Camera Play ~ Macro Practise

I got home this afternoon and decided to go take pics in my mom's back yard. She decided she was going to plant some new flowers today and I practised my camera work on her flora (the fauna kept going in and out the doggie door, wondering why these two crazy women were outside when there was a nice, comfortable couch INside for him to laze on as we skritched his ears ~ha!~)

Anyway, here's some of what I shot:

Mom has these bottles just because
they look neat!

Columbine, seen from above

Columbine, side view (I had fun with this one on PicMonkey,
maybe I'll show those later! hehehee)

New buds on the lemon tree

This bud is starting to break open

The first bloom on the Lemon Tree!

Pacific Redwood ~ close-up of it's needles and new growth

I think this is a Calla Lily
You're looking straight down it's throat

Lovely Pansies

Purple Daisies ~ Saner Sister loves daisies!

In the daisy family, but not sure what kind
(didn't look at the tag)

Fauna we happen to be "baby" sitting
for a little while. She peered thru the
gate, wondering what we were up to
(crazy humans)
That's her eye & nose you see as dark spots

 And that's it. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Oh, How Beauti-mous!

I showed you a few posts back that a beading buddy of mine was making me a bracelet.  Said beading buddy works with seed beads and does beautiful work.  Well, same-said buddy sent me the bracelet a couple of days ago and I'm almost afraid to wear it, it's that gorgeous.  I showed my dad and he says the same thing. It's a work of art!  Here are a few shots I took with my iPhone. Yes, sorry, that is my wrist in there.  Yes, I have freckles. It's what happens when you're a fair-skinned (used-to-be) red head.  Anyway, enjoy the pics of her gorgeous art work:



Love the Plume Agate: can't really tell from
this shot, but that "warp" to the right? Yeah,
those have faint blue inclusions in them.
I loved that when she let me pick the stone.



She picked the Blue Lace Agate to compliment
the blue in the Plume Agate. Love it! :)

Didn't I tell you? Art work! This is even
prettier in real life. The work is so delicate
looking yet the stones and size give it
enough weight to not look silly on my wrist.

Hardware Can Be Beautiful

So, I was in Lowe's a few days ago, looking for copper wire and copper tubing (don't ask, I'll show you when it's done!) and I found these sweet little brass mirror holders.  My immediate thought was "HEY! I can make these into jewelry somehow!"  (y'all have been a really baaaaaaad influence on me!)  Anyway, I'm still contemplating what I'm going to do. Any ideas from you?

 

hard to tell the silver color from the brass
color in this shot, eh?

And, don't forget, my March Contest will be over this Saturday and I'll be drawing two winners shortly thereafter.  Go here if you still want a chance to get in on the contest.

Pantone Spring ~ Copper Candy Twist

I only had a little time to play with my beads and wires this weekend and that was on Friday night.  And that wasn't even until late in the evening!  Oh, well, I got to play!  Anyway,  I decided to play with two of the colors in Patone's list of what's going to be "hot" this spring and to use copper wire to bring it all together. I don't know why copper wire except the beads themselves seemed to just beg for it.  They whispered insistently in my head that copper wire was the way to go! (don't look at me like that! you know you ALL have beady little voices whispering to you, too, or you wouldn't be here!)

ANYway, this is what I made Friday night in a fit of creativity: (and, yes, I decided to keep these for myself. LOVE the color mix more than I tho't I would and it's my first real wire work of any kind! eeeeeesoproudpatsselfonback)

Copper Candy Twist ~ the light orange
beads are a tiger's eye sort of bead (not
real tiger's eye, but that sort of "movement"
in the bead) It's a little richer than the lighting
makes it look.

Played with the copper wire (also a deeper tone
than the lighting makes it seem) and did some
(semi-) serious twisting. This is the back of it. I
like that I can still see the beads if the necklace
gets twisted around this way.



The front ~ (do I have to mention the lighting
again? plus, it's taken with an iPhone)

connector between the dangle/focal and
the necklace. (honest! the colors are a little
richer than this!)

I kept the same colors (the tubes were a dark
orange) and pattern throughout

Matching earrings

close-up of one

Twice In One Day!?!?

Yes, I have another tho't roaming in my head that is begging to be let out in the blog-o-sphere.  And, for you with slightly masochistic tendencies, here it is (okay, okay, the idea isn't masochistic! y'all are for coming back for a 2nd helping of my tho'ts ~ ~ such as they are! HA!)

I've been reading recently about keeping a sketch book handy for when you have ideas for jewelry so you can either record it because you're not near your craft corner or because it helps to sketch/draw/doodle it first to work out the design.  Not all of us work this way.  I, myself, am a grab-the-beads-and-dump-em-together-til-it-works type. I might have an idea, but I usually just wing it.

Still, there are times I see something that makes me go "Oh! That would make a GREAT necklace/bracelet/set of earrings/whatever!" and I forget it again in the next five minutes. THAT'S when that sketch book/pad comes in handy, whether it's the size of a novel (like mine), larger or even smaller.  But, sometimes, for various and sundry reasons, we don't have our sketch pad in our purses.  Maybe we changed purses. Maybe we took it out to work on those ideas and left it in our craft corner or on a bookshelf.  Whatever the reason, the next time an idea strikes us we reach into our purse and, D'OH! it's not there. 



the basic is free, the one
with all the bells & whistles
is $1.00... worth it, I think!

 If you happen to have an iPhone (I'm sure other "smart" phones have this type of app, too, just check) you can get what's called "Mobile Sketch."  It's great in that it allows you to at least get the gist of what you're thinking down.  Now, it won't be perfect (unless you have these tiny little, pencil-like fingers... I don't care what they show you that "others have drawn" ~phssh!) but you can get the main points down and worry about the rest later. 



Yes, not a great sketch, but you're
using a finger to draw on a screen
that's about 3"x2" with a finger that's
(much) bigger than most pencils.

 This really is a handy app to have and I highly recommend it to all of you.  If any guys are reading this, it's great for you because (I hope) none of you carry purses and would look a bit funny wandering around with a notebook of some type in your hands.  Plus, we all set things down and forget where, eh?  So, there's my $.02c worth for carrying a sketch pad for your ideas (as well as some show-n-tell on how it could work).  What ideas do you have for recording your tho'ts and ideas?


AFTER ~ when I got to my sketch pad
and was able to get the (very!) rough
idea down. iPhone helped me remember
what I was aiming for.



Seed Bead Phobia

I have a friend at work who also makes jewelry, but she uses the seed beads where I use the larger glass or stone beads (or, soon I hope, made-em-myself polymer clay beads).  She has made numerous creations in the last few years that I've known her and I just feel my jaw unhinge every time she shares a photo of what she's working on or has entered in this fair or that contest.  Dorothy is just so creative. And WAY more patient than I am. I just don't believe I have it in me to sit down and work with those teeeeeny tiiiiiiny seed beads the way she does (and can). I just know myself well enough to know I'd get frustrated in a short amount of time and I'm not sure where the seed beads would end up, but it wouldn't be my table or a design (lol).

Anyway!  Dorothy is in the process of making me a bracelet and I tho't I'd share it with all of you and brag on her abilities just a little bit.

She tells me the main focal stone is plume agate and the side
stones are blue lace agate. Isn't this just GORgeous!?!?!

Having Fun!

To participate in my March Contest, go here.

I've been playing with PicMonkey for the last couple of weeks (whenever I had the chance) and managed to make some cool adjustments. SO fun!

SO much fun and SO many great effects to play with.  Go visit and play around!