My First Etsy Sale!

Very excited- I just sold my first card on Etsy!  It's a small victory, but I hope the beginning of bigger things to come!  Here are some of the cards I have posted for sale:

           This was a winter photo I took at Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary.

Here I used a little abstract watercolor I did and liked.

                                          A thank you for teacher!

This week I've been working on jewelry, but don't have any inventory to put in the shop yet.  So enjoying my semi-retirement :-)

Thanks for stopping,
Michelle

This week, bracelets!

I know it isn't a brand new style, but I began admiring wrap bracelets about a year ago, seeing them online and on wrists (!) and noting that some were quite expensive. Of course, my crafty friend Jane and I decided that we could make them- we love a challenge. So, I did as I often do when I want to learn a new skill, and went online to look for tutorials.  I found a few, and picked the one I liked best.  I watched "Learning the Ladder Stitch"  from Lima Beads, but I made mine starting with the loop rather than the button, and clipped my loop to a board to hold it steady while I worked.  Here is the result, which probably took about 8 hours to complete:

I was pleased with the result, and think my next attempts will go more quickly.  Keeping the loooong thread tangle-free was the hardest part!  Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you also find some creative inspiration this week, whatever shape it takes!

Michelle

Putting it Out There, Taking Chances

Hello, all!  Hope this finds you well-  I just had a great "girlfriends weekend" after a busy week, and am feeling refreshed and inspired.  I finally took the step to start a shop on Etsy, by the same name as my blog, and though I have only posted a few cards (Valentines!), I am excited to expand my offerings with more cards, some jewelry, and anything else I get inspired to make!  Last week, I made my first metal clay pendant; I haven't finished polishing it yet, but I will share it on this blog when I finish.  Today, I want to post a card for the Casology challenge for Week 129: NBUS! at http://casology.blogspot.com/2015/01/week-129-nbus.html  The idea is to make a clean-and-simple card with something you haven't used before.  For me, that was a Stampin' Up Bloom with Hope stamp, and here is my card, which I stamped and hand-colored with Prang colored pencils.

I really DO need to have a better photo setup than taking pictures on my kitchen table with my phone!!  I hope you like my card, and wish you all an inspired day!

Michelle

CASology challenge: Light

It doesn't get much cleaner and simpler that an embossed white paper mounted to a colored card! This is for the Light challenge at CASology  (http://casology.blogspot.com)  I didn't interpret light literally, but like the way the light plays off the white texture.  It would be cute with the heart colored red for an "I love you" note, but this way it seems more appropriate for "missing you"!  I used a Cricut embossing folder and Derwent colored pencils.  Hope you like it!

Happy crafting!  Michelle

Multi-crafting... my new buzz word!

Over the years, I have tried lots of crafting, some of which I didn't enjoy very much, and others I did. I suppose that quilting, knitting, and needlepoint fall into the first category, while painting, crochet, pottery, jewelry and cardmaking definitely fall into the latter!  The problem has been that there have been only so many crafting hours available, so if I threw myself into a new hobby it usually meant that an old one had to fall by the wayside.  Then, if I tried going back to something, I often felt I was back at square one relearning it.  I am hoping that my new "semi-retired" status will mean that I can multi-craft (I just made that up) and keep up my skills/learn new techniques on several fronts.  To that end, I am setting up the jewelry kiln that I had only a short time before we moved to Florida, and which has been PACKED AWAY since because I didn't have a place for it.   I got a new Husky tool cart for Christmas- just what I wanted!  The Dremel tool was a bonus surprise :-)

Once I have it set up, I will be using it for metal clay and small porcelain pieces to incorporate into my jewelry, which up till now has been mainly beading, a little wirework. Below are a few pics I had of pieces I've made in the past... which reminds me that I also need a better setup for photographs!

I have even been thinking that it would be cool to make charms that I can incorporate into my cards. Once I get going, I'll post some pics of the new pieces, and you can tell me what you think.

Thanks for stopping by!  Michelle

Goodbye, 2014!

Hello!  Christmas is almost upon us, and life is always busy at this time of year, so it was fun to find some card challenges that I could enter using cards I already had made!  One is Top Tip Tuesday  at http://toptiptuesday.blogspot.com/ where they asked us to post something we made, rather than bought.  For this challenge, I want to enter a "we've moved" card I made when one of my daughters moved from Beijing, China to the suburbs of Paris.  I didn't have a stamp of France or Paris, so I cut up a map of France showing the roads around Paris, and made color copies for the background of the card, which I matted on black cardstock.  A little tag announcing the move, and the details inside, and I was able to whip up a couple dozen cards in no time!!

The next challenge is for The Shabby Tea Room  at http://www.theshabbytearoom.blogspot.com/ where the want a card with aqua, pink, ivory and glitter.  For that I am entering another simple card- the glitter is a glitter paper used for the matting, the pink a hot pink, and the stencil from Heidi Swapp.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and New Year celebration- hope to see you again at Heart and Soul by Hand!