Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Last Creative Post of the Year!

So, among other things I created for Christmas were a necklace and bracelet that I cannot put up here 'cause I forgot to take pix, a necklace and earrings that I cannot put up for again the same reason, and a few other things I *did* take pix of:



That is a slightly better picture of the snowglobe I made for the brother and his wife.



Those are bath salts. I made ten little bags of them, three glass jars, and three plastic bottles (my grandmother has issues with dropping things, and I'd rather not have her dropping glass).



My mother's necklace. Turquoise beads with silver spacers and glass teardrops.



My SIL's necklace and earring set. A combination of metallic glass and painted freshwater pearls.

This upcoming year, I think I may work in wood. But I have to finish the yarn I've been working on! I don't have pix yet, but I have 335 yards of slightly overspun laceweight new zealand wool that needs to be put up here! :)

I hope everyone's had a wonderful year, and I hope the new year sees you happy and crafting! :)

Monday, December 29, 2008

A lot of my pix are on my other camera, so shall have to wait...

But in the meantime, I can show you the pix my husband took of one of the gifts I gave this past weekend:



Yes, it's a wedding snowglobe.

I will just say trying to find glycerine this close to christmas was an interesting feat in itself, but you need the glycerine to keep the glitter suspended. I think I put a little too much glycerine, but the globe works, and my SIL was entirely happy with it. :)

I've been saving up to do this one myself for a few years... Had the supplies, just hadn't done it yet. And she loves snowglobes. And they finally got married this year. :)

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

It just dawned on me...

... That although I haven't posted it here, in the last month and a half I've made:

15 beaded ornaments and six glass ornaments with different things inside, four necklaces (two more to go), one bracelet, two pair of earrings (two more to go), ten sachets and one glass jar of bath-salts (two more glass jars and five more plastic bottles to go), and I'm halfway through making a snow globe. I've also been spinning new zealand wool in my spare time.

As soon as this holiday is over, I'm getting a nap. Then I'm getting a jump start on next year.

Of course, I say that every year...

Things I've been working on...

... Oh, like christmas stuff.

I can't post the presents yet, people might be watching. Well, that, and the husband seems to only have put up a few of the things that I've taken pix of this week. Must rectify that. :)

I'll probably be taking pix on location, so to speak, since things aren't done yet.

But I do have something to confess... I found out the hard way why they put plastic wrap around spools of memory wire:



Yeah, I wound up with a giant slinky. ;)

But the latest ornaments for the family are now ready to go! Fifteen of them, so not only do people have choices, but if the brother's in-laws show up, I don't show up empty-handed:



There's four different varieties:



And the glass ornaments I made last week:



Some time this weekend (or not, since I'll be at the family's places this weekend), I'll show some of the other presents I've been working on!

If I don't come back, Merry Christmas! And for those who don't celebrate, happy holidays!

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Wherein I declare myself an idiot...

Okay, yesterday, we celebrated christmas with the in-laws.

Among the presents were three gifts I had made. A glass leaf necklace with gold accent beads (magnetic clasp), a beautiful tigers-eye necklace (lobsterclaw clasp) with matching earrings, and a blue mother-of-pearl shell necklace with silver celtic accent beads with matching bracelet (toggle clasps).

The only one I can currently take pix of is the glass leaf one (will take pix later), since my MIL asked me to change the clasp for her to make life a little easier. The glass beads are apparently so heavy they overwhelm the magnetic clasp. She had a spare clasp that has a screw-in bit to go with the magnetics, so I'm going to change it out.

The tiger-eye I can at least show some of the beads I used to make it, as with the mother-of-pearl one, but I can't show the finished product, 'cause they're already with the recipients. Yeah, I wasn't thinking when I wrapped them. Alas, I am an idiot.

I did, however, take pix of the ornaments I gave them. I'll make those available later today after the hubby uploads them. :)

Later today, I shall be making more ornaments for the *other* half of the family, plus a turquoise necklace, and possibly an amethyst one and a garnet one. I'll try to remember to take pictures this time, otherwise I'll be able to take pix on the recipients on Christmas. :)

I also have spun a *lot* of wool lately. I was plying all the way through yesterday while we were at the in-laws (they're used to this. Doesn't phase anyone at this point. You know you've made an impression on the inlaws when your brotherinlaw gets you a gift card to a major hardware store, and your Godsisterinlaw gets you a gift card to a major craft store. Yeah, they don't know me yet, right? ;) My MIL also got me a gorgeous acacia wood bowl, she knows I love wood with character. :)

Okay, so I'll head down to the parents place on Christmas, but they're about 400 miles away. My grandmother, uncle, parents, brother, and his wife will all be down there, plus the new in-laws from the brother's new wife.

Time to get cracking on the presents!

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Prelude to Christmas


So, right now I'm in the process of making a bunch of beaded holiday ornaments and gifts, so the fiber thing is not necessarily getting too far.

However, the picture is what I've got done of spinning Sarah's fur already.

Not too bad... But considering how much work has been going into getting christmas prezzies done (I should take pix), I don't think I'm going to have time to finish this month's spinning challenge...

Monday, December 15, 2008

All right, the last few days have been a bit of a blur, but I have an excuse: I got my wisdom teeth out late last week.

A friend of mine wants me to make stitch markers out of them. I think I shall decline that.

In the meantime, I've eaten lots of pudding, and done some minor spinning, but not as much as one might imagine, since I've been falling asleep more than I've been crafting.

Christmas is coming up fast, so I think a lot more of my beading ideas will be done in the next few weeks while I make christmas ornaments!

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Spinning challenges

So, the December spinning challenge is up, with the theme of "My Home". So, I've decided that instead of picking colors from my home, I'm spinning the fluff that's in my home! This includes me-fluff (my hair), bunny fluff, and kitty fluff.

So far I've got a quarter of an ounce of kitty fluff (at least in looking at it by volume), about an ounce of clean bunny fur (there's more fur I've collected, but haven't washed yet), and a shoebox full of my own hair! The shoebox full of my hair is from the hairbrush in the shower, so it's definitely clean... I carded most of it the other night and got this:



Definitely a lot of hair to work with... I got pix of some of the bunny fluff, but they're not online yet.

To say that the hair is a challenge is an understatement. I spin it in one direction, and less than a second later it's trying to unwind itself in the other!



However, I'm getting at least a reasonable amount here. I'm not trying for perfection, as this seems to be some of the hardest stuff I've ever tried to spin! I suppose it's good practice for the flax I'll start trying to work on next month...

I'm discovering that bunny fluff does NOT like to stay spun. Neither does hair. We'll find out about the kitty fur.

*whew*

Thursday, December 4, 2008

I'm a bit behind...

So, no pix. Work on the blanket proceeds apace, but I'm afraid I shall not be taking more pix of it. Many of the places that will accept submissions for print won't accept one that has already been seen by others, so I will hold off on that for now. Learned that after having blogged about those kilthose a couple of years back... :) I've already undone and redone rows 47-50 three or four times to get it right...

So I'm also doing some new spinning... The latest December challenge is called "My Home". So what better way to describe my home than the fluff that's in it? So, I'm currently trying to see what fluff I can dig up: bunny fluff, kitty fluff, and *my* fluff! This should be an eclectic yarn at best, and may be worthy of nothing more than being a bit of art yarn that never gets used, but it's a challenge, right? :)

Been at work a LOT lately, so I'm more than a bit tired and less inclined to work on things when I get home, so things have been a little light for a week or two... I'll get back into things soon. Next week the wisdom teeth come out, so I may have a few days on my hands... But I may not feel like doing anything, either!