Is this Ladder Stitch .. Stretch Magic .. ?

Well here I went again .. wanted to try doing 'ladder stitch' and create something fun .. but didn't want to use anything expensive to practice on .. so hmmm . let's see .. find some purty beads .. and Stretch Magic .. not sure what size either the beads or the stretch magic is .. but another adventure!

Seemed easy, other than puzzling out how to do the clasps .. added some earrings .. and VOILA!  Still don't know if this is a 'real' ladder stitch or if it's just something I made up .. but it works!! 

Memory Wire - Where Have I Been?

Where in the world have I been?  How come nobody told me that this stuff existed and all the potential for neat and interesting creations?  Thanks once again to April .. Three Sisters Crafts .. and her generous (to a fault, yep .. to a fault) outpouring of support to the local community .. I attended her most recent gala last weekend!  She not only raised beaucoup money toward stomping out Breast Cancer (all donation!!) but she even managed to serve up some make and take adventures to all of the stragglers (that would be me) who popped in.

After seeing the opportunities .. free beads .. free card making .. free entertainment .. free food and yes, FREE COOKIES .. where do you spose I spent the day ;o)

Ok, so bracelet size memory wire .. never tried it .. and PINK beads everywhere .. all sizes from seed beads to some pretty wild, large beads ... and I'm told it couldn't be simpler .. guess what .. it is simple!!  This is my very first bracelet using no rhyme or reason to create .. just stringing along and listening to varied conversations all around me as other ladies played too ;o)

The ease of completing this still astounds me .. even though the wire is brutal tuff stuff it's that way on purpose to maintain the shape .. so once the end loops are done the beads can't escape .. almost looks like a pretty slinky ;o)

 Well .. I couldn't believe how quickly this one went!  C'mon .. ask me if I want to try another project .. LOL .. yep .. I sure did!  How bout I pass on making the card .. and try making the 'other' kind of bracelet using the 'stretchy stuff' .. another project I've never tried! 

 This was fun too!  I think I made it too big and still I"m ok with it because I see the way it's done from start to finish as well as tying it of .. gotta get some of that GS Hypo Cement .. note to self!!

 Now this one was my "all by myself" trial .. using tiny green and blue beads alternating with blue and irridescent teardrop beads .. I love the color combination .. gotta get busy and make some earrings to match!

 Ho Hum .. why stop at the bracelet size .. Hey April .. do you have any of this stuff in ring size?  Yep, of course she does!!  Yeehah!  Soooooooooooooo .. although I don't have the slightest idea how or what possessed me to try a ring .. here it is anyway!  I didn't do a very good job of wire wrapping, and the size of the loop is almost big enough for both thumbs at the same time .. I still had fun attempting this and will have to kind of regroup on size .. or find someone who has extremely large toes or something to test it out for durability.

Close up of ring ~ still haven't tried the necklace/choker size .. but I'm sure I will!


Thanks April for all your generosity - I know the tremendous effort you put into all the adventures you do and can't wait for the next 'play day' .. pencil it in, ok?

Spiders, Pendants, Christmas Story, and FUN!

What a fun day I had yesterday!  Early voting (whew, glad that's done) made me get out and about early .. and off to a fairly good sized craft show - ideas galore and yeah, cookies too!  Then off to do errands .. but .. umm . . one more side trip to The Bead Place in Swansea IL .. for an adventure in spider making! 

Late as usual, I got lucky finding out it was 2 hours of drop in lessons .. FREE mind you ... and it was all I could do to sit still waiting for a chair ;o)  What to choose?  Should I do a sparkly spider ornament ... or should I make earrings ... or should I go for a pendant? 

Sparkle .. yep, that's what I'll do first .. and yippee .. a chair!!  Help me find the right supplies .. ack .. so many and I have to pick colors too?  Yipes!!  Ok, got it .. off to the sparkly spider creation .. and oh what fun it was .. you've GOT to be kidding me .. this floppy tangle is going to turn into a purty spider?  LOL!  YES!!  It did .. and in the process, I learned of a legend (Thanks Abbi) ~ The Christmas Spider ~ and if you don't know the story look it up ~ it's awesome!!

So, I've named my spider .. IMP .. for a few reasons .. full of pep, won't stay still, cute of course .. and lots of fun!  Here he is ..

I even learned some new tricks!  Debatable if I'll ever remember them but .. ummmm .. that's why shout outs were created, right?

Well, I couldn't just stop here .. so off to the other table .. and I decided to make a pendant spider web .. mainly because I have never tried a pendant before .. and it looked so awesome on a beaded chain .. ready?  Here we go!     First question .. how is your wrist today?  Uh Oh .. my wrist?     How come?

The wire!  Never used this kind of wire before and it was great to play with!  The web is done!  Learning more new tricks!!  Make a spider now?  Are you kidding me?  How many legs do spiders have anyway?  Oh yeah .. I know that already .. just learned it .. they have 8 .. 4 on each side .. yep, that's my story!

I want a blue spider .. no particular reason .. I'm sure there is such a thing somewhere .. cool beans!  Slight problem though .. the head won't fit the body .. oops .. ok, black head with blue body .. ;o)  Had to break and see the other ladies earrings .. totally incredible .. and I hope they post them too!  Ready .. set .. go .. trim the spider legs .. sure .. lol .. like I know how long a spider's legs are?  Snip, snip, snip .. and voila!!

Hopefully more days like this will happen throughout the year!  Now I think I'm off to make another spider .. for Christmas ~ ;o)






     

Earrings $5 .. Addicted to Fun .. Sigh ;o)

This project is never ending and fun, fun, fun! I think the baseballs are the most popular, specially around this area! I can't wait for Halloween charms/ideas to arrive - wonder if I can find any little pilgrims .. hmmmm .. and Christmas!!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Now, who do I know that might be able to scroll saw me a 'tree' to display these .. ho hum .. yoooooooooooohoooooooooooo .. are you out there?

Earrings - All Laurie's Fault!!

What am I thinkin'? This is all Laurie's fault for tempting me with new 'stuff' to try! I definitely don't have the hang of it .. but these might work for a time or two! Something fun to do while waiting for brakes to be worked on ..