Showing posts with label bead table. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bead table. Show all posts

Peek at My Week: July 29 - August 4

Another week whipped past me and now we're almost in the middle of another one. How did that happen?
Despite having a "helper" this week, it's been hard to get anything done. Once she's in my lap, I can't bear to disturb her!

I spent more time on the raised beds. I only have one that wasn't covered in weeds so I used it when I transferred more compost tomatoes into it. Like last year, they've seriously drooped. But, I'll wait and see if they perk back up like before. 

The purple color of my single Crepe Myrtle stopped me in my tracks. Isn't it lovely?

I also took pause outside the pole barn when I spied something poking up from the ground. Yes, three years here and I'm still steadily finding buried treasures!

The old hinge had a beautiful patina on it. I hope to start assembling some of these finds into art at some point. 

I did steal some time away from the property to enjoy a night out with one of my best friends for her birthday. We enjoyed some drinks and a cheese plate. It took some work to find a place near me that had both a good beer selection and a good cheese selection. We're thinking we may need to open our own beer and cheese place. Ha!

I played with much more tin - experimenting with a variety of designs. However, for the most part, I spent a huge chunk of time just punching out tin.

I also worked on home decor projects like finishing up the other two chairs. The above was the before.

Now I have two of each of these re-covered chairs. I adore the mismatched-ness of them.

Art was hung and re-organized around the house. I made this earlier in the summer and finally sealed it to be hung outside. There's been a real lack of artwork in the house as most of our pictures are buried in a room that's begging to be unpacked (waiting for some bookshelves to be built). The lack of items on the walls has started to drive me a little batty. To remedy that, I grabbed a bunch of art from the craft room and hung it in the hall and in one of the bathrooms. There's still the rest of the house to worry with, but it's a start!

Oh, please tell me you find this amusing too. Pat says it's not all that funny. 
See, the Doctor of Physical Therapy is Dr. Walker. Funny right?

I ended the week with a large margarita at our local Mexican restaurant. Yes, that's a single serving. I think the mini pitchers are so cute. It may look bigger than it is because I have TINY hands. It was so good!

Here's some of the inspiration I found this week:
Art & Artists:

Television:
  • Mr. Roger's Neighborhood was one of my favorite shows growing up. As of late, Mr. Roger's has been given a lot of attention. One of his actual neighbors shared his story about meeting him.
  • Have you heard about Making It on NBC? It's a craft competition show. I've been waiting months for it, and it finally premiered last week. So, you haven't missed much yet if you want to jump in and catch up. 

It's time to make this week count, and that means actually getting some stuff done. How's your week shaping up?

On my Desk (WOYWW)

Ever since I got the craft room cleaned and organized the other week, I've done a pretty good job keeping it that way. I've even been pretty good at cleaning off my desk between projects. . .pretty good - not perfect. And, of course, I usually have several projects going on at once. Currently, this is the state of my craft desk.

In the center is my to do list. I took this picture first thing this morning, just after I finished writing it out. Just above that are some keys for a tutorial I'm working on for a secret project. . .to be revealed later. On the left is my art journal with black scribbles (I was trying to use up some paint) and a finished altered playing card (the flower). Of course, there's also a large mug of coffee and all the other miscellany I keep within reach. Just these few things have me a bit overwhelmed at the moment, so I think I'm going to clear the excess to clear my head and get motivated. Do you work better on a messy desk or a clean one?

I'm linking up at Stamping Ground for What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday (WOYWW).

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.


What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday (WOYWW)

In my last What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday post, I showed you a picture of a neat, organized, two-project desk. Today. . .chaos reigns. There's so much going on that I simply labeled the pictures for you.
Left side of desk
Right side of desk
I've been a labeling madwoman; not only am I making jewelry and working on my second Journaling by 5s journal, but I'm in the process of reorganizing and sorting through the found objects and old jewelry elements I use in jewelry making. I spent a good portion of yesterday labeling organizers and picking through the bulk of my stash.

Getting to sort through this stash and see exactly what I have has been so inspiring. I hope that mojo sticks with me long enough to get some items made, hence the chaos.

So, what's on your workdesk?
I'm linking mine up to WOYWW at Stamping Ground.

What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday (WOYWW)

Yesterday's desk started off with an insane amount of chaos. But, I took the time to clean it off and start anew. This morning, I found only two projects on it.

I started with the in-progress art journal page.

And finished it quickly with some doodling.

Now to focus on some jewelry-making.

I'm linking up my desk at Stamping Ground's What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday.

Seriously, what's on your workdesk today?

What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday (WOYWW)

I've been overflowing with ideas lately - for jewelry, for blog posts, for papercrafting-art journaling and thus I seem to get nothing done for jumping from one activity to the next. I think putting some of my jewelry in that display has really given me some kind of new freedom or something. Now, if only some of it would sell!!

Anyway, I'm playing along once again with Julia from Stamping Ground and all the other creative folk for What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday.
This is today's desk. On the bottom left is my bullet journal waiting for me to make my daily list. Above it is some jewelry I'm making for another possible local opportunity for selling. On the bottom right side of my desk are some supplies for a postcard swap I'm participating in. The postcard is actually hidden under the messy deli paper (shhhh). Along the back of my desk is just the stuff I need to clean up and put away.
Yesterday my desk looked like this
A bracelet I was making from old earrings and pins
And, Monday morning I walked in to find my desk like this!
GAHHHH!!! I was a chaotic crafter on Sunday!!
I'm much happier about the shape of my desk today since there's only a couple of projects to focus on. Do you function better with just one or two projects on your desk or do you like to have all the options there at once?

Make sure to hop over to Stamping Ground and see what's going on on other craft desks across the world.

Doing All the Things and What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday (WOYWW)

I constantly feel a need to

Seriously, it's a sickness. I'm forever

  • joining and participating in Facebook groups
  • taking on challenges
  • delving into new projects
  • listing and marketing my jewelry
  • thrifting whenever I can
  • commenting on other blogs
  • trying to clean my house
  • planning and making meals
  • blogging about all of it
  • and so much more. 
Sometimes I even get to create something. At the end of the day, I never quite feel like I've accomplished anything. . .no matter how much I've crossed off my to do list. It actually makes me tired thinking about all of it.

Please tell me you feel the exact same way. If you don't, please tell me how you manage all of it. I'm desperate to find some way to streamline all my tasks. In all of this, my desk stays just as busy as I am with the tasks that fly on and off it (or get buried under the chaos).

At the moment, I'm in the midst of working on Shannon Green's Journaling by 5s project. You can watch her video (previous link) or read about it on her blog,

This is my desk prepped and ready for Session 4: Words/Images

If you want to see how the project is going for me, you can check out my first few videos.

In addition to those supplies, I also have these luscious beads from Juli Cannon at StudioJuls that I just received in the mail. 
I need to carve out some time to play with these yummy pieces. But first, I have to conquer EVERYTHING ELSE!!! Sigh.

Please tell me how you manage it all.


WOYWW (a day late)

I have been up to my eyeballs in paperwork and computer work and I haven't even started gathering the 2014 tax stuff yet. I've been so busy, I actually took all these photos yesterday for What's on Your Workdesk? Wednesday but never got around to editing them. So, I'm a day late. Le sigh. Here's what my workdesk has been looking like.
No beads or paint. . .how sad this is.
Now that my big paperwork-y project is close to done, I can hopefully pull out some of these
Paints and pens
Or these
Spray inks and markers
Or some of these
Stamps
Or some of the fun stuff on this shelf
All kinds of goodies (paints, inks, sprays, powders, etc.)
And, I especially want to play with these!
Beads! Glorious beads!!

I guess I need to stop writing about it and go ahead and get to it if it's going to happen today. Where would you start with all these options?

I'm sharing this late link on Stamping Ground's What's on Your Workdesk? Wednesday (WOYWW)

What's on Your Workdesk Wedneday (WOYWW)

I'm desperately trying to get so much done that it feels like I'm not accomplishing anything. I don't even know how that's possible. With so much going on, my desk feels a little schizophrenic at the moment.
At left is my to do list, then some beads in a muffin tin, and washi tape at the far right.
Here's a better look at some of what's going on.
I've re-filled one of my muffin tins and am SLOWLY getting some items made from it.

Then there's the pile of Valentine washi tape. . .just waiting for inspiration to strike.

As you can see, there's not much in process at the moment. Like I said, nothing's getting done. Blarg! Hopefully once I check off, 'blog post' from my to do list I can engulf myself in creating. . .oh wait, laundry first. Anyway, I'll be linking up this post with What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday at Stamping Ground.

What's covering your work area at the moment and are you getting anything done?

On My Desk and A Wheely Hop

After the last two very non-creative, lack of eye candy posts; I thought it best that I change that by sharing some of the projects currently occupying my desk.

Alas, Earring Day has expanded past earring week and may turn into earring month if I'm not careful. These supplies still occupy a large portion of my work table.

I haven't touched the mixed-media, art journal supplies in a a week or two so I was aching to pull them out. I started on this page in my 'journal' this morning while I edited some pictures.

Lastly, something that used to resemble this (below) has my attention.
I've somehow failed to mention that several months ago Janet of Honey from the Bee sent out these wooden wheels to myself and several other jewelry artists as part of a challenge. 
She asked that we take these and transform them somehow into jewelry. The reveal is next week, October 1st, and I've waited until the last minute to work on it. Though, I've had an idea for a while as to what I was going to do.  Make sure to drop by next week and see what's become of my wheel. I can't wait to see how the other participants have transformed theirs!

Bead Table Wednesday | Upcycling

Though Bead Table Wednesday originator, Heather of HumbleBeads, is busily prepping for BeadFest I'm simply dreaming that I was jetting away to BeadFest myself. Instead of sulking, I'm keeping myself busy in my own studio. Take a peek at what's on my desk at the moment.
You may recall those rings in the center. They're off the file folder dividers I found when we bought the desk we thrifted and upcycled back in October. I'm finally ready to do something with at least some of them.
As you can see, I'm starting by flattening them out. Next, I want to add some color.

However, I'm not sure what medium I want to use to color the metal so I'm just going to play. (L-R: Vintaj Patina in Verdigris, Gilder's Paste in Patina, and Iced Enamels Medium and enamel powder in Turquoise Relique).

This should be fun! Though Heather's not doing the link-up today, I'd still love to know what's on your Table too. Let me know in the comments.
Bead Table Wednesday is the brain child of Heather Powers of HumbleBeads who encourages you to show off what's on your creative desk each week.

I'm also linking up to Thoughtful Thursday on Cozinest and Show and Share on Coastal Charm.

NEW website (and blog to go with it)

 Hey y'all!! I've got some news. It's great, but also bittersweet. After almost NINETEEN years here on Blogger/Blogspot, I'v...