Been Slow

Well I haven't really done much lately. I did create some clay pendants, but I'm not sure how much I like them. I think I like 4 out of the 20 or so I created. I'm still in the trial and error stage. I have set them aside for the next time I mix up some resin to coat them. Here's a sneak peak though.

I need to make another batch since I bought several colors of clay. I'm testing out my inks and colorings techniques to see what actually sticks without smearing.



I'm going to try and get some done tomorrow. School is out soon so I'm not sure what the house will be like for me with the kids home. I was out of work last summer too and was happy to spend it with the kids. I'm going to try again, while looking for work. I'll still look, just less aggressively.

Update May 21, 2009

Hi Everyone!

I'm embarking on yet another venture. My whole Suspended Imagination shop was supposed to consist of pendants and it's been going very well for my creativity. The only thing so far I feel that's out of place is my necklaces, but technically they aren't because I did add some dangles that hand like pendants. I can think of 5 pendants types that I want to try to include in my shop.

Today I bought the materials, tools, and supplies for 1 of them, polymer clay! I bought a tutorial on Etsy to teach me how to make clay pendants. I can tell that there is a learning curve to get the smoothness and thickness just right, but I'm willing to work on it. I have some created but I will need to wait to bake them until tomorrow. I started up my new craft oven and it was smoking. It says that it will do that, but since everyone is sleeping I don't want anyone alarmed. I can't wait to have another thing to stamp on and make jewelry with.

If you are wondering about the other pendants I want to create, they include bottle cap, resin, glass, solider, and the polymer clay. I could easily do some bottle cap ones, I just need to buy some caps to use. I'm sure that I have tons of items here already that I can decorate them with. The resin ones I would like to play with the resin and find things to fill it with and use a mold. I only use resin right now to cover my pendants for a nice finish. I want to do the whole glitter in resin making heart shapes type of pendant. Glass pendants probably won't be in my near future, I'm thinking of the fused glass pendants with all the beautiful colored glass. The kiln alone is so far out of my budget, I need to be successful in all of my other pendants first before going down that road. The solider pendants are the kind that use 1 x 2" pieces of glass sandwiched in decoratives and solidered on the edges.

I love crafting and doing different techniques and playing with different mediums. I hope that my shop isn't too mix matched to browse in. Hopefully I'll have some new pendants to show you tomorrow. I did make a new necklace tonight too, I should have that listed tomorrow as well.

On that note I'm leaving you with a picture of my 2nd necklace I created last week. This is in my Etsy and Artfire shops right now.





Artfire Listing
Etsy Listing

Update May 20, 2009

Hi Everyone!

First things first... I may have mentioned that I'm not good about updating so I was going to try and schedule some set "events" to keep me in line. That lasted only 1 week. I think I better just free flow for awhile and just get into the habit of coming here and writing. I have a lot to write about but then I feel guilty for not doing the things I said I would so then I don't write anything. I'm wiping the guilt away and I'm just going to post.

I started school (again) this week. I'm attending Joliet Junior College, which is my local community college. I am going in with 53 credits that I earned from DeVry already. My DeVry degree was taking forever and was very expensive so I decided to switch to a community college instead. I'll see what happens after I get this degree done. I'm going for Web Design and since I already have all of my Gen Ed classes out of the way I can focus on learning the good stuff :)

My first class is Graphic Design an introduction class in design that I desperately need. I don't know anything about graphics except how to look for them. I really need to learn this so I don't spend anymore money paying others to create graphics for me. I'm still stuck on what to do with my Suspended Imagination logo design. I was thinking a hot air balloon, but I really don't like that. I'm also thinking of maybe stars tied to the sky, something like that. I'll come up with something by the time class is done in 2 months I think.

The job search is going so slow too. Everyone is paying less and less, its almost not worth it to work full time. I am just trying hard to make my other projects successful in the meantime.

Here is something new that I designed. This is my first necklace and it's listed on Etsy and Artfire.





Blue and Black Bead Necklace $15.00 on Etsy
Blue and Black Necklace $15.00 on Artfire

I enjoyed making that one so much that I did make another and I'm working on a third, I'll write about those later :)

Well that was a quick update, I'll talk to you all later.

Missed Friday

I'm sorry I missed my 2nd scheduled Friday tutorial. I told you I was bad at this lol. I have the idea all set out and I'm going to show you "Drunken Pastels". I'm going to do it tomorrow for sure.

DH has been taking up a lot of my time this weekend. He plays World of Warcraft, but lately he's been playing less. When he plays less he seems to need me to entertain him then... so I never get anything done. I'm trying to make sure he doesn't cancel his account because he will be at my side 24/7 (when he's not working of course lol). We did clean out the storage space under our stairs, which we basically crammed with stuff when we moved in. There was some icky shelf thing under there and some dry wall that needed to be replaced. We cleared all that out and put the stuff back in that we need to store. I have 3 huge bags of clothes that I need to take to Goodwill ready to go out.

So I told DH I needed time tomorrow for my tutorial, he should give it to me since it is after all Mother's Day and I should be able to do what I love... right?

Card Sketch Sunday

I sure hope that I can at least keep up with my blog if nothing else when I find a full time job. I do enjoy it and it gets me creative to actually do some stamping.

I'm going to try and do a card from a random google search because I can't do my own or have the time to do it. Hmm maybe I can get my son to do that for me. He's good at shapes, we'll see. I try and get him involved in my business where ever I can.

Since this is from a random site I really don't know the rules for showing the sketch since I'm sure that the original site would like you to visit them. So I'll put up a link to the sketch page that I used. I'll find out what the etiquette is from the stamper bloggers.

Faith Sisters - 4/7 Card Sketch



Supplies:
Stamps: Stampin' Up
Cardstock: Green Galore, Regal Rose, Tempting Turquoise, So Saffron
Markers: Green Galore, Regal Rose, Tempting Turquoise
Ink: Basic Black

I used the argyle cuttlebug folder, some green rick rack, some metal brads.

Hope this inspires you!

Suspended Imagination

New banner needed. When I first re-opened Suspended Imagination this year I purchased a banner that I really liked.



This banner however does not reflect what I'm about, what my products are, or my style. My son is going to attempt to make a banner for me but we are stuck as to what the image should be. I want it very rock and roll and edgy more than whimsy. We were coming up with things that are in reality suspended and came up with a couple, swings, chandeliers, and pendulums in a grandfather clock way. Out of these I think the pendulum would best represent me, but it still doesn't tell you what I sell or the style of my work. I don't want to go the route of adding products to my banner either.

Does anyone have any ideas for me?

Marbled Background Technique

I know that I'm not very good at blog posts or posting on a regular basis, so this is my attempt to have 1 regular posting day a week, at least to start with. I always have ideas, but when it comes to doing it I fail.

I am starting with a technique Friday. This technique has been around for a long time, but it was refreshed this week on Split Coast stampers. It's called Marbling and it's used to make backgrounds to give your cards and paper projects a little abstraction.


The list of supplies: (you can change this to whatever works for you)
3 different colors of reinkers
cardstock
marbles
little cups
plastic container big enough to hold cardstock
repositionable adhesive
tweezers


Add some adhesive to the cardstock just so that it won't slip around in the container. Just add a tiny bit.


Place your cardstock in your container and press down to hold it in place.


Put your marbles into a tiny cup.


Add 2-3 drops of ink to the cup.


Swirl the marbles around getting ink all over them.


Place the marbles in your container.


Close the lid and roll the marbles all around.



Repeat with the second color.



Repeat with the third color.


Now you are all done and ready to make a card using this background. Don't forget to remove the adhesive from the back of your cardstock.

Here's the card I made with my piece.


I have posted this one up for sale at my Artfire shop Cardstock Creations

I have another one for one lucky commenter. I'll post next Friday who you are, so check back!