Sunday Creations

I was very busy today. I needed to catch up on repairs today, so those of you who have jewelry with me you will be getting it back...finally. Actually, it is always fun to give people back there jewelry as good as new. They are so excited to have there favorite piece back.

So, I went to a local bead fair this weekend. I went because I needed a couple specific things I have not been able to find online. Not only did I get some Thai Silver for the silk ribbon bracelets

I been making, but I was drawn to some beautiful gem stones. The gem stones took me back to my early days of beading. When I thought about it...I 've been making jewelry for almost 20 years. I remember going to some of my first bead stores in Chicago.

I was inspired to make some simple gem stone and silver necklaces. They are very casual and are great for everyday and they also goes great with active wear.

I will be working on getting then on my etsy site later tonight or tomorrow.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Beth

Be Creative for your MOM

This Sunday is Mother's Day! I get my love of jewelry from my Mom. She wake up everyday and right after breakfast she puts on her jewelry. She carefully takes each piece from her jewelry box and decides if this is the one she wants to wear today.

She is like a kid, when every I visit...She asks " Did you bring me any new jewelry?"

For special occasions I like to make her something new.

The two necklaces below are what I make from my Mom and for Peter's Mom (she loves jewelry too!).

A beautiful silver pendent on a black silk ribbon accent with thai silver beads

This is purple necklace on the left is for my mom. She like to wear color and I though the purple and green looked great together.

The bracelet below is for me! I was very inspired by the silk ribbon. The ribbon was hand dyed and it gave cool effect to the ribbon and the thai silver is a great effect

I hope some of these new creations inspire you to be creative for your Mom!

Creativity 365 Everyone can be Creative

Today, I want to tell you about some creative activities and creative people.

Ahhh...a young bride to be. Who really wants to play those silly games at a bridal shower anyway. I came up with an activity that would double as a shower favor! I bought sweet little earring kits from artful soul for each of the people who attended the shower. During the shower everyone spent sometime being creative. I had bought some inexpensive tools so everyone could share them and work on the earrings together. It was fun to see people get excited about something they made!

This gorgeous baby blanket was made by my friend Vickie for one of her dear friends who just had a bouncing baby boy. I love the non-traditional

color blocks...blue can get boring. Although Vickie has a demanding job she finds time in the evening and weekends to keep her creative juices flowing. This will be something little Jacob can treasure for a lifetime

I am looking forward to featuring many creative people on my blog. I hope everyone is spending sometime everyday being creative!!

Creativity 365 Valentine Project

I have this super cute felt heart hanging on my front door. I am the envy of all my neighbors, they couldn't believe I made it. I guess they just don't know how crafty I am.

I was reading through some of my favorite blogs and I came across this great project. It is easy, you don't need many supplies and it is pretty inexpensive. At the end of the post I will link you to the blog "the idea room" and you can see other variation on the same project with styroform wreaths and balls.

Supply List

1 yard of felt-on the bolt (joann fabric has it for $4.49 a yd)

1 styroform heart (joann's has these for $4.99)

lots of dressmaker pin's--essentially straight pins and they a

re the 1" 1/16 inch

3" round pattern--I used a glass to trace around

scissors

thimble--optional

As you see from the picture above you first cut out lots and lots of 3"circles. The fabric comes doubled and I wouldn't cut more than two at a time otherwise they start to get a little deformed.

Directions (also here is the link from the idea room for some additional pictures).

Take one circle and fold it in half and then in half again, place a pin through the point on the bottom and start pinning them to the form. It looks better if the little rosettes are not too close together, so they open a little. Judge for yourself...one you get a few pinned in you will get the idea. I do suggest you go to the above link for some good pictures.

This project only takes a few hours to make, so you have plenty of time to make one before Valentines day.

I'm make my second one tonight to send to my Mom for v-day. She still likes to decorate for all the holiday's, so I thought this would be perfect.

Happy Creating!

Beth

Organization and Inspiration-Creativity 365

As many of you know part of the creative process is being both organized and inspired. I have spent much of my creative time this month trying to get organized. With limited space it becomes a domino effect. To organize one thing you have to clean out something else. I have bought alot of different types of storage containers, I am not in love with any of them, but they do the job. Part of the organization challenge is I have to pull out things and I make a huge mess all over the house and then I have to put everything away. I wish I had a studio, a dedicated room for all my craft and jewelry supplies.

There is a certain amount of inspiration that comes from looking at all your supplies and pulling things out you haven't seen in a while, so it is all good.

If anyone out there has organization tips let me know and I will share them on my blog in the future.

I also continue to be inspired by all my fellow artist/crafters. I am addicted to reading blogs, my daily reading list is getting longer and longer. Some of my very favorites are vintaj, lillyella, anthology, amy hanna, french press knits.

These are just a few and I will share more later, but check

these out. It is just inspiring to know that "handmade" is alive and well.

I have been neglecting my etsy shop, but I do hope you will continue to stop by to see what is new. Here are a couple of the beauties that are available.

I have tons of new designs swirling around in my head. I also am planning a to revamp this blog page. Additionally, I think I am going to give photoshop a try!

There are not enough hours in the day for all the things I want to do!!

Creativity 365...

Welcome 2010...a New Year of Creativity 365

Creativity 365 is my blog about doing something creative everyday. Whether is art, craft, vocation or activity, it is about what motivates you and keeps you inspired. Being an educator allows me to be creative at work and designing jewelry keeps me creative at home. Creativity feeds my soul.

It's a New Year and everyone is talking about resolutions. I feel like resolutions at the beginning of a year sets you up for failure...life changes everyday, so what was important one day may not be what you are working on the next. Make mini resolutions, maybe it is one you set each week or each day! If your resolution is to be healthier don't just say you are going to eat healthy and exercise. Set mini goals each day...today, I am going to walk 30 minutes or I am going to learn a new receipe.

Set mini goals to be creative everyday...take a class, pull out that yarn you bought last year and ditch the idea to make a sweater with the yarn and use that yarn to make scarves, neck warmers, and coffee cup cozy's or organize all your jewelry and take apart some of the necklaces you never wear and make something new out of them!!

I'm always asking you to share your creations with me, so I want to share a couple creation from my friends.

My sister-in-law is a scraper..she makes beautiful

cards and I especially love this one because I am crazy about birds right now. Fly Free!

I went to a Christmas cookie exchange and my friend Sylvia made these AMAZING window pane cookies. They are so vibrant and absolute gorgeous. If these don't inspire you...I don't know what will!! And they tasted good too!

I have been inspired by vintage jewelry lately. I remember as a child I use to love to look through my mom's jewelry box at all the old--vintage jewelry she had. Boy, I wish I knew what happen to all those beautiful treasures. I have been making pieces for my Modern Vintage line on etsy and I am doing a lot of research about reposing vintage jewelry...I'm excited to start collecting vintage jewelry pieces to incorporate into my "new" pieces. In the meantime take a look at some of these beauties

Busy Creating

Wow this holiday season has been busy so far. After Thanksgiving, we went out to get our tree and we did all our christmas decorating. Last weekend we had our 13th annual christmas party, which is a weeks worth of creating. Making all our own food and desserts. We tried some new recipes this year. Chicken liver pate dip and Buffalo chicken wing dip were a couple of the favorite.

Also, I have been working on some jewelry designs and filling christmas orders.

Here are some of new items I made

I made this sweet little charm necklace for a friend...she is going to give it to a special friend of hers.

Tell me what your making this holiday season. Are you making any of your christmas gift?

I hope I have inspired you to do something creative today!