Creativity In A Nutshell

Yesterday, I spent 2 hours and 15 minutes in a car. Driving to my school. Realizing I forgot a bag full of clothes. Driving back home. Then back to school. It was, in a word, great. Ohhh well. I'm here. The problem is, I forgot to bring my chain-nose pliers. Great. I'm sure that someone around here will have some I can borrow...

Today I posted this darling little scrabble tile pendant:



I hand-painted it about a month ago, inspired by some really beautiful japanese origami paper, then sealed it and added the gold plated bail. I think it would make a really nice Valentines Day gift, so it's part of my Valentines Day sale, starting on Tuesday! Full price, it's $10.00 , however, Tuesday the 2nd through Sunday the 14th, it will be just $6.00!

Want to learn more about my scrabble tile jewelry?

On a side note, the Dirt Road Artists now have a fanpage over on facebook! We will be adding photos of our great products on Etsy, info on our swaps etc and all kinds of good stuff! Check it out!

Valentines Day is on the way!
and I'm celebrating over at Callie's Creations with these four fantatic Valentines Day gifts, *On Sale* starting on Tuesday, February 2nd, until Sunday, February 14th.


I'd like to introduce you to Ginny! She's a tallented ceramics artist from Northern California. She opened her Etsy shop, aptly called Ginpins in 2006.
I was perusing through her shop and I just have to share these fantastic and beautiful jewelry components, currently for sale. I'm green with envy for whoever gets to purchase them!

Hello Everyone!
It's the end of winter break and back to classes for me! I start on Monday. Wait. Let me try that again with a little more enthusiasm. I start on Monday! Huzzah!
Better?

I wanted to share some Valentines Day Love with you all!

These are earrings I made for my best friend, who can and does work magical wonders with knitting needles and all varieties of yarn. I never cease to be impressed by her tallent and skill.

After a bit of deliberation, I have decided to go forth with creating a College Student Crafters Team.
My over-arching goals are:


To support college student crafters with networking
To share skills - with crafting, networking, selling etc
To connect with college students all over
To promote each others shops

As the group becomes more established, I would like to look into:

Creating a team blog
Doing team swaps and competitions
Creating a team shop
Creating team  events

Check out this College Student Crafter's Etsy Shop, Bubbleberries
Elizabeth, the creative genious behind the Bubbleberries, is a sophomore, yet manages to craft and sell her wares online.

Check out her adorable  Mr. Ted the Cuddly Bamboo-Yarn Teddy Bear

In my search for unique beads and findings, I have found another great shop on Etsy!
Check out Softcover Jewelry Supply based in LA

I have been looking for flowers to include in my jewelry designs. I have found a few lucite flowers that I like, but I really like these flowers, from the Softcover shop:

Large Metal Rose Cabochon


Enameled Metal Rose Cabochon

Lion Head Silver Ox Stamping

She also has a really great deal on the Copper Cub Chain

Today it was finally sunny out! I was able to take some beautiful pictures, and I'm giving you a sneak peak of the treasured you can expect to find their way onto my Etsy shop in the coming days.

What's The Plan, Stan?
Catch a sneak peak at my process and make some beautiful flower clips of your own

Ingredients:

• Silk or other fabric flowers
• Metal hair clips or barretts
• Embellishments:
• Feathers
• Sparkles
• Glass Gems etc
  
• Glue: I used E-6000, but I'm sure that a hot glue gun would do the trick
  

Tools Of The Trade:

• Patience

Process:

• First, select your flower. Silk/fabric flowers are made up of layers of petals held together with a plastic stamen (that would be the white plastic bit in the center of the flower below). Remove the stamen and take the layers apart.

• Next, glue the layers back together, minus the stamen. You will want to create a flat base so you can easily glue the flower onto the barrett.

• 
  
  Next, glue on a button or other embellishment to cover the hole where the stamen was. In this pictures, I just used a cute white button
  
  
  

• 
  
  Now, glue the base of the flower onto the barrett- I strongly suggest using E-6000 or some other epoxy for this to make sure the flower is secure.
  
  
  

• 
  
  Voila!
  
  
  

This Valentines Day, you don't have to run out and buy heart-covered wrapping paper. You probably already have the supplies to make your own unique and recycled gift wrap.



What's The Plan, Stan?
I made this wrapping paper that works for Valentines Day but doesn't really scream Cupid.

Ingredients:

• Rubber Stamp (I used a really fun Owl stamp I got from the dollar bin at Michaels a few months ago)
• Ink Pad (you can use all kinds of colors - I just used black ink)
• Tissue Paper, Craft Paper, Old Wrapping paper (shhh it's a secret, but I just used the tissue paper from a giftbag I'd gotten a while ago)

Tools Of The Trade:

• Creativity
• Hands

Process:

• Ink up your stamp

• Plot your image around the paper - spreading it out. I found I could get three ok stamps with one go before having to re-ink. The first stamp will be darkest, then lighter etc.

• 
  
  Work your way around until the entire page is covered
  

Wow! I can hardly believe how quickly time is passing. I am going to back to classes before I know it!

I want to share a great treasury with you from the Dirt Road Artists Team on Etsy. This one was made by Phyllis, creator of Montezumamudd (see my Tiers of Purple Necklace?)

I also wanted to share with you some fantastic goodies I got in the mail yesterday!

I mentioned my love of Zombies Unite, a great jewelry supply shop on Etsy a while ago.
Well, I just got my order from her and I am oh sooooo happy! Seriously, check out these fantastic finds - all vintage. All I could think of was, "The lions go marching one by one, hurrah, hurrah!"



I also got my order from Artbeads.com yesterday. The were copper charms are so adorable and perfect for the designs  I have in mind:


I hope you all are having a great weekend!

Today is Fantastical Friday - At Last!!!



I have wanted to play around with making feather earrings for AGES, but I haven't really had the time. No, correction, I haven't really MADE the time :) So yesterday afternoon, between pouring over the nifty Valentines Day beads at Artbeads.com, taking some more great pictures, listing these cute earrings

I dug out some feathers I had in my crafting stash, and following this great tutorial, I made some feather earrings of my own!


What's The Plan, Stan?

• You really should check out this tutorial for detailed directions, but check out pictures from my process below!

Ingredients:

• Feathers
• I used feathers from a large bag of crafting feathers I bought well over a year ago. Check out your local craft store for more natural looking feathers. Many Etsy sellers also sell beautiful feathers for crafting with - check out
• Headpins
• Crimp Beads
• Jumprings
• Earwires

Tools Of The Trade:

• Wire cutters
• Round nose pliers
• Chainose pliers
  

Process:


C'est Fin!

Ooooo Also: Check out this great giveaway over at Wire Bliss Mei
She makes fun wire tutorials and she's giving one away to THREE readers! Good luck!