Inspiration

I love when something comes back to me and gets me really really excited that I am an artist. That's what happened this week with a great book I bought some time ago called A Charming Exchange It is a crazy fantastic book with so many great techniques it makes me crazy. My head was just spinning as I re-read this fantastic and inspirational book. I have spent the last two days in the studio taping and soldering and stamping metal. It has been fun and here is some of the outcome. A few soldered pendants, some great little beach glass pendants, and a copper bracelet that I am keeping for me! It has been really fun....maybe I need to revisit more of my art books!

Spoooooky

Getting in the spirit of Halloween I created these ghoulish characters. I started with old cabinet cards. After looking at the person for a bit and deciding which creepy character I thought they would be best as I painted the background black. For the devil I needed to create a hand but for the witch her hands were in the perfect position to hold her broomstick. It was a super fun project that was quick and would be great in a little frame for holiday decor. If you don't like the idea of using the old picture just make a copy of the original and mount it on some recycled cardboard from a cereal box (or anything really) with white glue. I used acrylics, a black sharpie pen and a white gel pen but use anything you use on these!

Christmas tag swap

One of my favorite internet friends....and quite the talented lady....Pat is doing a tag swap and I was so excited to be a part of it that I started mine this morning and kept going until they were done! I started by painting shipping tags red and stamping some backgrounds on them. Then I drew Christmas pictures with a charcoal pencil and colored them in with prismacolors. A white gel pen and sharpie pen were used to add some details and then on most of them I used stamp pads to finish off the edges. Not shown on this photo I added some colorful ribbon and yarn to the top so they have a fun altered feel to them. This was lots of fun...a big big thank you to Pat for hosting. Go check out her blog it is super fun!

Getting my act together.

To some it may appear that I have my act together. I make a ton of stuff and put it out in the store and occasionally list it on etsy and sell it to other shops. But what everyone doesn't know is that for everything I do get out there are piles of things I make that I kind of just forget about and they end up in a little box in my studio which then end up in bigger boxes and kind of lost. Like the 3 typewriters I took apart about a year ago.

I've been going through some of those boxes lately in my never ending quest to organize (ha) or at least de-clutter just a little. I have been doing pretty good at discovering these lost treasures and putting them out in the store. One of the newest things I have been focusing on in the shop is my pendant bar. I love making pendants and make tons of them. Out of clay, old beads, new beads, wire wrapping stones from the beach and so on. I put all of them in great old cupcake tins and my customers can pick their necklace (a chain, ball chain, or lovely silk ribbon) and then pick one or more charms to wear on the necklace. The fun thing is you can layer them, add to them or completely change them all the time. Or if you make jewelry you can just buy the totally unique beads I make in your own jewelry....like this great little number below. It is just good fun. You can create a very unique personalized look for as little as $5!

So in that quest not only have I gotten a little further in my de-cluttering but I have come up with a fun new way to buy jewelry at Persimmons. Come on in and check out the necklace bar! Oh and for my online friends...if you ever see something on here that is not in my etsy let me know and I will create a listing just for you! Have a happy day.

Fun times

Me and Pato Banton at Stumpjack. Pato and the Now Generation played there and it was awesome! Thanks to them for coming to little ol Two Rivers and spreading their love.

We also went to the Manitowoc Company open house. My dad has worked there for 37ish years and I love going and seeing where he works. It amazes me to see what my dad does. It is so complex I can't imagine doing his job. I think it would be a great thing for everyone to tour a factory so they realize the importance of our fantastic labor force in this country and all it takes to make the things we use in everyday life. This picture of Molly is taken next to an unbelievably huge crane they made. I couldn't resist a pic of her in her hardhat with the Manitowoc behind her.

Still a little bit of warm weather ahead to enjoy the weekends but time is winding down. I will cherish all the wonderful weekends we had this summer. We are planning one final week long vacation up north to enjoy the colors and quiet. I long for that quiet and cannot wait!

Making making making...

I am on a creative roll. Finished about 8 of these fab bangles

24 of these word beads and 30ish other pendants this week. My work space is such a mess it makes me dizzy but oh well it's the price I pay for a creative frenzy.