Ready for Resin

I made a bunch of bezels this weekend and now I just have to find time to do a resin pour.  Everybody else has today off for MLK Day, but I am going back to work!!  

Religious Necklaces

New items in my Etsy shop!  I finally had some time to sit down and wire wrap some beads!!

Making Things More Difficult Than They Have To Be?

Sometimes I laugh at myself because I make things more difficult than they have to be.  For instance, I am working on this pendant...

My pic isn't very good and she is a work in progress.  Instead of taking the easy way out, buying a setting for less than a dollar, I scour antique stores and thrift shops and try to find items I can use from vintage costume jewelry.  I also hunt for vintage rhinestones, charms, chains etc.  This piece had a cabochon in it.  I pulled out the cab, sanded off the old gold finish (yuck) from the pendant, and blackened the base metal.  I looked through my stash of rhinestones and found the perfect size to go around the outside to frame my beautiful Saint Marie.  I laugh and question myself, why do I go to all of this trouble???  Does anyone else do this?  Or is it just me?

Soldered Pendants

Since my time to create has been limited lately, I have decided to sell some of my soldered pendants.  It is, after all, my favorite part of creating jewelry and the hardest part as well!  I love it though!  Pouring the resin is the trickiest part.  Making sure there are no bubbles and then there's always that stray piece of dust that seems to act like a magnet to the resin.  It is frustrating at times, but, as I said, I love it!

Here is the first of many to follow in my Etsy shop...

Isn't she lovely??  I am hoping to see her go to a good home!  Perhaps someone will use her in their jewelry or just add a chain and where her as is.

I am at the end of my vacation and I still have so much to do.  I am sooo tired of painting black doors, lol!!  I'm almost done though and I still love the look.  Have a great day!

What I've Been Up To...Vacation Day 4

Well, I lied and didn't post every day.  I just needed a break from social networks, telephones, people, etc.  Tonight is the end of my 4th day of vacation.  I only have 6 days left!  My how time flies when you aren't working.  What have I been up to, you ask?  Well, let me tell ya!

I have been painting my interior doors black!  It's something that I have been wanting to do for about a year now and I have had the paint for a couple of months.  I went to Sherwin Williams and told the sweet little clerk girl what I wanted to do and she suggested I use their All Surface Enamel Acrylic Latex in Low Lustre Black, since I was painting over white doors.  I trusted her, after all, she works there!

I started painting last night and ugh!  The first coat, I thought I'd made a big mistake, or that she had!  It was shiny and weird looking!  I was scared!!  Already committed, I thought to myself, I will just do another coat and check it out in the morning.  By the second coat, it was growing on me.  It's still a little shinier than what I'd imagined in my head, but it looks really nice!  The paint is thick and goes on really nice.  This paint is STINKY though and I highly recommend that you work in a well ventilated area.  I opened all the windows and had fans going, so it wasn't too bad.

I tried to take the door off the hinges, but it's just me and well, yeah, that didn't work out so well, so I just painted it as it hung!  I am really pleased with how it turned out!  Did I already say that?

I also took my brass door handles or levers off and primed and painted them with Rustoleum Oil Rubbed Bronze.  What a transformation!!

I don't know how they'll hold up, but it's just me and my pups here, and I really don't use the handles that much, except the closets and the bathroom, so we shall see!

I ordered some Rub n' Buff for the hinges, so they'll match up a bit better, since I can't get them off by myself.  I ordered Ebony and Spanish Copper.  The two used together look like oil rubbed bronze, at least that's the word in blog land!

I soldered a bunch of pendants and made a few necklaces to get ready for the holiday season and to finish up a couple of custom orders..

I was going to pour resin tonight, but I am just toooo tired, so I will fit it in tomorrow somewhere between grocery shopping and getting the carpets cleaned.  Woooo hoooooooo  What a vacation, huh?!?  What a wild woman you must think I am!!  Lol!!  I've had my wild fun, now I love putting my energy into productive things that make me wayyyy happier! :)

I also changed the hardware on my entry table to oil rubbed bronze and decoupaged vintage hymnal pages to the bottom of the drawer.

So, that's what I've been doing!   What have you been up to?

My Own Worst Enemy

Okay, I have been a bit ridiculous about blogging.  Months go by and I don't post a thing.  I haven't finished any jewelry or finished painting any furniture in quite some time.  I can't make excuses anymore.  I hold myself back.  I always have.  I really don't know why!  Is it fear of success?  Is it because I am comfortable where I am at?  Hmmm....

So, here's my plan.  I am going to make sure that I post SOMETHING at least once a day.  It may not be spectacular or even very interesting, but I have to dedicate myself to doing this.  I am also making sure that I do at least one thing toward finishing either a piece of jewelry or a piece of painted furniture. I have to hold myself to this and put it right in my schedule, otherwise I will just fall of the face of the internet again!  Holiday bazaar's are coming up and I need to get some inventory!

See ya tomorrow!

Back to Soldering

The heat wave that we've had for the whole month of July finally let up for a couple of days and I was able to get some soldering done.  My Etsy shop is really empty and needs some new items!  My babies are drying right now and I can't wait to get them beaded and listed!

I am really sad to see that my Joan of Arc Reliquary has seepage.  I don't quite know what I'm going to do about that as of yet since I did use a couple of vintage jewelry pieces on it.  Hmmmmm....

Religious Vintage Rhinestone Necklaces

I have been soldering, pouring resin and wire wrapping necklaces like crazy!  I listed four new necklaces on Etsy today!  All of these social networks feel like a part time job... Etsy, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pintrest and blogging! But I am happy to say that I am wayyyy behind, right on schedule!  Lol!

Vintage Prayer Cards

As a little girl I remember going through a drawer in my mom's dresser where she kept her jewelry box, her bible and a box full of beautiful prayer cards.  I would sit for hours and be amazed at the vintage holy graphics.  Our bible had amazing religious Renaissance pictures in it.  I wish I could find another one like it.  It got lost somehow in the shuffle after my dad passed away.  And the holy cards that she had!  Wow!  I had aunt's that were nun's and I don't know if they gave her some of them or if she just picked them up at church or funerals. Unfortunately, after mom passed, my dad got rid of them all, not thinking that anyone would want them.  I am inspired by these beautiful cards and use a lot of them in my jewelry.  I also use vintage rhinestones, which I always loved to look at in mom's jewelry box.

I miss those days, the wonder and the marvel of a great new discovery!  I hope to collect a few vintage holy cards just to bring back the memory of sitting in her room.