Fini Friday! Spookiness Fini!

Hello Everyone!
Welcome to Fini Friday!
I hope your week had been full of mystery and fun so far!
I've a finished creation (just on the cusp on Halloween!) to show you today!

You might remember mention of ideas, plots and plans a few Fridays ago...
A photo of that beginning...

 
And here is the Fini! 
Title: All Hallows, The Old Way
Ingredients: Czech glass, Artistic wire, metal, surgical steel earwires(hypo-allergenic). 
Can you spy which beads and charms took root in the beginning and which wove their way in later?  
All Hallows is one of three days of ancient Christian celebration spanning Oct. 31 to Nov. 2 (See Wikipedia for more details!).  It is a day to celebrate saints and martyrs both known and unknown.  A celebration similar to this and around this time of year spans several cultures and there is much lively debate as to the beginnings of these holidays.
I leave it up to you, Dear Reader, to decide what you like best. 
As for me, I love the ancient symbols of wisdom, life, death, intuition, mystery, Faerie, stars, and so much more woven through these!
Have a most excellent weekend!
See you Monday!
Ciao!

Magical Monday! Around Home...

Hello Everyone!
Welcome to Magical Monday!
This post represents a bit of a shift in what I'll be showing for Magical Mondays. I still intend to find nifty and beautiful things in and around the world to share with you. I'm shifting gears to include more magical, beautiful events that happen at home and/or on a more personal level.
This post is the start of that!
Let's begin with some visuals, eh?
We have a few farm cats around the place.
I realized that I've photos of the lady cats but none yet of our resident tomcat, Lenny. As I was coming back inside to stow the food from the evening feeding a few days ago, I noticed how stunning the sunlight was as it filtered through his handsome grey fur, creating a nimbus around him.
So I grabbed my camera and captured a few moments of this evening enchantment!
Photo #1 with a bonny column of light shining through...

Isn't that stunning?

Photo #2 Focusing on Lenny...
I hope you can see his striking, glowing green eyes!
Normally he is pretty cautious around most people-things.  Yet for these photos, he lay in the grass and looked the very picture of a majestic, domestic grey lion!
It seemed that he completely understood what was transpiring and was amused and entertained by it all!
Such a courtly, refined fellow!

Other gorgeous bits of magic...
Yesterday, I spied a huge flock of wild turkeys, right outside our window!
The closest fowl came withing 5 feet of our house! They were absolutely graceful, hunting and pecking (literally) at a stately and leisurely pace through our yard!
I'm happy to have them here as they eat all manner of bugs including ticks!
Hooray!
Today as I stepped outside and moved to and fro through our yard on errands I noticed several lovely feathers standing up like flags in and amongst the grass!
What a fabulous reminder of our gracious visitors!

Also on the list of charming events for today are dragonflies!
They've been around for a week or so now and really help with the mosquitoes! WOOHOO!!!
Where the magic comes in is that everywhere I stepped, when I was travelling quickly on errands that I "should" get done, were red dragonflies...right in my path! They hovered a little over knee height directly in my path for a few moments...as if to capture my attention and remind me of the joy in each present moment...and then flew on.
How awesome!

And speaking of joy... let me announce my next BlogTalk Radio Interview!

Tuesday, August 19th at 12 Noon (CST, USA)!!!

I'll be chatting with Cheryl Patton of 1Woman's Wisdom about Faerie Wisdom specific to the month of August!

It would be so much fun if you could join us!

See you Wednesday!

Ciao!

Fini Friday! Beautiful Beads and Beginnings!

Hello Hello! 

Welcome to Fini Friday! 

The weather has cooled off for us here in Minnesota and I am truly enjoying the lovely, cool breeze!! 

(Did I mention that it is cooler today? I think I did! *wink* *grin*) 

I hope there are similar blessings in your neck of the woods! 

This post is all about beginnings and beads! 

First up! 

A menagerie at the beginning stages of growth...

The ceramic pendants are hand-made by Melanie of Earthenwood Studio. I adore her work and love the colours, textures and simple shapes she brings into the world! 

The two pewter-coloured pendants to the left of the Earth and tawny Cat are three-dimensional, with different designs and words on both sides. I've glued in Swarovski crystals on opposing sides. 

The first photo shows one side, whilst the second shows the other. 

The spiral is one of the oldest sacred symbols that is found in every culture that I'm aware of and it always seems to represent eternal life.  How fitting to pair with the Earth!  Also completely appropriate is the word "Live". After all, if you're seeing this, you're living upon the Earth! 

Cats have always symbolized mystery and the unknown, so matching them with stars, a colour-changing crystal and the word "Imagine" was truly natural.

The second, seafoam-coloured cat pendant is growing on a path of it's own and undoubtedly will be accented with the hand-coloured fiber seen in the photo as well as other interesting charms, bits and thingees (Yup! That's the word I'm going with, though it likely isn't an official word in the English language *grin*).

Let's wrap this up by showing you those beautiful beads mentioned in the title!!

On the left is a stunning nugget of sunny Citrine.  

Citrine is thought to help with creativity, personal clarity and help weed out self-destructive tendencies, whilst helping the liver, digestive tract, heart, and muscles. 

The center bead is a gracefully cut Agate with dramatic flowing inclusions.  Agate is purported to be helpful in discerning truths and is an excellent healer for emotional upsets.  Legend says that it assists with memory, concentration and focus.

The last stone on the right is probably a sort of Jasper.  Legends surrounding Jasper state that it is stabilizing, healing and can help bring joy into life.  This stone would seem to have been formed by sedimentary action, then pressurized for eons to become this beauty!  There are so many different patterns to see in this single bead, I'm excited to see what happens next with it! 
Stay tuned to see!!

And so, at the conclusion of this post, I wish you a very joyous weekend!
See you on Monday!
Ciao!

Fini Friday! Flashy!

Hello Hello!

Welcome to Fini Friday!

I usually use these posts to show you either creations that are still growing or creations that have been languishing and have been (finally!) completed.  Today I'm going to show you creations on both ends of the spectrum!

Let's start with the completed creation!

You might remember this Fini Friday back in September, where I showcased a cat, sunstone and kyanite necklace that I was restringing.  I was not impressed with the crimps I had on-hand and so progress was stalled while more of my usual crimps were obtained.  They have been acquired and the necklace is finished!

Title: SunCat

Ingredients: Jasper, Sunstone, Lapis Lazuli, Kyanite, Bali silver, Sterling silver, lead-free pewter, steel cable.

The first photo is of the entire design and the second is a close-up of the wonderful cats, intriguing and flashy sunstone and gorgeous lapis lazuli! 

There are so many legends and meanings associated with the stones used in this creation, I'll just take you on a quick tour through them!

Sunstone: Thought to bring luck, increase optimism, strength and vitality, and to help harness the healing power of the Sun. 

Lapis Lazuli: Used as both a cosmetic and medicine through the ages, Lapis has been used as an aphrodisiac, to strengthen the skeleton, increase Divine awareness, cure insomnia and improve sleep as well as to ward off negative energy. 

Kyanite: Thought to never retain negative energy, Kyanite also helps to improve communication and intuition, clarity of thought, and help manifest dreams into action. Legend says it helps nurture optimism and open the mind to lighter, brighter and better ideas and perspectives. 

Jasper: Legend says that Jasper is protective, grounding, healing and stabilizing. It is thought to align all the chakras and balance yin yang energies. 

Silver: Though not a stone, Silver is thought to nurture intuitive knowing. All in all, a very positive creation, wouldn't you say? 

The next and last photo are three USB Flash Drives(part of the Flash Drive collection) that I've finished the embellishment and will continue to grow into completion as necklaces and etc.

I believe two out of the three flash drives will be necklaces and yet the drive to the farthest right may end up remaining a pendant.

The green colour that you see is alcohol ink that I dripped strategically onto and into the resin after painting it on the drives.  I absolutely love the effect!  The center drive arrived with that nifty swirl pattern and so I accented it with Swarovski crystal rhinestones and a subtle gold glitter pigment in the resin!  I'm quite pleased with how these turned out!

 More on the designs embedded in the resin and their meanings when the creations are complete!

You may see these at my next show! 

When is that, you ask?

Why, I've conveniently provided details about that very subject just below!
Take a look!

My next and final show of 2012 (it is so weird to type that!) is the 20th Annual Women's Art Festival! Come join us at the Midtown YWCA in Minneapolis, MN (USA)!

Saturday, Dec. 15th only!

10am to 5pm.

There will be live music all day, an on-site coffee shop and art of all kinds and for all budgets!

And with that, have a fabulous weekend! 

Ciao!

Whimsy Wednesday! Lights, Cat and Dracula! ...and Zombies!

Hello Everyone!!!

Welcome to Whimsy Wednesday!

I have a spookily-whimsical blog post for you today!

Mwuuuuaaahhhahaaahaha!!

Let's start with the lights and cat!

I found this cat light on Walkabout today and just had to bring it home! I'm usually pretty minimal about my seasonal decorations (I'd rather spend the resources on loved ones than on things) and so any additions have to be quite worthy before I'll bring them home. I think we call agree that this is worthy! Heee!

The last portion of this post are some highlights from the 20th Anniversary of the Saint Paul Art Crawl, which I and Sprite Creations celebrated with the Artists of the Lowertown Lofts Co-op!

For those who are unaware, the Crawl starts on Friday evening and is open through Sunday early evening.

Saturday evening also happens to be the Zombie Pub Crawl in Downtown Saint Paul! Hundreds of people dress up as zombies and have a good time shambling about! It is really quite a remarkable sight!! The make-up is absolutely AMAZING!!!!  We never expected to be visited by a small horde of Zombies at our spot in the 3rd Floor Atrium of the Lowertown Lofts, but these fine ghouls took the time to stop by and mob our table! Feast your eyes on the scene above (Courtesy of the PhotoGhoul that accompanied them)!

Fortunately, Faeries and Faerie Friends don't seem to be very appetizing to the Undead as we emerged unscathed and they continued on their never-ending quest for BRAINS! So Much Fun!! My many thanks to that throng of wraiths for including us in their spirited adventures! I hope that when this is reposted to Facebook, they'll tag themselves in the photo so I can give proper credit and Thanks to them for livening an otherwise dead last moments of Saturday evening at the Crawl! (HA!! See the pun?!)

Ahem... Ok!

Speaking of the Undead... let's chat about Dracula for a moment! Or atleast the first actor to play Dracula - Bela Lugosi!

This necklace was born in 2010 and created around the coffin-shaped pendant and the photo-reproduction of Bela Lugosi in his famous role as Dracula! It's title is Undying Elegance and that sums up my assessment of Mr. Lugosi's Dracula! He did such an astounding job of creating a creepy and dangerous, yet intriguing and sensual villian! Bravo!

So... why mention that in this post? This creation found it's perfect partner this weekend!!! The lady who adopted it is writing a book about vampires that is filled with humor, whimsy and originality! (That's all the more I'll say about it, as it is not yet published...) If that is not enough of a fabulous connection with the necklace, she told me a story about her father that sealed the deal! Her father was a soldier in World War I (as was Mr. Lugosi) on a train in Europe. As he landed in a seat on the train, he turned to the man seated beside him and exclaimed, "Are you Dracula?!" Bela replied in the affirmative and the tale was resolved with the description, "And my Dad spent the next 2 and 1/2 days partying on the train with Bela Lugosi!" Absolutely marvelous!!! And so here is that creation that found such an excellent home!

And there you have it!

I'll wrap up this Whimsy Wednesday with mention of a newly-scheduled show coming up this weekend!!

This Saturday, Oct. 20th, I and Sprite Creations will be celebrating All Hallow's Eve with the fine folks at BellaLuna! 

We'll be there from 10am to 6pm for all your Faerie Finery and Halloween shopping needs!

Come join us!

See you on Friday!

Ciao!

Whimsy Wednesday! Photos and a Faerie Wreath!

Hello! 

Welcome to Whimsy Wednesday! 

I have a new type of creation to debut in today's post as well as a little more celebrating of Autumn with cats! 

Let's keep a little bit of the mystery going and take a look at our serene feline companion! 

Title: A Mellow Autumn

Isn't that just a wonderful contrast of colours and textures?! I love it! 

Ok! Next up is the first of the Faerie Wreath creations! 

I was on Walkabout when I encountered these dyed grapevine wreaths and had to play with one! 

Here is how it turned out! 

Title: As Yet Unknown 

Ingredients: Green Girls Studios Cat pendant, Faerie charm, vintage and non-vintage Czech glass, goldstone, fiber, organza ribbon, coated copper wire, Fray-check, lead-free pewter. 

 

There are so many wonderful details wrapped in and around this wreath! The fiber and ribbon, the hand-coloured Faerie charm, the wrench charm, the Cat charm with "Kitty Comfort" written on the back, the vintage Czech beads with the lovely swirly patterns and the sparkly! goldstone star... just to name a few! 

I'm really pleased with how this turned out! I'll have it ready for adoption this weekend at the Saint Paul Art Crawl! 

What is that, you say? 

Sprite Creations has a show coming up? 

Why yes! 

Yes, I do!!! 

 I and Sprite Creations will be helping the Downtown Saint Paul Artists celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the Saint Paul Art Crawl Oct. 12th, 13th and 14th in the 3rd Floor Atrium of the Lowertown Lofts Artist Coop! 

It would be grand to have you celebrate it with us! 

Whee! 

Ciao!