Do you want to see how I made it?

Don't you just love these colors together? I do.
I had this beautiful Dicro cabochon in my stash for a couple of years waiting for the right design to use it.

I thought it would be fun to do kind of a step by step of how I made these beads into the pretty necklace at the end of this post.

I mounted the cab onto a square of stiff interfacing and stitched a peyote bezel around it with Dark blue size 10 Delica beads. I like using delicas because of their uniform size and large holes.

After I stitched the bezel I trimmed the interfacing and glued the unit to some soft ultra suede to hide the ulgly stitches and make a nice finished back for the pendant.

The next step is to join the front and back together and finish the edge with pretty picots.

When I finished the edgings and embellishments I added a Swarovski crystal link and used it for the pendant bail.

Here is the necklace being made. This stitch makes the necklace look like a spiral staircase of pretty bugle beads

This is how the back looks totally finished. See how neat and tidy it looks.

Here is the front finished, isn't it pretty.

This is a close up of the finished necklace. I named it Tranquil Waters because I think the glass cab looks like a pool of water with gentle ripples.

Tada here is the finished necklace I wish the camera could capture how pretty the pendant is but trust me it is lovely in real life.
I hope you enjoyed seeing how this necklace was made and maybe you are a little inspired to try a little beading yourself.

Healing a broken heart

e


h
When your heart is broken what do you do to make the healing begin?

Some people eat comfort food, some exercise,some seek comfort in the company of others while others hibernate and cry. Everyone seems to have a method that works best for them.

For me when things don't make sense or I am very sad I find comfort in forcing myself to create something. I think it makes things better because I am forced to think outside of the painful box I am in and put that energy to use in a positive way. For me making things is how I cope. It is a big part of who I am few things make me as happy as designing and making something pretty.

My Mom was the same way before she started getting Alzheimers. She was my crafting mentor as far back as I can remember. She taught me to crochet,cross stitch,sew,Native American beading and leather work,latch hook and plastic canvas sculpture. I taught her about knitting,soap and candle making and beadweaving as well as other crafts. This has made for many great memories, I am so glad we shared this part of ourselves with each other.

Mom was always proud of my crafting skills and was excited that people were willing to give me money for the things I make and that she got them for free..

Over the last year or so Mom had been downsizing and getting rid of a lot of her stuff to simplify her life. She said it was just stuff she didn't need and she was only keeping things she needed. I was so very touched last week when my Brother and I were packing up her apartment to find that she had kept almost all the things I had made for her over the years;she felt they were some of the things she needed to keep.

So all of the things I had to do to put Mom's affairs to rest are done and everyone has went home. This last week I have had way to much time on my hands to think and be sad so instead of continuing down that path I started channeling my energy into making things again.

I have had a productive couple of days and it had helped some. Above are a few of the things I have made I'll be posting photos of some other things soon.

In my mind I can hear Mom saying "it's time for you to get off your ass and get something done" LoL I hear ya Ma.........

I like to experiment .........

One of the reasons I love polymer clay is because the possibilities of what can be done with it are endless and I love to experiment. I am always trying to find new ways to incorporate polymer clay into all of my crafts.

Here is one of my little experiments.....
If you shop Etsy you know how popular the little scrabble and glass tile pendants with the pretty paper decoupaged on them are. I think they are cute but I don't want to make the same thing as others. I like the clean look of the glass and I thought it would make a great way to showcase some of my cane work. So I thought I would experiment with one of the tiles and a retro cane I had laying around the craft room. I like the way the glass slightly magnififys the cane work and how the light shines from the sides to catch the sparkle of the pearl and metalic clays. Soooo I ordered 40 of the tiles to experiment with to showcase some really pretty pattern ideas I have. I know there are millions of these on Etsy but mine will be one of a kind and I think will do well at craft shows paired with some of my handmade beads. I am going to keep this experimental one for me but will be making several when my tiles come.

The other 2 photos are of some bracelets that I made yesterday with some polymer clay cabs I made. One is made from a retro cane and the faux opal with foil one is Polymer clay too.

Cute little frogs

I have a friend named Moe who lives in Hawaii she is so good at making tiny little things. Awhile back I asked her if she could make me some tiny frogs for a custom order. Well the customer changed her mind and decided she wanted lady bugs instead of frogs. So I got to keep the delicate little cuties Moe made for me.
I can make things but not anything as small as these frogs they are less then 1/2 inch and have tons of detail. She sent me several in different poses so I wanted to make something cute with them; they are cool little buggers.
So I made a little 3 1/2 x 5 frame on a 6x6 1/2 inch piece curved beveled glass. They are little tiny tropical Hawaiian frogs so I wanted to give them some tropical flowers to live on. All of the embellishments are made with polymer clay there isn't any paint on this project.
I hope Moe likes what I have done with her little froggies. I saved my 2 favorites for another project.