Water and Shade............

Happy Memorial Day!

It is very hot and humid here in Northwestern PA today!  A beautiful sun filled day with 87 degree temps.  Two things would be great right about now....one would be water to take a swim in and the other is a shady spot to cool off in.  Those 2 things inspired my two newest necklaces.  You can find them over at Honey Girl Studio Jewelry.

water.......

shade.........

Ahhhhh.................

Enjoy your day!

The Key to......

Well, here are a few things I made with my flea market keys!  I drilled holes in this one to make room for jump rings to dangle charms.  It helps to have a drill press as it makes drilling the holes a breeze.  It lays really nice on the neck right at the collar bone notch.  The trick is to get it even on both ends so that it will lay correctly.  I have so many other ideas for using keys in necklaces!

Still in deep like with the shrink plastic for the Inkjet printer......that's how I made Talula Blooingdocker on the key below.  Both keys are over at Honey Girl Studio Jewelry.  When I was about 3 years old  I had a doll I named LauraMay Bloomingdocker.....where I got that name from I have no idea!  So, I stole the name from myself to name this necklace......this is LauraMay's sister, Talulu.

Got Beach?

The first public beach in the United States was Revere Beach in Boston, Mass.  It opened on July 12, 1896.  An estimated 45,000 people showed up on opening day.  This new necklace is a tribute to any beach you have ever loved to visit!  It's over at Honey Girl Studio Jewelry.

Here's a little update about Buddy the Wonder Dog.  For those of you who follow my blog, you know he got hit by a car on Easter morning and was in pretty bad shape......broken back leg, punctured front leg, and half of his face just about ripped off!  Well, here he is today.  His face is healed up and  the cast is off his leg (but he's still not putting it down to walk).  Buddy is a tough doggie!

Steamy Summer

Well the weather was beautiful here today in Pennsylvania......80 degrees, blue skies, sunshine and a slight breeze.....wow!   I hope all of you in Blogland had a good weekend.  I've been working with incorporating metal and leather into my jewelry lately and came up with this little Steampunky pendant.  The outside is leather, overstamped Staze-on ink with text.  I cut out the keyhole with the Tim Holtz die. The little guys inside are inventors and are sealed under resin which I poured into the keyhole.  These little guys have invented a lot of things but the thing they are most proud of is the "love machine" they invented!  If you'd care to learn more about this necklace you can hop on over to Honey Girl Studio Jewelry.

So this morning my niece, Andrea and I went to a flea market.  I hit the mother load of keys! There must be over 100 keys on this ring.  I plan on using them in my future creations.

I cleaned these ones with Brasso.  That stuff really cuts thought the crude on keys.  Some of them are actually quite pretty with the scroll-work designs.  Oh yah, I've got plans for these babies!

Have a great Monday!

Hippy Luv Jewelry Line.......

I've added several new categories to my Summer 2011 jewelry line.  Here is a peek at a few pieces of the  "Hippy Luv" line.  It has a hippy/organic feel to it.  I've used a lot of leather and wood in these pieces. You can check them out at the Honey Girl Studio Jewelry Shop.

 

An original bead created in Photoshop with component elements.  The heart is painted/distressed leather.  Her name was Simone and she lived in the heart of the artist area of Paris!

                          

         Summer of 1969.... peace....love....guitar.....

Painted leather heart layered with a tiny wooden guitar.  Pretty cool eh?!?

Summer 2011 Jewelry Is Here!

It's here! Summer 2011 Honey Girl Studio Jewelry!

Just a little sneak-peek! Go to my Honey Girl Studio Jewelry to get the particulars.

Girls on vacation........

Feeling crabby? Then you need a leather, shell and glass bead necklace!

Her real name was Violet but her friends called her Poppy!  Art pendant on glass bead and coral bead necklace.

Gnome.....on a chain......

When I was a wee person I was obsessed with elves, pixies, and yes, you guessed it Gnomes.  When I was about 12 years old, my mom bought me a book about Gnomes and I think I just about "looked" it to death!  Well, here is it some 32 years later and I'm thinking about Gnomes again because last month I took my great niece, Riley to see the movie Gnomeo and Juliet (very cute movie).  

To celebrate the Garden Variety Gnome I created this "Gnome Junque on a Chain" necklace.

 The Gnome centerpiece is a mini-digital collage I created.  The necklace is layered with 20 different charms from handstamped metal to fabric leaves to leather flowers to glass and coral beads.

 I still think Gnomes are cool........somethings never change!

If you are interested in purchases the "Gnome Junque on a Chain" pop on over to the Honey Girl Studio Jewelry Shop.


Are you a bibliophile?  My friend Heather is and to a certain degree I am too! (get your mind out of the gutter....a bibliophile is someone who loves to read and collect books).  Heather is actually a librarian so I made her a "Book Junque on a Chain" necklace.  Heather is an awesome altered artist in her own right, you can check out her blog called Creative Solace.

 The necklace measures 18 inches long and the centerpiece of it is a handmade leather bound little book! I also added an inkwell, old metal nib (don't impale yourself with it Heather!), agate beads, glass beads, metal stamped house, wooden handstamped beads, leather leaves and leather flowers.

 I wish I could have taken these pics outside in natural light, these pics were taken inside with that "yellow" glow!

 Here is the book open with 8 pages to write on.........you could write a tiny story....about......Gnomes!

Now for some good news even if it doesn't like it......long story short, if you follow my blog you know about my mom's Border Collie/Aussie dog named "Buddy the Wonder Dog" and you might have seen pictures on my blog of us snowshoeing during the winter months.  Well, on Easter Sunday morning Buddy got hit by a car and was pretty messed up.  My brother Jeff ended up taking him to the Akron Animal Hospital and they did an amazing job stitching him back together.  He had two bad puncture wounds in his front leg, broken back leg (it took 10 pins and metal plate to fix that leg),  some reconstructive surgery on the left side of his face (took an ear flap to graph skin on his lip) and he has 2 drain tubes sticking out of the side of his face.

Needless to say the "Budster" is not feeling so hot and he hates the giant cone collar he has to wear for another week but he's on the mend thanks to my brother (what a good guy) and the surgeons at the Akron Animal Hospital.  He had his one week check up today and the Drs. said he's making great progress!

Junque on a Chain!

Wow, it's been almost a month since my last post!  I've been trying to get motivated to work in the studio but it's been slow going.  I've been working on a new line of jewelry for this summer's art market and I believe I'm going to call it "Junque on a Chain".  Junque on a Chain comes in different themes and no two will ever be the same.  Here's a look at "Paris Junque on a Chain".......

These necklaces are truly mixed media.  These pieces are created with any, some, or all of the following:  handstamped metal, metal charms, glass beads, acrylic beads, shrink plastic, leather, hardware, gears and just about anything that you can drill a hole in to hang!  The bead-ball necklace is thicker than the smaller ones which allows the charms to lay separately and not all clump together, consequently it hangs nicely.    My friend Tracey and I worked together on her "Steampunk Junque on a Chain" necklace, if you want to eyeball it hop on over to her blog by clicking here.

I'll be putting new Junque on a Chain necklaces later this week into the Honey Girl Studio Shop.

Smacking Metal and Egg Decorating

 Sunny but very cold today = stay inside and gaze outside and smack the crap out of metal.  I'm working on my new line of jewelry for this summer so I made a few metal stamped charms today.

I also made a few Shrink Film charms too......

and working on some leather flower charms......

                                           and embossed charms.........

This is a collage I created this afternoon while Skyping 2 hours with my friend Tracey.  She was working on a giant Easter egg.  Ethyl loved to color eggs and planned her egg-cellent masterpieces months in advance of Easter!

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Spring Birdies!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  Today was the first day around here that it seemed like "spring" as it was 60 degrees with sunny skies.  I almost forgot what the sun looked like!  I made these little birds back in February while dreaming of warmer weather and melting snow.  I didn't take picture of them until today.

The little critters flew right into my dwarf ornamental pines!

 I stamped plain muslin material with Staz-On Ink then cut this guy out and sewed him up!

These two birdies were deep in conversation....."Tweet?"

Well you know there is always one "difficult" one in the group!

Here's to warmer, sunny days!

 

Lavender Boy

Hi digital artist friends! This is a little gift for you just in time to use in your spring projects.  For personal use only, not to be copied and resold.

Have fun with him and you make something send me a link, I'd love to see it!

A Garden of Petals and Metals

Well I don't know about you, but I really have to do something to urge springtime on so I'm getting ready to start some veggie plants from seeds inside.  The planting of the seeds got me thinking about gardening which in turn inspired me to do this collage.

Hortence loved her unique garden of petals and metals!  I created this digital collage from elements by Finecrafted at Deviant Scrap.

It's a steampunk style take on a traditional Victorian garden.  You know how those Edwardians were, pretty uptight? Well not Hortence, her metal petals were all the rage.  She trimmed her flowers with tin snips!  My crafting sista, Tracey at Glitterbug Studios is going to be really surprised when she sees this one!  Check out her Feb 27th post where she interprets "Fly Me To the Moon" steampunk style!

B is for Bird (in English that is)

"B" is for "bird" and "M" is for the metal tape I created this piece with.  I like the worn industrial look that metal tape gives this piece.

This is the completed piece, it was created on an 8" by 8" piece of canvas board.  It truly is a mixed media piece, here are the materials used on it:  canvas board, chipboard, glass tile, metal key, metal brads, wooden yard stick, metal watch gears, glass bead, leather heart, metal watch face, metal tape, glue, book text, ink, rubber stamp, 8 oz. of Arizona Green Tea, a piece of celery with fetal cheese on it (the last two items are optional, it's what I ate while making this piece!)

 

 The bird, crown and scrolls were cut from chipboard, glued down and then taped over with the metal tape.

I created this embellishment buy cutting an old yard stick, stamping on it, swiping over it with distress ink and then covering a chipboard book plate with metal tape and then distressing it.  I added the metal piece at the top with 2 metal brads.

A small glass tile backed with a mini collage.....

 This embellishment is a leather heart stamped over with script text with a tiny distressed green leather leaf tied to it.  An old metal watch face was vintaged-up with mushroom alcohol ink and a sanded green metal brad.

How about that cool old rhinestone earring? That would kill the old lobes!  Looks like something Great Aunt Millie would have worn!  I think it looks better as an embellishment.

So you are probably wondering how I distressed this metal tape to give it that "beat-up" look.  It was pretty simple and also personally rewarding to me as I got some frustrations out on it.  After I covered the entire piece with the metal tape I took my Tim Holtz hammer with the nubby end and pounded he crap out of the metal tape (that's what gave it the round indentations), if you don't have one of these hammers then you can use the rounded stylus end of a paint brush, tip of a marker cap or basically any thing that will make an indentation.....just experiment, you really can't screw it up!  Next I used a tracing wheel to make the dotted line indentations and my fingernail to make the random straight indentations here and there, then I chewed on a corner....not really, I was just seeing if you were paying attention.  To get the blackened areas, using a black copic marker, I colored the entire piece (I did 1/4 at a time), making sure to really get around the raised areas, then I took a piece of fine steel wool and sanded off as much of the black as I liked leaving most of it around the raised areas to give them definition.  Lastly, I glued on all of the embellishments and glued a hanger onto the back of the piece.

Hey, let me know if you've used metal tape in a project or if you plan to in the future!