December - Art Elements Theme Reveal - Holiday Creations

I LOVE the idea of a handmade Christmas (Kirstie's Handmade Christmas is my favourite TV shows ever and I have learnt of soooo many crafts that I had never even heard of from that show!!!) Every year I try to make more and more things but don't ever really feel that I manage to make very much as Christmas is just so busy, but this year I started much earlier and managed to get a lot more done!

The biggest problem I had was trying to photograph every thing as there was just next to no day light and very little time before finishing a piece and having to package it up to post it off in time, so some things I made I have no photos of! 

This necklace was one of the hardest pieces I have ever worked on! The opal was on a base of sand stone and it kept crumbling away as I was fitting the bezel. Half way through the top half of the opal broke off and I almost gave up, but the stone ended up looking so much better with out the inclusions at the top so I filed it round and kept going, and I am glad I did as I really love this one.

This one I kept! Its an Andamooka opal with a trilobite on the back, handmade chain and I intend to make a trilobite clasp to finish it off.

There was so much more things I made but I think I will need to invest in some kind of daylight lamp and a better camera as the photos did not make the cut! 

I can't wait to see what everyone else created....

AE team: 

 Lindsay

Jenny

Sue

Karen

Claire

Niky

Cathy

Guests: 

Sarajo

Kathy

Mary

Hope

Tammy

Evie and Beth

Divya

Merja

Sarah

Christmas Ornament Design Challenge

Today is the day of the Art Elements Ornament design challenge reveal!

I love making decorations and this first one was made by my 9 year old Lana every year at their christmas school fair one of the class rooms is turned into a ceramic studio and the kids get to paint their own decorations....

I love the winking eye! This year I had a go with one of the ceramic balls but our time was cut short by a rather impatient other half, I could easily have spent a few hours scratching out swirling designs!

This next one was made by my 5 year old, he loves to collect pine cones and leaves for me so I asked him to paint it for me and he found this cute little star in his toy box to stick on the top!

These next two are designs by Gingermelon on ETSY (I love her cute designs and attention to detail) I started making these at work with some of my residents (scaled up so they would be able to sew them easier) but only managed to get two completed in time....

There are several more of her designs that I have brought but as usual time always seems to slip away too fast!

I am looking forward to seeing what everyone else has created, and I wish you all a very merry christmas xxx

Guest Designers

Kathy Lindemer

Hope Smitheram

Denise McCabe

Paisley Lizard

Samantha Wescott

Sarajo Wentling

Divya N

Linda Newnham

Melissa Trudinger

Art Elements Team

Susan Kennedy

 Caroline Dewison

Laney Mead

Cathy Mendola

Jenny Davies-Reazor

Lesley Watt

Lindsay Starr

Claire Fabian

Niky Sayers

Thick fog!

You could really feel christmas in the air this morning, there was a beautiful layer of white glittering frost covering the roof tops and the edges of the fallen leaves, and the fog was so thick it was like walking through the clouds.

This was at 3.30pm the fog just kept getting thicker!

I love ths time of year, it was just cold enough that the tips of our noses went red but not so cold as to freeze and stiffen our fingers! Its hard not to be inspired when every thing looks like it should be in a fairytale, it makes me want to put up all the christmas decorations and turn our home into a winter wonderland! Alas it is too early tho, even for me, so I will have to make do with making christmas cards later on!

I spent most of today making more clasps, I love how there are so many diffrent ways to make a simple clasp and found it quiet relaxing! Here are a few that are ready to use...

 I just have to wait for more head pins and jump rings then I can finally finish off some of my many "almost there" bits of jewellery (I have so many "almost there" bits that I have designated them an unfinished projects draw)!!!!