Well, it's been a busy week so far, i've only got one project done. It is a pretty simple design using Byzantine weave to make a focal point for a necklace. You can see on each link in the triangle there are three Byzantine links. Then they are linked together so the top half of the ring is visible.
The chain is just two in one. I put a magnetic clasp on this one. The necklace is really light, and only measures just over 14".

The new job is going well, I am training at a store in Spartanburg, I can't wait to get to my usual store. It is in walking distance, so there won't be any drive time.

Another thing i've been thinking about is shutting down my ArtFire store. I don't get hardly any sales there, so i'm thinking of just listing everything on my blog. I've seen other people list things on their blog and buy through email. I will have to do a little research about taking payments through paypal and such.


We gave two puppies away this week. They went to a wonderful home. They took a boy and a girl. Their names are Brutis and Bella now. The lady sent me an email the next day and said they had a good first night. I'm so happy they have a good home and they are not alone. And, they have four kids to play with...

Chain Maille

I finished up the Dragonscale today. This weave gave me so many problems. I went through so many tutorials that I was about to give up. Then, one wonderful day, Sam and I were in Hobby Lobby, and I picked up a copy of Step by Step wire jewelry. Charlene Anderson wrote the best tutorial for this weave and guess what, I got it, finally. I don't know if I just needed a break from thinking about it but I like to think it was this article that helped me out. If you click on her name it will take you to the magazines website. It is the Dec-Jan issue. So here's the finished product. I used enamel coated copper, which were a total pain to cut and pre ordered GP 4mm.

Then, I got my step daughters watch band done, I just have to wait for the face to come in. So all-in-all it was a pretty good first day of the year.

Wire Working

I thought I would play with some wire, get back into creating something after the holiday. I went to the library and picked up a couple books. One is an older one, published back in the 90's. It's called "Making Wire Jewelry" by Helen Clegg and Mary Larom. It's pretty good, it has in depth instructions and a gallery of photos in the center. There aren't a lot of photos throughout the book in the instructions but they are good enough that the drawings they use are sufficient. The ISBN, if you want to do a search for it, is 1-57990-002-X

So they first technique I tried in this one was the Egyptian coils. The authors explain that it is believed that the first time this was used was over four thousand years ago by an Egyptian goldsmith. It was the first time a necklace was produced using only wire.

I've seen these made before but never tried for myself. Here are a couple pics.
The one on the right is a bracelet made with purple enamel coated copper.

This is one of a pair of earrings made with black enamel coated copper.








There are a few other techniques in this book i'm going to try, I thought this one was the coolest though. The other book is on Viking weave and twisted viking weave and wire knitting. I'm gonna be busy....

New Year Comin!!!

What a year it's been. Some rough, some good but we made it through. I have high hopes for the coming year. This one has been such a roller coaster. I finished my tax season in April and though I would really concentrate on building my business. I think it's more of a hobby at this point, but again, high hopes!! I think I have too many ideas and not enough time. I have to pick one and stick with it, but when I try to do that I get sidetracked. I will be working on only jewelry and someone will want glass or windchimes. Then I get carried away with that. I want to do it all...

Well, we got the call in late June that my Mom was not well and I really needed to go home. So off I went. We lost her July 10th at 9pm. I was so sad for so long, I kinda still am. I used to call her for recipes that I knew she had in her head that I could never remember. I didn't have to cuz she was always there.

It took me a while to get back on track. Job hunting, jewelry making, bamboo harvesting....
Searching the web one day I came across the Hive. What a wonderful place, I have 'met' wonderful people with so much talent and humor and warmth. You have to love the artist. We have fun and get educated and just keep in touch every day.

So we come to the end of the year, with all it's trials and tribulations. I am working on my list. I have to have a list. I have to make myself sit down and decide what direction I want my 'business' to go. I have a great prospect on a job. Two interviews and I should get the call tomorrow.

So I am wishing everyone a happy and safe and prosperous new year.

PollyWogPatterns

PollyWogPatterns

I love to introduce you to different artists. This lady makes some amazing dolls. My favorite has to be this Santa. I love things like this around Christmas time, it is such a nice change from the store bought, injection molded, manufactured decorations. Yup that was a rant, but when you pay twenty or thirty dollars for something store bought you could be getting this OOAK for ten.
So you get handmade, in the US and one of a kind. Can you really beat that? You can check out her ETSY shop here!
She also does patterns and i'm sure she would love to hear from you whether you want an OOAK item or even just to say those are awesome!!

I Won at The Hive

This has to be the first time I have ever won anything. It is so odd too, or maybe i'm just reading too much into this. My Mom was an avid quilter. Guess what I won.........QUILTING BOOKS. Isn't that awesome.
See the books on The Hive and meet the quilt ladies on Beths' blog.

Thank you so much Beth, my Mom would be incredibly happy about this. She wanted me to learn to sew. She always encouraged my other crafts, beading, cross stitch, drawing etc. She also wanted me to learn stained glass, which I have done so this will be the icing on the cake.

Christmas Spirit

I'm trying very hard to get into the Christmas Spirit. I don't know why i'm having such a hard time with it this year. We put up the same tree with the same ornaments every year. We can't have a real tree anymore because of allergies. The pine stuffs us up so bad. The same old Christmas village.

I'm a little discouraged with my AF shop too. People look but don't buy. I understand the economy SUCKS. So i'm going to do something different there too after the holiday. Until then everything is marked down thirty percent, Actually, I think the scarves are going to http://homelessbridge.blogspot.com/ it's damn cold out.

Well, what i'm going to do is probably going to take till next year but i'm going to start working on it now. I am going to do an all Chain Maille Christmas tree. I will be doing Christmas ornaments all year long, some to sell and some for me.

So thats my plan....

Sketchbooks!!!!

I love my sketchbook. They are so important for any artist or crafter. I have always had one within reach, at least since 8th grade. Thats a long time. I know, a lot of people say, well I can't draw. Well, you don't need to be a professional artist to keep a sketchbook. You can doodle, keep notes, whatever. As long as you know the meaning of your scribbles.
My sketches are sometimes very amusing when I go back and look but I say, Oh, I remember what I was thinking about and here's how i'm going to build it.
I'm going to share some pages with you. This way you can see that being perfect is far from the goal of a sketchbook.

Well, i'm not sure why they turned and why they won't turn back. But you get the idea.

Here's an extra, the puppies are a week old.

Well, I guess these pics just wanna give me a hard time tonight....lol

Sale

Everything in my ArtFire shop is 10 percent off!! Enjoy sale prices through Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

SRobinsonDesigns

Happy Shopping!!

Miscellaneous and Yarn Yokel

I am still working on the watches. I've got some more bamboo wind chimes in the works and sending those to family up north. It's been so warm here that outside work takes precedent over inside. Our tree out front is finally turning. They always turn late. The oak tree lost most of it's leaves last week.

I wanted to mention a member of The Hive today. She goes by Yarn Yokel and she crochets and also makes crochet patterns. That, to me, is pretty awesome. I have to have a pattern for crochet, I can't even make a granny square unless I have the pattern sitting in front of me. Thats kinda funny.
So, if you crochet you should definitely check out her website, she is a wealth of information.
You can also follow her on Twitter yarnyokel.

Rachel Ray Show and KickinsKreations

I go back to work tomorrow....the end of the year is almost here and i'm trying to come up with new stuff. Thinking about a bracelet of the month club. I love bracelets. They are my favorite thing to make. I am also going to get back out to my workshop and do some stained glass. It's been to long since i've done any of that. I'm also thinking of doing a special line of Christmas ornaments and advertising early for those. Big plans, big plans....

So, I won't be around that much until tax season is over...going to try to blog as often as I can and keep promoting others studio's.

This studio had the greatest news...KickinsKreations makes the best candles and she was contacted by a Production Assistant from the Rachel Ray Show....

How awesome is that....well, I know she makes the most excellent candles because I have two of them. But I can't imagine the excitement she is feeling at being contacted by this television show. To think that something you made with your own hands is being seen by so many people. Wow..this is so awesome.

Good news....Kickinskreations is going to have a rapid cart posted here on the blog so look to your right to see her other awesome candles...

Shabby Bags

So Monday is here again. Do you know someone who uses a walker to help them get around? Well, you know that it's almost impossible for them to carry around things that they like to have when they have to keep both hands busy. So I found the perfect bag. It hooks right to the walker and it looks great...

The name of this studio is Shabby Bags

She doesn't only make these, there are diaper bags....

How cute is that...

But this is one of my favorites..

She has a bag for every occasion...So visit today and spread the word.

Friday

It's finally Friday. I had my interview yesterday for the temp position through tax season, hopefully start that next Friday. So I will probably be absent from AF a lot and the bog. I will be sure to post the new Rapid Carts on Wednesdays. I figure while i'm working I can stock up on supplies, then get back down to business when i'm done..

Now, on to bigger and better things for this Friday (only one of these left till Christmas)..

I have got to tell you about this studio called GravelRoadJewelry

Is this not the neatest wire wrapped ring you have ever seen. This studio is filled with gorgeous, gorgeous pieces. her jewelry has so much detail, it's just mesmerizing. And it took me the last five minutes to come up with a word that fits...mesmerizing is a good one I guess.If you want to be noticed you should wear one of her pendants. These are definitely conversation pieces, I mean could you see someone wearing this and not getting comments,...

GravelRoadJewelry, it's not too late to order for Christmas.

Dogs

So I thought today could be pet day. My dog, Harley,

 who thinks she is human, has really dry skin so I wanted to find something organic. I used Sulfodene normally but it didn't do the trick. So I emailed  PawsForPeace an ArtFire shop that sells all natural pet care products. When they emailed me back I was pleasantly surprised, there was no buy my stuff attitude, and you get that with some retailers, which totally puts me off. Anyway, they gave me a solution and said try this before you buy...love it..
Also, the proceeds from the sale of their items go to http://www.pawsforpeace.com , which is a site that educates pet owners in holistic care.
A couple of their things,

So in the winter, when you don't want to give your dog a bath because it's too cold, they have some different sprays that you can use..good stuff.

Now on to spoiling your dog, because I do that. My dog gets a Christmas stocking filled with good stuff every year. She likes her toys and her 'cookies'. Good place to get some of that stuff is BuckarooBones

Look, these look good enough for us to eat, they probably are. When I was in the military there was a drill Sgt. that carried around dog treats, he said all the nutrition you need is in one of these. Now, that didn't make me want to eat them, but he was right, the treats are great...for your dog..

So give your dog something good for Christmas, go visit BuckarooBones

I see something tasty in your dogs future...

Copper

I love copper. I like to make windchimes with it, I like to make jewelry with it. It does take a little extra care but I think its worth it. Over the summer we had to do some electrical work so my husband and I saved all the old wire, stripped it and I used it in windchimes. The cool thing about that was when the wire turned, the glass looked like it was hanging from nothing because the copper blended in to the background. Cool.

Well, there is someone that uses copper for her jewelry and I wanted to point you in her direction, The name of her studio is CreativeTreasures and she's not kidding. I love these pins. They would make lovely gifts or you could just spoil yourself.
here are my two favorites: She has the heart pin in turquoise also....

So here's the link so you can have a look at all of her jewelry, it's not just the pins that are pretty..  http://www.artfire.com/users/Ctbydonna

The Holiday Table

Want to make your holiday table look awesome this year? You know you do. These are such a neat idea, especially if you have kids...they will be eating on Christmas tree decorations!!!!

Ok, so your looking for a more elegant look, well, this lady's got it. These are traditional christmas patterns and I love the round design.

She also does napkins that match. This is your one stop shop to make your holiday table gorgeous. Prices are very reasonable and shipping is excellent....ITS FREE....

So visit "Of Brush snd Needle" (the name makes you want to see, doesn't it)

http://www.artfire.com/users/night_owl2704

VOTE

It's time to vote for YCSI Contest participants..

The October/November contest participants had to create an original work with a Fall based theme.

I voted today and let me tell you, it was a hard decision. I am posting a link to the blog so go vote for your favorite....

http://youcansellit-artfire.blogspot.com/

Happy Cyber Monday

Well, I took the Thanksgiving weekend off. I have posted a few new things on http://www.artfire.com/users/SRobinsonDesigns and today is the last day for the 10% off coupon.

I love to do things with seed beads. I think they look awesome. And it takes a lot of time and talent and patience. This shop owner makes some really nice stuff..

Tell me thats not gorgeous....

And look at this, I absolutely love the color in this bracelet...

So check out her studio, it only takes a minute... http://www.artfire.com/users/RoxysRox

bebstreasures

We're all getting ready for Thanksgiving and Black Friday and cyber Monday.....I will not be leaving my house on Friday, that is for sure. There are so many things available on the web, and I am one of those last minute shoppers anyway..

People just think commercial when the Christmas season rolls around. I know, i've said it before. But I am saying it again. Our country is filled with talented people. People that use their hearts and their hands to make beautiful things that can be kept forever.

I'm sure everyone has heard of planned obsolescence. This is when things are made in a manufacturing environment and after a certain amount of time it needs parts replaced or has to be replaced completely. So all those gadgets and video games are going to be gone long before the piece of jewelry or wood carving or afghan you buy handmade.

The shop i'm about to show you has beautifully handcrafted jewelry pieces in it. They are heirloom quality. 20 years from now when someone asks your child or grandchild where they got the beautiful bracelet they can say it was handmade years ago and given to me by my mother whose mother gave it to her....

http://www.artfire.com/users/bebstreasures

Jade bracelet

Periwinkle bracelet

i rambled a little today, sorry about that...

SALE

There is a sale going on in my studio!!! 10% off select categories until December 2.

http://www.artfire.com/users/srobinsondesigns

Visit my shop and use coupon code Holiday2009 to get your 10% off. Always free shipping in U.S. on jewelry.