Felting Fun

This weekend I went to Maurine's house for the first time to learn how to felt. I had a great time meeting Maurine and enjoyed all of her wonderful hospitality. She also has some amazing looms one of which is computer manipulated. This is a felt bead that I made that day that I glued onto a ring base. I haven't strung the necklace or bracelet yet but isn't this ring too cute! What was so funny about this whole process was that Maurine had cards to use on the wool for another project. They looked just like the cards that you use on actual sheep. For those of you who don't know I showed sheep from age 8-18 in 4-H. Then we washed the wool in Ivory soap which is exactly what you wash sheep in to make them really white and pretty for the fair. It really made me chuckle.

Charm Bracelet

I finally got my charm bracelet together from the charm exchange. As you can see everyone did something really different. I LOVE my new bracelet and will wear it proudly. Thanks fellow charmers!

Vegas Snow!

Christmas Jewelry Exchange

It was that time of year again to draw a person's name from the stack and gift them with an original handmade item. The party was held at Margaret and Peter Jung's house which was amazing. They should've charged admission just to see all of their beautiful artwork they have collected over the years. Thank you so much for being such wonderful hosts. Margaret drew my name this year and made me the most beautiful necklace and earrings. The necklace is a 15 strand weave.
I drew Chelsea's name this year and she had on her profile that she loves junk jewelry so that is what I made her. I took an old keyboard apart, filled the back of the keys with black resin (thanks for the tip Mandy) and drilled through to create a hole for stringing. She loved it and plans on going salvaging soon to continue making her own keyboard jewelry. I couldn't pass up the chance to make a delete key into a ring. Everyone should have one of those!

Chelsea opening up her keyboard jewelry!

You Know Who You Are

A special friend made me this. I couldn't resist posting it because I LOVE it so very much. Thanks a million and by the way I think you're a true artist too.

Pierre Le Chat

My friend Jean is very crafty and when she told me she was going to start making sock dolls, I couldn't wait to see the results. Last week her and her boyfriend Coy were sewing away making the cutest sock dolls you have every seen. I was gifted with Pierre. I named him that because of his beret. The got their inspiration from the book Stray Sock Sewing by Daniel.

Jean, Jean The Dancing Machine

Jean, a student who works in the office, is always creating. For two years now she has made the entire staff awards at the end of the year. This year I only thought it fitting to make something for her too, so check it out.Jean's creation last year, the paper plate awards. I was voted "Most likely to wear handmade accessories".

Jean's creation this year, buddy pokes. Doesn't my buddy poke look just like me? Thanks, Jean!

Jean sporting her pendant that I made her with paper that I collected in Chinatown when I was in San Francisco.

The other side of the pendant pictured on my lovely wire lady that I found at Ross. Can you believe it? Yes, I said Ross.

Charm Exchange

Oh what fun we had last night at the charm exchange! A special thank you to Debbie for making all of us feel welcome in her home and preparing such a yummy meal for us. Here are a few pictures. I will post a picture of my charm bracelet when I get it finished.

Debbie had place cards for all of us with very pretty table settings.

I couldn't resist posting a picture of the lovely toilet paper in the bathroom. Everything was in the holiday spirit.

Jerry and Tanya with their birthday purses that Mandy handcrafted for them.

Jackie putting together her charm bracelet before we even left Debbie's house. We are so jealous. She's got mad skills.

Charm Exchange

The monthly ladies jewelry group, ok sometimes more than monthly, decided to do a charm exchange for the holidays. We each were responsible for making 11 charms and will each come home with 11 different charms that we are going to trade with each other tonight at Debbie's house. I decided to use soldering for mine, since it's my new favorite thing! I took little glass blobs and put homemade paper behind them and cut words out of an old book that I found at a local library sale. This one says voice but all of them are different. These are the words I chose: vogue, hope, queen, heart, luck, chic, she-wolf, sweet, star and wink. It truly is amazing what words you can find in books. I do have to share though that it is very difficult to solder glass blobs (insert one burnt up soldering iron, cursing, frustration and an emergency trip to the Glass Art Studio for a new iron here). It was a great learning experience though and even though they have a few imperfections I'm very proud of these little charms. Like my friend Angela says "It's handmade girl, if you want something perfect get it made in China". I can't wait to see what the other ladies all came up with for their charms!