Class Update

I'd like to fill up my craft classes in Lucerne Valley, CA, so here is the new information: http://pigglewiggins.com/content/arts-crafts-classes Make sure you click on the Read More button at the bottom of the paragraph. A few lucky people got to take my Right Angle Weave Earring class for free. If you missed out you can still take it, but it is now $10. a session.
Right now I'm making a waiting list for the Brick Stitch Earrings.

Right Angle Weave Earrings made from Black and Red agate beads and crystal faceted beads. 

Earrings and a Hat

Let's see. Today's crafts included making another pair of right angle weave earrings in shades of plum and pink, plus a strand of green on green daisies with seed beads, as well as knitting a few rows on the pink/gray/black baby hat.

Yesterday I started crocheting a monster hat for my grandson. I want to make five eyes to put on the bright green hat. He keeps trying it on and I keep adding more rows, but I think it's just about right now.

Now it's off to bed with me. It's been a busy, fun, creative and long weekend.
Toodles.

Ankh Earrings in Black and Cream

Recently I've been fascinated with ankhs, also known as a looped cross. It is an ancient symbol used in Egyptology to denote eternal life. So I designed some ankh earrings yesterday. The prototype is okay, but then I figured out some improvements. So I finished the first pair, and started one with the new design. But then the wind picked up and my patience wore thin, so I had to put it away for the day. I think the nagging voice in the back of my head that no one would buy these for a price I could make a living at kept running through my mind and ruining my fun. And then I kept thinking about how I'm supposed to be earning money, and if I can't sell them, then it's just a hobby that I can't afford to waste my time on right now. So that undermined my confidence.

Ankh earrings designed by Fayme Harper ©2013

Sunrise in Lucerne Valley, CA

Rustic and Interesting

We are smack dab in the middle of National Craft Month so I hope you are busy and happy creating. Yesterday I worked on my arrow earrings a bit, meditating on the meaning of arrows and the Goddess Artemis/Diana who was an archer, and also on Sagittarius.

I've been a bit overwhelmed lately with so many projects and so little time. It's time to make raised beds for our first garden in our new home, so we are in need of as many free pallets as we can get.  So if you are in the high desert and want to get rid of those annoying pallets, drop me a line. I want to make a futon as well.

I also what to make a hummingbird feeder and a chicken coop without spending any money. Challenges!

I want everything to look rustic and interesting, not store bought and plastic.

Guy making a rabbit stick.

Beaded Earrings

Things are getting hectic as I'm getting ready to go on vacation to meet my granddaughter. I thought I was staying two weeks and she thought I was staying one week, so we'll see what happens.

I was working with tiny beads yesterday making an earring and my eyes were watering the rest of the day. I'm not sure if it's age, too bright sunlight, the wrong glasses or what. But today my eyes feel like I've been crying all night. I still want to finish the earrings though, so I can wear them on my trip.

Monday's sunset.

Making an earring.

Me at sunset.

Finger Knitting, Tophatter, So On and So Forth

It would be nice to get to 100 followers someday here on my busiest blog. I was stuck on 69 for the longest time. I'm glad to see I'm finally up to 73. Do less people follow blogs these days because they would rather follow on Facebook or twitter, or some other site?

I did some more finger knitting today. It's very relaxing and doesn't seem to tire my hands out like knitting with needles or crocheting with hooks. I'm trying to use up old yarn I got from a friend who moved away. The first strand reminded me of seaweed, so I thought I'd make a curtain as a backdrop for mermaid's to romp in. 

I'm also studying the ins and outs of Tophatter. I already bought 2 things on there. I have a painting scheduled for Wed's auction. You don't have to be present when your item comes up for sale, but I think it's more exciting that way and you can answer the last minute questions buyers might have.  I hate to see sales lost because someone forgot to put how long their bracelet is, or what the ear wires might be on the earrings up for sale. If you shop for jewelry, there are some excellent items to be had for low prices there. Almost everyone in the auction room seems to have an Etsy or Artfire url attached to their screen name.  Unlike some other sites (cough zibbet cough) that won't let you mention competing sites, Tophatter doesn't seem to mind at all. And the listings are easy to pin to Pinterest so you can show off your purchases or your listings that are up and coming.

Brick Stitch Feather Earrings

Before they were too far gone, I wanted to get back to working on my brick stitch earrings. As fate would have it, one of the bead colors is reddish pink, so the earrings will go with my new fall wardrobe.

I'm holding it upside down.

Fabrics For My Fall Wardrobe Project

New Earrings

It's just after midnight. My goal yesterday was to list ten pairs of earrings in my Zibbet shop. I joined Zibbet in Nov. but only just now had the time to add items to it.  I decided to start with earrings, so go take a look. http://www.zibbet.com/Vespertine

Etsy is so glutted with jewelry I felt like my items weren't getting any exposure. So I thought I'd give Zibbet a whirl. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Back From Camping

Did anyone miss me while I was out camping?
I'm back now and ready to share more crafts.
On the camp-out I got out my Japanese cord braiding kit and made some headway on my cord. It's been months since I worked on it so it was challenging figuring out how to start in the middle of the pattern.  But I think I got it squared away.  I want to finish this plain one so I can try some of the beaded ones in the book I bought a month ago.

I also used my knitting loom whenever my hands were warm enough and the light was good enough. I'm almost done with the black and yellow hat from my loom knitting tutorial. Then the below freezing nights got me going on a new knitting project for a loop scarf to cover my neck, ears, and head in the sleeping bag. I'll probably use it for my next tutorial. The only problem is I had to use the yarn I took with me, and I think it's not going to be enough.

I also forgot to take the box of  finished earrings I was planning to sell, so had to start from scratch. I made about 7 pairs.  Then I found out one of the archers was also selling peyote stitch earrings, only hers were $2 a pair.  She sold out of the $2.00 earrings. I sold nothing. So it was pretty much an exercise in futility.

Today I worked on the Japanese cord braiding some more. But mostly I was tired from unpacking the truck and doing the grocery shopping.  I also bruised my thumb pulling out a tent stake, so I had to lay off the crafts for the day. I have two band-aids on my thumb.

Only I could go to a four day archery event and not shoot a single arrow.
I thought I'd downloaded the photos, but then I found out I had my boyfriend's camera. My camera must still be out in the truck. Shows you how tired I am.

My New Home Decorating Blog

To celebrate my new  home decorating blog that I've dubbed http://novelhoveldeco.blogspot.com/ I'm giving away a pair of my hand beaded earrings to my first ten followers.

They will be sent to the U.S.A address of your choice.

You may request your favorite color of earrings.

To enter, go to the blog, hit the follow button in the right side bar, and leave a comment under the first welcome post.

And by the way, ArtTales already did so and she didn't even know about the give-away, so she wins the first pair if she sends me her address to queenofdreams@gmail.com. Woot!

Rain and Murphy's Law

Yesterday and today I was working on some earrings for a friend. And I had to rearrange everything on the patio three days in a row. So now I have a bit of a pinched nerve issue in my left shoulder blade area. I've had those before in that very same spot.

The first time I moved everything was because I woke up to thunder, and ran outside to move all our projects so they wouldn't get wet.  Then it never rained. 

That night the landlord called at bedtime to say he was sending a crew first thing in the morning to cut down a giant tree that overhangs our patio.  Well, wouldn't you know it, the gardeners decided to drag the whole tree through our narrow back yard, so we had to move everything we could out of harms way. 

So on the third day we put a few things back like the canopy, the work table and a few bins. So of course I woke up to rain, so everything I was trying to get out of the rain in the first place got soaked.  Sigh. It's raining right now; the first rain I can remember since last autumn.

I've had to hold off on making videos too. This computer is out of memory. I thought I was going to get another used computer yesterday, but the guy changed the pick up time to today. So hopefully by tomorrow I can finish the two crochet tutorials I was right in the middle of.  One is on how to crochet in a circle, and the other is a crocheted beaded brooch with a face on it.  I hope to make a third one with a necklace.  

Right Angle Weave Earrings Explored Further

On Sunday I beaded five pairs of right angle weave earrings. Somehow I only managed to take photos of one of them, even though I took about 150 photos that day. Maybe I'll go out on the patio and take photos of the other ones. Every time I make one pair I get ideas for four or five others! I'd have to live to be 300 to indulge in every idea. I'm always mystified by people that say they can't think of anything to make.

Catching Inspiration

Yesterday I let creativity take hold of me and I made a rustic mobile out of found objects including seashells, a pinecone, and gourd pieces. I resisted the urge to make it perfect, and just let it be what it was, namely a spontaneous outburst of creativity. Today I took a wet rag and cleaned it up a bit so the green sphere would glow in the sun.

Satisfied with that, today I got out a box of partially finished jewelry and fished out a pair of woven earrings. All that was left to do was weave in the ends and add hooks. It's amazing how close I get to finishing something, and then the project gets stuck in a box where it can languish for months, even years.

Usually that happens when I'm either too tired to finish, get called away to some mundane task, or don't have the proper piece to finish the puzzle. Today the earrings were in one box, the scissors were in the house, the pliers were in another bead box, as were the earwires. Try as I may to be organized, I just do way too many different styles of projects to make that simple.

Luckily I had my camera ready, so the earrings may actually make it into my Etsy shop today.

But for now I need to get back outside, while the day is still cool and before the sun goes down.

Update: I got my earrings listed this morning here:http://www.etsy.com/listing/53052209/pretty-bead-woven-earrings-in-pale-green

A Plethora of Projects

Yesterday I was busy as a bee finishing earrings for my Etsy shop. Then it got dark before I got all the photos. And I was spent after a long day crafting.

I also got some knitting done on my canopy cover. It's a big project so if I hit it once a day to move it along I won't stress over it.

Don't forget to enter the earring drawing I listed a few posts ago.

I just found out my niece is pregnant too. So that makes her, my daughter and two of my friends. It seems like there is one other person too. So I want to get busy with the baby booty knitting before it's too late. So much to do, I feel torn in many creative directions.

Oh, and I'm finishing a knitted sweater today. I swear the sun will not go down before I am wearing that darn sweater! I'm not putting it back in a bin to get lost again.

Win Custom Earrings By Fayme Harper

To thank my readers, my commentors, and my followers, I've decided to give away ten pairs of my original right angle weave earrings, one pair to each winner. If you win you will get to pick the colors and silver-toned or gold-toned earwires. There is no charge to you, I even pay the shipping.

U.S.A. addresses only please.

How to win:
Leave a comment on this post. That will automatically put your name into the hat. One entry per person please, though you can comment as often as you like. On August 2, 2010, I will draw the winners from the names on the list. Then I will announce where those are going to. No need to send your address yet, until I announce if you've won. Follow this blog to keep up with what's going on.

And good luck on winning. You have a pretty good chance since I'm giving away TEN pairs, ONE pair to each winner.

About the photos:
The earrings are for sale in my shop right now. They are not the prizes but are shown here to give you an idea of what your earrings could look like if you win.

Followers, World Juggling Day 2010, Earrings

It would be so cool to have one blog follower that read every post, commented on some of them, and participated in my life. Is that what celebrities feel like? They know if they put a photo or a paragraph someone will hop over and share it with their friends and leave comments and have conversations.

I still get those bizarre Chinese comments after every post, which you never see because I delete them. That almost makes it worse than no comments at all.

I got some of the earrings I made mailed off to my younger daughter today. I don't want to post a photo of them until after she has them because it would be just my luck she'd read my blog today, although I don't think she ever reads it.

After dinner I think I'll spend the rest of the evening knitting. And packing for a World Juggling Day event tomorrow.

Earrings

I got over to Michael's today to get some more beads and yarn. My friend Karen was working the register. She got hired the same day I did, but I quit years ago. I said to her, "You must get along well with people." And she said, "I bite my tongue a lot." When we got hired, she told them, "I'm willing to do anything but work the register." So of course they put her on register about 2 days into it. Too bad she didn't say, "I am willing to do anything but sit in the snack room and watch TV all day."

Anyway, here are some of the earrings I made this week. Still haven't posted any of them on Etsy. I must have listing phobia.

Right Angle Weave Earrings

I've been busy making new earrings today with the right angle weave method. It's been a lot of fun. I'm using beads in sizes I don't normally get to work with. I've made some in all black that I'm calling 'LBD Earrings'. LBD stands for 'little black dress.' So they are the perfect earrings to wear with your LBD to cocktail parties and fund raisers.

And I made a pair with freshwater pearl 'potato' beads. If I make some in all white maybe brides will be interested in wearing them with their wedding gown. I made four pairs today. But it's getting too dark to take decent photos and I haven't put the earwires on. I need to rest my eyes for now. Can't wait to show you, my avid readers.

Bowyer's Bench, Knitting and Earrings

We were super busy today. Guy is making a bowyer's bench for making wooden bows. And he wanted me to help with the process as well as take photos. After over 2 hours of figuring out the plans, we gave it a rest for the day.

I also worked on a knitted wrap I am making on big circular needles.

I ordered some earrings from Karoger on Etsy. She recently had a heart transplant and is well enough to get her Etsy shop going again. So she made a custom pair of purple earrings for me.

I also bought some more earring supplies to make some earrings for sale or to wear. Not sure yet. If they come out really well I'll sell them. If they are just okay I'll wear them myself. I only want my best work on Etsy.

Turquoise Necklace and Earrings

This afternoon I made a turquoise necklace and matching earrings. I saw some earrings at a PowWow but since I had no money on me I thought I'd see if I could just make some. And I'd recently seen my turquoise container. I just wasn't sure where it had gotten off too. But luckily it was in the 2nd bead bin I opened. I found some glittery black beads and some silver beads to nestle between the turquoise chips. I'll share the photo tomorrow. This pair I made for myself, but I could always make one for my Etsy shop if one of you just has to have it.