Drowning in a sea of Bio and Chem.

I have had a ton of Bio and Chem to get done this pass week, which is why I haven't been posting, I'm sorry.  Here's a bracelet that I made a few weeks before I left. The focal bead changes colors, I really should get more of these. Also not helping is that creative bead chat on facebook is have a destash sale today, and I can't stop looking at what people are offering.
Crap, class is starting...bye.

A Peak into the Madness.

Remember these?

Normally I don't post pictures of WIP, that means Work In Progress, mostlly because I tune out everything around me and focus on the piece and then forget to take photos.  But I needed a break from chem and broke out the bag and started to play around with them. The bright colors are fun and playful and the teardrop shape is prefect for a necklace or charm bracelet or earring...I guess everything, the teardrop is very versatile shape. Perhaps I will make a set? Thought overload, better go back to school work.

perhaps some type of drop necklace. hmmmm

playing around with patterns



maybe a flower? But its more spring than fall.

Oh! Also this morning I had Cherries Jubilee tea; which smelled exactly like the dessert but the taste on the other hand was not very cherry, I mean I'm glad it didn't tast like cough medince but I guess I was expected something else when I picked it out.



first day of classes

I'm half way though my classes and its going well, trust me I'm still scared to death about passing. I'm a bit paranoid about my grades. Anyways, lunch time and so I'm sharing these acorn earrings that I made last week but I have been so busy that I haven't had time to post them.

 Fall is my favorite season mostly because of halloween but also because of the rich, deep colors and the fact the temperature is just right to wear cute sweaters and boots without having to bundle up. The bottom of the acorns were based on colors seen in the fall, and are made out of polymer clay that I covered in sculpey satin glaze to give it a shine and to protect it. Sorry the picture of me wearing them is crappy, but it shows you how long they are when on.
I'm actually thinking about selling these, if anyone is interested, leave a comment.
Onwards to my next class!

I'm back and now I'm gone, again.

Well, I was back home from my trip to Chicago for about 14 hours and then I got to load up the car and drive three hours to State College to get ready for my fall semester.

Right, back to the trip: After getting into the hotel we headed out to get deep dish Chicago pizza. We ended up at Gino's East of Chicago off of Michigan Ave. This place is so cool. You can write on the walls, the booths, chairs...o.k really anything in the place. Plus the pizza really good too. Afterwards we walked around Michigan Ave before going back to the hotel. I spent a good half hour drooling in Tiffany and Co. I'm such a girl but maybe they shouldn't use those really cute minty blue boxes.

The next day we were going to the science muesum. Wich is the reason that we planned this trip in the first place. But breakfast first!
I had blueberry tea, it wasn't as good as the tea I had up in Maine but it was decent. I also took an English Breakfast because the package was neat. It has a tophat on it! plus it uses cuppa instead of cup.
Food wise I had a cinnamon and sugar bagel with strawberry cream cheese.

 We got lost trying to the muesum, no shock there. But once we found it, it was awesome! Three floors of science, plus the mythbuster's exhibition. I can't go in everything that I saw that day(this would be a very long post then) but there was a tesla coil, which made my day. I <3 Tesla. Also there is a Nazi submarine in the basement. I know Nazi, but we own it now.

Afterwards, we head outside the city to Uncle Fun. I metioned this in an early post, but now I'll go into greater detail and show you what I got that day. Uncle fun is one of the best places on earth. They have a great selection of hard-to-find new and vintage novelties and a staff that is an absolute pleasure to be around. I'm an especially big fan of their selections of the random charms and other small items that differ every time I go there - all at super cheap prices. It's great for jewerly making, if you're into using vintage items and mixing it up a bit.

My stash: A bag of copper beads for $2.
                 A bad of neon plastic teardrop charms also for $2, I'm think a using them in a necklace.
                  2 dice
                  A plastic scotty dog charm.
                  Hot dog and hambuger charms.
                  3 plastic babies
                  Yellow and purple army men, most likely I'm going to using in earrings.
                   2 frame charms: teapot and the king of clubs.
                   A pin that says "I'd rather be British."
                     ...And I think that's it, Oh my mom got a chicken purse, I don't have any photos but be free to use your imagination.
                 
                 
                  

 

 





Dinner that night was at "The Purple Pig". We had to wait for an hour but it was well worth it. I had octopus with green beans, fingerling potatoes & salsa verde; it was yummy.



 

And for desert... A Sicilian Iris which is a ricotta and chocolate chip filled fried brioche. It tatsed like a deep fried cannoli.

 

 

That's a summary of my trip, now I'm back in school. I'll try to keep posting my jewerly and other things. But I'm going to be busy. I'm taking both Bio and Chem this term.

Random Road Trip

You know those spur of the moment impulses? Like say, right before heading back to college, an improv trip to Chicago. Yep, I tend to follow my impulses.
I mean I am excited, Chicago is one of my favorite cities; it has a great selection of vintage shops that I like to hunt at. Though this time I don't know if I will be able to get to them all. I will have to stop at Uncle Fun's before I leave though, I'm almost out of mini, plastic babies and test tubes. :)

H.P Lovecraft's 122th Birthday

Two posts in one day!

Today I celebrate one of my favorite author's birthday: H.P Lovecraft. He taught me to inbrace the maddness and that tentacles are awesome.
History lesson time:
Howard Phillips Lovecraft (August 20, 1890 – March 15, 1937) — known as H. P. Lovecraft — was an American author of horror, fantasy and science fiction, especially the subgenre known as weird fiction. Lovecraft's guiding aesthetic and philosophical principle was what he termed "cosmicism" or "cosmic horror", the idea that life is incomprehensible to human minds and that the universe is fundamentally inimical to the interests of humankind. As such, his stories express a profound indifference to human beliefs and affairs. Lovecraft is best known for his Cthulhu Mythos story cycle and the Necronomicon, a fictional grimoire of magical rites and forbidden lore.
 The appeal of H.P Lovecraft, I think, is that when you finish one of his tales, you feel more like a researcher who has made a terrible, earth shattering discovery.
So I plan on celebrating with ice cream and walk down a long, drak, twisty road of madness.

Busy, Busy Weekend!

No jewerly work this weekend, sorry.


I went to Pittsburgh on saturday to Wigle Whiskey to celebrate my Uncle Jeff's birthday. ( Which was fun, minus the fact that I can't drink in public yet-3 more years.) I'll share what I learned that day or at least a brief summary: Wigle is named for a good-natured man who was sentenced to hang for his unsinkable love of whiskey. In 1794, Phillip Wigle defended his right to distill in a tussle with a tax collector. He unwittingly helped spark the Whiskey Rebellion, which pitted Pennsylvania distillers against George Washington's troops. Yay history!
I f anyone is in the Pittsburgh area, check them out: https://www.wiglewhiskey.com/

Also we went to Barnes and Noble afterward. Yay books! (My geek is showing.)


















Copper! ideas forming!



The following day, I also had to go to my cousin-in-law's baby shower. Unfortunately I didn't take any photos to share I was busy playing with the little kids and the horse, yes I said horse.

My Surrogate Family

 Meet the three fluffballs that make my life crazy. Oreo-the "I run into walls" mutt-, Mamma Mia-the lovable Pit Bull-, and Chen(French word for "dog")- the bichon frise that doesn't act like a lap dog but a guard dog. Mamma and Oreo are rescue dogs; Both my mom and I have sucker tattooed on our forehead. But as insane as they might be, I love them to death and I would never let anything happen to them. To always show my love for my dogs I created this bracelet. Three different bones for my three very different dogs.
 On a side note, why is it so hard to find clasps that match the wire that you are working with?! I'm always trying to find claps that match.

Tea Wednesday

It's the middle of the week, again. It always comes so fast. I need something to get me over the hump...Oh look, Earl Grey! My favorite!
Tea always tends to make me feel better, anyone else?

Earl Grey tea is a tea blend with a distinctive flavour and aroma derived from the addition of oil extracted from the rind of the bergamot orange, a fragrant citrus fruit. For those of you that don't know, there is also a variation called Lady Grey that consists of either orange peel or lavender. I prefer either one. This certain tea is where I get both my online and steampunk persona name from.

In other news, I finished Samantha bracelet.

Short Weekend

It's Monday, where did the weekend go?! I did spend a lot of time sleeping and I didn't get done half of what I had planned to. One of the pieces that I did finish is a necklance called "Parallel Worlds". Within these parallel worlds, there are different outcomes than the ones we know. For example the earth's sky is green or even orange instead of blue. I wanted the bright blue, green and orange to stand out, so I stuck with more neutral accent beads and a darker brass. I think if I redo the necklance I will use darker accent beads to show space. It's also the first necklance that I have made that is adjustable, Just throwing that out there.

I also have been trying out a new technique from Lesley Watt of Thea Jewellery. Check out the tutorial at her blog! They are so fun to make! The start of the green one is for Samantha Zaroff, the friend from Penn State that makes friendship bracelets. I really like the mushroom cap button, to bad I have to give it away.

Back Home

 Look what was waiting for me when I got home today. I can't wait to create something...tomorrow, due to the fact that I got home later than I expected and I had to unpack everthing. Anyways, I'm thinking acorn earrings with the end caps and a " I love Dogs" bracelet. But sleep first.


close up of the charms and end caps

Mementos of Travel

My classes are over! I'm heading home this friday for two weeks! As much as I like just screaming to the public masses there is some meaning behind this.

As I was packing up my things, I started to think about all the places that I had been so far in my life: Maine, New Mexico, Canada, Flordia, Califorina, Arizona, both North and South Carolina, Maryland, and even the Bahamas. Which then led to thinking about all the places that I would like to travel to. I'm not going to list them, it's a long list. I like to travel. Anyways, what my point is that I have been to lots of places and I'm planning on going many more places. This led to squished pennies. (I have no idea how my mind works.) I have ton of these just laying around from all the places that I have been. So I decide to put them to good use and also to show where I have been in the world. Behold my squished penny bracelet! Well,this is just one of them I have two others that I have made; I would have made more but than I ran out of jumprings.(Time to get more.)
 On a side note; I have found out that some people have no clue what jumprings are. I was shocked, I spent a good 20 minutes explaining jumprings to my friends.

Bead Withdrawl

I feel like this right now,
 plus you also find out that I'm a brony.

It was only six weeks; six "bloody" weeks without beads. I thought I could do it. I was wrong,ver wrong, I'm going insane. Bring out the straight jacket. Has this ever happen to anyone else? Quick recap: This summer I'm at Penn State for summer classes;English and Theater. While it has been fun and I have made new, insane friends. One also makes bracelets, we have been shareing tips. But I miss my workroom and beads. The sketchbook that I had brought along with me is full of ideas now and I can't wait to get back to work for two weeks before I get shipped back out here for the fall. But this time I'll will be bring my travel case of full of beads with me.
I already have a couple people asking if I sell my work; Time to make a name for myself! (hopefully)
Right back to working on my final English project in my padded cell.                                                              

Wha...so busy, but another contest!

My english class is flooding me with work, way to many papers to write! On the brighter side of  things...Contest! http://vintagebluestudio.typepad.com/vintage_blue_studio/2012/08/art-bead-love-tour-its-your-turn.html Check it out!

Sometimes I feel like I just set up this blog so I could do contests, if anyone is reading this I have something planned for tomorrow, as long as I don't drown in a sea of paper. (stupid summer classes, "They will help you get a head." they said. Right)

Contest!Contest!Contest!

Pretty things blog is having a giveway, I have look and there are some really pretty beads that she's giving away. Check it out; here's the link...
http://www.prettythingsblog.com/2012/08/giveaway-with-beads-direct-uk.html

Lorelei's Blog: Stamped Metal Jewelry: A Giveaway!

 I promise jewelry this weekend...but check this out for now.


Lorelei's Blog: Stamped Metal Jewelry: A Giveaway!: HAPPY FRIDAY! Celebrating the weekend with a giveaway- I knew you'd be psyched! Beaducation donated a copy of Lisa Niven Kelly's boo...

Beads of Clay Blog: August Giveaway

This is possibly the highlight of my day, next to kicking butt in laser tag...Check it out(once I get followers *sign*)

Beads of Clay Blog: August Giveaway: Welcome to our Monthly PROFESSIONAL ARTISAN TEAM Giveaway Once a month, on the first Wednesday, We will give away some beautiful c...