I created this design out of a vintage tin canister that was from the 1950's.  I loved the retro feel of the can and all the vibrant colors.  It would go great with a lot of different clothes and look cute with jeans, which is mostly what I wear.  I used vintage blue aurora borealis crystals from a broken necklace and plumbing pipe from the hardware store. The metal is all copper and will take on an aged look after it is worn a few times.  I am taking a poll.  Would you wear this?

I made this fun necklace out of a vintage Arm & Hammer bird card.  This one is from the 1930's when they used to put these little cards into baking soda boxes.  It is fun to imagine what is would have been like back then. I can picture grandma with her apron on and in the kitchen baking.  I can visualize her anticipation in opening a new box of baking soda to see what little treasure she was going to find.  I have about 30 of these little bird cards and they are so beautiful and really colorful.  I have been cleaning out my craft room and bought box type shelves to organize it all.  I have all kinds of fun vintage finds down there that I like to use to make jewelry the only problem is it has overtaken the room.  So I need to find away to organize it all so I can have more work space. If it turns out okay maybe I will post a picture.  I think it is going to take a while to get it all done. I want to hang some pretty lights above my workstation.  I am looking for an idea that will work for the tools, so I can hang them above my workbench.  I want to try and make it look creative.  If you have any ideas please forward them to me.

I received a copy in the mail of the premiere edition of a Jewelry Affaire.  I was looking through the magazine and to my surprise my jewelry was on page 16 &17.  I have not seen these necklaces for over a year and have been asking for them to be returned but no one seemed to know where the necklaces had gone.  I had sent the necklace to Belle Armoire Jewelry back in January of 2009.  I thought that they be missing and I would never see them again.  I tend to get attached to things I make.  It was a wonderful surprise to see them published and to know they have been located.  I am posting another one that I have made that was in my collection.  I have about 500 pieces of handmade jewelry just waiting to take with me to the Ogden market this summer and may do Park City but am not sure I will have time.  I have some other things going on right now and am waiting to see how it all plays out.  I hope my readers enjoy this necklace and please leave your comments.

Recycling Vintage Jewelry

My message today is about recycling.  I like to recycle vintage jewelry and came up with a few of these fun necklaces to share with the readers of my blog.  When I think about keys I wonder where they have been.  My imagination runs wild with pictures in my mind of  a time long ago where these people had much different lives then our own,  How did they dress, what kind of jewelry did they wear, what kind of house did they live in and what their lives where like?

        To me keys are symbolic.  I like to think of how keys open doors in our lives. What do you have to put into the door to get it to open? and what will come from putting in the effort?  What we do now to get the door to open is really important to our future as well as our children's.  How will we be perceived by people in the future and what will our lives represent to others? 

      Will be looked at as the big society of overuse and waste?  This reminds me of  one of my favorite books I used to read to my kids.  The book is called, The Wump World.  In this book people over consume everything around them and throw their garbage everywhere. The world becomes a big dumping ground, and is overtaken by waste and most living things die. Finally someone decides to take responsibility for what is going on around them.  The book has a great message for kids.

My Heart is Ticking

I love this heart necklace and may not be able to give it up.  Sometimes I make a piece and just cannot part with it.  I made this a while back along with about 12 others.  All the hearts turned out differently and one even had a compass.  Talk about finding your heart, it had a compass to help you find the way.  I hope it worked for the person who bought it. 

      I made this piece by cutting out a piece of copper with my jewelers saw and then aging the copper to look old.  I then took E6000 and glued all the pieces on one at a time.  It took about and hour to glue the watch parts onto each piece because trying to get all the parts to fit just right was a difficult process.  My son (Jordan) and I have been making some new pieces that I decided to call Broken Hearted.  He has been busy cutting lines and etching the metal to make the hearts look broken.  Some of the hearts have stiches and have been repaired.  I hope everyone enjoys these new pieces.  Watch for an upcoming post for the hearts.  In the meantime, please post your comments.

What you can do with an old canister

One day this past summer I decided to clean out some kitchen cupboards and then it hit me literally right in the face.  A tin canister fell out and hit my face.  Now this may sound like a stupid story but the can was red and had the cutest rooster designs on it.  I thought to myself, what could I do with this old thing?  I should just throw it out.  But that is not being very green, I could recycle it and use it in a cute piece of jewelry.  Then the light in my head went on, i could find old canisters at the thrift store and recycle them into jewelry.  So that is what I did.  I hate to say it but the obsession thing took over. I now have way to many of these canisters and need to start using them up or making jewelry from them. 
        My son Jordan who is very creative decided that he would make a bracelet out of these canisters and included 44 disks on one bracelet.  It jingled like the belly dancer jewelry and was very popular at the market.  Well it sold really quick so then he had to make another one and it sold too. I am going to have to put him to work to make some more of these.  I will post a picture in an upcoming blog.  For my necklaces I used plumbing pipe from the hardware store and cut it out for the base of these necklaces.  I then soldered a jump ring on top and bottom to hang the pendent and beads from.  I put the pipe through an aging process to make them look old.  Now the question is, how do I use up all these canisters?

Through the Keyhole

I had a lot of fun creating these pieces for my new line.  I will be selling these at the artists market this summer in Ogden, Utah.  The market is called: The Historic 25th Street Market.  I love working with antiques and finding new ways to incorporate found items into jewelry.  I have some new antique soldered  key pieces coming out in the June 2010 issue of Belle Armoire Magazine.  I hope to have some ready to sell this summer.  Lots of people have hobbies but this is not my hobby it is my passion.  Okay, this may sound a little strange or even crazy but I make jewelry because this is what I live to do.  I find inspiration in everything around me and am always looking for the next thing to use in my jewelry. I have a whole notebook full of new ideas. I probably will never have enough time to create all these things, but won't give up trying. It is like an obsession.  I hope you enjoy these and please feel free to leave a comment.

Deryn Mentock

I had so much fun and learned a lot about metal wire in Deryn Mentock's class in Las Vegas.  She taught us so many skills I just hope I can remember them.  She was so great to fill in for Glenny. Thanks for coming and teaching us so many fun and inspiring things.  Deryn has tons of work published in Belle Armoire Jewelry and it was a pleasure to take a class with her as she was so helpful in teaching all of us. She is so cute and wore the best jewelry.  I hope to see you again and take another class from you!!!  In the meantime keep sharing your talent with the readers.

 

I just took a class with Richard Salley at Art and Soul in Las Vegas.  I had so much fun and he is such a wonderful instructor.  He made all of us feel at ease in his class as he joked with us about our grades and giving me an incomplete as I did not have the bottom piece connected to the sides.  This is my project complete with me and grandma inside the locket.  This picture is old as grandma turned 90 this year.  We won't say how old I am, just that I was not the first grandchild.  Grandma will always hold a special place in my heart. She was put in a care center about a month ago and is having trouble adjusting.  It was hard to see her there as she has always been so independent.  My uncles just could not take care of her anymore as she was falling down to much and really hurting herself and the last time ended up in the hospital.  We love you grandma!!! Stay tough as always. You are in out prayers.

Belle Armoire Jewelry

 

I was so excited to see my jewelry published in the March issue.  This was an unexpected surprise.  I just got back from Art and Soul in Las Vegas.  I was thumbing through the magazine and saw a new section called:  "From the Boutique."  as I was looking I just about fell out of my chair when I saw my very own pieces in the magazine.  I was not notified of this but maybe that is the idea to surprise people.  I just love surprises. I am very happy to have this opportunity.  I may be in for another surprise as I wrote a how to article that is supposed to be in the June issue.  Wish me luck.  I will be selling jewelry at the Ogden market this summer on Saturdays and Park City on Wed at the Canyons Resort.  I am looking forward to this new season and meeting lots of new people.

Art and Soul

This is another little treasure from Art and Soul.  I took the class in Las Vegas and cannot wait to take another class from Lisa Kaus.  She is such a wonderful instructor with so much talent and was willing to share her techniques with all of us.  I was disappointed to learn that she will not be teaching again until 2011, but I will be waiting. Honestly this is the best class I have ever taken.  Who would have thought I could actually paint something? Sometimes we surprise ourselves.  I highly recommend this instructor and her art to anyone. You don't have to be a painter to make one of these cute little treasures.  Look for me to post some really great jewelry classes by Richard Salley and Deryn Mentock in an upcoming post.

Lisa Kaus

 

I love this picture of Lisa Kaus teaching at Art and Soul in Las Vegas. She is so talented and helpful with the students and even brought her husband David to help drill holes for the top and the legs of our pieces. He was so great to help us in this class.  I look forward to taking another class from Lisa as she is a great artist and all of us walked away with a cute little painted treasure.  Some of us even did two.  I was so inspired by her work that I had to paint two of these little gems.  I will post the other one on Thursday.

 

I made this in Lisa Kaus Winsome Treasures class at Art and Soul in Las Vegas.  I have to say this was one of the best classes I have ever taken.  Lisa is so talented and I absolutely love her work.  I feel I have left this class with a whole new medium to have fun with and explore.  These little boxes have old antique paper collages such as the little leafs on the front that were done with old german text.  Painted with Golden fluid acyrlics and coated with beeswax.  Topped off with and old doorknob and an old xmax tree find.  I will post a picture of Lisa teaching this class on Wed.

Susan Lenart Kazmer

This is Susan Lenart Kazmer in the enameling class.  She is helping a student drill a couple of holes and giving a demonstration. She is so full of energy.  She is dressed sophisticated as always, who can look this good with a drill in hand? Only Susan. I have learned a lot from Susan over the last four classes I have taken from her and highly recommend taking a class from her.  I don't think enameling is my thing though  because most of what I made did not turn out very good.  We did have some really good students in the class that has some really nice pieces.  I love Susan's book, so if you don't have it, you can find it on the Objects and Elements website.