Cupcakes and clean plates

We had delicious double layer Twins Cookies last night to celebrate hubby's birthday. They were made by the magicians at Twin's Kitchen. Yummy. The generous twins sent along a box with four sweet extra cupcakes that somehow remained hidden in our fridge until just a bit ago. Both girls asleep, hubby just home from work, the house a serious mess and we are putting on some music and cleaning up and licking the icing from our fingers. I have other, actual, work to do here on my trusty laptop* but I am blogging in between putting up all the dishes and dollies and colored pencils and hubby is washing, washing, washing.

Since we trade off time with our girls and time at work we are rarely in the same place at the same time except for breakfast and dinner (we always eat together!) and meals with children require a good bit of child-level and or interrupted dialog. The nightly clean up is one time when we can finish our sentences and even ask questions. You know, have a conversation. I seriously love to clean the kitchen with my husband.

So, dishes to wipe.

Oh, the Twins are at the Moore Square Farmer's Market on Wednesday. They'll also be at Ornamentea for the Designer's Downtown Market on July 19th. That's right out my front door. Extra yummy.

*why is it called a laptop when it lives on my kitchen counter? shouldn't I call it a countertop?

Color screen earring tutorial

These earrings feature large kidney wires and our new flat floral screens. I have backed the screens with some Nepalese paper smoothed on with resin. The paper adds a nice bit of color to all that metal.

To make your own pair you'll need:
2 antique brass flat floral screens
2 antique brass large kidney wires
2 antique brass jump rings, 7 mm
red hand dyed silk, cut two 2" pieces
large tube crimps
Nepalese paper in orange (from the Scrap Pack)
Diamond Glaze
plastic wrap (tape this to the top of your table to keep the Diamond Glaze from coating your work space!)
scissors
chain nose pliers

Cut two pieces of the Nepalese paper to fit just inside the back of the screens.
Using the Diamond Glaze, coat both sides of one piece of paper and carefully place on the back of the screen. Press down with your fingertip. Set aside and allow to dry about 20 minutes. Repeat with the other screen.

Feed one piece of the red silk through a large crimp, through a jump ring and then back through the crimp. Pull until the crimp is close to the jump ring and flatten the crimp with your pliers. Repeat with the other piece of silk.

Open one of the kidney wires and feed the end through the hole at the top of the floral screen and then through one of jump rings. Make sure the screen hangs 'forward' on the ear wire. Repeat with the remaining parts to create your second earring.

Here's a shot of the back to show the paper details:


The floral screens aren't on the site yet, but they will probably be up by later today. Look for them at both the stores later this week.

I did a couple of projects like this for the book that didn't make the final cut. I really like backing Filigree with paper-it adds some nice color without adding weight. Since these orange earrings go with my current hair swirl, I will probably wear them quite a bit, they are lightweight and pretty.

Getting time away from the business...

I was looking at the photos tonight. We did have a great time on our vacation. Nora learned to blow bubbles:




























I decorated my friend Charles' hat with a big felt flower that made it very warm:





























Cleo did some really brave waterfall exploring. She was up a bit too high for Mom's comfort level but I restrained the voice in my heart that wanted to shout "watch out, you'll slip" and she did just fine.





























I did some very simple and very pleasing (to me) stitching to some of my assortment of thrift store sweaters.
























My husband, Galen, even finished his own crafty project. Watch out, folks, next thing you know he'll be helping you at the work table. As long as your project is finishing a leather craft kit from 1976 you'll be in good hands.

























We had such a great time, it was relaxing and easy and now, after being home for 6 days we are caught up on the laundry and have unpacked and put away everything, even the beads and paint and paper. I am still finding pine needles in odd places, but that could go on for months.

Since my husband and I both work in the business it is hard to take time off in a big chunk. If you work for someone else there is a sense (at least there was for me) that my vacation was owed to me. Even if I had things to do, I still was fine leaving when my time off was scheduled. When you work for yourself there is not that sense of someone owing you anything. There is, instead, a sense of you owing time and energy to the business, the staff, the customers. At least, for me there is. We are also always so far behind what we would like to have accomplished that there is a big sense of being too busy to take off. There is always something you could be doing to make the business better. Our list ranges from cleaning the gutters at the store to creating sample boards to finding a new, better supplier for something we need. Our good friends, Charles (with the adorned hat) and his wife, Nancy, were the ones that first proposed this annual trip and we just booked it in the hazy glow of January. That's why this trip works. We book it so far in advance. We can't back out or get too busy, we go. In the end, the gutters wouldn't have been cleaned even if we had stayed home that week. If you are in business for yourself, how do you make yourself take time off? How do you keep yourself operating at a sane level throughout the year?

She's back...

so, I am back from my va-cay. Very nice week, I will try to post some photos later. I warmed up to work this week, putting off the email. I had 'only' 438 messages in my email in-box. Why do they think I need discount pharmaceuticals and enhancements oh-so-badly? I was able to weed through a few and saw a note from Elaine Ray about this fab ring created by Melanie of Earthenwood Studio. Elaine was looking out for me on my vacation-I wonder if she knew I'd have so many important offers to consider on my return?

Thanks Elaine and thanks to Melanie, too!

(And a big, extra, you-got-my-back thanks to Elaine for letting me know I called Melanie 'Melissa' when I first posted this. D-oy!)

See our painted masterpieces

We had a great time on our Staff Development Day when we closed down both the stores and spent the day at the park. We all did a bit of Round-Robin painting. The paintings were really great and now we are going to show them off to the world at one of my favorite places, Locopops. Yep, that's right, you can come see our paintings AND eat an Avocado popsicle. Or a Mango Chili, or even a Strawberries and Cream. If you haven't been to Locopops yet, it's across Hillsboro Street from the NC State Bell Tower.

You're invited:

Locopops
2600 Hillsboro Street, Raleigh

Thursday, July 3rd from 7:00-9:00

You can meet the artists and mingle with them, it will be the best art show you have ever, ever been to!

See you there!

The Desk is Clean! Let's get to work!

Voila! Here it is, the cleaned off desk. I found homes for all the bits and parts I had been just tossing on the desk and rolled up all the ribbon and filed all the paper sheets in their appropriate spot based on color or my whim. I even found a few goodies that I purchased on etsy from Blissful Provisions ages ago...so then I decided to search out Beth Quinn from Blissful Provisions and I see she teaches at the Blissful Living Studio in Arizona. Wowee. Those folks are new e-friends of mine! It is a small, small crafty world, especially when you finally clean up your studio...

Now I have to figure out what I am going to make with those mix-matched doll parts I got from Beth...Cleo has already nicked a few of the vintage alphabet cards for using in our vacation journal. She was pretty helpful today during the Great American Studio Clean Out...she wound wool roving, sorted beads and made several cups of lemon tea with her tea set. The amount of tea in those teeny cups really leaves one a bit parched.























We are off for our week long vacation on Monday. I will do the last bit of packing tomorrow. We are not minimalists when we travel like this. I aspire to be a bit Victorian and drag my creature comforts with me on a trip. We rent this sweet little rustic cabin with wood paneling and windows all around. The kitchen is tiny and there is a bathroom that reminds me of my parent's Coachmen motorhome, a la 1977. We bring a giant kilim rug, tablecloths, a lamp, a million baskets of shoes and swimming suits and the aforementioned craft supplies (it might rain! we also craft in the woods!)and all sorts of treats. We don't bring furniture-we just tough it out with the antique This End Up/State University Dorm Room sofa and beds that come with the place, but don't you think that I don't spend a good bit of time thinking how nice the place would look if I could just get a few truck loads of flea-market furniture in there for a cabin makeover. My husband reminds me that if the cabin looked that nice, we wouldn't be able to rent it!

So do go visit Beth and see her fabulous work and read her blog. She has great bits and pieces on etsy, too, if you need a left arm and a right leg and a bigger right leg with a shoe, but not from the same doll.

(and a big raspberry to all of you, including Kiona, who think I NEED a messy desk to work!)

Cleaning off the studio table

This is what my studio table looks like today. 9:15 a.m. I am going to excavate the wooden surface somewhere below all that crafty goodness TODAY. I am packing for our annual week-long cabin trip where I always take way, way too much in the way of craft supplies. This year I am planning on taking:

*journalling and book arts supplies to work on our vacation journal
*crochet hooks and yarn to help Cleo with her crocheting
*embroidery floss and a few garments that could use a patch or decoration to spruce them up (but no sewing machine or embellishing machine, do you see the restraint I am practicing?)
*wool roving and pipe cleaners and beads and ribbon to make felt fairies (oh, and I have to pop by the store and get a bunch of replacement needles for the felting tools, too since I will be teaching new felters to use them)

I know I will drop a few more items into the box as I am packing. Actually, just now as I am typing this Cleo and Nora are going through the markers making a can of 'going on vacation' markers. Ok, so add paper and children's scissors and a few glue sticks...

Anyway, look for a post tomorrow with the CLEANED OFF table. I may add a few pics of some of the other attractive areas in my studio as a treat.

New dress, makes me happy

Ok, yes, I know I shouldn't be just thrilled by a new frock. It's not 1954 and I am not Blondie Bumstead. BUT I went out and bought myself a new dress last week as a present for, uh, well, just because. I went into one of my favorite stores, Galatea* and tried on a million things and loved the dress but really, probably wouldn't have purchased it. It was so bright and blue. Then, somehow, tiny Nora puts the dress on and walks around the store while I am trying on other items. Now, I couldn't not buy it, what with her practically mopping the floor, could I?

So, thanks Nora. I owe you one. So far I have worn this dress three times and once my sweet hubby accidentally put it in the dryer. It came out unscathed! No shrinkage!

I look JUST LIKE THIS in this dress. Seriously.



*I like Galatea because I used to work for Cheryl AND because they have a store with a difficult-to-pronounce-name just like me AND because their clothes are cute and sorta trendy but don't make me look like I am trying to be 23.

See us at Bead&Button

Well, not really 'us' but sorta 'us.' Let me explain. Our good friends from DaBeads will be exhibiting at the Bead&Button show in Milwaukee. You can go and get a free Ornamentea.com tote bag at their booth AND see some amazing beads that you will love. Jon has great taste and he travels a few times a year to the Czech Republic to have beads made that will make your mouth water. He created my favorite monkey beads, the famous (but sadly sold out) green buddahs, and even the teeny black high top tennis shoe bead. His newest design is a featured above. These awareness beads come in seven color combos. All are nice.

If you are in Raleigh, you can pick up the new Breast Cancer Awareness beads at both stores or see them here.

Seahorse Necklace How-to

So, now that you have painted your seahorses you'll want to make them into a graceful summery necklace. This design features a central seahorse pendant and an assymetrical double chain and pearl spiral. I also used my favorite square jump ring at the clasp.

To make this design you'll need
1 large seahorse
1 small seahorse
19" antique brass bar chain, cut into one 2" section, two 5" sections, and one 7" section
1 antique brass square jump ring
1 antique brass spring ring clasp
3 antique brass jump rings, 7 mm
5" brass wire, 24 g
16 glass pearls, 3-6 mm










Wire wrap one end of the brass wire. Feed 14 pearls onto it (reserving two for the clasp end of the necklace) and create a wrapped loop at the end of the pearls. Twist this strand of wired pearls around your finger or a pencil to create a loose coil, like a strand of bubbles rising in the ocean. Use a 7 mm jump ring to attach one end of the coil to the 7" chain section, the 2" chain section and the large seahorse.

With your chain nose pliers, open a 7 mm jump ring and feed it through the other end of the pearl spiral, the 2" chain section and both of the 5" chain sections. Close securely.

Use the remaining 7 mm jump ring to attach the smaller seahorse to the 7" section of
chain as shown.

Use the remaining brass wire to wire wrap the remaining pearls to the clasp ends of the chain. Add the clasp and the square jump ring and you are finished!

Detailed tutorials on wire wrapping and other techniques are available here at ornamentea.com.

How to create a verdigris finish on raw brass charms and stampings

Here is a tutorial on how to paint an antiqued or verdigris patina on raw brass findings, stampings and filigree. If you have wanted to use a seahorse or octopus or other raw brass charms but wanted them to look a little bit old or worn or just more colorful, this tutorial will show you how.

You'll need
Charms to paint, I used 2 small seahorses and one large from ornamentea.com
Spray paint in 2-3 colors. For the painted seahorse I used a light, acid green and a darker, kelly green.
Spray paint in clear as a finish coat.
Paper towels or a smooth surface scrap cloth (not terry cloth)
Gloves (optional)
Paper or cardboard to use as a painting surface

1. Clean your brass. I use dish soap to wash the brass to remove any finishing oils or dirt. This is especially important if you have worn the charm already or if it is a vintage, flea market find. Skin oils or oils used in the manufacturing process will make the paint pop off. Wash the charm in soapy water and then dry it with a clean paper towel. Handle cleaned brass with a paper towel or with gloved hands.


2. Place the dry and cleaned charms on your painting surface. Using the kelly green paint, paint them with a thin coat. Immediately pick the charm up with a paper towel or gloved hand and use a second towel to wipe the surface, leaving paint in the details. Allow to dry 10 minutes.
3. Place the charms back on your painting surface. Repeat the painting and wiping with the acid green paint. These two steps can be repeated several times until you are pleased with the amount of verdigris finish. Allow painted charms to dry 1-2 hours.
4. Place the charms on painting surface and coat with a thin layer of the clear spray paint. This seals the surface and adds depth to the finished patina. Allow to dry overnight before using in a design.


















Tomorrow I will post with the directions for the necklace I made with my painted seahorses. If you are in Raleigh, I recommend the spray paint selection at Askew Taylor paints. They have an amazing variety of shades and colors including acid green!


Don't forget to check out all our tutorials on ornamentea.com!

New chain and silver rings

We just got in six new styles of chain in antique brass and antique copper and we have added a matte silver plated version of the brass rings that have been so popular. The new chains have me very excited, especially the tiny, curved bar chain in antique brass and a knurled antique copper chain. Look for these later this week or early next week. The chain styles are all auditioning for permanent parts in our offerings so we don't have them in all finishes. Let me know if you like one but really, really, really wish we had it in another finish...adding these new chains is bittersweet for me as we are marking down some of our 'old' chain styles, and some of them have been friends of mine since I first began selling my jewelry under the name Bedizen Ornaments. I am trying to console myself by looking at the lengths of the new chains I have sitting right here next to me on my studio table...perhaps I am not so broken hearted after all!

New Stamp Sets

I love these new stamp sets we have in. There are maybe ten different fonts, each with a some punctuation to match. I love to stamp words on paper, beads, metal clay, you name it...these are just a dollar each, which makes them extra hard to resist.

Order on-line or get at the stores...

Vacation Journal

Are you looking ahead to your summer vacation? I am. My family spends a week at a cabin in the mountains of North Carolina with loads of friends. We all have small children who will play all day and there will be wading in waterfalls, hiking up steep trails and lots and lots of roasted marshmallows.

This year I am taking an idea that I got from the talented Lois and making a Vacation Journal for my family to fill in during our trip. I have prepared pages, one for each day we will be gone, and put in spaces for photos and places to write our favorite meal, our favorite thing about the cabin, the animals we saw and the names of the friends who joined us. We also make up a lot of songs and I have set aside a few pages for us to write those down, too. My daughter, Cleo, is 5 and loves to write so I have made large spaces for her to do much of the writing.

I used a 7Gypsies blank board book with rings to make this journal and covered the pages with some 7G papers using the Binder's Tape. I used a few of the Envelopments pocket folds to make nifty photo pockets. I will bring pre-cut squares of lined paper and blank paper and colored pencils for my little artists to add commentary to the journal and some pages taken from my Rhodia pad and an 'adult' pen for my hubby and I to add our words. We'll paste the written on papers in as we write them. I have clipped some tags on and will permanently grommet the tags in their final spots at the cabin. I may use the clips to attach sticks, leaves or other 'found objects' that my girls pick up as treasures.

Lois' original books were actual altered books that she customized for her daughter and sons as they took trips alone. Her children have done this so many times now that they think of it as a natural part of taking a trip; you go away and you work on your altered book every day. She made a page per day and asked her children questions throughout the book ('what did you forget?' 'where did you get lost?' etc.) I think that especially for some teens and adults having a prompt every now and then would be a good idea.

I got all the goodies for my book at Panopolie, of course.

Octopus Necklace take 2

This octopus has a story to tell and it's one of lost hours dreaming of wings to fly above the sea and soar through the clouds. The bird, too, dreams of a different kind of flying, soaring underwater in the dim and liquid depths. This necklace by Madelyn Smoak is a darker take on the eight-armed charmer. My pink and punky version begs for a striped tee shirt and glitter eyeliner; this one might just pull on a sweater and read poems under a tree.
Madelyn's work can be seen here. She's tremendous.

Bug Off and make Bug Pins

These beaded bugs are the kind I like. The don't bite and you can pin them to your lapel or shoulder and have company wherever you go. The wonderful Prep Maynard is teaching folks how to make these bugs here at Ornamentea on Saturday. Call 919-834-6260 to register if you want us to save you a space. I think these bugs make great gifts and great summery accessories. I like the idea of pinning one to a beaded necklace as an accent. You'll make two bugs, and could make a mosquito if you want but why would you?

We have a major mosquito problem our our little corner of the world. Our back yard is a jungle and the buggies know it. Every year when the mosquitoes come out I switch my soap to this fabulous hand-made and yummy smelling bug off soap and I don't get bothered as much as my hubby. He refuses to believe that the soap will work ("bugs don't care what soap you use!") but I can just smile peacefully as he swats his legs. We have a spray on for kids, too, since the soap may be a bit much for them on a day-to-day basis. The soap and spray are made by Moon Dance Soaps here in Raleigh and we sell some of their fabulous stuff here at the stores...lotion bars, soaps and now the Bug Offs. Come check them out.

Video Tutorials

We now have a Tutorials page with a video tutorial on our site AND on YouTube for your viewing pleasure...look for more to come.

(Hey, isn't Tracy a natural? She did all this in about one take and then did the editing, too. Where's her Oscar?

Beading with Filigree now available for pre-order!

You can order my book today and reserve your kit to make the lovely Trillium Earring. If you are in Raleigh, please order this on-line and just indicate your store of choice for the shipping option. The book comes out in August.

Don't forget to enter our Beading with Filigree Book Contest. You can win an autographed book and a fabulous filigree kit including many of the pieces used in the book, beads, chain and more...details coming in June!

We're in Beadwork!

Some of our fabulous items are in the Challenge column this month. Look for great ways to use the hammered brass rings, the flower dangles and other fabulous favorites from our stores. My favorite? It is hard to choose, maybe the necklace by Melinda? But then the earrings by Danielle have a lovely simplicity that I would wear every day. I also really like the hair pins by Elizabeth but they won't work in my shorty-short hair...and that bracelet by Michelle, nice. Ok, I can't decide...you check it out and let me know...

We were surprised that not one of the challenge contenders used the seahorse, octopus or keys. Those are very popular on at ornamentea.com. Hmm...