More Poppies and Demo Items

October 14, 2013December 27, 2017 ~ Michelle

I decided to look up felt poppies and so many more wonderful ideas were out there.

Take a look at this:

felt-poppies-11

Aren’t these adorably charming? These are from Agnes and Cora and you can find them here. So sweet.

And I found these too:

main

Again, so beautiful. There are such wonderfully creative people out there! These lovely poppies can be found here.

And although this one is done with a stamp, I think it looks great!

coloring_poppies

You can read all about how she made her poppy here.

I got the felt I bought from eBay, and have made a couple of patterns and started cutting out poppy petals. In fact, I’ve made 20 this past week, and have 24 more cut out on my dinning room table.

Here are the few that I’ve made so far. I wanted to try a few different ones, and decided I have a favorite. It’s the one on the bottom right. I really like the black felt backing; I think it makes the red stand out more. The top left one is inspired by Mary Engelbreit’s flowers. The double red one is inspired by a poppy I found on the web: here.

1381301_530782250329277_1618497383_n

And I thought I’d post a few pictures of what I’ve been making when I do demos at the store.

1377432_10202104979406013_1196539747_n

Here’s a bracelet I made that is very similar to one a friend of mine bought for $85. She saw it at a spa, and fell in love with it. But it was too small for her, and she had me add beads to it to make it larger. This one uses the same beads, but on this one I added little beads that ‘hide’ under the ring beads and peak out as you move and those rings move.

1382344_10202143274483366_1488313015_n

And I like those beads so much, I thought a fun little pair of earrings to go with the bracelet. Again, those little ring beads at the top will move around, so they’re very playful to wear.

1383511_10202143273763348_2026148264_n

I really love this one and think I’ll have to make one for me! The blue and gold beads are so charming and bright – definitely bringing out the best in each other! I used what I have on hand for wire, but I think I would use gold wire for the one I make for myself.

1383504_10202143274283361_796211892_n

And lastly, here’s the detail at the end of the Y design on the blue & gold necklace. I used a few of those same beads from the bracelet and the rings hang loosely over the blue and gold beads at the end.

There are lots more, but these are my favorites. I’ve definitely been having fun!

Happy creating!

Beautiful Gifts

March 4, 2013December 27, 2016 ~ Michelle

I was out for coffee with a friend from my college days. We’d been roommates before either of us got married. She married her boyfriend – the one she’d been dating while we were living together – I traded up a few years later. My former roomie and I always got along very well and still keep in touch all these years later.

My friend, Valerie, is very creative. And she’s always encouraged me to stay creative. She’ll remind me if I’m not doing something, that creative people need to do something to stay happy. She’s right. She wants me to pick up knitting again. I want to reply, ‘Right or left-handed?’, but usually tell her I’ve fallen in love with bra-making. It takes up all my spare time and a good chunk of my thought process.

Back to knitting, I did learn both ways of knitting. Right-handed knitting is something my Mum taught me. I understand it’s English.

But not everyone in the world is English. A friend I met from Japan teased me about throwing the yarn when I knit, and she taught me left-handed knitting. It’s a much ‘tighter’ way of knitting. Your hands barely move, just the fingers. And the needles stay relatively motionless – not a lot of up and down movement going on.

I must say I prefer right-handed knitting, even though it does go more slowly because we really do ‘throw’ the yarn around the knitting needle tip, however I’ve done it this way for many years, and it’s what is embedded in my brain.

Valerie is an Artistic Fibre Specialist, and is incredibly talented. I was privileged to be on the receiving end of her talents this week. Valerie brought me a couple of gifts.

Scarf Full Image

Isn’t this exquisite? I was so impressed with this lovely scarf. Almost made me push my sewing machine aside and take up knitting again. I settled for wearing it the same day I got it.

This is the second lovely gift I received.

Neck Warmer Full Image

Valerie does incredible work and not just to give away as gifts. She has an Etsy store. You can see more of Valerie’s designs here:

Intricate Knits

No time for sewing for me this week. I’m making Anointing Oils for a Ladies’ Retreat, and a Custom Medical ID Bracelet – one of my favorite designs:

Noble-116

This is a Triple-strand Bracelet made with Gold-filled beads and Swarovski Crystals. It’s a very elegant Medical ID Bracelet – you can see the ID tag hanging in the back.

I have a treat coming later in the week, or early next week. All I can say is it was love at first sight. And I’ll be starting a bra for a friend next week. She only wants something basic, but I’ll still take pictures and post them.

Happy creating!

Starry Nights… and Days

February 2, 2013July 16, 2016 ~ Michelle

Today’s blog started years ago. I bought an adorable pair of Murano glass earrings from The Shopping Channel. They were gold foil little stars with clear glass around the foil. They were charming. I got them home and then decided, no, I wanted to change something. (I do that a lot.)

They were strung on Sterling silver, and I didn’t love that. I thought gold foil would look better with gold ear wires. Well, I can’t play with gold, so gold-filled was good enough for me – still gave me the gold look, but not the gold price.

Unfortunately, the gold doesn’t look very bright, but the gold foil is just shining! So these little stars started a journey – I wanted something to match.

I looked for a LONG time; not constantly, but on and off for about three years. And then just before Christmas 2012 I found a web site that had the same stars!!! To say I was excited was a complete understatement! My Christmas money was spent before I got it. Thank you, Mum.

So, I got another star to have a matching set. Yes, I know – Matchy-matchy.

This star is strung with a gold-filled pin and bail. It’s on a leather cord. I love it. I’m so glad I never settled for anything less – this is perfect.

Well, once the necklace and earrings were done, I wanted a bracelet to go along with them. Good thing I’d ordered a few more beads!

Gold Foil Clear Glass beads & Faceted Rock Crystal bracelet

Here’s the medical ID bracelet I made to wear with my Starry set. This has the gold foil beads in different sizes, and clear faceted quartz crystals. It also has Sterling silver clasps. I love it too! But I always love whatever bracelet I’ve just made.

And one last little gold foiled gem:

Moon pendant or charm

I couldn’t resist this little moon bead. I got it so I could interchange the Moon and the Star on my necklace, but it also works really well as a little charm to dangle from the end of my bracelet.

I’m off to play with some patterns.

Happy creating!