Earrings!

 I've been working a lot lately, and haven't had as much time for crafting as I'd like, but here is a fresh offering of handmade earrings. Also working on a little crocheted pop tab bag today that I'll post soon =)! The earrings are all up on ebay this week so I'm posting the links after the pics. Thanks for looking!

~*Jolly Roger*~

~*Passage to India*~

~*Feathers & Stones*~

Belly Dancing & Moon Signs

No I haven't forgotten about you few and beloved blog readers that I have =). Just an update on what I've been doing the past few days...

I got a belly dancing book/dvd/cd/finger cymbals set. So I've been experimenting with that. Today I practiced two of the belly dancing moves, and did an hour of yoga. I realized I need to stretch my muscles out in order to be any where near effective at belly dancing.

I also got a moon sign book. Which is basically a great almanac. I want to try and plant something useful to grow around our apt this year. Some kind of vegetables and/or herbs. The book I got has a lot of advice on how to plant according to natural cycles.

So finger's crossed, and we'll see how it goes. I'll be posting pictures and stories on my progress in the coming days.

Also I'll be trying to craft some costume items for the belly dancing, so that will give me more to blog about I'm sure ;o)!

Beautiful & Free Cross Stitch Patterns!

I ran across this website a couple days ago, and chose this pattern called "moon worshiper"... The site has many high quality designs that are free for personal use. So far I've made a pretty good start, but I think I underestimated how much work it's going to be to finish lol! Still I think this pattern is gorgeous so I'm going to try my best. I'll post pictures of my progress when it begins to resemble something! www.intricatecrossstich.com

Valentine's Day 2012

For Valentine's this year we opted to stay in. Instead of dinner we had an assortment of appetizers and made some chocolate covered strawberries for dessert. Also I set up this little altar coffee table scape to set the mood while we watched "The Music Man". Complete with a rose from my bf, floating candles, a rose candle, and rose incense. Oh, and of course wine =)! Gotta keep working on that cork board... It was an intimate, and lovely evening. We enjoyed it much more I think than if we had gone to a fancy restaurant.

Wine Cork Board

I've been saving wine corks for awhile now, and I decided I want to make a cork board to hang in the kitchen. I'm gluing them on in a brick formation with some weldbond (love that stuff!). I will cut some corks in half to finish the ends. I got the birch board for a couple bucks at the craft store, and when I'm finished with the corks there will be a trip to get some wood trim for the frame. I'll probably paint the frame black. The black wire you see in the picture will be for a hanger at the top. Might put some key hooks at the bottom. More pictures when I'm finished. Since I'm using one kind of cork for the whole board I still have some wine drinkin' to do =)...

Ok so what I'm doing now is showing some past projects... here is a quiver I made a year ago. I got the quiver pattern from http://www3.sympatico.ca/ragiwarmbear/diy/bc/backplan.html
This is a great and simple pattern that I highly recommend for a beginner leather project. I didn't have any large pieces of leather so I layered and stitched together several belly pieces for the main part. I think it turned out pretty well, and the person I gave to for Xmas was very appreciative =)!

Here is a painting I finished awhile ago. I call it "Forest Queen". It's a mixed media piece with acrylics. The main image was cut from a magazine, and pasted to a blue background, and painted over. Then I painted in the tree branches. The butterflies were drawn, and painted on paper as accurately as possible from real specimens then pasted on. Finally I painted the leaves at the bottom, and varnished the completed painting.

Wow! I don't even remember signing up for this... but it says 2007 lol! I've been wanting to create an arts and crafts blog for a while now, so it's time to stop procrastinating, and just do it. I hope to find many other bloggers on here to be inspired by, and to inspire in return. This is 2012... and no matter what you may believe many people feel that this year is a time for change. A time to manifest who you truly are. That is what I hope to do here.

Growing up we didn't have a lot of money for things I wanted. I have 3 other siblings, my dad is/was a carpenter, and I had a SAHM. We just didn't have enough money to spend on frivolous things. I spent a lot of time by myself creating things to play with. Even if there was a shortage of popular toys or technology... my mom always made sure there were plenty of art supplies, and there was always the great outdoors (or backyard) to use my over abundant imagination on. Although I'm sure I didn't appreciate it as much as I could have at the time, I'm incredibly grateful now because it created an ever questioning mind and a fertile playground for that imagination.

To this day I'm the girl that you will find examining a product at the store to see how it is made. I have a really hard time purchasing anything I think I can make myself!

I always have a million projects going on at any given time, and this will be my outlet. A way to document... a way to share the joy and hardships of being an obsessive crafter =)!

Welcome to my world!