No time to catch up

I wont be able to finish the Fusion Beads bead challenge, I just have too much stress and serious family illness going on.
I hope to continue working on other project ideas in the future, but for now, bringing my work to the hospital everyday just isn't practical. The first time I brought beads to my mother's room, I dumped half the container before I even completed a row of peyote stitch! I was completely mortified!
She has surgery to repair a thoracic aortic aneurysm tomorrow, and my younger sister will have a cancerous tumor removed on Friday. My energy is focused on being there as best I can for both of them.
Thanks, KK

At least the weather isn't as depressing as I feel.

Days 7-10

Day 7: use a new metal. I think the only metal I've never used is platinum, and I wasn't making a special trip tp the craft store for findings I can't really afford, just for a challenge. So I used some green craft wire that id never tried, not a new metal, but a new form of it.

I skipped day 8, I didn't feel well, and there's another social day on the calendar, so I'll just combine them.

Day 9: incorporate beads in a non jewelry project. I was going to add a beaded fringe to a piece of silk I bought at the salvation army store a couple weeks ago, but I need a sewing machine to give it a finished edge first, otherwise it'll fray and come right off. I thought about just heming it by hand, but that'll give the edge bulk when I add the beads…so I made a beaded hearts keychain charm.

Day 10: use a found object in a jewelry design. Technically I bought it, but my nephew found it at the Indianapolis  Children's Museum and begged me to get it for him. The rock is pyrite, or fools gold, and I wrapped it like the shells. The wires are gold colored and I did the frame like the others, but the wire 'rope' is crocheted 34 guage wire…and it didn't hold even for a whole day. So back to braiding, it just looks better than plain straight wire.
Day 11: make a beaded gift. It's not the finished piece for today, but I have to leave it here and head to work in a few minutes, so instead of being behind on my posts again, I'll just post the prototype…I have baby ears, so I can't give that one away…and I didn't make it today.

That's me all caught up on my Fusion Beads 30 Day beading challenge. I posted the link in a couple other blogs if you want to follow along.

Day 6: make a color pallet

I cheated though.
I usually mix up my seed beads in the colors I want to work with using the old empty tubes. I had to restock and added new colors. So I mixed up a bunch of beads, and now I guess I'm ready for a new batch of beadweaving projects.

Days 4 and 5 of Fusion Beads' 30 Day Challenge

I've been participating in Fusion Beads' 30 Day Bead Challenge for National Craft Month.
I've been working more at my day job this month too, because I'm the only one there that doesn't get paid vacation :\ Yes, I'm that person that stays at a job I hate because it gives me more time for the things I love. More hours for me, but less hours for my love of all things crafty.

Day 4's challenge was to organize our work stations, as I keep mine portable, I don't have a station to organize, so I reorganized my bead boxes…good way to remind myself why I'm too poor to buy a new car…and why I don't NEED to use that coupon for 20% off.

Day 5 was to incorporate chain in a piece of jewelry. I do this so frequently I had to think about it most of the day before I settled on the most simple piece I've ever made. I had bought some beads from an artist at the Op Shop (Kokomo Opalescent Glass or KOG), and was disappointed to find that the holes were too big to use in the beadweaving pieces I'd been working on. And even making them wire wrapped links felt awkward and wobbly…but some of the chain I had fit perfectly. And I've decided to learn Viking knit to do the same with the rest of them. Maybe I won't feel so terrible about spending four bucks per bead if I can make something unique out of them.

Day 2: use leftover beads and Day 3: learn a new beading technique

Yesterday's post wouldn't publish, so now I have two updates.
Day 2 was use leftover beads. I think it's understood that all crafters hold on to leftovers, whether it's scrap, or samples, or fillers, we all have that box or bag or in my case, a little cookie tin, full of bits and bobs that "I'll find some use for, surely." I have lots of those to choose from, actually, being a craft addict, I have a whole 33 gallon tote of bits and bobs I'll find some use for, someday…surely.
Add my first attempt at a cuff that I'd tossed to the side. And well, my niece loved it, lol.

Day 3: learn a new beading technique. I had to work today, stayed up late working on something for work, and had to run errands this morning. So, I was really glad I hadn't gotten around to learning this one yet. It's called a bead wrapped cord technique. But the beads end up center of the cord. And keeping with the recycle theme, the organic cotton twine was leftover from a crochet project; and the butterfly button is actually a cord crimp that was originally attached to a hair elastic I used to pull my hair in bun with :)

March is National Craft Month

And I'm psyched. I'm going participate in Fusion Beads' 30 Day Bead Challenge.

http://www.fusionbeads.com/beadingfaq/InfoChart.php?bfid=161

And I'm not goin to stop there. I'm preparing to add my handmade items to a shop just north of the town center, and with that, I'm going to have my own giveaway and challenge on my Facebook fan page (if the link isn't around here somewhere, it's accessible through the galleries on the right).
And I'm sewing machine window shopping! At the moment I'm still on the fence about how much I want to spend and how much I need it to do. I haven't used one in a long time, I don't want to go wild with it and discover I could've made do with a simple one, you know?
These earrings are what I made for Day 1:

Top and bottom ear cuffs

Wire, wire, wire

Oh my poor fingers are sooo sore, but I'm happy with the few things I've learned. I bought myself a small, cheap wig jig, and it's really been awsome for the smaller S links. And a few pendants and earrings managed to find their way out of my wire.
My favorites…so far…are the ear cuffs

Empty hearts update

Ooooh I like that, empty hearts, I'll have to use that…but not for this one, I already have plans for these.

As I feared, most of the resin sank to the bottom as it hardened, and so the walls were too thin even to remove the the hearts from the mold. But I don't give up easily…and my mother always called it stubbornness, more like focused perseverance :)

It's a good thing I can mix the ice resin in small batches, because as I was brainstorming I came up with a brilliant plan. I just have to do them in six layers. And prop the mold in the direction I want each to settle. And wait six hours between each layer. And then another mix to put them together. And three days to cure before I add the liquid. And another mix to seal it up and add the bail...easy peasy. =|

If you don't hear from me again, I've just lost my mind, that's all.

It made me nervous

I ordered ice resin back at the begining of January, and I've been dying to play with it, but it gave me heart palpitations. I know how stupid that sounds, but seriously, everything I read about using it talked about how unforgiving it was…and this stuff isn't cheap.
So I decided to start small, just half an ounce, which as it turns out, isn't so small. I covered four butterfly stickers to give to my nieces and still had a ton of ice resin left over. Since I'd read all about the stuff before I got up the nerve to actually use it, I knew it could be used in silicone molds, and I just happened to have some heart shaped silicone ice cube trays i wasn't using…but they're waaaay to big to fill completely, so I decided to "paint" the sides and bottoms. So far…it's not really working :(

The problem is that silicone works so well with ice resin because it doesn't stick…yeah. Not so smart. So I've been getting up every few minutes to swirl it around the molds hoping it'll get thick enough to stop sinking to the bottom. Right now it's at corn syrup consistency, and I'm hopeful. I'll update in the morning, but it's gonna kill me to have to wait that long =[

I can make that

My niece never even asked for the one's we had at work. She went straight to feathers at JoAnn's and said, "Aunt Det, you can make those feather things like at your work."

I couldn't resist her big brown eyes or her I-know-you-won't-say-no grin.

So then she wore hers to school on Tuesday, and when I asked her if she liked it…she said "Yeah, we've got three orders." Lol.

I hope her friends like them, I made her help me with them. And for being such a sport I made her some earings.

I wrote a really long blog

And my blogger app deleted it while I was trying to post it :(
I don't really have the energy to go into it all over again, but I wanted to share my new project.
Long story shortened, two problems + two solutions = 4 new projects ;)

Problem 1: The butterlfly's wings kept folding in on itself (and JoAnn's clearanced all their silver to 97¢ because it was getting stolen…yeah, scratching my head at that one myself). Solution 1: make my own S links from head pins.
Problem 2: I had two butterflies, and one chain that was too long as one and too short to split. Solution 2: bead link extenders.

New projects: Build your own bracelet (or whatever you fancy).
I haven't taken pictures of the others yet, but there's paper clip bookmarks; and a way to convert pins (broach) to slider pendants that will also work for making polymer clay and ice resin pendants.

I like to remember my Grandmother

I've been racking my brain for a way to display/wear her seashell collection. I saw a picture of this done with sea glass, and I immediately thought of her shells, they've sat in a coffee can on top of my bookcase for nearly two years. It was nice to look them over, just the way she did over the years as she gathered them to remember all the places she'd been.
I wanted it to look more nautical than just wrapped wire, though, so I braided 28 guage wire before weaving it through the loops and around the shell, to make it look like braided rope that you would see on deck or sectioning off areas of beach.

My heart morphed into a butterfly

Seriously, it's more like the abstract flower garden of a few days ago, but I wouldn't have thought of it without the hearts. I think though, for the next one, I'm going to try building from a right angle weave for the body, and then switch to the triangle weave (flowers) for the wings.

This is why I don't sleep =}

Surprisingly simple…

And super strong. Honestly I've never bothered with brick stich till now because I thought it was weak; that structurally, it wasn't as sound as, say, flat peyote stitch, because each bead is sewn onto the thread that binds the beads beside or beneath it. But it's actually stronger because it sews each bead to the one beside it, and the two beneath (or beside). I'm so excited by all the possibilities.

Spring dreams

Usually I'm all over winter, from the cold to the snow, and warm cups of coffee, tea, or cocoa…just between you and me, I usually have at least one of each throughout the day…but this year I'm looking forward to the warm-up. Maybe it's the thyroid medicine, or maybe I'm just getting old, all I know, my body is protesting any drop in temp below 45°F . I started to go out for a walk today, and abandoned it before I got a block from the house. I miss my walks, I miss my flowers, I miss spring.
So I finished this instead.
The basic technique the snowflakes and hearts are based on is a flower motif. I wanted to see what it would look like if I built on just the flower motif in an abstract fashion.
Not perfection, but I like it anyway.

Another idea stolen

I've taken a few liberties with her pattern, but these are essentially Deborah Roberti's beaded heart pendants.

http://www.aroundthebeadingtable.com/Tutorials/Heart.html

I made the first set, and several others, last week. But I'm going to redo them to reflect my changes, and so that I can add the handmade wire wrapped stirling silver bails I just made (entirely my own, no stolen ideas in those :)
I wish I could show just how blingy these really are, though; especially that last one. Those are micro faceted, crystallized, fire polished, clear glass rondelles, and they do not photograph well.

Might've gone a little overboard

Particularly since I can't sell them, unless I get permission. So I might have to make suncatchers out of the one's I'm not using for birthday gifts.
Up next: hearts :)

Thanks again @beadingdaily

I've been known to download those free teaser patterns book publishers put out, and websites draw you in with, but this os the first time I've ever actually used one that wasn't just a new technique. It was just too gorgeous not to try it though. Honestly, it was the sparkle that caught me, but i'd been playing around with, and failing miserably at, my own snowflakes using seed beads. I had thought I could do the pattern (http://www.larkcrafts.com/jewelry-beading/diane-fitzgerald-project/) as instructed, but as I read it I realized I just couldn't afford to use the same materials.
I used size 10 and size 6 white ceylon glass seed beads. And I have to say, even though it doesn't have that icy crystalline uniformity of Diane Fitzgerald's pattern, I absolutely love these. Guess I'll have to add her book to my "when I win the lottery, this will be in my library" list. (Think I have a new pinterest pin board :)

2012