Glue and Paint

This afternoon I went back to my love of mixing colours.  It's been a long time since I've had glue and paint on my hands- and it felt good I can tell you.  

I've missed this creative side just sitting and playing and letting the mind wander - I think we have enough rules in our day to day life and we forget to just let go and be ourselves.   

I don't pre-mix the colours I like the freedom of applying paint straight onto the "canvas" and seeing the colours "develop" as I apply it to the item being painted. 

I started by playing with some shrink plastic squares.  I've had this idea about making buttons with it - it's not a new idea just something I wanted to make to use on my cards in some way - we'll see.

I wore my stampbord necklace one day last week and I had so many people commenting on it that I thought it would be good to make some more necklaces to sell.

Here is a sneak peek of what I've been making today.

Paints used are Stewart Gill Paints

I've been featured .............

All thanks to the lovely Lauren from Pretty Star Designs.  It was while I was browsing through the updates on twitter that I saw a call for wedding suppliers from Lauren.  Not really knowing what was required I enquired about the call for wedding suppliers and Lauren told me that she was looking to represent other suppliers on her blog.  

Lucky for me she liked my designs and wanted to do a feature - thank you Lauren I really appreciate you doing this.

Why not pop over to Laurens blog Pretty Star Designs and see all the other lovely creative people who have been featured along side myself.

Handmade Monday 22

I really have no idea where the days and weeks are going.  So here we are again another Monday and time for Handmade Monday where all the creative people link to each other via Wendy's Blog - Wendy started the Handmade Monday so that we could share our work with each other and to people visiting our blogs.  

My contribution this week is a card that I made for my neighbours son and daughter-in-law - they've just had a baby girl (they already have a little boy).  I've not seen the baby yet - they have their own home not too far from here.  

There are traditions in the hindu community where the new baby and mother aren't supposed to leave the house for 3 months (depends on the person these days) so I guess I will have to wait a while before I get to see her.  Oh and another tradition is that the babys aunt (fathers sister) will get to choose the babys name -although these days the names are suggested and the parents make the final choice. 

Well here is the card - It's made using my own template.  I've used watercolour paper and then painted with Derwent Inktense Pencils (my favourite by far).  I've threaded ribbon at the top and then punched out flowers from some scrapbook paper and added little gems to the centre of the flowers.  I normally make the dress as a stand alone so the card is joined at the shoulders but I didn't have time today.  I think it's turned out ok though.

If you've enjoyed reading my post please feel free to leave a message - I really appreciate the time people take to read the posts and to hear your thoughts would be good to.  Why not pop over to Wendy's blog and see what everyone else has been creating I'm sure you'll find something of interest.

Versatile Blogger Award

Ok lets see if I can do this without any hitches.

Thank you Wendy for giving me this award I never would have thought of myself as a versatile blogger - more an irregular one :).

1.  Link back to the person who gave me the award - done

2.  Share 7 random things about yourself - errmm ok now thats a hard one

3.  Award 7 recently discovered bloggers with this award and contact them to let them know they have won. - That's easy there are so many creative bloggers out there.

7 random things about me - 

•  I went paragliding in Italy a few years ago - strapped to a handsome Italian. 
• My favourite book of all time is 1984 I go back and re-read it every few years and I'm always amazed at how relevant it becomes to that time.
• I have an eclectic taste in music depending on my mood - my favourite being Indian film songs - but I listen to anything from rock to classical.
• I get told I'm too organised so to squash that I "try" to leave a little bit of clutter.
• I get inspired/attracted by colours rather than the subject matter in a piece of art work.
• I lived and worked out in India for 4 months and loved every minute of it.
• I'm not very good at talking about myself because I don't think of myself as being interesting.

My nominated blogs for this award are (some are recent and some aren't) -

All Things Paper

by kicabijoux

Crumbs Couture

Ink Stains

Inspired Celebration

ooak-fairy-fae

The Scar Swallower

Lost Internet

Yesterday (23rd June) everything that could have gone wrong went wrong (that's how it felt)  It was like swimming against an invisible force. 

1. A nasty virus decided it was going to make itself at home on my netbook (I've been using it in place of the pc as the motherboard needed to be replaced).- they are both now nice and clean and fixed.

2. I had to get 2 new tyres replaced - all I'd gone in for was to get the windscreen wipers changed.

3. My phone went through a network exchange which meant I had to reset all the settings etc.

and to top it all off the garage door decided it had had enough and wouldn't open- have to wait for my dad to get that fixed - keeps him out of mischief :)

Don't you feel sometimes that these things are sent to test us?

What I didn't like yesterday was not having any access to the internet.  The loss of all online connections made me feel like I was in limbo all day.  Not that I would have been online all day yesterday as I had errands and meetings most of the day but just the thought of not having any internet access was very disconcerting.  It certainly brought home to me how much I rely on the internet to connect with my friends and colleagues and for work. 

It also made me realise that although we get information from the radio and televison nothing is as immediate as the internet especially twitter.

How do you cope with loss of the internet?  Do you feel as I do- lost?

Butterfly Wedding Invitations - A Sneak Preview & Handmade Monday #21

Butterflies seem to be the flavour of the season and as I have a rather large collection of rubber stamps I thought I would use one on the new wedding invitations.  The background paper I handpainted with acrylics then scanned & altered to create/add texture to keep the design consistant on each card.  The butterfly has been embossed on the same paper as the background - I've used Blonde Moments embossing powder.

The cones are made up as a combined place setting and wedding favour. The cones are big enough to hold 3/4 sugared almonds or any other small object. I have placed a matching bag charm in this cone which is something a little bit different than chocolates (not that there's anything wrong with chocolates)

http://www.itsamistrydesignstudio.com/

I'm including this post as my contribution to Wendys  Handmade Monday blog especially as I've managed to get this done in time. 

Failure.....

Failed? You ask..........yes miserably to keep my blog updated and I have no excuse other than time just seems to pass by at the blink of an eye.  I have had a few computer breakdowns so I guess in someways I do have an excuse. 

I've also failed to keep up with Wendy's  Handmade Monday Challenge.  I was determined to keep up with the Handmade Mondays posts but alas I haven't managed  that either - sorry Wendy :(  I will go and write out 100 times I must blog at least once a week :).


Ok so I haven't posted a blog but it doesn't mean I haven't been busy making and selling.  I've also been working on a new range of wedding accessories but you're going to have to wait a few more days before its revealed.  


In the mean time here are a few pictures of some new jewellery I've been making and are available to buy on my Etsy Shop.

Sarah & Ian's Wedding 27th May 2010

When Sarah and I first met for her consultation she told me that she was not a "girly" girl and wanted me to design something that was subtle and would co-ordinate with the colour of the crystals that were on her dress.
After looking through some of the jewellery that I had made previously and drawing some sketches to alter the designs so that they were more in line with what Sarah felt comfortable with I made up a mock design so show her at our next meeting.  We made a few alterations to the sample piece and after approval I made up the actual piece using Swarovski crystals for Sarah's jewellery and Fire-Polish Czech crystals for the bridesmaids.

Sarah on her wedding day wearing the jewellery that was made especially for her using a mix of turquoise Swarovski bi cone crystals for her hair comb, necklace and earrings.  

This is one of the bridesmaids -their hair vines were made with Fire-polish Czech crystals -they co-ordinated with the colours of Sarah's  jewellery.

 

Itsamistrydesignstudio

Man Stuff

I am venturing into unknown territory here, as I have never made any kind of men’s jewellery. I have been told numerous times by the men accompanying the wives/girlfriends at craft fairs that they feel left out because the jewellery stands only cater to women.

So to that end I have made a necklace by collaborating with a UK Lampworking artist Jeanette who has made me a glass “sharks tooth”. The results as you can see in the photographs are very realistic.

This is 1 of 2 necklaces. I’ve kept the first one quite simple by threading the “tooth” onto a double strand of cotton thong and adding copper spacer beads to compliment the colour of the “tooth”.   The second one I have added copper wire work around the top of the tooth to give it a bit more texture. 

The “tooth” measures approx 5cm in length and 1cm in diameter.

 Shark tooth made by Jeanette Fletcher  www.jeanetteslampworkbeads.com

Sonia J Jewellery

Jewellery is very personal and in todays market there is a very diverse and eclectic mix of people creating a wide range of jewellery from beading to wire-work to silver/goldsmithing for you to choose from.

So in the next few weeks I am going to feature different artists and their work.  As you know I design and make jewellery but there are so many other jewellery designers who's work I admire that I just have to share their work with you.

Today I am going to show you some of Sonias work. 

Sonia is a Jewellery Designer based in Staffordshire, England specialising in personally handmade silver jewellery.  She creates individual pieces of jewellery in sterling silver and swarovski crystals, semi-precious stones, gemstones, pearls and other materials.  

Sonias passion for handmade jewellery came from a love of all things beautiful and sparkly.  Sonia became increasingly frustrated at mass produced items on the high street and so decided to do something about it and enrolled on a silversmithing and jewellery course.  It's fair to say she has never looked back!

Sonias inspiration comes from a number of sources, some of them very unlikely, and very often in the middle of the night or on her way to a meeting.

Solid sterling silver heavy bangle with "ball" ends and a  hand sawn daisy.

Jasper pendant hand wrapped in sterling silver to a unique design with integral bail.

Sterling Silver "Hearts"   Handcrafted matching earring and pendant set.  The hearts are gently curved and have different hammered textures on each side.

 

To see more of Sonias lovely work why not pop over to her website and see for yourself.