Onwards and Upwards

I have not written in a while,and for some really good reasons. First, I am trying to get my editor at Xomba.com to switch me from the Family and Home writer to a Hobbies and Crafts writer, so I have been busy writing articles to prove that this would be a much better fit for me. The second reason is that the craft fair season is starting, and I have a table reserved on Saturday at a flea market in Chester, Maryland. The Safeway is having a flea market to benefit People with Disabilities, an organization that does exactly what you think it does, help people with all types of disabilities. If you happen to find yourself on Kent Island on Saturday between 9am and 4pm, stop by the shopping center with the Safeway. We will be in the empty space next to the grocery store.

I am going to have a small table set up selling necklaces, bracelets, and mosaic'd picture frames and jewelry boxes. On Sunday, I will be back here online to tell all about how it went.

Hope to see you on Saturday!

The Upcycled Necklace

Well, here are pictures of the famous necklace that I did NOT get to show at the recycled/upcycled Earth Day Show at the Kent Island Federation of Arts. Everything you see in these photos that isn't beads was made from plastic grocery bags. I braided together strips of plastic bag to make the chain. The broach is more strips of bag that I threaded through the large wooden bead and then fringed. Each fringey was then threaded through a smaller bead. (And when I say "threaded" I mean it literally, I had to use thread to guide the plastic through the hole in the bead.) If you look closely, you will see that the clasp on the necklace is a pop top off of a can of soda.
I am looking on the bright side, since I wasn't able to show it this time, I now have time to create a matching bracelet and possibly earrings to create an entire collection. I also was convinced to finally become a member of KIFA so I can get actual notice about when these things happen so I can be better prepared. Yay me!

One man's art is another man's crap

No picture this time.

Don't know if there will ever be a picture of this, whatever "this" is.

Lemme start at the beginning. KIFA (Kent Island Federation of Arts) is having an art show for Earth Day on Saturday. It was suggested to me by someone close to me that I enter something. After giving it alot of thought, I decided to make a necklace. The rules for this art show are that the entries have to consist of 80% recycled materials. I saw some of the entries that are already on display. There is a dress made entirely of Capri-Sun bags and a fish mosaic made of soda can pop tops.
I was stumped as to what to do. Then, I got inspired when I remembered that my friend Tammy, (whose crafting site is listed at a link above this blog) has made handbags and wallets by crocheting strips of plastic grocery bag. I remember loving this idea when I first saw pictures of her work. So I decided to modify that idea for myself. I took strips of grocery bag and braided them together into long braids intending to make a necklace and pendant. The necklace was going to be a long strip of bright blue plastic with brown wooden beads strung periodically. The pendant was going to be a flower created from intricate loops of white and red braided plastic. The blue portion of this project turned out fine. The pendant is where the wheels fell off the wagon. I just cannot make it turn out the way I want. I have tried many different methods of working with the materials and finally went to my old standby: crazy glue.

So, here I lay. It's 11pm and my fingers are covered with a fine layer of crazy glue. The pendant still looks like crap and the piece is due tomorrow morning. I am hoping a good night's sleep will provide me with the inspiration that I need, but I am afraid I have now totally psyched myself out. You see, once I had the fleeting thought of calling KIFA and telling my friend Carol that I wasn't going to be able to drop anything off after all, my mind just gave up. A total psych-out.

So, good night and sweet dreams. I really hope I can pull this out. I would like to be able to announce that I am entering the show after all. Maybe I will dream a solution to my problem. You never can tell.

I am also the crazy mosaic lady!

For the past month, between jewelry projects, I have been working on a large mosaic lazy susan for my home. I just finished grouting it last night at my weekly mom's craft group. I came up with the idea for this project while I was sleeping one night. I woke up after midnight one night with a crystal clear picture in my head of exactly how I was going to do it and how it would look when I was done. The finished product didn't turn out exactly the way I envisioned, but I still think it turned out pretty good.

Completing the set from last week

I am so happy! I finally finished this necklace I have been working on for the past two weeks. I really hope my mom doesn't read this blog, because this necklace was made to accompany the earrings and bracelet from the last blog. I gave her that set for her birthday this weekend, so if she is here, I think she knows now what she is getting next.

For $2.99 at the Wye River Design Studio, I purchased last week a bead kit that contained the large circular polka dotted disk. My original intent was to use a jump ring to turn the disk into a pendant for a necklace. The kit, sadly, did not contain enough beads to make a necklace, so the apple shaped beads included inspired the earrings from last week. The earrings inspired the bracelet, which sadly I have to redesign as a stretchy piece. The clasp on the bracelet does not seem to be substantial enough to hold it on. Instead of trying my luck with another clasp, I will just redesign it to be clasp-less.

As I was aimlessly pawing my way through the beads today, I found the little cylinder red and white beads that seemed to go perfect with my pendant. Add some silver spacers and the rest of the beads from the kit, and I think it goes perfect with last weeks set.