Summer Vacay

My brother and his wife arrived here from England, on Sunday, so we have spent the last couple of days having lots of laughs, catching up and visiting. Tomorrow, we head off to the coast, so I will be M.I.A for a while. However, I  hope to be able to post  occasionally on our coastal adventures. As always, I love to get renewed and inspired by the ocean, the nature and the relaxed west coast lifestyle, and of course I will be doing a litle treasure hunting on my travels! Who knows what interesting little things I may find, that will end up in my Fall creations!

Last week I took my  new pieces of jewellery down to the funky little shop in Bragg Creek, called, "My Favorite Store".  The owner took these photos of my booth, and posted them on her Facebook Page. 

That's all for now....we will catch up later!

Susan Pin It

Finished Vintage Necklaces

Wow..we had a crazy thunderstorm around midnight last night. There was marble sized hail, and the lightening was just incredible! I was worried that the hail was going to damage our plants outside, but luckily things dont look too bad in the light of day. 



Earlier this week, I posted photos of some pendants and connectors that I had made using resin and with epoxy clay. I used Ice Resin, which is simple to use, and unlike other resins has no strong odour. I was happy with the results, and today I would like to show you what I  created with those pieces.

Old Hollywood

"Old Hollywood", can be worn as pictured, double up...or I would  prefer to wear it a little looser, its quite pretty worn that way. It can also be worn as one long pendant, so you get 2 looks!

Crystal Cowgirl

Crystal Cowgirl

Emma

"Emma" can also be worn either double up around the neck, or worn as one long necklace.

Emma

Siblings

Siblings

Buried Treasure

Buried Treasure

Vintage Lace

Vintage lace

Ms. Shabby Chic

I also kept one pendant for myself! I  forgot to take a photo of the completed necklace, but will post that one later. I am packing these up to take into town to be sold at one of the local shops.

Pin It

Whats on Suzy's Workbench?

Yesterday, I escaped the heat, and spent a few hours in my studio, which is located in the nice cool basement of my home.  I felt like  kid again playing with resin, and this new epoxy clay that I recently purchased. Here is what I made:

These are all going to be pendants and connectors on necklaces. I made them with vintage images, scraps of vintage lace and resin.

 This pendant and ring, below, are made with epoxy clay, which is a 2 part clay that you mix together, embellish, and  then air dries. For the pendant, I added this tiny vintage skeleton key, and sprinkled with copper mica powder for a metallic finish. the ring was embedded with an old brass floral finding, and a tiny Swarovski crystal, and then sprinkled with  copper and blue metallic mica powders. 

This was a lot of fun, and now I have several new homemade components to create new designs!

Pin It

My latest designs

I have not been in the studio much lately, as I am trying to embrace the short summer that we get in my part of the world.

However, I  have managed to sneak in a few hours of designing, and here are the latest pieces that I have been working on. 

 

 

This multi-chain necklace features a gorgeous Swarovski crystal heart pendant, accentuated with small vintage skeleton keys, and beads of hematite and glass in dark black.

This next  necklace  is quite simple in contrast to the first one, and has an image of a pretty girl, surrounded by pale pink Swarovski crystals, suspended from a vintage chandelier crystal.  The pink beads are  vintage West German glass, and the chain is vintage brass.

 

Pin It

Tuesday Tidbits

This past weekend, was a long weekend for us in Canada, celebrating Canadas birthday, on July 1st. We spent the weekend at home, and I really enjoyed being outside, doing some gardening, dining out on the deck and soaking up some warm sunshine. The only thing that "bugged" me, was those pesky mosquitos! Yep...they are now out to drive us crazy  They always seem to be at their worse in late June and early July, then they seem to decrease in numbers as the summer progresses. I tried to forgo the bug spray, but gave up after being bitten half a dozen times! The worse bite is one tiny one on the bottm of my foot....right in the arch...boy is that itchy! It kept me up last night scratching, that itchy spot. Why do the bites on your feet and ankles always itch the most? 


In less than 2 weeks time, my brother and his wife are coming from England for a visit. we are taking them out to the coast with us for a few weeks. So I am busy spiffing up the place before their arrival. You know how you want everything perfect when company comes.


I have not been in the studio much, lately, but instead I have been ordering supplies, for my Fall designs. I came across a new product...well new to me anyway... that I am quite excited to try. More on that later, when it arrives!  
I did however, manage to create one new piece last week, which I will post later this week.  


Just want to wish all my friends from the USA, a very Happy Independence Day, tomorrow! Hope you all have a fun day celebrating with friends and family.



Pin It

Mid Year Update

One of my New Years resolutions, was to  plan on learning and adding some new techniques to my jewellery designs. I wanted to learn how to do some riveting, to experiment with resin, to incorporate leather into some of my creations, as well as working with embellished metal.
  So, since we are about half way through the year, I thought I would see how  I am doing with those goals!

I have enjoyed making some resin pendants........

 
The resin is a bit stinky, to say the least, but it is fun to create one of a kind pendants.

I have also enjoyed making leather cuff bracelets,  drilling holes in bits and pieces and then riveting the objects to the leather.

I  have not yet learned metal embellishing techniques, but I am hoping, that I can squeeze a class in, sometime in September.

I also just found out that I was accepted into the  Calgary Waldorf Festival of Joy, in November! This is a juried show, and I had to submit photos of my work etc., so I was thrilled to get in!

I have closed my Etsy shop for the summer, so that I can spend time with my family, and slowly start working on new pieces for Fall. 


Pin It

Tuesdays Tidbits

Last week was another busy week, with all kinds of events that kept me running from one place to the next! I had a couple of big jewellery orders that needed to be packed up and delivered  or mailed to different boutiques, my son had his Grade 8 graduation, and of course it was Fathers Day.

I cannot believe my youngest child is off to high school next year! I think the kids all had fun on Friday night at their grad ceremony. Many of the Moms, including myself, helped decorate and transform the community hall into a party  like atmosphere filled with red balloons, and black and gold decorations suitable for a wonderful celebration for the kids. They had a nice meal, and danced to a DJ, while teachers and  many other parents, including my husband, helped supervise. It was so nice to see the kids that we have known since kindergarten, all dressed up and become such great teens.

I attended the customer appreciation  event at THE  local fashion boutique, on Thursday, and was asked to be their "real" model for their  Facebook  page this week. So that was fun! I got to model beautiful clothes, while snacking on sushi and sipping champagne!

What a great Dad! (my husband)

We celebrated fathers day with an old fashioned picnic in the park near our place. The grand kids and my son were not allowed to have their phones on that day, and instead we played Frisbee, horseshoes, and Bocci ball.  The kids played in the trees, and we also went for a little hike down to the river.

 

Picking dandelions.

Chilling with Grandpa.

 We ended the day with a stop at the ice cream shack, where they even had sugar free ice cream for me! It was a fun day, and we decided that we have to do that more often...its great for the kids!

Pin It

The Vintage Chicks Sale was amazing! It was so much fun seeing all the creative booth setups and displays, and meeting the vendors at this annual event. So for those of you wo were too far away to attend, I am posting photos for your viewing pleasure...enjoy!

Simplify

The Peacocks Feather

Wow and Then

Wow and Then

Wow and Then

la Ta Da

la Ta Da

My Booth!!

Me again! Hot Rocks

All About Toile

la Ta Da

Pin It