Ice Cream + The Circus Coming to Town + Flowers = Summer Fun

Bead Box Treasures:  ice cream, flowers, the circus coming to town and a simple casual style all inspired me to create some new summer style jewelry.  

Looking through my bead boxes I found I had been buying beads in the shape of ice cream cones, poodle doggies, giraffes and flowers, along with some copper Crosses and of course the key charms that I find pretty irresistible.  They have all been waiting a few weeks or months for me to finally sit down and work on some new designs.  This past weekend I got everything out and left it out for 4 days which led to quite a bit of new jewelry...  The giraffes and the dogs are handpainted ceramic beads - no two are alike.  Someone painted each bead by hand with a tiny brush - pretty cool!

When I was in about 1st grade one of my friends had a birthday party at Farrell's Ice Cream Parlor.  Each guest had a bowl of ice cream and there were ceramic animals in each serving.  Mine contained a little ceramic giraffe which survived and has always had a treasured spot on display - now joined by a few select giraffe friends.  I think they are such neat animals.  I couldn't resist picking up a string of giraffe beads when I found them.

Some of these designs are perfect for children - or the young at heart! 

All of these designs are available for purchase - just send me a message.

Button Inspiration

I found some ideas using buttons as decorations on tea towels and framed embroidery and it gave me the inspiration to create some new cards.  They are fun and easy to make and I like the whimsy of the buttons in the design!  I love the Wizard of Oz so The Somewhere over the rainbow ones were so much fun to make! My son is graduating this year so I made 15 of these - I hope all the graduates Dare to Dream and their Dreams really do come True!

I traced a round glass that was the right size for the front of the card and used it as a guide to attaching the buttons.  I already had lots of buttons since they seemed like a good craft resource.

For the fruit cards you can make any kind of fruit - oranges, lemons, limes, apples, even a bunch of grapes!  A great thank you card for someone special.