Fingerprint Bead Party!

I have wanted to have this party since summer....I have planned and analyzed the best way to make it happen for months...It was wonderful! Almost 30 of us made Fingerprint Bead Jewelry, sharing our prints and fellowshipping for about 4 hours. 

Although the project is pretty simple, what gets complicated is the coordination of how many beads per person as you don't know who will want to have who's bead and what type of jewelry they will make. Some chose beads based on color and others on who made them. I thought at least one person might make a piece of jewelry with just their own prints to give as a gift,  but I don't think anyone did. 

To help plan, our family made fingerprint bead necklaces for a few relatives and ourselves. Even my husband gave us his prints :D These necklaces above are made from our family prints...

We planned the party in 3 phases... the bead printing phase, bead finishing phase, and the jewelry making phase. 

     
Bead Printing Phase: 

•  Use 0.15 oz of black Sculpey clay (yes, we weighed each bead); 
• Roll it into a sphere; Insert a jewelry eyepin (the ones with the loop on one side) through the center
• Rub PearlEx Pigments  on your index finger and thumb. Press the sphere into a flattened circle (see photos) and carefully remove your fingers. You should have left a nice clean imprint;  We had both series 1 and 2 of the PearlEx pigments. I had everyone write their name under the color they chose;
• Place the beads into a glass dish on an index card (we put names on the cards to keep them identified);
• Bake according to the clay's directions; 
• Cool the beads.

Bead Finishing Phase: 

• Use gloss varnish to make the beads shiny (this is optional); 
• Dry with a hairdryer if you are in a hurry -- we were :D
• Cut the straight end of the eyepin and make a loop on that side to match the other side.
• While some of us were working on this part, Alexis taught many of the ladies how to make paper boxes (pictured at the top)... Everyone was able to take their beads in their paper box to our jewelry making stations set up with all the findings and a wide array of beads. 

Jewelry Making Phase: 

•  Some connected the beads with just a ring, adding a pendant is beautiful...(right)
• Others added beads in between the fingerprints...(left)
• Imagination -- most anything goes as these black beauties are simply magical!

All the jewelry was beautiful and unique...I had so much fun sharing this project with our friends -- Thank you all for coming :D

Who can you share your prints with this Christmas?

Painted Ornaments and Mugs

I posted previously about painting mugs... 

I have found them to really hold up and wanted to make some more. 

They came out pretty busy, but I just loved them! 

 I also found these really neat "squished" balls that have the perfect flat surface for painting on. One night as I was waiting to fall asleep I had the idea to paint something on one side that you "see through" to the other. I thought of a pine branch on one side with a bird on the other. However, I haven't ventured into birds with this paint. I am used to being able to layer the paint and with the enamel paint it pulls itself off. I then returned to one of my favorite themes...irises and dragon flies! Fun. Here are my creations... 

dragon fly on the one side

irises on the other

My daughters made some beautiful paper boxes for me to wrap them in and give them to the ladies at our coop as gifts. I will have to post a photo of the remaining boxes later. They are the perfect size for many of our handmade items, including crochet roses :D

Turkey Anyone?

What was for dinner at your Thanksgiving get-together?  Lexi lucked out as my mother-in-law cooked Thanksgiving dinner this year. We brought my "world famous" pumpkin pie (not sure how it became that?) and an appetizer. 

I wanted to tell everyone about my most fabulous "Christmas Cheese"! It wouldn't be a holiday without it... So easy and so unexpectedly yummy! This recipe came from Creme de Colorado and is called Maroon Bells Cheese Spread. It is simply

          2.5 cups shredded Extra Sharp White Cheddar Cheese (10-12 oz)
          1/3 cup grated onion
          2 Tbsp mayonaise
          Raspberry Preserves as a topping (~1/2 cup)
          Triscuits

Now the recipe calls for mixing the first 3 ingredients and making a mound, pouring the raspberry preserves over it and eating it with Triscuits --- It has to be Triscuits! They are so good with this.

However, this screams SCULPTURE OPPORTUNITY! So, years ago, I began by making a Christmas ornament, a pair of bells, my friends initials for a bridal shower, the new year's year, holly leaves (I know they are supposed to be green, but it was cute), poinsettia flower, bow, pumpkin, and leaves.... that is what I chose this year.  Here is the sculpted cheese. It is best to then put this into the refrigerator and add the preserves right before hand. Spoon the preserves gingerly into the design to avoid getting them on the raised design.

Not being the best blogger, I forgot to take a photo until after it had been significantly dug into! Please use the serving utensil, girls!

Hope this inspires you to make your food into art this holiday!

Eggshell Mosiac

This was one of the coolest projects I have done with my students. I found it on dickblick... AND it is even incredibly more beautiful than the pictures. I enjoyed teaching about the color wheel and the history of mosaics -- I loved this website.  It is also interesting to learn about the use of ostrich egg mosaics in Namibia.  Here is a little photo instructional:

Eggshells are "crushed" onto a canvas using white glue.

Once the glue dries, you add liquid watercolor -- undiluted! Use analogous colors for the best results.

Be generous... and quick. The inside of the shells absorb more color than the outsides.

This is where it gets tricky.... You have to remove the watercolor from the eggshell tops to expose them. Using the diluted gloss varnish, a paint brush and my best friend - a q-tip - move the color to the 'valleys'!

Finally, I found that Triple Thick was the best way to go to finish them off. They are beautiful! I will post photos of the students' finished projects -- I bet they will be really neat... 

Time to Knit, Crochet, and Finish!

It is that time of year again...I just don't seem to want to knit or crochet in the summer months. I pulled out a cable item I started last year and when I am not too tired to think, am working on that. I also made a knitted neck warmer.  I believe it can be called an infinite one as I connected it with a twist in it. I love it so much I am making another just like it to give away. It was fast and my favorite kind on knitting -- the kind that has fuzzy stuff so there is less ability to inspect the evenness of my stitches!

Last year I knitted this cowl. I LOVE it! I didn't follow the pattern (not because I didn't try) and so it became mine. I'm good with that :D I discovered that they don't 'pull' on my neck like a scarf, and they make a lighter weight or cotton sweater nice and toasty.

I also am crocheting on another item I can't post about -- I have a hard enough time working on things in private as it is-- to have anything be a surprise at Christmas. It is, however, an item I saw on Grosgrain.

Time to finish things up...  A few weeks ago, I put together these fabric flowers. I finally bought the pins to go on the back of them.

Oh- And my oldest daughter and I modified a dress we bought for recital... dresses are often too low in the front (this one was just about 1/2 inch too low), so we have creatively used this black sheer material to add both a small ruffle at the neckline and a straight 2" addition to the hem. It tied in beautifully and was the perfect length for her as well.

I have several other projects needing to be finished. I will post about those soon.  Happy completions!

More Curtains

My husband's office has some beautiful cornice boards I upholstered when we first moved in. I had intended to make drapes to go beneath, but never did. I used to have a sort of stick type shade that rolled up and down, but they were ruined by the sun and have long since gone away. I temporarily put up some pinch pleat curtains my mother-in-law took down from her house when she moved in (I actually got some wonderful things out of that deal!) ...  anyway, I digress... I used the beautiful silk ribbon fabric that my mother send to go over the fabric I 'stole' for the foyer curtains (other post.) The color was too green for my foyer, but is great in the office. I had two pieces - one which was a little longer than a window length and the other that was three times the window length. Creativity kicked in and I made it work!

I used the shorter piece as the fullness of the curtain that 'swoops' over -- it ends at the tassle tie {which I purchased at Michael's at a steal for about $2 each! (but, don't pull on those curtains, dear!) And I cut the other piece in half and used it for the 'to the floor' panel. I did sew them together so there would be no peaking amongst the swoop.  :D  The ribbons in the curtain hide the seam beautifully.

I am tickled with them... but my husband does need to block the incredibly bright morning sun that comes in those windows. So, I used the free pinch pleat curtains to make two roman shades. I simply cut off the top to 1" longer than the inside window height, and I cut one side to 2" longer than the inside window width. I then only had to hem the one side! I added the rings on the back and tadah! you have a roman shade.




Now, I am left with just the school room valence then I am home free until the roman shades in my family room need to be replaced due to afternoon sun damage. Then we'll have another opportunity to see how the Lord will provide more abundantly than I deserve!

Paper Clay Leaves by Students...

I think they came out beautifully! What do you think?  

(I posted directions in a previous post.)