Days of My Craft Desk | Episode 2

What's with this year already? It seems to be just slipping away. Maybe it's me. That's the more likely case. I feel completely distracted and can't quite accomplish one task before I'm off on another. My desk is a perfect example of this scattered, unfocused trend. In the last episode of Days of My Craft Desk, I showed you the evolution of my workspace over a single day. Today, I offer you a look at it over several weeks' time.

Like beads rolling across the craft room floor, these are the 
Days of My Craft Desk.

Warning!! Those who are neat freaks and need complete and utter organization should look away before continuing to scroll down.

On January 4th, I started my day as always - making my to do list in my planner/bullet journal. I like to use a variety of pen colors to highlight different tasks. My favorite pens are the pilot V5 RT. I love that they are retractable and have an extra fine tip. LOVE!

By 11am the next morning, I was working on relisting some items in the CraftyHope Etsy shop. The items making their second appearance were strewn on my desk. And, I was probably on my second cup of coffee, my lifeline.

That afternoon had me pricing earrings and putting them on cards. Most of those pretty pairs on the right are now in my Southern Antiques and Accents booth.

On January 11th, I dove into my thrifted jewelry stash for a broken brooch. I also pulled out some Chinese crystals to match. These components came together as a necklace fairly quickly.

By the next morning, the necklace was complete (though not removed), and my daily planning was underway.

Just days before my Mardi Gras ball, I started gathering components that I thought would go well with my costume. I knew I was only making earrings so I did try to limit my selections. It was difficult.

At 9am on Jan 19th, I started on my daily list. However, I was distracted by all the pretty pens. Being me, I had to line them up in Roy G Biv order, obviously.

This was the state of my desk on the morning of the 21st. I was trying to finish up/start on some altered playing cards (not the ones in the link, but just so you get the idea). I had hoped leaving them out like this would help me find inspiration. It did not.

Two days ago, upon finishing the cards, this was the state of my desk. Yes, a complete disaster of stamps, inks, brads, glues, and more. GAH! But, I got them done nonetheless.

So, that's been the gist of what's come across my desk lately: scatterbrained, schizophrenic chaos. And the days seem to keep slipping away. Please tell me I'm not the only one whose craft desk is suffering from multiple-interests disorder. If so, I guess it's all in the life of a craft table.

Tune in next time to see what else is in store in the Days of My Craft Desk.

Bead Table Wednesday (7/23/14)

Even with all the pondering and list-making I was doing last Wednesday, I was still able to finish the necklace I had on my desk before jumping headfirst into another project. (YAY for finishing something!)

Since I was doing some heavy soul-searching and goal-writing, I decided to work on a project that needed very little thought but still would keep my hands busy.

I collected a small assortment of beads and dumped out my leftover hoard of wire scraps onto my bead table.

From there, I've just been attaching beads to other beads with wire via simple or wrapped loops to make beaded bracelets.

I think these would work well alone or stacked together with other bracelets. So far, I've got quite the collection.

This busy-hand method has left my mind free to brainstorm other projects and pursuits. So that's what's on my bead table today. What's on yours?

Bead Table Wednesday (BTW) is the brainchild of Heather of HumbleBeads, and you should see the beauty that's on her craft desk today!

BTW: Industrial Chic

I've been going in quite a few different directions over the past few days. It seems like the hours and minutes just slip away from me. I don't know how it happens.

In the meantime, I've got all these Industrial Chic goodies sitting on my desk beckoning to me, wanting attention, waiting for inspiration to strike.

Anybody seen my muse?

What's on your desk this Bead Table Wednesday?

Link up in the BTW Flickr Group.

BTW: Top 3 items most likely found on my craft desk

It's Bead Table Wednesday and I can't show you exactly what I'm working on just yet. Plus, I'm kinda in a holding pattern while waiting for inspiration to strike. So, since I can't show you EXACTLY what's on my craft desk, I decided I'd show you some of the things you are most likely to find on my desk at any time.

1. A beverage of some sort (most often a mug of coffee or glass of water.)

2. My pliers, a must-have for most jewelers

3. A plethora of bead-filled zip-top baggies

Of course, my desk is usually overloaded with an abundance of other supplies and miscellanea, but you really don't want to see that mess. Really.

What three things can most often be found on your Bead Table?

Check out the Bead Table Wednesday Flickr Group.

BTW: Procrastination

I've had the same set of beads and components sitting on my desk since Friday afternoon. I've rearranged them about 40 times.

I have a vague idea of what I want to do with them, but can't seem to find the time or energy to actually MAKE something with them. It's distressing.

I know I've been busy since Friday with the nieces and Pat and family things and planning wedding showers and. . .  you get the idea. But it just doesn't feel like I've accomplished anything at all in the past five days.

And, here I am delaying the actual work again by writing a blog post. I don't feel like I'm subconsciously procrastinating for any particular reason, yet there it all sits.

I love where I'm going with this, I really do. I've just got some kind of mental block on getting it finished.

I guess it's about time to jump in and make it happen.

Join in the fun and show off what's on your craft desk in the Bead Table Wednesday Flickr Group.

BTW: Putting out, not just taking in

After scoring a bunch of antique store crafty treasures as well as having my pick of items from the Bead Swap USA Box #7 last week, the supply of STUFF in my craft room has definitely increased. My lack of creative motivation has been waning to an abysmal point. There's just a lot more coming into the craft room than going out. And, it won't happen either until I start transforming my hoarded treasures into wonderful works of wearable art.

With that in mind, I took a good hard look at the miscellanea on my craft desk and decided it's about time I actually made something with my baggies of goodies.

This was how I packed a bunch of my beads for vacation a few weeks ago and here they sit unpacked. It was time to do something about it.

In actuality, I started this process yesterday. Using the loose beads that were in two little bowls, I made these earrings.

I may re-work the skull ones on the bottom right. I think gunmetal may work better than the brass.

Then today I started on the bags. I picked the ones closest to me and dumped them out. They were also the two SMALLEST baggies. I didn't want to overwhelm myself.

All that goodness was just packed away.

After sorting through the above beads and moving them around on my desk, I've come up with about six different design ideas. Granted I'm still working on the first of them, but it's a move in the right direction I think.

So, what's crowding your Bead Table today?

 Join in the Bead Table Wednesday fun in the Flickr Group.

Bead Table Wednesday

Since the sea glass bits were cleared from my craft desk, it was time to start a new project. After sticking with a mainly blue palette, I thought I'd go for a bit of vividness and pulled out a rainbow array of buttons and some silver wire.

OH, ICK!! It wasn't working for me the way I had envisioned at all and soon was swept off the desk also. I replaced the colorful hues with something more subdued. Though, I did stick with the button and wire scheme.

You'll have to come back in a few days to see what the above supplies turned out to be.

Oh, and see the green bucket on the right? That's also in residence on my craft desk at the moment.

It's my completed-projects-that-have-photos-but-no-descriptions bucket. I may have mentioned my organization methods before, but in essence it involves an array of bins, buckets, and baskets. I have all my completed jewelry sorted depending on what has been or needs to be done with that piece of jewelry. This might actually a perfect topic for another post. Hmmm. I'll have to work on that.

Anyway, that's what has been on my bead table today. What's on yours?

Join in the fun in the Bead Table Wednesday Flickr Group.

Before I head out, here's a reminder that sign-ups for the Bead Soup Blog Party are THIS WEEKEND and this weekend only!

Be there or be square! You don't want to miss out on all the fun do you? Check out the official Bead Soup Blog Party Blog for all the information and details.

BTW: New Projects and Groups to Inspire My Creativity

Look at me getting back into my old routine. Woohoo! I hope I can keep this up, but it's only the second day of the year so we'll see.

To help keep me motivated on some of my goals, I've joined a few groups/projects. One is The Year of Jewelry Project. It's a Facebook group that gives you a prompt/theme each week for a year to create a piece of jewelry and explore your creative process.  The first prompt is "Renewal" and that's the project on my desk presently for this Bead Table Wednesday.

As soon as I saw the theme for this week, I had an idea. Now it's just up to executing my design before the deadline of Saturday (1/5).

It's getting me to attempt some fun and new mixed media skills.

As well, I get to play with my beads and buttons for the first time this year. If you're interested in joining the group you better hop on it. I remember reading that they'll only be taking new members until the first deadline of Saturday.

In addition to that group, I've also jumped on board Sally Russick's (of the Studio Sublime) new project called Focusing on Life One Photo a Week.

She'll be sending us a photo prompt each week and we have the whole week to capture something inspired by the prompt. You can read more about it on her blog. Personally, I think this will really get me in gear to work on my "learn to operate my camera better" goal for 2013. The first reveal for this group will also be Saturday, Jan. 5th. I'm not sure if Sally is still accepting new members or not, but it couldn't hurt to ask her if you are interested.

I hope I haven't gotten myself in over my head with these new year-long projects. For now I'm really excited about the possibilities and creativity they may bring.

So, that's what's on my Bead Table this Wednesday. You may find more Bead Table Wednesday in the Flickr Group, but it doesn't look like there's been much activity over there in a little while. Come on guys! Play along with me and share what's on your craft desks too.

Do you have a plan on how to foster your creativity this year? Why not join one of these three groups or let me know what ideas you have to get and stay inspired. I'd love to hear your ideas.

BTW: Lacking Focus

It took me a whole week to get the bottlecap piece finished that was on my bead table last Wednesday. Goodness. I think I need to just sit down and do some smaller bits like earrings and bracelets for a while. However, with the Holiday season upon us, I can't seem to focus my attention on one project at a time.

Case in point,

As soon as last week's project was done, I pulled out these bits above. I'm not clear on what direction they'll take yet, so there they sit.


I've also been working on making this awesome rolled paper Christmas tree from Kayla Aimee. Now it's just down to glittering the star I made to top it. (I'll try to remember to share some pictures once the whole thing's done.)

Seriously. I need some focus.

 Check out the Bead Table Wednesday Flickr Group to see what's gracing others' work benches.

Do you have trouble focusing this time of year too or are you one of those people who's absolutely prepared for the holidays?

BTW and a Rant

I discovered that my craft desk has been in just about the same state for several weeks now. Want proof? Check out my BTW post from two weeks ago (click link) and how it looked this morning.

Yes. . I said lookED because I finally finished up that necklace lickity-split and started on something completely different.

Yup, it was Hammer Time! (I crack me up.) I love the crusty rusty-ness of this old bottlecap (found in a parking lot) and sealed it in with some Renaissance Wax after I banged the back all down.

Isn't it cool!?

I'm not exactly sure what the next step will be, but I'm hoping it's not on my desk as long as the last project! Check out more productive craft desks in the Bead Table Wednesday Flickr Group.

Bead Table Wednesday

Now for a rant. I listed this bracelet today.

Cafe au Lait Button Bracelet

Pretty right? It's one of the many from my button bracelet making extravaganza. After listing it, I pinned it onto my "jewelry" Pintrest board where I typically pin jewelry that is for sale (mine and others'.) Within a few hours I was notified that the image had been re-pinned. GREAT! Wait. . . it was re-pinned onto boards with titles like "DIY", "Stuff I Want to Make", and "Craft Ideas." This means that those people who like my design have no intention of buying the bracelet, they want to make it themselves.

The re-pinning of it seems to be a double edged sword. On one hand, people are seeing and liking my design, my product is getting out there, people are possibly clicking into my shop! On the other, there's no buying going on. Hmmm.

Now, I realize this is a super simple design. I even have a super similar tutorial pinned on my "Jewelry Tutorials" board. But, there's something about pinning someone's product onto a DIY board that just irks me. I even went back through my "Just Do It. . .Yourself" board to make sure that I haven't made the same mistake. I'll admit that I did find one or two from my early Pintrest days. EEK! (I quickly moved them to other boards.) But I'm trying to decide just HOW MUCH this irks me.

I tweeted/facebooked about this and received several suggestions that I watermark my Etsy images. I've been concerned that a watermark would distract from my designs. As well, I'm not sure if this is really that big of a problem or if I'm just being pissy today. What do you think? (not about me being pissy. . .) How would you handle this? And yes, I have considered commenting on those re-pins but I thought that might extend beyond pissy into the $itch range. Should I just DO a tutorial on making these bracelets, start watermarking, or take it as a compliment and just get over it already?

Oh well. . .back to the craft desk for the time being. Thanks for letting me vent.

BTW: Meh

You know what you like. You know what you don't like. And then there's all that stuff in the middle that makes you feel.. .meh. . .

That's how I'm feeling about what's on my desk today for Bead Table Wednesday. Actually, it's been on my desk since Sunday. I've actually felt so blah about it that I've busied myself with other tasks to distract myself from my lack of feeling on this project.

I guess I'm probably over-exaggerating things by saying that I have NO feelings about this project. I really like the bright colors contrasted with the black. I like the key and the wing piece too. However, it's the way that it's coming together, the actual DESIGN of the piece, that makes me so iffy about it. So, I'm letting it simmer for a while to decide how to proceed; take it apart, keep at it, or redesign it entirely. Eeesh!

Do you ever experience this lack-of-feeling about a piece? How do YOU deal with it?

There's more Bead Table Wednesday in the Flickr Group.