when you are so excited about a project and skim the rules.. Lampwork bead, wire, bead caps and balled heads pins.. Simple as that.

I hosted this swap in a charm group I belong to. Actually all these charms are for ArtCharms yahoo group. The rules for this was to create something from those pretty gift cards we all get. Here was my contribution.. Steak and Shake. It was hard to get a good picture. They are metallic and holographic. Plus of I loved that 50's feel.

 This was such an amazing swap. I will have to ask if I can share some of the others creations. I was totally amazed and what others created.

Game piece swap. Above in the tray is a pile of space ships. Those came from a game my boys had and I just couldn't get rid of them. Below monopoly. I used wooden house shapes and covered them with monopoly chance and community chest cards and then sealed them. Each one is different. Again another fun swap.

Last but not least.. watch parts. I just finished these up. This one was a struggle for me. I have many prototypes. Shrink plastic which I ran through my printer and then used watch gears.

Well folks that does it for now. Many, many more things to share and on the bench. But this turned out to be a long post. I just couldn't stop and or decide what to share.. so went for it all. Enjoy.