New Jewelry, ICE Resin, Conneaut Ohio and Flowers

Ok, I'm going to cover a variety of "stuff" today in this posting.........
First I'd like to thank my dear friend Tracey over at Glitterbug Studios for creating my new fantastic banner. She really knows my artistic eye and picked the perfect things to put into the banner. Thanks little sista!

Gary and I went to Conneaut Ohio to Lake Erie yesterday. It was a beautiful day! This is a picture of the little light house in the harbor. We had lunch at the White Turkey Drive-In in Conneaut. It's my favorite place to eat there. They have the best turkey sandwiches and the rootbeer is served in frosted heavy glass mugs. There's Gary sitting on the right up against the wall.

On the way out of Conneaut there is this old building. I think at one time it was a gas station. How stinkin' cute is it!?!?!? I think it would make a great studio!

I wanted to show you my Clematis. They did very well this year. Of course earlier in the spring I juiced them with a little Miracle Grow. This is the one on the back porch.........

This is the one on one side of the front porch......

This is the one on the other side of the front porch........

This pot is on my mom's patio and her flowers are pretty fabulous this summer. I joke with her that watering them really does work! Martha Steward would love the white schmootz on the bottom of the pot but mom can't stand it.

Ok, now on to jewelry. In the past few days I've had a creativity infusion.....lots of ideas swirling around in my noggin! This is a custom order. The butterfly in the center is a Scrabble tile.

A few weeks ago, when the humidity was low, I tried out ICE Resin and I absolutely LOVE IT! It's so easy to use and I got no bubbles what so ever. The inside of the bezel with the sailor girl has the ICE resin on the inside. Don't you just love her cool, fierce look? The necklace is coral chips and shell chips. Click HERE to find these necklaces over at Honey Girl Studio Jewelry.

This is another custom piece I did, again with the ICE resin. It's sooooo clear and smooth!

Handmade fabric beads with batik fabric and and sewn fabric cording make this larger shell necklace very unique. You can find all of following necklaces at Honey Girl Studio Jewelry.

This sweet little leather pendant bird has two charms dangling from it by the wing but they flipped behind it when I took the pic!

Since I'm going to be harvesting about 3,000 egglants over the next few weeks in my garden, I was inpired by the deep purple color when I created this necklace.

Hand sewn light blue seed beads adorn this fabric necklace with echos of the sea dangling from the center.

Oh how I love this necklace! It reminds me of the deep shade you seek from the lush trees in hot, hot summertime.

Whew! That's all for now. Hope you all have a wonderful Monday!

Ear-adornments!

I've had this idea to display earrings for awhile and as many of you know, you just kind of stash it away in a far recess of your mind and then pull it out someday when you have time to act on it. Today was that day! I took school pictures from the 1950s (gotta love those glasses) backed them with chipboard, added a crown and a tag with text. I poked holes in the earlobes to put the earrings I made through. There is a magnet on the back so the "Princess" can be hung on the fridge!

How about the look on this girl's face? The Coffee Princess looks like she knows a secret! Constance Mulcady grew up to be the creator of the Starbucks logo which you see on all of their cups. She created it one wild night with 4 pots of coffee and Adobe Illustrator.
The Cupcake Princess (aka, Bonnie Bivolaqua Fields) lived for buttercream frosting! Actually this little girl grew up to be Mrs. Fields, she switched her loyalties in her teens from the cupcake to the cookie.
Ah, The Friendship Princess, her sweet smile could charm a pack of wild burros. Mildred grew up to be assistant to the director of United Nations Cupcake Relations, which is a little known organization within the U.N. that spreads joy, friendship, unicorns, cotton candy and tiny cameras to small nations across the globe.

Frances Fernworthington was born into a privileged family but decided at a very early age to take the road less traveled. She was born to be a beach bum and fullfilled her life long ambition when she moved to Key West at the age of 18 and opened the very successful "Franny's Franks", yes a hot dog shack, not a crab shack!
The other day I was pursuing through the new Somerset Apprentice when I saw a wonderful idea! The artist (I wish I could remember her name and give her credit but I didn't buy the book b/c I was too cheap and I think $14.99 for a magazine is one hell of a price.....for a magazine......although I enjoy looking at it for free.........come on now, you can buy a lot of crafting supplies with $15...... anywho....) took a dish soap bottle and covered it with torn pieces of an old dictionary. I had the bottle and I bought an old Italian/English dictionary for $2 at the used book shop. I glued on a little lace and painted a wooden spool and glued it on top after I filled it with rice to keep it stable. I'm going to use it as a jewelry display for my earrings at a show I'm doing this Thursday night.
Whew! It's hot here in Western Pa! 96 degrees with sauna like humidity! I think I'm heading to the boat now........it's always cooler on the water!

Altered Jewelry....

I've been working on many different pieces of altered jewelry lately and experimenting with different backs, materials and images.
I used Grungeboard for the wings on this glass tile piece. Sorry about the photo quality, I must have moved just as a snapped the photo! I attached the wings with Loctite Gel Glue. This stuff has a really strong bond and bonds almost instantly, plus its easy to dispense with the skinny tip, you can place it exactly where you want it.

I cut apart an old heavy duty yardstick, (you know the kind that your mom use to chase you around the kitchen table with because you wouldn't do your math homework......well maybe that was just me, perhaps others didn't get threatened with the yardstick!) to collage on. Old thick yardsticks make a great base. I used Distress ink to give it the subtle yellow color. Again, I must have moved when I snapped this one too!

Oh no! Some poor butterfly lost a wing! The wing is from Tim Holtz new line of Alterations Steel Cut Dies. This pendant was also done on a yardstick. I left the back natural so you could see the numbers and lines on it.....looks pretty cool, actually you could wear it on either side.

I entitled this pendant "King Neptune". This one was created on a wooden blank. Again I used Distress Ink to color the wooden blank and then layered it with decorative papers. I just love that little seahorse. I've always wanted one of those for a pet.

Ahhhh, vintage wooden dominoes! One of my favorite things to collage on. How about this broad? She's all ready for summertime fun! I think her name was "Trixie" and she liked to dance the Jersey Shore Rag.

And here's her best friend "Myrtle". Myrtle was the Jersey Shore Swimming Champion circa 1924. What's even more amazing is that she won that title while swimming with both her black wool knee socks and her hat on!!!! Notice the silver cup she's proudly holding.

This collage pendant is made out of a clay filled poker chip. Remember the way we view things has a lot to do with our perspective at that given time. I've learned through experience that time and distance can greatly change your perspective of events that have occured. Lastly, Saturday was the first day of Spring Turkey hunting here in Pennsylvania. Gary got one up on my mom and dad's farm. I had to take of picture of the beautiful feathers. Just look at the iridescent quality of those feathers!

I hope all my friends in blogland had a great weekend!

Natures' Inspiration

As I've said many times, Nature inspires me in my creations. Here are a few examples the show what I mean.

I was looking through some photos I took in October and came across this one the other day..... which inspired me to make these pieces of jewelry.............



I took this photo yesterday at my moms. The day was warm and very windy. I remember thinking, the sky was so blue and the leaves so green whipping around which inspired me......

to make these earrings with the blue of the sky and the green of the leaves.

I also took this picture of a Gerber daisy. So vibrantly orange..........

which inspired me to use the same orange in this pendant.
All of these pieces are available at:

Honey Girl Studio Jewelry

Bonjour!

Thinking of Paris lately. I took 3 years of French in high school and can basically say "hello", name a few animals and also say this in French, "the train for Paris will arrive at a quarter past noon"..... pretty useful eh?

My friend Tracey gave me some pages from a vintage book in French and I cut out words to use in these "tiny bubble" necklaces. They will be available at the Time and Again Store in Greenville, Pa, or you can email me and I can make one for you. I can even make custom ones with a name or word of your choice. They are $6 and that includes shipping.

This Eiffel Tower pendant was created on a wooden vintage domino. I'm keeping it for myself!

Another altered domino that I created for a Chinese auction at a local breast cancer charity event.

I hope all my friends in blogland had a fun Wednesday! Tomorrow is Thursday and that's my favorite day of the week!

A lot to share.........

A lot to share.......

Wow, I have a lot to share with you all in blogland. What a glorious weekend....beautiful weather! It's been a busy time in the studio as of late. For a few weeks I felt like my creative muse had abandoned me, but apparently the muse needed a vacation. I'm going to start by sharing the inspiration for a few new pieces of altered art jewelry. Last weekend while I was planting annuals in my pots for the back porch I thought I saw a bird fly out of my hanging fern but you know sometimes your eyes play tricks on you! So after I got finished planting I did a little investigating. and ........

Sure enought right there in the middle of my fern was a birds' nest! We've been learning how to cohabitate with each other this weekend as I spend a lot of time on the back porch. It's my outdoor studio/library/computer room/entertainment area so I'm not leaving it for one itty-bitty bird! She's adjusting as I am also.........I think she's really liking my music selection today, I've got a little Duffy, Michael Bubble, 10,000 Maniacs, Nina Simone, Bag of Toys, Diana Krall and Jamie Cullen.

Inspiration!

Nature is almost always the inspiration for my art. That little bird inspired me to make these altered poker chip pendants.....

These little "tweeters" are ready to go to the Time and Again Shop in lovely Greenville, Pa. but if you see one you'd like (7 bucks, free shipping) just email me and I can put it back for you.

I smell something grilling, get the extinguisher!!!!!!

Hey! Time to eat! I just had to share my delicious grilled eggplant, garlic, ricotta and romano cheese pizza with you! Grill the egg plant slices first. Roll out dough into small pizzas, brush with olive oil and place oiled side down on the grill. Grill for 1minute 36 seconds. Brush the top with olive oil then flip. You have to be quick so have your toppings ready to put on as soon as you flip the dough!

Yummy grilled dough! It's crispy on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside. I get it at WalMart. It's in a bag for 88 cents by the WalMart pizzas. One bag makes four, 6 inch pizzas.Quick! Spread on the grilled garlic pieces followed by the ricotta then a sprinkling of romano cheese. Next top with grilled eggplant slices and sprinkle with kosher salt. Boom! It's time to take it off the grill and eat it!

What is it, tell me please!?!?!?
Ok, full stomach, now back to work! This is a little altered art necklace that you'll never guess what the base is made of. I'll give you a few hints......it's thin but strong and it was invented in 1913 ...... it was used a lot in the 1930-50s, especially in diners, it's still used today and it was even used on the Queen Mary ocean liner in the Art Deco decor! If you make a comment guessing what it is and you guess right, I'll make you a necklace similar to the one below! You have until Wednesday so put on your thinking caps. I'll pick 3 winners from the correct answers.

The cool thing about this pendant is that it's reversable. Just flip it and you have two different necklaces. I measures 1 and 3/4 by 2.5 inches. I'll be posting a tutorial on how to make it on Wednesday and also reveal the mystery material.

Bigger......
Lastly, I saw an old friend this morning that I haven't seen in exactly a year. We went though some tough times together last year. I was so happy to see her and there hasn't been a day that's gone by that she didn't pop into my thoughts. She is doing well now, so am I, which reminds me of one of my favorite sayings......"we are so much bigger than anything that can ever happen to us".

I hope all of my friends in blogland had a wonderful weekend! Remember, tomorrow the winner for the altered key will be drawn so enter in the previous post.
Smiles-
M