Inspired by Nature: Tiger Lily, pendants and flower centers

I am on a roll, another very productive week as I gear up for my

 Arts and Crafts Fair at Mt. Charleston. 

I am getting excited to go back and hope to do well.  

I have lots of new items to inventory to price and tag. 

I need work out my display options again.  

A little change to keep it interesting. 

I will list my items that don't sell on Etsy next week.

I had so much fun with the resin last week I finally tried a product new to me. 

JudiKins Amazing Glaze.

I didn't want to wait for 3 days for my pendants to cure, 

especially my Orange Lily for this week's Inspired by Nature Challenge. 

This has to be the fastest solution for creating bezels with photos or charms...

I printed my pictures, sprayed them with Archival Spray on both sides

( I have an ink jet printer so they would run if I skipped this step.)

Then you glue the picture into your bezel,

I used super glue, 

pop it in the oven at 300 degrees for 2-3 minutes,

let it cool and you are done. 

Plus if you get any bubbles or mars on it you can reheat with a heat gun and cool it again! 

I love this, so simple and my pendants look great. 

Here is my Orange Lily photo I transformed with Adobe Elements,

another picture of my Lily Necklace and Earring Set:

  a wave photo for a future challenge 

and 

This one is a picture of me at about 3 years old. 

(a personal reminder to take good care of myself)

I have also been wanting to make centers for my fabric flowers with polymer clay.

I created one for poppies, one of my favorite flowers, baked it then made a clay mold.

It works so well I made two more

and now I can use up my scrap clay making these little beauties 
and paint them any color I want!  

I am sooooooo excited!  

Well, I would love to hang out here all morning 

but I have to pack up all my treasures for tomorrow. 

Thanks for stopping by, I will be doing more visiting next week.

Inspired by Nature: Forest Floor Challenge

This challenge is 

sponsored by Heather Powers at Humblebeads.  

Go HERE to see the rest of the entries.

Here are some shots of my finished entry I took this morning.

I just like the odd angle of this one and how the background blurred.

Close up of the center pieces of the bib necklace

One of several copper clasps with patina  I purchased from Melinda Orr at ORRTEC on Etsy

Full on view of the neclace. Blends right into this little forest on my pool wall.

The left side of the necklace- here you can see my wood bead and tassels at the top
near where I joined the interesting copper cage chain. 

Free motion stitched lining on back of necklace and hand couching of yarn and specialty threads.
This one will join my bib necklace series for all seasons as an autumn piece.

That's all for now!! Enjoy the rest of your Sunday. I will be back for Bead Table Wednesday on Wednesday of course!

Forests.....

Before I moved to Nevada I always pictured the desert as miles of empty dunes, 

with cactus, snakes, lizards, spiders (eeeooowah) and not much else.  

Much to my surprise Las Vegas is surrounded by mountains 

of which my favorite is Mount Charleston. 

There is a wonderful oasis up there 

where the temperatures average about 20 degrees cooler than the city.  

As the elevation increases on the ride up the cactus grow, 

then there are larger bushes, short trees 

and finally full grown ponderosa pines with bright red orange bark.  

The scent of lemon balsam is everywhere 

and I feel at home, at peace and full of wonder. 

Here is a collage with some of the pictures I took Thursday 

on a hike with my daughter Jessie and the two dogs; Durango and Harley.  

The pictures in my header are all taken at the top of the Mary Jane Falls Trail. 

 You have to see my macro shots of the wild delphinium and thistle up close. 

Wild Delphinium- this tiny flower looks like a fairy queen's crown!

Thistle- unfortunately not flowering yet.

I couldn't have conjurred up of a better lead into my work in progress 

for Heather Power's Challenge: at Humblebeads 

"Inspired by Nature": 

this week's theme is "the Forest Floor".

These photos were actually taken on a rock in my backyard, 

in the garden wall above the pool

and in a couple of my potted plants.  

I am addicted to color so flowers and greenery are a must in my yard, 

even if most of them die every year from the heat. 

Every year I try to add more of the plants that do survive

and my gardens are growing. 

I  will be finishing up tonight 

and take more pictures of this bib necklace completed tomorrow morning. 

For now it is off to do some outdoor chores and jump in the pool. 

Someone is waiting for me to play with him-

My little Big Boy- Durango

Come back tomorrow for links to the Challenge and see everyone's Forest Floor Creations! 

Another Ta Dah!! I have been busy!!

Here is a collage of my piece for Heather Power's new weekly challenge: 

Inspired by Nature: this week Feathers.

I made the polymer clay peacock feather beads and

the dark teal textured and antiqued with black beads.

I already had this beautiful teal silk ribbon which I wove through some very open copper chain

split and tied in bows secured with super glue. 

Dyed fresh water pearls in jewel tones worked beautifully as feather-like dangles 

so I sprinkled them here and there wrapped with bright copper 28 gauge wire. 

I think they added just the right fringy touch dangling below the oval pendant. 

I tried to use jewel tone components through out;

green glass 8mm bicones, goldstone rounds,  

with copper findings to reflect the colors in the peacock feather beads. 

I have more polymer clay beads left 

so you will probably see them in

other creations soon 

or 

after I fall in love with the next thing I make

for sale in my etsy shop- heatherp22.

To join in the fun visit Humblebeads blog.