Back in the Worshop

After way too long of a time tending to numerous family matters, I am back to seriously working my craft again. And not a moment too soon. When I don't get to express my creativity regularly it builds pressure until it and I blow like a volcano!

Maybe saying back in the workshop is a bit of an exaggeration, as the workroom has been one of the casualties of moving my daughter's family back in with us... but little by little I am uncovering my space, and each day brings the surprise of old treasures unearthed. Meanwhile the dining room has become my workspace, which is not a bad thing, since it is sooooo much warmer there, near the woodstove! My fingers work better when they are warm!

I had a very successful homeshow last week, and it has renewed my hopes of getting that venue back up and running too... it is so gratifying to be right there with the ladies as they ooh and ahh and fight over the one of a kind pieces! LOL and heading home with a pocketful of cash is nice too! I am so glad I set up with propay to take credit cards too! It had really enhanced my bottom line!

So today is wirewrapped pendant day, I have some lovely cabs that are calling my name and longing for a good home, close to the heart of the right woman! Have a wonderful day all!

200 Pair of Earrings and 200 Advil for the Pain

Ok, so for years I have figured that I have managed to avoid the OCD tendencies that run rampant in my family. I have siblings who obsess about their appearance, how clean their homes are, is there a scuff on the kitchen floor, is every i dotted... My house is always 'lived in' , I gained weight and let my hair get gray at times... let's face it, perfection I am not!

So who thought that deciding to participate in The Little Black Boxes for October would turn out to be anything but fun? I love making jewelry, so what was the problem?

I started out in September making a few pair of earrings a day. I figured I would send an assortment of 50 pair to Kim and that would be pretty darn good. Well as September grew to a close, I thought maybe 100 pair would be better. So I came up with a cute little design for wire wrapped ear studs that I could still afford to make. With practice, (which you DO get when making 50 pair of anything) I got my speed up and decided to go for broke and make another 100 pair!

And then, it wasn't done when I finished producing. No, I needed to come up with cute packaging and promos for this... which involved punching 2 holes in each of 200 business cards and then bagging them and putting TWIST ties on 200 bags! LOL

You know how when you hike , the excitement gets your endorphins going and you don't feel the pain til a day or two later? Well the same process comes into play when you are maniacally making ear studs. I got all 150 pr of these made in just a couple days, but my hands and right fore arm were at once painful and somehow numb. It took a couple days before I could actually sense feeling anything with my fingertips! The pads on my forefingers and thumbs were actually bruised! My wrists screamed when I tried to pick the soup pot up off the stove...

So out came the advil and out came the microwaveable hand spa and there was paraffin treatments on the hour for 2 days!

Well enough said, I will save the next 1000 words and show you some pictures.




200 pair of earrings packaged and sitting on my big enough for a 6 footer and his honey loveseat.

Below, a sampling of what I sent in its (I think) adorable packages







Well I think it is time for my next dose of advil to quell the pain!

It finally gelled

Sometimes it takes me a little while for the simplest things to click. I have been attempting a version of Dale Armstrong's Anything Goes ring for a while now. It just wasn't clicking... I kept making a mess of it. Well this morning I decided to give it another go and wow! Success!
Here it is
I am in love with it! This one is for me, but I will be making more in a similar style to include in the pink for Breast Cancer promotion on etsy... I love it when I finally get a technique down!

Getting Back to My Roots

Sometimes it seems no matter how far we try to move ahead, we come round, full circle. Both my grandmothers were very talented women. Both were seamstresses for a large part of their careers. And both liked to crochet to relax.
Crochet was one of the first arts I learned outside of school. That and sewing. I remember having some awful stomach flu when I was about 11 or 12 and being stuck in bed all day for more than a week... so I got together all my scraps of yarn and my crochet hook, and crocheted a bikini! No pattern, I just kept fitting it as I went along. Well my bikini days are long gone, but I still crochet.
And now I am doing it in 30 gauge silver filled wire. I have been having so much fun! It started with a simple neck chain/ cord... then a bracelet and last night I crocheted around a beautiful dichroic cab ! No pictures yet as I have once again misplaced the cord to connect the 'puter and camera.
It is at once exciting, as is any new creative endeavor, and relaxing, with the steady rhythym of the hook sliding in and out. It is so gratifying to see the sparkling silver turning into a fabric-like piece! And it is creatively invigorating, as new ideas keep popping into my head!

I love days like this!

New Sale

I currently have two Etsy Shops. One is BeadBrat Originals which has been open since May. The other is Budjit BeadBrat which I only opened last week. That site is for more inexpensive pieces, because I believe every woman should be able to get something out of the ordinary.

Last night while I was playing online, I made my first sale from the Budjit site ! How fun! It was for these earrings...


I really loved the idea of them, and I am so glad someone else does too!

Giving in

So maybe fall is just around the corner. The nights have been cool, the days pretty comfortable. I want it to be summer forever, but it doesn't look like I am getting my wish. 11 starts back to school in just over a week... that's a sure sign of fall in New England. So I am giving in and starting a new fall line, with leaves as the focus. In doing so I hope I am inviting nature to laugh and give us an Indian summer... LOL
Here is a picture of my 1st piece for this line





I plan on 4 or 5 more pieces with a similar theme. This is for my BeadBrat Originals line. I have some neat leaf shaped thing to make up for the Budjit shop as well, plan to get them on sometime tomorrow..

So do you think my reverse psychology will work for mother nature?