To Etch or Not To Etch.... To Etch, Of Course!

MG Chemicals 415 Ferric Chloride Liquid, 1 Liter Bottle, Dark Brown from Amazon.com

This is my latest acquisition. Yes, I'm going to take the next step in my metal work and attempt etching. We'll see how it goes.  I have all sorts of plans but you know what they say about "the best laid plans of mice and men..."  I know, not a mouse or a man but, still....

We'll see.... And so will you, I promise.

As for the magazines that were offered in the prior post... only three peeps made a comment, so The Magic Frog made a unilateral decision and decided all three will win.  Will Debb of Forget me Knot Nonsense, Saraccino, and Zan Caperton please email me at thecrazycreativecorner@gmail.com with your snail mail addys?  I'll get each of you a package of 'zines in the mail ASAP once I know where to send them.

Keep watching, folks. I'm not kidding when I say I'm planning a 'zine destash give-away. You never know WHAT that crazy Magic Frog will pull out of his hat!

What's New

Well, I got home last night and decided I really needed to have some creative time. Puppy snuggles aside (and all the funny things Zackery is doing now that he's settling in) I needed to make something!  So I did.  Here are a couple collages for you to enjoy:



Clock-wise from top left: 1) "In Bloom" - created with light blue crystal rondelles and cone findings from Michael's, blue plastic flowers (been hording them so long I don't remember where they're from), white oval/rounds from Znetshows.com, and all held in place by handmade copper headpins; 2) "Chilean Dance" - red donuts from Znetshows.com, South American style beads are from a necklace a dear friend down in Chile gave me that recently broke (if you can't fix it, recycle it!); 3) "Earth to Sky" - blue ceramic beads from Michael's, small, South American connector bead also from that same Chilean necklace; 4) "Belly Dance Diva" - again with my take on Kristi Bowman's "Aladdin" earring tute - blue-ish crystal rondelles held to silver cones (all from Michael's) by copper wire, gold recycled sari ribbon from Willow Mist Acres on Etsy (looooove her recycled ribbons, by the way!)

Again, clock-wise starting with the large picture: 1) "African Dreams" - material is from a fan I had that finally gave up the ghost, tucked into silver cones and accented with black seed beads and black & white beads from Michael's (these are real shoulder sweepers); 2) "Flight of the Condor" - again with the beads from the Chilean necklace, opalescent ovals from Znetshows.com; 3) "Harem Whispers" - starting from the top and going down, dark teal/green crystal rondelles, pink(-ish) ceramic flat rounds topping gold-toned cones (all from Michael's) and recycled sari ribbon from Willow Mist Acres. (did I mention I loooove her ribbons?)

Wish I could have made more, but a certain mischevious puppy was calling and it started getting later.  I will say, of all the earrings, only those I make with the hand-crafted Chilean beads will never be for sale. As I mentioned, the necklace they came from was given to me by a dear friend so I will be keeping any and all remakes from those.

On to other things, now.  Once again, ZnetShows is asking us to design... THIS time with a partner.  What we were asked to do was pick out several items we would like to ship to our assigned partners.  I was assigned Suzette from Ellie's Bijou and I'm excited to see, a) what she does with what I picked for her and, b) what I can do with what she picked for me.  Wanna see what she sent me?  Of course you do!  Here it is:

Aren't they gor-ge-mous!?  I've got ideas already percolating in my head (although, if you're paying attention, you'll notice I've already used two beads from this stash....)
And, finally, I guess no one really wanted any of my magazine destash as there were no responses.  I'll give it one more try.  If you want these:

...then make a comment specifially regarding them. (although comments about my jewelry is always welcome, as well!)

New Family Member

I got nothing done this weekend and I blame it on the animals in our lives.  This past week we had to put our 10 year old Weimaraner, Jack, to sleep due to a cancer that wasn't caught until it was too late. It was a little hard but what was harder was the silence in the house. Quiet as he was, he filled a spot in our lives that wasn't noticed until he was gone.  We decided we needed a puppy to at least fill the spot (but not replace Jack, of course) and we did a search.  We wanted to stay with the Weimaraner breed because we loved Jack so much and he had SO much personality (they say Weims are as smart as your average 10 year old child... they're not far off, believe me!)  And, just for your personal info, Weims are in the sight hunter class of hunting dogs and, due to their coloring and style of hunting, are nicknamed The Gray Ghost.

Von Greyson Weimaraner's is the breeder that caught our attention. He breeds to the old, original German standard of Weims so his dogs, especially his males, are huge!  Up to, and over, 100lbs. We spoke with William and decided (mutually) that one of his puppies would have a good home with our family.  He invited us down to his ranch (in the desert!) to see his... well, the only way to put it is "herd!"  Counting the puppies, that man has twenty-one (that's 21) dogs on his property! They're well bred, well behaved and well cared for. And they LOVE meeting (and being petted by) new people. 

We chose our puppy, a very healthy 22lb (at 8 weeks!) little boy and brought him home. 

That was Saturday.  Needless to say, we spent the rest of the afternoon and evening mooning over our new little addition.  He's aDORable!  We also spent the rest of the day making sure he went OUTside to do his "business".  (snerk!)  He seems to be settling in okay, although there's a lot of sleep involved still (he's still a puppy, after all, just a rather large one) but he's following us around and beginning to play more with us.  Oh, yeah, and today he became an escape artist. He's very proud of himself for getting out of his pen.

Anyway, here's our newest family member. Please meet Zackery "Zack" Tillar Sears.


He wasn't going to be allowed on the furniture since he's
going to be so huge... You see how long that lasted!
And Saner Sister is giving him snuggles and cuddles while
he naps....  and naps.... and naps some more after playing.



Close up of that adorable face

 As you can see by his paws, he's gonna be a moose.  And we're gonna love every minute of it.

A Little More Work Last Evening

I was able to sit down for a little while last night, after work, and make a few things. Hope you enjoy:



Fishes & Loaves Asymmetrical Dangles
copper & green seed beads plus the new
way I'm curving in the tails. Seems to work!



Fishes & Loaves Bracelet
Lapis-blue beads (not sure if real or just made to look real)
Copper wire and short bits of necklace chain. I'm going
to play with several designs before I settle on one.



Summer Iris
Again with the earring style learned from
Kristi  Bowman's Aladdin's Lamp earring tute
but using my own little twist. This time I added
a couple beads, top & bottom, as accents and
I used lavender tulle instead of ribbon.

And, for those who want to enter my magazine destash giveaway, go here.

Gifts & A Give Away

I'm afraid I'm not doing much in my studio right now. It's beyond hot. Granted, we don't have the nigh-on 100% humidity some of y'all suffer from, but trying to work out there, even with the little air unit running, is not fun.  But, I did manage to get a birthday gift for a friend and a pair of earrings for another friend made.

For some reason, I had a huge brain fart and could NOT
get this pendent to come together. Looks simple, no?
NO!! (well, it probably is, but I couldn't make it work
at first!)  She loved it, by the way.

 

Another pair of earrings based on the tutorial by
Kristi Bowman (mentioned in this post)


 And now, the "Give Away" part.  Yes, I have more magazines to destash (more, even, than I'm giving away right now.)  Here's what you get:

...and here's the rules:
1. post a link to my blog on your FB or blog page showing this giveaway
2. share the link here so I can see it
3. tell me what sort of jewelry you'd make if you were inspired by watching Duck Dynasty

... * ...

Wait.  What?

Yep! I want to know what piece of jewelry you'd make for one of the folks on Duck Dynasty.  If you're feeling really competitive (or inspired) you can make a piece and share the link in the comments here. If you do, it won't add to your chances of winning, I just wanted to see if you were paying attention to the rules.

And, if you'd do it. :P