Altered Altoid Tins

Last year on July 19th I had some friends over for a day of altered art. This happened before I started my blog and I just realized today that I really wanted to post some pictures from that day. I was visiting my friend Chery Bass's blog-http://texasbass.blogspot.com/2009/07/red-letter-day.html when I realized that she had posted pictures of the tin that she made.

We started with altoid tins which we had each sanded and painted our color of choice. I provided lots of ocean and mermaid images along with mini sea shells, glitter etc. Each of my guests also brought some odds and ends which we shared. Cheryl brought me a hostess gift- a CD that she made of some of her favorite songs. We ate lunch while we created and listened to the music along with lots of talk and laughter.

I made some ocean cupcakes for dessert to go along with our theme.

Captured Bird

Here is a picture of my captured bird. She sits in a sweet little nest of moss and flowers with a butterfly perched nearby. She wears a tiny party hat. I plan to put a flower or something on top of the container to dress it up. It will be listed on Etsy soon.

Soldered Charms With Beads

I mixed some of my soldered charms with beaded necklaces. I like the way they turned out. I used some of my favorite charms, one with a frog prince (you can't stop looking for Mr. Right but you might have to kiss a lot of frogs!) one with the Eiffel Tower and one with a young couple kissing under water. I love the under water one because my husband and I have actually done that! Our friends make fun of us because we have only been married for 2 1/2 years and so we are still lovebirds. Oh, I almost forgot one of my very favorite images- the moon face. I LOVE moon faces and this one is great. I put it on a metal choker and made a beaded necklace to go with it so it will be sold in a set. These are listed at femininecharms.etsy.com

More New Jewelry!

Once I got in the zone I just kept going. I have not been able to get jewelry off of my mind. When I'm in bed there are ideas floating around. When I'm driving down the road, I'm planning out the arrangement of beads for the next design.

I always wanted to try wire wrap so I bought some sterling silver wire and dove in. I just love the feminine look of beaded linked necklaces. These are three that I made about two weeks ago. The wire wrapping takes a long time and then taking pictures, writing descriptions and listing on Etsy take time too! I'm hoping I will get faster as I get used to it. These are on Etsy at femininecharms.etsy.com

Plastic Bubbles

There is something else that I've been meaning to try for a long time. Plastic bubbles. Well that's what I call them. I have been using the glass bubbles or "gems" for a few years now to solder. We have a family owned Plastics business where we make displays for department stores. Since there is so much plastic available to me, I have always wanted to try to make something jewelry related out of plastic. I saw where someone had taken these plastic bubbles, attached images and then glued them to ring bases. So here are the first few that I've made. They look ALOT BETTER in person, my camera skills just don't do them justice. These have glitter but I will probably try some with just images next. I can't wait to glue them to the ring bases! I love to solder but I'm enjoying the "non soldering" projects also.

New jewelry- FINALLY

Well I'm trying to get back into my jewelry making. I got out my beads and supplies and I've been dreaming up new things. I have been wanting to try pendants made from glass and Fimo clay for about two years and I'm just now trying it for the first time!

All you do is take a glass gem and attach your image with Diamond Glaze. Then after it's dry, make a ball out of the clay and press your glass gem into it. Let it come up over the sides so that the clay forms a "nest" around the glass. You may have to experiment with the size of the ball to get it right.

I pressed mine onto a textured rubber stamp so that the back would be pretty. I also pressed a wire loop into the top of each one and then baked them on a cookie sheet covered with tin foil. I just went by the temperature and time on the Fimo package.

I'm thinking about reinforcing the wire loops with a dot of strong glue. I rubbed some Ranger Metallic Powder onto the back of each one so that the design would show up. Next time I will do that step before I bake them.

Art Diva Night

I've been lucky enough to be included in an art group which meets once each month at my local library! The head art diva is the talented Joanna Lewis of sweet.finds@yahoo.com. We each bring whatever we want to work on and visit, share ideas etc. while we work. In addition we each bring a snack to munch on. I decided to make St. Patrick's Day Cupcakes, since I had seen this idea quite a while ago and always wanted to try it. Being the cupcake fanatic that I am, this was a perfect choice.

I brought coasters made from ceramic tiles to work on since I have been in kind of a slump when it comes to jewelry making. Joanna was working on the most beautiful necklace which she made from vintage jewelry pieces. She was also wearing another one that she created the same way. They were breathtaking! She really inspired me. So I came home and started looking around to see what I have that might work for a necklace like hers. I ended up buying some vintage earrings which I have been able to use as pendants and rings. Here are a couple of pictures of what I've made so far.