Etsy Favorite: mb art studios.

I recently purchased these poppy earrings from mb art studios. Her jewelry is simple and pretty. Mary also makes ceramic plaques with thoughtful quotes.

Love these.

I think I need a pair of fun pink embroidery scissors!

Found at Sublime Stitching.

Eggshell brooch.

Last year I published a series of posts about the eggshell brooches my mom made in the 1970s. They were made by blowing out the egg, using a Dremel tool to cut the cabachon shape, and decoupaging a picture onto the eggshell before placing it in the bezel. I found a similar brooch on Etsy.

I suspect the flowers are decoupaged rather than handpainted on this piece, but it is a lovely brooch all the same.

Wildflower earrings.

The pattern for these earrings (designed by Melanie Potter ) was published in the April/May 2010 edition of Beadwork magazine. She was selling supply kits at Bead & Button last year and I snatched one up!

The instructions in the magazine were easy to follow, as long as you have beadweaving experience. Kits are also available on the School of Beadwork website.

These earrings are lightweight and fun. Now I'm ready for spring!

Monday, Monday.

Sporting a fun new messenger bag makes going to work on snowy Monday morning a little easier.

I think I could use this bag for traveling to bead classes, too.

Bridesmaid earrings.

My cousin is getting married today in a beach wedding. She is very talented and crafty and made many items for the wedding, including her own bouquet as well as the bridesmaids' bouquets. As time ran short before the wedding, I offered to make the bridesmaids' earrings.

I received a bag of supplies and the freedom to design whatever I wanted.

The bride's earrings were very simple, so I wanted the bridesmaids' earrings to be fairly simple as well. I was very pleased with how they turned out.

Congratulations, Cuz. May your life together be filled with happiness.

Whatever you are ~ be a good one.

This bracelet was made for my cousin to give to her future mother-in-law. The quote is by Abraham Lincoln and the inside of the bracelet is stamped with his name.

Beaducation is a great source of information and supplies if you are interested in stamping silver or other metals.

Etsy Favorite: Shixie

After trying my hand at cutting tin, I looked around on Etsy to see what other artists are doing with it. I ran across Shixie and loved the tin dresses! I also really liked the idea of making things with old tin globes--so cute! I wish the shop had one with the midwest.

Lots of inspiration. Makes me want to go to the flea market and search for more tins!

Book review and tin flowers.

I was lucky enough to receive an advance copy of Jewlry Upcycled! by Sherri Haab and Michelle Haab (published by Crown Publishing/Potter Craft). I've been a fan of Sherri Haab's books for a long time and was excited to check out this latest edition, which focuses on making jewelry from commonly found objects. Some techniques used include cold joining, soldering, crocheting and felting.

The books offers projects using china, plastic bottles, bubble wrap, glass, plastic bags, textiles and more. There's even a bracelet and earring project made from sewing snaps!

The project that inspired me right off was making jewelry from old tins. I've been wanting to try it for some time. I went to Home Depot to buy tin snips and ended up talking with one of men who worked in that section of the store about what I wanted to do. He suggested Klein Tools shears and they worked liked a dream.

I cut apart my tin, cut out some flowers for earrings and maybe a matching pendant. I filed them. (Here's a tip for filing--after using your metal files, use a buffing block for a really smooth edge. Start with number 1 and work your way around the entire block.)

I think the flower shapes turned out great. Now I just need to make them into jewelry. Jewelry Upcycled! will be available on April 12.

Cranes.

These two Sandhill Cranes have been hanging around the wetlands across our street. One day they swooped very low over me and scared me half to death! Their muted coloring with a bright spot of red could be a design inspiration one day.