Week 31 - Hues of Blue at the Butterfly House

The Cypress Gardens butterfly house is alive with wings and bright flowers...this is just a little taste of the blue family.  It makes me happy!

Taking a Challenge...to get out of the house!

I'm excited!  I need to reconnect to my blog friends and make a little jewelry.  What better way than to join in a challenge...the 2nd Annual Challenge of Travel hosted by Erin of Tesori Trovati.

The challenge isn't so much about traveling far...instead we need to travel near in the spirit of a staycation.  So, I get to focus on my recently-found home, Charleston.

Recently I've been feeling in a funk a bit because I'm just so focused on the job I haven't really been spending any energy on the rest of my life...my evenings are boring and my weekends are even worse. Luckily, my mom came to visit and got me out.  Now, this week I'm hosting my sister and her girlfriend and all of their boys...four of them from ages 8 to 11.  I had no idea the noise level and just overall confusion could go up within seconds of them walking through the door.  It's awesome.  Makes me appreciate the peace and quiet I normally have around here that I would generally assume is boring.  We are doing all sorts of things around Charleston and the local towns, so I'm already embracing the spirit!  Today, for instance, we toured a cypress swamp with a guide named Cowboy, rang the bell at the top of the climbing wall, played basketball (I watched and sweated), shopped at the Base Exchange for sunglasses, ate at a dive bar where the kids enjoyed reading vulgarity written on the table, and broke in my noodles in the neighborhood pool.  The day isn't even over yet!

So, I'm going to take a lot more field trips, even if I'm on my own, and get some inspiration for this challenge!!

Check out this Hipstamatic shot of an amazing flower (which I just figured out is a lotus!!) from the huge selection at Cypress Gardens today:

I'll probably end up facing an over-inspiration problem by the end of the month...and that's a good thing!!

Focusing on Life: Feel the Love

Yeah...I was thinking that "feeling the love" would involve people of some sort, but I think it's more about capturing how much fun I had with my friends at the Norfolk Botanical Gardens last weekend.  This is my favorite shot of the day.  The little sign near it said that it's witchhazel.  I've never seen anything like it before and when I think of witchhazel I think of Tucks medicated pads and then I just laugh and laugh.

So, I took along three friends who weren't really into "photowalk" mode, but they were great sports.  Then, I was a little surprised and really thrilled when they all pulled out their "little" cameras and phones and started playing when we went into the tropical plant house.  We ended up in there for about an hour and all had sooooo much fun exploring camera and filter features.  It was awesome!

I got a shutterfly coupon in the mail this week and decided to order a copy of this one.  Can't wait to see what it looks like live!

There are lots of photographer/bloggers out there sharing love this week...

Kiersten Giles Cone Challenge Reveal!

A few weeks ago I was selected to participate in a little blog challenge...and today's the big reveal day!  The centerpieces for the adventure are these handmade copper cones from Kiersten Giles of The Cerebral Dilettante blog fame.

Prolific inspirer and fellow blogger, Lorelei, picked five of us, plus herself, to push the limits of cone creativity.  They're a pretty standard component in jewelry, especially in multi-strand pieces.  So, it was time to think about cones differently...the gauntlet she threw at us was all about unique!!!!

Well...here's my take...

I immediately noticed the gently folded edge along the top of the etched copper and thought of rolled paper.  That led me to a cone reversal so that instead of something flowing out of the cone, I'd have something flow up...

ooooohhhh....like a farmer's market bouquet!  You can see some of my sketches at an earlier post here.

This first piece isn't so much jewelry as it is a little decorative ornament that could hang somewhere to liven up a space with sweet little copper and brass flowers and tendrils in a perfect copper "vase."

I have somehow managed to accumulate a massive stash of tiny flower pieces so I went to town with them and a variety of brass and copper headpins and created a bunch of different flowers by layering the little components along with some metal spacers.  I didn't want to create massive wire-wrapped stems, so I opted for some heavy duty glue to keep the flowers together at the ends of the headpins.  Just in case you try this...open some windows when you work with glue or you'll have a mysterious headache for two days...haaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

I was digging through my "scrap" wire container looking for small pieces to make spirals and happened upon a bunch of copper and brass that I had used to practice "balling" with my microtorch.  Because I was going for a rustic mix of metals, the odd fired finish at the ends was perfect for more tendril-looking spirals.

My second cone was destined for a similar treatment but with a little bit of a different finish....it became a pendant:

I used a silver pendant "blank" and glued the cone in place.  I used some clear glue (less fumes, since I figured that drama out) to fill in and create a kind of resin background.

Then, I added the flower bouquet!  A few sets of leaves from my "metal component" stash drawer rounded out the little nosegay. 

With a simple little copper ball chain, it's a really pretty accent to a plain white t-shirt!  The flower stems are all attached to a base wrapped loop, so they can actually be rearranged within the cone/vase.

Here's a shot of the working stems as I tried to decide how many to use and create the varied heights that would make the bouquet look balanced and unique.

And, there you have it!  Cones on the up instead of the down!!!  

I was thinking as I made this that I should do a tutorial...if you think that's a good idea, let me know in the comments and I'll work on some pictures of the in-construction piece so you can see how it all came together.  :)

And, now to point you in the direction of my fellow cone-ites for today's challenge reveal:

The host:

Lorelei Eurto at her Blog

The Crazier Sister at Crazy Creative Corner

BeadBug at Copper Glass and Recycled Trash

Yay!Jewelry at the YaY! Jewelry blog

Lori Michaud at the Artfully Ornamental blog

Thanks for stopping by!  

Hipstamonday: Sunshine in Pennsylvania

Curtis and I had a fantastic weekend up in Pennsylvania.  It was the second weekend of the huge Fall Foliage Festival, so I got to spend some time with my friends serving up some walking tacos to the masses.  That was only after we celebrated my sweet nephew Liam's 4th birthday.  How do these boys get so big so fast!?


We stopped at the rest stop just over the border in PA and there were some huge sunflowers planted around the building.  Nerds that we are, we were up in looking at them trying to figure out how the seeds are up in there.  I didn't have my "big" camera so I busted out the Hipstamatic and took a shot...love this yellow!

I have to get back to laundry and get ready for this short week.  Only four days until the next weekend...that means I need to get to work on projects featuring my very own enameled beads for the Painting with Fire book tour.

HipstaMonday

It's way too early on Monday morning and I'm actually enjoying coffee at the house where my husband lives (and I normally don't because we happen to live in different towns even though we love each other) while I check out some BSBP blog posts.  I have been so busy doing some hands-on creating that I haven't opened up my computer all weekend!  I was Blissfully engaged in learning new things and meeting new people at Artbliss on Friday and Saturday.  Thanks to Cindy and Jeannette!  I have lots of new skills to try and want to share all those results, but in the meantime, I'm going to go with a photo post...yes, it's the "easy" way out for an early morning post, but it's gonna have to do.

These are Hipstamatic shots from my trip to Gig Harbor, Washington, back in August.  I went out for a walk one morning and didn't feel like carrying my big camera so I just took my phone.  I ended up spending more time stopping for shots than actually getting sweaty, but it worked out since I got to see lots of pretty things.  I used the "shake" feature in Hipstamatic that will randomly change up the filters and lenses when you shake the phone.  You never know what you're gonna get!

I love these retro tones with the texture of these purple blossoms...

 The black and white of this shot brings out the contrast between the roundness of the buds and the lines of the branches.

 The brightness of the flowers draws me in, but then the focus drifts down to that juicy, shiny berry.

 Since I was actually walking along the waterfront, a little "nautical" shot that brings out the patina just wonderfully!

If you've been venturing out with some Hipstapics, I'd love to see more so feel free to comment and share a link!  Maybe we could start a new photo-blogging trend!

Macro Sunday: Orange Flowers at the Smithsonian

Mom and I spent Thursday afternoon walking around a few Smithsonian museums, including the garden near the castle.  These orangeish-pink flowers caught my eye.

I guess I take a lot of pictures of orangish-pink flowers.   

I just made some paper beads that pull in these colors and I didn't even mean to do that!  I'm going to make something with them this week...at least that's the plan.

And, finally, here's a really cool orange flower that's apparently a special exhibit there in the garden...it's from India and I just googled for about five minutes and can't find the name of it.

Click here to see more great macro photos:

Mountain Laurel Macro

Last weekend in North Carolina we took a jaunt down the Blue Ridge Parkway and it was just so green and fresh and wonderful.  Curt was loving the drive and the curves while I just sat in awe of the big trees, expansive views, and yummy fresh air.  We stopped at a few overlooks to, well, look over the view and wandered off onto a couple of trails so I could try to catch some mountain laurel shots.  We were in a different state, I know, but they're the state flower of Pennsylvania so I had some fond memories of my home.  I can't remember for certain, but I think I learned about all the official Pennsylvania flora and fauna from a placemat--maybe it was at Grammy Snyder's house where I spent most of my littlest years or maybe it was at the little Landmark Restaurant downtown where we had french fries with gravy with Pappy Hine.  Either way, it's a little flower with a big nostalgic punch.

I'm not especially happy with these shots, but with the breeze and my hiking over forest roots in sandals, they came out okay....haaaaaaaaaaaaaa  I also yelled out and almost had Curt run off the road when I saw orange flowers in the woods.  That's my favorite color, so I had to see them up close.  They're apparently a type of azalea.  

The rest of the macro Sunday crowd hosted by Studio Waterstone is out there...linked at this button:

What's Old is New Again...and More Awesome!

I'm proud to be showing off some goodies as an Artbeads.com Design Partner!  The latest challenge was  focused on taking something old and making it new again.  Good grief...there's so much potential there if you think of vintage jewelry or re-doing jewelry; the possibilities were a little overwhelming.  But, I decided to focus on metal.  I'm bringing some vintage metal into the picture and making it new again...and, I think, more awesome!  haaaaaaaaaaa  This is the first of two posts to share them.


First, I present a little mixed metal bouquet.  Well, maybe it's more like a little nosegay, but there are flowers in the centerpiece nonetheless.  I wanted to try out the Artbeads.com base metal pendants and see how I could use them.  This piece has a Nunn Design copper-plated "tag" pendant that's a nice oval with an oval cutout.  I thought about trying to hammer and texturize it, but then decided to go ahead and punch a hole in it.  My metal hole punch went through like butter for a nice clean hole.  From there I layered on some vintage flower pieces that I've been hoarding.  I fastened the flower layers together with a piece of copper that I "balled" the last time I had the torch out.  I left the oxidation on there to add a little extra dimension to the collection of patina on the flower petals and leaves.

I considered keeping it simple and putting the pendant on a chain by itself but decided to pull a little more metallic color and texture into it with a leather bail using copper crimp ends and a bunch of round beads--including some nicely worn vintage metallic finished rounds that have a rich, genuine patina.  Plus, I used some big 10mm bronze colored Swarovski pearls that bring in a little shine.

This piece is now listed for sale in my Etsy shop. 

The main focus of this post is to share some Artbeads.com goodness, which I'm happy to do not only because they provide things for me to try out, but also because I've been shopping at their site since I first started seriously beading in 2007.  They were the first beading website I used and won't ever forget the fun I had shopping for my first crystals.  Heck, I think I still have some of them here somewhere in the hoard!!  haaaaaaaaaaaaa 


I'll share more tomorrow with my other piece, including the inspiration from Cindy Wimmer's tutorial over at Pretty Things...

Disclosure:  I received the following products free of charge from Artbeads and I am honestly reviewing them:  Nunn copper-plated tag pendant, bronze 10mm Swarovski pearls, and JBB copper crimp ends.  I have not been paid for my endorsement as it pertains to the products received .   The post above represents only my personal opinion.

Daycation in Colonial Williamsburg

Curt was here over the weekend and we had a great time together.  It's fun to just sit on the couch next to each other and chill out, eat cookies (Cooking light recipe, of course), and chat about life.  Since we spend time together so infrequently, it's always nice when we can just relax and enjoy without stressing out about things.  We both do that enough when we're not together!  haaaaaaaa  On Sunday we drove up to Williamsburg for the afternoon to find someplace new to eat and walk around the little downtown area.  We had lunch at The Blue Talon, which was wonderful, by the way.  But, more importantly for girl trying to lose weight, we walked around for about an hour.  I had my camera handy like any good tourist, so I snapped a few shots in one of the gardens (and then played around with them on Picnik)  Here are my faves:


First, the original that shows a lot of the colors in the garden (with a little saturation adjustment.)  I love the pattern inside the bellflowers of the foxglove...I'm going to have to search for some beads that are inspired by that pattern.  Let me know if you have any references of beads to honor this poisonous pretty!  (I just googled to make sure I was calling it the right thing and found out it's a poisonous plant.  I'm glad we didn't like any of them.  haaaaaaaaaa)

And after a little Picnik play, here's a close-up of the focal set with lots of adustments.  I love the energy of the color in this one!

And then there was a big bumble bee.  I spent a good five minutes chasing it around the garden trying to get a decent shot without him moving.  Curt was cracking up as I kneeled down to get a shot and the crazy thing flew right towards my camera and scared me backwards with a little scream.  Too funny...no one was injured.  :)

I went to town on this one and have lots of other versions...I honestly don't know which one I like best!  The first one I spent a lot of time painting the background out into black and white...

Then, a little color changing magic...along with a few other filters to make this purple painterly version.

And then a little skinnier peachy version.

Okay, I think the last one is probably my favorite.  It actually looks yummy to me...apparently it's time for a snack.

Dandelions and Wacky Chunkies

It's always so funny to submit things to magazines because you have to do it so early that the seasons seem to be offset.  Back in November I had to get in the groove of April and May to meet the design deadlines.  Apparently it worked out because now that it's May, Bead Trends is out and there's a pretty little set all ready for the flowers and sunshine and rain showers (and pollen and stuffy nose....haaaaaaaa) that I'm proud to say I created!





I know we're more in dandelion's yellow flowering time right now, but eventually those little fluff balls will be out.  This polymer clay bead captures the fluff beautifully...it's from Heather at Humblebeads.  I found a few available in her etsy shop if you're coveting.





Those awesome lampworked glass disks are some of my faves from Heather (a different Heather) at HMB Studios.  She calls them "wacky chunky" and since I think of myself as kind of wacky chunky I have a huge collection of them as a sort of self tribute. haaaaaaaa 


She actually just posted this week that there are a bunch of new wacky chunky sets in her Etsy shop.





In addition to the awesome art beads, the other thing I think is cool about this set is the fact that those little bone flower circles actually came from Michael's...and I'm sure I used a coupon so they were a super deal.  It's a good balance of more expensive handmade beads with some bargains.  I'm trying to get over being too much of a bead snob.  :)  

Nature's Curls and Coils

On a hike through the woods near Bedford Springs, I used the camera as an excuse to take lots of breaks from the uphill parts.  I realized after looking at the results when we were finished (and sitting at the pub drinking a beer) that I found a lot of naturally-occuring spirals, curls, bends, and fun curves.  Oh, to take these and get inspired with a little wire.  If only I didn't have to get dressed and go to work.  :)

I just love the bite of this bark....haaaaaaaaaa

I'm really frond of this shot:

I'm going to use these for design motivation this weekend...feel free to share links in your comments to anything you get inspired to create from a little look outside!!!

Countryside Garden Flower Shots

I don't have beading tools with me, but I do have my camera, so I continue to look for color and texture inspiration.  Here are some shots from Countryside Gardens here in Bedford.  We were there picking up a couple of flower arrangements and I got a chance to shoot some blooms with no breeze blowing them all around!  You can almost feel the pollen coming off these babies!!  haaaaaaaaaa  Makes me want to go get some allegra.  :) 

Sunday Blossoms

Sharing a little spring flower mood on this Sunday evening...

I happened to wander over to Studio Waterstone and an effort to share the love...up close.  :)

So Little Time

I just feel like I don't have enough time in the day to do all the things I want or need to do.  I should be finishing up my taxes right now, but I'm watching Chopped All-Stars and playing with pictures and blogging instead.  I made a resolution as of April 1st that I will spend more time doing things that I need to get done to take care of myself and my family.  I tend to get 150% involved at work and then never take care of the things I need to do...I had a folder sitting next to my computer for three weeks reminding me to call the Bedford Springs to sort out the details of a big party we're having in April.  My mom was getting so irritated with me for not calling them that I was afraid to call her because I didn't have any new progress to report.  Heck, I still have to call the florist and I know I have to do that before I even try to call Ma or she'll kick my ass.  I told her that I'd like to spend a day hanging out with her and shopping to get her a new dress for the party in return for all the work she's done on it...she let me know that she didn't think we'd find anything expensive enough!  haaaaaaaaaaaa  I love you, ma!!


Anyway, I spent a great weekend with Curt and we took a hike on the Noland Trail which is a local park here in Newport News.  I'm mentioning this because I took my camera along.  Not only did I get some good pics, but I could randomly stop and pretend to see some need pattern in bark just so I could catch my breath and stretch a bit.  Curt thought I was being all artsy and I'm going to let him keep thinking that instead of knowing the truth that I was just plain tired.  


My bark pics actually came out pretty cool, but the shot I like best is this one....





For my bead friends out there...this is going to be part of my inspiration for the Art Bead Scene Monthly challenge that has a lovely Asian-inspired bamboo feeling.


As we wended our way out of the woods, we finally saw some trees with blossoms.  A little dogwood flower has some fun little purple tips.  So pretty!  The best part about this picture is that I had Curt trying to hold the branch still so the wind wouldn't move it so much.

He's such a good assistant.  

I'm going to grab another beer as this cooking show finishes up and the cat snores next to me.  I have another day of crazy taskers ahead of me tomorrow and one of my friends from the office has challenged me to try "yogafusion" class during lunch.  If I end up paralyzed you may not hear from me tomorrow.