On to the next

I have finally finished up my large custom order.  It feels good to be done.  I do sort of wish that I had a picture of all 12 bookmarks together, but since she purchased them 3 at a time, that won't be happening anytime soon.  Oh well.  I could always make a photoshoped picture.  :-)

But now that I'm done with that order it's on to the next.  Her daughter has now ordered a bookmark and I think it's going to be a pretty one.  She wants me to use the rosemalling from the first bookmark (in pink) and then wants a butterfly in the center.  She gave me a few ideas of what she wants the butterfly to look like, so I just took it from there and went.  I had to simplify her idea a little bit, but I think, okay I hope, that I got the basic idea right. 

That's just a small sampling of the work in progress on the left, it is no where near a finished pattern.  I have a lot of cleaning up to do over the weekend, but I think it's coming along nicely.  My butterfly I drew in photoshop was not necessarily the prettiest thing in the world, but I've never been very good with drawing on the computer.  Thank god I have a tablet, or this would look like a 2 year old drew it.

This whole world wind of bookmark making (I think the numbers at 14 total) started with my client's daughter.  She saw my work at an art fair a couple of years ago and just kept coming back to my booth.  All day she would come back and look at everything.  She asked me if I did custom work, and I told her I was always happy to work one on one with clients.  Then she left and came back again.  Finally she asked me if I would cut the clasp off of one of my cuffs for her.  I was pretty shocked and just sort of looked at her.  But she told me she was in love with my puzzle pieces cuff and wanted a unique gift for her daughter, who was a teacher and nanny.  So out came the scissors and thread burner, and off came the clasp.

Then I just prayed that this held up as a bookmark.  I mean I had no idea if a beaded cuff could be used as a bookmark.

Then early last year she contacted me and asked if  I would do a bookmark based on her tribal emblem.  And it just took off from there.  She has kept two of the bookmarks for herself and given the rest as gifts to family members.  I've very glad I've met her and her daughter.  They are super nice and great to work with.  And I hope everyone that has gotten a bookmark is enjoying it.    

Don't forget the check back soon.  I'll be having a really great giveaway that I know you won't want to miss.  Have a fantastic weekend!  

More Crochet

I finished my skinny scarf the other day, YAY!  I'm so proud of myself, finishing a whole crochet project.  And of course I couldn't just leave it alone, so I added beads to it to give it that little sparkle.  Is that really a surprise, us bead people love adding beads to everything.

I'm happy with how it turned out and hopefully if I keep this up I'll be able to move on to more complicated items, such as a blanket or cute little baby booties.  And thank you for all the kind words on my attempts at crocheting.  I appreciate them and they keep me from giving up.

  
Here is my next project.  It's just a simple dish cloth.  I figured things like dish cloths would be good practice for the different stitches and help me working on turning my work, my edges aren't really that pretty right now.

I'm about half way finished with this one and I will definitely get some pictures posted as soon as I finish it up. 

I've also started working on a few new bead projects again.  Can't wait to share with you some of those. 

And stay tuned, I'll be having a great giveaway in a few weeks.  You know you won't want to miss it. 

Crochet!

Well I am finally done with my custom order. It's been two and a half months trying to design and bead 12 bookmarks (two of which are huge), but I'm finished. Now I just need to work on the design for her daughter's bookmark. But that one shouldn't be too hard. Ha, now that I said that, it's going to be a nightmare.  Luckily they are great to work with.  So, I am having a lot of fun doing these projects for them.

In not so bead related news, I've decided to give crochet another try.  It's seriously been about 14 maybe 15 years since I've even picked up a hook.  And well my original tries were, how can I put this, crap.  But I've been determined to give it another try and see how it goes.  
 

Here's a little scarf I'm working on.  I'm hoping it will help me get the technique down.  And no comments on how it looks.  This is only my second project.  My first project was a little dish cloth, which turned out pretty cute. 

As soon as I feel comfortable with the techniques, it's on to reading patterns and maybe making something other then squares and rectangles.  A cute little stuffed animal maybe.   

I also like it because I can work on it on the bus without ralphing all over the place.  Which is nice.

Look at me, trying to be a real Renaissance woman; sewing and crocheting.  Who the hell do I think I am?  But beads and glass are still my first love, nothing will change that.  But maybe I can incorporate beads into my crochet, who knows.

But now I must concentrate on getting art fair applications in.  It's that wonderful time of year again!  :-)   

Weekend wrap up

Ugh, so I finished up my two large (2.5 in by 8 in) bookmarks for my custom order.  Then I was in such a rush the morning I dropped them off with her, I forgot to get good pictures.  What was I thinking?  Now I only have crappy cell phone picture of them.  Oh well.  I guess I could ask her if it would be okay to borrow one.  She works 5 min away from my house.  We'll see.  I'll talk to her at our next meeting.   

This weekend I also decided on a color pallet for my studio.  I was going to go crazy with the colors, but decided that because you can see my studio from the sun porch, that maybe I better keep it a little more subtle.

I found this color pallet when perusing the Better Homes and Gardens website, and fell in love.  I actually have had it pinned for a while on pinterest.  I'm going to use the two main colors for the wide vertical stripes on two of the walls (see, it's still sort of crazy).  And then do the ceiling and all the trim in white.  And then use the bright yellow as an accent color to make things pop.  I'm thinking about painting my small bookcase this color.  Or maybe stenciling the bookcase.   

Isn't it a pretty color pallet?  I came up with a different one that I really like using different shades of turquoise, but decided the colors were just too close to our bedroom colors.  And like I said before, that maybe a more subtle pallet would be better. 

I can't wait to get started on the paint.  I have two long weekends coming up and I'm thinking about working on it then.  It will be so nice to have an actually studio that is all mine and I don't have to share with the guest room or dog or boy or storage.....

But first I have to finish up the last two bookmarks of my order, then I can start cleaning and painting.  :-)

Almost There

So I've been working my little butt off trying to finish up a large custom order.  Now don't get me wrong, I very much appreciate this order and I'm having fun designing and working on it, but I'm not going to lie, I'll be happy when it's done.  I just need a little time to work on other things and I definitely need time to work on my items for my jury pictures for this summer's art shows.

As you can see, I've finished one and have less then half on the second one.  Sorry for the aweful cell phone picture, my light box and photo equipment are still waiting to be set up in my studio (since I got kicked out of the back room).  These are the second bookmark design for this order.  The other one is this design, which I've shown before.

I still have two more of these to go, but luckily they are a lot smaller then the Brothertown bookmarks.

These babies are 2.5 inches wide and 8 inches long.  They are good size bookmarks.  And they are the dreaded single drop peyote.  Any one who beads and does peyote stitch will tell you that single drop takes the longest time.  And because I read patterns a little bit different then most people on my normal two drop designs, I had to re-learn how to read a pattern.  Let's just say that first work took me an hour or two to finally finish.  But luckily I've remembered how it's done and they are working up a lot faster. 

I'm hoping to have the second one done before this weekend, giving my plenty of time to finish up the other two clover bookmarks.  And with luck, I'll have my photo stuff set up again, and I can get GOOD pictures of these babies.  Then it's on to picking a color for the studio walls and getting that disaster organized.