Success Bound

How Many Works in Progress...

2010-07-23T08:02:00.001-07:00

07-23-10_1050.jpg
Originally uploaded by magscrafts

...is too many? This question came up the other day in the forums on Ravelry, and so I answered just about yarn related WIPs. Even those I had like 9 things in progress. The original poster seemed upset because she had 2, and could not bring herself to start another.

With knitting, and really with nearly any type of project, you end up with different things that you can work on in different limited settings.

I am working on a seamless sweater for my plus sized self, so that large piece of knitting will not be leaving my house, thank you very much.

For knitting on the go, I have the cute little cotton shortie socks shown in the photo. I also have a pair of wool socks in progress, but I can only work on them in air conditioned areas. The cotton socks are perfect for knitting in parked cars while waiting for my kid at school.

Some projects, like lace for example, require focus that I cannot muster sitting in my "office" here at Panera.

Similar issues cause multiple projects in other crafty genres: the huge duvet cover for my niece is not quite a take along item, like a small piece of hand embroidery would be.

So my answer to how many is too many? I guess the sky is the limit!

When Reality Gives Expectations a Kick in the Butt

2010-07-13T07:09:00.001-07:00

Green Dragonfly
Originally uploaded by magscrafts

This morning as I was driving, a giant dragonfly hovered over my windshield. In that moment, the dragonfly came to embody an idea I was having for a blog post about dreamy expectations, and how often reality comes to whack them down. In popular culture, we see many images of light, flittering dragonflies that are cute, and we hold onto that image. Then what more closely resembles a turd with wings runs into your windshield at 60 miles an hour and you are sucked back to reality.

This happens many times in day to day life. Many times when planning outings with my family, I envision this ideal family who all happily get along and enjoy the excursion. Then before we leave our home parking lot, the kids are arguing in the back seat, the heat index goes over 100 degrees and traffic is already plotting to hinder our path.

In business, sometimes we come up with a product or plan that we thing will really take off, ignoring the reality that these things often take a ton of work.

In crafting, we come up with a design, find the perfect materials, figure out our plan of action, then nothing goes as smoothly as we think, and the item we make is not quite the beauty we envisioned.

Since it is difficult for me to manage reality, I have come to the conclusion I need to manage my own expectations. This idea came to me while I was picking tiny balls of chewing gum out of entire load of wet laundry. It is not realistic of me to expect a 20 year old guy to be either thoughtful to his mother or focused on emptying his pockets, and it is not fair of me to have those expectations, and holding on to them will only lead to disappointment.

Multitasking Means Minitasking

2010-07-06T07:44:00.001-07:00

Today starts months of spending large chunks of time driving son #2 to football camps, summer band, workouts, and other things I don't want to think about at the moment. That got me thinking, that if I am going to get stuff done, I need to get to some serious multitasking. The problem with that is that my available time for the foreseeable future will come in small bits. No more will I have the luxury of a whole day ahead of me, thinking "Hmmm what do I want to do now."

So, I already started my "minitasking" - as I type this, I am syncing my ipod for in-van entertainment, gathering crafty items to work on while I have the inevitable wait for the kid to come out to the car, and blog hopping to do my Entrecard drops. (the photo above also shows I need to dust my keyboard very soon as well!) But I have to leave the house again to pick him up in less than an hour, so I have to choose wisely, and be ready to abandon tasks after a short time, whether I finish or not. I have to remember I can come back to them later.I also have this whole box of finished items that need to get decent photographs taken and to be listed online in one of my stores. It is feeling overwhelming right now, but I think if I just tell myself I will go take photos until my card is full or my battery dies, then edit photos and upload to photobucket as time permits, I will be able to get through them all. Then I can convince myself to list X items a day online and I should get through the backlog in no time!

In the true spirit of minitasking, I am going to start knitting on a pair of shortie socks this afternoon while I wait outside of summer band.

New Sea Glass Pendants on eBay!

2010-06-29T11:39:00.000-07:00

Finally, some new sea glass pendants from Narragansett Sea Glass! Affordable, genuine sea glass jewelry handmade with sterling silver.

Matching earrings are also available. Start your Christmas shopping early with these affordable gems or just treat yourself to something special!

Click here to see more!

Another Giveaway To Mention

2010-05-18T07:40:00.000-07:00

Hi all! Just letting you know that I'm giving away a pair of earrings on my other blog.

Come on over and leave a comment to be entered!

Giveaway Winner

2010-05-07T06:55:00.000-07:00

I posted on my other blog that I had a winner in my jewelry giveaway, but forgot to come back here and update!

The winner was Beth from The Stories of A to Z and she chose to have me make a pendant for her from a piece of pale aqua sea glass that I found on Scarborough Beach a few weeks ago. Here is a "work in progress" photo as well as the finished piece:

A Jewelry Giveaway!

2010-04-17T07:15:00.001-07:00

I am celebrating my 100th post on my other blog, Scarborough Seashells and to celebrate I am giving one lucky reader a piece of jewelry made by me!

You can win a pair of bezel set earrings or a pendant made with your choice of sea glass, pottery shard or seashell. OR I'll custom make something if you have a special piece of your own you'd like me to use.

For more details and to enter the giveaway, click here!

Glass Tile Pendants

2010-04-07T14:42:00.001-07:00

Glass Tile Pendants
Originally uploaded by mornindew2822

I'm so excited to finally have these made, I've wanted to do them for so long!

I think they came out really cute- I wore one out today and so many people complimented me on it!

Now for sale on my website at an introductory price of $8, including the chain!

More brand new jewelry just listed to Scarborough Seashells!

2010-04-06T11:28:00.000-07:00

Hand forged sterling silver bangle style bracelets made from sea glass, beachcombed pottery shards and genuine seashells!

Available now at Scarborough Seashells!

New pendants made!

2010-02-17T17:06:00.001-08:00

New pendants
Originally uploaded by mornindew2822

Just a few of the pendants I've been working on for an upcoming craft show at the end of the month. Currently listed for sale on my website (until the day of the show)!

And The Cobbler's Children Had No Shoes

2010-02-14T15:59:00.001-08:00

clapotis 020710
Originally uploaded by magscrafts

I started the project pictured about a week ago. It called for 18 stitch markers. Now, in my lifetime, I have probably made at least 500 stitch markers, in two different styles, and infinite colors, which I usually sell in sets of 6. I sold a ton of these before I was ever even a knitter! I did not want to pull any out of my inventory, and I wanted to start this project NOW! So I grabbed my new box of pretty paperclips my husband gave me at Christmas (before you worry about HIM, you have to know that I was thrilled with these!) and started slipping them onto the needles. They marked my place, so they served the purpose, right?

Wrong! First of all, I got some serious laddering at each marker. For those non-knitting readers, laddering is when you get a space between the knitting stitches that shows the yarn between them like the rungs of a ladder. The ladders were caused by the fact that the paperclips are so large and cumbersome, and the yarn is very thin. In this case, I was thinking I would live with it, because the pattern called for me to drop those stitches anyway, so it would not show in the end product.

But then yesterday my friend Karen mentioned that she and her mom had gotten a chuckle out of the fact that I was using paperclips. Then I got a message from my knittting mentor, who also happens to be one of the owners of The Shops at Fabian House, where a nice assortment of my stitch markers are available for sale. I guess I was hoping she would not notice and I would just not take that project to the shop. Well, um, she noticed alright!

So this afternoon after I finished making some jewelry to fill orders, I made myself this large set of stitch markers. They are on sterling silver wire, and I made 8 each of three different shades of blue, which are also different shapes and sizes.

The Good Stuff

2010-02-03T09:42:00.001-08:00

cable scarf 020310
Originally uploaded by magscrafts

Tara has lately been on a use what you have kick, and I have to agree with her that it is a great idea. For some time, I have been collecting supplies for techniques or materials I want to try, and then either getting in a rut where I just do what I have always done, or being afraid to touch said new materials, wanting to save them for something "special".

I decided I need to get over that, to not let materials or techniques intimidate me any more. To that end, this morning I woke up and frogged (ripped out for the non-knitters) 2 feet of scarf that I was knitting too tight and started in on a scarf on huge needles, which will incorporate my very first cables! I have been avoiding patterns with cables, thinking they were too hard for me because I have not been knitting very long, but you know what? They are easy!

I am going to work on some pillows this afternoon, incorporating little experimental pieces I was saving like they were 6 inch squares of gold and fabric combinations I keep thinking about, but never get the nerve to cut into. I have had a box of pillow forms in the corner of my bedroom (oops, I mean "sewing room") because I was determined to make pillows, but intimidated by them at the same time. (Why? Didn't every middle school girl of the 70s make some kind of pillow as her first project in home ec? I had made myself whole outfits by that point, but I still had to make that pillow!)

I invite you, readers, to use what you have, even the "good stuff". What are we saving it for, anyway?

New jewelry listed to my shops!

2010-02-01T11:16:00.000-08:00

Just added to my Etsy shop and website.

Some cute polymer clay sea inspired pendant and earring sets

I've hand marbled aqua and white polymer clay and made it beachy with impressions of real starfish, seahorses and seashells. Accented with gold craft paint and 14k gf bail, beads and ear wires.

And another "use what I've got" challenge-
Made with more of my favorites- turquoise and Hill Tribe fine silver beads, including the adorable fish pendant. Adjustable from 20-22 inches.

Sea glass shelf/ coat rack for my bathroom

2010-01-27T10:28:00.001-08:00

Sea Glass Shelf
Originally uploaded by mornindew2822

I wish I could find the "before" photo of this little coat rack. I bought it in the clearance section after Christmas for $.75- it was white with 4 large plastic snowmen on it (one over each hook). I pried them off, filled and sanded the holes they left behind and then added a little mosaic of sea glass, sand dollars and starfish. It now lives in my (very green) bathroom helping to make the green a bit more bearable until I can get around to toning it down some!

Took me a Sunday afternoon football game to go from before to after. :)

Joining the Challenge

2010-01-25T10:28:00.001-08:00

cuff in progress
Originally uploaded by magscrafts

I have been reading Tara's posts lately, reading about her "use what you have" challenge. I admit that I have had little twinges of guilt, because first, I have been crafting, but stuff totally unrelated to business, and two, I have been spending way too much on supplies. I think my knitting and other leisurely crafts has been a help to my sanity, but it is time to buckle down and get back to business related work!

Anyway, I am taking on Tara's challenge, and I am adding for myself that not only will I use what I have on hand, but I will work on finishing some stuff that I had already started. I also want to make a little headway every day. So today I walked up to my sewing table, and dug around a little bit looking at what was in the heap, and found some pieced patchwork made by Karen of Chickadee Friends Studio. I had intended to make a quilted, beaded cuff, but had fizzled when Christmas approached. This morning I quilted the piece of fabric, fused it to a lovely green batik fabric backing, and finished off the edge. I hunted the button box for a great vintage button, made the buttonhole to fit. Now I need to sew on the buttons and add the beads, but all of the machine sewing is done!

Thanks for the inspiration, Tara!

Sea Inspired Jewelry

2010-01-23T17:54:00.001-08:00

Sea Inspired Jewelry
Originally uploaded by mornindew2822

Another of my "use what you've got" challenges. I made these without spending one red cent- it amazes me the stuff I collect and then don't use! Can you imagine every single ingredient that went into making these has been sitting in my supply boxes for close to two years now while I was totally uninspired to anything with it!

Necklace and earrings set made using various greenish-blue turquoise beads with lots of matrix (the more mottled the better, I love it!) , bronze freshwater pearls, Hill Tribe fine silver beads (starfish, nautilus and scallop shells) and sand dollar toggle style clasp.

Up for sale in my Etsy shop this weekend.

Tiny Sea Glass "Mosaic" Pendants

2010-01-21T14:16:00.001-08:00

Tiny Sea Glass "Mosaic" Pendants
Originally uploaded by mornindew2822

This is some of the pieces I've been working on this week. I have a self-imposed "use what you've got" challenge going on and all the stuff I'm making this week is done without spending a single penny for anything new.

I've taken bits of beachcombed pottery where the pattern was too worn for it to be used on it's own for a jewelry piece and decorated them with teeny, tiny bits of beautiful sea glass in rich, vibrant colors. The end result is, I think, mini mosaic art pieces you can wear!

My favorite is I Feel Teal. The shade on the (perfectly round) sea glass ball is so rich and soothing while the pottery shards are a cool robin's egg and almost Tiffany blue.

These can all be found in my Etsy shop.

Finally back to being crafty!

2010-01-13T13:07:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it's taken me this long to recouperate from the holidays but indeed, this is the first week I've been able to get back to work and start making things again. At first there was the chaos of kids home on vacation, then it was cleaning up and putting away all the decorations, then it was sheer exhaustion from all the previous weeks' hullabaloo.

The ~~nagging reminder~~ gentle nudge of a waning bank account forced me back into action this week and I've managed to start producing again. So far I've added two new colors of my sea glass wine charms
Blue Set

Green Set

and a sea glass bottle stopper (custom order).

I am trying to decide if I have time to produce enough stuff to do a small local craft fair in a little over a month's time... hemming and hawing over this one...

Also have a sea glass window on my agenda due mid March to the customer and likely a fundraiser coming up in April. Spring is looking to be busy!

I'm Knitting and I Can't Stop!

2010-01-11T20:33:00.001-08:00

headband picture
Originally uploaded by magscrafts

Many moons ago, when I was a teenager in the 1980's, I taught myself how to knit from a book so that I could knit myself a pair of legwarmers. Unfortunately, knitting was the one craft where my usual teach myself from a book methods pretty much failed me. I managed to finish those legwarmers but all my stitches were twisty and it took me forever (that one pair of legwarmers took me a year- I'm very tall, but not THAT tall!)

Fast forward nearly 30 years, and I met my good friend Ruth, who is a knitter extraordinaire and offered to help me. So I went to her with yarn and needles and she tried to straighten out my bad habits. I practiced and practiced, but still somehow felt like I was so slow I would never finish anything. My stitches looked way better though.

Then a dear friend passed away at Thanksgiving time. I had lived at their house the summer after college graduation, and called she and her husband my "parents for a month". At her celebration, people commented about her knitting, and I had sort of forgotten that she was an amazing knitter. Back when I lived there, I was so amazed at the items she could crank out, with almost a zenlike peace involved in the process. As I remembered her, I regretted that I was too busy planning my wedding and hanging out with my fiance to sit down and get her to help me with my knitting that summer, but I felt a renewed resolve to become a knitter.

So I picked up my practice piece that I had been working on with Ruth, watched some online videos of knitters to help me remember what I was doing, and I was on my way.
Here is that practice piece knitted into a scarf! Then I knitted these cotton dishcloths:

Next, on New Year's Eve, I started the scarf below. I have 5 skeins total of this yarn, which I bought at a yard sale. I am not sure what it is even made of, the label is in Turkish. Anyway, to be sure I could get a hat and mitts out of the yarn on hand, I left the scarf after one skein and made a hat.

I switched gears over this weekend, and knitted the headband I am wearing in the photo above. It was supposed to be lacier, I modified the pattern because I was not used to the thin yarn or the small needles.

My current project is a pair of fingerless mitts. I am nearly done the first of the pair and I just started them today! Knitting is a nice craft to carry with me to work on while I wait for my son at school or church or whatever. I think this crazy knitting break will let me get back to my jewelry and sewing with a fresh positive attitude.

WICKED!

2009-12-30T09:42:00.001-08:00

Happy birthday to me! Ed doesn't typically get my a birthday gift because my birthday falls the day after Christmas and we just can't afford it. I'm perfectly okay with this, we've done it for years and we always celebrate early in the new year. So this year he got me good when he handed me my card and inside it I found two tickets to go see WICKED!

If you haven't heard, here's the scoop:

Long before Dorothy drops in, two other girls meet in the Land of Oz. One, born with emerald green skin, is smart, fiery and misunderstood. The other is beautiful, ambitious and very popular. How these two unlikely friends end up as the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good Witch makes for the most spellbinding new musical in years.

WICKED, the untold story of the witches of Oz, features music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz (Godspell, Pippin, Academy Award-winner for Pocahantas and The Prince of Egypt) and book by Winnie Holzman ("My So Called Life", "Once and Again" and "thirtysomething"), and is based on the best selling novel by Gregory Maguire. With musical staging by Tony Award winning Wayne Cilento (Aida, The Who's Tommy, How to Succeed...) WICKED is directed by 2003 and 2004 Tony Award-winner Joe Mantello (Take Me Out, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, Glengarry Glen Ross.)

So this Sunday night, I'm going to the theater! I've got a real official grown up date night with my hubby- go me! :)

Woven Wonders

2009-12-27T19:51:00.001-08:00

woven fabric 1
Originally uploaded by magscrafts

A few weeks ago, Karen (my partner in Chickadee Friends) and I went to an astounding exhibit of woven glass art pieces. Examples of the woven glass can be seen here. The artists are named Markow and Norris. Anyway, this exhibit was so wonderful, neither of us can get it out of our head.

Fast forward to Christmas, and I get an electric rotary cutting machine, which cuts strips galore with no muscle power needed from me. So tonight I cut a ton of strips from fabric in an assortment of rainbow colors, and wove them together to make a new fabric. Before I did my weaving, I pinned some parchment onto a board, and then layered some Mistyfuse fusible web, then pinned my white strips vertically. I wove my colored strips in, pinned the ends, and then ironed the whole thing to my Mistyfuse. I plan to cut this up and use it on some pieces I am doing for an art swap.

I want to play with different textures with this method too.

Upcycling can lead to pretty gift wrap!

2009-12-23T14:09:00.000-08:00

To continue on with my theme this Christmas, I decided I'd try to make gift wrap that had a beachy feel to it. I was able to use a lot of stuff that had previous lives and "upcycle" it into cute little bundles that I hope my family and friends will love receiving! The brown paper is not actually kraft paper that I purchase but is, in fact, the brown paper they sometimes put at the center of your gift wrap roll instead of a cardboard tube. The bows are made from remnants of raffia I had in the house and my never ending ball of twine that I use for practically everything that needs tying. I made gift tags out of seashells and tiny sand dollars. I simply drilled a hole to attach them and wrote the recipients name on the backside. :)

I think this is the last post before Christmas since my family is arriving from NC bright and early tomorrow morning. Have a wonderful holiday weekend, everyone!

Stitch Witchery Stocking Project

2009-12-22T09:35:00.000-08:00

AKA my version of a no-sew stocking.

After several frustrating hours searching online for stockings worthy of being called "beachy" and finding nothing but a scant one or two ridiculously priced at close to $200 a piece, I decided I'd make my own. At first I thought I might attempt to cross stitch some beachy like items onto premade stockings, but then smacking myself into the realization that I don't cross stitch and have no time to learn, I tossed that option off the list. Then I decided I'd hunt for some pretty white stockings and embellish them- easier said than done. All the white stockings I found (which weren't many) were either those plain felt ones you can buy for less than $1 or they were furry- not exactly my style. I searched Etsy and eBay thinking maybe someone had done my job for me and made something I could use- yes indeed, I found some pretties but again they were too costly for my family of five. I'm looking to do this on the cheap, not break the bank! $25-$50 a stocking is not in my budget this year.

So long story short, I'd about given up hope of finding anything I could use when I wandered into my local Christmas Tree Shop (those who don't have these locally, don't be fooled by the name- while they DO carry holiday items, this is not the main theme of the store- I was actually buying curtains for my bedroom that day). For the heck of it, I wandered through the Christmas section to see if anything caught my eye- low and behold there were FIVE and only FIVE creamy white stockings in a satin material with a diamond pattern stitched across the fronts. Only problem was a BIG red bow. But for $2.99 a pop, that could be handled!

So I grabbed them up and brought them home and began to plan. At first I thought I'd just replace the red ribbon with a color better suited for my house- hard to do, the red ribbon is more than 5 inches wide, which is difficult to find and since I don't own a sewing machine, I'd have to rip the seams apart and then resew by hand to remove all traces of the red- no time for that. My solution- jute fabric. It's the perfect color, it has a definite beachy feel about it and when paired up with the fancier cream colored stocking it totally has that "shabby beach chic" look! Okay, so here's the specifics- I went to JoAnn and bought 1/2 a yard of the jute for $1.50 and a roll of 3/4" Stitch Witchery (iron on adhesive tape used for hemming) with a 50% off coupon for $1.14. Total spent so far $18.82, not bad.

First step was to cut off the big red bows and trim back as far as I could to the stitching without actually undoing any of it- remember, I'm not sewing here.

Next, I measured the size of the jute I'd need to fit inside the stocking and cuff over the top long enough to cover the red bits still showing on the edges. Added length for my hem and then cut.

Then I followed the directions for use on the Stitch Witchery package- basically you fold over and iron your fabric where you want your hem to be, then cut a strip of the tape and slip it into the fold and then iron it to "hem". I did this along the top and bottom of the fabric.

Once I had that done, I folded the fabric in half -right sides facing in- and made a mark with sharpie down the raw edge where I wanted to join the pieces of fabric together and then followed that line for placing my tape.
The end result is a tube shape.

I turned the stocking inside out and used a tiny bit of the Stitch Witchery to adhere the jute to the inside of the stocking. I flipped everything back to the correct side, folded down the cuff
and finally, I added a twine loop for hanging (okay so this little bit I actually stitched on, it's not 100% "no-sew")

and a seashell for a bit of decoration.
Each person has a different shell so we can tell who's stocking is who's.

Since I had the twine and the seashells in the house, my final cost for 5 custom stockings was less than $20! This same idea can be modified to fit any sort of theme- you can use any stocking that matches your decor (I've even seen some cute ones at Dollar Tree!) Get a coordinating fabric and then embellish with something that emphasises your theme- you could get little ornaments with snowmen, Santas or angels- even candy canes- how cute would that be?! And the great thing is, because it's so affordable you can change them year to year as your decor changes!

Happy Holidays!

The Problem... and the Solution!

2009-12-16T15:55:00.000-08:00

I've mentioned before that the house we bought came complete with a weird tree painting/window thing. Basically, the previous owners built an addition on the side of the house and boarded up a window, but when they did it, they kept the window casing and placed drywall in the center of it instead of panelling over it like the rest of the room. Then to make it less of an eyesore, they decided to paint it with a *ahem* lovely white tree branch.

Our short term solution was just to paint it white like the rest of the walls and let it fade away while I thought about what to do with it.

While out walking recently, I got an idea to do a wall of photos and to try to do it on a budget!
I went to the Dollar Tree and grabbed 11 frames in various sizes and added to it a frame I have had in my basement waiting for a new life for some time now.

Next I grabbed a can of turquoise paint left over from when I painted the workbench in my old studio space.
Two coats of paint and they're looking good!

I printed out the pictures on photo paper I got for $3 with a coupon and used a sepia tone to make them more cohesive. I printed out the "family" on some left over scrapbook paper.
The last part was figuring out a pleasing layout for the frames since I had a variety of sizes and couldn't make it symmetrical. The result:

For a grand total of $14.98 -including tax- my 4'x6' eyesore now has a purpose!

Breakfast with Santa!

2009-12-15T07:07:00.000-08:00

Aidan came home with the 2009 "Parks and Rec" guide for holiday festivities in our town and there was a "Breakfast with Santa" event that he really wanted to go to. We decided it was a great idea for something reasonably priced to do as a family. He was so excited that he ran around the house singing "Parks and REC! (emphasis on REC!), Parks and REC!" constantly. LOL.

So we went to the Coast Guard House in Narragansett last Saturday and paid $20 for our family of five- money to our local Lions Club. We had eggs, bacon, homefries, french toast, coffee and juice- PLUS pictures with Santa. Can't be that with a stick! :)

Cool 3D Paper Snowflakes Craft Project!

2009-12-13T16:07:00.000-08:00

I found this tutorial on Attempting to be Domestic and thought they were worth a shot. So simple to do and they're really quite lovely- good bang for the (minimal) buck!

Supplies:

-6 square pieces of paper per snowflake. You can use printer paper or do like I did and use scrapbook paper. I found a pretty rice paper on sale at AC Moore- my total cost for the project was $3.
-Scissors
-Tape
-Ruler
-Pencil

1. If your paper is not square, cut into squares- I decided to make 5 inch squares which yielded me 2 squares per sheet, so I used 3 rice paper sheets per snowflake.

2. Next fold your square into a triangle, then fold the triangle in half to form a smaller triangle.

3. Once you have all your folds made, take your ruler and tick off 3 small marks around 1/2 inch apart on the double folded edge of the triangle for making your cuts. I just measured one then used it as a template for all my others.

4. Now cut into the triangle (starting at each of your tick marks) towards the single folded side and stop about 1/2 an inch before you reach the edge.

5. Next, unfold your triangle to reveal the square with all it's cuts.

6. Now take the two smallest triangle cuts in the center of the square and fold them in towards each other and secure with tape.

7. Flip your square over, take the next two largest triangle cuts and fold those in towards each other and again, secure with tape.

8. Continue flipping the paper over and folding in each triangle section until it is complete. You need 6 completed sections per snowflake.

9. Now secure the sections together with tape at the inner point and at the "elbow" section of each piece.

10. Do this for each of the 6 sections and your snowflake is completed! I hung mine with some fishing line in my front window. So pretty!

Genuine Red Sea Glass Pendant

2009-12-07T13:53:00.001-08:00

Genuine Red Sea Glass Pendant 1
Originally uploaded by mornindew2822

Just in time for Christmas! A rare red sea glass piece, bezel set in sterling and fine silver. I have cut out the back side to allow light to shine through. A truly special way to wish someone you love a wonderful holiday season! This is a one of kind piece, available now on
my website.

What's on My Bench

2009-12-05T13:26:00.000-08:00

I was happily moving along last week, making assorted earrings to take to The Shops at Fabian House, when I realized I had NO ear wires. So since it is snowy, and not a good day for the outing I had planned, I went into my lair to make some earwires.

I made 2 kinds- the rounded ones like these:
And more traditional hooks like these:
(I like to melt a ball of silver on the loop, but I have no pictures of those, I must have sold them all in person!)

Here are some photos of the work in progress:

Melted balls onto the ends of some lengths of wire and soaked them in some "pickle".

For the round wires, I form a large coil on a huge knitting needle, then cut off circles, form a loop on one end.

I file the ends of either kind of wires, so that they do not irritate the wearer!

I bought this mini jig for forming all the hook shaped ones the same!

All of the wires are in the tumbler now to get hardened and shiny.

Angels A Plenty

2009-12-02T05:40:00.001-08:00

Sea Glass Angels
Originally uploaded by mornindew2822

New sea glass angels just listed to my Etsy Shop and more to come!

A bulb ornament Christmas wreath mini tutorial

2009-12-01T05:40:00.000-08:00

I first saw this cute little wreath on eddieross.com while I was browsing around the web looking for some cheap and easy DIY holiday decorations.

Mine's not quite as cute or as symmetrical as Eddie's is, lol, but I still sorta like it. I'm not sure it's going to live on my mantel forever either, I think I'll wait and see how I like it once I get the rest of my decorations up.

Anyway, here's the low down-

Supplies:
-1 wire coat hanger (the white coated ones are easier to work with than the gold ones)
-Approximately 80-100 bulb ornaments in various sizes.
-Hot glue

I went to the Dollar Tree yesterday and they have ornaments GALORE there. Aside from the white bulbs, which I was anal about and hunted all over RI for, I bought all my bulbs there and my total at checkout was $7.49, so this is easily a craft that can be done for under $10.

First and most important- lift up the caps on your ornaments, add a dab of hot glue and secure them to the bulbs. If you skip this step, you're going to spend a lot of frustrating time trying to reattach bulbs that come popping off as you start to fill the wreath and the ornaments start getting packed in tighter.

Once the caps are secured, sort them into types so you know what you've got for variety and as you're adding them to the wreath, keep it random. Patterns seem to get messed up because the bulbs continuously shift around slightly as your formation takes shape.

Okay now for the actual wreath. Pull the wire hanger into a circle shape and untwist the top. Next, you just need to slide the ornament loops onto the hanger until you're out of room (and again, keep it random!)

When you get to the ends of the wire, You can either twist them back together and hang from the hook (covered by a bow as Eddie did) or twist the ends together and tuck them in behind the bulbs like I did, if you don't want a bow.

Viola, a bulb wreath! :)

Mini Earring O Rama

2009-11-28T16:21:00.001-08:00

Mini Earring O Rama
Originally uploaded by mornindew2822

Decided to get into the holiday spirit a little today and make some cute earrings that would be perfect stocking stuffers, gifts for teachers, babysitters, etc. Available at Scarborough Seashells

Holiday at the beach

2009-11-26T16:33:00.000-08:00

Thought I would share a few simple craft projects that I came up with to set my Thanksgiving dining table this year. If you're like me and love everything beachy, these will work well for any celebration, they are by no means "Thanksgiving Only", in fact, they're not really Thanksgiving-y at all! Enjoy and Happy Turkey Day! PS- sorry there are so many pictures, I tried to do step-by-step images for everyone.
Craft #1: Decorative Seashell Votive Holders. These are SO simple and really added a nice finishing touch to my table.
Supplies:
Glass Votive Holders (purchased for $.39 each at a discount store)
Twine
Seashells
Hot Glue Gun/Glue Sticks
Scissors

First, wrap the twine around the top of the holder once, tying it in a knot to secure. You can also use a dot of hot glue if it's sliding around on you. Then simply take the ends of the twine and wrap around the holder once more in each direction giving yourself a total of 3 wraps. Give your twine a trim, hot glue a seashell in the center to cover the knot and you're done!

Craft #2: Starfish Napkin Rings. These are a bit more time consuming than the votive holders but equally as simple and they really looked nice with my new monogrammed napkins!
Supplies:
Cheap Plain Napkin Rings(you could even use an old piece of PVC pipe cut into 1 1/2 inch lengths. My rings were wood and found for $.25 a piece at a discount store.)
Starfish (2-3 inch- Seashells will also work)
Twine
Hot Glue Gun/Glue Sticks
Scissors

First, add a dab of hot glue to the inside of the ring and attach the start of your twine. Next bring the twine up over the the edge and begin wrapping it around the ring opening. Add small 1-2 inch beads of hot glue around the ring, following directly underneath the previous layer of twine. Wrap around and around, pressing each section of twine flush up to the previous one until you come to the other end of the ring. Finish the same way you started- cut the twine and add another dot of hot glue on the inside of the ring to secure.

Once the glue is dried, if you have bristly twine like I did, give it a haircut to trim away all the fly away pieces and then add a dab of hot glue to the back of your starfish and adhere it to the ring. That's it!

My finished table:

A couple more quick before and afters

2009-11-22T08:51:00.001-08:00

I did some side by side comparison pictures of the before and after of our living area in the new house. Enjoy!

Before and After- Redoing our 1970's Ranch House

2009-11-21T08:49:00.000-08:00

So I mentioned a few months ago that Ed and I bought our first house this summer. It's a 1971 ranch house and much of it was still dressed in the oh so lovely decor befitting a house from that era. Dark panelling, even darker wood kitchen cabinets, hideously stained and stinky carpet, you get the picture. While we still have a ways to go, we have accomplished a lot on our "to do" list already and I'm finally ready to show off our progress!
The day we closed, we took our parents and the boys over to check out the new place. These photos are actually the realtor's images from the online listing. I especially love the "tree paintings" the previous owner left for us. These are actually boarded up windows. They built a garage addition on the side of the house, so they couldn't keep the window there any more, but I guess they thought the window framing should stay put. The front window was once 3 smaller windows and they replaced it with one picture window and boarded up the left portion since the new picture window wasn't as large as the 3 former windows had been. Clever. For now one hides behind curtains and the other is just painted white to blend in... I think it will become a mosaic project.

Lovely, eh? The very first thing I did was knock out the gorgeous spindly things in that cutout window that looks into the kitchen. Then came paint. LOTS and LOTS of paint. 3 coats of primer and 4 coats of latex to be exact...

Next we replaced the 38 year old sliding glass door and the (very red, very poorly painted)front door. The old slider:
The new doors:

Finally we tore up the carpet, the vinyl kitchen floor (and the vile linoleum that was underneath it) and put down wood laminate flooring all the way through. Here are some pictures during the flooring process. The first two are the disgusting carpet the night before we started the floors. We thought the cats might enjoy a catnip party to say farewell to the nasty thing.

We still have some light fixtures to switch out, a new stove and microwave to purchase and a few other odds and ends, but all in all, the main living space is coming together fairly well and much like I imagined it would be. What do you think?

Decking the Halls

2009-11-20T09:31:00.000-08:00

I worked this Wednesday at The Shops at Fabian House, and we were decorating for Christmas. Normally they don't get the Christmas spirit there until after Thanksgiving, but Thanksgiving is very late this year, and we had a lot to do!

They put up the tree earlier in the week, so it was all ready for my handmade ornaments. Please excuse my lack of tree photography skills, this has been an issue for me for years.

There is a cool mix of the handmade stuffed ornaments, the quilted balls, domino ornaments, vintage glass, handmade cross stitched ornaments and some crickets that are scattered about for good luck! (Not real crickets, they are made from reeds or something similar.) I hear there are Polish Pottery ornaments in the shop that will get added to the tree this week.

Half of the ornaments I brought went on the tree, the other half are displayed on this tray next to the tree.

Ruth made a bunch of ornaments using strips cut from an old picture book that was falling apart. You can see one in the top left corner of this photo. They look great hanging from the ceiling of the cafe, which is where the bookshelves are in the store.

Bob hung nice pointsettia garlands over the doorways, and then about 300 lights up the staircase. All this decorating helped me get over a major case of the bah humbugs I was feeling. I can't wait to see what else is happening in there when I go next week!

Tis Almost the Season!

2009-11-13T18:15:00.001-08:00

Next week, the Christmas tree is going up in The Shops at Fabian House, so I need to have some ornaments ready to go. Obviously, I still have a lot of work to do! My partner in Chickadee Friends Studio, Karen, has been making a bunch of ornaments as well, I can't wait to see them all tomorrow.

I can't wait to see all of these on the tree!

A Special Veterans Day

2009-11-10T15:19:00.000-08:00

Hello My Family and Friends!

Below is a copy of the Achievement Award, that Jared, my oldest nephew, received during drill last Saturday. There was a medal and a ribbon that went along with the certificate. I realized how very fortunate we are to have Jared home, safe and attending school like many other young men! We have much to be grateful for this day. When Jared showed this to us he said, "I seldom get excited about anything, but this mattered."
And it matters to us! We are very proud of all of the veterans in our family, who have kept us safe over the years. This year we add Jared to that list!

Thank you, Jared. Know you are loved!

New Jewelry 11.6.09

2009-11-06T16:23:00.001-08:00

New Jewelry 11.6.09
Originally uploaded by mornindew2822

A few new pieces made this week for Most Naturally in Narragansett. The green sea glass pieces are for the Habitat for Humanity of South County RI Annual Autumn Auction on November 14th.

The Sweetest Sound

2009-11-02T07:07:00.000-08:00

Sitting in my bed yesterday afternoon, reading a book. I suddenly hear all three of my boys singing together... three little birds. Enjoy!

Mommy and Avery went to the farm

2009-10-29T16:27:00.000-07:00

We had a gorgeous warm and sunny day on Tuesday, so Avery and I went to visit my best friend Jen in her new (old) house. She, her husband and her son, Walker have moved into the original farmhouse built in the 1700's of the family farm- Maplewood Farm in Portsmouth, RI.

We tromped through the fields and picked red potatoes, sunflowers, wildflowers and pumpkins. Avery and Walker took turns pulling a wagon filled with all our goodies. We also explored a deserted deer den, visited Aunt Judy and daydreamed about building a tree fort in one of the many trees in Walker's new backyard. A perfect fall afternoon!

A Must Read!

2009-10-26T08:05:00.000-07:00

Just found this great post over on Hazelnut Cottage- the perfect post for us aspiring artists/busy moms!

http://hazelnutcottage.typepad.com/hazelnut_cottage_design/2009/10/the-indie-artistetsy-moms-guide-to-maintaining-sanity-thought-1-be-kind-to-yourself.html

I am taking her advice, and I won't beat myself up about the fact that I have nothing of value to add, but I just wanted to share this link!

Six years ago today

2009-10-21T07:33:00.000-07:00

39 weeks pregnant with the baby we'd been praying for, trying for for 3 years. I had a doctor's appointment, fingers crossed that there was some progress, but I came home and reported to Ed "no change". He was working the 11-8 shift so we had time to have breakfast together before he left- I made fried eggs sandwiches. "I'm gonna go lay down, I don't feel so hot, maybe I shouldn't have eaten eggs" I told him. He kissed me and left for work. I napped until around 2, still not feeling so hot, I called the doctor, told her my symptoms and she said I should go take a non-stress test at the hospital. I told her I'd wait for Austin to get home off the bus and then head over. 3:45 and Austin is off the bus. I had packed a backpack full of crayons, paper, juiceboxes and his favorite collection of Dr. Seuss to help him stay occupied while we waited around at the hospital. Quickly we discovered the reason for my "upset stomach". Apparently I'd gone into labor within minutes of leaving my doctor's appointment that morning and was already at 8cm!

I called Ed and told him to come to the hospital, I was being checked in. He asked "should I finish my shift?" LOL! Not unless you want your son to be born before you get here! (Silly man!)

And so together, my brave little Aussie and I waited for Papa (and Aidan) to arrive. Aus kept me company by reading "Horton Hears a Who". "Such a good big brother he's going to be!" I thought to myself (and so he is). Papa arrived and gave kisses all around, Nana arrived and took Austin home for some dinner and relaxing time- they'd come back when the baby was born- Then at 10:17pm Aidan Michael Beaulieu joined our family.
Darling, sweet Aidan with your glowing blue eyes and infectious giggle. You make our lives so much richer, so much sillier and so filled with happiness. I love you more than the moon and the stars in the sky, my big boy! Happy 6th birthday! Love, Your Mama

I'm Embracing Autumn

2009-10-16T10:02:00.001-07:00

Okay well not really but making the best of it! I am a beach girl, that's the plain and simple of it- I hate cold weather, I hate sniffles and shorter hours of daylight. New England is not the place for me from October to May!

That being said, I am trying to put up my brave face and greet the chilly weather looking fabulously stylish. I treated myself today to a bit of shopping for some pretty new clothes appropriate for cool weather. Have a looksie:

Finally found a pair of flat leather boots (everything in the stores seem to have death heels on them!) from Piperlime and they're on sale right now!

Then last night my new Soul-Flower fall catalog arrived so I had to do a little shopping from there as well- If you've never shopped them, Soul Flower is really cool, they are eco friendly, sell Fair Trade items and I love the uniqueness of their pieces!
Here is a taste of what I bought from them:

And then good old Gap and Old Navy- I found this dress in my local store on sale for $4.50, so I got it in brown and navy blue.

The tights are from gap.com and I think they'll be cute with my new boots and the dresses above!

The Neighborhood Phantom!

2009-10-13T13:50:00.000-07:00

If you live in a neighborhood with easy to walk streets and lots of families, this is a cute little thing to do with your kids!

Good Evening!

You've just been haunted by the Neighborhood Phantom!

Since this is the time for goblins and bats, for Halloween spirits, for ghosts and cats, for weird happenings and witches' brew, these are the things that I wish for you...

May the only spirit you chance to meet be the spirit of love and friends warm and sweet. May the only goblin that comes your way be this Neighborhood Phantom you must give away.

"T'is much better to give than to receive" goes the old verse and something this easy won't empty your purse. It's your turn to pass along a treat and a BOO because now the Neighborhood Phantom is little old YOU!

So by this time in 3 days, pick three friends sweet, and give to them each a Halloween treat. You have only 3 days- so you'll need to hurry- Leave a treat on the doorstep, ring the bell and then scurry!

Signed, The Phantom

The phantom visited us on Saturday evening and I went to the dollar store this afternoon to gather some goodies for the phantom to deliver to three other families. The boys had a ball picking out what to give and which houses to drop them off at!

Full instructions and printable versions of the phantom and the poem are available at www.time4felt.com

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-12T08:51:00.000-07:00

The Beaulieu family got into the Halloween spirit yesterday and decked the house with punkins o plenty and even a "pooky pider"! (as Avery calls it) Happy Halloween everyone!

Where Have I Been?

2009-10-11T11:56:00.003-07:00

The other day I posted this picture on FLICKR:

It shows some sachets I made to sell at The Shops at Fabian House. Tara commented over there, "Take a moment and blog all your new crafty goings on will you? :)" Even the smiley face emoticon could not sooth the harsh reality that I have been a horrible bloggy partner! I popped over here today to post, and it took me three clicks on "older posts" to come to my last entry, posted exactly 2 months ago.

Holy Cow! I had no idea I was THAT bad! I knew I was living a little bit of a whirlwind life, but 2 months???? I feel as if I have been spiraling out of control, and I need to regroup and try to get back to normal! So I will post here a little summary of what has been going on and what I have worked on, and hopefully turn over a new leaf and get back to posting!

My younger son started high school this fall at a school which is a bit of a commute for us. (Translation: On the worst traffic days I have spent 4 hours in the car!) We have spent a ton of time together in the car. He is playing Freshman Football, which has really changed our family's routines since we got back from vacation in August. I should probably work on a feature about meals that fit into our crazy schedule. I'll have to get some pointers from Tara on food photography- her photos are so great when she blogs recipes. (Notice me kissing up to Tara in hopes she will forgive my blog neglect!)

Since last spring I have been selling my items from I corner I rent within The Shops at Fabian House. I also sell some of Tara's sea glass jewelry and some quilts and fiber art items from a partnership with my friend Karen, which we call Chickadee Friends Studio. I work at least one day a week in the shop, which works out well since it is near my son's school. The shop has a really cool mix of antiques, handcrafted items, and even a vegetarian cafe in the back! They serve a fabulous cup of coffee, and I am definitely addicted.

I am still most definitely making stuff nearly daily. I do not always take photos, especially if it is something that will go into the shop, and not online. Often I take quick photos on my keyboard or on the work table, just to post some photos to show Tara on FLICKR or others on Facebook. I will try to do better, maybe my next post needs to be about time management for football moms who taxi kids.

Weekend goings on

2009-10-10T11:23:00.000-07:00

So we're doing yard work this weekend and my brother finally came over with his chainsaw to take down the ginormous pine tree that obscured half my house and a portion of my driveway. Ed and Austin provided manual labor. Tomorrow we rototill new flower beds!
No birds were harmed in the cutting down of this tree or in the nest removing. It was an abandoned nest- which Aidan will happily take to Show & Tell on Tuesday morning.

Another dinner recipe, folks! Stuffed Red Bell Peppers

2009-10-06T15:10:00.000-07:00

I hope you all aren't sick of me and all my recipes lately. I've been on a cooking kick and while I have been crafting -mostly working on Christmas ornaments this week-, the ornaments are all still works in progress and dinner is something I can show a tangible result from every night. So as I come up with new food stuffs to try, I like to share them with you!

This week at my local Stop and Shop they are having a sale on red bell peppers: 10 lbs for $10. Red peppers are a staple in my house and I jumped at the chance to buy a bunch as I normally buy one large one and try to eek at least two dinners out of it. So because I now had 5 giant peppers left from my massive purchase on Saturday, I decided I'd give stuffed peppers a try. Now let me preface this by saying I HATE traditional stuffed peppers. I grew up with soggy green peppers jammed with bland white rice, tomato sauce and ground hamburg. Bleck! (Sorry if I offend anyone.) So as a wife and mom, I've never once made this meal for my family.

I figured there had to be a way to make these dern things taste better so I set to work coming up with a plan- the result are below.

There are quite a few ingredients and steps to these but they were so flavorful and I think if you've got a little bit of time to play around in the kitchen, they're well worth the effort! None of the steps are hard and the ingredients are all easily found at any grocery store.

Ingredients:
5 large red bell peppers, 1/2'd lengthwise and seeded
1 lb sweet Italian sausage (not in casings)
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tsp Tuscan sea salt*
1/2 tsp beef base or boullion granules
1 1/2 cups "cheesy rice" (recipe to follow below)
1/4 cup feta cheese
1/4 cup shredded Italian cheese mix
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 roasted red pepper (from a jar), diced
1 tsp dried Italian seasoning
1 tbsp (approx 5-6 leaves) fresh basil, chopped
1 cup diced tomato, drained
1/2 cup chopped green onion
1 1/4 cups vegetable stock
1 tbsp olive oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large pan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add yellow onion and garlic, cook until onion becomes translucent. Add sausage and cook until browned. Drain on papertowels and set aside.

In a mixing bowl combine feta, shredded cheese, sour cream, parmesan, roasted red pepper, basil and Italian seasoning.

In a larger mixing bowl combine cheesy rice, diced tomato and green onion. Then add the feta/sour cream mixture to the rice and finally, add the sausage mixture and fold mix until combined well.

Arrange pepper halves in a casserole dish and fill with stuffing mixture. Add vegetable stock to the bottom of the casserole dish and cover tightly with aluminum foil. Bake for 30 minutes, then remove foil, spoon stock over the tops of each pepper and cook an additional 15 minutes uncovered. Finish off by turning on the broiler for 2 minutes to put a nice brown on everything.

Served with tossed salad and homemade croutons (very easy, recipe for that another day, lol!)

Special thanks to Maggie for introducing me to what my kids have dubbed "cheesy rice" Original Recipe. And thank you to my dear Lexi for my beautiful gift of Tuscan Sea Salts!

*Tuscan sea salt is a blend of large granule sea salt and traditional Tuscan herbs such as rosemary, sage and oregano. If you can't find this at your local market, substitute with 1 tsp plain sea salt combined with 1/4 tsp dried Italian seasoning

Cheesy Rice Recipe:

2 tbsp butter
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
1 1/3 cups white rice (not instant)
4 cups vegetable stock
1/4 tsp black pepper
3/4 cup paremesan cheese

Melt butter over medium heat, add the onions and cook until translucent, add rice and brown for 3-4 minutes. Stir in vegetable stock and black pepper and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove from heat, leave covered and let stand for 5 minutes. Finally, add parmesan cheese and stir well to combine.

Like I said, there are a lot of steps to this- but it went pretty quick for me; I had exactly a cup and 1/2 of the cheesy rice in my fridge from dinner two nights ago and the can of diced tomatoes were opened last night for my crock pot enchiladas, so I was able to use up some fridge leftovers. You can certainly substitute other types of stock, onions, cheeses etc throughout this recipe to accomodate your family's tastes and what you have in your fridge/cupboards to keep the cost down. This only cost me $10 to make because I keep many of the ingredients on hand in my pantry.

Crock Pot Enchiladas?!

2009-10-05T18:49:00.000-07:00

Yes! And OMG are they delicious! I have to thank Stephanie O'Dea and her fab blog A Year of Slow Cooking for inspiring this recipe. Her kids are right, it sorta does look like vomit (ewww, I know, LOL) but in my opinion -and my family's- this is better than my traditional enchiladas rolled and baked in the oven!

Her (gluten free/made with chicken) enchilada recipe can be found here. And this is my version done with whole wheat tortillas and beef.

Ingredients:
2 cups of cooked beef (ground is fine- I happened to make some steak tips the other night and had plenty of that left over, so I diced it up small)
2 red peppers, diced
1 medium red onion, diced
2 10 oz cans green enchilada sauce
2 15.5 oz cans black beans, drained and rinsed
2 2 1/4 oz cans sliced black olives, drained
1 cup petite diced tomatoes with liquid (I opened a large can and will use the rest for tomorrow's dinner)
2 cups shredded cheese (I had a bit of an Italian mix and some cheddar in the fridge)
10 whole wheat tortillas (fajita size- you will use less if you have a round slow cooker)
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp lime juice
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp salt

Optional: sour cream for topping

Prep:
Heat the olive oil over medium heat then add onions and red peppers. Cook until onions start to become translucent. Add cumin and salt, stir throughly and remove from heat. Set aside to cool.

In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine your beef and the 2 cans of enchilada sauce, set aside.

Put black beans into another bowl, add lime juice and toss to coat.

Now in your slow cooker, line the bottom with two tortillas (if you have the oval shape like mine; round shapes should use 1 tortilla per layer)

Next add 1/4 of the beef and sauce mixture, then 1/4 of your black beans, 1/4 of your pepper and onion mixture, 1/4 of the olives and finally a handful of cheese. Add another 2 tortillas and repeat the layering (lasagna style) until you get to the top layer. Your top layer should end with your final two tortillas on top, then spoon your diced tomatoes and liquid over them, add a final handful of cheese and put the cover on.

Cook on low for 6 hours and do not open the lid to peek or stir! The end result is a yummy, bubbly, cheese mixture with lots of flavor that even the pickiest kid will likely enjoy! We topped ours with sour cream, mmmmm!

Prep Time: 20 minutes- not bad! I made this in between errands and picking up Avery from preschool this morning. :)

Pendants and a new bracelet design

2009-10-03T13:31:00.001-07:00

New Jewelry 10/3/09
Originally uploaded by mornindew2822

Some more new seashell and pottery shard pendants I finished last night plus a brand new bracelet design- hand forged sterling silver hinged bangle style bracelet with seashell or pottery shard piece bezel set in sterling and fine silver.

All items in the photos are available at Copacetic in Providence, RI

New ornaments I've been working on...and some oldies but goodies!

2009-09-28T17:37:00.000-07:00

I can't even believe I'm uttering the word "ornament" right now. I am still in flip flops and shorts, yet for those of us who sell wholesale or retail, the holiday season is upon us! So far this week I've had orders for my sea glass angels, butterflies, and dragonflies. I also had a request to make up some custom ornaments for a new shop in Newport, RI and a sea glass group that I belong to issued a challenge to come up with a new ornament design using genuine sea glass. Whew!

Copacetic in Providence, RI will now be carrying sea glass angels and dragonflies (and butterflies if the owner is convinced once he sees one! He will be, I know it! LOL)

The custom sand dollar ornaments are for The Nutcracker Suite in Newport, RI. These are new, I just finished them tonight so the owners haven't even seen them yet, I am going to show them tomorrow- wish me luck!

Last is the ornament I made for my sea glass group challenge. I love the way it came out and even though I ran into a few glitches while working out the design, it was fun to make and I am thinking I will make more of these and they'll be available on my website and possibly some local RI stores by mid October.

Sunday Morning Muffins

2009-09-27T15:49:00.000-07:00

We had 3 bananas in the fruit bowl bespeckled with the tell-tale ripe spots. I was tired of banana bread so I pulled out the pancake mix, but then decided too, that I was tired of pancakes... what could I make?
I am not a baker by any stretch of the imagination so I decided to do a Google search for muffins I could make using bananas and pancake mix. The results were these AWESOME peanut butter banana muffins with streusel topping:

MUFFINS
• 2 cups complete pancake mix (the just add water sort)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup very ripe bananas (2 to 3), mashed
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs, slightly beaten
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 cup creamy peanut butter
STREUSEL
• 1/2 cup complete pancake mix
• 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon creamy peanut butter
• 2 tablespoons shortening
• 1 tablespoon softened butter

1. HEAT oven to 400°F. Line muffin tins with paper liners.
2. COMBINE pancake mix, salt, bananas, sugar, eggs, oil and peanut butter in medium bowl. Stir just until moistened. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups. Make streusel by mixing pancake mix, brown sugar, peanut butter, butter and shortening. Divide mixture evenly over muffin batter.
3. BAKE 14 to 16 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 20 minutes.

This recipe supposedly yeilds 12 muffins but I got 20 muffins out of it- maybe they mean those gigantic oversized muffin tins... in any case they rocked, everyone in the family loved them! Great use for bananas that need to be eaten up quickly!

Celebrating our 100th Blog Post with a Swap!

2009-09-26T16:44:00.000-07:00

It's official, we've been around a while! With the publishing of this post, Maggie and I have blogged 100 entries and we thought to celebrate we would host a swap! The theme of the swap will be "Things That Inspire". The idea is to come up with a variety of items that are inspirational to you, which you think might also be inspirational to others.

In the spirit of our crafty mamas blog, we encourage handmade items but are also cool with purchased things if that is your preference. To keep it reasonable for everyone who wants to participate, we have set a $15 maximum limit for supplies and other purchases.

Some suggestions for possible swap items are: music mix CD, inspirational quotes, crafty goodies that you love to make, photos or drawings, materials for people to make their own goodies, etc.

The deadline for signing up to participate is October 10th. We are aiming to have all our swap partners paired up by the middle of the month so everyone can ship their inspiration packages to their partners by October 30th.

If you want to participate in the swap, please leave us a comment. Sign up, get creative with your ideas and be inspired!

The events of yesterday...

2009-09-19T08:08:00.000-07:00

September 18, 2009

Dear Toothfairy,

I lost my tooth and I don't know where it is. I think I lost it out on Overlook Rd. Please give me a big dollar so I can put it in my bank. I have a puppy dog and I like him.

Love, Aidan B.

Weekend Project

2009-09-14T10:49:00.000-07:00

So I've had this antique mahogany mirror for about 15 years. It was free, and while it had been stripped of its paint and nicely refinished, the mirror itself had some damaged spots and it was entirely too dark for use our new house. Based on those facts, I decided it wouldn't be a sin to paint and use some hot glue on the thing. Here it is after 3 coats of primer

And here are some after shots, with it hanging over my fireplace in our living room. Sorry I wasn't better about taking "in process" photos!

I did it using white/pearl seashells, starfish, sand dollars, sea glass and beach pottery. It measures 3 feet wide, 2 1/2 feet tall and 4 inches thick.

What do you think?

Back to school and some tasty eats!

2009-09-04T13:30:00.000-07:00

(Aidan's necklace says "kindergarten kids rock!")

So this year I put my oldest on the bus to 8th grade (no pics of the mopey preteen today, sorry!), my middle child on the bus to kindergarten and my baby got dropped off at preschool.
("Mom! I forgot to give you a hug and a kiss!")
(he sooo handsome and SO ready for preschool!)

Aidan and Austin started on Tuesday, Avery on Thursday. Thursday night we had a classic New England dinner to celebrate the new school year and mom's newly found free time!
Recipe for the stuffies (I give this out to customers who purchase baking shells from me and they rave about it!):
6 large quahog clams
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup chopped chourico (spicy Portuguese sausage), or chorizo
1/3 cup diced onion
1/3 cup diced red & green pepper
1/4 cup dry white wine
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 tablespoon hot sauce
1/2 loaf Portuguese masa (sweet bread), cubed
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley leaves
1 1/2 cups breadcrumbs

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

-Heat a medium pot over high heat and bring 1 to 2 inches of water to a boil. Add the quahogs and cover the pan. Steam them until they open, at least 6 minutes. Discard any quahogs that do not open. Strain broth and reserve 1/4 cup. Remove the quahogs from the shells (leaving the shells intact; do not snap apart) and chop the meat.
-In a large skillet, heat the oil and butter over medium-high heat. Add the chourico, onions, and peppers and cook until the vegetables soften, about 5 to 7 minutes. Pour white wine into pan to deglaze; allow to reduce 2- 3 minutes. Add the chopped clam meat, lemon juice, and hot sauce and cook for 2 to 3 minutes more.
-In a large mixing bowl, pour the chourico mixture over the cubed bread and add the cilantro, parsley, bread crumbs and clam broth. Mix gently, and then stuff each clam shell with about 3/4 cup of clam stuffing. Wrap the clam shells in aluminum foil and bake until heated through, about 15 minutes.
-Serve immediately with lemon wedges and your favorite hot sauce.

Recipe for the chowder (aka "chowda"): Sooooo simple- I cheat on this one unless we're having guests; then I'll make it from scratch.
I use:
1 small yellow onion, diced
1 TBSP of butter
1 cup of frozen corn kernels
1 strip of bacon cut into tiny pieces (I know, healthfood dinner this NOT)
-Over medium heat, brown the bacon, drain the pan and then add the onion and butter- cook until translucent. Add the corn kernels and toss around the pan with the onion just to coat them in the butter and warm them through.
-Next the cheat: 2 cans of Snow's condensed New England Style Clam Chowder
-Cook the chowder according to package directions (I believe it's 1 can of chowder to 1 can of liquid). Once the chowder is heated through, add in your bacon, onion and corn.
-Season with black pepper and a dash of dill weed, serve immediately.

New Sea Glass Jewelry for The Shops at Fabian House

2009-08-28T18:34:00.001-07:00

New Sea Glass Jewelry for Fabian House
Originally uploaded by mornindew2822

Shipping these out to Maggie, they'll be up for sale at the The Shops at Fabian House in Bowie, MD this week! :)

More new pendants made this week

2009-08-24T09:28:00.001-07:00

More New Pendants
Originally uploaded by mornindew2822

I've been busy with the torch- I made a bunch of beach pottery and sea glass pendants and have started on the first of two pairs of bezel set sea glass earrings, which is tough because the glass is so tiny!

I'll be working on some more seashell pendants later in the week, finishing up the earrings and also getting back to some wire wrapping, haven't done any of that in a good long while! Stay tuned for more pictures soon! :)

Come Hell or High Water, I'm Makin' Zucchini Bread!

2009-08-20T16:34:00.000-07:00

... is the declaration I made to my husband last night. Seems everyone and their brother has been growing zucchini this summer and deciding that my family is a suitable recipient for it en masse. Now don't get me wrong, I will never look a gift zucchini in the mouth, I just run out of things to do with it! I've been throwing it in salad, pasta sauce, grilling it and plain old steaming it non stop for weeks!

This latest batch is from my mom- 6 giant pieces! It was showing signs of needing to be used up quick and for the past 3 nights I'd tried to bake but been intercepted by children, work and lack of flour so after I'd greased my pans and taken out the mixing bowl last night only to discover the flour issue, I declared that today would be zucchini bread day come hell or high water! So bright and early this morning I ran to the store, remedied the ingredients situation and zipped back home to make two delicious loaves of bread.

Here's the recipe- taken from the good ol' Betty Crocker cookbook with a couple of very minor alterations:

3 cups shredded zucchini (I shred onto a plate so the water will run out and seperate, this bread is plenty moist without all the additional liquid)
1 2/3 cups sugar
2/3 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup liquid egg product (this is my sub. for 4 large eggs)
3 cups whole wheat flour (a sub. for all-purpose flour)
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice (my sub. for ground cloves)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (any nut will do, or omit if desired)
1/2 cup golden raisins (optional but they add great moisture and flavor!)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottoms only of 2 loaf pans (9x5x3). Mix zucchini, sugar, oil, vanilla and eggs in large bowl. Stir in remaining ingredients. Pour into pans. Bake 50-60 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes. Loosen sides of loaves; remove from pans. Cool completely before slicing. Wrap tightly and store at room temperature for up to 4 days, or refrigerate up to 10 days.*

*ha, one loaf barely makes it through the night at my house, my family are fiends for fresh baked bread of any kind, lol! I do slice up the second loaf though and put it into a zip top freezer bag and freeze it- this way you can pull out just a slice or two and warm it in the toaster or microwave in a couple of seconds. Perfect for when unexpected guests arrive!

Some more finished jewelry pieces

2009-08-19T19:04:00.001-07:00

Sea Glass Jewelry at Stardust in Newport, RI
Originally uploaded by mornindew2822

Things are going well on the jewelry front, I've secured a second shop to carry my jewelry, Stardust, on Thames St. in Newport, RI. They will carry my sea glass and my seashell pendants and earrings. Very excited about this! Photos above are of my most recent delivery to the shop.

PS if you're in the area, the shop owner also owns The Newport Fudgery which is right next door, OMG YUM! So many flavors of handmade fudge- they make it right in front of you in large copper kettles and the smell is heavenly!

New Shell Pendants

2009-08-17T09:13:00.000-07:00

Well, it's not the best picture, but at least I have my camera and computer back up and running, maybe another week and I'll have my photo tent set up again! Clockwise in the photo are:

1.mohagany clam shell 2.ark shell 3.bay oyster 4.purple mussel and 5.jingle shell

Had to take a quick photo as they're off to Most Naturally this afternoon!

ps- I came across some photos of our new house when we were first moving in/before painting, etc. I'm going to organize them and take some photos of how the house is looking today and post soon!

Enough Shopping Already, Get to Work!

2009-08-11T19:34:00.001-07:00

Summer Shopping
Originally uploaded by magscrafts

Here you can see a little photo mosaic of supplies I have gotten in the last month or so. Not pictured is a large order of assorted silver chains that I bought online and a big bag of vintage jewelry given me by a dear friend to see what I can create.

We just got back from vacation, and I did get a little work done there, but now it is time to really get serious and get a bunch of stuff done! I need to restock my stores online and off as well as make some items to be donated to an auction for my son's school.

I spent yesterday catching up on emails, buying groceries and reopening all of my online stores. Today was dedicated to dental appointments, and back to school preparations. I think tonight I need to have a fabulous sew-orama with some of these new lovelies.

We've moved!

2009-07-30T18:57:00.000-07:00

Ten stinking, hot, humid and ridiculously exhausting days later, we are officially moved out of our rental property and into our newly purchased house! I do have photos I've taken of the little bits of reno work we're doing but lord knows where on earth my camera is in all this mess! I had it until about 3 days ago when my office got packed up at the other house- now, no clue, lol!

Anyway, I just wanted to drop a quick note and let you all know what I've been up to. When I can find my computer (I am on my old half busted laptop currently) and my camera, I'll post some photos and some commentary on the whole thing.

I am just so glad to be done, it of course, had to happen during the hottest part of the summer and while all 3 of my kids were home from school to complain at me about not going to the beach.

Tomorrow I am going to pull out the $5 sprinkler I bought at Walmart and let the kids run around the yard and cool off while I attempt to unpack the mountain of boxes in my dining room and living room.

Signing off as an very tired and achy but official resident of Narragansett, RI.

Tara :)

Annoying Purses Part II

2009-07-21T07:06:00.000-07:00

Oh, so sorry to leave you guys hanging on my purse saga! I got busy visiting my mom for her birthday, and then Tara's beach post was so lovely I did not want to bump it off the front page.

Anyway, I cut the handles off my latest purse and then made little sleeves to hold the handles that were the same width as the handles. This seems to have solved the problem. Here is how it looks now:

It works so much better now, I love it!!

Life's a beach!

2009-07-19T20:11:00.000-07:00

Another gorgeous day at Scarborough Beach in Narragansett...

Crystal clear waters couldn't even keep my normally resistant to the water Austin away...

Aidan's obsessed with wearing goggles, Avery playing in the sand and Aidan snacking on some goodies...

I think Austin's gonna be an architect when he grows up...
His humble beach house- I particularly like the sand bridge he made that spans the area for his moat...

A gila monster

New work and oh- I love my tumbler!

2009-07-18T10:43:00.001-07:00

Some Seashell Pendants
Originally uploaded by mornindew2822

Some of the new seashell pieces I completed this week. I took the plunge and tried tumbling my pendants in stainless steel shot (I was so scared it would crack the shells!) I tried it on a "burnt toast" piece first and the shell held up, so I tumbled these pieces and they are super shiny and my hands are SO grateful! Polishing to a mirror finish by hand is pretty labor intensive. Polishing in the tumbler takes so much of that work out of my hands (pun intended) and cuts my cleaning time in half!

For those interested, I use a Lortone double barrel rotary tumbler. :)

These and other pieces are available at Most Naturally in the Pier Marketplace, Narragansett RI. :)

Annoying Purses and the Importance of Prototypes

2009-07-14T07:21:00.000-07:00

Vacation season is coming up, and I tend to make a purse just for me to take on vacation. Often when I make a purse it goes onto my website or into a store, and I put a tag on them as soon as they are done, and wave goodbye. Sometimes that makes me feel a little meloncholy, as the last bit of a favorite fabric makes its way out of my life.

Tara and I many times talk about burnt toast- I think the saying comes from when the mom of the family eats the toast that got a little more done than anyone likes it to avoid wasting the food. I have a friend that used to always eat what she called "rescue fruit"- it was nearly rotten , with parts that needed to be cut off, but she ate the good parts to avoid the waste and leave the good stuff for her kids. Anyway, Tara and I use "burnt toast" to describe stuff we make that is ok and usable, but maybe not quite what we would want it to be if we were selling it.

I decided to make myself a new purse, this time using a fabric I love, and this one was not going to be burnt toast! As I was planning out the bag, I found a pair of handles that matched the fabric wonderfully, and decided to use them. Here is the bag I made, and I love it!Here's the catch: I should not have used little tabs to connect the handles! Those handles are now free to rotate and they are so annoying I want to scream! I was so sad, thinking, here I had these grand plans, and have made myself burnt toast! I have pretty much always kept the first bag made using every design I come up with (except where the design was for a custom, or someone saw the picture and wanted it badly!). I guess this experience showed me why that is a good idea- to make new designs and test them out myself before I send them out into the world. I would have hated for someone else to be as annoyed by this lovely purse as I am!

So this afternoon in my break between my son's football camp and his band camp, I am going to make a little sleeve that will be as long as that bottom part of the handle, and redo that part of the bag. Hopefully that will fix it, and I won't have to feel like I am eating that old burnt toast again.

Happy 6th Birthday, Noah!

2009-07-10T18:58:00.001-07:00

Noahs Birthday Cake
Originally uploaded by mornindew2822

My nephew wanted a basketball themed birthday this year. Since we're moving into our new house in a little more than a week and are strapped for cash, I offered to make his cake as my gift to him.

I did his name (and all the other text) freehand copying the font that Wilson Sports uses for their logo in an attempt to make the ball look more realistic.

My poor son, Austin! This is a giant sheet cake with a 9" round on top for the basketball- just to give you an idea of the size. He carried it on his lap from our house in RI to my sister's house in CT- an hour and 20 minutes with the AC blasting on him the whole time so the frosting didn't get weepy, lol!

Noah selected his namesake as the portion for his serving. They demolished more than 2/3 of the cake by the time the party was wrapping up... oh yeah, my sister DID mention that her boys are "cake hounds" when I offered to make it, LOL!

Happy birthday, Noah, I hope you had a great day! :)

She continues to sell seashells... and some beach pottery too!

2009-07-06T17:17:00.000-07:00

As a follow up to my original post, I have been uber busy working on seashell pendants bezel set in sterling silver. I delivered 6 pieces (5 made of seashell, 1 was a piece of beachcombed transferware) to a local shop for the store owner to try out over the 4th of July weekend. She called today to tell me she loves them and has sold 2 already and would like 5 more pendants and also some earrings- go me!

If you are local to the area, my seashell pieces are now officially available at Most Naturally in the Pier Marketplace (Narragansett, RI)

Woohoo!

Making the Best of It

2009-06-30T08:22:00.000-07:00

Starting this week, and perhaps continuing for the rest of my life (not really, but it will probably seem like it), I started a serious stint of being Mom's Taxi Service. My younger son is starting high school this year, and we are sending him to a great school- but the one down side is that although it is not so far as the crow flies, I am not a crow, so it takes a chunk of time to get there.

This week he has football conditioning camp from 9-1 4 days a week. Four hours is right on the borderline of it not being worth it for me to go all the way home. I have a part time job as a cashier at The shops at Fabian House for a few of the days. For the remaining days, I needed to find something to do. For the last few seasons, I sat at the field while the boy practiced football, but I feel like he needed me to disappear this year.

Yesterday I wandered a bit aimlessly, but at about 11am it occurred to me that I should go to the library! Perfect place with lovely climate control and free internet! They do not open until 10, so this morning I found a park where I could sit and make some beaded bookmarks. I am going to throw my nice camp chair in the car so I can sit in any shade I can find and sew if I want to. Anyway, I feel pretty good- with my travel mug of coffee and my pb and j sandwich, I will not spend any money today. (Yesterday's wanderings involved a $4 stop at Starbucks. They did have a nice patio with peppy music playing, but I don't want to spend money every time I leave the house!)

Oh, and I have made some progress on my torching! Last night I finished my first ring, and it was also the first bezel I finished all by myself since class. (I sawed up the first attempt because it was too ugly to save.)

Happy Father's Day!

2009-06-20T19:09:00.001-07:00

Happy Father's day to all the dads, papas, fathers out there! Especially to Ed and Bob (the dads in our families). In many of our chats throughout our friendship, we have often agreed that Ed and Bob are keepers! I have a feeling that this year's Father's Day festivities will not involve a lot of money- Ed and Tara are moving into a new home and Bob and I have tuitions to pay for both kids next year- so we are lucky that both guys can appreciate the simple things like having a great time with the kids and enjoying a nice family cookout.

We love you guys!

My Inspiration Pieces for the New House!

2009-06-19T12:47:00.001-07:00

My Inspiration Pieces for the New House!
Originally uploaded by mornindew2822

Today was spent daydreaming of things I'll put in my new house when we move next month. Some already belong to me, some we'll be buying and others are pipedreams, LOL!

Our new house is a 1971 one level ranch house with wood paneling, dark cabinet doors, ancient wall to wall carpeting and outdated lighting. The great thing about it is it's an open concept space with a giant fireplace in the center and a picture window on one end and a giant sliding glass door on the other. I am hopeful that this brighter, cleaner color combination will liven up the space and turn it into the beachy chic place I dream it can be!

I think this still fits the theme of our blog because this palette is definitely inspirational to me to be creative and there actually are a few things mixed in that I either made or am planning to use to make something... The basic color palette is white and brown for my grounding pieces (walls, cabinets, furniture) and the pops of color will be turquoise, grannysmith apple green and even a tiny bit of orange. Metals/fixtures will be in the silvertone/brushed nickel family.. What do you think?

You can view each photo in full size on flickr.com- I have included details of what each piece is and where you can buy like items where applicable. I hope I inspire some of you to make something new or spruce up a room in your own home!

Rings and things

2009-06-16T16:52:00.001-07:00

A few more pieces I made this week...
green jellybean sea glass ring

green sea glass pendant (I cut out the backing to let light shine through)

white ark shell earrings to match the pendant from the other day

pecten shell pendant

An Afternoon at Scarborough Beach

2009-06-13T16:48:00.000-07:00

Took the boys to Scarborough Beach in Narragansett this afternoon. They played remarkably well together, no one cried, no one got hurt and everyone listened to their mama. Not bad!

She sells seashells...

2009-06-12T10:17:00.000-07:00

Okay well I guess I've always sold seashells, but now I'm incorporating them into my jewelry pieces- my newest design is a bezel set ark shell. It's set in sterling silver and is about 1 1/4 inches in size. I am going to attempt at least one (maybe two if time permits) more with different shells over the course of this weekend...

If this line takes off, I guess I'll really earn my "Scarborough Seashells" name, lol! People always ask why I'm not "Scarborough Sea Glass"....

Sea Glass Jewelry Displays

2009-06-10T19:51:00.001-07:00

fabian house 001
Originally uploaded by magscrafts

Just a quick post to show you the end of the saga of the sea glass jewelry I bought from Tara. I made these displays this week and this is a photo of Tara's jewelry displayed in The Shops at Fabian House.

When life hands you lemons..... make a cake!

2009-06-08T09:56:00.001-07:00

Happy Birthday, Ed
Originally uploaded by mornindew2822

The only creative thing I did all weekend was make my hubby's 35th birthday cake.

He always loves to dream up some different cake I've never made before and that is my gift to him. This year was a lemon poppy seed cake with lemon curd filling and a lemony, whipped cream frosting- mmmmm!

New Ventures

2009-06-04T07:27:00.001-07:00

Making Jewelry Displays
Originally uploaded by magscrafts

So this week I made some unique jewelry displays (as pictured here!). They were easy to make, using bristol board, wallpaper from a sample book and some little brads meant for scrapbooking. I think they turned out great! I also made some necklace stands- a small size meant to show off pendants.

The reason I made these displays is because this month I am starting to rent a space to sell from in a real life shop- The Shops at Fabian House. I was in there yesterday, getting trained on using the register and setting up my area. One thing is clear- I need more stuff in there! I am free to use things from other areas of the shop to arrange my items on. My area at the moment has a large but low coffee table in it, so we looked around for items that would help me get some height. We brought in a wrought iron shelf, a wooden box and a little mini stool. I think the displays I made look good in there, too. I can't wait until next week when I take in the sea glass jewelry I got from Tara!

I also worked with Tara on a logo for a new venture- my friend Karen and I are partnering up to do some fiber art projects. I put together the logo with some other info and ordered hang tags and business cards for Chickadee Friends Studio. I also got a web address, now I just need to finish the webpage for it.

The next few days I need to be totally dedicated to making bookmarks, as I have a couple of orders now that add up to 84 bookmarks I need to get done! So far I have been getting ribbons ready.

Summer Sea Glass Heads to Maryland!

2009-06-01T09:11:00.001-07:00

Summer Sea Glass Heads to Maryland!
Originally uploaded by mornindew2822

Just a sampling of the new pieces I've made up for Maggie- she'll be selling these at a terrific shop in Bowie, MD called Fabian House... wish us luck with our new little collaborative!

Goodbye May, Hello June!

2009-05-31T11:19:00.001-07:00

Happy Anniversary
Originally uploaded by mornindew2822

and happy anniversary to my darling husband, Ed! Just thought I'd share some photos of the lovely roses he brought home for me...

enjoy!

A Fresh Start

2009-05-30T11:08:00.000-07:00

So I closed my eBay store this morning, a decision I made about a month ago- the fees and time greatly outweigh the sales at this point and frankly, I'd rather focus on my website, Etsy and Brick & Mortar sales. So it's not a sad day- on the contrary, I am feeling like a weight is lifted and I am being given a fresh start! And as if someone was watching and knew- I awoke to an Etsy sale! Go me!

I sent a newsletter to all my eBay subscribers announcing my store closure and received an email back from one customer telling me she loved my things and had wandered over to my website and would like to buy 4 sea glass angels from me- I'm a happy girl. :)

And on that note, I made a lovely breakfast for my family this morning, I sorted some beautiful new cobalt blue sea glass for earring pairs and went about customizing my new "my eBay" page (since I also unsubscribed to "Selling Manager" over there).

I am so grateful for the little things in my life.

Chesapeake Bay Sea Glass

2009-05-27T09:48:00.001-07:00

The sea glass was found by a client of mine along the Chesapeake Bay- it has a great iridescent quality to it that makes me think of carnival glass, but I'm not sure I've seen olive carnival glass before...

The rust colorations she believes to be remains of a sea urchin or other sea life... not sure about that either; another sea glass friend of mine thinks it's perhaps the remnants of a reverse painting technique....? The pendant is made from a curved piece of glass that almost certainly was a bottle neck, so the colorations we see would have been on the interior of the original bottle...

I wrapped it in 14k gf wire and chain.

Narragansett Schools Beach Blanket Bidding!

2009-05-19T12:40:00.001-07:00

The Narragansett, RI Schools PTO is having their giant auction- Beach Blanket Bidding on May 29, 2009.

My donation to the auction is this cobalt blue and kelly green sea glass necklace set in sterling silver.

From the site:
With the help our our sponsors, we can enrich the lives of our students and bring the community together for this gala event on Friday, May 29, 2009 at the Dunes Club. With a silent and live auction, dinner and dancing, and the ocean view, this Auction is going to be spectacular!

Tickets to the auction sold out in two weeks, but there are dozens and dozens of terrific local merchants who have donated time, materials and auction items, browse through and check them out!

Trip to the Gem and Jewelry Show

2009-05-18T09:06:00.001-07:00

cabs
Originally uploaded by magscrafts

I went on Friday to the Gem and Jewelry Show at the Dulles Expo Center in Chantilly, Virginia. Let me say, thank God for my GPS! Even when I was less than 100 yards from the place I still did not recognize it. Anyway, determined that I would not drive all the way to Virginia and then not find the show, I drove around a bit and eventually found my destination.

There was a surprisingly large crowd for noon on a Friday. I think most people were shopping for the finished jewelry which made up the bulk of the show. I was looking for beads, cabochons and other supplies. I bought a few strands of pearls, but mostly I bought cabochons to use now that I am learning how to make settings. I bought an assortment of sizes, which is a good thing because Tara mentioned the other day that I should start out setting bigger ones for less frustration. I bought a couple of different sizes of turquoise, some small garnets and carnelian cabs, assorted round labradorite cabs, agates in assorted colors and shapes, and something that is labeled marium, which seems to be more commonly known as elephant jasper.

Now I need to go practice with my torch so I can get these things set once my silver order arrives!

Sea Glass Earrings Mosaic

2009-05-14T09:12:00.001-07:00

Sea Glass Earrings Mosaic
Originally uploaded by mornindew2822

As promised, a quick glimpse at the earrings I've been making...

Happy Mother's Day!

2009-05-10T16:28:00.000-07:00

To all you crafty mamas out there!

XOXO, Maggie & Tara

365 Ahteest Update Via Photo Mosaic

2009-05-08T13:50:00.001-07:00

365 Ahteest Update Mosaic
Originally uploaded by mornindew2822

I took a bunch of photos of new pieces today, thought a new photo mosaic was in order! (And I have since realized I forgot to take photos of all the new earrings I made, so I'll have to do another bunch of photos next week!)

Happy viewing and happy weekend everyone!

-Tara

Collage Mania Redux

2009-05-01T08:50:00.001-07:00

Since Maggie didn't add a link to her own collages in her Fiber Art for a Cause post, I'm doing it for her:

Collage Mania Page 22

They look great, Mags! :)

Pay It Foward Update!

2009-04-30T08:00:00.000-07:00

Sorry for taking so long to get moving with this- I received my pay it forward gift from the wonderful Lee Anne- you can check out her blog, Sun Soul Art Thoughts. She sent me a stunning original painting- which I promptly ran to the framing store with and I just got it back- it looks spectacular!

In any case, Maggie and I will be contacting our Pay It Forward recipients -Jo, Shauna, Shimmermeblue, BeadedTail, The Astral Cowboy and Arizona- this week to arrange for shipping stuffs. Yay handmade goodies on the way! :) Thanks for participating!

-Tara

Fiberart for a Cause

2009-04-29T07:20:00.000-07:00

The preview for Collage Mania 2009 is now open! There are 39 pages of collages to see, I have only finished looking through about page 3 and I am already overwhelmed about trying to decide which one to bid on! The actual event will be May 5-7 2009.

Collage Mania is a fundraising auction hosted by Fiberart for a Cause. Fiberart for a Cause has already raised over $170,000 which has gone directly to the American Cancer Society. Many great artists have donated 8x10 inch fiber art collages to be auctioned off to benefit this great cause. The goal for Collage Mania 2009 is to raise $20,000 and they have 383 collages to auction off.

Here are the instructions about how you can get a beautiful work of art and help out a great cause at the same time!

Outside My Comfort Zone

2009-04-14T09:52:00.001-07:00

I have been afraid of fire for as long as I can remember. My dad was a volunteer fireman so I was always very aware of fires and the destruction they caused. I grew up back in the day when volunteers did not stay at the firehouse, they would sound a really loud alarm that would bring the firefighters running. Whenever I heard the siren at night, I would have to go look around our house and make sure it was not the one on fire.

The point of all of this, is that for all the years I have been making jewelry, I have been doing strung beads or wireworking, but no soldering. If I could use just a little soldering iron, I would be fine with that, but silver work requires a torch. Last year, I signed up for a class called Cold Forging, which I thought would be hammers on anvils, with no torching. Turns out that the first step of even the cold forging is to torch the metal. The teacher, not knowing my fire issues, asked me to hold the torch while she lit it. I must have turned pale, because my classmates figured out rather quickly that I had an issue. I decided not to be a ninny and did it anyway!

So now, wanting to step up my jewelry game, I have signed up for a silver jewelry class, which involves torches, saws, you name it! It starts this Thursday, and I hope by the time I am done, I will have resolved my issues enough to get my own torch setup that I can use at my house.

Cherry Blossoms

2009-04-05T15:02:00.000-07:00

Today we had our own mini Cherry Blossom festival. We wanted to avoid the crowds down in DC near the monuments, so we went to a neighborhood my friend knew about in Bethesda, MD that has a beautiful canopy of old cherry trees. We got there around 10am on a Sunday morning, and it was surprisingly crowded. The trees were fabulous!

I've been a busy beaver!

2009-04-01T12:29:00.000-07:00

So last night I finished the last of my really big projects- I was making 4 "handbags" -for lack of a better word- to be carried down the runway in a fashion show. The show is featuring ocean inspired lingerie and the models will carry giant versions of my Christmas ornaments.

I made two 6" round seashell kissing balls with pearl embellishments, a 5 inch round English Channel sea urchin adorned with pearls and a 7 inch armored starfish, again adorned with pearls.

In the photo you can also see the necklaces I've been working on, another wreath I made and part of a picture frame that I turned into an earring display.

Some close up shots of the finished pieces:

I think these could all really be cute for a beach wedding too- instead of flower girl baskets or even in lieu of bouquets for the bridesmaids- the starfish perhaps as pew decorations if it's a church wedding?... hmmm the wheels are spinning now!

Stay tuned to check out the new boutonnieres I'm working on for another client!

Pay It Forward Challenge Update!

2009-03-31T09:02:00.000-07:00

Just a reminder to our readers that we have 5 Pay It Forward recipients and are still offering up one more! The next person to comment on the original Pay It Forward blog post (who has not already participated)will be the last person to receive a handmade goody from Maggie or I.

Once we get our 6th recipient, Maggie and I will be contacting you for your info so we can do our part to share the love! :)

Thanks for reading!

Finally Finished!

2009-03-29T08:45:00.000-07:00

Way back in the beginning of February, I accepted a challenge put forward by my fiber art traders group. We were to make a collage to donate to Collage Mania 2009. Collage Mania is a fundraising event for the American Cancer Society. Artists donate 8x10 inch fiber art collages and they are sold to raise the money. I blogged about a major block I was having working on the pieces (I was planning to make 2) back in February, on my other blog.

Well I finally finished the second one last night, and have submitted my photos for the sale.

The first one is called Kaleidoscope Cat:
I made this using a black kona cotton background, with raw edge applique of squares of assorted hand dyed fabrics. I quilted over the entire surface with a shimmery specialty thread. The cat silhouette was cut from a page of freehand Sharpie ink doodles. Seed beads to match the hand-dyes were sewn onto the black background.

The second collage is called Leaf Study:

A batik leaf printed fabric was appliqued on top of a hand painted leaf fabric. (the painted leaves are a sort of metallic look, which does not show well on the photograph.) I machine quilted around some of the hand painted leaves with a golden thread. Red and gold Joss paper was torn into leaf shapes, and applied to the background with Golden gel medium. My favorite leaf shaped beads were sewn on as an embellishment, and I couched some yarn on using green embroidery floss in a cross stitch.

Ha, now that I am finished them and they are submitted, I have to start worrying about whether they will sell or not.

A few more things I've been working on...

2009-03-27T09:42:00.000-07:00

Just thought I'd post some photos of a few new things I've been working on for the fundraiser I'm doing next Friday night...

Forest Green Sea Glass Necklace:

Huckleberry Seashell Wreath:

Sterling Silver Stamped Sea Glass Necklaces:

"Stained Glass" Sea Glass Window:

Hand Painted Wine Glasses:
Nautilus Shell

Koi Fish

Happy Birthday Maggie!

2009-03-26T13:37:00.001-07:00

It was a long time coming, but I finally finished it and Maggie received it in the mail today.

A tiny piece of cobalt blue sea glass is bezel set in sterling silver which I cut, stamped and oxidized. It reads "Inspire Art Create"

Happy birthday, my dear friend! :)

Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer 3 Day Fundraiser!

2009-03-23T11:26:00.000-07:00

This blog post is for anyone local to the Providence, RI area. I will be participating in a vendor night to raise money for a team walking in the Breast Cancer 3 Day. The Divine Ta-Ta Sisterhood Team will receive a minimum of 15% of the night's profits to put towards their team donation to the Susan G. Komen Foundation for the Cure.

For more info or if you can't attend, but would like to donate, please visit www.the3day.org!

Pay It Forward Challenge!

2009-03-19T08:06:00.000-07:00

A beautiful movie and a beautiful idea! Inspired by my friend Nikki's blog, Sun Soul Art Thoughts, I decided I'd participate in her challenge to pay it forward. I discussed it with Maggie, who also agreed it would be a cool thing to do, so together we're going to do our best to spread inspiration and creativity!

The first SIX people to comment on this post will receive a hand crafted item from either Maggie or I in the next 3 months. (3 will be from me, 3 from Maggie). In exchange, you agree to pay it forward to 3 people via a challenge on your own blog!

Please be sure to leave us a way to contact you and help us spread the love! :)

Mother of the Bride Sea Glass Jewelry Set

2009-03-05T14:04:00.001-08:00

Haven't posted in a while, thought I would share a little of what I've been up to- more pictures soon, I promise!

Made for a local client; mother of a bride. The wedding is being held at the Mystic Aquarium and has an ocean theme. Genuine coke bottle green sea glass and sterling silver wire wrap. Glass picked locally off Scarborough Beach, Narragansett, RI.

Her dress is from Coldwater Creek and can be found here.