Here's another piece of her work. The picture really doesn't do it justice. In addition to the large dragonfly pendent, there are also little tiny dragonflies on the strands of seed beads. It is really quite pretty. I love the colors she chose as well.

These are some earrings that were created by my Aunt Darlene. She has lots of other beautiful work that she has created. I will be posting some pictures of some of her other work soon.

She and I have been talking back and forth for a while now about starting our own business. We would love to have our own little shop selling some of our work. While she can make just about anything, she specialized in children's clothes. I can't wait to get some pictures of her sewing on here to share with you. That's one thing I am definantly envious of, because I can barely sew a straight line!!

The two of us have been creating quite a bit of jewelry, and right now I am thinking of listing some of it on Etsy.com. I really love that "place". I thought maybe we could get a feel for how well some of our stuff would sell, and what types of things sold better than others.

Relaxation

I am amazed at how relaxing rolling beads can be. Beginning the process is just as soothing as the actual work. I have been pouring over magazine pages, not looking at the picture as a whole, but examining the colors, how they blend together, and imagining how they will look rolled up. Would they look better as cigar beads or barrel beads? I love the cigar shaped beads (beads that are thicker in the middle) because of the way the colors on the paper blend together to make something entirely new. A really nice pattern might look better as a barrel bead, because rolling it the other way would not show the pattern, just the colors.

I minored in art way back when I was in college, and had forgotten how much I enjoyed looking at the brush strokes or individual components, or what actually makes up the pictures or paintings. It's absolutely fascinating to me how something so small and insignificant can make up a thing of such beauty. The next time you are looking at a picture of something, unfocus your eyes and just look at the colors and the way they all come together. It amazes me every time.

Here's the neclace I made using the beads below.

Here's a close up of a couple of the beads I have made. I love the earth tones, and the way they almost look as though they have been carved from rocks. These, coupled with some emerald green barrel shaped ones made a beautiful necklace.

One of the coolest things about this bracelet to me is not just the fact that the orange beads are handmade, but that the paper used to make them was also handmade by me and my boys. The other beads are recycled from other jewelry. The bracelet has a heart shaped toggle closure and is strung on nylon thread.

This little bracelet was strung on elastic thread. The barrel beads are handmade by me from old National Geographic magazines. The other beads are recycled from old jewelry.

My first crafty post:)

I have been posting on my other blog about my new found love of crafting. It's not really new, in that I have always loved making things with my hands. When I was a young teenager, my grandmother used to make these duck baskets. She would sew this stuffed duck, and we would take bushel baskets and fill them with stuff like moss, artificial cat-tails and other flowers, sit the duck in them and sell them. They sold like hotcakes for $25 a piece. She taught me how to make the bows for the fronts of the baskets, and she would give us a cut of the profits. She would sell them, and then take us on a vacation to the beach with the money. We had such a good time sitting on her carport with the hot glue gun dripping all over, looking at the her creations.

What is new about this love of crafting for me are the ideas that I keep getting, and the way the internet has opened up a whole new world for me in this area. I think of things, look them up, and see that I can do them. My recent attempts have produced some really great work, I think. You will have to give me your opinions:)