Sunshine and crocuses
Who knew March was open to suggestion?
It was 60 degrees and sunny today, and should be more of the same for the rest of the week. And look! A flower already!
Me = happy 
Maybe I owe my least favorite month a tiny apology.
Like
The results are in
I asked my kids to choose a random number between one and sixteen, and they decided on “3.”
That means the winner of Sherri Haab’s Jewelry Inspirations is Antoinette, who said:
That is the sweetest bracelet! I can’t wait to show my daughter when she gets home from school (8 yo). She’s definitely going to want to make one this weekend. I bet she would love that book.
Congratulations, Antoinette! Email me your snail mail address, and I’ll get the book on its way to you.
Thanks for playing everybody. I have another jewelry book to giveaway later in the week. If you’re interested in polymer clay and metal clay, you won’t want to miss that!
Oh, and if you’d still like a copy of Sherri’s book, you can buy one here with my sincere thanks.
Now I’m off to figure out how to patina some earrings
Oh, March.
Oh, March, I am coming to dread you ever year. When you’re not visiting unfortunate loss upon us (2007), theatrically raining destruction over our front yard (2008), or infecting us with the flu (2009), you are bringing a weekend storm replete with whipping winds, driving rains, power outages, and flooded basements.
I’m not superstitious by nature, and I don’t enjoy feeling poorly towards an entity as big as an entire month, but really, March. These last few years have not given me a reason to feel kindly towards you.
You may be able to redeem yourself in my eyes if the next fifteen days are filled with sunshine and crocuses. See what you can do about that, ok?
Oh, and send a cleanup crew, too, please. Then we’ll talk.
[Edited to say, I've just been on Facebook, looking at the damage to the low-lying areas of my town. Those who live there are in way worse shape than I am, here on high ground, so send the cleanup crew to them instead. But I still want those crocuses and that sunshine!]
Sherri Haab Jewelry Inspirations + giveaway
I have Sherri Haab to blame for all of this. And by “this” I mean the polymer clay supplies that lurk in many corners of my house, the business I’ve built around clay books + videos, and the piles and piles of polymer jewelry mostly gathering dust in my bedroom. (You know how that goes – you have your two or three favorite pieces, which soon are replaced by new work, and this continues through the years until you have a jewelry box full of stuff that is just hideous compared to your most recent masterpiece. You wouldn’t be caught dead in them now, but you feel funny throwing them away, knowing as you do all of the blood sweat and tears that went into making them back in 1996. Please tell me you do this too.)
Anyway, I’m sure it’s completely unfair to blame Sherri. I should probably be blaming Neil, who brought the book into the house in the first place. Or maybe I should just accept that polymer clay and I were destined to meet one way or another, and the mechanism by which we came together those 14+ years ago is largely irrelevant.
In any case, I did get my first exposure to polymer through Sherri Haab, I enjoy her style, and I like her books, even the ones that are not specifically about polymer clay, like this brand new one: Sherri Haab Jewelry Inspirations: Techniques and Designs from the Artist’s Studio.
There are three polymer projects in the book, all of which are interesting, but none of which really float my own particular boat. Luckily, what Sherri lacks in polymer clay depth here, she makes up for in general clay breadth. In other words, I don’t mind the lack of polymer here because she’s playing with other kinds of clay that I find pretty neat. In particular, metal clay and epoxy resin clay.
I plan on dusting off my metal clay supplies in the next week or so, but until then I decided to try a more instant-gratification project. I had trouble choosing between the Sea Urchin Rings and the Resin Clay Flower Bracelets, but in the end I chose the bracelets.
Like I mentioned a few days ago, we’re in a financial crunch around here, so I didn’t want to invest in any new materials (as super cool as that epoxy resin clay sounds) so I substituted polymer in making the flower. This is one case where the material used really doesn’t matter, because the sculpted part could be cured by itself. (In other projects, it might not be appropriate to substitute an oven-bake clay for an air-dry clay, because the materials embedded in the clay may not be heat-resistant.)
I also used some of the leftover clay from the flower to make the easiest. button. ever. instead of using a mass-produced one.
I actually think that this bracelet looked just as nice before I put the flower on it. I may have to make myself a little pile of braided fabric bracelets with matching solid-color buttons for the spring…
So I had fun with this book. There’s nothing overly artsy or complicated here, just plenty of fun, lighthearted, and hip designs to play with, and a handful of new materials to explore.
How about you? Want to have a little fun with this book? Learn to make this bracelet, some big funky rings, vintage glass bead earrings, metal clay charm pendants, and more? Leave a comment on this post, and I’ll choose a random winner sometime Monday evening (3/15). Good luck!!
Until then, here are some links to keep you busy:
- Buy the book from me at Polka Dot Creations
- Read all of my blog posts about this book
- Visit Sherri’s website
A random and unexpected perk
So, you probably know by now that I started offering ad space here on the blog this year. The ads are offered using an auction model, and so they are often changing, as bids are made and expired. I am really enjoying peeking in here every day and seeing who is in the sidebar. I click through to nearly all of them, because even though I have a third party managing the ads for me, I still want to get to know the people who have chosen to spend their advertising pennies with me.
I thought you might enjoy learning about a few of the businesses that have particularly piqued my interest, so here are a trio of links for you to enjoy:
Running Jack Knits – The second I saw those gorgeous green fingerless gloves, I clicked over to check out the pattern. I haven’t made them yet, but I’ve got the pattern tucked away safely now. Wendy is undertaking a very ambitious pattern-a-week project, some of which are free, and some of which are not. I find the idea very inspiring, actually, and I’ve been thinking about trying something similar myself (although weekly may be too ambitious for me!)
Decomod Walls – So many of the decorative elements in the world are girly, I was instantly drawn to this boy-flavored ad. The Etsy shop doesn’t disappoint, either, with some really fabulous vinyl wall art, like a row of trains on a bridge, a fire station, or an Old West blacksmith shop. I do think maybe my own boys are getting too old for some of these designs, but others are still appropriate, like the decals of the solar system. Very cool.
Missficklemedia – This shop is full of some really great jewelry-making components. The ad shows a polymer pendant, but what grabs me are the copper findings. I am working my brain to come up with a nice design that can combine my own claywork with her hand-forged, patina-ed copper links.
So there you have it. A few nice little shops for you to visit in your spare time.
Please note that I didn’t receive any extra compensation for highlighting these companies – they didn’t even know I was going to post about them. Consider it a random and unexpected perk of placing an intriguing button on my blog!
My camera’s last hurrah?
We took advantage of the 50-degree weather (because compared to what it had been, 50 degrees is positively balmy) on Sunday and trekked off to the Jersey shore. We landed about an hour and 15 minutes from home in Ocean Grove, a Victorian beach town we’d visited once before. We spent time on the beach, wandered around town, visited an “apothecary cafe” where we enjoyed interesting pharmaceutical memorabilia and a good lunch, took a walk on the boardwalk, spent a little more time on the beach, and then went home.
The Ocean Grove boardwalk is really nothing more than boards you walk on – there is no commercial activity to speak of. We figured walking to one end of it and back would be nice exercise after our large lunch, so we picked a direction and headed off. It turns out the the Ocean Grove boardwalk ends at a fascinating old casino. Walking through the open structure puts you on another boardwalk in Asbury Park.
I don’t think I’ve ever been to Asbury Park before, and I have to say the experience was a little surreal. I’m used to exploring new towns from the seat of my car, but never on foot. When we set off down the boardwalk, it never occurred to me that it would lead to a famous shore town and such interesting old architecture – much of it abandoned.
The last pictures I took on this trip were as the sun was setting, and Eamonn was making sand angels on the beach. Perhaps some errant grains of sand found their way into my camera as I was brushing them off of his back? I’m not sure. All I know is that as we walked to the car, my camera started giving me “lens error” messages and refusing to close.
I’ve since gotten it to the point where the lens will open and close for regular photos, but it will not zoom at all. I have to say, a lack of zoom puts a real damper on my picture-taking enthusiasm. I found a place that will fix it and make my fabulous second-hand camera like new for about $100, but we’ve declared a necessary moratorium on all non-essential spending around here for the forseeable future, and so I can’t get it done.
I can’t even kid myself that it’s a business expense – I can theoretically still take shots for my website without the zoom. My recreational photo-taking, however, is going to take a big hit. That’s a real downer for me, as I think about the approaching spring and summer, and all of the photo ops that brings. *sigh*
Maybe I should see if Canon would send me one of these in exchange for a review on my blog? It’s the newest version of my current camera. It’s also Wishful Thinking!
Anyway, we did have a really nice little adventure on Sunday, and I’ve had fun editing those photos (more here). For many of them, I used Paint Shop Pro scripts I found at sheilsoft.com. I downloaded a whole pile of freebies (I’d have taken advantage of the offer of 70 scripts for $10, if not for our spending freeze) and I’ve been having fun experimenting with them.
On another topic, I’ve got two new jewelry-making books to review in the next few days, and I plan to have a giveaway for each one, so be sure to check in this week for that. Now, go enjoy your Wednesday!
Spring flowers
So, the first week of March is nearly behind us and I feel that old familiar longing that always creeps in at this time of year. I look around my yard, and everything is still brown and gray. Nothing is blooming. Winter still has a firm grip. Shouldn’t it be receding by now? Shouldn’t there be crocuses and tulips, and little green buds on the trees?
Blogging regularly has been such a good thing for me in so many ways, but one of my favorite side-effects is the record it leaves behind. I can go back a year or two and see that March is always like this. It’s always still gray, and I’m always wishing it wasn’t.
I can’t help being impatient for spring. It’s as much a facet of my personality as brown eyes are a facet of my face. It’s one of the reasons why, come March, I often find myself digging through my fabric stash for energetic florals. It’s why these lounge pants came to be last night. And it’s why when I wore them this morning, I pretended I was enjoying my morning coffee outside on the sunny and breezy patio, even though backyard breakfasts are a good two months away.
Spring will get here when it gets here. Until then, I’ve got my pj’s and my imagination.
The details
Pattern: Lounge pants from Amy Butler’s In Stitches book
Modifications: Replaced drawstring with elastic. Eliminated ribbon ankle trim.
Fabric: Rose Bouquet in Ice from Heather Bailey’s Pop Garden collection
Verdict: I’ve made these once before, and I love the fit of that pair and this new one. They’re not at all baggy in the rear-end area (can’t say the same about the pattern I used to use) and the straight-leg makes them feel stylish and classy. I definitely have one more pair in my future – something in a different colorway, but I’m not sure what yet…
Them’s shoppin’ words
Last night, while noticing that my computer screen has started to take on a pinkish tinge, and that I was irritated by it but resigned to living with it, Neil uttered these dangerous words: “New laptops are not as expensive as you think.”
What?? Is this true? And why have you not mentioned this before??
Eight years ago was the last time I shopped for a computer. I spent $1600 on it, and it served me reasonably well until it didn’t. At that point last February, Neil helped me cobble together a busted hand-me-down laptop and some spare parts on eBay so that I wouldn’t be left computerless and twitching. It hasn’t been the ideal setup – the screen is being held on with electrical tape, for one thing – but I’ve lived with it because I’ve been under the delusion that I’d have to drop another grand and a half to replace it.
I can be a little slow to have certain concepts sink in. Case in point: a few weeks ago, I went shopping for ink for my old printer/scanner/copier, and instead came home with a brand new printer/scanner/copier, because it was cheaper than new ink for my old machine. That probably should have been a clue right there.
So anyway, after Neil uttered those words last night, I wasted no time hopping online, and for about 1/4 of what I paid for my laptop eight years ago, I’ve got a brand spankin’ new one on the way. Woo hoo! (In retrospect, I would suppose this is exactly why Neil had not mentioned the price of laptops to me before…)
Now all I have to do is wait two weeks for it to arrive, and figure out how to replenish my PayPal account. (Psst! Wanna preorder a DVD?!)
How dashing
I’ve been drooling over this pattern since before I knew my way around a pair of knitting needles, and I finally started a set back in January. This is Dashing, from Knitty. I love them because they are masculine enough that I can make them for those hard to shop for men in my life, and also because they have that elegantly simple cable. It seemed to me to be one of the less painful ways to be introduced to knitting cables.
I was right – knitting these cables was pretty easy. The biggest problems I had with these were issues of gauge and of thumb-making.
I made these in Berroco Vintage, which is a nice yarn for the price (I’ve since stocked up on several colors so that I can make a pile of these gloves for birthdays and occasions later in the year). I initially cast-on for the larger size, using size 8 dpns, but it wasn’t until I was nearly finished with the first glove that I discovered how enormous it was.
So I frogged it, and decided to try a different approach. For my second go, I used a large number 7 circular, and used the method as described in Two at a Time Socks to make both gloves at once. (As an aside, I still have not made a pair of socks, but that book has been so valuable to me just for the general method alone – it’s great for anything that comes as a pair.)
This time, aside from a bit of difficulty with the thumbs, I met with success. The art of picking up stitches around a thumb hole I’m sure is something that will come to me with practice, but despite the un-elegant thumbs, I just love the way these came out. I wanted to keep them for myself, but I sucked it up and presented them to my father-in-law yesterday as a belated birthday gift.
I am so impressed with the universal appeal of this pattern. They look nice on me, they look nice on Neil who posed for the second shot above. Everyone I’ve shown these to has really liked them – male, female, child. My 10-year-old would like his own pair. Guess I know what I’ll be knitting all spring and summer – and I thought I’d be putting the needles away for a few months. Ha!
Ten? Really?
It feels like I only just blogged about Nine. Or Eight for that matter. And yet, here it is, already Ten.
Time flies. Happy Birthday to my big kid!
