A minor setback

Well, it's official.  I broke my pinky....it was a pretty ugly break, so they had to go in and put pins in and everything.  Naturally it's my right hand, and I am the least ambidextrous person you've ever met.  There goes jewelry making, and art journaling, and even just being able to type with two hands.  Some days it's hard not to feel like Charlie Brown, or Ziggy.  Remember Ziggy?  It's SO frustrating, because I was finally getting to be somewhat competent with my shoulder replacement I had in June and now this had to happen.  I promise, I'll start looking for a silver lining.....tomorrow.

A Few New Designs

Just a quick blog-and-run today because I made some new pieces and I wanted to show them to you.  They are a continuation of my first blog post, about Making Memories' Vintage Groove components.  I was so excited when they started carrying these at the Michaels in Brighton, Colorado.  It's a bit of a trek, but it is such a superior Michaels, with such great stuff (like Vintage Groove) that I don't mind the drive. 

I finally had some time to play a little more, and this is what I came up with.

I really like these, with the crystal pendants and the text charms.  I'm wearing them right now, feeling just that little bit more sophisticated than I do with unadorned ears.  Gotta be the dangles.


Okay, crank your head to the left because, no matter what I do, this picture shows up sideways.
These earrings have big gray pearl pendants with light, sort of lime-green glass charms.  A
definite walk on the wild side for me, but I like them.

Here is part of the "Joy" Designer's Pack, used in a necklace with some turquoise and some chain.
Definitely a fun look!

Here's a closeup of the dangly charms and pendants.



And I just wanted you to be able to see the "Joy" piece, because--well, joy is such a big deal and such a big part of
creating and wearing jewelry. 



Oh, and just to end on a happy, seasonal note, I'd like to present a vintage picture of my daughter.


 

 Hopefully she won't mind, as she is 20 now, and quite a good sport about such things. 

Thank you for checking out the new stuff.  I hope to have more soon.

Jewelry Favorites

Good evening.  Actually, I guess "Good morning" would be more correct. I am such a night owl!  Since I'm not sleeping anyway, I thought I would share some more jewelry, which led to a slightly panicky search which finally produced the disk I was looking for. 

 The above is a freeform beadwoven piece, "Blue Nuance" that took quite a while to make.  It was a very soothing and meditative practice, and I just made it up as I went along.  Here's another pic.  In retrospect, I should have chosen a different background color for the photo.

Here is a Classic Pooh gem chip watch.  I love Classic Pooh and friends so much!!!

This next one was one of my first forays into polymer clay beads.  We had some fun, polymer clay and I.  Somehow my vision always exceeds my grasp in that particular medium....But my favorite thing about this piece is the way the strands intertwine. 

This was my first really freeform piece.  I guess if I had to name it, I would go simple: "Red"

I have come to refer to the next piece as "Larry's Necklace," because Larry bought it for his wife one Christmas.  It was a lot of fun to make, and to wear while I had it.  People were always trying to figure out what it "meant".  I think the entirety of my thought process was, "This might look cool!"  No deep numerological meaning, that I'm aware of, anyway.

I think this next one was my first piece.  It's called "Ooh!  Beads!" and it was inspired by my virgin trip to the bead store.  All the colors!  I was hooked!

This piece has wirework and lampwork on it, and is much bolder than most of my earlier work.  We'll call her "Spiral Lampwork Goddess".

The back of the spiral goddess piece is pretty, too.  (This closeup is of  a spiral goddess on a different necklace).  I wish I could remember the vendor who made the goddess pieces, although I believe I have several different goddesses left in my stash.

And last before I call it a night, we have this choker made with cool carved turquoise beads.

That is sort of what seems, at 2:30 in the morning, to be the cream of the crop of the jewelry I've made, of which I have pictures.  If I can figure out how to do folders on here, where you would click on them and the previously hidden content would be revealed, I will put up the rest of the jewelry.  I'm also considering Etsy or ArtFire.

 Thank you for letting me show it to you!  Goodnight.

A Tribute to Pooh Bear, RIP

My wonderful kitty, Pooh Bear, died of cancer many moons ago.  A very generous artist and new friend, Maitha, has offered to do some drawings of him to help me in my art journaling process of letting him go.  This is the first of the drawings, and I think it turned out just amazing.  Thank you so much, Maitha.  You have such a good heart.  I will post a link to your blog when I can find one.  Could you send me one again, actually?  Thanks.

I have a blog!

Now that I have a blog, I'm feeling a little tongue-tied.  What do people want to read?

I am getting more and more into vintage stuff lately.  I've always loved vintage jewelry, and I had the occasional vintage clothing item in college (I miss you, cutaway tailcoat, wherever you are!) but now I am consumed by the quest for cool vintage stuff--in person, on-line, wherever.  Savers is my new favorite store, and yard sales the new recreation, and I can surf the internet for hours looking at everything and nothing--Artfire and etsy can be like a yard sale without the heat or the bugs.....I'm hooked.  Let me know if you have a hoarde of great vintage sites.  It's not just a hobby any more; it's an obsession.

I'm even liking some of the faux vintage stuff that's out there.  At first, I hated that vintage was becoming the new "it" thing, since those of us who've always loved vintage have so much more competition for bargains now, and it makes my heart hurt to think of some of the beauties I've lost out on in a bidding war that may end up thrown away or otherwise abandoned once the bloom is off the "vintage" rose, and the trend shifts to whatever comes next.  But then I realized that I might as well embrace the good that comes with this trend, which is some really cool faux-vintage stuff out there.  I used to be a snob about only honoring "real" vintage treasures, but I'm over it now, because it's all just supposed to be fun.  I wear my vintage treasures I've been collecting for 35 years alongside some pretty neat new stuff, faux vintage and otherwise, and some hybrid stuff--a blending of old and new elements, such as the Steampunk trend.  I love me some Steampunk!

Making Memories, which is well known for scrapbooking, has a very cool faux-vintage line of charms, pendants, chains and strands called Vintage Groove by Jill Schwartz.  There is some very cool stuff there, and I got to see some of it 3-D when I helped them put up a display at the Michaels in Brighton, Colorado.  I had to leave Michaels before I got any shopping in that day, as my helper needed to get to work, but I can't wait to get back there tomorrow and make some deliciously agonizing choices about which components to buy.  You can see their  line at http://www.makingmemories.com/vintage_groove_jewelry_by_jill_schwartz ---there is so much cool stuff under "hard embellishments" (and under everything else, too--the site is packed with drool-worthy ephemera and paper collections, too) that you will probably get almost as obsessed as I am.  As it is, I've made two Vintage Groove necklaces to show you here, if I can figure out how to insert a picture.  I desperately need more Vintage Groove stuff!

I thought they turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself.

Well, better get some sleep.  Tomorrow is the first time I'm going to the monthly meeting of a book arts club, where I'll actually get to hang out with some fellow altered art people in real life.  I'm so excited!  As of now, all my art buddies are online, except for one.  I still need to pack up all my supplies and such, and get it together to be there at the crack of dawn--well, okay, ten o'clock, but that's pretty early for me.  I have it on good authority that dawn actually happens much, much earlier, but I'd have to see it for myself to believe it.

So--welcome to the new blog.  Thanks for listening.  Please let me know if you have any good vintage info, either online or in Colorado.  Thanks!  Joani