A Weeks Worth

What an amazing week!

Every now and then, you are rewarded with kindness, for no apparent reason.  That's how this week has been.  The sweetest lady, Shannon Levart, from missficklemedia.com, saw my etched hinged cuff kit in my Etsy store, and decided to submit a post about it on Art Bead Scene.  You can see it here.  I can't tell you how honored I was, it blew me away.  And as a result, a great number of kits sold because of it.  All I can say is thank you Shannon, for your help AND encouragement. I had never offered a kit before, along with a tutorial, and thanks to those who have purchased it.  Please send me photos of your cuffs, so I can post the photos! 

You rock Shannon. Your kindness was amazing.

Wow!

So, I wanted to come up with some fun idea for mailing out my kits.  I borrowed this technique from Ruth Rae's book, and used heavy paper to wrap the kit, then sewed the ends.  Everyone has really had fun getting it, and the post office lady is most impressed with my creativity!

So since my muse was working this week, I decided to make a fun surprise for a friend.  I mailed it off, and can't say who this went to, but here's a little sneak peak.  I'll post all the pics of this sweet project after she receives it.

The surprise is made up from some of my friends Lisa Jurist's sari silk,  a vintage mop button, coffee stained lace, and hand stamped muslin.  This was too much fun to make.  Oh, that sewing muse has it's hold on me!

Next week I'm off to Round Top, Texas to shop until I drop for antiques!  I am meeting up with my good friend and art sister, Diane Cook, Rosa & Josies.  She lives in Texas, and is kind enough to take me under her wing for seven days.  This is going to be an amazing scene.  If you haven't heard of it, imagine miles of fields, multiple towns, with a multitude of vendors, all selling antiques!!  Drooling yet?   I am!

So here's your chance to tell me what you would like me to bring back for you??

How about you guys leave me a little wish list note, and when I get back, I'll list some of those goodies in my Etsy store if I can find them?  What do you think??

I blast out of here early Wednesday morning, so get your wish list in early!

Hugs to all.

Riki

Maddie Graduates

Miss Maddie Graduates 

from Puppy Training

Okay, I'm going to go on for a minute or two about my sweet baby, and her accomplishments!   Just when you think you'll never be able to fall in love again, yes Charlene, you do!   And we have with our sweet Maddie girl.  She's 9 months now, can  you believe it?  And here is her graduation picture from last night, at Petsmart.  She passed with flying colors, amidst the screaming children, numerous dogs, and  a list of distracting noises going on in the store!  When I say flying colors....she did tricks she has learned at the end of it all!  

What an accomplished little smart thing.  I can't believe how acrobatic these little Havanese dogs are.  Our Yorkie, Chester, did tricks, but she learned a couple in a week!  

Enough about my little graduate!!  I'm so proud!

I had my muse visit the last couple of days, with new ideas for summer inventory.

I shot a few pics for you guys to see what I'm doing this week.

Taking my rubber cords covered in silk, and wrapping them with some of the beautiful sari silks from my friend Lisa over at Mud Hound Studio.  They are so yummy, I've been collecting a few here and there, and am finally using them. 

Then I have been weaving in some tea stained vintage lace, with some vintage mop buttons, glass pearls, a bit of bling!

And these last two amazing pewter focals are from Lynn Davis at LLYYNN.  If you like vintage cast pieces in pewter, you will love Lynn's work.  

So what do you think of my new, sweet little creations?

My little graduate is laying at my feet at this moment, by the fire, from a job well done.  It takes a lot out of a girl to go to school and show off!

Hugs to you.

Riki

Queen for a Day class

We crowned our ladies!

They came, they made crowns and boxes, and had a ball!  What a talented group we had last weekend, and so much fun.  I loved it, and so did Diana.  It was a quaint class this time, so they got way too much of us!  

Here's a picture of the crowns they made for the boxes they etched.  Didn't they do a great job?  I was so proud.  Those crowns are made from scratch, and soldered on to the boxes!  Yowza!

Here's our lovely group.  Me, Diana, Kashet, Connie, Bridgette and Carrie.

Added bonus with small class!

Since we had so few students, they saw a little bird house I had made, and wanted to make one as well.  So we did, and they are sooooo cute guys, great job.  Challenging, I must say!   We ran out of time to get the birds in, they get to do that at home.

Thanks for taking a look.  

Diana and I have great things planned for the fall class together.  I think it will involve PMC, mixed media and some other wonderful things.  So plan your pennies for October and stay tuned for an announcement in the next couple of months.

Would love for you to join us!

Which project to you like best??

I listed another tutorial and a couple of Hinged Cuff bracelets on my Etsy store.  The first ones flew out yesterday!  Thank you Alice!

Take care,  

 Riki

February Wrap Up

My new things for February!

Wow, I can't believe its been so long since I've posted.  But today is one of the first days I've had to come up for air.  February was filled with a couple of classes I took, grand daughters for a week,  taught a two day class, gem show....and here we are....March!!

In keeping up with my New Year's Resolutions, or challenges I guess, I promised myself to try something new each month.  February was weaving with metal.

I was lucky enough to take a two workshops with the talented Mary Hettmansperger, author of many books, including Wrap, Stich, Fold and Rivet, a wonderful book.  She's a wonderful teacher, filled with talent, and a hoot to boot.  And her background is weaving, so she brings that knowledge to the jewelry world, and teaches how to weave with metal.  It took me awhile to get my head "wrapped" (sorry) around the method, but I was pretty smitten with the outcome.  I didn't have anything to weave around, I know, hard to believe, but I had to buy this at the store where we took the class, Creative Castle.  Its an amazing crystal, and worked great for this project.  Mary showed me how to weave the bail too!

Fun huh?  The second day was a torch fired enamel class, which I had tried before. But hadn't added gold leaf or silver before, and that was toooooo much fun.

 I got to take the class with a couple of my dearest friends, Diana Frey and Stephanie Gorman.  It was too much fun.

Thanks for insisting on another photo Diana, it turned out great!  That's Steff on the far left, Mary, me and Diana.  Poor Mary, we wore her out!  Ha ha.

And, I have some fun news.  I just listed a kit to make the fun hinged cuff on my Esty store.  Its everything you need.  I even included etched metal, with a French flare.  This is perfect for the royalty in you!

I also included one of my new sweet bird gift bags.  You can regift this sweet thing, or keep it for something special.

There is a tutorial listed as well, in case you are interested in just that.

This last weekend Diana and I taught our Queen for a Day class.  It was small and fabulous.  I'll post photos of everyone's darling projects soon.  Nana is beat right now!!

Hugs to everyone, miss you guys.