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Today is the first time I really feel Christmas is near.
First I delivered a commissioned necklace, another snake in bright violet with pearly eyes, but unfortunately the color doesn't come out perfectly in this picture because I took it in a hurry before wrapping the necklace up. Then it was off to the vet's.
Since yesterday evening it had been snowing, not as heavy as elsewhere, but enough for me. Now that I'm not out in the streets (I'm really good at slipping in snow and I managed to do so five times today), I can enjoy the snow outside.
When I signed in at Etsy, T-West was just about to open, so I had to improvise and of course the first snow fall inspired me.
Have a look at The first fall of snow ..., there is still plenty of time to comment!
Now I am sitting at my desk, looking at the sugared roofs in the dusk, having my second cup of chai, I am listening to Christmas carols in different styles (just now it's a soul version), I had my snuggle time with Greebo (don't ask how I took this photo, it was tough) and I wouldn't be surprised if I turned around and saw Santa standing there.
If I didn't already have a date for tomorrow, I might just stay at home, watch Christmas movies, work on the earrings for my forum swap and soak in the atmosphere.
Over all it has been a good year so far. Most important is that I got to know a lot of people who are mostly far away, but whom I wouldn't want to miss in my life. They make me laugh, they make me mushy, they teach me things, they lift me up when I'm down (even if they often don't know they do).
Have a very "messy Kweznuz", all of you out there!
And for those that don't know the Blackadder Christmas episode - a merry Christmas!
I am talking about the two necklaces I listed on Zibbet today.
It was an impulsive decision to join Zibbet, but now that I am there I try to fill up the shop a little and as I still had a few things around that only needed to be woken up from their hibernation (although it was summer and fall, but that's ok, you know what I mean), I found I like the setup.
Today I listed this "old" piece, from my early days. The colors and the beads are so bright and bold that I thought a simple design would work best.
It's from two twisted strands of crocheted copper wire and the beads are glass that is "filled" with color and glitter (now am I a glass expert or what? *lol*)
Looking at it gives you a summery feeling which is not too bad now that the days are very dark here.
The other necklace is a new one. When I got these frosted Brazilian amethysts, they made me think of frozen berries right away. Only they didn't stick together.
Compared to the other necklace this is a very feminine design. Classic understatement with a twist.
Why don't you check out my Zibbet shop?
Hmmm, those brown tigereyes on my desk .... I must have some brown wire somewhere ....
Last night I was at a friend's house. It was time for a girly chat once again. Granted, those girls are not exactly teenagers anymore, but who cares? So when I came home in the afternoon today, I was tired. The laundry basket was full, but I walked around it very careful in case it would try to catch me. I also ignored the laundry upstairs that needed folding. I ignored the fact that the fridge was almost empty as I had bought some bread on the way home and this household is rarely without Nutella which means we can survive for at least two days. In case it goes faster than I think, I'll just go and raid my Mom ;-)
I checked my email, but I was even too tired to do much at the computer. Finally I turned on the TV and watched cartoons. Then I got up again to get my hooks and wire. I have a project I am working on the moment, but I didn't even feel like that. Under strict supervision of Esme I put some beads on the wire, took them back off, put others on there, played around with an idea I had had a long time ago, and wondered if the little hoops I had bought also long ago were sterling silver at all (I have to check on that tomorrow in the daylight), managed three stitches, cut the wire again - if you used a small hook, it's next to impossible to "unravel" wire - and did a lot of sighing. Then finally the moment had arrived when I gave myself one more chance before throwing in the towel. And like so often something started out as something totally different than it ended up as.
Fine silver, sterling silver (for the back) and garnet beads
Fine silber and multi-colored sapphires (the back is crocheted as well)
I am not sure yet what to do with these rings. They are prototypes and not perfect, but still I kind of like them. Keep them and try to go for better, maybe even planned versions? ;-) Offer them at a reduced price for the modern and adventurous woman? Put them on my cat's ears? Ouch, no - he is giving me the look of "Not funny, Mom. If you want some more scars, just go ahead and try."
P.S. Excuse my chubby hands in the pictures, they were the only ones I had handy at the moment ;-)
Quite a while ago I bought half a strand of tiny faceted sapphires in all colors of the fall, orange, yellow, greenish, almost everything but blue. At that time I had no idea what to do with them. Every, now and then I took them out and waited for the muse to tell me what she wanted me to use them for.
You know my muse by now. If she is not in the mood she just stays quiet, and if she is she gets violent easy ;-)
So the last time I took a peek at the stones she told me to put them on the wire and then let her take over (she hates the part of stringing the beads first, I guess it's too boring for her). And boy, did she suddenly take over!
I had had a vague idea when I reached out for the marquise shaped closed form of silver wire and I thought about giving it some sparkle, but suddenly there was sparkle all over.
Then I remembered I still had a silver spool knit necklace and although I hadn't been happy with the last pendant I had teamed it with, in this case it gave just the right extra kick.
Now there were still a few sapphires on the wire, so when I took it out a few days later I wondered about something little that I could do with it.
Here's the result - a fine silver wire ball with polka dots. Not quite what you let your children play with. Also I doubt it'll jump very well.
This is a night picture, I hope you can imagine what it will look like in the light ....
Really I hadn't expected her yesterday. I worked on a necklace in a style I had used on other necklaces/chokers before, only in fine silver and suddenly she struck me over the head, held on to it and yelled: "Look at the texture!" What I hadn't seen during making three necklaces and two bangles was that it seemed like snake skin. Now I know many people have a hard time with snakes and I also would prefer to not be bitten by one, but still I think they are beautiful animals. Also a friend who happened to be there at the moment when I noticed said the same thing. My muse laid back happily. She thinks it's enough to have an idea and leaves how to realize it to me. The head was not that much of a problem, but as I was already past the part where I could have put a clasp, I needed some idea how to close the necklace. I "filled" the silver tube with a wire that is sturdy enough to hold the shape and still bends, so now you just put the ends together and voilà!
It's not in my shop yet as I didn't take pictures today, but it soon will be.
Not only my patience was on ground level at that time, but also my wrist (we talk about almost 10 hours in two days). So I decided to take it a little easier today. Usually I don't talk about work on this blog and I won't start that now. All I want to say is that last week was my boss' birthday, but she was away on vacation. She said she'd like some flowers, so I told my coworkers I would make a little extra beside the bouquet she will get. I thought some roses in one of my wire crochet baskets might be nice, so I set to work and here is the result.
I so hope she will like them! (And I so hope I found at least most of the cat hairs! Esme just walked by without even touching the clay and everything was covered, ugh.)
Seems I am on the fruit trip, even if not intentionally in the first place.
I buy my wire online in England, from wires.co.uk and I love their colored copper wire. I could buy the list up and down and back up again and when a parcel arrives, I sit down, hold the spools into a light and giggle like a little girl at the beautiful shine.
So it is easy to match wire and beads tone in tone and you have lots of possibilities to experiment with different color combinations as well.
This is one of my favorite colors, a beautiful metallic orange although I think the seller calls it honey.
It's a bright and happy color and was perfect for these earrings. They remind me of a puddle of orange juice that is trickling down in a spiral. What better to use as accent than a clear glass rounded cube with AB (aurora borealis) finish? I like ice cubes in my orange juice!
Recently I bought some purple and black glass beads.
I have used them with black and purple wire before on this spool knit necklace. Here I put the black beads on the purple and the purple beads on the black wire for the perfect mix.
For this pendant I wanted to go tone in tone, though. After I started I found it began to remind me of a berry, so instead of going for a plane disk I made it domed.
On the pendant I had stopped at a disk because when I decided it was a berry, it was too late to make a ball out of it, it would have been much too big. What about berries for the ears? It still is blackberry season, hmm. Thought, said out loud and done, here is the result. Yummy looking blackberries for your ears.
Let me think, what else do I need for fruit salad? One idea already came from a forum friend (thanks, Cindy!), another one is welling up in my mind just now ...
Tricked you. I might have a good time, but neither alcohol nor dancing is involved. No flirting, no movies, no night on the town, no girls' night out.
Still my muse and I had, well, not just one, but actually two balls today and I am almost sure they won't be the last ones.
Maybe you remember my wrecking ball? The name comes to you courtesy of Maureen, an SJA friend (by the way, you should check out her blog and shop sometime). These balls are different. The wrecking ball is almost solid. These ones I wanted to make hollow, so I could fill them up, like a candy. Well, not really. A filled candy is meant to be eaten. I love liquid fillings and the sensation on the tongue once the outer wall is breaking. You shouldn't try to eat the ball pendants and I will tell you why.
First I made this one.
It is from black coated copper wire. I tried different things to fill it with, but in the end I decided to take a silver-colored kind of embroidered ribbon because it gave the best contrast.
Now I was eager to try other combinations. As I often do, I reached into the "current project bag" in my nightstand without looking inside and out came the green-golden colored wire. I tried different ribbon and beads for the inside, then I found the last bicone crystals that were left over from my "Green Fairy" necklace. Perfect!
I guess now you know why you shouldn't eat these pendants. Ribbon feels strange on the tongue and is hard to chew and crystals could break your teeth out.
Better stick with wearing them around the neck! ;-)
I am still not done with my knitting spool. Not at all. Although so many ideas haunt my poor old brain, sometimes the crochet hook has to go to sleep and give up its place to the spool.
The other day I bought some cheap boxes with beads that were on sale. One of them contained a black mix, the other one a purple mix and both of them contained big seed beads of which the purple ones are silver-lined. Suddenly I just happened to have my black and metallic purple wire in reach (even true, there was no planning whatsoever involved at first).
So the beads went onto the wires and row for row the necklace was growing. Take a closer look to find out what exactly I did ;-)
The result looks really best in the dark, I found, just with a little light on (shhh, I still got one of the old light bulbs in my lamp, but don't tell the EU). I tried to take a picture to show you the effect, but I am not a good enough photographer (yet *lol*) to take good enough night photographs. You'll just have to believe me that the light makes for a dark, mysterious sparkle.
Black and purple makes me think of Victorian times, but also of a kind of classic understatement that seems dark and dull one moment and suddenly gets lightened up to reveal the subtle colors. It doesn't always have to be black and red to get into the right mood ...
Imagine a gorgeous dress swishing across the stone floor when you go to meet the handsome vampire and have a dance with him, this necklace sparkling on your white throat.
P.S.
For your information ;-) No, I haven't read or seen any of the "new" vampire books or movies, but I have to admit I still think I could fall for the vampire Lestat, prince of the darkness - and I'm not talking the guy in the movie I don't even want to mention! And by the way, you'll find this necklace in my DaWanda shop ...
Yesterday I was on treasury hunt again. Can you believe I missed two although I was so close and had a poster sketch ready and everything? The first time it was pure stupidness. I didn't stick to the golden rule you are never supposed to click away from the site if there is only a little time left. Those treasuries have the tendency to go off early. So I prepared for the next one, but I was so absorbed in folding socks that I missed it again. Luckily I got a third chance, so meet my birdie collection in No bird soars too high ... You are welcome to comment! :-)
A nice surprise was I was featured in this team treasury with my agate slice pendant. This one is called I want!, what a fitting title!
I missed to show you the last two treasuries I was featured in.
Today I checked the SJA treasury thread and what a surprise, my Lady of the Lake necklace is here amongst all those beauties! What a lovely color :-)
You still have time to click and comment and answer the question - Can you guess?
Don't worry, I am not trying to imitate the great Martin Luther King, but I want to tell you about my friend Elvira
I met her online, it was a coincidence really because we both love Terry Pratchett. His books, that is. We don't know him personally which is a pity. Since then we haven't lost each other and I truly hope it'll stay that way. By the way, thanks, Terry! :-D
1. She has a hilarious sense of humor and a good heart.
2. We so often think the same way.
3. She says what she thinks.
4. She has a talent I don't have ;-) Well, more than one, but the one I am talking about is the reason for this post. (And for those who wonder, no, it's not the reason why I like her, but a piece of luck for me.)
A few days ago I had these in my mail.
Jewelry bags, a whole bunch of them, in different sizes.
Now you know her talent, she can sew. Something I couldn't do if my life depended on it. She makes beautiful bags and purses and stuff.
This is one she made for me. From cat fabric (can you see them sitting on the wall?) and the inside is orange and has so many little compartments, just perfect for my cell phone and tissues and MP 3 player and there is even a key ring in there.
When she visited me, we had to go by a shop that sells sewing supplies and machines and had a sale. We picked out the blue fabric with the stars together (I looked after the pattern, she checked if it could be used for our purpose at all) and those cute bags are the result.
I hope we'll see each other again soon, she is not exactly living around the corner :-(
Thanks for being such a good friend, Granny Weatherwax! (Sorry, inside joke only for us ;-))
Oh, and by the way - if you want to see pictures or if you know German and want to have a good read, why not go and have a look at her blogs Taschenkrams and Viri-Design?
The last days were too hot for me. I am not a hot kind of girl, ehm, temperature-related, that is. Of course as a person I ... ugh, better not get into that now? ;-)
Today when it started raining I thought my suffering was over, but it wasn't. Outside it is quite nice now, but within these walls the heat is still standing around and laughing at me. The cats mostly lie around as if chopped with an axe. Just now Greebo wanted to be carried around, he was too weak to walk, I guess. Greebo has lots of hair. I mean like really lots of hair, you could make at least three cats out of his fur (and his belly, he's just like his human mom ...). Cat hair tends to stick to you when you sweat. One loving touch with his head and you go pfft, pfft, pfft - spitting out Greeb hair for a long time.
When I read in the forum, although I was really ready for going to bed, that both treasuries would open up any minute, I thought I could stay a few minutes longer. I didn't have a poster sketch ready, so I had to hurry and all I could think of was heat. Jewelry and the keyword sweat don't go together, but hey, what about "hot", "red", "fire"?
And this is the result - I'm burning! Check out my red hot choices!
I am back in the treasury game. The poster sketch was three weeks old, so I had to replace a few items, but I made it just in time.
Summertime means color to me (sometimes the red color in my face when it's being as hot as today ...) and here you got color in abundance.
I also like the Mel Brooks quote that inspired me:
"If you're quiet, you're not living. You've got to be noisy and colorful and lively."
Enjoy these pretties and dive into the color in Color Splash.
I often say that I like my hook and the wire to lead me to a design. That doesn't mean I never have a plan of what I'm going to do. When I make a setting for a cab, I know it very well. Sometimes things don't work in my favor, though. That's what happened on one of my recent projects.
It started out harmless enough. A cab in the shape of a drop which usually is the easiest to work with for me was supposed to end up in a crochet bezel of fine silver wire, but somehow it didn't want that. It wasn't so much that it kept slipping out, I had that before and I have forced smaller cabs than this one in a bezel, it wasn't so much that the wire wanted to run off the spool and start kinking, it wasn't so much that from too much kinking the wire gets tired and starts breaking easier - it was all of that together! I used a very fine hook which can give fine silver wire even more stress (from my experience). I had already fixed three accidents although it would have been smarter to stop there and then, but it worked out. The wire breaking in the last row was the last straw, though. My patience had been tested long enough. I ripped the bezel off the cab and started squishing it. I would have even jumped up and down on it, who knows, but the tall guy was watching me with that sceptical look he gets when he feels I am overreacting.
Now I had this squished almost solid piece of silver - what to do with it? I got out my hooks and the wire spool I had in reach, light purple and started to make a little silver ball that was held together by purple lines of crochet. They are not straight, they can't be as I just followed the stitches that I could use in the silver.
For an extra color kick I added one of my handwrapped bails in purple.
Actually I am quite happy with it now. Maybe the wire breaking was one of my muse's jokes!! ;-)
Blue sky, white cotton ball clouds, sun, warm - the perfect Sunday for a fleamarket. The one we went to is usually one of my all time favorites, for a great atmosphere and also for some spectacular finds (I am not exaggerating!). Today it was a flop. I don't know what was wrong, but we came home almost empty handed.
So I am sitting here now blogging although I should do some research for something else. I am not sitting in my usual chair, though. When I came to the computer, my chair had already been taken by a furry black girl. I couldn't throw her out when she looked at me with those big eyes, purring away happily. So I pushed the chair aside and took the tall guy's one instead which is not as comfortable for me because I am smaller than him. I only have to look at this picture to know it was the right decision, though. May I introduce the sleeping beauty? Excuse the picture, the colors are a little weird, but my camera was acting up again. I can't wait till my new one arrives.
So here is Esme, showing her bald little ear where the fur has not grown back yet after she got into a fight with her brother and had a scratch. She is lying on a dark and light blue blanket (told you the colors were weird!).
Ah, jealous Greebo is on the way to let me know he still exists, too! Ssssh, don't tell him he is going to the vet's tomorrow because he sounds like a bird, he seems to have a sore throat again.
What else have I been up to the last days? I played with my knitting spool. I had bought these ribbons on sale because they seemed perfect for an idea of mine. I love the fact they don't have clasps, but can be tied in the back.
First, I don't really like to put clasps on. Second, you can adjust the requested length easily. Third, you can actually also use them as hair bands!
Wine red ribbon with light pink metallic wire, spool knit together.
Two ribbons spool knit together without any wire. I happened to have orange and black in reach when I wanted to try that, so this became a Halloween band. Of course, this one is thicker than the ones I only used one ribbon and wire on. While you can easily put chunky pendants (like the crab agate) on the one ribbon ropes, a two ribbon rope works better without. Just my humble opinion.
This had been the original idea. Just the wire is spool knit and the ribbon runs along inside. These strands are not as thick of course, so I made two and twisted them. Do you also hear Christmas songs when looking at it?
And yesterday I finally caught a treasury again. I know I would probably make a terrible mess with resin, so I haven't tried yet, but I would sure like to because I think it's really cool stuff. Check out Soaping of organic compounds if you want to see some great pieces.
Last, but not least I can announce I found two more nests ... I hear funny little purring and scratching sounds in the night and see the cats staring at corners, but not doing anything. They seem wary, but not scared or aggressive. What is going on here??
.... I want to be a queen!
This is the title of my latest Treasury West. Actually I am not so sure if I would want to be one. Lots of money, castles, you can buy great clothes and jewelry, but also you have all these official functions, you have to kiss millions of babies and I am sure all that waving sooner or later gives you troubles with your wrist.
Still almost all little girls have that in them, I think? Wanting to be a princess and maybe grow up to be a queen at the side of your Prince Charming (strange, never heard of a King Charming, don't tell me they lose their charms as soon as they become king!!).
Well, just enjoy these regal beauties. And the pictures of queens as well :-P
If you want to click and comment, go to When I grow up ....
Last night was not exactly fun. One of my cheeks is quite ok, but the other one is really blown up. I had problems sleeping, but this morning I took a painkiller and dozed off. Now it feels strange, still hurts, but not as much.
Just now the phone rang, they called from the dentist's to ask how I feel. That only confirmed my opinion from two visits, that they didn't just seem professional, but that they also all were very nice. I can't say I have experienced something like that often.
How I know? Look here. I found these today. What is amazing to me is that none of the birds or creatures - whatever they may be - is trying to defend the nests. Actually it seems as if they are put in my way deliberately.
Just look how different they are. Some are almost flat, some are real thick, some have one really big egg and now there is one with three tiny eggs.
I have looked around for suspicious signs today, but I found nothing that couldn't have been done by the cats. There is another thing - if there are birds around, why are the cats so cool about it? Does it mean something that sometimes they sit there and stare up into a corner that seems totally empty to me?
Instead of getting closer to a solution it seems the matter is getting more complicated.
Speaking of news ticker, today I heard that Walter Cronkite has died at the age of 92. Being German I don't know very much about him except for him being mentioned as one of the great icons in the news business on a shop I love very much, "Murphy Brown".
I wondered if newspeople in times of Twitter, cell phones and email still can be as influential as some of them used to be, no matter in which country. Or even more now because they are faster? I don't know. I remember our old anchorpeople very well, but the recent ones ... uhm .....
Now to my own little news.
I have been featured in two treasuries of which one is very special for me. Michele (who makes wonderful jewelry by the way, check it out here) has been inspired by another team member who just took in two older dogs. One of my kitty pendants is in there and that really meant much to me and made me feel a little mushy. Don't know what it is, but these days I miss Merlin really bad. Funny how I just wrote that and immediately had a cat on my shoulder. They can read thoughts, I guess.
Here it is, Honoring our pets.
The second one is from Noah's Ark Collection. She makes beautiful and fun treasuries and it's always an honor to be featured in one of them. Want to be worn shows one of my first not mainly crochet pieces ever. Smokey quartz and sunstone, I still think it goes together well.
And now an update what I have been doing today. First I went shopping with brother and sister. WMF factory outlet once more, it is soooo dangerous for me there! Yes, I did buy a whole bag full of stuff and yes, I had to sneak into the Lindt outlet store as well and get some sweets. It is only around the corner, how could I resist?? Another bag full of stuff (not only for us, I am a friendly person and will take some of it to work). My purse started shrinking and turning into onion leather. I don't know if there is a similar expression in English, but a friend of mine says that about his wallet because "I start crying whenever I look inside". Afterwards we went to the drugstore and there I got the best deal of all. I bought three bottles of my favorite shampoo that seems to have been discontinued. I couldn't believe they still had the three bottles there and I might have growled when I picked them up to scare off any other possible customers.
But I did not just spend money today, I also did something useful and creative. After cooking dinner I took the crab agate that had arrived last week and squeezed it into a crochet bezel (not waiting for it already, but being made on the spot). It sure did put up a hard fight at times, but who am I to be defeated by a stone? I really like how it turned out. Safely caught and still you see almost the whole stone and the colors match as well.
This is the front side.
There are more small news. The eggs didn't hatch, but I heard some scratching from behind the armoire up here and a strange noise. Didn't sound like a bird at all. Be sure to stay tuned, I'll keep you up-to-date on this puzzle .....
Do you believe that gems have hidden powers? Check out the T-West I got today. Beautiful jasper all over it, in all varieties. According to the comments there are people who doubt that jasper protects you from spider and snake bites, though ... What do you think? Game to give it a try? ;-)
If you want to comment on that, go and visit Go away, evil spirits!
Some strange birds are nesting in this area and I have the feeling they are endemic only to this house. I haven't been able to catch a glimpse of them yet, but I found some of their nests. Small nests with one big egg each. Maybe I should watch them until they hatch? Although the nests look very similar, they do have different colors and the eggs look different, too.
Also I found some other nests lying around that are still without eggs and they again have different colors. One or two have an egg in them, but none of the attachments these have. What are they for? To hang up the nest? Wouldn't the egg fall out? Are those secretive birds weavers maybe? I wonder, I wonder .....
P.S. Double strike, although it was a close call. Many of my favorite movies have Audrey Hepburn in it. There is an exclusively 1970s Japanese Francie doll (Francie was Barbie's cousin) whose make-up made her look like Audrey. I have seen some of her movies (Audrey's, not Francie's!) so many times I can't even count it anymore. I love "Charade", "The Nun's Story", "Roman Holiday" and "Sabrina", but I have to admit "Breakfast at Tiffany's" is not one of my favorites. The movie is not, but the costumes definitely are. Such a difficult decision, watch or not watch? As you can see it has influenced me nevertheless. Take a look at Silver and black and you will know what I mean!
