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Saturday, September 30, 2006
Because I am so boring...
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Friday, September 29, 2006
New neckpiece!
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Thursday, September 28, 2006
Forget about VendorPro
From: "Tracy Weller"
Subject: I want to sell your jewelry products through our stores
I've spent a lot of time at your website and I think your jewelry is perfect for our stores. I especially like your photo pendants.
We work hand in hand with the largest stores in the country, plus thousands of small to medium sized specialty businesses stretched across the U.S.. If you want the opportunity to sell your products through major retailers like WalMart, Target, Nordstrom, Sears, QVC, HSN, etc ... plus the other 51005 gift stores, 15840 health & beauty stores, 6088 craft stores, and over 24000 mail-order catalogs ... check us out at http://www.VendorPro.com
Sincerely,
Tracy Weller
VendorPro.com
I've asked them several times to remove me from their list since they appeared to be a legitimate company, but to no avail. I don't think they're legit anymore though:
Link to their Better Business Bureau reputation
In my email last night
A man was exploring caves by the seashore. In one of the caves he found a canvas bag with a bunch of hardened clay balls. It was like someone had rolled clay balls and left them out in the sun to bake.
They didn't look like much, but they intrigued the man, so he took the bag out of the cave with him. As he strolled along the beach, he would throw the clay balls one at a time out into the ocean as far as he could.
He thought little about it, until he dropped one of the clay balls and it cracked open on a rock. Inside was a beautiful, precious stone!
Excited, the man started breaking open the remaining clay balls. Each contained a similar treasure. He found thousands of dollars worth of jewels in the 20 or so clay balls he had left. Then it struck him.
He had been on the beach a long time. He had thrown maybe 50 or 60 of the clay balls with their hidden treasure into the ocean waves. Instead of thousands of dollars in treasure, he could have taken home tens of thousands, but he had just thrown it away!
It's like that with people. We look at someone, maybe even ourselves, and we see the external clay vessel. It doesn't look like much from the outside. It isn't always beautiful or sparkling, so we discount it.
We see that person as less important than someone more beautiful or stylish or well known or wealthy but we have not taken the time to find the treasure hidden inside that person.
There is a treasure in each and every one of us. If we take the time to get to know that person, and if we ask God to show us that person the way He sees them, then the clay begins to peel away and the brilliant gem begins to shine forth.
May we not come to the end of our lives and find out that we have thrown away a fortune in friendships because the gems were hidden in bits of clay. May we see the people in our world as God sees them.
Technorati Tags:mixed media,collage,assemblage,digital art,photography
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Wonderful new book!
I was also really inspired by all of Larkin's beautiful work that is showcased in the book.
Best of all, I've picked up some new ideas to try. In fact, I'm going to start a little piece this afternoon that uses an irregular shaped paua shell piece, and I'm going to try Larkin's caging technique for surrounding the shell. I'll show you pictures as I go along :-)
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Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Off to France
Optical lens pendants
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Friday, September 22, 2006
Moan, moan, whine, whine!
Some people would probably kill to have a gap like this in their schedule, but not me. I've got to start something, and it's got to be soon!
whine whine grmbl grmbl...
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Rusted and busted
I went to Vermont over Labor Day weekend with part of our youth group. We had a fabulous time away from all the hustle and bustle of suburban life, and I managed to shoot a series of photos starring old rusted farm equipment that dotted the property. You can see pictures of the youth event here.
Technorati Tags:digital art,photography
Monday, September 18, 2006
Just for fun!
Anyway, I found a big jar full of 500 zip ties in lots of different colors. They were cheap cheap cheap, which is my favorite quality when it comes to making jewelry for purely costume purposes. Now I'm not talking about "costume jewelry", I'm talking about jewelry used for a costume!

I got the idea for this very quick and easy necklace that anyone could make for Halloween or other dress-up occasions. I've got a great wig for Halloween this year (when don't I?), and I wanted a special necklace to go with it. Then, just add outrageous makeup, and I've got instant costume.

So here's how I did it:
1. Lay out your zip ties in any pattern that pleases you. I wanted them to extend all the way over my shoulders, but not stick out the back of my neck, so I left a few inches of chain bare in the back.
2. I used an 18 inch curb chain with fairly large links. Even so, they weren't big enough for most of the zip ties to go through them. Starting from the center, I wrapped the zip ties around the chain and snugged them up. The shorter thinner ties fit right through the links, which I did in order to keep the rest of the ties from sliding around. They provided an anchor every couple of inches.
3. That's it! Put it on and smile when people stare at you. Best part, there were still hundreds of ties left over for my husband to use in his projects!
Copyright 2006 Cyndi Lavin. Not to be reprinted, resold, or redistributed for profit. May be printed out for personal use or distributed electronically provided that entire file, including this notice, remains intact.
To ask questions or leave comments about this post, please visit Jewelry & Beading
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Carnival of Jewelry Designers
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Saturday, September 16, 2006
Commissioned bracelet
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Friday, September 15, 2006
Golly good show!
You can see enlargements of the first four pieces on my site Mazel Tov! Jewelry Treasures, and the fifth resides on Wildest Dreams Designs.
Tribal
Magic Carpet
Rock Candy
Crystal Ball
Nomadic Treasure
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Thursday, September 14, 2006
Embroidered bracelet commission
On the other hand, I've been able to get the first parts done anyway.
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Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Dreamers is available now
Dreamers
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Tuesday, September 12, 2006
"Flurry" came home
Flurry
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Bobbi's date with the necklace

Our necklace made two anniversary appearances! First, a gallery sale in Washington state, at a hospital with Illaya and her husband Lee. They weren't able to get pictures, because someone stole their camera, along with several other things in a home burglary!! Sheesh.
The next stop-over was in Texas for Bobbi and her husband Rudy's anniversary. Rudy took the pictures of Bobbi, but they forgot to get one of the two of them together! What's up with that? :-)
Off to Leah now, in California. Both Leah and husband Chris are artists, so I hope they'll go out and do something fabulous. Stay tuned...
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Monday, September 11, 2006
Blessed be Your name
Every blessing You pour out
I'll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name
You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say
Lord, blessed be Your name
From "Blessed be Your name" by Matt Redman, 2002
Technorati Tags:mixed media,collage,assemblage,digital art,photography
Sunday, September 10, 2006
Thursday, September 07, 2006
Fabric bead necklace finished
Guess what season I'm looking forward to? :-)
This piece is really lightweight, thanks to the fabric beads. There are 55 of them on this necklace!
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Wednesday, September 06, 2006
Fabric bead necklace
I spent some time creating clusters of fabric beads on headpins today and hanging them on a chain necklace. I'm out of time, but I might be able to finish it up tomorrow. Gotta get going on the bracelet comission as soon as the materials get here!
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Time to take a course?
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Hard to believe
Do I have you intrigued?
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Monday, September 04, 2006
Bracelet blanks
I'll keep you posted!
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Friday, September 01, 2006
A closer view
I received a really good question yesterday from Janet, who asked if I used anything to seal the beads when I made them from fabric instead of paper. I don't, because I like the looks of the frayed ends. I even make my diagonal cut with pinking shears so there's more texture and fuzz.
But then I realized that my final step in decorating them does help to seal them somewhat: after they are dry, I dry-brush the ends with Lumiere's halo pink-gold acrylic paint, just accenting those fuzzy parts. The base medium of acrylic paint is an excellent glue, so in a sense this step definitely helps to insure that they don't unroll.
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