owls

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Woodland Necklace

Hello!
Hope you are all enjoying your weekend!
Remember my post, *Coming Soon*?
I was awaiting the arrival of a copper leaf clasp from Daisy Chain Designs in England. That tiny envelope took almost 2 months to get to me!
Now that the holidays are over and my house is empty again, I had a chance to make a piece using this beautiful clasp.
There were five jewelry designers that participated in the challenge, so be sure to check out their blog posts if you didn’t already, right here.
While I was waiting the arrival of this package my lampworked owl was born, and I thought he would be perfect with this clasp.



This is the first time I have done a necklace completely out of copper wire and chain, and I really like it.



I have had this chain for quite some time and wasn’t sure what I was going to do with it.  It works perfect with this necklace.  Heavy enough to add to the design, but not so heavy that it takes away from the oak leaf clasp or the beads.
Mr Owl has a birdie friend accompanying him also.


Hope you like my Woodland Necklace!
I think I am keeping this one for myself 🙂


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The Journey of an Owl

Today has flown by! Probably because I have been on the torch most of the day.  It has been the perfect day for it…..it is 71 here with a brisk breeze, so having the toasty kiln on & sitting by a torch feels good for a change!
(Yes in the Bahamas we consider 71 cool!)
I told you in my last post that I had the pleasure of having Cassie, from Glass Beadle, here to help me with my bead making.
When she came I had a list of beads I wanted to learn how to make. An owl was on that list, but the three days went by so quickly that we never got to it.
I wasn’t worried, since she had taught me some great skills with sculpting so I figured I could figure it out on my own.
That little owl took several tries…..four to be exact….
Just for fun I thought I would share the photos with you.
The very first one broke – after the annealing, while I was cleaning him!! I was devastated!



It took me a few weeks to try again…..so here are Mr Two & Mr Three….
They were better, but still needed some work to get rid of the wonkiness!



And then success today!!! WOOHOO!!
I am pretty proud of this little guy!



Sorry for the terrible photo, but I couldn’t wait to share him with you!
Tomorrow he will become a pendant.
Hope everyone is having a wonderful week!


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And the WInner is……..

Congrats to Amy (During Quiet Time Blog) for winning the Island Birds Journal and the Copper Pendant in yesterday’s giveaway!  The winner was chosen by random number generator, and the lucky number was 6 for the 6th post.
Amy, email me your address please 🙂
Thank you all for participating and for all your kind comments!  I will be doing more giveaways now that I got the first one under my belt, so stay tuned!
Here is a picture of the entire journal cover for those of you who weren’t so lucky this time….
Also wanted to show you two new pieces that I put up on Etsy.
The first is “Bahama Sunburst”
It is about 19 inches long and is made up of a Jangles pendant and spacer bar, bezeled sea glass, my lampworked beads, silver wire components, sterling silver findings and gun metal chain.
The second one is Owl Love…..
I was so excited the other day when I made that “love” charm.  I embroidered the letters and the heart then sandwiched it in between glass and soldered it closed!  Very pleased with myself to be able to combine two of my passions like that!
This necklace also has a Jangles owl bead, my lampworked bead, gun metal chain, sterling silver findings and silk ribbon.  It is about 22 inches long.
Lorelei had a ribbon tutorial on her blog the other day.  You can find her blog in my list of “blogs you should check out” over on the right.  I had seen this done before and never tried it.  It makes a very comfortable necklace.  I forgot I had the necklace on!  I always wear my pieces for an hour or so to make sure they are comfortable, hang right etc…
Have a great day!
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Hectic Week with a Good Ending!

Had one of those weeks where I was working, working, working and still I am not close to finishing items for orders.  I hate when I have done so much work and don’t have much to show for it.
I can show you these silk painted pillows that I finished last week for an order.
The silk panel is handpainted, and machine quilted.  Then the batik borders are added, and the piping and the zipper finishes it off.
At least I had a nice surprise to end a weary week……..
It is my Urban Home Goods Swap package from my secret partner!!! eeeeekkkkk…..an apron, a tea towel with an embroidered owl, a bookmark, and frog shaped tea strainer, a sweet card and these precious felt hearts.
It is a secret until you get the package!  These great items came from Jennifer.  Her blog is here.  Go check it out, she does some neat fabric work and also does silversmithing…..we have quite a bit in common!
I will be saving that apron to wear at my next show.  I am too messy when i cook to wear that beauty for cooking!  I love aprons.  They give you extra pockets for little items you may need when working a show.
Above is a close-up of the tea towel, bookmark, felt hearts, notecard and the froggy tea strainer.
Great little surprise to end a hectic week! 
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A Little Something New

Still busy, busy, busy trying to create a good bit of inventory, but I thought I’d do a quick post to show you another new item.
Been so inspired by the artwork I have seen lately using felt and embroidery.
I don’t think I have embroidered since grade school!
Added some sequins just because that is one classy owl, and did some leafy-stippled quilting.
This little bag is perfect for grabbing your keys, money and phone and zipping out the door.  It even has a wrist loop so it can be with you all the time.
Bottom has a slightly flattened bottom so it can sit all by itself.
Bye for now…… I am off to finish doing one million things all at the same time 🙂
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A Beachy Owl

In the Bahamas we have owls and we have beaches, but I don’t think it’s natural for an owl to live at the beach…….not this owl……
His silver tag underneath says “My Heart is at the Sea”.
So this little owl lives at the beach with his little pink beach birdy friends.
Amongst the coconut trees and tall grasses.
After he was created I had to decide what I could possibly do with this little quilty project.
I am sure most of you could guess……..
A journal cover!!!!!
I am having so much fun with these.
I have other ideas for these quilted owls, other than journal covers and scarves, but the days just aren’t long enough.
As soon as my ideas go from a sketch into a quilt….you will be the first to know!
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Platters!!!

I was so excited to get these out of the kiln that I was diving in while the kiln was still almost 400 degrees!!!  Just had to at least get the top 2 pieces out to show you.
So here is the first one…….an owl of course, with his two little birdy friends!
 And deep down I still have mermaids in my imagination, so I had to do a mermaid piece.
Here she is.  Been painting ceramics for longer than I’d like to remember and never painted a mermaid!
My mermaids have ended up on furniture, pillows, quilts……but never on anything clay…..hard to believe!
Anyway, just a quick post to show you some new clay goodies that I have been talking about for a while.
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Inspiration in Packaging!

Thru blogging, flickring and facebooking I have been fortunate to meet a lot of awesome artists and see some amazing artwork.
One of those artists is Kristen Beason.
A few months ago she did a fabulous piece of artwork for me of my cats, and then a few weeks ago I purchased this ornament, below, from her because I have a strange fascination with cupcakes!
Plus, the money from this was going to a charity that buys birthday gifts for kids in need.
When I got the package in the mail and opened it, I was as fascinated with the packaging as I was with the ornament!  I have struggled for years with packaging my artwork, and this artist’s packaging was beautiful…..I still haven’t taken the ornament out of the packaging!
So then yesterday when I was making that journal cover for my friend, I was wondering how I would give it to her….a gift bag, should i wrap it?……and then i remembered that cute little package from Kristen.
I came up with my own version, and just to be sure i wasn’t stepping on anyone’s toes, I emailed Kristen and asked if it looked like a copy of hers.
She thanked me for emailing her and told me it was not a copy.
So here is the journal, all wrapped up and ready for delivery.
I used a clear bag, topped with decorative papers which I stitched ric rac to, added grommets, zig zag stitching and a tag.
This could be a whole new creative world for me and all those scrapbooking supplies I have been buying for years and never used.
Now my head is over flowing with more packaging possibilities.
During creative spells like this, there are just not enough hours in the day!
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Owls Keep Appearing

Today I have been trying to get enough clay stuff together to fire up my kiln, and i was not getting very far since my kiln is pretty big.
So while I was waiting for that to dry I decided to make this journal cover for a friend.
The above picture shows the entire quilted piece, before i added the binding.
Here it is all finished, with a ribbon tie for a closure and another ribbon for a book marker.
I sure hope she likes it.
Can’t forget to show you the back with the little pink baby bird.
In between making this journal cover, waiting for glazes to dry and getting frustrated because my kiln is too big……..I ordered myself a smaller kiln.
A neat little one that plugs into a regular outlet….the one I have needs a dryer outlet.
The new one can do glass, ceramic, bead annealing and metal clay!!!
Should be here next week……I cannot wait…..but hopefully by then I will have fired up my big one and get to show you those pieces……..I think there’s probably a few owls in there!…..imagine that!!
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Maybe….Just Maybe…this is an obsession…….

These owls just may be bordering on a mild obsession!
I keep getting these new ideas in my head and have to get them out and onto fabric.  Really hoping this creative spell sticks around for a while before the creative block sets in.
Still have other owl and bird items that are in the process of being finished………need to fire up the kiln and polish some silver before i can show you those items.