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

Winter weekends & more...

Winter weekends are usually full of projects - things I want to get done around the house. We've been making some serious progress! Our bedroom is completely re-done & I'm currently typing this in my new closet office. My husband, Bill, isn't a big fan of the closet office & he's pretty sure I'll hate it soon, but so far it's not too bad. I can't put my knees under the desk because there is no desk (my laptop is sitting on top of the file cabinet) so he thinks I'll be very uncomfortable if I sit here for a long period. I guess I'll just have to work as little as possible. :)

We also have the boys totally moved into their new room. It still needs some shelves put up and a little decorating, but there stuff is all there including a new (new to us anyway) set of bunk beds. Liam is 3 1/2 and absolutely thrilled that he will soon be "sleeping on the ceiling" - makes me a little nervous. We have yet to get mattresses for the bunk beds so that's next on the list.

My new jewelry workspace is far from being done. There's currently not enough space in the basement to set-up my table due to all of the other "stuff" aka junk that's down there. We need to finish sorting everything and make room so I can get back to creating in a more efficient manner. I don't plan to work on jewelry nearly as much as I did last year but I do want to have a place to create when I have time. I also have some custom orders to work on so I'm hoping we get it done quickly.

At this point you may be thinking, isn't this blog supposed to be about jewelry? Well, that was mostly my original intent. Sometimes life changes and we end up going in a direction we hadn't planned. I'm not saying I'm not going to be blogging about jewelry making anymore because I will be, but I'm also going to be blogging about life as mom of little children, diy projects, recipes, new things I'm trying, money saving tips and whatever else comes my way. I hope you don't mind. I'm looking forward to a new chapter and new adventures this year.

PS - I just started making some of my own skin care products. I'll let you know about them soon & whether or not they actually work! Yikes, I sure hope so!

A Home Makeover

Well, it seems to be the time of year when I start to get fidgety and want to change something's in the house. We are going all out this year and moving my office/jewelry room to the basement where my work bench is, moving the boys to my old office and redecorating our bedroom. So far all of my jewelry stuff (mess) is moved, but the office part is still there and our bedroom is almost done!

I'm a no nonsense kind of girl. I picked gray for our bedroom on Thursday and Friday night we went and bought the paint. On Saturday, we taped, primed and painted! My husband also worked on cleaning out his boxes in the basement. On Sunday, we ripped off all the tape (not fun), moved our furniture back and then crashed. We were pretty exhausted but thankful we got so much done! The boys were awesome through it all. Liam was thrilled that we now had a gray room.

Next in line is cleaning out the office and moving the boys. Here are some before and after pictures of our room. They aren't that great because I took them with my iPhone but you get the idea and I still have to decorate so more pictures to come...

Where has the time gone?!

Oh life, how you get away from me! I've meant to blog about it along the way but it just didn't happen. Let me tell you about it anyway...
In December I was swamped with orders, taking part in our annual live nativity and getting ready to go to the east coast for 12 days! The orders all managed to get out the door in prefect time and the live nativity went off without a hitch - my husband played Joseph and also had the only speaking role, which was a brand new thing this year, and he did an awesome job!
Our trip to the east coast began earlier than planned due to a huge winter snow storm. We left early to miss it rather than sit home for 2 days and wait for it to pass. We did miss the snow part but drove 1,000 in rain. We arrived safely at our first destination - New Jersey.
We enjoyed 4 days jam packed full of fun. We visited Storybook Land, an amusement park full of giant storybook tales such as the woman in the shoe, the three bears, etc. We also got to go to a great children's museum and see a light show in Philadelphia. The kids did great and were showered with awesome Christmas gifts at the end.

Liam & Uncle Andy made a gingerbread train

Next we made our way to Long Island, where my husband is from. We continued our Christmas celebration with his mom and sisters. It was great to see everyone and just have time to hang out. We also got to spend a day in NYC, so far my favorite big city on earth. I love to just roam around, see what we see and enjoy being in the city. Our kids were so amazing the entire day! We are blessed!


Bill & I at Rockefeller Center



Chrysler Building
 

Next we all traveled to Pennsylvania for a birthday party. We had a great time with more extended family just hanging out, playing ping-pong, sipping lattes and chatting. It was really nice and our gracious hosts, Bill's aunt and uncle, had such a beautiful home!

We made it home in one day! It was a long day, but we were happy to arrive home to find my parents cooking us a nice nutritious dinner. We are so thankful for them!

We thought we'd have a couple days to unpack, settle in and get a couple projects done around the house, but that didn't happen. I got a call on New Years Eve that my grandpa was dying and another call that my brothers wide was in labor with their first son. So, all in one day we lost our grandpa and gained a nephew - bittersweet. We know grandpa is in a better place and he wanted nothing more than for my brother to have a baby. Emotions ran high but we pulled together and got through it.


Max & I

Now, life is getting back into some kind of routine, however, it's not the same routine. I'm pausing somewhat on making jewelry and taking some time to prepare for some changes coming in our family. I'm still fulfilling orders when they come and working on some pieces for a friend's wedding. I'm also moving my jewelry space to the basement by my workbench. It's a ton of work especially since the basement is also a mess! Not really looking forward to this project but it has to be done.
And that's what my life has been for the past 6 weeks. How was your Christmas? Anything new and exciting in the new year for you? It's the time of year when people make resolutions and new promises. My only resolution is to try harder to find balance between all the work, spending time with my family and finding a few minutes to just breathe. It's a struggle for me to relax - I always feel like I should be working. So, what are you working on in this fresh, new year?

WINNER!

Hello All! We have a WINNER! I apologize for the delay. I had a show on Saturday and then my husband and I were in a live nativity Saturday & Sunday(Joseph & Mary). It made for a very busy, but fun weekend. Anyway, onto to the important stuff...

The Winner is comment #6! I used a random number generator, but for some reason the picture of it would not upload. So, comment #6 was from Ann Marie Luckow! Congrats, Ann! Please contact me with the colors of tagua you would like on your necklace!

Thank you to everyone who played along! Enjoy this wonderful month of celebrating with friends, family and all those you love.

Christmas Sale & a GIVEAWAY!

Hello All! I'm excited to announce that I will be part of the Artisan Whimsy Market 2012 Holiday Collection! As a bonus, I'll be offering 10% of my entire etsy shop with the code AWHOLIDAY. The sale starts Friday, November 23 and ends Friday, November 30. This is a great opportunity to buy those custom gifts for friends, family and other loved ones. As always, all profit will be donated to charity - mostly an orphanage in Mexico and another in Madagascar. Let's make this Christmas the best ever for the orphans! If you've seen something on my facebook page you like and can't find it in my shop just message me on Facebook, leave a comment there or email me.

And now for the really good part - a GIVEAWAY! I'll be picking one random winner who will receive a 3 piece tagua necklace in the colors of their choice! Some examples are pictured below, but you can design your own if you'd like. You can be entered in the drawing up to 6 times by doing the following:

1. Follow my blog and leave a comment telling me what you are most thankful for.
2. Share a link to this post on Facebook, twitter or your blog and then leave a comment here to tell me where you shared. (one entry per place)
3. Share your favorite photo from my Facebook page on your wall and tell your friends all about it.
4. Go to my etsy shop, favorite my shop, plus favorite at least one idea and then leave a comment here with a link to the idea you favorited.

 

Thank you so much for all of your support this year! I am so thankful for how God has blessed this business and how many lives have been changed because of money donated. I'm excited about how many pairs of shoes will be purchased for children in need this Christmas, as well as food, water, clothing and shelter. Together we are helping people around the world!  THANK YOU!

Visit more people participating in this Holiday Market:

 

Good news all around!

Well, life is busy as usual. Yesterday was Henry's first birthday! He's such a beautiful little guy. People stop us all the time to tell us he's pretty - it's funny how they hesitate to say a boy is pretty or beautiful but there's just something about those sweet little eyes that scream beauty. I'm a proud momma, obviously!

Anyway, his first birthday was great. We had a mini party, but the whole family is coming on Sunday after church to celebrate. The mini party consisted of us, my parents & my nephew. Henry was literally doing a little dance when he opened his new handmade, wooden cars & trains. He moves them along and makes noises for them. I can't help but wonder how at the age of 1 he knows how to make car sounds - the mystery of being a boy! He had a great day!

On the jewelry front, I just heard from Stringing Magazine that they accepted 4 of my 6 subscriptions for publication. I'm pretty excited as this was my first submission. I'm not sure why they rejected the other 2 pieces, but I'm not going to let myself be upset about it because seriously, 4 pieces getting published is pretty darn cool!

I had a show last weekend at a high school about an hour away. It went well. I had a great response from people. I was a little bit surprised though by the fact that a lot of people weren't buying. Other vendors also mentioned this - people seemed hesitant. I'm not sure if it's because it was so close to the election and that makes people nervous? It's weird because I would never buy or not buy because of an election but I guess I'm not normal. In the end I had a few great sales and then a bunch of small ones so I exceeded my goal and had a good time. I love getting out and interacting with customers!

Enjoy your weekend. It'll be a busy one for us with family coming in from NY to celebrate our little Henry. Here he is...