Black thumbs? No problem!

The kitchen still isn't done, but it is close enough now that we got a lot of our living space back, and with the space came the room (and mental energy) to actually make stuff!  YAY just in time for the Holiday Craft Fair I put on every year at my office.

This group of work came about because I wanted to make my co-worker and good friend something special for her birthday and I knew how much she loved my succulents.  I have a house full of them, and three years ago for the Spring craft fair I brought in a bunch of cute terrariums with air plants, succulents, and the like.  They were a hit and since then folk keep asking me if I am going to do it again.

Well, no, on account of half the people killed their plants within a month (how in the world do you kill a succulent??) and also it was hard for me to let go of plants that I had been nurturing for 6+ months to get them ready for the sale.  But then it dawned on me that I could just make faux succulents;  sort of how Athena made the mechanical owl for Perseus in Clash of the Titans ('Not my beloved Bubo!').

So I made a few desk top terrariums (the air plants are real):

And a few adorable mini- terrariums.  The base is about the size of a quarter:

Pendants:

This is my favorite!  And the one I am keeping.

And, Christmas ornaments in two sizes!  But really, I think you could hang these in a window all year long:

In a strange twist of coincidence, the day I started on these, I saw that the new PolymerCafe magazine came out with the cover being succulents.  So weird!  I ordered it but it hasn't come in yet. They probably have a much better technique for making these than I managed - but we shall see!

I'm a Terrible Blogger

I never really set out for this site to be a blog, really.  It was just the easiest way to get a quick website up that linked to my galleries and Etsy shop.

I just finished up day two of the Spring Craft Sale that I have been running for the last 5 years out of my office building here.  I made lots of beautiful jewelry (yeah... just ignore my protestations in my last blog entry about not making jewelry anymore.  I'm such a silly pants).

It is time for me to bid a fond farewell to my bi-annual office craft fair, sadly.  It is a LOT of work (I run the show as well as vend at it) but the foot traffic is quite poor, and the clientele I don't think really match up to my funky and whimsical jewelry tastes.

Here is a little preview of the jewelry I made for the show:

I am hoping to get these up on Etsy in the next few weeks since I didn't sell anything at the sale. 

All of the beads are made from molds I created.  I went to the beach by my house and picked random leaves and flowers one afternoon and made beads out of my favorites.  I will likely be making more.  I think they are so beautiful!

I am also seriously considering doing "real" craft shows now.  Since I am not going to be doing the ones here at my office and I still need an outlet, it might be high time I move forward with this!  We will see if I can motivate :)

Jellies!

I have been hard at work getting ready for the 2014 craft fair season.  I have new labels and tags, a new display that I'd like to find time to post a tutorial on since it is easy and cheap!  Most importantly, I have a new jellyfish design!  I have been working on trying to get to a happy place with a jelly for over 2 years, and I think I am pretty satisfied with these.  All of these are headed to the craft sales.  If any are left, I'll toss them up on Etsy in a couple weeks.

All are between 4-6 inches long and are hung from choker length silk ribbon.  They are kind of bolo style in the way they hang.  Whatcha think?

The group shot!

This is the one I am keeping all to myself!

The Seattle Aquarium

Hidee Ho!

I was contacted by the Seattle Aquarium to donate an octopus piece for their annual fund raiser, Splash. Such a nice compliment!  Of course I said I would.  And then they came back to me and asked to purchase a second one as a gift for someone.  How neat is that!

The patchy purple cuff from my last post is on it's way to the auction while this one:

will be the gift.

While I was working on it, I kind of made three, so my Etsy shop now carries a couple more cuffs:

I'm still working on figuring out how to do a fairy figure.  I have made huge progress on faces and heads.  I tackled DIY eyes that are polymer but look like glass thanks to the tutorials over at Misty Moon Creations. Soon as I get a finished project to show, I'll also post the many missteps it took to get me there. That should be embarrassing fun.