Macramé and button bracelet

Confession time. I really have a bit of a hard time with macramé so projects like this tend to get away from me a bit. I’m ok for the first few knots then my brain over thinks the process and I can’t remember whether I am going over or under. Call me Macramé challenged.

However, I love macramé bracelets so I designed this one for Get Creative magazine. I had to get some  help actually turning my ideas into reality, so Michelle who, by the way rocks at macramé helped out. I measured and told her exactly what I needed and I started the main loop. Then she kindly removed the string from my hands, nodded sagely and began knotting away. Magically the bracelet materialized just as planned.

If you’re a dab hand at macramé or want to learn, here is the link to the project and the full instructions. 

Hand Painted card

What I love to do most is to show people how easy it is to do things that look quite hard. Take this card – it’s hand painted and it looks difficult to do but it really is quite easy. I made it for Get Creative magazine together with full step by step instructions.

The next weekend I made cards for all my family. Each was hand painted in this style and each was customized to suit the recipient. There was a bird decorating a tree with a heart decoration for my mum, my brother who lives in the tropics had a tree which was a palm, my nephew got a tree on a computer screen and so on. They were so much fun to make.

If you don’t think you could paint a card, I challenge you! Try this one, you’re guaranteed to succeed.

 

Turn a photo frame into a mini book

This book features my cat Molly who is just so dammed cute!

It is a photo frame which has had holes drilled on one side and had large wooden tags added to it to make it into a mini book. It stands on a book case in our living room.

It was also featured in Get Creative magazine in Australia and the article includes full instructions for making one for yourself.

Book about Me

This book is titled Unashamedly All About Me and it’s one of my interactive book designs. You can write on it with chalk, stick things to the notice board and hang things from pegs. I love designing these books and this is one of  my favourites of all time.

It appeared in Get Creative magazine in Australia together with full step by step instructions for making it.

Wire worked card

I love working in wire – it’s such a fun medium. I have a cool technique for twisting wire into a bicycle shape which I use every now and then. Here is one incantation of the design on a Bon Voyage card which featured in Get Creative magazine in Australia.

The full instructions  are here including details on twisting some wire into your own bicycle.

Eddy – Heritage mini book

My Great Uncle Eddy was killed in WW1 in France. I made this mini book to celebrate his life.It is made from corrugated cardboard – my all time favourite medium as it is inexpensive, fun to work with and recycling is always a good thing to do.

The book was featured in Get Creative magazine in Australia and here are detailed instructions for making it.

Bottle top jewelry

This was one of my first jewelry (jewellery) projects for Get Creative magazine and the piece featured photos of me and my sister, my mum and my two grandmothers.

Here are images and full instructions for making it.

Packing tape transfer card

 

I made this  bon voyage card for Get Creative magazine as a simple way to show how easy it is to make image transfers from plain old clear packing tape. I think I used tape I bought from the Post Office – talk about easy to find! It also uses thick twill tape punched with heavy duty sewing eyelets and those metal tags you can get that I seem to have a heap of and never use very much.

Here you simply pull the insides out of the tags and replace them with your transfer. The instructions are on the Spotlight web site here: Image Transfer Card.

Ornament Thursday is here!

Ornament Thursday requires the use of a special kind of purple (heliotrope) this month and that calls for a special kind of earring. These are made from polymer clay and were made in such a way to show off the mica properties of the clay. One side shiny and one side dark, same clay. A twist is all you need to see both.MZ


My design this month was completed after I raided Michelle's secret box of beads. You see she and her friend Frank were putting up shelves above her desk in the studio and were busy drilling lots and lots of holes working on the principle that if they drilled enough of them they'd eventually hit a stud! They did but in the meantime they were so focused on the holes they were drilling and playing with the (very useless) stud finder that I had time to sift through her box of beads.

The box is full of clay beads she has made over the years. I turned up this set of polished beads - yeah! a perfect solution to this month's Ornament Thursday challenge. I combined them with a huge Bali silver bead I had, lots of silver bead caps and spacers and some wonderful dark purple glass beads. It took me less time to make this than it did for them to get one shelf up. Now that's what I call a productive afternoon in the studio. HB

Here's what the other Ornament Thursday team has been up to this month:


Heliotrope: Purple by any other name
Lisa waffles on what shade of purple is really "Heliotrope"

Farm Girl Roots, City Girl Style
Check out Linda's necklace and don't miss the giveaway!

Heliotrope-Ornament Thursday
Did someone say violet?

Shelly...
Michelle shares a heliotrope layout of her her and her fish!

Michelle's Edumacation

This month’s Ornament Thursday theme is Academia. Last month’s theme was Red Hot. I thought I’d be smart and redecorate Helen’s work station without her knowledge. Not so smart of me. Turns out I was suddenly assigned the cleaning of that desk including dusting the designer door knob.

This month I have learned the error of my ways and recognize that my first designer door knob might not have been the best choice (or at least putting it on Helen’s desk was sorta stupid). I now offer an innocent yet educated cherub-like face designer door knob using a Krafty Lady art mold. I have graduated. No more door knob redecorations… after this one. Really. I swear. MZ

Check out the wonderful work done by the other Ornament Thursday members this month:

Art Bead Scene & The Golden Rule
The Art Bead Scene editor shares a few words of wisdom for jewelry designers.

Back to School-Make your own Pencils
School is back in session, everyone needs new pencils. Why not glass?

BeadStyle goes back to school
Lindsay Haedt's on her way to the classroom, but not before Linda shares one of her recent designs

Beading Help Web Wires Up Academia
Lynn Kvigne to read! While you can easily use a scrap of paper or an old magazine subscription card for a bookmark, why not whip up a stylish book mark instead?

Check out the "homework" project from Joolz by Lisa
A collab effort works out great when you plan ahead

Cindy Gimbrone aka Lampwork Diva
Cindy's learned how to Mail!

First Day
Michelle's School Book - it's academic!

Swelldesigner goes crazy over school supplies!
Alexa shows you how to turn pencil grips into ultra funky accessories

Red Hot!

I decided to use this month’s theme, Red Hot, as an excuse to accessorize Helen’s desk for her without her knowledge or permission. ( At first I was thinking something for her hair, but a red hot color would blend in too much these days.) Door knobs really tell you about the person.

This little devil may care fellow was originally a practice piece for making teeth. Tommie Howell had been kind enough to sit with me for a special lesson. I remade him for Ornament Thursday in a lovely hot red color. He’s a mix of Kato and Premo clays and has a wash of black oil paint to give him that nice sunken eyed complexion.

Check out these links to other Ornament Thursday Red Hot projects:

Art Bead Scene
ABS Editor Cindy Gimbrone Goes Red Hot Crazy!

Cindy Gimbrone aka Lampwork Diva
Trendy, Popular and Red Hot!

It's a Red Hot July in Arizona!
Lisa finally finishes a project from over a year ago. Check out this "hot" take on a changeable necklace.

Katie's Beading Blog
Check out Katie's Red Hot faux coral necklace! It's a punch of color with a summery feel.

Linda Augsburg at BeadStyle Magazine
Linda shares a red-hot card she created

Michelle is RED HOT!
Well, really, Margot is...

Strands of Beads
The heat is rising, and Melissa is making a Red Hot Firecracker necklace!

Savvy Crafter
Hotsie Totsie Plexi-glass Flower pendant over on Candie's blog!

Strands of Beads
The heat is rising, and Melissa is making a Red Hot Firecracker necklace!

Swelldesigner a.k.a. Alexa Westerfield
The Swelldesigner gets red hot with a Hunka Hunka Burner Necklace!