Creative block

Hey, everyone!  As you can see by my post title, I've had a good reason for being quiet around here... I have had a serious creative block.  I think I was a little burned out... I think I mentioned that my son had to have surgery at the end of November, and between that, finishing my class (with an A, thankyouverymuch!), the boy's 6th birthday, Christmas prep, and all of those ornament orders, I was just toast.  But I'm slowly getting back into the swing of things, and I'm hoping to try out some new stuff this spring.  In the meantime, I'll share a couple of bracelets that I hope to have listed soon.  Well... the agate and amethyst bracelet will have to be re-strung - the clasp won't stay shut, and I'm waiting on some new ones that I ordered.  I was pretty bummed, since the clasp was super cute, but these things happen sometimes!

I really love this second one, lol!  I almost kept it for myself.

Happy Etsy-versary to ME!

Today, March 1, is my THIRD anniversary of selling on Etsy. In honor of this occasion, I am going to give away a prototype of a new product that i hope to have in my shop soon - a ring dish! This is great to have by your kitchen sink, so you can take off your rings while washing dishes, or on your bedside table to keep track of your rings when you go to bed.

The polymer clay dish goes from pink to yellow, and has a gold shimmer dust. The dish has been given several layers of a glossy finish.

(no, you don't get the ring - It's mine!)

All you have to do is leaving me a comment here. Nothing specific, just a comment to say hello! I'll announce the winner on March 8th. :-)

My other gift to you all is a COUPON CODE!!!! SOOOOOOO, if you want to save 20% for the next week on all ready-to-ship items (no custom orders - sorry!!), enter THIRTY at checkout. Happy Etsy-versary!

What I've been doing...

I've been neglecting Patty's Pretty Things, and I know it. It makes me sad, but sometimes, life takes over and the fun stuff has to be put on the back burner. As I've said before, I try not to "work" when my son is home, unless he's sleeping, and I've had another project come up, and it has really taken a lot of time. I've been PAINTING my house. So far, I've painted walls and cabinets in 2 bathrooms, including this one:

The color used to be kind of a taupe-y yellowish color, which wasn't bad, but it looked tired and blah. Since we had the new tile put down for the counters, it really needed a new paint job too. And since I was painting THAT bathroom, I needed to finish up the cabinets in the other bathroom too (just white), where I also replaced the hardware.

Next up, was the hallway (same color as the bathrooms, so no pics - the color is Classic Taupe, by the way), and THEN, the kitchen. We recently had quartz counter tops installed, and I wanted to continue to lighten up the kitchen by painting the walls a lighter color. They used to be a darker sea-foam green color, and now they are "Turtle Dove," which is a very pale mint color.

Why am I doing this? Well, it was just time. Our house looks dingy, and new paint is sprucing things up. I have 3 bedrooms and 2 living spaces left to paint, but those should be much easier than the kitchen and bathrooms (I hope!!!!). I hope to get started on a bedroom next week, but for now, I'm resting my arms a bit - painting is a WORK OUT!

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My Etsy-versary is coming up on March 1 - I've been on Etsy since 2009! I have a couple of fun things up my sleeve to celebrate, and to apologize for ignoring my pretty things. So stay tuned!

Happy 2012!

After I closed up shop, I cranked out some ornaments for gifts. These stars were for Stephen's teachers. I also made 4 in gold - 8 in total. They were all well-received, from what I hear. :-)

I made this little bird for my Aunt, who LOVES birds! She had purchased 3 custom bird ornaments earlier this year, and this one was just a little bit different. I realize the photos are a bit blurry - I was about to package them off for shipping when I remembered that I wanted to take a picture!

This is the other side of the ornament. It's hard to tell, but the color is kind of a light blue-granite color.

I really liked making that bird! I'm planning on writing up a little tutorial for it in the next couple of weeks, and I'll probably make some for sale for next holiday season. I also came up with my idea for new family ornaments for next season too - PENGUINS!

I have a lot of new ideas for this year, but I'll probably take a little longer getting everything created than I'd like. I've undertaken the project of painting the interior of our house, as well as tiling a back splash in our kitchen after we get our new counter tops in a couple of weeks. It should be a busy spring here!

New necklace

I'd been working on this pendant for a few days, off and on, and when it was done, I was stumped as to how I should use it. I had a pretty sterling silver pinch bail all picked out for it, but it just wasn't... right. So I was doing a little flickr browsing, which I do sometimes when I get stuck with a design, and was inspired to use my Irish Waxed Linen cord for hanging the pendant. I think adding in the swarovski crystals gave it a little extra texture, too!

I created the pendant using the Sutton Slice technique, where you fill in the grooves of a texture sheet or stamp with clay, and then carefully transfer it on to a flat sheet. It looks smooth because I also used large amounts of resin (I'm still learning, and it takes multiple applications for me to not "miss" any spots sometimes), but I think that makes it even more interesting! It also gives the necklace some weight, so it hangs nicely.

This is currently listed in my Etsy shop, and would make a unique addition to anyone's jewelry collection!

I plan on doing another pendant using this technique soon, so I'll take some photos during the process to show you all. It's a really interesting technique!

My new direction

Part of my new direction is to go in a more casual direction with a lot of my newer items. This seems to be the way jewelry is trending lately - casual, shabby chic, or BIG statement pieces. I have a few of these crystal wrap bracelets in the shop. They are super sparkly, but the wrapping and leather allow it to be casual still. I have one I wear pretty frequently myself!

This turquoise one is finished with a handmade polymer clay button. It's a double-wrap style.

This bracelet was strung on waxed linen cord, instead of my standard beading wire. I really like the color combination, and the knots between the beads add a little extra texture.

These are just a few of the things I've been making lately. I will continue to make more classically styled jewelry, much like I have been, but I'm enjoying branching out and challenging myself.

A challenge to myself

One of my challenges to myself was to step out of the box in terms of symmetry and "matching" in my jewelry. I knew I had these agate disc beads, and began to look around my gemstone boxes (yes, boxes - I have 3 boxes full of stones, not including my boxes of glass, wood, crystal, etc.) to see what would work with them! I had ONE green aventurine bead left from another project, and it think it all worked well with the moss agate nuggets, and purple web jasper for an extra pop!

I feel pretty good about how I rose to my personal challenge with this one. I'll have better (as in not taken on the dirty windowsill) pictures soon, and will list on Etsy ASAP!

As far as my other challenge areas, I have some supplies ordered, and they should be here soon, so I can get to work. I'm taking a break from clay work (*sob*) while my back heals from minor surgery. It just hurts too much to have to use my pasta machine to work the clay still. Hopefully I'll be up to it in a few days, but in the meantime, beading doesn't seem to bother me so far.

Some new stuff

Something I had been wanting to try this summer was making carved Polymer Clay nuggets. They were actually a little easier than I thought they were going to be, once I got the right blade for carving. I had started out trying to use some wood-carving tools I had, but they weren't quite sharp enough, so I switched over to a much sharper blade, and that made the process move more quickly.

When I envisioned this project in my head, I had always been planning on making some sort of rainbow bead project, so I came up with this bracelet and necklace!

The bracelet beads had somewhat bigger holes so I was able to easily string them on leather, and finished with a button closure. This is almost EXACTLY what I had in mind when I was designing this bracelet in my head!!

And the necklace... *sigh.* I apparently have a weakness for this style, with the ribbon, but I think it is just such a great contrast between the rustic clay beads and the finished silk ribbon. I couldn't decide how to finish it off, so I'm leaving that up to the customer! You can just tie it at whatever length you choose!!

I'm layed up right now after having a fatty cyst removed from my left shoulder yesterday. It makes it hard to use my left arm much right now, but I can tell this is going to help a lot with my overall should pain I've been having. Already, I haven't been experiencing some of the "pins and needles" that I had been having frequently, so I'm really hopeful that this will be a good thing. In the meantime, I've been getting a LOT of inspiration, and making a lot of plans for new projects. (I also ordered some new supplies from Etsy last night - I'm really excited!!).

If you are a Facebook fan (and if you aren't, why not?!?), you have seen that I'm going to have a 200 fan giveaway. My plan was to have the piece (it's a necklace) done tomorrow, so I can announce the giveaway, but my recovery is a little more painful than the doctors had anticipated, due to the amount of muscle involved. Hopefully I'll be able to work on it tomorrow or this weekend, so I'll try to announce the giveaway by Monday!!

We went out of town again

But alas, there was no time (and no place!) for any bead shopping. So, I spent a lot of time perusing the interwebz (after my son was asleep at night, of course!), and finding new, fun supply shops and design inspirations.

I love making jewelry, but lately, I'd been feeling a little bit restless, and frankly, a little bored with my designs. I've decided that it's time to branch out and try some new things with my designs. I haven't had a chance to work on much yet, as far as new designs go, though, but hopefully soon I'll have time.

I'm going to be incorporating more clay in to my designs, and I'm going for a more rustic look to my pieces, as opposed to the symmetrical and clean designs I've been creating lately. This may or may not involve taking apart some of my jewelry that I've already made, and re-purposing the components.

I'm also planning on utilizing different metals - sterling silver is just so stinking expensive, so pewter, brass, copper, and aluminum may be making appearances in my jewelry. I'm even thinking about trying my hand at some toggle clasps made from polymer clay. That would be fun!

I think the last part of my new business path will include some sort of re-branding. So if you know anyone who is handy with creating web graphics, can you send them my way, LOL?

I know this post was completely lacking in photo goodness, but I do have some things I've been working on, so I hope to have something to show you all soon!

Why I make things...

That's my little dude. When he was about 1, we decided that I would stay home with him, and MAN, has it been a lot of work! No time for make-up, or doing my hair most days. Jewelry is quick to put on, and make me feel feminine, no matter what I am wearing, and that's something that I hope to share with others! And really, it's my little bit of "me" time, which I really need. There's no real story to go along with this... I just enjoy it!

On another note, here are how the owls turned out! They are listed in the shop - go check it out!!

I'm BACK!

In defense of my non-blogging, I've been really busy! We went to AZ to see my family for a couple of weeks. While I was there, I did a home jewelry show, and then bought all of these BEADS!!



I've been making stuff with my new beads here, at my NEW DESK!! Since opening my Etsy shop 2.5 years ago, I've been working at the dining room table, or coffee table, so it was nice to finally be able to get a dedicated work area. I set up my work area in the family room, so I can work when Stephen is playing downstairs and still keep an eye on him. I've made many things here so far, all of which are now listed on Etsy.

Today I began work on a new clay project - owls! These are baked, but I need to clean up some of the texture, and then I plan on antiquing them a little bit. I have a lot of new ideas that I want to try out with my clay, so stay tuned!

(Oh, and these little guys are less than 1" long, and will become earrings)

Trying something new

When we were checking out the fantastic bead store in Branson, it was obvious that the shop owner was quite the fan of wire wrapping. I'd taken a break from wire for a while, since silver was pricing itself out of my studio, but she mentioned trying copper, and I was inspired by her many cuff bracelets that she had made. This one, is my first attempt:



I don't know exactly what those beads are, but aren't they fun? Some sort of composite, I think, but they were nice and chunky, and just what I needed!! This particular design was actually pretty easy, so after I make a couple more, I may write up a quick tutorial for it.

I remembered over the weekend that I'd gotten some metal plated cabochon settings in a grab bag (not a good grab bag like at Auntie's beads... this one was pretty much a bust). I'd been reading that gold and pink were a hot color combination for spring/summer, so I thought I'd give this a shot. There is gold leaf mixed in with the 2 pink tones, and I paired it with my favorite accent color, stringing it from silk ribbon. This really does scream summer to me! It's just gorgeous in person, and not too big - only about 1" long! I also made one in shades of olive green, with Navy, Denim, and Purple accents.

So what have YOU been working on this week?

I'm ready for spring!

Right now, as I look out the window, the sky is gloomy, and overcast, and it's been raining off and on all day. I long for green grass, brightly colored flowers, and my vegetable garden! So with that in mind, I made these two pieces the other day, and both are listed in my Etsy shop.

These earrings were inspired by the photograph for March in our Arizona Highways 2011 calendar. It was a macro-photograph with large fuchsia flowers, smaller orange flowers, with green foliage and small cream colored flowers. They aren't colors I would traditionally mix together, but I thought it came out beautifully! (and they aren't heavy either!)

I really love the color combination of brown and light blue, and continuing in my floral mood, I created this bracelet! I've had the light blue glass round beads for months, and hadn't used them yet, so I mixed the clay color to match. It's like getting flowers, jewelry, and chocolate all in one package! It's strung on stretch cord so it's really easy to wear.

I've been down with The Plague for the last 2 weeks, but I have more ideas in my head for flower beads, because I love them, and they are FUN! They are surprisingly easy to make, so I'll try to post my process when I make the next ones.

The first day of Spring is in one week, and you'd better believe I have my countdown set!!

Inspiration

One of my favorite online bead suppliers recently ran a contest where they asked the entrants to submit a photo of their inspiration, and then a photo of what piece of jewelry they created based on that. I didn't enter because it occurred to me that I'm not inspired like that. I'm inspired by more abstract things, or by materials themselves. I find inspiration in clothing, and in trying to think of a piece of jewelry that will look nice with a certain type of outfit. Or I often see a piece of jewelry in a store or ON someone, and try to think of how I could put my own spin on it.

Take, for example, this necklace:

I saw those long, painted wood beads, and thought they seemed African, or tribal. Then I had to think of what I had that would go with them, after I decided what I wanted the piece of jewelry to be.

This next necklace was inspired by the materials as well. I REALLY wanted to make something with those Kumbara Jasper nuggets, and they looked really nice with the Garnet. Nothing too exciting about my creative process with that one, I guess!


I'd really been wanting to make a set of stackable bracelets, and these materials just sort of fell into my lap! I picked up the red and green squares at my local bead shop, with no real purpose in mind for them - I just thought they were pretty! The larger glass pearls were leftover from another project, and I just happened to see them next to each other, and decided that it was the perfect combination for a set of 3!


This necklace was actually inspired by a clay technique. It was my first attempt at it, and as I was working, I thought that it would look really nice with navy blue, as a pendant!

Ok, so this bracelet wasn't completely inspired by the materials, but by a sweater. I was itching to make... SOMETHING, and as I was pawing through my beads, my mixed strand of agate looked just lovely against my gray sweater. I thought a "sweater" bracelet shouldn't be something TOO intricate, so this is what I came up with!


So, here's my problem:
Ok, it's not a problem, exactly. It is a gorgeous, HUGE, sterling silver toggle clasp. It is obviously too large to be for a bracelet, so it will be for a necklace. I really want to use it, but, my inspiration is COMPLETELY lacking. I just have NO idea what to do! I could really use your help with this one!

SO, here's where the contest comes in! I need help. Leave me a comment telling me how you think I should use this clasp. If you have more than one idea, leave more than one comment! I may or may not use an idea I see here, or one may inspire me towards my finished product. I will choose the winning comment via random.org on Sunday night (11/12), and the winner will get a $7 credit in my shop, good on anything $10 or more!