My creative space?

I've been busy getting ready for a Holiday craft show this Saturday (tomorrow!) with not a lot of extra time for blogging or FB. Oh darn, not like it wasn't good for me or anything! My craft boxes (the pink ones on the table) are all packed up and ready to go. Everything is labeled and priced and ready to sell! But I first had to make 5 new bracelets yesterday and finish a scarf or two. ;) Here is one of the bracelets. I made 5 in total and was craving to make more, but knew I didn't have the time. 'Tis ok. In my older years, my left thumb has not been wanting to cooperate with beading as much lately.

Going through the scarf pile, I realized that I have made 12 new ones this year. That's a sad pitiful number for me, but with the hand problems of past and being a bit burnt out, oh well. I will have enough to make my booth look good, so no worries there. But... I do have the craft bug again, so I'm sure that number will be changing fast!

Have a crafty, or just plain fabulous week! I'm sure many out there are in the decorating mood, and we will be joining in on that on Sunday. Can't wait!

***And P.S. ...... I finally did it! I finally got myself a new sewing machine! Is it weird to be so excited about that??

Friday mix up...

Finding a snack on a vacation, buying a package, realizing months later that that snack was incredibly awesome and wondering where the !%$@ to acquire here. Luckily, convincing your parents on their next trip to visit Sis to please track down incredibly awesome treat. But maybe... find a way to just fly to Spain and buy truckloads there?? That would be incredibly awesome as well. Finally finding my cutters/benders to whip out three new bracelets. One for the shop, and two for fairs. And falling in love with this new one listed in my shop. Sparkle.

And lastly... getting rid of ugly, clown, crap hair. Finding myself, for one day, beautiful. I'm gonna call this new hair my Kardashian do.

New Addittions to my Shop!

Happy soon to be 4th of July!

My friend Monica

is a huge 4th of July nut. She loves this holiday, and after realizing that it is coming up next weekend, I wanted to get in the festive mood! I made myself a red, white and blue bracelet and then thought, what the heck!? I'll make one for my shop too! It's just a silly, fun one, but you never know!

I also have added another bracelet to my shop. I have one more new one that I need to put up but I realized there is a part of it that I need to fix first! It's a bit too heavy with the large beads that I used, so I need to shorten it a bit first before adding it.
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Have a great weekend!

Wednesday Craft Update-It's In The Bag

I knew I needed something cute to pack my crafts in when they are purchased, so I wanted to find something cheap and plain that I could dress up to my liking. And here it is....ta da! I scrambled around looking for my yet-unopened-packed-from-the-move box of crafts, to find my stamps and ink. Luckily the color of ink that I wanted to use was one of the few that I have that had not dried up!
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Next big news.... one of my secret new projects that I tried out and loved has been completed! Below are two flower brooches that I was quite thrilled with on completion. I'm hoping to make different styles and colors and make them versatile enough that they can be used as pins or headbands or whatever!

Sadly with having so many other crafting projects going on this week, I was only able to make three new bracelets. Here are two with the direct below one my favorite from this week. Hmm... I might need to add this to my pile!

Have a crafty week!

Wednesday Craft Update-Easy to do With the Sniffles

I have 42 total bracelets made, and I am hoping that by the middle of June for the craft show, I can have at least 75.

Reminds me a little of something that a bride would wear?

Hmmm... this scarf is actually a pink color, but looks a bit dull in this photo. I am working on a brand new crochet project that I hope to finish some by next week. We'll see if it's a knack for me, or something for the toss pile.
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Hopefully it will turn out good and that it can be something crochet-wise that I can sell during the summer time craft fairs. A scarf might not be ideal to sell when it's 90 degrees outside!

Wednesday Craft Update-A Few More From the Pile

Here are a few of my favorites that I have made over the past couple of months. I have plans to at least fifty more bracelets by the beginning of June as there is another craft fair coming up in my hometown that I am getting excited for. I don't think that I will be selling my scarves in June, but I might bring some just in case. I might try to make some non-winter ones. I do have some, but not many. We'll see!

Lapis Lazuli

Blood Jasper

Wednesday Craft Update-Bracelet Fun!

Turquoise
I have made a lot of bracelets over the last couple of months, but have ran out of the wire. Hopefully I can get into town soon to make more.

Wednesday Craft Update - The Second Fair

Last weekend in my hometown, I had my second craft fair to attend to. My father and I shared two spaces to sell our wonderful things. With rocks, and cribbage boards made out of antlers, and jewelry mixed in-between, we had a beautiful presentation. It was a great day to talk with people I haven't seen for awhile and to hang out with my Dad.
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A few pieces of jewelry (bracelets and neklaces) sold, and even better, eleven scarves too! I guess it makes it easier to sell them when it is frigidly cold outside. But the funniest part to me was at home, counting out the money and realizing that my Dad and I had made the exact same amount of money!!

Ta-Da!

Here is my new craft. Bracelets! I'm a wee bit addicted now. Maybe because I got so burnt out on scarves?? Nah....
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There is a bit of a blue theme going on. But that is only because my bead selection is quite low. I have plans to go to town this weekend to some of the hobby shops to get more. Who knows what those ones will look like!?!? I am pretty darn excited about it though.

Trying to Sell Scarves in 90 Degree Heat

Yep, not that great of an idea. I did sell more than I thought, but not as many as I had hoped to sell. The total was eight and one necklace. It was so unbelievably hot outside that I am actually quite surprised any were sold! We did however, score a great location underneath a huge old tree. We had a canopy ready at hand just in case, but never needed to use it. I was set up next to other crafters, so it was very nice to speak with others who had something else to share.

It was a great experience and I did have lots of fun. Maybe I will try it again next year?

There is another craft fair in my hometown on December 5th that I will be having a booth at. Hopefully it will be really, really cold and I will sell lots!!

Wednesday Craft Update

Ahhh... to finish a new scarf. I am quite in love with this one. It is 3/4s gray and then 1/4 pink. What can I say? I'm a funky kinda gal. I have started a new one, and here's hoping that I can finish it by next week!

At the National Gem & Mineral show this past weekend, I also scored some new beads. Some (real) purple amethyst and lapis lazuli, along with some aqua colored glass ones. I am so excited to make necklaces out of these! Now, it's just finding that extra time to do so.

But I did have to pass on all of these... Boo.

Take a Bite

But if you do, prepare yourself for a trip to the dentist! These fish are carved out of rock. Not very tasty I would guess.




We were at the National Gem & Mineral show in Billings, MT this past weekend. The local club has a show every year, but this time it was the National gathering. For us weirdos who love rocks, this was awesome!
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The display below is one that my parents put together from some of their collection of fabulous rocks. The one in the middle only comes out for public view for these special events. My late uncle found it along the Yellowstone river a very long time ago. It is a Montana Moss Agate and weighs in at 63 1/2 pounds. I'm sure that many of you may not know what an agate is, but they are incredible rocks that when cut open, can have many wonderful "pictures". If you find a good one it may weigh in at 5 to 10 pounds and depending on what's inside can be sold for hundreds of dollars. This big monster? It will never be cut, and we cannot even fathom what the cost would be on the market. Although my parents have never contacted the Guinness Book of World Records, they know for a fact that this rock would be number 1, as the current one (if memory is working here) is only around 30 pounds.
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We told Fritz when he looked at it, that it would be his when he is old enough to lug it around!

The show also had the Moon rock that is usually at the NASA museum. It was loaned to the club and was a big hit! How amazing to see something that you normally wouldn't!

And of course, there was some shopping to be done. The Hubs came away with a fossilized fish from a million or so years ago, from Wyoming (which we have wanted to plan a trip to dig these up for ourselves sometime). And I fell in love with the below pictured lapis lazuli ring. I haven't taken it off since Saturday! Every show I go to, I try to come away with a different kind of stone, and years past I have kicked myself for passing up the lapis. Lapis means stone in Latin and Lazuli is the passed down name for the ancient mine (mostly mined in Afghanistan) that these stones were found in. It's funny that the stones name is "Stone from Lazuli"!

Wednesday Craft Update

I haven't done much for crafting this week. The creme colored scarf is half-way done but I haven't found the time to finish it yet. It should be done by next week though! I also have high hopes to finish and complete a new scarf to add to my pile. We'll see.
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I did however, make two new bead necklaces. They are geared more towards little girls. I have always made longer more adult like ones, but decided that I was missing out on the tween/teenager market. I don't know how many "little" ones I will make, but hopefully a few more. Below are the two that I finished this week.

Wednesday Craft Update

Finally finished the gray scarf! I made the edges tighter so that they would have a bit of a wave. All of the sections have a different count of row as well, so it definitely makes it unique! Hmmm.... I might have to put this in the "keep" pile. This is the next scarf that I started on today. Only got a small amount done as Fritz came-a-calling for food stuff. Not sure exactly want I am going to do with the pattern yet. I have been wanting to do a scarf all in the single crochet line. More time consuming for me as it is (so simple) yet quite foreign for me.

I did finally bust out the beads and made three necklaces this past week. I don't have the patience for very intricate bead work (I use to, but lost the book on the how-tos and can't remember anything fancy) so they are pretty simple, but still fun and relaxing for me to do.

This one below is lime green small beads and triangle and square green beads mixed in with brown wooden cylinders.

This one was inspired from Valentines Day past. I guess I still had romance on the brain?

This is just a plain two rowed lime green bead. One row is solid and the other is mixed with longer beads.

I am actually working on an art piece at the moment as well with my "special" mixed media. Shhh.... it's a secret, can't tell.