One last show for the year.

I'm getting ready for a show tomorrow which is appropriately names Last Chance Craft Show. Well maybe that's just what I need since I'm not done my Christmas shopping yet!

 As usual I get a burst of creative energy just before a show, so here are a few of the new items I'm made this week.

 This is one of three nest necklaces that will be their.

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 These have just a slight steampunk feel to them.

It took me a while to finish these ones. I did the patina months ago and couldn't decide if I liked them or not but once I found some beads to go with them I think they may have become one of my favs. So I may have to keep one of these for myself!

Along with these earrings I have about 8 more pairs all a little different from each other.

So come on out to the Richmond Arena for some last minute Christmas shopping. What you say you're done! Then come out and get yourself something special to celebrate, you deserve it!

Last Chance Craft Show

Saturday, Dec. 17, 2011 10am-4pm

Richmond Arena upstairs Hall

6095 Perth St. Richmond, ON.

See you there!

Wendy

New earring design.

At my Open House recently I was wearing these new earring I had made a few weeks earlier to try them out...well you know you can't sell things without test driving them first! These little bead and shells are each wrapped on it's own head pin. I had made them to add to a bracelet as  little extra dangles but then didn't like them on it so there they sat on my work table waiting for another project to fit for few months. I don't use pink and purple much in my work but sometimes I do wear a little so I thought I'll just make a small pair of earring for myself with them. I'd been playing with the idea of making some dangling earring from bits of chain and I could try it out with these before making some more combos on head pins.

 Well back to the Open House- one of my favourite customers notices them but asked me to make them in an orange gold combo of colours. I love when people asked for variations of my jewelry because it inspires me to continue to find more variations on a theme. Something I never tire of.

 In this combo the shells are more golden than the first ones I did and the ear hooks are my own had made ones too.

 This has the little coloured shells again with my own ear hooks. I like the way the orange pops more with the lighter coloured shells. What's your preference?

So if you every have any suggestions or variations of my jewelry you'd like to see, I'd love to hear about it.

Wendy

My first blog hop.

WELCOME TO MY BLOG!

I'm so excited to be a part of the Holiday Shop Hop this weekend. This is the first time I've participated in a blog hop and I'm looking forward to meeting some new blog friend. So if you're new to my blog give me a shout, I'd love to meet you. Or if you're not new give me a shout any way, spread some holiday cheer to kick off December.

We've had a lovely light snow fall this morning and everything is coated white. It's a winter wonderland that  can't help but put me in a festive mood. So along with my first blog hop I'm going to have my first Etsy sale this weekend.

Saturday and Sunday

December 3 and 4, 2011.

10% off everything in the shop.

Use code HSH2011 at the checkout.

Now you can go check out all the other participants in the Holiday Blog Hob.

A Bead A Day

Blackbeary Mountain

Blue Pearls Handcrafted Goods

Chic and Frog

Crafty Hope

Dragonfly Dreamers

Etania Gems

ExPostFacto Jewelry

Fangdangles

GreenBead Designs

Handcrafted Serenity Jewelry Designs

Happy and Healthy Magnetic Jewelry

Holly Westfall / Silver Rose Designs

Just A Tish

Just Mare Pottery

Keefer Style Creations

Kabs Creative Concepts

Klassy Joolz

Kristi Bowman Design

Lilly Rose Jewelry Designs

Little Rocks

MiShel Designs

Melinda Orr Designs

My Life Under the Bus

Olive Branch Organics

Pine Ridge Treasures

Pink Poppy Studio

Rosebud’s Lampwork Beads

Sand & Sea Designs

SCJ Jewelry Design

Sew Stacy

SongBeads

Studio Waterstone

Sundancegems

Suzanne Stevens

Sweet Creek Herbs

Sweet Water Designs

Wire Worked Handcrafted 

Now I'm off to do some holiday shopping. Have a great weekend.

Wendy

Just part of the journey...and my first tutorial!

For the most part I'm a self taught Artist. I have no formal training other than taking a few workshops here and there. I love to explore and teach myself a variety of techniques.

So when I decided I wanted to combine metal and leather, I just went ahead and got started. It all went well until it was time to attach the copper to the leather. I had seen a few examples of this kind of think on line and my first impression was that the metal had been attached with wire.  After some time fighting with the wire, copper and leather, I discovered that this was not going to be as easy as my brain had led me to believe it would be, as is so often the case. When I get stuck on an idea my best solution is to start doing some google searches. This usually delivers endless suggestions for how something should or could be done. But in this case I came up with next to nothing. Not one tutorial or video to be found. Etsy as usual was a great inspirational source but I could only guess at how some of the lovely leather and metal cuffs had been combined. So it was back to the drawing board. I started to think about any conceivable method of attaching these two elements. It wasn't long before I had a number of methods to try. So I went ahead and tried them all

With this first one I attached it with waxed linen. Something I had handy from doing some book binding. Once the holes were made in the leather and copper I sewed it together. For fun I added some rivets to the leather band with my Crop-a-dile.

The next one I decided to try some mini nuts and screws. I had bought these earlier this year but hadn't tried them yet. Although they are very small to work with they proved to be very easy to use. I was able to cut the extra length of the screw off with my wire cutters and just give the ends a little sanding with my metal file. I will definitely be using these more in some upcoming projects.

On these last two I used rivets and my Crop-a-dile. I was able to use the Crop-a-dile to make the holes in the metal and the leather and then set the rivets. On the tan one I added flowers with more rivets to the band.

I started out thinking if I try lots of different methods for attaching metal to leather, I would at least find one that worked well or that I like. But in the end I discovered three methods that are quite easy to accomplish and I really love the look of.

So what do you think? Which method is your favourite?

And let me know how my first tutorial went. Did I give you enough information or too much? I can take it, let me know how I can improve.

Also if you know of any other methods for this I'd love to hear about them.

Wendy

Piano Hinge book workshop

On the weekend I taught a wonderful group of women how to make Piano Hinge Books. This is probably my favourite book to make. One of the reasons I love to teach is to see the creations that my students do. You never have two books the same. I'm always inspired after and have started another book of my own. Here are their beautiful books.

 Bonnie

 Michelle

 Roberta

 Sharon

Sheila

Thanks ladies for a great day.

Wendy

Hand made books.

Wow, a week just slipped right by me. November is such a busy month, I must remember to slow down and enjoy the ride. I want to share with you some more wonderful finds I've made. Today it's all about Mary Kritz and her wonderful hand made books she creates. I've seen a few of Mary's books since she's joined our ATC group but recently I was lucky enough to make it to one of her shows to see many of her original creations. Each book is a one of a kind creation and some even include some of her art.

 This first book is covered with one of her Ink blot designs made of wonderful Canal paper. I love the details she adds like the tabs to hold the book closed when you're not using it. I think it will make a great art journal if I can bring myself to use such a unique piece of art.

This is a book of endearment. The intention is to write a word of endearment to another person and give the book to them. They then write a word and pass it back. You continue to pass it back and forth until it is full.

Mary has added some words and designs to get it started. I thought this was such a great idea and already know who I'm going to share it with.

This last book is bound with brown and red leather and has a wonderful stitching design on it. It may have small dimensions of 3.5" by 3" but it holds 80 pages. I think this will make a fun book to keep close in a bag ready to use any time. This is going to be a Christmas gift so I have officially started my shopping!

Mary makes many more types of books so go check out some of them here.

Craft show time...

Yes it's that wonderful time of year again where each weekend we can go to a multitude of shows. The last few years I have been a vendor at numerous shows and haven't had the time to visit many. I find myself involved in very few shows this year so I'm enjoying visiting friends at their shows and checking out possible shows for next year. So far this weekend I made it to 5 shows(picture big happy face on me). I love craft shows. We have so much local talent with such a wide variety of skills. Today I went to a show in Kemptville at the college in the WB George centre. It's also on tomorrow and well worth checking out.

 I have officially started my Christmas shopping! So I'm not able to show you everything I bought but I can share a few things I just really needed for myself.

 This is a Fairy door. Since my life is full of fairies I just had to have a door for them. This was made by Joanne MacKenzie who told me about how her daughter designs the doors for her. Who better than a young person to see into the wonderful world of Fairy. Joanne and her husband Doug both do beautiful wood working. I had a hard time controlling myself from buying more things there. See more of their wonderful work at Celtic Elegance.

 I have a soft spot for pottery and Joyce Wood of Beckett's Landing Pottery really caught my eye today. Again it was hard to just pick one piece. When she told me this was from a Hosta leaf it was a done deal.

Again this hit a soft spot for me. I love little drawers and I love wood working. I once took a course to learn how to do wood working and the thing I learned most was to appreciate other peoples woodwork. This box was made by L Wood's Crafts. I'm sorry I didn't get his business card and can't seem to find a link for him. He had lots of beautiful handcrafted wood pieces.

Quilting cards

Earlier in the year I made a card with this stamped quote on it but the saying just didn't really match the card. So at one of my shows a lady asked me to make some cards that were more quilt like to go with the saying. This was something that I already had on my mind so I told her I would. 

After a month or so of having it floating around in my head I finally came up with a few designs and here they are.

I tried to come up with my own patterns but the old traditional quilting blocks kept coming back to me so that is what I ended up doing. So much easier to do with paper than material!

Years ago I tried my hand at quilting and decided it wasn't for me. The sewing machine and I do not have a good relationship and so I satisfy my quilting desires by collecting fat quarters and every once in a while making some kind of paper quilting project.

Am I the only one with a bad sewing relationship? Let me know if you do to and how you deal with it!

Wendy

ATC masks

I'm terribly slow at getting these up this month since out meeting was a few weeks ago but here I go any way. Our theme this month was mask. We were a small group this time but had a great time all the same. Here are the ATC's we traded.

 Linda

 Marie

Wendy

My week...

Again I've been busy getting ready for an upcoming show this weekend. I'll be at the Uniquely Goulbourn Arts and Crafts show this Sunday from 1-4pm. This is a wonderful little local show that I've been doing for a few years and I really enjoy it. Check out some of the vendors for this year on their blog here.

I bought a bag of leather remnants from a local leather store a few months ago and finally got around to playing with it. Here is a sneak peek at one of the cuffs I will have at the show on Sunday. I've got 4 done so far and they're all different. I'm really loving the leather and have so many ideas for it! 

 This is a card that I was inspired to make after my metal workshop last week. The leaf is a piece I made while demoing for the class. Of course the fall theme emanates right now.

If you didn't get a chance to do my workshops so far this fall, I've add 2 more dates in November. You can check them out on my Workshops page.

Have a wonderful weekend. Hope to see you at the Museum on Sunday.

Teaching metal embossing

I had a wonderful day teaching metal embossing to a great group of creative women today. I love to teach and this group was easy to teach. They were a very creative bunch and made some wonderful colour combinations and designs. Here are the results of their creative day.

 Katherine

 Linda

 Patsy

 Tracy

 Sandra

Shannon

Thanks ladies for a wonderful day. You have inspired me and I'll be back at playing with my metal very soon.

ATC: Shoes

ATC time again. This month our theme was Shoes. Who doesn't like shoes!

 Marie

 Michelle

 Nancy

Wendy

This month we had some typical unpredictable fall weather so it was back to my home studio for the meeting. I don't think I've told you much about our group and how it works. I'm always surprised at how many different kinds of ATC groups their are. Ours group has 12 members but usually we only have about 4-8 at a meeting. We're very easy going and don't want too much home work so we only do one card a month. Some even do their card during the meeting while others like to do it ahead of time. I like to at least have mine started so I have a little direction before we get together. At the end of the meeting when it's time to trade I number all the cards and then we draw numbers to see who's we get, so it's always a surprise who we trade. If you live in the area and are interested in joining out ATC group we're always open to new members. We meet the third Tuesday afternoon of each month. If you want to join just give me a shout by e-mail.

Happy trading.

Wendy

Show prep.

I'm still plugging away at finishing up some pieces for Fibrefest this weekend. I'm in the assembly stage. I have a number of copper focal pieces ready to have things added to them and then put on some kind of chain.

 This banner design is a new one for this year. I enjoy making a bunch of different word banners and then I lay them out on the table and chose what charms and beads will go with the word. No 2 ever come out the same. It's also one of my favourite every day necklaces to wear because it's simple and very comfortable but the word is great inspiration for my day.

 The word Bloom seems to pop up a lot in my work this year. I think it's to remind me to do just that.

BLOOM WHERE YOU ARE PLANTED!

This necklace sat on my work table for some time as I decided if it needed more than one flower. I was so tempted to rivet more flowers on but I loved the etched background so much I didn't want to hide any more of it. So I solved my dilemma by hanging a butterfly and flower at the top.  I've been playing with creating different kinds of chains lately. This one is seed beads woven through a simple copper chain. Sometimes I just get tired of hanging everything on a plain chain.

I have a little jewelry break this morning as I head out for some Tai Chi but I'll be back at it this afternoon.

Have a creative day!

Wendy

Resin fun

 

As I said yesterday, I've been getting ready for Fibrefest this weekend. I've been doing this show for a number of years and it's one of my favourites to participate in. If your interested in any kind of fibre or textiles, this is the show to see. They have vendors for all your fibre and textile needs as well as displays and demos of quilting, hooking, weaving, spinning, etc. The creativity in the air is infectious. You're sure to walk away with a special something for yourself or a new project to work on. Even though I'm not a quilter I have a hard time resisting all those beautiful quilting materials. I usually buy a few fat quarters for my material collection!

So with a show on the near horizon, again I go into full speed jewelry creating. It doesn't matter how much I have ready it never seems like enough, so the week before a big show like this I usually go a little crazy. And it's never just about producing. I always get this urge to create some new things even though there really isn't enough time to be starting new projects. I've come to terms with these creative urges and try to give them their space while still getting done those things that really need to get done for the show.

As you can see I've been playing with resin again. These are designs I've done before, I've just tried to change them up a bit. It's fun to set out the TierraCast copper frames on the table and then find as many interesting things I can  to set in them. The wire frames with buttons and lace in is an idea I've been playing with for some time in my mind so it was a great relief to have it turn out even better than it was in my mind.

Now to start assembling all them pieces into earrings and necklaces.

I hope to be back tomorrow with some finished projects. Fingers crossed, maybe even another brand new bracelet design!

Have a great day!

Wendy

New finds...

Look what the Tin man found me while we were in Oakville moving Christian. Most of the moving was done before we got there so we did some searching for a couch for his new place. On our way to the Thrift shop(Christian's favourite store) we stopped in at an Antique store. Even though we're in the same place the Tin man usually finds some interesting things that I miss. He found these key hole plates. I'm seeing some interesting mixed media on canvas with these. What do you think? Have you made any interesting things with key hole plates that you can share with me for inspiration?

I'm getting ready for Fibrefest this weekend. I've been trying out some new things to bring to the show. I hope to give you a sneak peek tomorrow. So I'm off to take some pictures.

New bracelets

Here's what I was up to this weekend. Found some time to finish off these two bracelets I started a while back. I'm slowly getting use to the jewelry creating process. I find it quite different than other things I create  It's been a little frustrating and difficult to concentrate on one piece because of the waiting time for some of the metal processes that I do like tumbling, etching, antiquing etc.

Sometimes when I have a vision of what I want to create I lose it during the process. Things seem to go in their own direction and I've learned to trust in the process. I think I need to make myself a sign "Trust in the Process" to remind myself sometimes though. Or maybe a bracelet...oh here we go again!

So what did you create this weekend?