Little Gems

I used to make a lot of jewellery. I made for birthdays and Christmas for 9 ladies at one point. on top of all this I was making for myself and also accumulating a whole bunch of stuff I didn't want which is on sale in an arts centre up country.

Then one day, mid way through the piece that was to be my Mum's birthday piece I got stuck. The very thought of picking up my beading needle was suddenly horrid. And I didn't for 6 months. I had birthday pieces for my sister and my Aunt to make as well and these didn't get made either.

I bought some new beads for my sister and aunt to allow for some simple bead stringing rather than bead weaving lots of tiny seed beads. But still I couldn't bring myself to do it. It has taken six months and they have probably completely forgotten I owe them pressies. In fact my Aunt never got her Xmas present either because I have been waiting to post them together....



This is my Mum's necklace. I have one similar but in sea colours and she liked it and asked for one in purple. The big beads are made from lots of seed beads. I was on the last beaded bead when I got stuck and only had a few more rows and then to string it all together to finish...


This is my Aunt's necklace. You can't really get a good look at it but the sequence is large milky purple bead, faceted clear glass bead, smoky grey hex bead, purple AB seed bead, lilac delica, silver tube and then lilac swarovski bicone and then back through to the milky purple bead ad infinitum. So it has a little variety to it and some sparkle....


This is for my sister. The focal beads are round pillows with a spiral on them. They have an AB finish which gives them that irridescent finish of paua shell. Each bead has been placed on a pin which I worked to have a loop at either end. A jump ring connects each loop to a length of chain.

The odd thing is that these pieces took less than an afternoon to do, although my Mum's piece would have taken more than that altogether. My Sister and my Aunt know I have been struggling with my jewellery making so perhaps won't be surprised to see something rather simpler than normal....This is my Aunt's rather late Xmas piece.... i have vowed not to let this happen again - if I get blocked again i shall go and buy them small pressies rather than just let it all be late...

I have also printed off two of my favourite photos of recent times to send each of them and I shall write them a prper snail mail letter to go with them. This is what I have been waiting to do for my first 3 months of snail mail letter writing for my 101 things... Oh and these don't count for my always send pressies and cards on time because they are from before I started the 101 things....

The Next Chapter

Today I went onto Amazon and ordered my copy of Wreck This Journal so I could take part in the Next Chapter, a blogging book group. I am really looking forward to this.... Only thing is this book was on special offer to come with two others by the same author... I had also promised myself a new (to me) Charles de Lint but the one I chose was also on offer with two others.... I fear there is much soul nourishment winging it's way to me....

Misty Maps

When my Dad retired from printing, I kept some of his equipment. Not as much as I now wish I had but some... A little treasure trove. Amongst these items, there is a large block that is a street map of part of London. Obviously this fit True North Art's current challenge perfectly!

In the top one, I stamped the postcard several times using black acrylic. I then got some blue ink and painted it on. Some parts were highlighted with irridescent oil pastel. Using a black highlighter, i wrote some questions such as 'where am I?', 'Can you show me the way?'. These words disappear somewhat into the map image but the map image is confused.

The second image was created using acrylics. I first smeared dark blue on with a glue spreader, then white and then light blue and finally a little irridescent medium. I then made some letetrs out of playdough as stencils and painted dark blue mixed with irridescent medium around the playdough. Then I put on some silver acrylic as well. I removed the playdough and stamped on the map with black acrylic. The words say 'You are here' but you will have to look closely to find them.

I love these maps and I think they express where I am right now pretty well....

Purple Woven Maps

OK, I know this may not seem the most exciting spread in my niece's journal but I like it....

It is basically clear gesso mixed with lilac paint. I have a sheet of altered map from which I cut a few strips which I wove to make the borders. I then glued the two border elements onto the pages. The map was from a tourist leaflet at I layered on pink, lilac and metallic purple acrylics, making sure I scrapped off enough so the map shows through in places.

I love the map. I scrapped in a diagonal direction so the strips in each direction have the diagonal in the opposite direction. The blues and greens show through and look lovely with the pinks and purples. The metallic paint gives it something lovely to. Click on the photo and look at it bigger!

Go get a map and get altering!

For further ideas on bringing maps into art, go look at True North Arts! (and enter her contest!)

Orange

Ghosts of Autumn

Butterflies are really Flowers

Orange Abstract

Spectrum

My postcard group always has a lot of swaps going on. One upcoming swap has an orange theme and these are the cards I have made.....

Postmuse Postcards

I received these three lovely postcards as a thank you from Postmuse for taking part in the orphan postcard project!

Top: Carlsbad Caverns
Middle: A doorway in a Charcoan building
Bottom: Mesa Verde National Park

Postcard Swap

I took part in a Trading Frenzy recently on my yahoo group for art postcards. I traded two cards and I got these two lovely cards!

Abstract in Red by Aimeslee

Drizzle A by IndigoBlue