Vitamin C... A Daily Dose of Creativity: September 2011

Fashion Week Recap

by Kim

I have been cogitating on the photos I saved from New York Fashion Week. Obviously, I am not a fashionista, and don't understand a lot about it. I probably only saw a fraction of what was shown in NY during the week. But, some things did jump out of the pile of photos I collected from many different fashion shows from the week.

Jewelry is a form of fashion, so it is fun to see what is happening out there. And maybe we will find some inspiration to use in jewelry making.

See through clothes! In many forms.

Floaty fabrics.

Long and short.

Two things in one here.....lots of color, which surprised me since when I think of the NY fashionistas, I think black. And there is a really bold use of stripes and colorblocking going on.

This crosses over to the trending I did recently for jewelry. Texture: feathers and fringe. It is also kind of floaty, so there is a crossover there too.

So, does anything inspire you that you can use in making jewelry? Or making anything else?

Take your Vitamin C!

Candy Corn Oops

by Kim

Guess I need to label my glass better because in the basement, all colors do not appear to be what they really are.

Anyone want some hot cinnamon candy corn?

Gorgeous Button Tree

by Kim

Seems like only yesterday that I was working on Halloween. Yeah, It was.

When the Amazing Helen asked if I would work on this project, I hoped I could do it justice because it had the potential to be awesome. I am not sure it turned out awesomely, but it is quite striking. It is a project for Michaels. I will share with you when and how they use it for the holidays. The buttons are all from Blumenthal Lansing and can be purchased everyday at Michaels.

I covered a styrofoam cone with buttons. Covered. There are several rhinestones buttons on it, and if that was not enough bling, I added some gems glued onto more buttons. It sparkles. Then I stood it on a mercury glass pillar candle holder, (that was very reasonable when I used my 40% off coupon on it) and it was the perfect touch.

I admit, this tree took a lot of buttons to cover it. But it was worth it. Traditional yet blingy.

Start collecting buttons and take your Vitamin C!

Halloween Button Bracelets

by Kim

The Amazing Helen from Blumenthal Lansing gave me some halloween buttons and I was inspired. These bracelets are bold and fun and not-so-spooky for halloween.

They are so easy to make, it is crazy. Just start with a yard of cord. I used cotton braiding cord. Waxed linen would also work. The first button has a loop. Knot the cords together behind the last button. I added a dot of jewelry glue on the knot.

Keep in mind, the smaller the button the smaller the buttonholes. You can use two or four hole buttons.

Just looking at the back should teach what you need to know to make a bracelet.

To wear it, put the last button through the loop.

This bracelet takes only minutes to make. Imagine this done with Grandma's antique buttons, or layered buttons in bright colors.

Take your Vitamin C.
And BOO!

Bead Soup Blog Party

by Kim

I am participating in a HUGE bead blog hop. There are 350 people in it. You can look at beads and beading projects to your hearts content. The BSBP goes like this:

We were assigned a partner. Mine is Amber Dawn. She is a jewelry maker who works a lot in polymer clay. Check out her blog, she makes miniatures that are pretty impressive.
We send a focal bead, a clasp, and some filler beads to our partner.
We use what we receive to make a piece of jewelry.
We blog about it today!

So, just about the time we were mailing beads to each other, Amber was going into the city (NYC) and asked me if there was anything I wanted. I said, "Please send me the cast of Hair." She did not send me the cast, but she did send me photos of the theater marquis.

She also made me specially designed polymer beads. Another interesting note: the beads I sent Amber also have some purple in them. I am not normally a purple girl, and since I am a lampwork bead maker, purple polymer beads were awesomely different for me. It was fun to do something out of my ordinary. I think that is the point of the party.

She sent me enough components to make 2 or 3 pieces of jewelry. These are some of my favorites. She made these. They are jewelry sized, so the words are very small. Remember, she works in miniature? And she pays attention and made them about Hair and one of the songs from the musical. Doesn't the metal piece look like a sun? Love it.

She has little (literally) notes on the pieces.

Since I had the Hair theme going, and it is set in the 70s, I thought that I would make a macrame bracelet. I did a lot of macrame in the 70s, so they seem to go together to me.

To begin, I tied two strands of lavender cotton braiding thread to my clasp...taped everything to the table, and started knotting.

I tied everything with a large enough hole into the knots.

The green beads had holes too small, but I wanted them on the bracelet, so I put them on head pins so they could be added.

I knotted a long enough piece to fit my wrist and tied the string to the other end of the clasp.

Then, I tied two lengths of a deeper purple cord to the clasp and started knotting. I added 7 green bead dangles before finishing and attaching it to the bracelet at the end.