Garnet in Bloom

garnet bracelet with a silver plated blossom toggle clasp

This was meant to be a necklace, well the clasp was intended to adorn a necklace, but as I am woefully short of beads with our impending holiday this clasp has been appropriated into this lovely bracelet. I have just finished wearing it as wandered about the room, Thank god H is napping and M is at work, as I'm sure I looked like I had truly lost it, perhaps I have. I'm really pleased with the finished bracelet, I only wish the sun would make an appearance so I could take a picture with the light streaming through the polished garnet chips.

Sardonyx and Me

amethyst, peridot, and sterling silver bracelet

As we will be going away on holiday on Sunday, I have forbidden myself to order any more beads. Obviously that wont stop me buying any if we just happen to be passing a bead store or two while in California or Idaho in the next few weeks. But it has the effect that I am limited to the oddments of beads and toggles that are in my bead box(s) which is not enough to make any necklaces but I have scraped together enough beads to make these two bracelets.

The first has small faceted amethyst beads and oval shaped peridot, with a bali silver toggle clasp. I know I have done several purple and green items, mainly bracelets but I just adore the colour combination. Something about the vibrant peridot mixed with amethyst just shouts spring to me. Thoughts of Irises, and lilacs, and purple tulips spring to mind.

close up of the bali silver toggle clasp

The other bracelet I made today is this one with the large rectangular sardonyx focal bead in the centre. I fell in love with the bead in the shop and had to have it, but wasn't sure wat to do with it until now. It may get taken apart and remade before I'm happy and M says it looks like a 70's watch without a face. Let me know what you think.

sardonyx, smokey quartz, black agate, and silver bracelet

Three Horsemen Shy of an Apocalypse

amethyst and black agate bracelet

Not a great deal of crafting going on as Plague has revisted our house, H is quite poorly with a cold at the moment and has stayed home from pre-school today. In an attempt to keep him occupied and not to pouty we have packed his little carryon suitcase, painted a canvas, and now he is napping with very little protest. You know you are dealing with a poorly child when there is no tantrum at being sent for a nap.

While he splodged paint on a square canvas from The Works I darkened a small canvas down that I previously didn't like. I'm still not sure about it but I think it does look vaguely better than it did previously. H says my painting isn't pretty becuse I was using black but his was pretty because he used blue and red. I felt inspired to paint this morning but found it difficult to paint while keeping H from spilling things or sneezing into the paint pots.

I should be cleaning the house but thought I would mess around with the new camera instead of my phone camera. So thats what I used to take todays pictures. A vast improvement over the phone pictures I think. The amethyst and black agate bracelet that I made last night looks stunning, and the light wasn't even that great. Baking to do later, something with bananas as I have a fruit bowl full and need to clear it out before we go away.

H's painting on canvas

Fire Opals and The Dark Side of the Force

carnelian, fire opal, and sterling silver bracelet

tourmilinated quartz, onyx and silver bracelet

H's Jedi Knight bracelet

A few Items I have been beading today, the tourmilinated quartz and onyx bracelet is my favourite. And I love the fire opal beads, I have used up all my clasps so I need to wait for some beads and Clasps that I ordered to arrive next week. I do have some more felt to play with and two boxes of yarn I have been ignoring, I really must get on ravelry again.

H:"Mummy."

me: "Yes H."

H: after a long pause of gun and laser noises " will you make me a bracelet."

me: "What sort of bracelet? a blue one?"

H: "Um a Star Wars one. A Jedi Knight Bracelet." accompanied by light saber swooshing sound effects.

me: "What colour is a jedi knight bracelet?"

H: "Black... and um red. Red and Black are scary right?"

me: "Yes. Black and red can be scary. "

H: "Like baddies, like Darth Vader!" he then wandered off making battle noises and giving orders to invisible armies.

Gothic Necklace

onyx and garnet necklace with bali silver s clasp

I have not gotten much quality crafting time this week but have managed a few projects here and there. The above necklace I made last night in an attempt to have something to do to calm me after a tiring day of H doing that testing of boundaries that 4 year olds do. In other words he ignores everything I say then ends up in trouble or hurting himself and it all ends in fits of temper, floods of tears or unending whining that drives me up the wall. So last night while M was working on the computer I got my beads out and made this vaguely gothic necklace, it sits right at the bottom of my neck just above my collar bones, I love the s shaped silver clasp, I haven't decided to keep it or put it up in the shop yet when I update it on Friday.

The Java Jacket is for a friend, The colour is this beautiful lavender wool, and I love the huge button, which is semi recycled as I found it in a parking lot and thought I would snaffle it before a car ran over it and it would be an ex button. I tend to find lots of things, its a habit of looking at the ground to find arrowheads and things when walking in the fields with my dad when I was small. We lived in upstate New York and the Iroquois native american people had lived in the area long ago, so whenever the local farmers tilled the fields you could find arrowheads, loosely napped pieces of flint, beads, bits of pipes, and other pieces of the past. It was a game and an adventure to go for walks with my dad and see what new treasures we could discover.

lavender java jacket with wooden button detail

Carnelian

carnelian and silver bracelet

carnelian, garnet and silver bracelet

I have a commission to make a carnelian bracelet and these are two different examples. The top bracelet I'm quite happy with, I love the simple clean line of it. The carnelian and garnet one on the other hand I'm not happy with, the toggle clasp is too loose and I don't trust that if it was worn the bar would not wiggle around and slip off. I don't' think I shall be ordering any more clasps in that shape again. I have one other toggle clasp in stock and need to get some on order sharpish I am just trying to save my crafting pennies for a larger order of beads... so I best get busy with paint and brushes, wool and needles in the mean time... must keep busy.

I have finally gotten some knitting needles out again and am currently battling with some lavender coloured wool there will be pictures soon.

Carnelian: motivation, creativity, initiative, and inspiration.

Better Days

lavender jade earrings

I think my earrings are getting better. What do you think? I really like how these lavender candy jade earrings have turned out, I would be tempted to wear them myself if I actually had pierced ears. Yes I know I'm sad, 30 years old and untouched ears. I have a bit of an issue with needles, although I will sit and watch Maimi Ink, and LA Ink watching people squirm as they get tatooed with needles and I'm totally fine with that. Obviously I haven't had that particular pleasure either... I'm too indecisive to actually get anything that permanate done.

prehnite and amethyst pin

This pin is part of the Self Indulgence Challenge I posted on the Mumsnet Arts and Crafts Blog, I listened to Evenesence, The Open Door while I crafted, with a little bit of time I had been gifted by H going over to grandma's (my mother in law) house for an hour. I think it looks lovely, I love the colour purple, especially amethyst, and I think the amethyst and green prehnite look great together.

To make my day even better I got my Easter Swap present from Chloe, a lovely plush Easter Egg ornament, with my favourite "bruise" coloured buttons. She also stitched Meridian Ariel on the back, and included four faceted pear shaped amathyst beads, and a lovely little note too. Thank you Chloe!

button Easter Egg from Chloe

hand stitching of Meridian Ariel on the reverse of Egg

Lemon Yellow Sun

Yellow opal and smokey quartz

amethyst and yellow opal bracelet

Since the beads arrived this morning I have had Pearl Jam's "Jeremy" stuck in my head all day because of the colour, lemon yellow sun, though obviously not the sunniest of songs its still a good one. I must go dig out some Pearl Jam from the cd collection I haven't listened to them in ages. As it turns out I didn't need to get out the cd as Frizbe played it in the shop!

Where Has all the Sunshine Gone?

jade and amethyst earrings

Here are two more attempts at earrings... I'm not sure what to do with them yet, as I'm not sure they are up to scratch to sell yet, but I think I'm getting marginally better at bending the head pins. In any even I have ordered some more earring findings to play with and if I'm happy with them I will be putting them up for sale in the shop.

I also re-made the labrodorite and onyx bracelet, the chain was badly done and I wasn't happy with the clasp before. I think its much more effective now and I am very happy with the bracelet now. I have been working on doing some recycling crafts but that will need to wait for another day when i feel better and can finish the items and get them photographed.

garnet earrings

labradorite and onyx bracelet

first attept at earrings

nephrite jade and amethyst earrings

Here is the pair of earrings I made last night, the wire work is a little rough, but not too bad for a first attempt. Nephrite jade and amathyst on I believe stainless steel hypoallergenic backings i.e. the cheap ones as I dare not use silver just yet as I would most likely mess it up. And I would actually need to order silver findings first. This picture was taken in the 5 minutes of useable light when the sun almost peeked out from the fog this afternoon.

Nephrite and Cherry

amathyst and nephrite jade bracelet

Cherry Adventurine and sterling silver bracelet

Peppermint Tea Stained

The above picture was a sketch I did this morning, that I decided to do some further expirimenting with tea staining. She was drawn quick from an image in a magazine and I'm not really happy with her. I asked M, who was pottering in the kitchen to put the kettle.

me: "can you put the kettle on?"
M: "What for?"
me: "a cup of black tea, no milk, for this sketch."
M: "Tea staining?"
me: "yup"
M: "ok tea is ready."
I get up and go into the kitchen and look at the cup. "that isn't very black."
we both look down at the tea and M says:"I know I think I made green tea instead. give it a try."
so I shuffle off with the cup, a tray, and the sketch. A minute later I shout back. "Its not green tea its peppermint tea."

So now I have an ever so slighty peppermint tea stained sketch, that I still dont really like but I have been busy none the less.

rose quartz bracelet

square cut garnet and silver bracelet

I love the garnet even though the poor image quality dosent show the vibrance of the gemstone beads. Plus they are square and I love square beads. Better pictures soon I hope.

Bobbi's This n That

blue and clear jade and silver bracelet

close up of the beautiful beads

Lavender Candy Jade (dyed) and silver bracelet

another view

The beads for the above bracelets arrived in the post early yesterday morning. I ordered them from Bobbithisnthat etsy shop the other week and have been watching the letter box for them to arrive. ITs a lovely etsy shop with so many tempting beads, if only I had more money to spend on her georgeous beads. I shall be uploading the bracelets to the etsy shop later today, and posting more on my neglected blog. And hopefully getting in some sketching time and working on a write up for the next Mumsnet Arts and Crafts challenge.

oh and bake some valentine's cupcakes!

Hearts and Cards

Today M has given me the job of making some Valentine's cards for the studio, to be the presentation for some free portrait vouchers that will be one the table at a local (and very nice) Hotel. the above image and the little heart below are my crafting designs. I have made cards before, I once had a stint of them, many moons ago and as it has been so long it took me about two hours to design these and get them how I thought they should be... Simple, yet pretty, with the element of hand made, arts and crafts movement type of thing. I love the buttons anyway.

black water jasper bracelet

I was also asked to make this black water jasper and sterling silver bracelet for C at the studio.

uninspired day

onyx and silver bracelet

prehnite and amathyst necklace

same necklace diffrent view

I have managed to make the bracelet and necklace above, despite feeling at a loss today and very uninspired. I'm not quite sure about the necklace as it does match the bracelet in the previous post but I don't know about the silver wire.... it does look quite nice I suppose I just seem to have lost my mojo today so I think I will go in search of coffee and cake instead...

On a positive note M did scan a few sketches for me, I have more that need doing but as to what I will do with them then I don't know, I would like to do a few t-shirts but I need to figure out how to make the backgrounds transparent and other such technical things I am not in the right mind for today.

and blogger hates me too...

purple and green

prehnite and amethyst bracelet

ruby in fuschite beaded bracelet

I have added the prehnite and amethyst bracelet to the etsy shop,.. otherwise I might be tempted to keep it, and that will get me nowhere in my sales. The other bracelet is ruby in fuschite, which is a reworking of a ruby in fuschite bracelet that i made a while ago that went a bit wrong. It had a rogue bead on it that didn't match the other silver beads so now I have re-worked it as simply as possibly. I'm not quite sure about it yet.. its a very delicate piece, as the beads are quite small but they are vibrant and I love the green with hints of well fuscia I guess. let me know what you think if it should go up for sale or re-worked yet again.

M has taking the paintings in the last post into the studio to scan for me along with a few sketches. The sketches are for a few t-shirt ideas I have if it all pans out in the end.

Blue Sky at Night

storm front

The above picture was taken over Sainsbury's after M and I had finished shopping. The edge of a storm front, shame it wasn't over somewhere nicer than the grocery store really. I haven't gotten much crafting done today, as H is home but I did made the teal czech glass bracelet, the other two I made last night, before M and I went out to dinner like real people do, to Big Buddaha Thai Resturant in Belper, it was lovely and once the only other dinning couple left we were the only ones there, rather antisocial social outing, or soemthing to that effect. I didn't mind it was a great meal and the service was good, it was just very quite and off season middle of the week, so in other words absoloutly perfect for us.

tommorow while H is at preschool I will be updating the etsy shop, as well as painting, crafting, and baking. busy day.

teal czech glass beaded bracelet

amathyst and sterling silver bracelet

ice flake quartz and white onyx bracelet

A Paler Shade of Green

pale green prehnite pebble and silver bracelet

I have just made this during my coffee break time but now its back to cleaning the house. I was meant to paint some canvases today but had to take H for his injections this morning. He was very brave only cried a little bit, but I did too, I hate needles almost as much as I hate gondola (cable car) rides.

close up of the toggle

The Jewellery Tree

the jewellery tree

Today started out on a rather sour note but I'm in better spirits now, which migth have something to do with the can of coke I just swigged down, or the fact that I can see actual real sunshine for the second day in a row. In any event todays crafting hour could have gone better, I stuck with it till the bitter end but I'm a little frazzled now.

The only bracelet I made that I didn't manage to have some minor disaster with was the amathyst one, its very simple and went together beautifully. The ruby fuschite one has a rogue bead on the end that dosent match the rest, the garnet I measured wrong so its small and will only fit a small wrist. Which is definitly not mine. The coloured jade one was the 4th or 5th attempt at a new jade and amathyst that went horrifically wrong, and now its jade coins instead. They or at least some of them may go up in the shop later. I think I will get some nice safe knitting out and see if I manage to not poke my eye out.

I'm making pizza for dinner, from scratch, I made tomato and red pepper soup yesterday so that will be today's pizza sauce. I have never made pizza dough before but based on todays disasters I have some frozen pizza in the freezer just to be on the safe side. Oh I forgot to say about the little wire jewellery tree, I found it in the lovely little shop at Caudwell's Mill yesterday. Its very sweet displays my bracelets nicely.

oval shaped amathyst bracelet

three colours jade bracelet

ruby fuschite and silver bracelet

garnet and silver bracelet