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.

Mini Canvas Pop Art

I couldn't resist these 4X4 canvases with a deep edge so I bought them for a project with my students.  After searching for a little inspiration I decided to try a single image with a bold color for the background.

First I sketched the subject onto the canvas in pencil.  Then I went over the sketch with a sharpie and erased the pencil from the canvas.  That way I could start with a nice clean canvas without any pencil smudge.

Then I painted the subject and left the white areas alone - using the canvas itself as the white.  I let this dry before I added the background color.

 The paintings will be quite striking because of the bold background color and also the one singular subject that takes up most of the canvas.  I would open the subject up to whatever they want to draw, but it must take up most of the canvas and also be one single item.  Animals, butterfly, heart, sun, anything will work.  I am going to give them 4X4 pieces of paper to sketch on before they start drawing on the canvas.
The background should be a compliment to the color of the subject - for example a yellow lion would look great with a purple background, Orange butterfly, blue background.  Reinforce complimentary colors.

Have fun!

New Designs...

I bought some spring green onion shaped cut crystals and some top drilled freshwater pearls that I thought would make something pretty and here's what I came up with so far...

I like the magnetic clasps and the mixture of the sparkly crystal with the luminous pearls.

I'm also liking the new display tags with punched out designs instead of stamped designs - easier and faster.

What I've been up to...

Here are a few photos of some new jewelry designs - I have been wanting to play with some moonstone briolettes I recently bought and then I played around with some other new components in my bead box - came up with lots of new stuff!  The greenish stone with the birds is chalcedony.  I love the combo of red cinnabar with the turquoise too.
I think the moonstone will look great in the summer with a tan.  You can't see it too well in these photos but the moonstone has the neatest blue in it when it catches the light.  I have been experimenting with those y necklaces for awhile and I like these designs the best so far.  Another new thing I've decided I like is to use a little bit larger chain so that I can make the necklace adjustable to any length.  I especially like putting a little decorative accent at the end of the chain.  Another new direction for me is the last necklace - it is actually designed to be a "Hair Chain" - to be worn over your hair kind of like a crown - but it doubles as a necklace as well.  One of the hair stylists where I bring my jewelry requested them and now her daughter and her friends are wearing them to school : )

You can e-mail me anytime if you would like any of my jewelry for yourself or as a gift.

Something New for Me...

So - I have decided to begin blogging and sharing some of my art projects that I teach to children and adults as well as some of my latest creations with AngelNik Designs.  I have used many other artist blogs and websites to come up with my ideas.  I am constantly looking for inspiration.  I'll share some of my favorite links and I'm even planning on doing some tutorials.  I have used tutorials to learn how to do things often.  Thank goodness other people have been willing to share their creativity.  I'll add photos of my latest creations and maybe just thoughts on life.