Art Queen Bee Set

It has been a busy week.

Our weather was HOT!

It finally cooled off which makes me begin to start rushing around like a squirrel gathering nuts for winter.

It was a busy weekend cleaning areas for the coming cold weather.

I can gleefully say the back porch and wood shed are winter ready.

Yay!

And inside I have been making beads.

So many beads from polymer clay.....

I have  new series planned and it is going to take lots of beads.

You may see some glimpses of them on an upcoming Workbench Wednesday.

For today, I am sharing this necklace and bracelet set I have made.

These are glass beads.

I did not make them.

They are knotted on waxed linen cord.

You know how I love to do that.

I think the blingy bottle cap is fun.

I use my homemade wire clasps.

I am liking my own better and better.

They suit my designs.

They are easy to use.

They add a little something to a piece.

When I first started my Etsy store, my husband made me a light box.

It worked ok, but often my photos had a yellow cast I could not quite get rid of even with some photo editing.

Now I take pictures on my front porch or the back porch depending on the time of day.

I love the look of the indirect natural light.

This set has a little multi strand bracelet as well.

The little crown dangle is a sweet addition.

Looking at these pictures makes me want to knot beads all day...

But work calls.

Beads will have to wait.

Hope you have a great week.

Thanks for stopping by....

                   Linking up with these great blogs.

Mummy Treat Cans- 15 Minute Halloween Craft Lightning

It's time for Craft Lightning again!

This time, 15  Minute or Less Halloween Crafts.

So here are some fun Mummy Treat containers.

Start with a can or bottle from the recycling bin.

Wash them thoroughly and let them dry.

Now gather your other supplies:

wiggle eyes

old white sheets (or muslin or fabric) and scissors.

And your glue gun and glue sticks.

Yup!

That's all. 

 Are you ready?

Great!

Snip cuts in your fabric about every inch.

Rip into strips.

Since I used a full sheet from the thrift store, one strip completely wrapped one can or jar.

Next glue your eyes onto the can.

Then glue one end of the strip at the top of the can and start wrapping.

I used a bit more glue to secure the fabric around the eyes. and at the bottom of the can.

I kept wrapping until I used the whole strip and then I glued the end.

How cute and easy was that?

You can make an army of these in an hour.

Here is the jar finished.

You could paint the lid and add goodies inside.

You can get a whole different look with smaller eyes.

You can also change the whole look by coffee staining your strips.

Follow my easy coffee staining recipe here.

The stained strips give your mummy a whole new personality.

Sort of menacing.

For other variations, drill holes in the can to add a wire handle.

Add candies instead of Spanish moss.

Want to learn how to make the cute canning lid pumpkin too?

It takes a lot longer than 15 minutes but it is so cute.

The post is here.

The pumpkin gets dressed up with some vintage book page strips added for interest.

Here is my little mummy family.

That pumpkin is a renegade from last year. 

 Where I threw the pumpkins after Halloween a vine sprouted in the weeds.

 When I was mowing past the area, I spied this little guy in the over growth.

What a great fall surprise!

And just in time for the mummy cans.

Thanks for stopping by....

Check out the other great 15 Minute crafts this week at

100 Directions

The Country Chic Cottage

and 

30 Minute Crafts.

 Linking up with these great blogs.

Triple Strand Bracelets

What is a good day like for you?

A good day for me is making something...

A friend, a good dinner, or something beautiful.

I have a lot of good days.

I have a lot of amazing people that I call friends, a few good meals here and there, and I make A LOT of stuff.

Here are a couple triple stand bracelets.

Today's material of choice is buttons.

Buttons and waxed linen cord.

If you have been here before, you know I love that stuff.

There is something so relaxing and satisfying to me to string and knot with waxed linen.

This bracelet has vintage buttons, pearls and these fun blue beads.

I love that little turtle charm dangle too.

 I love multi strand bracelets for the look and the ease to wear.

  They look like you took time to gather and assemble the pieces and put them on, but nope!

One simple hook clasp and you are ready to go.

Thanks for stopping by...

                  Linking up with these great blogs.

The Keys to Loveliness

One of the things I collect is keys.

Vintage skeleton keys,

Old car keys, house keys, you name it.

To be more honest, I don't collect them.

I hoard them. 

 I buy them and love them and store them in little boxes, jars and tackle boxes.

Notice all those things are plurals.

So I decided I probably have enough keys to use a few in my designs.

I dressed some of them up with some polymer clay.

They will make fun little pandants.

Some will make fun big pendants.

To me, it is intriguing to take a common useful item and transform it in some way.

I love to give it a new life and purpose.

Thanks for stopping by....

                 Linking up with these great blogs.

And the GreenCraft Winner is....

I am so pleased to announce the winner of the Autumn 2015 issue of GreenCraft is....

Autumn Grace!

Autumn, you can get in touch with me via my email link on the blog (though I have heard it is not working and I have not been able to figure out what is up...)

You may also reach me through a convo at either Etsy shop or through Google +.

Please be sure to send your address so I can forward it to Stampington and they will send that issue right to you.

Congrats!

Thanks for stopping by...

Plaster dipped silk flowers...

Have you seen plaster dipped silk flowers?

I saw them last fall and was enchanted. 

 I wanted to try it for myself.

Sometimes, the crafting gods deliver what I need right to my doorstep (almost).

Last winter, a small silk flower arrangement blew into our yard on a windy day.

There were red, white and blue silk roses stuck in a piece of styrofoam.  

The flowers were all faded and my husband was going to throw it away.

I saved it just for this project.

I mixed plaster with some water to make a little thinnner than pancake batter consistency.

Then I dipped each rose into the mixture and pushed it down several times to coat all the petals.

I hung them on this card display.

The newspapers below are very important.

The red and blue roses required more than one dipping to cover the flower as much as I wanted it to.

These were the white roses and I only dipped them once.  I liked the finer, more delicate look only one coating created.

They have the look of porcelain.

The blue and red ones were dipped twice and have a chunkier look to them.

You can also see where they were touching the hook below on my rack as it left a mark when the flowers were removed.

I wanted to make a coastal arrangement to say good bye to summer.

First I spray painted this hammered aluminum two-tiered stand.

Then I added my plaster flowers and some coastal touches.

I started with some spanish moss to fill the trays.

Then I added starfish, seashells and pearls.

I gathered another handful of smaller shells and went back to fill in some bare spots and cover  any chips in the plaster.

I also added some of the plaster-dipped leaves.

It is a fun coastal arrangement.

Right now it is on my front porch next to the door.

For these photos, it is on my workbench on the back porch.

I think something like this would be so fun to do for a coastal wedding.

Some sisal rope would be a great addition as well.

I really enjoyed this process.

It was fun and easy to do.

They are pretty fragile so it not something you want to do for things that will be banged around or handled a lot.

Once I am done with them in this arrangement, I may do a fall version with leaves and a Christmas version with either poinsettias or evergreen branches.

I removed my roses from the stems, but you could make an arrangement in a vase too.

The plaster hardens in the cup relatively quickly but it was hot and humid when I did mine, so they took a minimum of overnight to dry.

Thanks for stopping by....

                  Linking up with these great blogs.