new muffin tin creations

here are the four little ones i've made so far from my muffin tin soups.

first up: hope.

hope's focal is a green girl's piece with emily dickinson's words on the back; 'hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul'. that's my favorite emily quote. it's just brilliant. i also used sodalite coins and briolettes, miyuki fringe beads, amber, czech pressed heart, an art bead clasp from amanda davie, an enamelled head pin from i don't remember where, and nunn design twig connectors. this was the first one i did from my soups and i just love how it turned out!

next: when my heart is breaking

 

i made this pendant in my metalsmithing class. first i cut out the oval with a jewelers saw, hammered around the edges with my ballpeen hammer, stamped the words, epoxied the labradorite to the metal, then painted the words and wiped it off to leave the paint in the stamping. the words say, 'when my heart is breaking, i never leave your hands'. it's a quote from one of my favorite singers, sara groves. i used abalone, rock crystal, aquamarine, freshwater pearls, a mystery stone, brass ring, brass chain, a gaea clasp, and bronze and nickel wire. the word dangling from the bottom is 'faith'. i was excited to again use one of my own art pendants. i'm really happy with this necklace, as well.

followed by: the skeleton key

this was my third creation from the soups i made. i'm not quite as happy with this one. i expect i'll continue fiddling with it. the key is an andrew thornton creation. i added the leather around the key's middle. the circle to the left of this is made up of  peanut seed beads, a technique that i picked up from heather powers' excellent book. i made all the long copper links and the large copper circle up at the top. i used russian amazonite, amazonite, filigree links, a rose link, and a gorgeous handmade toggle from cassie donlen.

lastly: lock me up

i'm also really pleased with this one, as well. it's all sterling silver. the pendants are from nina designs. i used rubies, links from dragonfly findings, freshwater pearls, amber, and a mother of pearl button.

so that's what i've made so far! this is so exciting! what are you working on that's exciting you?

muffin tin challenge--late is better than never!

so i must admit that i was very intrigued by heather powers' muffin tin challenge that debued last year. but i had no muffin tins... earlier this week i found my mom's tins and i got to work, going through all my beads, looking for the perfect components. i must admit, this was a very cool way to design, working on twelve necklaces at once. i love love love what i've started out with!

i added a few more things after i took this picture, like leather around the skeleton key and some peanet seed beads to three of the cups and a few other random things.

i've already made one of the necklaces and i absolutely love it! i'm so excited about this project. it feels good to get back in the swing of things!

echo creative club

i am so excited to announce to you guys that i'm part of jeannie dukic's jewelry design team for this year (!). i can hardly believe my luck. so the deal is we choose our months and then choose what components we wanted to work with. then we blog about it on the given day, and today is that day! so here goes.

i wanted to focus on a winter theme, so i chose a gin blossom in blue. when it arrived in the mail, i fell in love. it was so amazingly beautiful! i love art beads! so i put on my thinking cap, and i thought of snowflakes, so i dug through my cache, looking for ice. but i didn't want just ice. i wanted *richness*. yumminess. plummyiness. so i found some black and thought of bare branches. and what are bare branches without a few cardinals? and ice, of course. i pulled it all together but i wasn't happy, so took a few things apart, added a couple things... and loved it. it's called, 'cardinals in winter.'

i used steel and bronze wire, crystals, coral, rainbow moonstone, wooden chain, and copper, chocolate, and gunmetal chain. i've been loving the look of these industrial clasps, and i found some at jo-ann's the other day in the purse making section. always look in unexpected places and you'll find the coolest things! the briolette crystal in the copper circle is a preciosa crystal. i'm a rather biased swarovski fan, but i thought i'd give preciosa a go, and am pleased with the quality.

i had so much fun with this challenge and look forward to participating in the upcoming months.

thank you so much, jeannie, for allowing me to join in the fun! i *love* your work, and highly recommend it to everyone.

now let's go visit everybody elses blog!

Molly Alexander http://www.beautifullybrokenme.blogspot.com

Courtney Breul http://beadsbybreul.blogspot.com

Michelle Buettner http://www.MiShelDesigns.blogspot.com

Shannon Chomanczuk http://www.formysweetdaughter.blogspot.com

Cindy Cima Edwards http://www.cindycima.com

Beth Emery http://storiesbyindigoheart.blogspot.com

Kristen Stevens http://kristen-beadjourney.blogspot.com

Jeannie K Dukic http://site.jkdjewelry.com/blog

here is jeannie's website, so you, too, can own some of her gorgeous artwork!

a poem

here's one i wrote last night.

grief

the pain of losing
a dream is like the death
of a child. it's deep.
deeper and darker than the ocean.
there is nothing to
breathe, nothing to hold
onto. no one understands
your pain because,
come on, it's just
an idea. a wish. a little
light inside you
dying like a firefly kept
too long in a jar.
that's it.
just a flickering
of what might have been. but
it cuts so wide
to lose it. a jagged
hungry mouth, eating
eating your joy.
it feels like there can never
be joy inside
you again. no more

dreams. no more wishes.                                                                                                                    

no more life.

           

it's taken ten long
years to deal
with this pain.
but i'm getting
better. i'm moving
forward again. there is
light ahead, through
this valley of shadows
and death i see
a beginning. i feel
a spark. i am so
scared, but i must
try this path set
before me, this bend
in the road. finally,
i feel again, a little
excited, a little joy.
there is hope.
hope for something
new. a simple
dream. just a little
tiny wish this time.
nothing too big
for this
fragmented
paper
heart.

my word for this year

i have decided to choose a word to focus on this year instead of making resolutions that fail by the time the month ends. my word is:

transform

i'm really excited about this new word. choosing a word is a new idea for me. i've been inspired for awhile by other bloggers who do this and this year i was able to do it! so. transform. let's see what this energy brings!



new endeavor

time to let you guys in on my newest endeavor.

i've been making beads. polymer clay, to be specific. and i'm going to start selling some of them. sooo. exciting and scary.

here's everything i've made so far.

and here is my little shop!