New designs

Just a quick post to show you some new earrings I've finished.

 These are my first birdhouse earrings to go with my birdhouse necklaces.

 These earrings have a bit of a steampunk feel with a textured brass background and some funky odd beads dangling in front.

 This is one of my wire frame resin necklaces. It's got some shells, a dragonfly and some odd found objects imbedded in resin. It hangs on a recycled Sari silk ribbon and copper chain.

Here is another wire frame with shells in resin. This one hangs on a multi-colours seed bead and chain combination. I hope to get organized and do a workshop for this technique in my studio soon.

Well that's what I've been up to lately. So what about you? What's being created in your world?

Wendy

WOYWW

I love checking out the work desks over at the Stamping Ground. I have to admit I prefer the messy ones. They make me feel better about my messes and I find them quite inspiring. It's true when they say a picture is worth a thousand words. You can see how the person works as well as what kind of work they do and so much more.

Well today I'm going to show you 2 of my work desks, only because it's so rare to see any of them clean so I just had to show you my jewelry desk.

 This is as clean as it gets. About a week ago it was a complete disaster and had been for some time. It was so bad it was actually stopping me from creating jewelry so their was nothing to do but tidy up and do a bit of reorganizing. It wasn't nearly as awful as I thought it would be and didn't even take all that long. So I'm ready to get back at some jewelry creating.

 This is my altered art, painting, art journals and anything else work desk. I have a group of friends that get together at my place once a month for an Artists Date. We bring our art journals and work on different techniques each month. Last night we didn't have anything planned but they decided they wanted to do a Teesha Moore inspired page after seeing one in my old art journal. If you go to the link you can watch some technique videos on how to do this. As you can see I didn't get me page done yet so I still have body parts floating around. Hopefully tonight I can get back at it.

So what's on you work desk?

Wendy

Metal embossing workshop.

I had a wonderful day today teaching metal embossing to a very creative class of ladies at Laura Daubs lovely home studio. It's always so fun and inspiring to see the work of all the students in a class. They have been nice enough to let me share their creations with you.

 Anneke

 Carol

 Laura

Sarah

I was so inspired I wanted to get home and play with my metal again but since I'm teaching the same workshop again tomorrow at Earmark Studio I decided to let the Tin Man take me out for dinner instead.

Hope you're having an inspired weekend too.

Wendy

January confusion...

Winter visitor.

January is a month with great expectations for me. Unfortunately it never lives up to my expectations for it. I've realized that their are a few things that I do to create this disappointing phenomenon. During the fall months when I get busy with shows, workshops and then Christmas preparation I use January as my "In" box for anything I don't have time to do. I just tell myself I'll have lots of time in January so I can get it off my mind at the moment. Also without meaning to, I think I get caught up in the the New Year resolutions, list making...it's a new year anything and everything is possible, excitement.

Then January arrives and with it comes my long list of things that didn't get done the previous year and my long list of dreams for the coming year. And the fall and Christmas seasons have left me with little energy for these list. The first few weeks I recuperate with small easy task and lots of Tai Chi. The Tin man works outside and with the harsh Canadian winters here he is often found at home in January. This can be great company when I'm hibernating but something distracting from getting to those long lists.

Although I was slow as usual at getting thing going in January I did do some creating and I think I may have even learned how to prevent this dilemma next year. LOL!

 I got some etching done.

Did some hammering, sawing and stamping. I'm trying out some new shapes and possible new clasps. This bunch is ready to be antiqued and tumbled.

So although the first month of the year is already gone I'm kind of glad to have it over with. I'm ready for you February...bring it on!

Wendy

New year new books.

2011 Art Journal

Although we're a whole week into the new year I still have that fresh, new and full of potential feeling only the new year can bring. I've been following the Creative Jump Start Summit 2012 this last week and it's been so inspiring. But when I went to do some playing in my art journal it was almost completely full. I made this journal from some scraps of water colour paper I had left over from some precious book projects. So the size was determined by the size of the scraps. Even the cover was made from a scrap piece of water colour paper. I thought it was going to be a little small for an Art Journal being only about 5"x5" but at it turned out I found this size worked out really well. It's seemed to suit me just right, it wasn't too small to work in and have room to play and it wasn't so big that it was daunting to fill the page. Although I have some other store bought journals this one has been my favourite so I decided to make a similar one for 2012.

2012 Art Journal

I didn't have much in the way of watercolour scraps this time but I did have a few large sheets of similar paper. I can't remember what kind it was, it's smoother than water colour paper but still heavy enough to be able to work in any kind of medium I want. I decided to make this one a little bigger so it's about 6"x5 1/2". I used the same Butterfly binding because I really liked the openness it gave to each page. I used a corrugated board for the cover since I seem to have an excess of it and I really like the look. So now I'm ready for a new year of Art Journaling. I hope to get more of it done this year.

When I was searching for paper for my new Art Journal I came across some nice smooth black paper in my scrap pile so I made this book to try out some white on black zentangles. Can't wait to try it out.

If you haven't noticed yet I have a new winter schedule up on my workshop page. I'll be teaching at a few local studio's in the next few months as well as here in my own studio. At Earmark Studio I'll be teaching the Piano Hinge book and Metal embossing on canvas. At Laura Daub's Studio I'll be teaching metal embossing also. These ladies are both amazing artists and have beautiful studio's. To learn more about them check out their web sites.

Wendy

Wine word canvas.

I just managed to finish this canvas on time for a Christmas gift. I wasn't sure it was all going to come together but with a little help from some family members it did.  The Tin Man says it his favourite word canvas that I've made so far.

It's got me thinking about some other themes I can use for a word canvas...!!

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Did you make any Christmas gifts this year? 

Wendy

A wish, a hope and a little sorry.

 I'm more than a little sorry that I've neglected you, my blogging friends. I'm alive and well, although a little tired and worn out from the holiday festivities. Tis the season and all that! Starting out the holiday season a little low on energy caused me to shorten my list of to do's so blogging and baking were two of them. We did fine without the baking as many people bring things with when they come to visit and the Tin Man bought a few extra sweet treats while shopping. But I missing my blogging and am glad to be back at it. I found a little time in December to create some tags and here are a couple just for you.

A special wish that your holiday was a joyful one with lots of laughter and fun.

And a Hope of Happiness and Health in the New Year!

Wendy