As of late...

I've been working on all kinds of different projects - custom jewelry orders, rearranging our entire house (all done, but not totally decorated), baking, doing projects with Liam, and even a little crocheting (I seem to take up knitting and crocheting every winter but it never lasts long). Oh yes, I've also been making some facial toner and tried out some new facial products, which have turned out to be good and bad.

First up is the jewelry since this is supposed to be a jewelry maker's blog. I just made a custom bracelet for a cool guy who works with my sister-in-law. I must say his girlfriend is one lucky girl! He had great ideas for what he wanted stamped on the charms of this custom bracelet. Kuddos to him for being so thoughtful and detail oriented!

I also made a tagua necklace for him, which is maybe not as exciting but I thought it was great that he knew just what colors he wanted. Here it is:

And now for my latest venture - making facial toner. I follow a blog call Delighted Momma. Lindsey, the author, was an esthetician before she quit her job to be a stay at home mom. She shares all kinds of skincare tips and diy projects. Anyway, she gave instructions for making your own cleansing facial toner here way back in August. I finally tried it in December with hopes of making extra to give to family members for Christmas (that didn't happen). I really like it, but you do have to get over the strong smell of the apple cider vinegar. If I don't have makeup on after I use it, which is 90% of the time, I randomly smell apple cider vinegar throughout the day. I guess it's not the worst thing I smell all day! It's an all natural product that is very inexpensive to make - I'd highly recommend it.

I'll save some of my other projects for another day & time. Have a great weekend everyone!

Lucite and Clay Blog Hop

Hello All - welcome to my blog and thanks for stopping by for the great Lucite & Clay Blog Hop. Let's get down to business!

When given the choice between working with clay or vintage lucite it was a no-brainer for me - I immediately chose the vintage lucite. My beads arrived in the mail months ago. I had to set them aside until after Christmas and all of our traveling was done. The whole time I was thinking - what am I going to do with those beads?! The fucshia color is not one I typically would chose so I was thrown off a bit.

This week I figured I better get to it and make something! I desperately needed some inspiration so I went to Pinterest and searched for photos of vintage lucite jewelry. I stumbled upon a style I really liked (sorry, the link to the original picture was bad so I can't post it). I wanted to make something that fit the era of the beads. And this is what I came up with...

I started with the necklace. I was really going for a 1950's glamour look. Although this is not my typical style or something I would probably wear I really like the way it turned out.

Onto the earrings... I decided I wanted to try to use all of the beads I had been given and to keep the earrings simple. I whipped up these little ditties in no time.

 

There were still more beads! And that could only mean one thing - I needed to make a bracelet. I happened to have some heavy gauge brass wire laying there and that gave me an idea. I wrapped the beads around slightly curved wires and ran a chain through the middle. I made a focal piece for the top and bottom of the bracelet. This piece took quite a while to make but in the end I think it was worth it.

And here's the whole set, so happy together!

Thanks again for stopping by today! My regular readers are probably a little surprised as this style is pretty far from my usual tribal/boho pieces, but it's good to add a little something different every now and again! Check out these other blogs who are also participating in this hop:

Isolina Perez, Isolina Perez

Jennifer Reno, Musings of a Crafty Jenny

Tracy Stillman, Tracy Stillman Designs

Charlene Jacka, Clay Space

Therese Frank, Therese's Treasures

Kay Thomerson, Kayz Kreationz

Ashleigh Becker, YOU ARE HERE

Mary Govaars, MLH Jewelry Designs

Alice McCarthy, Northwoods Creative Studio

Rebecca Sirevaag, Becca's Place

Toltec Jewels, Jewel School Friends

Emma Todd, A Polymer Penchant

Kathy Lindemer, Bay Moon Design

Annia Failde, AnniamAe