More Scarf Pins

Here are a few more scarf pins.  The metallic jewel tones seem to go so well with the vibrant colors in the hand dyed scarves and was fun to coordinate them.  These are just a few designs to start, with more ideas in the making.

Scarf and Pin Collaboration

I was wanting to make some scarf pins but wasn't sure about what scarves I would use.  I am up to my eyeballs in clay and do not have the time right now to start dying fabric and making scarves.  I was discussing it with my friend, Rosemarie Foster, and she was telling me that she loves to dye silk scarves so we decided to form a collaboration.  We worked together on some color combinations and pin designs and here are two of them that we came up with.  Of course, I love Helen Breil's texture sheets and they played a part in there as well.

What is really fun was how I discovered (by accident) that the pins can also be worn as a pendant so they have a dual purpose and of course I love designs that are multi-functional.

Another jewelry making class

I just finished teaching another beginner's jewelry making class at the Sewing Basket in Salmon Arm this morning.   It was a repeat of my last series of classes which were completely filled up and so I was asked to teach it again.

I put together jewelry kits for a different design this time using my tie dye beads in summer type colors.  This necklace is a continuous "chain or rope" style that is about 34" long so there was a lot of wire work  involved.

Here are a couple of the necklaces the students' finished in class: 

The tie dye beads shown above are in the Pantone Spring 2012 colors of Sodalite Blue and Cockatoo.  The beads shown below are in the Pantone Spring 2012 colors of Tangerine Tango, Cabaret and Solar Power.  I show how to make these using my "Mini Mokume" cane in my Clay Color System tutorial.

More Quilt Block Inspired Rings

Here are some more "quilt block inspired" rings in a variety of colors and patterns.  They were pretty much made the same way as the brooch-pendants but in miniature form.

Star Quilt Block Rings

These are some rings I made with the same star pattern in assorted color combinations.  The ring bases are adjustable to any size.  They all have Swarovski crystals embedded for some added bling.

We are getting ready for Heather's Fabric Shelf's "Quilt Show & Tell" in Kamloops a week from this Sunday where we will be set up to sell our jewelry and accessories.  We will be featuring our new line of "quilt block inspired" jewelry along with our new summer items.

Optical Illusion

I have been creating more quilt block inspired jewelry pieces.  These brooch-pendants are extra fun as they are two designs in one with an optical illusion effect.  At first look you see a star in the center but if you look deeper, the block pattern jumps out at you.

And here are some "quilted star" earrings to match.

  

Sewing Charms

These are sewing charms we make for some of the local quilting stores.  I make the clay beads from left over canes.  You might recognize the Stroppel cane (by Alice Stroppel) I used for the ones shown here.

They fit onto scissors and rotary cutters so when one is taking a sewing or quilting class they can keep track of their tools.

When not taking a class, the charms can be used to decorate a cell phone or used as a zipper pull.  I found the nice woven straps from an Artfire handmade shop.  They also have a nice selection of ribbon.

Original Buttons from Left Overs

When I was making the "Painted Egg" Inspired Brooch-Pendants, I was left with little bits of cane.  There was just enough to make a few buttons from each and I love how they turned out.  I can imagine these on a hand knit sweater or a quilted bag or jacket.

All of these buttons are available at Donna's Yarn & Craft Centre in Kamloops.

Eggs in a Basket

These pieces that I created are inspired by the traditional painted Easter eggs but are actually not painted.

In fact they are also not eggs but oval shaped brooch-pendants.

I made these as a special request from Donna at Donna's Yarn and Craft Centre and they are now for sale at her fantastic store.  She not only has an excellent supply of yarn and carries a large selection of our handcrafted buttons, shawl pins and beads.

Creating a QR code

I have been seeing these new QR codes all over lately and was curious how they worked until I read a great blog post on The Beading Gem's Journal.  I love how she did a lot of research on the various types and explained how to create and utilize one.  If you have a scanner app on your smart phone, it is a quick and convenient way to find a website or even a particular item without having to do all the google search or web browsing.

Here is the QR code I created for our website using the Skanz site. I also downloaded the scanner to my smart phone and it works like a charm.  Since we make our own business cards we just added it to the back and also plan to place it on our sign when we are selling at shows.

Tangerine Flowers

Here is another design I have been playing around with.  I sometimes like a longer length piece with large beads but added a tangerine flower as an accent.  We are glad our niece was able to model again for us and show off our new pieces for our coming spring shows.  The longer type necklaces are difficult to photograph and show off well so it is nice to see how they look on a real live person.

My double tutorial offer will be available for a short while.  I am currently working on some new ones as I have an open window of a few weeks to work on them this month.  Is there anything in particular you would like to see in a tutorial?  Please comment here or on our facebook page.  You could win one for free when it is published.

April Flowers

Here is one of my new floral necklace designs for this spring using my sculpted flower beads I showed the other day.

If you would like to make sculpted flower beads like these I have my e-book tutorial, "Sculpted Flowers"  available.  This 27 page lesson is packed full of instruction and photos and I walk you through everything from making your floral cane to finishing that flower into a piece of jewelry.  In this tutorial, I show how to make several types of flowers and two types of flower centers. 

If you would like to learn how to cover switch plate covers, I have my Switch Plate Cover-Ups tutorial as well and have a special offer right now where you get both the Sculpted Flowers tutorial and the Switch Plate Cover-ups for only $10.  Just click on the photos for the link to our ArtFire shop.