Daily Craft - Some earrings!

This weekend, I threw a baby shower for a good friend of mine who will be having a baby girl in September.  It's really had my creativity flowing but, of course, I've not been able to post anything about it previously for risk of giving anything away to those that would be in attendance!  I'm going to start with my earrings though, which were part of the prize bags for the various games.

The theme for the shower was pink and brown, on account of the mom-to-be's last name being Brown, and her having a girl.  I immediately knew that I wanted to make some pink and brown jewelry for the prizes.  I picked up some glass pearls and fished around for antiqued brass findings in my stash.  In that there would be a variety of different age groups being represented, I was hoping for something somewhat classic.  I packaged them with lotion, a compact mirror, and a magnetic notepad.  I'm hoping the winners enjoyed their haul!

My co-host found a polka dot card stock that she used for the invitations, which then became part of the theme, so I was happy to make some nifty packaging with that card stock too.  (More on the packaging to come later.)  I actually love this color combo, so thinking I'll make some more with the supplies that I have left over.  Watch out for those!

Daily Craft - My design needs your vote!

You may remember a few weeks back that I won a set of beads through Artbeads' "Tuscon Ten" contest.  So, part two of the contest was to create a design using those beads, with the beads making up at least 50% of the design.  Usually, I just let inspiration come to me when thinking about jewelry pieces, so it was different to have the parameters of my design set by the beads in hand.  The biggest challenge I faced was figuring out how to combine the different sets of beads, which I may not think to put together under other circumstances. 

In the end, I designed two necklaces.  The intent was that they could be worn separately, or together.  The first necklace used the giraffe beads combined with the tiny peacock pearls, and wire wrapped together with antiqued brass wire.  The second necklace tied in the antiqued brass with chain, and I decided to go with a lariat style so that I could feature a couple of the larger beads at each end.  I think the end result ended up being pretty cool!

Now onto the second part of the contest though.  I could win a giftcard from Artbeads for my design and could use your help!  If you could take a minute to vote for my design, please scoot on over to this Facebook page.  Voting is open through May 20th.  You can also check out the designs on the Tuscon Ten Pinterest Board.  Thanks all! 

Daily Craft - Playing with wire

While all my craft stuff was packed away and mostly out of reach, the one thing that I did have access to was my jewelry making supplies.  It all started with a tutorial for half herringbone wire wrapped beaded drops.  That resulted in me attempting the technique on several different beads.  My best efforts were a pair for myself, and a variation that is now in my shop.  I just love how simple but elegant the design is, and how the wire really highlights the beads.

A pair for you?

A pair for me!

Of course, this got me started with admiring other wire wrapping online, which led to checking out hammered wire pieces, and....well you know how it is when you start down the rabbit hole.  Next thing you know, I had to order a hammer, steel bench block, and more wire to play with.  Those supplies arrived last week, which resulted in a copper bracelet (photos to come in a future post), and yet another supply order for some items with which to give the wire a beautiful patina.  Yup, I've lost myself in yet another crafty vortex; however I'm thrilled that I'm going to be offering some fun new jewelry in my store soon, once I've perfected some new techniques!  In the crafty world, does it ever just stop with one thing?  

Daily Craft - A custom made necklace

While I am definitely in baby mode when it comes to my recent crafting, I was asked to make a necklace for a co-worker.  When time permits, I'm all about making custom pieces as it makes me think outside of the box and create something that I may not usually do.  I've also been frighteningly neglectful of my online shop since getting pregnant, so jumped at the chance.

In this case, it ended up being a beautiful smokey Swarovski briolette, wire-wrapped to a quatrefoil link.  Now that I've made the finished item, I love this design and need to make more like it!

Daily Ramblings - So neglectful!

I really do feel like I've been horribly neglectful of my blog readers recently.  2012 has proven to be positive in many ways, but it certainly hasn't given me an over-abundance of time.  It's times like these that I'm glad I decided not to set myself a ton of new year resolutions - I blinked and it's March, and I've done a lot but strangely feel like I've not accomplished enough!

A quick rundown of the highlights from last week.  I finally started posting some new jewelry items in my shop.  For example, I found these donut beads a while back and immediately knew I wanted to present them with cord.  I really like how they turned out, and each bead is so unique!  I also changed the backgrounds for my jewelry photography.  The plain white wasn't highlighting the pieces in the way I wanted to show them, so found a really cool pack of metallic scrapbooking papers to use instead.  I also got another order of beads and findings from Artbeads.com, which I hope to start working with soon.  I see stitch markers being available some time in the future.


I missed Foto Friday again, but I've still been keeping up with my photography project. Here's a couple of my personal favorites from last week.

From the brilliant (if not slightly deranged) mind of my co-worker, Randy. 
He makes amazing rock sculptures, which I just had to photograph and share!

A photo from a poetry book I had at my parents' house. 
I think the illustrations are beautiful and hope to pass this down to my own kids some day.

Then, this weekend, I did an engagement photo shoot for some friends of mine - Marcy & Kent. Marcy rides horses, so we decided to go with a horse themed shoot, and spent the afternoon at Sullivan Canyon - one of L.A.'s little secret spots with beautiful trails to walk and check out the houses of the rich and (potentially) famous.  Then it was off to Santa Monica to catch the last few minutes of sunlight before the sun set on the horizon. We were lucky to have such a beautiful SoCal day. If anything, there may have been a little TOO much sun on occasion, if that's even possible! You can check out the entire set of photos here.


I have so many things that I want to get started on, and I'll find the time at some point (I hope). How has your 2012 been so far? Don't forget to take time to breathe!

Daily Review - Artbeads.com

I'm a tactile person and when it comes to buying craft supplies, I've found that I generally like to buy in store.  I like being able to touch things and get an idea of size or color without the concern of monitor color variances.  Having said that, I recently found out about Artbeads.com while looking for some findings in specific metal colors not as easily available to me in store and it has to be said, I was impressed.

I found the site pretty easy to navigate and had no trouble finding what I wanted with the search.  Their selection doesn't seem quite as huge as Fire Mountain Gems (the only other site I've ever really explored), but I actually found that it wasn't as overwhelming and I was able to explore the different sections without losing myself!  I think that one of my favorite things was having an option to buy almost everything individually - which is great if you don't want to get stuck buying an entire bag/strand when all you want are a couple of an item.  If you do want to buy in higher quantities, the prices drop the more you buy.  I also liked that you only have to spend $10 to get free shipping, which is a nice low minimum and not hard to meet! 

My order was shipped the day after I purchased and took about a week to arrive.  Let me tell you how pleasantly surprised I was to open the package.  It was neatly packaged, wrapped, and even had a little note to say who had fulfilled my order.  A very nice touch!  Everything was so nicely packaged and labeled that I really enjoyed going through everything.

Seeing as I always default to earrings first, I decided to dive right in and knock out a couple of pairs using fun Czech glass roundelles.  They have what is called a half Picasso effect, which is essentially a marbling on the top and bottom of each bead.  It gives them a really unique look and I think it allows the bead to really be the focus of the piece.  The red beads used for the copper pair were far more vibrant in person than on the website, and that pair found a new home within 24 hours of being made!  I already had the Celtic metal findings for the other pair, but they'd been waiting for the right bead.  I think it's a good pairing. 


I think that another great feature of the Art Beads site is the user reviews.  It even allows the reviewer to upload a picture of their finished products, which says more than words can when trying to describe how a product was used.

I think I'm always going to enjoy buying in person more, but I'm definitely sold on this site and I'm sure they'll be getting lots of my business in the future. 

Daily Tip - Jewelry photography

When I started photographing jewelry for my shop, Crave Creation, I wanted a consistent clean background with as few shadows as possible.  I discovered that for earrings, this wasn't a big problem as they're quite light. I taped some thread across my lightbox, and was able to suspend the earrings to photograph.  However, necklaces were proving to be a bigger problem.  I wanted a way to photograph them that would show how they hang but the thread I was using for the earrings just wasn't going to be strong enough.

The answer?  Use a wire coat hanger!  I bent the "neck" of the coat hanger at a 90 degree angle so that it provided a base, and then I can use the rest of the hanger to drape the necklaces from.  That allows me to take a photograph from this....

...to this...

...or even something more like this (which shows more of the necklace length).

I can also use this for earrings as the wires are easily moved to whatever position you need them in.  I finally have a purpose for those dry cleaning hangers!

I found this tip while surfing the internet on a lunch break.  Unfortunately I've forgotten which site I found it on (as I'd love to give credit where due) but it was too good not to share.

Daily Craft - Blood Lust!

With Halloween only a week away, my posts seem to be developing a bit of a theme!  Sunday night, a friend of mine commissioned me to make her a custom jewelry set (earrings, necklace, bracelet) for Halloween.  Time permitting of course, I'm always up for the challenge of a custom order and I knew this one would be fun given the theme.  We agreed upon red and black, and I wanted to make something that suggested Halloween, but can be worn year round.  Here's what I came up with!

My inspiration began with the red crackle glass beads, which really suggested blood drops to me.  I'm also a big fan of the black/grey ombre as the beads look different from every angle!  At first, I was torn between mixing up black and silver wire to connect the beads, but after playing around for a little bit, decided that the silver was going to be a cleaner look.  I'm calling the set "blood lust" seeing as it has a certain vampire glam (although I guess vampires wouldn't want to be wearing a ton of silver).  Hoping the recipient will find many uses for these pieces beyond the upcoming 'holiday'!



In other news, while shopping for beads, I noticed that Joann was getting rid of their Halloween costumes at 60% off.  I will admit that the last couple of years, I've been a complete slacker with preparing my costume and this year, haven't come up with any ideas whatsoever.  Now, while I didn't find any costumes that I could just buy, I did find a pretty amazing mullet with mustache wig set....and now I'm inspired.  Stay tuned for more on that!  :)

Are you dressing up for Halloween?  Do you have your costume ready, or just slacking like I am?!

Daily Craft - Jewelry tags

I've been trying to decide what I want to do for jewelry tags now that I have my online shop up and running.  Naturally, I figured I could make the tags myself, but wanted to go for something that wouldn't be a huge time-suck, would still look nice, and wouldn't cost an arm and a leg!

I wanted to stick with simple cards that have the company name, my name, and the website - i.e. nothing too fussy that would be a distraction to the jewelry itself.  Using thin white card stock that I had on hand, I made some proto-types.  I already bought some small clear bags that the jewelry can be placed in for protection, and these cards will fit nicely inside them. I'll probably switch out the top to have my actual logo (although need a little Photoshop magic which isn't accessible to me on a lunch break) and, while I do like how clean the white looks, I'll be looking for some nicer card stock to print onto.

For now, it's a work in progress, but at least I finally have a starting point.  Of course, I'm open to suggestions!

Daily Craft - Fleur De Lis & a shop preview

I'm not usually drawn to necklaces seeing as I seem to have a habit of getting them either tangled in my hair, or wrapped around my neck in choke collar fashion, at some point during the day.  It's probably why I'm so drawn to making earrings, which I've never managed to strangle myself with...to date anyway.

That being said, I found some super cute Fleur De Lis pendants at Michael's yesterday and set about making necklaces for my new shop.  The second I made this necklace, I knew I wanted to keep it - which leaves me glad that the pendants came in a pack of two, one for me and one for somebody else out there.  I used simple black acrylic beads and used a chain to join the sections.  I'm thrilled with how it turned out.

Speaking of shops though, you may notice that I have a widget on my sidebar now.  This is not the type of widget that comes in a Guinness can and keeps your beer tasting delicious.  It will however take you to my shop, which is in beta right now.  I'm still working on logos, pointing the domain to the right place, and all that back-end fun, but feel free to browse.  I'm hoping to make a proper grand-opening announcement soon!

Daily Craft - Think I'm getting the hang of this...

I've always admired wire wrapped jewelry and I've been practicing my skills.  I think my first breakthrough was realizing that thinner wire might be more effective.  Second brilliant notion was that the eye pins I have were too short.  So, I decided to get some plain 24 gauge wire and give it a go.  I think I'm finally figuring this out!  I also bought some 28 gauge wire to see if I like it better, but I'm finally producing some tidy wire wrapped joins.  Has to be said, it's quite satisfying. :)

Daily Craft - A swap haul!

In an attempt to get rid of some of the excess in my craft space, I signed up for a destash swap on Craftster - which involved each pair swapping craft supplies that they're not using.  I guess technically it's not reducing the stash, but it's obtaining "new to me" things without additional cost right?  (That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it). 

I sent my original partner a bunch of knit and crochet supplies, seeing as she said crochet was her new thing - yarns (both commercial and recycled by me), a crochet hook roll, stitch markers etc.  Unfortunately, my partner turned out to be a flake.  I would like to gripe for a moment about those that flake on organized swaps.  The fact is that crafty types are very giving people.  We're constantly making things for those around us, donating supplies or making things for charity groups, offering free patterns and tutorials to help others perfect their skills.  Quite frankly, not holding up your end of the bargain is crappy.  Of course, for every flake, there are hundreds of wonderful crafters out there who keep up the good name.  Big thanks to my swap angel, Connie, who sent me a substitute package to make up for the one I was supposed to receive but didn't!

She sent me some lovely fabrics.  I intend to turn the blue/green fabrics at least into quilted coasters, which I had fun making previously.  

She also sent me a bunch of jewelry findings and beads, even going to the trouble of making sure that I have at least 2 of each bead in the package.  How did she know that I'm an earring addict?

There was also a "slice of pie" soap bar, and some Halloween stamps.  Never quite managed to get a good picture though as Deuce tried to claim the soap for himself.  As you may recall, this is not the first time...

Daily Craft - Shiny things

Where have I been you ask?  I was well and truly hit by my first cold of 2011.  Urgh!  It never really settled in my face (which I appreciate because there's nothing less attractive than looking like a puffy sniveling mess for days on end) but decided to inhabit my chest instead (as if coughing like a walrus is much better).  With it being husband's birthday this week, my primary goal was to not get him sick, seeing as that would have been a horrible birthday gift.

What I did manage to do, while recuperating in the house, is a bunch of crafty business!  I borrowed a couple of quilting books from the library last week, one of which was Last-Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts.  I decided to give the coasters from the book a shot with some random fabric laying about from one of my thrift store hauls.  These are so quick and easy to do and a perfect way to stash bust / make quick and easy gifts.  I think I'll be making many more of these.

Yesterday, in an attempt to get out of the house for a little bit, I went off to investigate a local Indian Grocery store ( for which a Daily Dish feature may well appear shortly...)  On the way back, I decided to check out the Michael's sale and snatched up a ton of jewelry supplies on sale and clearance.  I am now a fan of a couple of newly discovered component lines - Blue Moon "Orient Express", and Plaid's "Forged".  I just love some of the things that these lines offer and will definitely be buying more.  I'm a total earring addict so that's always my first thought when deciding to make jewelry.  Here are my efforts from last night with my new purchases.

Have you tried either of those component brands?  Would love to hear your opinions.  Also, which of the earrings are you favorite?