My Projects Right Now!

As promised - a picture of the headband I made myself!

It's just a simple knitted strip that I tied in the back.

And you even got a pic of me out of the deal :)

This is my bead weaving board at the moment! 

Working on a vampire bracelet that I designed :)

I might put it aside temporarily to knock out a couple of pendants though...

Getting Stuff Done!

I've been really sick with a bad cold, and it hasn't gone completely away, but it's finally better enough that I can function as long as I have some cold meds! Woohoo! So what does that mean? I've been working like crazy tonight! Check it out:

First of all - just go check out my etsy shop. 

I've spent all night renewing anything that has a good picture!

That's a LOT of items ladies and gentlemen :)

Tomorrow - I start taking new pictures of old items that need it!

As for Artfire...I finally added something again!

Blue and Yellow Millifiori Necklace

This beauty is only $15 with free shipping! 

Ok - I've worked on a bunch of stuff since I last posted...

But I'm to tired to take any more pictures. 

So look for this tomorrow :D 

LOTS of CHANGES

Oh goodness! What a day it's been! I can decide where to begin! Wow. I've had a lot of things I've been wanting to get done for a long time and I got so much of it done today! Maybe I should just list it...

Cleaning:
1. Kitchen
2. Bedroom
3. Some of the living room

Design:
1. THE BLOG - I'm going for red and green right now in honor of the upcoming holiday - can you tell? LOL
2. I also created and updated both banners and avatars (and on Artfire the color theme) in both my shops.
3. I made the little section headers I wanted to make! You'll see in a minute ;)

Cooking:
1. Breakfast: pancakes and sausage :D Don't worry I really was behaving! I used sugar-free syrup and they were turkey sausages :P
2. Dinner: (breakfast was at lunch time) BBQ Pork loins, mashed potatoes, and broccoli.

Wow - it was a full day! Now on to the things in my shop and and the crafty stuff I got done yesterday!

Wood and Tubes Spirals

These babies are on CLEARANCE!!!!

Pink Delight Bracelet

Wouldn't this be the perfect Christmas present?

Mexican Peso Necklace

This would be perfect to add a bit of travel flair to your

wardrobe - and perfect to wear at Christmas! 

This necklace is a commission for my friend Gypsy :D

If anyone's interested in something similar just let me know! 

I made something else yesterday too - but I didn't like how it turned out :P 

So it's being scrapped and no picture! 

Until tomorrow ~ Ruthie

Saturday Night

Isn't that a creative title? I couldn't think of anything else :P Sorry I was gone for a couple of days - went all melty brained (migraine) again! But I'm backkkkk. And here is where I'm at:

What's For Sale

Garden Earrings

Aren't these cute? It may not be the right time of the year to be out in your garden (unless you're in the southern hemisphere!) but that doesn't mean it's not a great time to buy these earrings! Wouldn't they make a great Christmas present? Click on the link above to go check 'em out in my store! 

Groovy Nights

Aren't these great to wear to a party? Or even just to add a little jazz to your every day life? I sure think so! Click on the link! 

Daily Crafty ADD

Well - being knocked out with a bad migraine makes for no crafting :( BUT I did go shopping! 

Aren't they cute? It was hard to take a good picture - but that's red and green folks! I'm going to play with them soon, but I have a couple of other things I need to work on first. I'll show you what I mean tomorrow :D

I'm back! I think....maybe...wait for it....Well we'll see shan't we?

For any of you who missed my last post that proudly proclaimed I was back let me explain this for you. I announced September 5th that I was back and working on my shop again. I even managed to put up a follow up post, (What??), that was it. Flop.

That's alright though isn't it? We all have our flops from time to time, and I didn't truly give up! First I got a horrendous cold that made existing seem like a side benefit, so nothing got done. Then, and it's a long story, I ended up messing up my lower back pretty bad. That's healed now and other than the usual persistent migraines, I'm not doing too bad!

So I'm determined. It might be a slow come back. It might lack some of the flashy wit of my old posts (wait, was that even there?) but I'm going to work on getting into the routine again!

For now the majority of my posts are going to be formatted around two topics: What's for Sale, and Daily Crafty ADD. What's for Sale will be the opener of the posts and you'll get to see anything new I've posted that day all in one place! Since I'm going to be working on reopening my Etsy and My Artfire shops again, this will be great! I will not be duplicating any listings between the two stores, just to keep things simple for myself. Daily Crafty ADD will take the place of my weekly posts about my crafty ADD-ness, I'll just keep you right along with me as I walk my winding road! I hope you enjoy it :)

This post is no different from the others really - this just has a long intro :P So now, without further adieu, may I present my new blog post format!

WHAT'S FOR SALE

Purple and Yellow Crystal Earrings

Aren't these cute? 

Just click on the link below the picture for more information and/or to purchase!

Only $5!!!

DAILY CRAFTY ADD

When finished the frogs will be the classic: "Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil." My Mom bought the pattern for my after Granny died earlier this year. Granny LOVED frogs and had a HUGE collection of them.

Granny also loved to do things with her hands and we have a gorgeous cross-stitch she did at one point! 

Granny had a set of frogs in these classic poses as figurines. Well Dad has the figurines, and I'm making my own memory for her.Tonight I worked on the eye and face area on the green frog. Didn't get too much done, but I was chatting :P

*NOTE TO SELF* Make some sort of cute banner for each of the sections in the blog posts? Hmmm...Ideas... That might just be my crafty thing for tomorrow :P Did I mention its way past my bed time?

Crafty ADD #33

Wow - I've really missed doing my crafty ADD updates! Of course, I've really missed crafting too. My migraines have kept me from doing very much of it lately. *sigh* I actually have something to share with you though, so here it is!

Crochet

This actually is NOT the project I was planning on working on. Last market I made it too I sold 2 out of my 5 book marks. So I really need to make some right? Well I designed a vampire one that I'm really excited about, but forgot to factor how big it would be based on what sized thread count I used. Um yah. WAY to big with the thread count I have. So I'm working on this one (It'll eventually say "Beach Read") until I can get a smaller thread count. After all I need more than one book mark! LOL

Jewelry

I'm making a second hair piece! Very excited about that :) This one is going much easier because I can do the whole thing in larger sized beads. So it'll actually be worth what I'm charging for it instead of a lot more :P

And I know that's a bad picture, but I made myself a toe ring! I just had a really hard time taking the pic. I love it though! I made it with stretchy cord, some glue to make sure the knot holds, a millifiori center bead, and size 8 seed beads. I made it both because I love toe rings and I haven't had one in a long time, and because I want to start making some rings (or toe rings!) out of stretchy cord and I wanted to test out how durable they are. I'll know more soon!

Crafty ADD #31

It's the start of another week - and more crafty stuff to report! Woohoo!

Crochet

I was a bad girl and did not get anywhere near as much done on this as I should of. That's because I was really focused on the two jewelry projects below. I have one more that I REALLY need to get done, but as soon as I'm done with that I'm going to have to bust out the mad crocheting skills...

Cross Stitch

I think I only worked on this one day this week. But it was an important day! I added purple! Always a landmark day right?

Jewelry

The butterfly is finally finished! Well...almost... *sigh* I still need a proper pin back for it. Haven't found one in the right size yet. This little bugger took me HOURS longer than I think it should have :P I can't even begin to tell you how many problems it caused...in fact...I don't think I'll even try :P The good news is as soon as I find a pin back it's going on my back pack that I carry everywhere! Yay for a beady project for me! To show off!

This is my challenge piece for the Etsy Bead Weavers monthly challenge. It's what I've spent the last three days working on (when I could). I'll tell you more about it tomorrow. It deserves it's own blog post :)

Craft on!

Crafty ADD Weeks 21 - 30

I've had so much fun doing my Crafty ADD posts! And one of my favorite posts of all is when I get to the end of a 10 week (approx) stretch and look back with a slide show on all I've done. It's a lot of fun to revisit my projects, frustrations, and triumphs. I hope you have fun looking at the slide show as well :)

Crafty ADD #30

I know - I went two weeks with out an update, but life's been such that I wasn't getting too much done so it's not too much of a loss :P

Crocheting

I'm never doing this blanket again! I figured it out, the squares are so small that I'm having to tie in twice as many ends as I did when I did the first baby blanket. I do NOT like tying in ends! LOL Oh well. It's going to be pretty - so that's something at least :)

Cross Stitch

Book mark's finished! Well, ok, so in that photo it hasn't be cut out and backed yet, but Mom does that part for me (interfacing hates me) so I took a snap shot before I sent it her way :)

I'm making something for me this time! Can you tell what that is in the center? I'll give you a hint, it's an animal :P
I finished my "no thought" necklace - but not my butterfly! Hoping to finish that tonight :) I've got a lot of projects I need to get going on - so I really need to finish it up!

Here's a snap shot of my first paper beads! This is after they've been rolled, and coated with one coat of glue. They still need to have a finishing spray put on them, but it's been raining and I need to have the hubby do that outside. Once their completely done I'll start listing them online and do a post all about how I made them!

Crafty ADD #29

Last week was a mixed bag for me. I did really good the first half of the week, and then I had a really massive migraine that laid me out flat for three days. Despite that...I actually have a lot to show off! So let's dive in :)

Crochet

Don't know WHY that picture turned out so...yellow. Oh well. I finished the core part of the second strip. Next I need to tie in all the ends and do the border!

Cross Stitch

It's almost done! I just need to fill in the blue on the bottom symbol. Another hours worth maybe?

Jewelry

I'm making paper beads! This is the very first set I made, and as you can see, I did NOT do well on some of them. This is definitely a skill with a learning curve to it! I have since made three more sets in different colors and done a little bit better each time. I didn't get a picture of those for you though. Ooops! I'll do a post just about my new paper beads where I explain the process a little bit more and you'll see the rest of them then :)

I whipped these up early last week. They are now in my consignment shop. :)

Didn't make much progress on this necklace because I spent most of my time working on my other beady project. Which is fine - because this one will be sitting there waiting for when I need something that doesn't take a lot of thought!

This is my current favorite beady project - and it's for ME! I'm using a pattern from this month's Bead and Button magazine and I can hardly wait to see it all done! I love butterfly's :)

Crafty ADD #28

Wow - It's been two and a half weeks since I've done an ADD post - if that's not confirmation that I've been pretty out of it, I don't know what is! I got a wee bit done in that time though...

Crochet

The first strip is complete and I've gotten a start on the second. Waaaaay behind on this project!

Cross-Stitch

The quote reads "Nothing is hopeless, we must hope for everything." It's just cut off by the embroidery hoop :P And it's by Madeleine L'Engle. I'm getting close on this one! Which is good - cuz it's a present :P Well that, and the next project is for ME and I want to start on it.

Jewelry

Another ring! I really need to get these posted on-line huh? I'm feeling pretty sick today, but I'm going to try to get at least one ring on-line by the end of the day. We'll see how I do...

This hemp necklace started out with a plan for different beads, and then I discovered that the beads didn't have a wide enough diameter! So I went shuffling through my boxes and found these beads that I'd totally forgotten about! I think they go perfect with the white hemp.

And this is my current project. I started it because it's basically "mindless" and all the other projects I have in my head right now take thought, and I just haven't had the brains to work on them lately!

The good news is I seem to be getting back into the swing of things, even though I'm still not feeling good, so hopefully this will be a more productive week on many different fronts :)

Crafty ADD #27

It's been just over two weeks since I posted a crafty ADD update - and with good reason. I lost my Granny last week, for any of you that didn't know, and that put the rest of life on hold. I did get a wee bit of crafting done on the trip up for the funeral (hey come on, this is how I cope!), and of course I got stuff done before, and even a little after! So here's my loooong ADD update :)

Crochet

Have I ever mentioned that I hate rolling the yarn up into balls? Oh wait, I'm sure I have... Ok, so maybe hate is the wrong word, but after spending an HOUR rolling this up (there were some massive tangles to unravel) that was all I was doing that particular night.

This picture doesn't show adequately the progress I've made, so I'll just tell ya :P On the first strip I've done the first edging row around all the squares and tied in all the ends. I need Mom's help to do the next edging row so I started in on the next strip. I need to step up the pace on this project >_>

Cross Stitch

I started another book mark! This one's going to be a present :D I'm having fun with it - don't think it will take me too long either - which is good :)

Jewelry

I'm in love with making rings! I know I haven't gotten any up on my site yet (hey, I have a GOOD excuse this time!), but I'm still having fun making them :) And they don't take that much time! Hmmm...in fact...I may make another one when I'm done with this post :P

This pretty bracelet is going to my consignment shop - but if anyone falls in love with the colors I will gladly make it for you!

Remember seeing this one in one of my previous ADD posts? I bought a clasp and finished it :)

I have a couple more pieces to show off - but I'm saving those for a specific post :P

Crafty ADD Update #26

Another week - and more crafty stuff! I have officially created a new category in these updates - the miscellaneous category :P Why? Well I have some random things that I do (like paper stuff or whatever) that I don't do frequently enough for them to really have their own category. This way I no longer have to worry about that. You'll love my Misc. item this week :) Oh - and a note about crocheting - it didn't happen this week. Oopsie. I got very caught up in beading, which you'll see!

Misc:

I made myself a light box! That picture makes my living room look a lot darker than it is...but I have a light box! *bounces* The box is a little cockamamie which is why you see a pill bottle peaking out from one corner. I need to figure out a better solution to that... I also want to get a third lamp that can do overhead light because I'm still get some shadows just having the two lights. So my project isn't finished...but it's a big improvement over where I was at!

Jewelry

I made the rope to go with my Peso Pendant that I made last week! I'm really please with how this turned out and I'm looking forward to taking more pictures so that I can list it :D

Rings! I've made my first rings! Woohoo! Plan on listing these this week as well :) And making more!

I actually *gasp* made things for myself this week too! The spirals I made earlier today to go with the shirt I'm wearing, and I did the bead woven earrings earlier this week. The seed beads are kind of an iridescent peacock color. I bought them last week and knew right away that I wanted to weave some earrings with them. By the time I was half way through the first one I knew I was keeping it for myself! Which really is a good idea since I don't have any of my own bead woven earrings. Bracelets - yes, ring - yes, necklaces -yes, but I had no earrings! i had other styles, but it was high time I had a pair of my own bead woven earrings.

This lovely bracelet is made using a chevron weaving technique that I learned from this month's issue of Bead and Button. I love how delicate it turned out! All it needs to finish it is a good clasp, I want to go buy a really cute one for it :)

Oh yes, and I finished my paw prints bracelet, and forgot to take a picture of it completed before I gave it to my friend! Ooops! Don't worry though, I do plan on making one for my shop, eventually....