SWEET ESTHER

Yes, my dear friend Esther, of Mes Illusions Baroques, has sent me some outrageously beautiful gifts! I sent Esther my Marie necklace, with a few other little goodies, to thank her sooooo much for redoing my blog into the beautiful place that it is now, and she turns around and sends me TONS of gifts....more than these photos, including one of her BEAUTIFUL rings, but not one photo came out good, they were all blurry. I should have known, Esther is never to be outdone, and does everythinhg in a big big way!! Make sure to give her blog a visit, and you are certain to meet one of the sweetest angels on earth! I am very lucky to have her as a friend.

Thank you again my dear lilibulle!!

HOPE

Available on etsy

HUMBLEBEADS STUDIO TOUR

Go check out Humblebead's Studio Tour for a chance to enter yourself for a grand suprise prize!

You have until Friday morning to comment on her Studio Tour!

JANE DESROSIER

Hey friends....Mabel is coming to life, or developing a life of her own! I just signed up for Jane DesRosier's online class "How I Paint A Woman's Face". I'm so excited, and she is such an amazing artist. I am really looking forward to developing some better skills in painting faces and hopefully be able to use that in my ongoing mixed media pieces, which I have plenty of ideas for!! The image above is a linocut that I learned from a free tutorial Jane offers on her website, which I think is very generous of her, so I just had to try it......and I absolutely loved doing it, and the way it turned out! Sure, there are things I might have done differently, but I still like it. I thought I would show you the rubber thing that you carve your image out of...You can buy it at Michaels or a craft store. So this is what's on my worktable, next to some more ATC's I started and a list a mile long of ideas, and oh, some possible new jewelry links in the prototype stage! I made sure I made myself a happy Monday!! Hope yours was too!

"LOVER OF A STAR"

Megan, over at Studio M.M.E. Stutterings is having another giveaway, and it is this absolutely beautiful illustration of her's!! Isn't it fabulous?!! It looks so old world to me and speaks the language of romance...I must be getting soft in my old age, I just love it! I have so much respect for the artists who do this kind of work, I feel it is a dying art, and it is difficult and requires great skill. The black and white, and the texture she creates in the drawing sets the tone. SOOOOOOOO....if you want a chance to win this, there is not much time. Go over there and post a link that you blogged about it and it could be yours! Did I mention it will be a first edition!!! Hurry!!!

LOVE KNOTS

I spent some time the other day torching some copper pieces into double ended headpins, and that got me to thinking I really wanted to make my own links, but something different. Of course, one of my favorite things to do is to twist and fool with wire, and I made these little knots out of them. My favorite part of the wires were the little balls on the end, the variation in colors and little subtle dimples sometimes you can get.....
I combined these rustic links with some bling, another one of my favorite things to do, rustic and bling side by side, and accented with my favorite color, amazonite, vintage ruby czech beads, and sterling silver, and one big fat swarovski!

for sale on etsy

CHINOOK GOODNESS

Doesn't this just look luscious?! The good Melissa over at Chinook Designs is having another terrific giveaway........name that glaze!! Go check it out for yourself!