Disco Balls and Stars

I have had a slight infatuation with disco balls since.. oh.. I was like 12. I don't care how tacky some people think they are I love them and their wonderful reflective disco qualities. =]

A while back I was given a huge bag full of broken necklaces and forgotten beads. This one necklace.. had these silver disco ball looking beads and for the longest time I had no clue what to do with it. Then the other day it clicked, why not combine a super bright focal piece with these beads on a choker?

Well.. I made it happen. I took the hot pink polymer clay star I made a few weeks back and wire wrapped it in with these beads. The neat thing about this necklace is that the disco looking beads are not strung on string but wire. So, you can flex the necklace anyway you want. You can make it arch up or sort of zigzag out. It's really fun to play with.


But unfortunately, since I have no clue where these beads actually came from, there will only ever be one of these made. Or maybe that's a good thing. Who knows! Either way, for the right person, this is the right happy piece. Check it out along with other items in my store.

Summer Ocean Themed Jewelry: Starfish

I have always loved star fish and I was so inspired by this poem:

An old man was walking down the beach just before dawn. In the distance he saw a young man picking up stranded starfish and throwing them back into the sea. As the old man approached the young man, he asked; "Why do you spend so much energy doing what seems to be a waste of time?" The young man explained that the stranded starfish would die if left in the morning sun. "But there must be thousands of beaches and millions of starfish, exclaimed the old man. "How can your efforts make any difference?" The young man looked down at the small starfish in his hand and as he threw it to safety in the sea, he said; "It makes a difference to this one!"

I started working on a really simple starfish necklace a while back but I never got a chance to finish it. Yesterday I found the unfinished necklace and decided it was time to finish. It turned out really nicely for such a simple necklace. I had made a piece like this for my mother for mother's day last year, except it was a rosary style necklace featuring the green sea glass. This one is more my style for sure.

Lazy Sunday? Not me!

I had a really productive Sunday! I finally got a moment to re-pot some of my plants that desperately needed it. I found a few pots on freecycle that were in really good shape. I also managed to get to my local hardware store and bought a 2 large "sticks" to help support the plants. For the tomato plant I wrapped wire loosely in a few select places to keep it supported to the plant. I helped the bean plant to wrap itself around the "stick." Now it will have more direction as to where to grow.
In other news, I am still waiting to find a good window box or other pot for the herbs. The cilantro FINALLY decided to appear.. but only one seed seems to be growing.. I think I am going to plant a few more since I love cilantro. I also still think its very funny that regardless of how many times I rotate these plants.. the continue to grow towards the sun. See:
It looks so much better, however I feel the need to decorate the pots. They look so plain at the moment. Another project?

What a busy week..

I have been so busy working on multiple projects this week. I have been knitting and crocheting. I have been beading and working with clay. But surprisingly enough, no finished projects.. until today.

Today while relaxing I felt inspired to create a piece of jewelry that had a fishing net. So with some hemp and coral beads I made two pieces I am calling, washed up.

I am really pleased with how this came out. My original intent was to use freshwater pearls. Unfortunately, the holes in the pearls were drilled to small for them hemp. I am going to try and make a few more with different stones and hopefully, pearls, once I get a larger size in. Heck, maybe I will even try and make a necklace to match at some point.

Also, I really wish I had my camera back and working. Borrowing my boyfriend's camera is not an ideal situation.

Jade Rosary

After a recent trip to India, I have found myself loving to wear mala beads and rosary beads. It got me thinking, wouldn't it be nice to have a rosary without any type of religious connection? While I am sure this is not entirely possible, as rosary beads by nature draw a religious connection, I attempted to make a jade rosary. I think it came out pretty nice.
This one is hand wrapped silver wire and yellow/green jade rounds. It does have the typical 59 beads so it has the length going on for sure!
I am going to be ordering more beads soon so I can make some more of these. They didn't take to long to make and really look nice on. =]

To be a star...

Well today was a very sad day for me. My camera broke when I was trying to photograph all the stuff I've made recently. So, while I get that fixed I am going to be using my camera phone. Hmm.. Let's hope I can fix my camera soon or borrow someone else's before I lose my mind.Anyway, I finished up a lot of work today with a few polymer clay pieces. I have been making so much happy jewelry lately its awesome. Let see.. I was in a really hungry baking mood today so I attempted to make pretzels with real salt and lollipops. The lollipops came out so cute and tasty looking. The pretzels were really hit and miss. The salt somehow messed up the glaze on a few of them and it doesn't look quite right. The still look really cute but somewhat odd. Oh well! A few of them came out nice and pretzel like.

I got a chance to finish up a necklace with one of the stars I made a while back. It turned out really nice.

“To be a star, you must shine your own light, follow your own path, and don't worry about the darkness, for that is when the stars shine brightest” -Unknown

I also got a chance to set up my new etsy shop. I was on etsy a while back as Murphy's Gems, but with the new blog a name change was in order. I'm still in the process of listing items, but there's a few things up there right now. I will be opened to custom orders as always so don't be shy to message me over there.

Soon there will be food...

Day 17

So, the garden gets bigger and bigger every day. The plants keep growing towards the sunlight so I moved them onto the window. It is amazing to me how big everything is now. It seems like every time I turn my back they grow a little bit.

The tomato plant is measuring in this week at about 29 inches. I am still eagerly awaiting a first tomato. Hopefully soon. The bean plant has grown to approximately 16 inches tall. My project for him this week is to re-pot him and find a stick for him to climb. For most of the week it seemed like he was going to climb up the tomato plant. Everything else is growing well as you can see from the far right picture. Just growing toward to sun!

I have been having trouble with the cilantro. It has yet to sprout and I am getting a little bit worried. I repositioned it and I hope maybe that will make a difference. Maybe it just needs more sunlight. I will be so bummed out if it doesn't sprout. That will mean no homemade salsa for me.

Everything NEEDS to be re-potted sometime this week. I have been looking on freecycle for any kind of free pots of shelves. I really want to reorganize my garden area. Hopefully something will turn up soon. If not, I will be out hunting for cheap gardening supplies.