Monday, August 11, 2008

Silver-Ring Slate Blue Necklace

I was feeling the need for a necklace with a particular look. Don't ask me what that "look" is called though. I wanted it to be a necklace people would notice, but that I wouldn't feel odd wearing. I'm not a BIG necklace kind of person. I love blue, especially slate blue, so my daughter (yes, I stole from her!) had a package of glass beads I had bought for her to make creations out of. However, she's a girl and girls like pink! Her loss is my gain.

I hit Michael's and found these really cute silver rings with the holes in the correct position for these beads. I used seed beads from the same set to fill in where the bigger beads didn't fill the silver rings in. I certainly didn't want anyone to see the wire in between and think I was a newbie (even though I am)!




The spirals I had made while practicing my wire-wrapping technique. My goal is to eventually purchase real sterling silver wire to duplicate these spirals and replace them in this necklace. I was really happy the way it came out, but the copper-filled wire I used is cheap and brings the look of the necklace down a notch. Live and learn, right?

Hope you like it too.

Friday, August 1, 2008

Too Much Of A Good Thing

I haven't posted in a few days because I've been working on yet another kind of project. Last year I sanded down my natural-colored kitchen table and stained it a dark walnut. I liked the way it came out, but I didn't have the gumption to attack the six matching chairs.

Last week I decided to tackle the remaining chairs...one chair at a time. I even decided I would take pictures of the major stages I was taking it through to share on this blog. HOWEVER...I hate the way the chair turned out! So, now I'm going to have to re-sand the sealer off the chair and paint it a dark brown. Right now I'm aggravated from that project and am taking time off from that...again!

So, here's what I made to make myself happy again..."Too Much Of A Good Thing". I used the Certainly Celery, So Saffron, Pretty in Pink and Whisper White cardstock from Stampin' Up! The stamp set is called "Time Well Spent"...also from SU!

I had some extra long envelopes from a Stamp-a-Stack I did, so I wanted to make a long card and this is what I came up with. I'd seen a similar card in one of the SU! catalogs and loved the layout. I punched holes into the So Saffron piece using a piercing tool and foam mat. I colored the images using my coordinating Stamp 'n Write Markers, cut out the butterfly and "popped" it using a Stampin' Dimensional. I tied a knot in my pink grosgrain ribbon and glued it on using Crystal Effects. The card still lacked some "punch" so I decided to go back with my Basic Black marker and line "stitches" around the images.

Now THAT made me happy to complete a project!