Mar10

Knitted Beaded Bracelets

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Knitted Beaded Bracelets

knitted bracelet

The day that my granddaughter, Vivien, was born, I attended the annual Needle Arts Extravaganza in Statesville, NC. There I discovered, “Friends and Fiberworks,” yarn vendors from Candler, NC (near Asheville.) I bought a kit for this knitted bracelet from them. The design is by Beth Todd and you can buy her pattern on Craftsy, or a kit from Friends and Fiberworks.

knitted bracelet 2

The kit came with yarn, beads, clasp and instructions. It knit up fairly quickly, and I enjoyed bringing a bead up with every stitch. I even enjoyed pre-stringing the beads.

knitted bracelet 3

The only thing that was difficult was making myself knit in the back of the stitch.

I enjoyed it so much that I bought other colors of thread and beads and made another.

knitted bracelet 4

After I finished the pink one, I went a little nuts buying #6 seed beads and matching threads. I had a teal colored bracelet all but finished, dropped it, and it unraveled almost to the beginning. After that, I lost interest and turned my attention to my next obsession, glass gems!

knitted bracelet 5

Mar5

Pinterest just got Better!

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Pinterest just got Better!

How I love it! They have a new little “pinning” gadget, tonight. I like it. Here’s something I pinned:

tiny flower embroidery

No, excuse me, I love the new gidget. When you choose a pin, you are presented with a text box that includes a flashing cursor, and a scroll list with the 3 boards you used last, followed by a list of the rest of your boards. The good part is you can start typing the name of the board you choose and it pops up, without having to scroll through the whole list! This is something I had suggested to them in a post a long time ago. They tried something similar for a while and then took it away. I assumed people didn’t like it. Either that, or you could pin so fast it crashed their server! I’m so glad it’s back! I love Pinterest, but do not enjoy scrolling through all 79 of my boards when I choose something to pin! Hurray!

Mar4

It’s a Keeper!

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It’s a Keeper!

Tentmaker necklace Tentmaker Neclace!Tentmaker Necklace2 Tentmaker Necklace3

I made this necklace to sell, but I think I have to keep it. The cotton cord is hand dyed and painted. That’s one of my very favorite clasps. I made the bail myself from a vintage-looking metal stamping. I like the back as much as the front! The image is decoupaged on the back of a glass nugget, covered with card stock and sealed with Diamond Glaze. I plan on wearing it over a black turtleneck or tee. I’m right proud of me!

Mar2

I <3 Artbeads!

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I <3 Artbeads!

Artbeads.com, Exceptional Beads and Jewelry…

Artbeads.com stocks more than 30,000 beads and jewelry-making supplies including Swarovski crystal beads, gemstones, charms, pendants, clasps and much more!

I just placed an order. You get free shipping with just a $15.00 order, Swarovski everything was on sale, and I had an additional 10% off code from a previous order!

Here’s one of the goodies I’m getting. I have some pink and metallic gold cording for Kumihimo:

Devoted 2 U Crystal PendantSwarovski Devoted 2 U Crystal Pendant in Astral Pink

Mar2

Oh, My, Goodness!

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Oh, My, Goodness!

Look what I have found!crazy quilt heart pinheart4 Gloster QueenThese beauties are the work of one Barbara Gray, the Gloster Queen. (She also raises Gloster canaries.) I found her work on an Artbeads Pinterest board. All photos should link to her etsy shop. I didn’t even look to see what she charges for her pins. Whatever it is, it’s not enough! Here is her logo:

Gloster Queen logo

Mar1

Document Discoveries!

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Document Discoveries!

I was looking for something, I can’t remember what, in the documents library on my computer. Some files had names that made no sense at all. I decided to rename and organize files. I opened new folders and named them according to the type of files I have. I’m not talking about pdf’s and Word documents. I have patterns and ebooks and digital magazines. Then I started opening files to see what was inside. It was like Christmas!!!

One of my first finds was a series of “Art Lessons” I had downloaded from Interweave Press when they were on sale for $1.00. (Sometimes I use these things to reward myself for completing chores I dread.) Most were by mixed media artist, Jane Davenport. I am especially excited about the lesson on auditioning stencils:JaneD3image

It reminded me that Jane sells her stencils. Some are available at the Interweave Store.

I also found a wonderful tutorial on You Tube by Jane, herself!  Happy Day!

BTW, as for the organizing files, I’m almost through the A’s! LOL!

Mar1

What about Cake #4?

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What about Cake #4?

It was store bought and store decorated. The party was at a local Bounce University, and there was a superhero theme. There was no time for creativity. There was a huge snow storm in February last year. My father-in-law died, and my daughter was exceedingly busy with this tiny angel:

Vivien at PJ's party(disguised as a “bat baby!”) My grand daughter, Vivien was born on Feb 1, 2014, in the late evening, just like her brother. I had had a wonderful day at the annual Needlearts Extravaganza in Statesville, NC, so I was not too far away. I arrived in time to meet my granddaughter and find my grandson running a fever. He had the flu. I have said that I held him and rocked him all night the night he was born, and again, all night, the night his sister was born.

Now, with that said, this is my craft blog, not my grandma blog (oooh, a grandma blog! great idea!) I don’t see how I can post about things I make or do for my grandchildren without including them. I shall try to control myself!

Mar1

Birthday Cake #5!

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Birthday Cake #5!

My daughter worked her magic again this year, with just a little help from her old mom. Here’s the cake “before,” and, “after!” The figures are plastic I found at Michaels. The sand is crushed vanilla wafers, the black dirt is crushed Oreos, the swamp grass is dyed coconut, and there’s some green writing gel “ooze” here and there!