Keepsake Crafts - Sharing the Love of Crafting and Sewing

Paddled Copper Headpin Earrings – Make It In March – Day 5

Mar 072014

Today’s project is from a Craftsy class, Make Your Own Wirework Findings. I’ve wanted to try it for a while, but didn’t have the heavy gauge wire necessary.

These headpins are 12 gauge copper wires with one end hammered into a paddle shape. You then slide on the beads (the green ones are lampwork beads I made a long time ago when I had a lampwork studio) and then roll over the loop. Simple, but quite interesting.

Watching Lisa demonstrate in the class I always had the feeling there was something tricky and mine would never come out shaped nicely, but her tips and tricks made them come out pretty good, imo.

The next step will be to make some matching ear wires, also taught in this class.

Check back on Monday for day 6 of Make It In March. In the meantime, happy creating!

Little Orbits Jewelry Links – Make It In March – Day 4

Mar 062014

Today instead of playing with polymer clay, I decided to work with 14 gauge copper wire and try one of the projects from Cindy Wimmer’s The Missing Link: From Basic to Beautiful Wirework Jewelry.

Cindy’s book walks you through making several different shapes and styles of wire links for jewelry. I love that the book isn’t project based, but gives you a jumping off point for your own creativity.

The links I made are ones she calls “Little Orbits.” They involve making large rings from heavy gauge wire, flattening and texturing the wire and then wrapping it with finer gauge wires, either twisted or not, messy or neat, matching or contrasting.

I think I’m going to love using these in projects and they’ll look even better after a patina with liver of sulfur.

Happy Creating!

Rustic Dragon Pendant – Make It In March – Day 3

Mar 052014

Today’s project is one I’ve been thinking about for some time.

It involves taking one of my dragon cameos and making a mold of it with Castin’ Craft EasyMold Silicone Putty. (This stuff from Amazon may seem expensive, but you get 16 oz. for $30, whereas at the craft store you get 3 oz. for $15. If you use a lot of molding putty it’s a deal.)

After unmolding the piece I beat it up a bit and added some texture with various tools.

I kinda wish I’d gotten a bit more aggressive with the toothbrush, as it still seems a bit too “smooth.” After baking I antiqued it with a dark blue, then dry brushed with white and silver.

I’m not 100% pleased, but think this is definitely an idea I want to pursue further. Especially since I’ve done all the work of sculpting the dragon already, these could be made fairly easily.

Why am I sharing only partially completed projects with you? It’s all part of a challenge I’ve set myself to work on at least one creative project every weekday in March and document the results here. They may not all be pretty, most won’t be completely finished, but at least it’ll be something. Check back tomorrow for the next creation.

Happy creating!

WOYWW – Miniature Pies In Bottle Caps – Make It In March Day 2

Mar 042014

Hello Wednesday All! Today’s desk shows me working on Day 2 of my personal Make It In March challenge. (See the previous post for what I’m doing and why.)

There are several tutorials on YouTube for making a miniature pie using a bottle cap as the pie plate. They were so cute, I wanted to give it a try. Those teeny little blue dots were all rolled out individually, then pre-baked before being added to the pie.

One of the thing’s I’ve noticed about really well done miniature polymer clay food is that you have to look at the real thing (or a good photo) and not just rely on what you think it looks like. Getting the colors and details right is what makes these convincing.

Those cherry pie crust strips needed to be thinner, but I was running out of time and didn’t redo them. I also didn’t have time to add gloss glaze to the fillings before taking the photos. That will add a lot to the realism.

Dunno that I’ll make a career of food miniatures, but these sure will be adorable fridge magnets. Check back tomorrow to see what I make next.

And, if you have some time, check out the desks of other creative folks from all over. It’s a weekly blog hop we like to call What’s on Your Workdesk Wednesday and you can find all the details over at Julia’s.

Happy creating!

Make It In March – A Creative Challenge

Mar 032014

Do any of you other creative types find yourselves frustrated with the number of ideas you have vs. the amount of creative work you actually get done? It seems to happen to me cyclically, perhaps three or four times a year. The inertia sets in and it’s just much easier to sit here and do “creative research” (read: check out other blogs & spend time on Pinterest) than to go and make things myself. I keep thinking I’ll do it later, then it gets late, the hubs wants to watch a couple episodes of Dr. Who, and that’s it, day over.

In an attempt to conquer this problem I have set myself a challenge for the month of March. I’m calling it “Make It In March,” and I’m committing to working on at least one creative idea every weekday for the month of March.

I hope you’ll enjoy the journey with me, as I promise to post one photo every weekday of what I’ve accomplished. It may not be pretty, but it’ll be something.

If you’d like to join me, let me know and I’ll link to your blog, flickr or what-have-you from here.

Today’s project was based on a sketch I did a few weeks ago. I won’t call it a total fail, cuz I did learn a few things:

The concept of making my own bead roller looks good on paper, but requires far more time, precision and patience than I’ll ever want to invest. Hence, the scribbling out.
In order to have applied decoration on a round bead, first the base bead has to be make and pre-baked, then sanded, then the vine applied & baked, then one side of flowers & leaves applied & baked, then the other side of flowers & leaves. =====ugghhhh===== I refer you back to #1, more time, precision & patience than I have.This was as far as I got with this one and then decided to call it done.
I DO often invest time, precision AND patience in many projects, but they first have to enchant and interest me. Like with any of my dragons or the chocolate charms I made a couple weeks ago.
No idea is so horrible it can’t be redeemed, which is why I saved the drawing in my sketchbook. Who knows, someday I may revisit it with better and different skills than I have now.
Many ideas seem good on paper, but it takes time and experimentation to see how they work out for reals.

I love the color & look I got when partially mixing pearly clay with my green. But these leaves from a borcer mold are way too bulky.

These are fairly large beads, meant to be focals, and I sort of like the concept, but I think I’m going to go back to dragons… or chocolates.

Check back tomorrow to see what I make.

Happy creating!

WOYWW – Butterfly Card -February Tim Tag

Feb 252014

Happy Wednesday, all! Would you believe 99% of the products on this desk are for making one little card?

It can be a bit much for us crafters, but if you’re Tim Holtz and Ranger, it’s nothing less than brilliant marketing.

The result of this messy desk is my card based on Tim’s February 2014 tag.

I was determined not to spend more than an hour, but it probably took closer to an hour 20 mins. It came together this quickly because I just grabbed the closest thing that would kinda work for the technique and refused to agonize over any one step.

Yes, his layering stencils are cool, but I don’t have any so I used a brass stencil. I needed sponge daubers to get into some of the small areas rather than shred my ink applicators, and it worked out well. The clear embossing over the distress inking makes the colors much more vivid.

I’d tried his chalking technique before, but didn’t care for it, so I just silver embossed the sentiment.

A clear embossed background stamp on the kraft card base gives some interest.

I only own one Distress Glitter, Pumice Stone, and I bought only that neutral color for a reason, so I could color it with any color alcohol inks I need. In this case the glitters for the flowers were colored with Purple Twilight and Wild Plum alcohol inks. Just two drops in about a teaspoon of the glitter made these soft colors. Need more brilliant colors? Add more ink! (If you try this don’t get worried if when you first stir it looks like a clumpy mess. Keep on stirring and it will smooth out perfectly.)

And, on my other workdesk, here are the brothers napping together. Actually, Cheech was on my other workdesk last week, hanging out with me while I did the hand stitching on the velvet jacket. What are a few light cat hairs on a black jacket compared to such good company?

So, that’s what’s on my desk this week. Want to see what other creative people are up to? Check out the blog link party over at Julia’s What’s on Your Workdesk Wednesday.

Velvet Ribbon Flowers Jacket – Simplicity 2148 Pattern Review

Feb 202014

A couple weeks ago I mentioned I was working on this jacket. Welp, now it’s done.

This pattern has been hanging around for a while, and when I saw the ribbon flowers fabric I knew just what to do with it.

I don’t know that I’ll ever make any of the other pieces in this pattern. The other jacket (the purple one) is cute, but whenever I look at those slouchy pockets all I can think is that I don’t need anything adding weight around my hips. (The model’s got no hips to speak of, so it works just fine on her.)

Here’s a closer look, I’ve overly lightened the photo so you can see some of the detail in the fabric. Also, Robin insisted I model these earrings, so here you are, Robin!

As I mention in the pattern review, this jacket works up quickly, mine would have been even quicker if I hadn’t lined it.

Happy creating!

Simplicity 2148 Pattern Review:

Pattern Description: This pattern has a variety of coordinates including two jackets, pants, a long skirt and a top. I made jacket B, which has flounces along the bottom of the jacket and the sleeves.

Pattern Sizing: I used a 16, with some adjustments.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? Yes, I really like this style.

Were the instructions easy to follow? Yes, this was a fairly easy project to put together.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? The only thing I didn’t like was how the inside facing was supposed to be stitched in the ditch from the outside, leaving a raw edge on the inside.

Fabric Used: I used a stretch velvet with stitched on ribbon flowers from Joann’s. I was afraid this fabric would be difficult to work with, but a walking foot was all that was needed to make it a cinch.

I was also concerned that the decorative stitching thread left on the inside would be scratchy and would catch on things, so I lined the bodice and sleeves with a lightweight black knit.

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made: Before I started to sew, I did a little planning to decide which sections of the pattern would have the fancy fabric and which would have just a plain black stretch velvet. Click here to see my blog post on how I did this.

Since the pattern only went up to a size 16, I did some altering to bring it up a little larger so there would be plenty of room for layering.

Instead of machine top stitching the hems I hand stitched them, thinking that machine stitching on stretchy velvet is not only difficult to get neat and even, it crushes the pile and doesn’t look as nice. Of course, it wasn’t until I was done with all that it occurred to me that I should have simply lined the flounce sections as well. It would have given them a bit more weight and saved me all the hand sewing.

I turned under the raw edge and hand sewed the facing on the inside. I did try machine stitching in the ditch from the right side per the instructions, but between all the layers and the general squidginess and stretchiness of the velvets, it couldn’t be done neatly.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others? I definitely want to make this jacket again in a lightweight knit, maybe in a bright color like pictured on the pattern envelope. This is a flattering style for me and I enjoy wearing it.

Conclusion: A nice addition to your wardrobe that goes together easily. My only gripe is the raw edge left on the inside of the facing.

WOYWW – The Charms of Chocolate

Feb 182014

Happy Wednesday, all! Sorry I didn’t participate last week, but I’ve been spending way too much time watching the Olympics so there was nothing at all interesting on my desk.

(Click on any of the photos for a closer look.)

This week, however, I’ve been working on something I’ve wanted to try for a long time: polymer clay chocolate charms. Naturally, I first had to get samples for research, but for some strange reason my research materials were nearly gone by the time I got to working on the project. I wonder where they went?

It’s rare that a project comes out looking as good as you pictured it in your head, but I’m quite please with these. (Just wish I could eat them!)

The chocolate covered cherry needs something shiny inside, but I seem to be out of gloss finish. Guess I’ll just have to go shopping. After that these will all be put together and then I’m gonna have the yummiest (looking) bracelet around.

Here’s a shot with a dime to give you some idea of the size. The largest is about 3/4-inch (2cm) square and the smallest is about 1/2-inch (1.5cm) square.

These were so much fun to make, I may do more and add them to my Etsy shop. But I’ll probably have to do more research first. ***grin***

If you’re wondering why I’ve posted a photo of my totally messy desk, you mustn’t be acquainted with the phenomenon that is What’s on Your Workdesk Wednesday. Check it out! It’s fun and you’ll find you’re getting to know folks from all over the world.

Sparkle & Gold Crystal Earrings Video Tutorial

Feb 102014

Just in time for Valentine’s day here’s a great sparkly, dangly pair of earrings. With hearts! ….and crystals… and gold. How much better can it get?

Now that I’ve gotten used to Swarovski crystals, I don’t think I’ll ever go back to anything else. You just can’t beat their quality, sparkle and shine.

These earring aren’t for those of you who like them small and simple. These are long, with lotsa swingy dangles & jangles. I love ‘em.

If you want a less complicated version, feel free to leave off any of the elements and simplify.

Whatever you create, make sure it’s something you love. Happy Creating!

You can watch Sparkle & Gold Crystal Earrings Video Tutorial over at YouTube.

Materials:

2 10mm Swarovski crystal hearts, amethyst
2 11mm x 7mm Swarovski crystal teardrops, amethyst
2 6mm Swarovski crystal bicones, crystal clear
2 4mm Swarovski crystal bicones, crystal clear
2 20mm square fused links, gold plated
2 10mm round fused rings, gold plated
2 2-inch pieces 26 gauge gold filled wire
2 7mm jump rings
2 decorative head pins
2 plain head pins
2 ear wires

Tools:

two pair chain nose pliers
round nose pliers
wire cutters

Slide an amethyst teardrop and a 6mm crystal onto a decorative headpin.
Make a wrapped loop by using chain nose pliers to grasp wire just at point where it exits last bead. Bend wire at 90° angle. Grasp bend with round nose pliers and wrap wire around pliers as far as possible to start to make a loop. Reposition pliers to finish loop.
Twist slightly to the side to open loop and insert square link. Close loop and hold with chain nose pliers.
Use second pair of chain nose pliers to wrap remaining wire around wire below 90° bend. Use wire cutters to trim, if necessary. Use chain nose pliers to tuck in end.
Wire wrap heart crystal by sliding piece of 26 gauge gold filled wire into hole of bead, leaving 1/4 inch sticking out on one side. Bend both wire ends up at 90-degree angle to hole of bead. Bend wires over top of bead, making a triangle shape. Where wires cross bend remaining ends of wire up, perpendicular to bead hole.
Grasp both wires with chain nose pliers and bend longer remaining wire at 90° angle. Use round nose pliers to make a loop with longer wire. Hold loop with chain nose pliers and use second pair of chain nose pliers to wrap remaining wire around wires below 90° bend. Use wire cutters to trim, if necessary. Use chain nose pliers to tuck in end.
Open a jump ring and slide on: loop of wire wrapped crystal heart, square link and 10mm round ring. Close jump ring securely.
Slide a 4mm crystal bicone onto a plain head pin and repeat steps 2 and 4 to make a wrapped loop dangle.
Open the loop and an ear wire and insert 10mm ring and loop of 4mm bicone unit.
Repeat to make second earring.

WOYWW – Making Jewelry Class Samples

Feb 042014

Hi all! Happy Wednesday again. As I write this Tuesday night, we’re expecting yet another snowstorm here on the east coast. Guess I’ll spend my Wednesday snowed in and doing crafts.

On my desk (click for a larger look) you can see I’ve been making samples for jewelry classes at Joann’s. The one on the upper right is interesting. It’s just seeds beads strung onto 28 gauge wire in such a way to make lots of little branches. Joann’s design in the red is called “Coral Reef,” but I think mine in the green kinda looks like seaweed.

The one in the upper left and on the mat is called the “Brassy Beaded Bib Necklace.” It’s rather fussy and complicated for my taste, but hey.

In the bottom right are three pieces I’ve made for upcoming videos, so stay tuned!

I you’re wondering why I’m posting a photo of my work table, it’s because it’s What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday. Check it out and join in the fun!

Happy Creating

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