Monday, April 11, 2011

Indie Business 3.0 Launch Party


I took the wonderful online class Indie Business 3.0 taught by Leigh-Ann, Jill Murno and Lisa Leonard.  It was so inspiring and helpful.  I still have a lot of material to work through.  I am in the middle of a move from KS to TX, so my shop is not fully stocked.  Sooo, now is not a time for me to launch new products, but a lot of my classmates are launching new shops, new products or new blogs.  There are some really cute places to visit in this list!

Happy clicking!!


New Shops!

My Happy CA
Sew Indy
Asymmetrical Joy
Stitched in Faith


New Blogs!
Sew Indy
My Simply Great Life
One Man, One Wife, and Our Life
Random Gypsy
Just Because
Blissful Creations
Pieces of Me
Sweeter Lemon
Remarkably Domestic

My Happy California
Asymmetrical Joy
Operation Stitch
Nola Love

New Products!
Little White Chapel
Froggy Girl Designs
Karis Kisses
Modern Republic
Fawn Over This
Kamika Kraftz
Some Odd Girl
Eleventh Monkey
Bonita Rose
Lou C's Designs
Pulp Sushi
Heart & Soul Pieces
The Luna Tree
Green Dandelion
Eef-Ink
Random Gypsy
Zuma Lilly
Lollipops
The Busy Bean
Linkel Designs
Funky Faith Designs
Buggle and Boo
JanMary Designs


Whew!  That's quite a list!  Hope you have time to visit a bunch of them.  There are some really cute items, pretty jewelry, fun things!

Good luck to all my classmates!

Shannon

Thursday, April 07, 2011

Artifacts Jewelry for my Scientist Daughter


I made this necklace for one of my daughters for her birthday. She is not a girly girl, and doesn't wear jewelry that often. Really the only time she wears jewelry is when she is dressing up a little for church or for some particular event. So I tried to tailor this necklace to fit her and her interests. She got her degree in biology with a chemistry minor. She wants to get her masters in a particular biology discipline. She works at the zoo. She wants to get into research. She loves biology, astronomy, geology, creation science, physics, ancient history, politics...yeah, conversations with her are sometimes just a wee bit over my head.


I ordered a stack of books for her (that she picked out) from the Creation Research Society - books about cosmology and creation, natural limits to biological change, the genesis of germs - sounds like fun reading, huh?

Sooo, you can see why I chose the items I did for this necklace--

Some of the beads I chose are basically antique artifacts...
The first two items are freshwater pearls (elements from nature...)

Then an old typewriter key for her initial (she likes old stuff...)

The little black button is a vintage shoe button. (...old stuff...)

The little white disc is an antique African ostrich bone bead. (antique, artifact...)

The tiny copper bead with the ostrich bone bead is an antique African brass bead.

The large white bead is an antique African yak bone bead.

The blue and red disc is an antique African trading bead.
Then I hand stamped the word "Artifacts" on a nickel tag I cut out...

The little blue disc below is an antique Venetian glass bead used in trade to the Africans in exchange for spices,  peppers, etc.

The brass charm below the Venetian glass bead is an antique African handmade brass charm that they use as decoration on their little babies' hats.

I made the copper bezel and inserted a "nature-y" line drawing.

The button with two holes is from the Civil War era.

The blue and red disc is another antique African trading bead, and coupled with it is a tiny antique African nickel bead.

Then there is an antique African brass bell.

And, finally, an antique African water buffalo bone bead.

Hopefully, this will be a piece of jewelry that she enjoys wearing because it is a little bit of history....

Shannon