Category: Crafts

I recently made a couple of necklaces and matching earrings. These were things I was lacking in my necklace collection.

Here is a brown necklace I made.

I started the necklace on day on the bus. Let me tell you…I got some strange looks! 🙂

A friend of mine at work has a necklace that I really like. It has a long strand of pearls (which I do not have) and two other silver chains with small pearls on one and larger pearls on the other. I decided that was something I could do. So I found some chain and some pearl-looking beads in various sizes (I actually found a multi-size pack) and went to work.

Here are the white necklaces.

I worked on these when we were in Lutsen last weekend. I wore the one with small beads to work on Monday and I think I want to do a little modifying to it. The small pearl one is REALLY long. I wore it wrapped twice around my neck and it was plenty long. I tried on the one with larger beads and I wrapped it around my neck twice and didn’t like the look of it. So I think I might leave the small bead one the way it is since it is more versatile and make the larger bead one a little shorter. The whole idea was to be able to wear them together and right now that doesn’t look very good.

But that is the fun in making your own stuff. You can modify them to be the way you want.

Here are the earrings I made to go with them.

Enjoy!

A friend from college made some wallets and I decided I needed to give them a try. I had to invite my mother-in-law over to help me out because she is a sewing diva…unlike me. So after lots of reading directions and lots of help from her, we made this lovely wallet.

This was a very tedious project, but I was really proud when I was done. It’s not perfect by any means, but it didn’t turn out too badly for my first try. I do know that there is no way I would have been able to get it done with out some help, though. Overall, it was a fun way to spend an afternoon with my mother-in-law!

One of my best friends, Hillary, loves jewelry. I knew I wanted to make something for her birthday and this is what I came up with!

They turned out really nicely. It was hard giving them away!

She also loves butterflies. I tried to find some sort of butterfly I liked to make her some jewelry. When that didn’t work, I found this gorgeous gift topper and wrapped her gift with it instead. And it matches the jewelry so well!

The gift was a hit! She loved them. And I think I need to go buy myself one of these butterflies! I forgot how pretty they were!

A friend of mine at work just had her birthday. She has a love for earrings like I do, so I made her a one-of-a-kind for her birthday. Here are a couple pictures of the earrings and the card I gave her.

Check out how much my actual signature matches the one Chuck helped me add at the bottom of posts! I love it!

You can read a little more about them on my other site, CraftsOnAWhim.com.

This is a picture of Ann with a cookie bouquet from a friend of hers. I think the cookies are so cute. Too bad I don’t like to eat cookies…or maybe it’s a good thing. 🙂 But I would love to give one of these to someone some day….I even have a couple people in mind! 🙂

And from what I hear, Ann barely dented the cookies before she was full! 🙂

This is another pen I made. My most recent one actually. This was for a friend’s birthday. I know she likes blues and browns, so I was so excited when I came across this acrylic! It even has a little bit of purple in it. I decided to leave the clip off this one since I made the top kind of fat. I was a little worried she wouldn’t like it because it’s a little funky, but she loved it! (At least she told me she did! *wink*) I was also told that had I not left the clip off, she would have played with it enough and probably made it fall off! So I guess I made the right choice! 🙂 This was the last thing I made before I packed up all of my turning stuff. I might have to take a trip to Chuck’s dad’s house and use their wood shop to get a turning fix….and so I don’t forget how!

This next picture was the first one I took and the flash was on. When I saw it I didn’t like it (this was on the tiny camera screen), but when I saw it larger I thought it was kind of cool. So I thought I would share. 🙂 It’s not going to win any contests, but I still like how it looks…a little off! (Kind of like me!) 🙂 Plus, if you make it larger, you can see it kind of sparkles…and we all know how I love sparkles!

This was a pen I made for my brother’s girlfriend a while back. She picked out the color she wanted from a catalog and then was there when I made it so it was the thickness she wanted. It turned out so pretty in person. She is still in college and says she uses it all the time. Plus green is her favorite color, so everything I make her is green. I thought I had posted a picture of the purse I made her, but I guess not. I will post that one tomorrow. 🙂

I haven’t done many crafts lately. And I mean nothing…no cards, pens, sewing, nothing. It’s a little sad. I might try to make some time for that. Mostly because I have nothing to post on my other site. I think my readers over there might appreciate something new from me. But I am a working stiff now, and I jut don’t have the time. I think I was really filling a void in my life with crafts. And now I don’t even have the desire to spend money on crafts because I think I have more than enough! (Of course a few stamp sets here and there…that’s different!) And I want to spend my money on purses! So the huge runs to Michaels and JoAnn’s just don’t happen very much. I wonder what Christmas will be like. I make so many things at Christmas time, but now I don’t know that I will have the time or desire to do so. So if you get something made from me this year…you’ll be pretty special!

This is the pen I made for Chuck. He took some time and picked out the style he wanted and I picked the wood. I had wanted to try a pen with this wood and I think it turned out wonderfully! This is a rollerball pen and the cap comes off and can sit on the top like you can see in the pictures. It was a little complicated to put it together, but it was worth it! The pen is heavier than I thought it would be. And it writes really smoothly. I was quite pleased with the turn out!

This one is made out of Buckeye Burl wood and I think it looks so cool. This is the same wood I made Chuck’s pen out of. (I was going to add a link to it here, but I can’t seem to find that I have posted it yet. So I may have to show you that one tomorrow.) I gave this key ring to my brother for his birthday. I thought it was nice for a guy. Enjoy!

This is one of my more recent turning projects. I haven’t don’t much turning lately and I really should get around to that. I even have some things all ready to make. I just need to get them on the machine. I gave this one to my step-mom for her birthday. She loved it. The colors are so pretty in it. This picture really doesn’t do it justice.

I have another one I’ll show you tomorrow. I have to keep you in suspense! 🙂

This was a pen a made for Katie’s birthday in June. She loves it and uses it as her “purse pen”! I think it turned out so cool. I think my favorite part about making these pens and turning wood is seeing what they look like at the end. It’s like a surprise to see what the wood looks like inside and how it will look with finish on it. I have a couple more things ready to make, I just haven’t gotten around to it. But I will post them when I get them done.

I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July!