Check out this giveaway!

Aren't these some awesome beads?

These are just a few that are part of a giveaway on my friend Lana's blog.

Go over to her blog for a chance to win these Jangles beads along with a BUNCH of other awesome hand made beads.

You have until Monday to enter to win!!! So go check out the BLOG now!!

Happy May!

I think the busyness of my life may be slowing down a wee bit!  I have finished up a good chunk of my orders, last Saturday was the last farmers market until October, and I have lots and lots of fresh ideas brewing in my brain.

One of my items that has been really popular are my quilted journal covers.

This was one of the last I did for an order:

The above picture is the front, and below is the back.....

Here is the entire cover.....

Do you see that ultra cute fabric in the *grass* that has flowers with black and white striped petals?  I won that fabric in a giveaway on the Jennifer Jangles blog.

Go and check out Jennifer's blog and the side tab has all the links to her Etsy shop, Flickr, and website.

She is an amazing ceramic artist who now designs really funky, fun lines of fabric.

This is the stack of fat quarters that I won:

I could only bear to cut off a strip to use for the grass on this journal.  I must get my hands on some more, then I wont be so possessive over these pieces!

Today I am trying my hand at stenciling on fabric.  Waiting for the paint to dry is the worst part.  I will be back tomorrow to show you the results ~ hopefully it turns out!

Pay It Forward 2011

With all the chaos going on in the world right now life can be pretty depressing.  It is so confusing who to help and which cause to donate to.  There are small things we can do for the people around us that make a difference and cause a ripple effect, because in the end what goes around, comes around.

Some in the blogging world are starting to pay it forward thru their blogs.  The theory is if you do something good for three people, and those people each do something for three more people, and this keeps on going, hundreds and hundreds will be touched.

Fellow bloggers I encourage you to join me and continue this thru your blog.

The first five people to comment below will receive a small handmade gift from me.  Please make sure I can contact you thru your blog to get mailing/contact information.  

When you do something good for someone there is a chance they will do something good for someone else.  Even if they dont, it will brighten that persons day, at the very least.

"Be the change you want to see in the world" Ghandi

Creative Project #28 ~ last day of the creative challenge.

I am kinda sad that this creative challenge is over.  It has kept me so inspired throughout this month!  Although like I told you in a previous post I joined a new group called "Creative Everyday".  I wont be posting every single day about what I have made, instead weekly, but I still will be creating everyday!

Some days were a crunch to get something creative done, but it was well worth the effort to make the time to do it.

So today I made some more beads. I am hooked on making headpins.  Here are a few of the batch I made.  You will have to wait and see the rest when they are in a piece of jewelry.  I have lots of ideas for these little gems.

I got hooked on making these pins when Cassie Donlen, of the Glass Beadle, had a giveaway on her Facebook page for some headpins that she made.

I WON THE GIVEAWAY!!! WOOHOO!!!

Cassie is an amazing glass bead maker, and has a great video out if anyone is interested.

Cassie then asked on her Facebook page how others made their glass headpins.  She made hers on the end of the mandrel then attached the wire with epoxy.  I wrote in and told her I made mine on high temp wire, but then I wanted to try her method since the wire can be tricky if it isnt completely straight.

The last couple of days I have been making them on the mandrel and kind of like that way.

Here are the awesome headpins that Cassie made, and I won....

I got to pick out the four I preferred.

I cant wait to use them with one of her toggles I bought last year.

Have a great week!

Winner! WInner!

 I headed over to random number generator and #10 was picked!

The 10th comment was made by *somethingunique*!

Congrats Lana!!!  Send me an email with your address and I can send these out on Tuesday for you :)
Thank you all so much for playing.  I love doing giveaways so there will be more in my blogging future!

Creative Project #12 for February......G.I.V.E.A.W.A.Y. for my 100th post!!!!!

Today is the day!! WOW, one hundred posts!!!  This creative challenge I am participating in has helped me get to my 100th post quicker than I normally would have.

This is what I decided to use for the giveaway prize:

Swirls with Swirls earrings.  As always the wire is fine silver wire and they are my lamp worked beads.  I love how that color combo turned out and hope you all like them too.

I have been selling a lot of earrings lately, so I figured I couldn't go wrong with these for a giveaway prize.

Let's go over the *rules* again:

1.  Post a comment under THIS POST for one chance to win (not on Facebook)

2.  Become a follower of my blog for a second chance.

3.  Write about this giveaway on your blog for a third chance!

4.  For each one of the above tasks you do, PLEASE write a separate comment.  This will make it easier for me to use the random number generator.

5. You will have until tomorrow when I make my next post to play :)  I am guessing sometime after lunch - eastern time.

Yesterday I showed you a terrible picture of a ring I was working on yesterday.  I got a half way decent shot this morning even though it is cloudy here.

(the ring is not included in the giveaway prize - only the earrings)

Good luck in the giveaway!

Have an awesome weekend!

Creative Project #11 for February......a little bit of this and a little bit of that!!!

Phew!!! Today has been quite the day.  I have done a bunch of creative things.

First I started to make a silver heart bezel for a ring that has been in my head.  With all the filing, polishing, and soldering that took most of the morning.

Then I had to gather tiny pieces of sea glass and shells to fill the bezel.

I was inspired to do this ring after joining a group on flickr called "Ring A Week" (RAW).

You HAVE to visit that page and see the awesome creations that are being submitted.  There are so many talented jewelers there that I have been intimidated to post anything.

This isn't the greatest picture of the ring.  The resin in it is still drying, so it is the best shot I could get right now.  I will post a better picture over the weekend.

I also have a rack full of quilts to quilt.  Quilt tops that others have made and they have hired me to quilt for them.  So I knocked one of those out today also.

I also made some new beads at some point today, and some new earrings, but the beads are being annealed and while I write this post the earrings are in the tumbler for their final polishing.

Then I put some time into my swaps.....trying to finish some pieces for an embroidery swap I am in.

I have had a quilt top in my head for a while now that I started picking away at today also!

You can find a pattern for a smaller block here at my friends blog, House of Krom.  It is a free pieced block and is tons of fun! I figure if I do a few blocks a day that in no time I will have enough for a quilt.
It has been a busy, busy day!  And some people think I don't work!! HA!

Tomorrow is the big day for my 100th post and giveaway, so come back to tomorrow and sign up to win :)
Hope you have all had a Happy Friday!

Creative Project #10 for February......earrings and a few new things!!!

Yesterday I posted a pair of earrings that I said *might* be the giveaway for Saturday's 100th post, but they were snatched up.  So I am not sure what will be my giveaway....maybe something you have seen, maybe something I haven't blogged about yet.  Surprises are good :)
I spent the morning making more beads and letting them anneal while I ran some errands.

Some I am saving for a necklace, but I used one pair for earrings.

The same but different from yesterday :)

I also got some new tools in the mail today and spent some time making a glass button and practicing a flower shaped bead.
Here is my glass button still on the mandrel.   I only made one mistake.....I only ordered one mandrel, so I can only make one button at a time!

Here is my first try at a flower bead.  I thought it was okay for a first try.
The shape is somewhat close.  Just got to work on getting the petals even.....making that liquid glass *SIT & STAY*!

Here they both are off the mandrels.

I am looking forward to playing with both of these new techniques!
See you tomorrow :)

Creative Project #9 for February......earrings on the brain!!!

Just a quick Create! project today since I have been in and out of meetings I havent had much creative time.  I have tons of earring ideas in my brain.  Quite a change for me since I usually HATE doing earrings since I have to do the same thing TWICE!  Oh well, I seem to be on a roll now so I will go with it.

These were fun to make and are a combination of fine silver wire, copper wire and colored copper wire that is non-tarnish.

The shape reminds me of a birdcage or a bird perch.

I am *thinking*, but not sure yet, that these may be my giveaway prize for my 100th post.

Just so no one misses out let me go over the *rules* again.

1. Comment under the post for the 100th post (this Saturday) ~ this gives you one chance.

2.  Become a follower of this blog, thru your email, not thru facebook ~ this will give you a second chance.
3.  I will give you until Sunday evening to comment and will announce the winner on Monday.
Hope you all want to play :)

Creative Project #7 for February......Valentine's Day is a week from today!!!

I have been on quite the roll lately with my blogging!! I am very proud of myself!

For Create! day 7 I am still in feeling the Valentine's spirit, and got such a great response to my heart jewelry that I thought I would make some more with a slightly different twist.

Floating Hearts Earrings:

The glass beads are dark pink with black swirls.  The hearts are made of fine silver wire and soldered.

Just in case a matching pendant was needed, and since I had so much fun with this pattern:

I was looking through my box of finished beads, trying to decide what I would make and found I had enough beads to do earrings and a pendant.

The top bead was so much fun to make.

I had all this space to doodle on with the stringers.

Now my head is bursting with heart designs and ideas for jewelry!

Just five more posts until I do a giveaway for my 100th post! I think that will fall on Saturday.  Here is how it will work.....first you will have to comment under the post, on Saturday, for your first chance at the giveaway........BUT...if you become a follower of my blog that will give you an extra ticket in the drawing.

I am still trying to decide what I will giveaway, but will decide soon!

Until tomorrow......happy creating!

You could win a class & help me look for some patterns!

A fellow blogger and artist is having a giveaway on her blog for an online class, so I thought I would let you know about it!  It is Melanie Testa, the author of "Inspired to Quilt".

She is having an online class over at Joggles.com in less than 2 weeks, and if you go to her blog and leave a comment then you may be a lucky winner!

The class is called "Let's Exchange Some Art", and will dive into techniques on decorating papers for ATC's, decorating envelopes and lots of other techniques.  Go to Joggles.com and check out the class description and all the other online classes they offer.
Here are some pictures so you can see what to expect.....

Cool tags.......

ATC's........

Today I am madly rushing around, packing up envelopes to be shipped out, and trying to finish more work to send off to waiting swappers and customers.  Below are blocks for a 3.5 inch block swap I am in on flickr.  There are 15 of us in the group and each of us had to make a 3.5 inch block (for each person in the group) with a BBQ or Picnic theme.
What is a picnic without sunshine?

Glad I have these little sunny faces to look at today, because the sun is struggling to come out here.  Some of the other members have done cool  blocks like a hot dog, lemonade, and even a dog catching a Frisbee over a checkered picnic blanket.  Don't worry when I receive my blocks you will see them here!
So while I was wondering what I would do with these blocks, one morning at 5am, I remembered some block patterns I had purchased in 1999!
They are Piece O Cake patterns called Pin Pals.  Unfortunately this is all I bought.....

Does anyone have any of these?  Maybe you know where I could find more?  HELP!
Let me know please......
Back to packing envelopes and sewing! Have a great day!

And the WInner is........

Congrats to Amy (During Quiet Time Blog) for winning the Island Birds Journal and the Copper Pendant in yesterday's giveaway!  The winner was chosen by random number generator, and the lucky number was 6 for the 6th post.
Amy, email me your address please :)

Thank you all for participating and for all your kind comments!  I will be doing more giveaways now that I got the first one under my belt, so stay tuned!

Here is a picture of the entire journal cover for those of you who weren't so lucky this time....

Also wanted to show you two new pieces that I put up on Etsy.

The first is "Bahama Sunburst"

It is about 19 inches long and is made up of a Jangles pendant and spacer bar, bezeled sea glass, my lampworked beads, silver wire components, sterling silver findings and gun metal chain.

The second one is Owl Love.....

I was so excited the other day when I made that "love" charm.  I embroidered the letters and the heart then sandwiched it in between glass and soldered it closed!  Very pleased with myself to be able to combine two of my passions like that!

This necklace also has a Jangles owl bead, my lampworked bead, gun metal chain, sterling silver findings and silk ribbon.  It is about 22 inches long.

Lorelei had a ribbon tutorial on her blog the other day.  You can find her blog in my list of "blogs you should check out" over on the right.  I had seen this done before and never tried it.  It makes a very comfortable necklace.  I forgot I had the necklace on!  I always wear my pieces for an hour or so to make sure they are comfortable, hang right etc...

Have a great day!

50th Blog Post Giveaway

Hard to believe I have had 50 blog posts.  When I started it was pretty painful sometimes to come up with something to say, so it would go weeks between posts.  Now I am more comfortable with it and have met a whole community of new friends thru blogging.

I know, you're thinking...blah, blah, blah....get on with the giveaway :)....but before I do I want to tell you about another blog giveaway.

My friend Heather, at alamodefabric, is having a giveaway as well.  So go check out her blog also.  She is giving away a set of fabric hexagons and a gift certificate to the Sew Deerly Loved etsy store.

Go check out that etsy store as well.  Lots of cool fabrics, Japanese fabrics, MunkiMunki fabrics.

All of these giveaways were inspired by the sewmamasew blog!  You will find lots of other giveaways on that blog also.  And yes I am a day late chiming in but I was waiting for my 50th post!

So here is my giveaway.......

A quilted journal cover for a composition book.  I named this "island birds"

Also thought I'd throw this in as well......

It is a copper and sterling silver pendant that I made......."let your heart soar"

So to enter the giveaway you have to post a comment here, under this post, not on facebook, and I will announce the winner tomorrow.  

I will use a computerized random generator to choose the winner......so it is all totally random!

Good luck and thanks for reading and following my blog :)