Earrings and A New Obsession (oh dear!)

It's been a fairly quiet week so far, apart from a spate of earring designs being created at my desk. After my PMC weekend of last, and having a bit of play with polymer clay I've become a bit obsessed. I'm now researching, learning, trolling the internet and spending a bit of money (tools, books, clay etc.). So look out for future blog posts on my polymer clay journey that I'm about to embark on. You can't wait, I know!!!
Blue agate, rose pink rhodocrosite beads and silver spacers and hand made ear wires.

Gunmetal grey connectors and hand made ear wires with chandelier crystals.
A little bit of fun. Shell oblong beads hand stamped with stazon ink.
Same shell beads with a floral stamped design.
With DH being on holidays for the next 3 weeks and glued to the TV for every world cup soccer game, not sure how much creating I'll get done. My desk and computer are in the family room and I'm one of those people who loves dead quiet when I'm working. No music, no noise and definitely no TV when I'm at my desk, I find it so distracting and it just sucks the creative juice right out of me. The Kippers have a large flat screen in their lounge room so hopefully he'll go in there and watch it when they're not home.
These earrings are on my Artfire store along with a few others.

We're Having A Heat Wave

I've been awake since 4.00 am and it's now 3.00 pm and I don't think I'm making much sense. Last night was out hottest night for 40 years. Yesterday was 37c and today is going to be 39c (just quietly, it feels about 45c at the moment) and the overnight temperature didn't go below 28.8c. I'm so sick of the heat.

So in the wee small hours of the morning because the heat had woken me up so early and I couldn't think of anything to do, I took photos. The light wasn't very good because at 4.00 am it's still dark you know, in case you were wondering, for all those people who sleep the sleep of the dead and wake refreshed at 7.00 am and ready for the day.
Antique silver connector thingys, clear faceted glass bicones and smoky brown faceted glass bicones wire wrapped and acrylic clear flowers. Matching earrings with small crackle glass beads. Don't usually make matching earrings and necklace and don't really know what possessed me to. It's the heat I tell you!!!!! It's turned me into a walking blob of boob sweat and sauteed my brain.
Anyway I quite like the necklace, it has a vintagey feel to it.
In case you hadn't realised............I dislike the heat......intensely.

Earrings Galore

Well I just did a stupid thing. Decided to try the other blog editor thingy which I didn't even know I had and all sorts of problems occurred . Every time I tried to write something it would become bold and underlined as if it was a link to something. I've had this problem for awhile but was able to overcome it by uploading my photos, saving them, going back to my dashboard then clicking edit post and everything would be alright. But even that would't work. I have a feeling this problem started when I changed from IE to Firefox quite awhile ago, so now I've gone back to IE and I still have the same problem but can overcome it by saving the photos and then going back to edit. Has anyone else encountered this problem? If so how do you correct it.

Anyway all I've been doing this week is making earrings. Lots of earrings! This is just a small sample.

I've been practising making earring wires.......

......and wire wrapping.
These are my favourites, very simple, just white coral beads and antique silver earring wires and bead caps.
Now I feel like I've got a bit of jewellry cred. Bought a bench block and have been bashing away at wire and texturing some brass washers. You can see the earrings I made with the washers on the right in the top photo.
Now I think I'll cruise on over to the blog help centre and see if someone can fix the stupid problem for me.

My Groove is Missing

It's taking me forever to get back into the swing of things. Now Christmas is well and truly over, our holiday is slowly just becoming a faded memory (not really) and DH has gone back to work, I still can't seem to find my groove.
I did have a big desk clean up though. Packed lots of stuff away after I found a large plastic container with a lid in the laundry that was empty.....how can that be, an empty container....why wasn't I told! So off to Bunnings I went and bought a large set of plastic drawers that fit perfectly under my desk right next to my Ikea Alex drawer set. Now all that needs to be done is label them. Thank goodness for the trusty dymo label maker.
So in between all that packing away and sorting I did manage a few pairs of wallpaper earring that I've added a few embellishments to.
This pair, coppery bronzey coloured background with a silver leaf design. I added some 'old gold' dangley charms to give them a bit of weight.
I'm glad I took this close up photo. I can see that I haven't closed a jump ring properly.
Brown background wallpaper with a silver leaf design, I've added some more scrapbook embellishments to them. Gun metal grey paper clips.
Same wallpaper as the first pair with some Blue Moon earring hooks.
Oh no! I can hear Mr Whippy the icecream guy coming up the street. Greensleeves.....it would have to be the worst earworm ever, now I'm going to be stuck with that tune in my head all day. Somebody save me!!!!!!

The Long and Short of it.

I've photographed these earrings about 10 times trying to get the colour right. Not much luck. So you'll have to use your imagination.Silver background wallpaper with fine almost bronze coloured stripes and what looks like Asian writing. Grungeboard discs in small, medium and large. Glued the WP to both sides of the GB discs and then set eyelets in them. Connected them together with black square jump rings that I made myself.
The dangle on the bottom is a black faceted disco ball that I had no intentions of adding. Last night in bed while I was working out the design in my head I told myself to remember not to punch two holes in that largest disc. What was the very first thing I did after all the glue had dried? You guessed it, I punched two holes.
These earrings are long, very long but according to my daughter they're just right. I might try and talk her into modeling them for me so I can take another 10 photos.

Earring Experiments

These are an experiment. I bought some grunge paper the other day and wanted to try a few things with it. Because it's a bit thinner than the GB I thought I might be able to eliminate a couple of steps with my wall paper shapes. Normally I cut out the GB shapes then the wall paper shapes and then glue front and back. A bit time consuming, so I wondered if using the GP I could glue the WP onto the front and back of a long strip of GP , wait for it to dry then cut out the shapes with my cuttlebug. It's not bad but the shapes can't be too intricate otherwise the cuttlebug just won't cut all the way through.I don't know where the pink tinge came from because it's silver with a black stripe.
These are another pair of metal Christmas deccies. They were originally gold so I've painted them with black metallic paint and then smudged with silver rub n buff.
Now these are a new thing. My BFF Carmen very kindly let me go through her wall paper sample books. We've both got about 5 books that are the same, but she has a fantastic book with the most gorgeous embossed wall paper. They are all white and the idea is you apply them to your walls then paint them with your chosen colours. So here I've just left them white and smudged over a black stazon stamp pad to pick up all the raised areas. Added some black bugle beads to give them some weight and Roberts your uncle.
I really like them. I think Carmen better count her wall paper books each time I leave her house. If the embossed one is missing..........it wasn't me, OK?

When Designs go Pear Shaped

See this.....this started life as a bracelet. Pale yellow pearl beads with silver beads and spacers. First it was too big so I pulled it apart, re-arranged things and removed a couple of beads, put it all back together and it was too small. Fiddled around with it some more and got thoroughly frustrated, had a little tanty, stamped my feet and said swear words then added some chain and now it's a necklace and a pretty boring one at that.
See that clasp. I blame that clasp for all my troubles. It just didn't want to be part of a bracelet. It wouldn't play by the rules and just decided it wasn't going to do up properly when it was part of a bracelet.
I like these and I think I'll keep them for me. The reason is they exactly match a shirt I own. I know, pretty bright and larey, so is the shirt. I call it my Couture Hawaiian shirt and it looks good on me. Well I just keep telling myself that.
Spot the mistake? I didn't until I had taken the photo and uploaded it to this post. It's fixed now. That will teach me to rush things.
This is an earring pattern from a magazine called Beginners Guide to Beading. It's an Australian magazine and has quite a lot of info in it, especially for newbies like me. Both of the above earrings are the same design, just different beads.
Must away......Svetlana is coming over for a play date so I'd better tidy up and get organised. If we make anything exciting I'll take photos. The melting pot and wax could be involved.

Jailbird Earings

Not much to show for the weekend. In fact a very poor showing. Just one pair of earings.
Silver wall paper with a black stripe. Decided to try a different shape so settled on this oval shape which is about 3.5cm long (approx. 1.5"). Black eyelets and silver earing hooks.
Had a go at doing a wire wrap. Mmmm......back to the drawing board on that one. Added a small black crystal to give them a bit of weight and draw attention away from my wire wrap, ha ha!
Off to work soon so just a short post. This week doesn't look like being terribly productive really. Wednesday is Chas' birthday so tomorrow is shopping for a present, Wednesday is housework and tidying up (the rels are coming) Thursday is work again (yay, money for beads). Tuesday night I have a class with Kelsey. Decorating small dominoes to add to ATC's so maybe something to show on Wednesday.

Think I'll name these Jailbird Earings, the stripes make me think of prison garb. Or mattress ticking....thinking about that now I'm not sure I like them anymore...oh dear.

I Have No Bead Knowledge

I really should get to know the names of all the different shapes of beads and also what they're made of. I just go in the shop and pick out whatever I'm drawn to and I always forget to ask what they are, I'm too impatient to get home and start making something. I'm failing 'Bead Knowledge 101 '.
The colours in these beads drew me to them, green, yellow and black flecked small squarish ones and larger oblong faceted ones. See....I have no idea what I'm talking about here. But this I do know, the little black ones are crystals.
Now this pair have some recycled silver plastic beads, small black crystals and olive green drop crystals. Am I starting to sound knowledgeable yet?
Ok, small round yellow ones, silver pumpkin shape ones, silver filigree bead caps and small black crystals.
Now here I know what I'm talking about. Cream coloured wall paper glued to grungeboard, black hand stamping and gun metal eyelets and earing hooks. I made another pair last night and included them in with some bracelets I made for a work colleague of Brighita's. I just loved them so much I made another pair for myself.
They've got a sort of faded vintagey look to them. It's so gratifying to be able to use elements other than beads and I'm starting to use a lot of my mixed media stuff of which I have heaps.
Dinner preparations call (damn it). Chops and salad tonight because I'm struggling to come up with something creative and delicious. Wish I was Oprah, then I could have a full time chef!

Spas are Over Rated

Things have been quiet in the jewelry making department over the last few days. My head has been consumed with holiday plans for Christmas. Spending time with 3 of my sisters who are interstate and catching up with my girlfriend of 38 years (yikes! is it really 38 years Sherryn?).
But it's the big trip to Tasmania that I've wanted to do for many years. Now I had visions in my head of swanning around a swanky hotel suite, strolling around the city, lots of shopping and sight seeing and then strolling back to our swanky suite and possibly having a spa to relieve the aching muscles and then order room service. Who was I kidding?
You see we forgot to factor in the Sydney to Hobart yacht race and every hotel, motel, apartment, bed and breakfast within coo-ee of the city is booked out. So after 3 days on the internet, many emails begging for accommodation and pulling my hair out we finally found a place.
Forget about spas and room service. The only luxury this place has is tea/coffee making equipment, also it's a 10 minute drive out of the city or in our case a 20 minute 'hop on the bus Gus' ride unless we hire a car.
One redeeming feature it has though is it's very close to the Cadbury Chocolate factory. Actually thinking about that now, it's possibly not a good thing. Anyway we'll just make the best of it, I keep telling myself as long as we've got somewhere to sleep that's the main thing. Spas are overrated anyway.
So this is my very poor effort in jewelry making over the last few days.

Still on the grungeboard kick but this time no wall paper. Painted the GB then embossed the disc in the cuttlebug. Gently smeared silver rub n buff over the raised areas.

I used Folk Art black metallic paint. Sorry about the glare.
So now all the holiday plans are made I can concentrate on other stuff and that's just made me realise I better start making some Christmas presents to take with me. Guess what the sisters are getting!

Lend Me Your Ears

I've had an earring weekend. Long weekend here with strange weather. Sunday was beautiful weather, a warm spring day. Then yesterday was cold and today is freezing.

These earrings are grungeboard and wallpaper. It's a bit hard to tell but it's a really nice lemony lime colour.More wallpaper and GB.
Wallpaper, GB and beads.

These are my favourites even though I don't wear gold. Erin and Brighita loved them too, so they each got a pair. Very blingy and retro.
I cut all the discs out with my cuttlebug. I was bit worried about the GB being too thick for the dies but they just went through it like butter.
I have a million ideas using GB and wallpaper, and it's fantastic for earings because they are so light. So making big bold designs isn't a problem as they won't drag down your earlobe to the top of your shoulder.
Until next time.......enjoy your week and happy creating.

Re-worked, Re-vamped, Re-jigged

This is the necklace from the post below. Pulled it all apart and glued the discs together. So now there's six instead of 12. Made a large central disc and dabbed several different colours of rub n buff over a metal washer (to give the whole piece a bit of weight) then covered it with glossy accents and glued it to the disc. Added some beads that I had bought eons ago and it's finished.
More wallpaper. This silver and black wallpaper is my most favourite piece. So much so that I conned Carmen into giving me hers as well. We've both got similar sample books and I put on such a good act about needing it for something special (I used it to cover a journal we were both making in class) that she felt sorry for me and couldn't say no. So the few small pieces I have left are precious......and no Carmen, you're not getting it back.
A mixture of purchased and op shop beads.
I could just cry when I look at these. Decided to have a go at making my own earing wires. So very carefully followed the instructions in one of the books I have and was so pleased with the result. Almost perfect and pretty easy and wow, I'm going to make heaps of these. So after blowing my own trumpet and tooting my own horn and patting myself on the back for making such perfect ear wires I thought I'd better try them on. What......why aren't they going in my ears, what's wrong. Oh for goodness sake, the wire is too thick. Sometimes I'm so silly I scare myself.
So it's back to the drawing board again. I tell ya, my drawing board is awfully full with mess-ups, mistakes and a mish-mash of projects.

It's Too Easy Being Green.

I've had a very long love affair with the colour green. A lot of my clothes and many of the decorative items around my house are green, in fact there's quite a bit of green in this house when I stop and look around. My mother was the same. I remember when we were young and on the rare occasions when mum bought something for the house my 5 sisters (yes 5!) and I would all groan and say "Not green again". We had a green dinner set and kitchen chairs as were the sofa and chairs in our lounge.

So what's this got to with anything? Well you might ask! I've decided that Green and I are going to have a trial separation. No Green, we're not breaking up, we're just going to put some distance between us for awhile.
You need to let me go out and explore the colours of the world. I need to try colours with names like Vermillion, Tangerine and Azure. You have to admit Green, they sound a lot more romantic than Sage and Olive. Red, the colour of passion and anger, Orange the colour of the sky at sunset, Ochre the colour of the Australian desert, Aquamarine the colour of Chris Isaak's eyes. And then there's green, the colour of bile. See what I mean Green?

Now don't get all sulky and sooky on me Green. You know green with envy isn't a very attractive colour on you and it's not forever, you know I'll come back, I always do. I just need to connect with my inner colour chart and live life on the edge for awhile. Aubergine and Magenta are calling me.
Two pairs of earings I made last night.
Totally unrelated but I was shopping for a Fathers Day present yesterday and was completely stunned to see David Jones department store putting up their Christmas decorations already. Can you believe it? The world has gone mad!