Summertime Creations

Summertime is a favorite season for so many people.  It is when beaching and boating are most popular, and everyone works on their summer tans.

This month at Artbeads.com their theme is "Summertime".  I am now a design partner with Artbeads.com so I was able to choose some items from the Charms, Glass Beads or Pendants categories to work with, review and blog about.

Being a lamp worker I was very happy to pick from the glass beads category.  I picked the 14mm Crystal Fish Bead in the Silver Shade; some Czech Glass Nautical Shells; a Picasso Square Bead Strand in cobalt, white and purple; and TOHO Round Seed Beads 8/0 in Lined Aqua Opal, Lined Dark Aqua and Lined Cobalt.  Glass has the right amount of sparkle and shine,  I was not disappointed in any of these products, and would like to order more for my *stash*!!

For a pendant I chose a Plated Pewter Elongated Heart Picture Pendant.

Then finally, I chose a few Sterling Silver Mermaid Charms to complete my summer pieces.

Here is the first piece I made.....

I filled the heart pendant with sea glass and shells, then sealed it all in with resin.  I also hung one of the mermaid charms in the front of this pendant.

I used 3 strands of the TOHO seed beads and mixed the Crystal Fish Beads with them.  I then continued the necklace with the Picasso Square Beads and the Glass Nautilus Shells beads.

On the other side I did some sterling silver wire work along with some of my lamp worked beads and a glass disc and sterling silver hook for a clasp.

I absolutely loved the nautilus shell beads and the square glass beads and will be ordering more of these.  The heart bezel pendant will also be in my next order.  I was making these myself from sterling silver, but these are so easy to work with and can keep my costs down.

Here is a close-up of the pendant.....

And another picture of the entire necklace.....

I also think the Crystal Fish Beads work so well with the seed beads and add just the right amount of sparkle.  Who doesn't like *sparkle*!?

Of course no necklace is complete without a matching pair of earrings, so here is what I made using the seed beads and Sterling Silver Mermaid Charms. These mermaid charms are the perfect size for earrings.

From another angle.....

Still having beads left over from Artbeads.com and ideas popping into my head I came up with this abstract, art quilt which I am calling "Bahama Bubbles".

After piecing and quilting this art quilt, I hand stitched the seed beads on to look like bubbles and then stitched on the Nautilus Shell Glass Beads, as if they were on the ocean floor.  Both the lined seed beads and the glass shell beads add just the right amount of quirky-ness to this piece which measures about 7" x 11".  Here is another picture of the quilt before I added the blue nautilus shell beads, and when the sun was out.......

So even if you are a quilter, or mixed media artist, remember to try out other objects on your artwork.  Even items that are normally considered for jewelry artists!  Think outside the box!
I hope these items inspire you to make something summery and get ready for the summer season!

The Artbeads.com products in this post were provided as a promotional gift by Artbeads.com, as part of their Design Partner & Blogging program.  I have been asked to review these products and give my honest opinion - good or bad.  My comments and opinions about these products are my honest, personal opinion and I have not been paid for any endorsement.

My Abaco Treasures

There are some days that island life can be so frustrating!  I told you in my last post about the power outages, that are unfortunately still continuing. (Thank goodness my husband sells Honda generators!)

Then there is the slow, local mail service, lack of selection on groceries....I could go on and on....but thankfully I focus on the positive.....our beautiful surroundings......and who cares if i can't get fresh salad greens if I have this to look at.....

Days spent island hopping with friends are priceless!  I even got to meet and spend some time with a lady I met briefly a year ago.  I could have sat and chatted with her and her husband all afternoon!  We have been Facebook friends for the last year and today got to sit down, chit chat and have some laughs.  They live in Savannah, Georgia (one of my favorite places on earth!) and were generous enough to give me some hand milled grits and rice, made at their home!  I cannot wait to try them!

On that journey yesterday I was also fortunate enough to find a vintage quilt.  I think the fabrics are probably from the 50's or 60's.

A small bucket full of antique pottery pieces from way back when!

This photo above is just a sampling of it.

There are unusual colors in there like green, purple and brown also!

I want to find out more about some of these pieces.......their history and the story behind them, but my ultimate goal is to make them into jewelry components.  There are some larger pieces with crests and writing on them.  It is difficult for me to read, but I am sure if seen by someone who knows what they are doing, it will be easily identifiable.

So I thought I would share some of the treasures I found from the place I call home.

Hope you have a great weekend!

Swaps Gifts and E-Courses!!!

We know summer has started here in Abaco when we start having multiple power outages everyday!!!

UGH!!!!

It has made me get VERY behind on work, blogging and swapping.

When I have had time to surf the internet, I have been taking an e-course by Kelly Rae Roberts, called "Flying Lessons"  It is about making your creative business soar.  It just started on Sunday and I am enjoying every moment so far.

Today she talked about doing other e-courses and blogging.  So I went searching for more e-courses I could take.

I found a photography course called "Picture Summer", by Tracey Clark, and thought this would be good for me since I have a very nice Canon Rebel, don't really know how to use it and I am never pleased with the pictures I take of my artwork or for my blog.  It is only a 30 day course and hopefully it will push me to play with my camera and try some new things.

While the power was out earlier I was playing with my muse, Sunshine, and the camera.....

Then I ran out after lunch to pick up my mail and more swap envelopes were awaiting me!!!!!

From Jennie at www.cloverandviolet.com I received my embroidery quilt.

This is so pretty and summery!!!! Thanks so much Jennie!  It is the perfect little embroidery quilt!

I also received my Anything Goes Mini Quilt from Sara of SaraSQuilts on Flickr.

I cannot believe how small she made those flying geese!!! And I love all the colorful fabrics with the solid gray!! Thank you Sara...I LOVE IT!!!

Also awaiting me was another African Flower crochet block from the Raverly Swap....from Val in the UK!

Along with two little coasters, some candy and a pair of stitch markers.  Thanks so much Val!!

So this was my whole bundle here.....

I'll be back soon to show you some new jewelry pieces.

Time to run off and do some agility with my dog and her doggie friends at class!

Sloppy Studio Saturdays

I can't believe what I am about to show you........but because of this.......

and this..........

I get to expand to here..........

There is a bedroom next to my studio, that I spent the morning emptying so my dear husband could install an indestructible floor.  

Do you think that means that if hot, molten glass or fabric paint or sharp scissors drop on it that it will still look the same?

I guess we will see!!!

There is one place in my studio that is still neat and tidy........

My Blythe Doll shelf!

Looks like I wont be doing much work for the next few days, but hopefully soon I can post pictures of a neat and organized studio space.  I can't wait to SPREAD OUT!!

And guess what?......there is still another un-used bedroom upstairs for me to expand into....ssshhhhh!

Goodies Make Me Happy :)

I got goodies in the mail today!!!! YIPPIE!!!

Above is my order from ArtBeads that I need to make something with and blog about.  Incase you didn't notice my little button on the right of this post, I am a "Design Partner" of ArtBeads :)  So I will be blogging more about my creation soon.

The buttons, on the top right, are from a Facebook game I won with Interweave.  One of the editors was going to a flea market and asked what we would want from the flea market.  One thing I mentioned was buttons, my name was picked and she found me buttons!

On the bottom is my Bead Soup Party package from Janet. The quote on the card I totally agree with also..."Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be!"...so true!

 I LOVE everything inside........

Everything is from the awesome ceramic jewelry designer Gaea.  Go check out her website and blog.  She makes some really neat beads, pendants and spacers.  My mind is overflowing with ideas of what I will do with them.....thanks so much Janet!

Earlier this week I tried my hand at making headpins with a glass bead attached....and it worked!

Now I have another component, made by me, to incorporate into my jewelry pieces.

I also sent off a crocheted potholder for a potholder swap on Raverly.  The tag on the potholder says "trust your crazy ideas"  I think I have lived this my whole life, and certainly in this potholder swap.  I had never crocheted a potholder before and had never worked with cotton yarn, but joined the swap anyway! All I have ever crocheted are granny squares. 

I am pretty pleased with the result, and have already started more.

To be a functional potholder it had to be made from cotton yarn (acrylic would melt) and it had to be two sided.  So I basically had to make two potholders and join them together.

Here is the back......

Well, that's all for now....back into the studio to create....my head is overflowing with ideas!

While I Wait for the Kiln

The worst part about flame working is waiting for the beads to be annealed in the kiln!!!

So while I wait on those to make some new jewelry pieces I thought I'd show you some things I have made for swaps.

This wall hanging was done for an Embroidery Quilt Swap on the Quilting Bloggers website.

I hadn't done embroidery in years, so this took me a while, but once I got the embroidery done and started working on the borders, quilting and embellishing....I could not stop adding things.

I sure hope my partner likes it.  I would have shown this to you last week, but I forgot that this was a secret swap.  Plus my partner doesn't have a blog or a flickr account so I doubt she will see it.  I had no idea what direction to go in since I couldn't snoop around her blog or look at her favorites on flickr.

I also had to finish some African Flower blocks for a Raverly Swap I am in.  Each month I make 5 of these and send them off to the people who's month it is.  When my month comes around I will receive about 50 of these (I showed you my first one last week) to make something with.  I won't be able to decide what I will make until I have all my flowers!

I also had to show you my new garden friend!  This mama frog has decided to hang out by my orchids.

I wanted to re-pot some of the orchids yesterday, but did not want to risk this jumping on me.  I had already disturbed her but thankfully she sat right there....through the photo shoot and all!

Quilt Blogger's Festival

So many neat things go on in the blogging world!!

Recently Amy at Amy's Creative Side Blog hosted a Bloggers Quilt Festival.

At this blog you can see hundreds of quilts and their stories.  Loads of inspiration, so go check it out!

I looked through my quilts to find the one with the most interesting story and picked this one......

This quilt was in a special exhibit at the Sisters Oregon Outdoor Quilt show a few years back.  I sent several quilts, but have sold all but this one.  At this point I think this one is a keeper.

I sent my quilts by FedEx from Abaco, Bahamas for the show, and U.S. Customs held them up because they weren't sure what material I had used as batting.  So the quilts got there the day of the exhibit!!!!

Then when the quilts were delivered at the Stitchin' Post quilt shop  FedEx handed them a massive bill for duty, even thought the quilts were returning to the Bahamas!  In the end everything was cleared up, but boy the stress at the time!

The year before I sent one quilt for display and everything went smoothly, but five quilts from a foreign country raised some eye brows!

Go check out all the quilters that have posted stories!!  There are over 550!!