Jewelry

Man I feel like a bum!! I haven't posted in forever. Spring break does that to you I guess. For the past week I have been relaxing a bit. I had planned to study for some midterms and get more reading done, but some things are just never completely finished. A major thing that I got accomplished was some jewelry! My aunts each had something they wanted me to work on. One was a necklace that had a difficult clasp and some beads that didn't really match, so it was simple to restring it and add a new clasp. The other was a really amazing pendant! My aunt got the pendant as a gift and then found some amazing beads to coordinate. She had me come up with a design for a necklace. I have to say it turned out awesome!! It took me a few days to come up with the design, but it came out exactly like I wanted. Custom pieces are always fun because the pose a challenge. I love to have someone say "hey, can you make me something to match this outfit?" or "I found this really neat pendant but I have no idea what to do with it. Could you make me something?" I haven't had any custom orders to do in a long time, so this was really exciting for me. 

I've also been working on some new necklaces. I'm trying out different lengths and materials. I'm getting more into the metalwork and I'm getting more comfortable working with wire. Both of these have suddenly become extremely important to me because I got invited to participate in a craft fair! I now want to make some new pieces to take to the fair. So I'm about to be super busy - but in a good way. :)

Books

:) I just finished rereading the Hunger Games! I think I'm obsessed.... Anyway, I've been a bit preoccupied what with my reading and all. I'm now reading an interesting book for my Non-Western Lit class called A Thousand Splendid Suns. It's by the same author that wrote Kite Runner and it also takes place in Afghanistan. I'm only about halfway through it, but I think so far it is my favorite that we've had to read for that class. 

I haven't had a chance to make anything yet with my t-shirt yarn. :( But, I've promised myself I will soon. My first ball was lime green and I was super excited when I got done with it. I hope the final products will be just as satisfying. Not much else is new. It's been a pretty uneventful week, but sometimes those are the best. So, now I'm off to do some more reading so that I'm ready for class tomorrow. 

T-Shirt Yarn

Today I went to the Goodwill in my town. They are moving, so they were having a huge bag sale. I saw this idea on Pinterest a couple of weeks ago to make yarn out of old t-shirts and have been wanting to do it. I found a ton of tees at the bag sale and am hoping to make some yarn this weekend! The pin on Pinterest led me to this page which has the tutorial. I've seen a million things to make with the yarn like bracelets, headbands, and scarves.

My mom ended up getting fifty (yes, fifty) pairs of jeans to make a denim rug. A friend of my mom's went to the  ABC Carpet and Home store in New York City where she took a picture of a denim rug. Needless to say, my mom exclaimed "I can do that!" and bought fifty pairs of jeans. She's planning on making a very large rug to go in our basement. I'm excited to see the rug finished, but I'm also excited because I get some of the scraps! I'm thinking bracelets along the lines of these. It should be a cool mix of blues and buttons. So, here is the inspiration rug from ABC Carpet:

Art

Well, today is a Wednesday and Wednesdays usually stink. Today wasn't too bad considering I made some new earrings! I finally put my ball peen hammer and bench block to use and made some great new earrings. Now that I have the supplies, I can finally get into metal working, and I'm super excited about it! I also added a new listing to Etsy today. It is the very popular Sparrow Necklace (at least that's my name for it) and it is listed at $23 including shipping.

I've been talking about my paintings for weeks now and I've finally gotten around to taking pictures of them. So without further ado, my decoupage painting and my geometric painting - both unfinished as of yet.

So, I've been having a lot of fun working on my paintings and jewelry this week. Plus, as it has been cold, I've gotten to work on my infinity scarf. I got some new yarn and am knitting a nice cozy infinity scarf with it. I'm not far on it yet, so no picture. Hopefully I'll get it finished by this weekend so I can work on some other projects (maybe some new listings for Etsy?). A friend of mine told me that my wooden initials I painted and decoupaged were so cool I could sell them, so I've been considering putting them on Etsy. I know sorority letters are hugely popular and could start with them. Still thinking about it, but there is a definite possibility you'll see them on Etsy soon! 

It's Friday!!!

I love Fridays! I get out of classes early which means I get to start my weekend early. Granted, the start to this weekend has been a little lazy. Currently, I am curled up on the couch with Harry Potter #6 and a fire in the fireplace. I've gotten better at building a fire since we got rid of the gas fireplace. I love the wood burning so much now! The puppies (Daisy and Luke- lab/hounds that are 10 months old) are trying to steal the twigs I used to start the fire so they can chew on them. They keep saying that it's fiber for their diet, but I don't believe them. So, Daisy is settling for being close to the fire by sitting on the hearth. I've got my eye on them, but they are so much better behaved and easier to handle when they are asleep. :)

Daisy

Daisy

Daisy & Luke

Luke

Luke

Daisy

New Art & Harry Potter

The past few weeks have been busy, busy, busy! I am putting the finishing touches on my geometric print and I can't wait to get it finished. I've also started another canvas that is going to be a crazy mash-up because it is decoupaged! 

Classes have been intense this semester. I'm taking my first writing-intensive class and so I've been writing a lot of papers. I'm also taking my first college science class with labs. The class is okay, but the labs aren't as much fun. 

In among all of this, I'm re-reading the Harry Potter series again!! Yes, I am a Harry Potter nerd.  :) I'm on Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I have found so many fun Harry Potter things on Pinterest that my backgrounds have been revolving Harry Potter. The background on my computer is currently this:

So, to all my fellow Potter fans, I shall leave you with a quote from Dumbledore. 

"It is our choices that show who we truly are, far more than our abilities."

Music

Recently I was surfing on YouTube and discovered this guy named Tanner Patrick. His covers are amazing and I can't wait until he puts up some of his own music! I've been hitting replay all week on these videos and they are awesome to work with. Jamming out while you work is the best! I'm still working on that painting and music is fun while you work. Here is his cover of "Stereo Hearts" by the Gym Class Heroes with Adam Levine:

He also has covers of songs by the Lights ("Toes"), Taylor Swift ("Ours"), Foster the People ("Pump Up the Kicks") , and Bruno Mars ("It Will Rain"). <3

Pinterest

It seems like I am on the internet more and more these days. About half of my internet usage is for my jewelry making. Today I joined Pinterest where I can not only share my jewelry but get inspired by other works. Plus, they have great recipes and craft/DIY ideas. I'm really excited to share my ideas with everyone else! My page is located here.

This is some of what I have shared so far:

All of these items can be found for sale on my Etsy page. Hope you guys love Pinterest as much as I do!

         

Long Weekend

Long weekends are incredible. You always plan ahead and think of all of the things you are going to accomplish. While that sounds great in theory, it never happens! Long weekends tend to become lazy weekends and I love them!

I did about half the things I planned (including some homework and studying) and some things that I did not plan. Yesterday I got in a creative mood and started painting on an old canvas. I'm still not finished with it, but it's my work in progress. For this afternoon, I have some more studying to do and a bit of reading for classes this week. Oh what fun! :)

New Year!

Happy New Year!!! Welcome to 2012!

So far this year I have registered for my Spring Semester classes and bought my books for the coming semester. Classes start on Monday and I'm actually excited for them. Last semester, my favorite class was Art History. I signed up for the 20th Century Art History class this semester. Despite the fact that the book cost a fortune, the class looks like it will be a blast!

For the past couple of days, I have also been working on a little project. I recently received two wooden books that have drawers inside. It took me a while to decide what books I wanted them to resemble. After some thought, I decided to do one Harry Potter and the other a book that contains seven of Jane Austen's novels. I chose the Harry Potter theme for the first one because the first real novel I read was the first Harry Potter. I believe that I got my current love of reading from reading as a child. Austen's works take more concentration to read than a Harry Potter, but I love them all the same. The collection of Austen's works that I have were a gift from my mom. The leather bound volume is huge and covered with a beautiful pattern. I had a great time painting each of the books and am still amazed at how well they turned out.

Today, I signed up with Shutterstock. This website provides stock photos for subscribers. I uploaded my first ten for review and am hoping that I get accepted. Here are some of the photos I submitted: