squeeek

New bead and marketing thoughts

2009-01-26T21:05:00.000-08:00

So I'm so, so excited about the way my paper mache bead necklaces are turning out!

the whole world, in my hand...

2009-01-21T17:14:00.000-08:00

Oh how I love my new Utee melting pot!
Today I dipped some of my paper mache beads into the thick, amber colored magic for the first time. I was so excited how a little bit of shine can make colors and depths appear and turn ordinary beads into extraordinary.
It's a little tricky dipping the stuff. It's super hot, and not exactly easy getting the coating on each bead evenly.
After some practice, I'll get it down.
In the meantime, here's a pic of some of the beads, and the necklace I made today with three of my favorite paper mache beads.

Bright colors for late January

2009-01-17T14:01:00.000-08:00

I can't stop thinking about how cold it is in other places in the US right now.
I just finished up working on some really colorful pieces and I think they might have been inspired by the metal sand crab I bought this week at Homegoods. Of course only in South Florida would you think to buy a painted metal sand crab for your garden in the middle of winter. So I suppose the inspiration could have come from everywhere!

In order, here are some bright, cheerful items I'm posting today:
1. 5x7" burned, painted wood plaque. "Kites."
2. the aforementioned metal crab
3. 6x6x2.5" deep wood boxes. painted and burned. "Playground I" and "Playground II."

Turquoise and red this time

2009-01-10T15:44:00.000-08:00

After a few months of pure heck, I'm back and home and tinkering again. I got some bead box organizers at Jo-ann Fabric the other day and it inspired me to make something with all my beautiful supplies.
Here's a paper mache bead necklace I finished today. I made the turquoise and red beads from paper mache I recycled from old newspaper.
It's chunky, funky and colorful -- an instant old favorite!

Springtime in November

2008-11-16T13:21:00.000-08:00

Yes, I'm going to rub it in to those people who live in really cold places where sweaters, heavy coats and ice scraping are now, or soon to be, part of your daily rituals.
I might complain in the summertime about the heat here in South Florida, but wow is the weather spectacular now. It's hard to get too wound up about Christmas and turkey yet while I'm humming around being inspired by all the glorious color in the plants and blue skies...

So, I offer my collage of colorful happies.
In numerical order, here are some of my recent moments of creativity or inspirations:

1. My first ever mosaic. As long as you don't look too closely at it where the grout has cracked a bit, I'm pretty damn pleased with myself! It will be hung proudly outside of our purple door home to hopefully let any strangers who come to the doorstep understand that 401 is a happy, colorful little home.

2. Two items in this photo are pleasing. First is the purple wreath I got at Target this week on sale for under $7. I guess it's out of season.. (sarcastic snicker.. ), and tucked in the middle is a little glass "screen bug" that I picked up from a craft fair in Key West last January. I can't remember the name of the artist I got it from. She was a real sweet lady.

3. Who says planters have to be really expensive? I bought that plastic planter at Home Depot last week and spray painted it purple and paprika to match our house. I think it turned out pretty nifty. And for about $5, plus the cost of paint, it was a custom-made bargain!

4. This is a close up of Ixora -- a hardy and native shrub that I hope will do well in the finicky area of our front porch. For more on this beautiful flower, click here.

5. This is a tiny little purple and pink-roof birdhouse I got on Etsy from seller Birdhouse Accents. It is adorable, and although no birds actually live there (very similar to all the empty swanky condos around here!), I'm happy to offer up a cheerful spot for them to visit someday.

6. Not a postcard, folks! Just a quick snapshot my hubby took today during our Sunday morning stroll on the broadwalk of Hollywood Beach. I LOVE palm trees!

7. Almost Martha Stewart-like overspilling pot of bright pink Impatiens. These flowers are pretty common, but are beautiful and generally pretty easy to keep up with. For more on impatiens, visit here.

New wood burn pendants

2008-09-23T18:16:00.000-07:00

I'm just so excited about a new batch of wood burned pendants I've been working on.
Here is a preview of a couple I've completed this week.
After I find some time, they will go for sale in my Etsy store.

Shrunken Monday Night

2008-09-17T11:57:00.000-07:00

On Monday night, life unexpectedly gave me some FREE time. My daughter stayed over at her abuela's house, and my husband was obligated to work late.
I dashed over to Michael's Craft Store and bought some Ruff 'n Ready frosted Shrinky Dink plastic and some colored pencils.
I played around and made several pendants with the stuff, and was overall pretty pleased with how they turned out. I especially like the hippie-colored rainbow ones.
Late into the night, I also created this turquoise beaded necklace that will probably become a staple in my everyday jewelry collection.
Not bad for a few hours work!

More blue, more digital collage work

2008-09-14T11:23:00.000-07:00

For some reason I love the combinations of architecture, particularly skyscrapers, and nature. I think it could be the similar patterns of repetition found in immense buildings that are weirdly chaotic and soothing. They inevitably merge with trees and plants around them and so intertwine in this collision of man made patterns and Mother Nature's landscape. I've explored this combination mostly below my level of awareness until I recently figured out how often this theme appears in my work, or images I'm drawn to.
These blue botanical images started only as an exploration of color and soothing design, but weren't complete until I added a vintage image of a skyscraper in various settings. I think they turned out nice, and the colors are sooooo very trend!

New digital collage art

2008-09-10T12:06:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to work more on my digital fine art for a long time now and have found some recent inspiration.
I'm going to explore "professional" grade printing at a local copy shop down the road today and see what the mystery is when it comes to printing archival quality prints of my work.
Here are two designs I worked on recently. I like the bright colors and botanical themes...

Blue love

2008-08-30T15:59:00.000-07:00

So I've neglected this blog for too long.
I started realizing how obsessed I am with all things blue and aqua recently. Just to really drive the point home, I made a quick collage of all the crafts I've made in the past few months that involve my favorite color.

Here they are:
1. My blue and chocolate shrinky dink bracelet -- mentioned in below post.
2. Blue and metallic champagne painted wood burned pendant.
3. Hand drawn funky fish, digitally colored illustration.
4. Beach inspired faux turquoise and jade necklace. I made it with knots and hemp cord.
5. Turquoise paper mache beaded necklace I made especially as a gift for a co-worker's sister.
6. Palm trees paper collage on 6x6 wooden box.
7. Wood burned and painted bangle bracelets. I LOVE the bigger chunky one and wear it all the time.
8. Mixed media digital collage botanical image with layered burned and painted wood chips.
9. Mixed media work. Carved, painted and embellished with washers.
10. Digital art of a Royal Poinciana leaf. This leaf is from a tree in my yard. I scanned it in and digitally colored and enhanced the image.
11. I'm so proud of how this turned out, mostly because I'm a novice beader and polymer clay crafter. This necklace is made with various beads, including Beads For Life recycled magazine tube beads. The pendant was designed and painted by yours truly!
12. One of my fave wood burned pendants.

So there you have it! My obsession with blue continues.....

Shrinky Weekend

2008-03-30T14:14:00.001-07:00

This weekend I played around with Shrinky Dinks -- the shrinkable plastic sheets that can be printed on, then heated and "shrinked" down to size in the oven.

Apparently I must have lapsed into a coma during childhood when these were wildly popular, but I've only recently discovered them.

The possiblities for these things are endless. Jewelry, wine bottle charms, embellishments for paper crafting, push pins, buttons... you name it.

Here are some photos of my first attempt at a shinky dink bracelet. I must admit, it was an awful lot of work for a cheap plastic bracelet that isn't really made that well!! It's a bit too big, and the varnish I used sorta glooped up. The colors are also SUPER saturated once you've baked and varnished the things. But I'm wearing the bracelet now, and thinking of new and exciting ways to play around with this stuff. Here are some people who have already mastered a few ideas and have created beautiful things with customizable, oven-baked plastic.
www.AnomalousBits.etsy.com
www.ShrunkenCatHeads.etsy.com
www.JessicaPoundstone.etsy.com
http://www.iloveblocks.com

Happy shrinking, everyone!!

Sorting my thoughts

2008-02-24T08:48:00.000-08:00

To begin with a cliche' -- this is my very first blog entry! Let's ramble, shall we?

Very corporate, but I think I need a mission statement.

Okay, so here goes:

Make & design beautiful things as often as possible that make me and my customers happy.

I've listed bunches of my new wood burned pendants in my esty store that I'm hoping get noticed and sold.

Second rambling thought -- I think I should list my goals.

Finish my 3-e-design website.

Create a squeeekstudio.com website.

Keep working on this blog.

Design and make prototypes of at least 10-12 unique products I want to sell and can reasonably produce.

Continue researching craft fairs.

My dreams for this year are to finally gather up the talent I know I have and focus, focus, FOCUS on living more fully up to my potential. How's THAT for lofty?!