Featured Artist from the On Fire Team ~ Creations By Moonlight

Adorn and Honor the Goddess in every woman.

This week's Featured Artisan is Allurynn - Creations by Moonlight! Beautiful creations by a very 

talented artisan! You can find Creations by Moonlight on:

Website

Etsy

Facebook

Twitter

Blog

Grab the code for your blog HERE

Music Monday! Pictures of You

You were stone white

So delicate

Lost in the cold

Natural Caribbean
Brain Coral  Pendant

Bell Coral Pendant

Something about coconut trees in the snow seemed right about posting this video today.

I spent the day listing some new Jewelry by Bridget, and started with the coral and shells ones that she did.

Being January, thinking of finding coral and sea shells was a comforting thought. 

I miss those weekend trips to the beach, even in January. 
This nostalgic and touching song seemed a good fit, and it's a great song.

The Cure - Pictures Of you

Get More: The Cure - Pictures Of you

Conch Tear Pendant

West Indian Whelk Shard
Pendant

Touching the pendants, thinking how the coral was all found by Bridget on her last trip to the Caribbean, and then brought back here and lovingly given a new life as a beautiful piece of jewelry makes me appreciate it even more.

Enjoy the pictures. 

Enjoy the snow and coconuts. 

By the end, I almost believed the coral and shells were back in the Caribbean sea............

I've been looking so long at these pictures of you

That I almost believe that they're real.....  

Friday's Family Jewels - Bridget's Rings - and NEW soon come!

When I mention that my mother-in-law is in town now for over a month, I often get looks of horror and sympathy. I have heard horror stories, and tales of horrible mother-in-laws, but I am forced to explain at each reaction to my statement, that I am one of the lucky few that has a wonderful mother-in-law. I explain that we get along better than if she were my own mother! That she is the complete opposite of the wretched mother-in-law stereotypes.

 

My Heart is at
Superstition Mountain Pendant

Then I get to mention that she is also a wonderfully talented and creative person who makes some very cool jewelry that I am lucky enough to show in my shops in the Jewelry by Bridget section. 

Venetian Glass Ring

Sands of Time Resin Inlay Ring

New to the shops are Bridget's small selection of rings. This was a new avenue she tried last year to explore the wire wrapped jewelry in more than just pendants. She made just a few, and I am happy to introduce them to you today.

Metallic Iridescence of Purple and Blue Toe Ring

Finally, tomorrow (after more than a month here), she is bringing me some of her new jewelry! All she has said was

 'I tried something new'. 

She said it like she had a great secret she was dying to share, but had to wait until the exact right moment before she could reveal it. 

 

When she tries something new, it usually is very cool, different, and SO creative. You think one of two things:

WOW, that is so inspired! Like this very inspired vase she made.

Whispers in White Vase
from my personal collection

OR 

Wow, that is funky! Like this 'Rasta Dude' sculpture she made.

Wha's 'appenin', mon?
She is keeping this in her personal collection.

I can't wait to see what she has created this time. It should be some incredible jewelry. 

 

But more important, I am so glad we can share the excitement of creativity, and get along so great while doing it. 

Walking on Wednesday - Alterations

I have limited sewing abilities. I have made pillows, sewn buttons on, patched jeans, and can even make a decent tied quilt. But alterations to existing garments are a bit out of my comfort zone.

Why did I need to make alterations?

My daughter needs a long, white, flowing skirt to complete her costume for the upcoming school musical. Our quest for a long, white, flowing skirt was a difficult one, especially since we procrastinated beginning the search, and it is January. (not exactly white skirt season). And the play is in one week.

I managed to find the perfect skirt though. Couldn't believe it! And it was on sale to boot! Only $7!

One problem though:
It was a size 1XL - She is a size 5. 
Out of the selection the store had, this was the smallest size white skirt they had. (They had sizes of the same skirt up to 3XL!) 
But since the play is about a week away, we needed to get something, and this one actually had nice applique work on it. 
I thought, 'it's a skirt, how hard can it be to take in? And it's for a costume, AND it's only $7. If I screw up, I can get another.'

So here I am today, making alterations to a $7 white skirt. 

I promised my daughter I could do it. She was doubtful, as any teenager would be when her mother says 'I'll make your clothes'. But I assured her it was no problem. 

The more I thought about it, unsure I was.

And now I sit here staring at the skirt afraid to make the deciding cut.

 I have thought it over, and have a plan. But that cut, once it's cut you can't go back. I am a little nervous. So nervous in fact, I started this blog, showered, and got dressed and still nervous about making that cut.

But I have a job to do, and my daughter needs this to complete her costume. 

The failure would be to not try.

Sure it is outside my comfort zone. Actually, I have never altered the size of a garment before. I have never completed a garment before. (I started a dress once in high school, still incomplete)

But I realized if I had failed to try, my daughter would have been in a disappointed panic. (Not to mention I would probably have to spend a fortune getting her a skirt in time.) 

I would have taught her a horrible lesson. I would have shown it was okay to give up. 
  
Raige would not be where she is today if I failed to try! (I would still be at that metal factory writing up shipping papers and filing - my last paying job)

No, giving up is not an option. We cannot succeed if we do not try! 

If this is not your mantra, you will not begin to feel the joy, the sense of satisfaction, the happiness of success. No matter if that success was actually a fairly simple alteration. 

A size 1XL down to a size 5

 There is also something wonderful about hearing from your hubby 
'I don't know why you think you can't sew! See? You are good at it, it looks great!'

And you don't hear things like that if you don't try.

Featured Artist from the On Fire Team ~ Dallas Soap Company

What a very cool shop this is! 

"Where soap meets art!" 

No joke, there are some beautiful soaps in this shop.

This weeks Featured Artisan is Dallas Soap Company! Yummy goodies to indulge

yourself in! Spoil yourself rotten... visit Dallas Soap Company! 

You can find Dallas Soap Company on:

Website

Etsy

Facebook

This is my fave, of course with purple in it, 

and the smell must be awesome! 

Mardi Gras Handcrafted Artisan Soap
Refreshing Citrus Blend

Be sure to stop by and see her!

Music Monday! Puff the Magic Dragon

In honor of the Chinese New Year today, 2012 being the year of the dragon, I am featuring the only good dragon song I know.  

The Dragon in Chinese Culture symbolizes potent and auspicious powers. It is also a symbol of good luck. 2012 is the year of the Water Dragon as well, proven today by the non-stop rain we have had so far.

Let today's new moon bring you creativity, and good fortune for the whole year. 

Old Beads, New Designs by facingEAST Designs - Guest Post

Today we are honored to have Anna Garner, a very knowledgeable and talented creator who has explored the world, helps us take something old, and make it new. Her interest in the histories of ancient cultures, art, art history, and ancient civilizations brings a unique look and feel to her creations. She is a wealth of information, and we can all learn to appreciate what goes in to making old things into new. 

Visit her shop at Crafts of the Past (for ancient artifacts, antiques, and new creations), her facebook page (where she shares stories of her archaeology adventures), and her blog, Facing East Designs (where she often shares how she creates, and explains the histories of stones and beads often used).

Old Beads, New Designs by facingEAST Designs  

by Anna Garner
 

During the last forty years of my life, I have collected beads and ethnic silver jewelry.   When I am inspired to create a new design from the loose pieces in my collection, I like to choose an old focal bead or piece of silver and then surround it with beads and silver from the many trays of loose beads of all ages and origins in my collection. 

For the purposes of this blog, I chose beads that are easily acquired without traveling as far as I have done in gathering up my stash of beads.  I always work from the focal section out to the ends in designing a necklace.  This time I chose a challenging shape to fit into a simple one-strand design.  That deep caramel bakelite bead from Yemen, dating from the first third of the 1900s, is a large bead.  It is faceted, or molded into a rounded cube with round flat faces on each side.  It measures 27mm in each dimension, just a hair more than 1 cubic inch of caramel bakelite.  It looks like a bead made of candy.  Not just any shape of bead can buttress each side of that size and shape of bead. 

Not only is that particular focal a challenge because of its imposing shape and size.  Its tone, or what I call its atmosphere, is somber.  It does not invite the addition of gaily colored lavender acrylic or bright lemony crystal beads, or at least not to my eyes.  So back to my trays of loose beads and broken necklaces dating from the late 1900s and early 21st century in Europe and America. 

Still, in keeping with my own brand of FacingEAST Designs, I wanted to maintain a traditional Middle Eastern manner of spacing beads along a string. 

The traditional Middle Eastern style of stringing beads is a relatively large or long focal bead or silver piece, then beads on either side that spread the V shape of much of West European and American necklaces into a wide U shape at the focal section of the necklace.  Then at each side of the focal section the complementary beads climb in a syncopated rhythm.  That is, the side beads may be all the same size and shape, but punctuated with larger metal pieces or larger stone or glass beads.  Sometimes the side beads are actually graduated as a modern European pearl necklace might be.  Even in those cases, you will find the string may be interrupted by contrasting shapes and sizes of beads. 

Back to the business of putting the piece together.  Bakelite was invented as a resin that could be colored to imitate the various natural fossil resin amber and jet beads of the world.  So I strung this focal bakelite bead with the bumper or spacer beads that are used in the Middle East to slow the wearing away of the sides of the bead.  I found the round flat black button beads made of the same material as the focal bead, but in black, to serve as the bumpers and separators in this piece.

The antiqued silver washed metal grooved bicone beads from a vintage 1980? broken necklace struck just the right somber note to accompany my choice of focal.  They also provided the gravity to prevent the caramel bakelite cube pulling the necklace into a sharp V shape at the bottom.  The black glass beads imitating jet had been strung on the same broken necklace with the silver colored metal beads, as were the smaller smooth beads of the same material.

But now I had to find some way of punctuating the climb up the sides of the necklace, and it needed to repeat the color of the focal to satisfy my eyes.  From a different tray, I found these modern jasper colored hard ceramic beads, shaped as irregular three-sided bicones, imitating a style from ancient times in Central Asia. 

As the ascending beads on each side of the focal section of beads, I chose these pale gray faceted acrylic beads.  They came from still another 1980s? era broken string of beads in the office-to-evening style of jewelry.  The same broken string of beads provided the gun metal gray coated chain and fastener. 

Putting it all together yielded this piece, which satisfied my goal of creating a simple one-strand necklace in a Middle Eastern style.  I used the antique bakelite bead with more modern silver, glass, ceramic and acrylic beads that kept the somber tone of the burnt sugar bakelite. 

Stop by Anne's online homes:

Shop on Artfire - Crafts of the Past

Facebook Page

Blog - Facing East Designs

Anna Garner

I am sure you will find the artifacts and information fascinating. 
You will find a new passion for the old, 
You will appreciate even more, the old made into new.