Studio kitty napping on the job

I went to ship out an order the other day and found studio kitty Karma guarding the pile of boxes.  How kind of her.  The problem is that she was napping on the job.

I have the proof.

She looks like she is dutifully pulling off "occupy shipping boxes".

Yes, firmly entranced in her job.













Wait....wait....reposition.

Yes, better view.  Now I can see those who want to break up the "occupy shipping boxes" movement.








Hmm.  Will have to ship out tomorrow I guess.

Valentine's Day treats

So I decided not to be slacker 'wait until the last minute' mom this year and helped my kids make Valentine's Day goodie bags.  (I was just trying to show up the other moms, but I digress....LOL)

First, I started with an Avery label template.  This uses a page template, NOT the label function on word.











Go by your local craft store and get the small bubbles.  (I was lucky they had them in pink and red.)  The Avery labels size 5160 fit perfectly on these bottles.

I found a printable template for bag toppers (sandwich size bags to be exact).  They came two to a sheet and I cut them nice and straight with my paper trimmer.










Add in the aforementioned bubbles and a couple of pieces of candy into a sandwich bag.  (I used the cheap, non zippered ones.)  Fold the printables in half lengthwise and staple to the bags.

Instant cuteness!

In case you want the links to the printables, you can find them in my e-news from last week.  I don't know how long the link will work (my emails only archive for so long), so get them now!

ACRE Orlando jewelry booth

A couple of weeks ago, I spent a few days in Orlando, Florida, meeting other gallery and boutique owners interested in my jewelry.  Here are a few pictures from the event with my booth and jewelry:

My plan of pink, purple and green came out just like I wanted it to.  My jewelry and style is all about color, fun and whimsy!

I displayed the scrabble tile pendants on what else, but scrabble tile racks!  Who knew they would be a great fit for the pendants??

This is my new line of recycled plastic jewelry.

On closeup, you might be able to recognize where they came from:

These are recycled from plastic gift cards, credit cards and hotel room keys.  Both the pendants and earrings are cut into perfect circles and finished with a splash of extra color where the jump ring or ear wire enters the piece.  As you can guess, these are very light and easy to wear.  (and no two pieces are alike!)

I also had the resin and pewter pendant and earring sets at ACRE Orlando.  I think store buyers and owners enjoyed getting a chance to see in person just how colorful these pieces are!


I won't be going to ACRE Las Vegas this year, but am looking forward to next year's ACRE Orlando!

Making fabric covered pedestals

Boy this post has been a long time in the making....

Once upon a time, there was a jewelry artist.  A jewelry artist who needed to create something splash for a booth at a wholesale art show.  She played around with some ideas and eventually came up with a booth involving pink, purple and green.  (Yes, those colors, but not necessarily in that order).  With the pink and green done, the last thing to accomplish was the purple.


I chose a rich purple fabric in bengaline.  I ended up spending more on the fabric than I wanted to, but I wanted to make sure I had something heavy enough to cover the pedestals and wrinkle resistant as well.













The cardboard pedestals I had already made out of cardboard boxes.  The white stripe around the top is a velcro strip.
















Don't tell my home ec teacher mother, but I just eyeballed the edge and pressed down the seam with the iron.

I sewed down the edge.














Then I sewed down the edge with the other half of the velcro tape.














The velcro along the top sticks to the velcro on the box and presto! -- instant cover for the pedestal.  (And by the way, the boxes collapse and travel flat as well.)


Part two of this post will show you what they looked like at the ACRE Orlando show!