Artists' Trading Card (ATC) - September

Where has this year gone?  It seems it was March just the other day.  Here is the ATC for September, focusing on a much more Autumnal feel. The background is more mixed media, using book pages and dripped acrylic paint.  The fruit and berries have had glossy accents on them to add some shine, but this isn't very clear in the photos.

The gemstones are echoing the autumnal colours, with citrine, botswana agate, dyed shell, tiger's eye, red agate and two shades of mookite.  The gem for September is Lapis Lazuli, which is a beautiful deep blue.

On the back, there is the poem for the month and part of an autumn wreath stamp with leaves and berries.  For the first day of September, the weather is lovely with blue skies and sunshine.  

Artist's Trading Card (ATC) - August

The year seems to be going so quickly - it isn't, but it seems that way.  Perhaps this is due to the unusual conditions we have been facing.  Here we are at the beginning of August and my ATC reflects the harvest theme.  I went for a simple image again, with a sort of wheat field, using acrylic paint for the background and stamped images collaged on top.

The gemstones reflect the browns of the wheat - citrine, citrine again, golden rutile quartz, smoky quartz, botswana agate, more botswana agate and tiger's eye.  The gemstone charm is the gemstone for August which is peridot.

The back shows the August poem and a busy bee with some ripe strawberries.  

This card was only just finished in time, due to me being busy with the ICAD challenge.  That has now finished so I can devote myself to other creative activities.

Birthday makes

It was my colleague, Leanne's, birthday last week so I had a lovely time making her cards and gifts.  I used stencils, stamps and dies to make her card (of course, I had to make an envelope as well).

 The inside was decorated with star stencils and little star die cuts.

She has asked for some jewellery - a brown macrame bracelet - this has mookite, tiger's eye, botswana agate and coffee striped agate in it.  (Apologies for the photography as my camera does not like low light levels and in future, I must remember to  use a lamp as well as the main light). The tiger's eye has some lovely colours in it, caramels and toffee, but the photograph is not doing it justice.

 The other thing she wanted was an anklet with black stones.  I made this one using black agate beads and silver plated findings. 

All hell would have broken loose if I hadn't made the traditional 'Russian Roulette Revels Cake' (my go to chocolate cake recipe) with chocolate fudge icing and those innocent looking Revels chocolates.  Yes, I did get a coffee one again - ugh!  Leanne was really pleased with the gifts and the cake.

Jewellery round-up

 As I have made a few pieces of jewellery in the run up to Christmas, I thought I'd create some montages for your perusal.  From the top: a polymer clay and macrame bracelet, made for someone called Robert (you probably realised that!), to replace one his girlfriend had bought him from Turkey and which he'd subsequently lost.  Chris made the polymer clay beads (very cleverly) and I added the macrame.  Next is a bracelet that I made for my best friend in Canada, using Botswana Agate and labradorite.  Under that is one I made for her daughter, our god-daughter, using pink banded agate and black rutile quartz.  The brightly coloured one was for a colleague at work's son, who just wanted bright colours but no beads.

The next photo montage shows a Tiger's Eye bracelet made for a friend who is visiting from London, and then the two finished polymer clay pendants, one with a glitter bead, made for Mum.  The final photo shows a red wood bead bracelet set to a friend who lives in South Africa.

I also made a little something for me, using polymer clay and glitter. I was SO excited to find that there was a special glitter that could be used with the clay and couldn't wait to receive it and start playing.  The beads were made out of scrap clay and then rolled in the glitter, baked and then varnished (so that the glitter will stay where I want it to).  I made the earrings to match and wore them on Christmas Day (and I love them!).  I predict that glitter will feature quite a lot in the jewellery I make in 2013.  Here's to another creative year ahead.

Blog swap - the gifts I sent

So, here is what I sent over the sea to Ireland.  There is a notebook with stamped decoration, a bookmark to match, a felt brooch and felt heart made out of my felt, a gemstone bracelet and earrings set (Picasso jasper, botswana agate and labradorite) and a macrame bracelet, a sunshine badge made by Chris, some pumpkin and pepper seeds and some leaf decorations.

I also added a postcard with a quote on the back and a postcard from Lincolnshire.  Here are the packages ready to go.
I have since seen another item which will be just perfect (shame I didn't see it earlier, but never mind), so am going to send that as an extra surprise.  I'll let you know what it is once it has been received.
It was a lovely thing to be involved with and I would highly recommend the process.  If it runs next year, I'll definitely be signing up again.  I'll try to include some more items local to this area, as my blog swapper did, because that was a lovely touch.

More macramé

 Here are the latest bracelets, made using gemstones and glass beads.  Above is one made for a friend at work because her daughter 'borrowed' the one I had originally made for her birthday.  I did make one for her daughter too.  It is made using botswana agate and grey agate and the small stones on the ends are zebra jasper.  I found it quite tricky to get the cord through the gemstones as the drill holes were quite small, but found enough for this bracelet. 

The other two here are blue sandstone (back left) which is glass with beautiful sparkles inside it, like the night sky. I think it is made by infusing copper into the glass, but am not sure. It is a beautiful thing though. This is just knotted in between each stone, but I am not sure the cord will be very long lasting. (I may end up taking it apart and making it into a bracelet with beading wire). The one in front is aquamarine and amazonite and has a lovely fresh look to it. The turquoise blue cord works well with the stones, I think. I am really enjoying using macrame in jewellery making. I have now received my clay roller too, so will have another try at polymer clay over the weekend. 

Jewellery (and problems with comments)

 Although I haven't been doing much felt making at the moment, I am making jewellery.  I love the way you can create a piece of jewellery and wear it the next day.  Above is a bracelet I made for my friend from Canada who has just been visiting England for the first time for three years.  I used amazonite, mother of pearl, labradorite, botswana agate, shell and zebra jasper, all in neutral shades.

The necklace is for me and is completely different from anything I have made before.  Usually, I have much more delicate designs, but I was trying to make a chunkier piece.  Initially, I tried to make an assymmetric design, but it just wasn't me at all, so I had to revert back to symmetry.  This design has a lot of different gems in it; lapis lazuli, keishi pearl, jade, blue-green jasper, shell, fluorite, labradorite, turquoise and kyanite.  I hope it will complement a lovely blue-green cardigan that I wear for work.  I am going to make an amethyst necklace next, leaving the wire showing at the back and maybe even plaited.

Incidentally, just to let my lovely followers know, I am having trouble with the comments on my blog.  For some reason, they seem to disappear and just show a white screen when you click on them.  I am hoping to find out what is happening and get it sorted as soon as I can.  (Technology, eh?  Brilliant when it works and a complete pain when it doesn't!)

More Trials and Tribulations of Jewellery Making ( and my thoughts on creativity)

 Here are my latest attempts at jewellery making from yesterday.  I had gone up to a colleague's house (the colleague who I do felting with occasionally) and as she has recently started jewellery making, we thought it would be nice to sit and chat while we made jewellery.  She got on really well, dismantling a pearl necklace to create two more and then creating an amethyst nuggets and pearls necklace.  My afternoon was less productive!  Initially I started by taking a blue lace agate necklace apart to create a simpler design, but my wrap loops went wrong and somehow, whatever I did wasn't quite right.  So, I tried a Botswana Agate bracelet instead.  The design was fine but I kept making it far too big.  In the end, I brought it home and tried again.  (I realised when trying to make it that I didn't have my glasses - this could have been the reason things wouldn't go right for me!)  Eventually, I was happy with it and I made some earrings to go with it (see above).  I think that the markings on the stones are absolutely beautiful and I shall enjoy wearing them.

Deciding that I had better continue while things seemed to be going better (and I did have my glasses!), I made this amazonite bracelet which has rounds and one large chunky piece at the front.  It also has two smaller fluorite beads near the clasp.  This is a calming colour I find and it is rapidly becoming one of my favourite stones.  I just need some clothes to go with it...
I decided that I wasn't in the right mood to be creative yesterday afternoon, and that is why things didn't go right for me (the fact that I couldn't see that well probably didn't help either). Note to self: go with the creative urge when it hits you and give up and do something else when the muse isn't there!

My first jewellery making project

Above you can see my first attempt at jewellery making, using some of the gemstones I have been buying recently.  The stones are amethyst, fluorite, black shell and labradorite and I used the weaving technique to create the pattern.  I am really pleased with the result and have worn the bracelet and earrings at work.  I need a clasp for the necklace and then I shall wear that too.  It took me a few goes to get the bracelet the right length as I am not keen on bracelets that drape all over my hand and which have to be shaken back to the correct place. I really enjoyed putting the gems together and making the pieces as the weaving was very therapeutic to do, although the threading required me to wear my glasses!
I have also ordered some blue chalcedony, more (darker) labradorite, botswana agate and larger amethyst stones and I am considering a final order (for now) of the aforementioned clasps, more botswana agate, some jade, some aquamarine and maybe even some tanzanite.  Then I need to make lots of pieces.  Somehow, I think this may become a bit of an obsession!