Use It Up ~ 2012!!

How many of you are as guilty as I am of hoarding crafting supplies??!!  Can I see a show of hands??  ;-)  I know there are hundreds, if not thousands, of us all over the world who see some gorgeous new paper that we must have NOW, or some beautiful fuzzy soft yarn that we must make a new scarf with, and drag it home only to stick it in a drawer or box somewhere, or even worse, leave it in the bag you brought it home in and shove it into a place so well hidden that you forget where you put it???!!!!  Well it's two years later, and that poor yarn is still unused and that beautiful paper is sitting at the bottom of the pile of other beautiful papers we had to have.  Anybody feeling the pain right now?  I am feeling that pain, let me tell you!  I have a craft room FULL of STUFF!!  I have friends who call it stash, loot, goodies, you name it.  ;-)  Whatever you call your stuff, we have tons of it don't we?  Collecting dust, being suffocated under the huge piles, neglected and sad.  =0(

Well, I came across Fran's blog post and decided to raise my hand, both hands actually and pledge to Use It Up in 2012.  I am going to go shopping in my own craft room instead of Michael's, AC Moore, and Joann's because I have PLENTY of stuff in my own store that I can use!!  I have stuff still in packaging, still sealed, still wrapped up, still unused years after I bought it!!  Are you guilty too?  Wouldn't you love to dig into that stuff and make it useful??  Not only will this save you money, but it will also clean up your room and clean out those drawers and boxes!!  Aren't we always complaining about not having enough SPACE?!?!  Well here is your solution!  USE IT, gift it, trade it, make something special!  Isn't that why you bought it in the first place?

Now this doesn't mean that you can't buy anything in 2012, because in order to make this fabulous stuff we are going to make, it requires adhesive.  Adhesive is not one of my collector's items, so I know that I will run out while making my fabulous projects ;-) so purchase more adhesive only when you've run out.  However, don't take a detour throughout the entire store in search of more items to add to your "stuff" at home!  You are there to buy adhesive only!  Bow your head, and with purpose, walk briskly out the door!!!  LOL!!   Read all of the bullets in Fran's blog post.  She goes into more of the details.

So join me whether you have a room full, or a bin full, we all collect stuff that we keep meaning to use and never do.  Why buy more?  Right?!  I hope you raise your hand as well and if you do, let me know!! Let's support each other on our quest to Use It Up!!  We will feel sooo much better afterward!!  I promise.....hugs and squishes to you!!  =0)

Starting a New Journey!!

Hi everyone!  Happy St. Patrick's Day!!  I hope that you all had a wonderful day!  I am starting a new journey..... one that will make me healthy again.  I joined this website....  http://www.joybauer.com.  It is called Joy's LIFE Diet.  LIFE stands for Look Incredible Feel Extraordinary.  It is a lifestyle change, NOT a diet.  At age 40, I am past diets.  Diets aren't going to work for me anymore.  What I need is to change my lifestyle.  Change what I eat, how I eat, how I prepare it, and my activity.  I am super excited and motivated.  I hope that maybe some of you can join me, because who can't benefit from a lifestyle change, right?  :)  

Here is an excerpt from her website.  "There is no magic bullet for this plan: you have to do the work. Your transformation will begin once you teach your taste buds that sugary, salty, and oily are gone, and clean, light, and refreshing are in. It's all a matter of busting your bad eating habits and replacing them with healthy ones. This doesn't mean you will forever have to abandon chocolate or never enjoy another glass of wine with dinner. Your future will still include delicious foods and restaurant dinners — the difference is that once you learn how to keep it all in balance, you'll never be overweight again! Are you worried about getting that light-headed, almost queasy feeling you often get during the first days on a diet? Forget about it! On Joy’s online plan, your stomach will not be growling with hunger: From the first day you'll be eating three meals, an afternoon snack, and have access to unlimited quantities of healthy food to munch on. You will feel full and satisfied."  

Have a wonderful rest of the evening and a wonderful Sunday.  We are going to reach 81 tomorrow!!  I don't think I've ever seen that in March!!  Well, except when I lived in California!  LOL!!  Thanks for visiting and please leave a comment if you'd like or also if you visit Joy's site!  Hugs!!!

Blue and Teal Cluster Bracelet

Happy Friday Eve!   :)   Yep, I made another bracelet yesterday morning!  This one took me less than an hour!  I am addicted to making these cluster bracelets!  They are soooo easy to make.  I used Wildfire Beading wire, glass beads, seed beads, frosted beads, and clear glass beads with blue centers.

 

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!!  Hugs!!

Cluster Bracelet with Toggle Clasp

Happy Tuesday!!  Thanks for stopping by for a visit!  Is Spring in the air in New England??  Can it be??  Yesterday while running errands, I saw people on motorcycles!!  It was a beautiful, sunny 66 degrees.  I'm not going to hold my breath though, because it isn't unusual to get snow into April or even May!  Yes, you read right, MAY!!  But it's absolutely beautiful out and for the next several days we will have 50-60 degree temps!  :) 

 This is a bracelet I made this morning.  It's called a Cluster Bracelet and I learned this technique from Auntie's Beads you tube video.  She provides an excellent explanation and is very easy to follow.  You will have to try this!!  :) 

Thanks for stopping by, if you have any questions please let me know!  Hugs!!

Finished Handmade Shabby Chic Beaded Bracelet

Here is my completed Shabby Chic Bracelet!!  I love it!!  I love bracelets that are full and chunky!  :)  It has a Lobster Claw Clasp shown below.  

I have added various silver charms using silver eyepins. 

Above the silver flower charm is a glass faceted bead, a purple glass seed bead, a spacer bead, and another purple glass seed bead. 

 In the pic above, you see pink pearls, white pearls, blue frosted glass beads, clear beads with a blue center, on the left side of the picture.

 I love those brown beads!!  I will try to describe them.  I found them at AC Moore.  They are a round glass bead that is clear. The center section is faceted and is blue.  The top and bottom of the bead is not faceted and is a bronze color.  They are both on headpins with clear seed beads on either side.

 Those brown beads are just gorgeous in person!

Thank you so much for visiting me; I really appreciate each and every one of you!!  If you have any questions, please let me a comment and I will answer the best I can.  Have a wonderful day!!  Hug your loved ones and count your blessings; you have many!  ;-)  HUGS!!!

DIY Lessons - Learn Jewelry Making With Online Lessons, Videos and PDF Tutorials

DIY Lessons - Learn Jewelry Making With Online Lessons, Videos and PDF Tutorials
Found this really cool website that shares free tutorials on making beaded jewelry!  Super excited to find this!  Can't wait to try some of them!  :)

Shabby Chic Beaded Bracelet

Hey everyone!  Cloudy, gloomy winter day here today.  What is up with our New England winter this year?  60 degrees today and raining, 32 tomorrow and snow showers!!??  Bizarre!!  One or the other people....one or the other!!  LOL!!


So I started working on a beaded bracelet last night, which is going to be VERY chunky and full!  I love chunky bracelets and look at it so far...

I started with a silver chain and just started adding charms on every other link (approximately).  On most links, I added them two at a time to get this fullness.  

I used various glass beads and baubles, silver head pins and silver eye pins, along with seed beads, and pale pink pearls.  I should be done with this by tomorrow and will share the completed bracelet with you.  :)  Hope you are having a wonderful day!  Thanks for stopping by for a visit...

Heart Pillow as a Wedding Gift

Hi everyone!  Thanks for visiting me today!  I wanted to share a new heart pillow I made as a gift for some friends who just got married.  :)  The heart is made from 100% wool felt and it's covered with lace (under all the flowers).  This measures about 10 inches tall not including the lace border.  The lace border adds another 5-6 inches in diameter.  All of the flowers are handmade from costume satin.  The white one on the bottom near the point, is a rolled rose.  The rest of them are made from individual petals that I stitched together.  I added lots of pearls and matching blue beads.  I also added some shooting pearls.  I love, love, love making these hearts!  I hope this inspires you to make some yourself!  Hugs!  Rachel

Beaded Curtain

Hey everyone!  Thanks for joining me today on this lovely Friday afternoon!  Today I am sharing something that I posted 5 years ago but I absolutely love it.  This was during my faux finishing days and I made a HUGE beaded curtain for a client's granddaughter.  The end result was great, the process....not so much! LOL!  Here's the original post....

Well, here is the famous beaded curtain that I ranted about on SCS!! I hated this thing after about the 3rd day! Katie helped me do it and together we put in over 100 hours! We used over 22,600 beads! I never want to look at another bead! LOL

We originally wanted the curtain to be much fuller, but the doorway is almost 80 inches so it would have required 80 strands of beads. This is 53 strands on it now. We liked the spacing because it reminds us of a waterfall. So I lucked out and didn't have to make anymore strands!

We were also expecting them to hang perfectly even but since a lot of them are glass beads, they all have slightly different dimensions and getting them to hang perfectly even is impossible! So in the end, we love how it turned out, never made one before and will never make another!  LOL!!  
Thanks for stopping by today!  I hope you are having a wonderful day!  :)