Good Things...

But not Minis...

I bought a new purse for winter at Goodwill this morning... Very strange, but I like it.

The silly thing has two compartments on either end that look like frog mouths.

I brought it home and have been looking at B. Makowsky purses on the net... I never found this particular one, but most of his purses that are of this size and made of glove leather are about $285.00

Not bad for an eight dollar purchase.

It has an adjustable strap so that you can wear it cross body, if need be.

It's made of very soft glove leather.  On one side it has a special little pocket for keys... Mine don't fit. I will have to use it for something else. 

All of the buckles and rivets are brass. 

Can you tell that I am liking this purse a lot?  I am.

At the same Goodwill I got this Chinese jewelry rack.  At least that's what I am going to use it for.

With the little old lady discount that they have on Tuesday and Wednesday, it came into the picture for free.  That is, the discount on the two items paid for the wrack!  Good deal.

When I got home, Tessie and Kota had their heads together... Discussing what they were going to do to rid the table that Tessie wants, of the Forest Fantasy Cottage...

So far, they have not solved the problem. 

I may have to figure out something myself.  Tessie reallllly wants that table for her trailer...

I am beginning to wonder if it would make a good fairy cottage in the back yard...

I'm not quite that desperate yet, but I am starting to lean that way. 

Any suggestions?

Back to work.

See you tomorrow.

Busy Work...

OK.  I didn't do a lot of minis today... I did get my hanging jewelry in the bathroom cleaned out and straightened up... Well. It is straighter than it was and I replaced the batteries in two watches.  Now I can wear them.

If you look to the far right side of the photo, you will see one mini in the bunch.  It is a half timber house in a watch case.  I made it a lot of years ago... I think maybe back in the eighties.

 I also got all of my bedroom tools straightened. OK... It doesn't look straightened, but take my word for it.  I can find things now that I couldn't earlier in the day. 

The main reason that I didn't get a lot of mini-ing done was this hanging shelf.  I found it in my stash and decided to make it into another shelf for Amare to put treasures on...

It's not the greatest thing in the world, but we are going over there tomorrow night to sit with him.  Dad's out of town and mom has a meeting to go to.  We get to play all evening.  It should be fun. 

I will finally get to take some photos of Amare's room and take notes on what I have to make before Christmas.  Tomorrow night the fun begins!

See you tomorrow, before we go.

Back To Normal...

Well, it's normal for this household...

I was busy all day yesterday getting kits ready for today's Witches...

That's my excuse and I'm sticking with it!

We are going to be making jewelry display stands for the necklace and earrings that we made last week.

Here's the pattern.  There is a better photo further down, but I would suggest that you go to Pinterest and put Jewelry displays in the search.

I got the original pattern from there and it was for a full sized pattern.

 I don't remember who's pin it was originally, but as I said, it was a full sized display for people selling jewelry at craft fairs, etc.

I did this one out of some textured scrapbook paper.  I think that it shows off the jewelry well.

If you want to display earrings with it, just poke a couple of holes inside the necklace and run the wire through the holes. I still haven't found Tessie's other earring.. Another Oops!

Here's the close up of the pattern... It is rather crudely drawn...  It will give you some idea of the size and what you are going for.

It was fun to do and I am thinking that I am going to do some in colors and other experimental techniques. 

Again. I am sorry about yesterday! Just too much going on. 

I will try to draw a better pattern after I get back from Witches.  More accuracy is needed.

Back to the drawing board.  See you tomorrow.

Casey's Jewelry Cleaning and Repair...

I am going to have to get another branch!  This one is pretty much full and so is the rest of my jewelry storage...

I am just showing you the stuff that is out... I didn't think that you would appreciate photos of my clean under sink cupboards or the rest of my cleaned bathroom...

I worked in there most of the morning and am about finished.  I quit before I did the tub or the floor. 

I did get everything else done. The cupboards under the sinks haven't been cleaned since way before I got sick... Now that I am well, I am trying to make up for lost time.  So, when I get in the mood, I clean... I realize it's not much fun for you guys, but for me it is great.  I get clean rooms and I find all kinds of things that I forgot that I had.

This "tree" is a candlestick that I bought at the old version of Walmart.  They used to carry stuff like this in the craft department.  I remember that I paid $2.00 for it at the time.  I have the feeling that they thought that nobody would be foolish enough to pay any more than that for it.

This mess is an antique silver plate stand with three hand painted dessert plates on it and LOTS of jewelry.  Mostly handmade.

My friend Joan's sister was here a couple of months ago and told Joan, after visiting here, that she could have just stayed in the bathroom and looked at all of the handmade jewelry for an hour or so...

I told Joan that Carol is welcome to spend as much time in my bathroom as she wants.  The next time she comes, she can just go in there with Tessie and play.  Tessie does that all the time.

Sometimes a bit of jewelry and other stuff lands on Herman the dragon...

The soapholder dragon gets scissors, soap and sometimes a stickpin or two under his wings. There's a little hole under both wings that is just right to stick them in...

That dragon doesn't have a name.  He was a cell phone holder when I got him... He never fulfilled his rightful purpose...Always a soap holder.  He has a hole in the bottom of the compartment where the soap goes.  The water and moisture drain just fine.

Last,  I have earrings on, of all things, an earring holder!  I have another one around here somewhere... I am going to have to dig it out.  I am completely out of space on this one.

Now all I have to do is remember where I put the second one... This could take a while... Now, isn't this better than photos of clean cupboards?

Back to work.

See you tomorrow...

The Ring's the Thing!

Oops! Sorry that this entry is so late!  I just plain forgot to do it. That's because I didn't have any minis to report on...

I had to get my driver's license renewed this morning and went to Wednesday Witches this afternoon.

So I decided to show you some of the rings that I have been making.

I made the middle finger ring this afternoon at Wednesday Witches. The other one is one that I made a long time ago.

The larger one in this photo is one that I made when I first started working with super duo beads. 

The other one is an early one in peyote stitch.

 I grabbed a few of the ones that I have made and put them on a ring holder.  I made that out of an empty bead tube covered with leather... Easy way to keep your rings in order and not hard to make.

Most of the rings that I have made over the years are made with thread.

The black and white one in this photo is made on wire.  I made it about fifteen years ago.  They look pretty good, but they don't hold up well.  The wire breaks easily.  That's why I switched to doing it with waxed thread instead.

Anyway, I was busy all day today and didn't get anything done but the one ring.  I am kind of holding off on minis until I get the glasses situation straightened out.  They are ordering another new pair and I should be getting them sometime next week.

I can do the beadwork with one of the "mistake" pair of glasses.  Not much good for minis though.  Beadwork is all in one small space.  Minis are spread out all over the place. You know how that is.

See you tomorrow.

For a Friend...

One of the witches was giving away old jewelry and findings last Wednesday. 

I found a piece that I liked and asked about it.

It was a piece that was her grandmother's.

She doesn't read the blog, so I am safe in showing you what I did with it. I thought that she would enjoy displaying it, much more than giving it away.

I took a piece of card stock and covered it with brown velvet.  It seemed to go best with the pendant.

I pinned the necklace to the covered board and then very carefully hand stitched it in place. I used brown thread and it is very hard to tell where it is tacked.

After it was stitched down I laid it on the original backing board from the frame and put it in place.

I could tell that it had some sentimental value from the way that she talked about it.

It is going back where it belongs this Wednesday. I am going to take it back to her. She can either hang it or use the stand on the back and put it out where she can see it every day.

Now she can enjoy it, instead of having it lying in a drawer somewhere.

This is very easy to do. If you have a piece of jewelry that you don't often wear, this is a way to enjoy it without wearing it. 

I hope that you will give it a try.  It's easy and fun to do.

See you tomorrow.

If All Else Fails....

Do something else... In my case, it was taking photos with my iPad... And trying to send them to myself to put on the blog. 

I couldn't remember how to empty the card of photos that was full on my ELPH... Most irritating.

Walter looked it up for me a couple of weeks ago... I couldn't find the website today..... GRRRRRR....

So I proceeded to take some photos of the other project that I was working on this morning.

I have been dissatisfied with the three bracelet bars that I was putting all of my bracelets on.  The silly things were top heavy and every time I went to get a bracelet to wear, I would knock the whole thing over and likely another one besides. 

So the only solution was to find another way to store the bracelets... Birdcage came to mind.

This one has been sitting on the back porch since April or May when I purchased it at Goodwill.

I decided to experiment... It holds all of the bracelets that the three wobbly stands did and 18 pair of earrings besides!

I can spin it around and see all sides!  I put it in one of my grandmother's black glass dishes.  The dish has a chip out of one side, so I am not worried about messing it up, but with the birdcage on top, it doesn't show. And I like the dish.  Chip or no chip.

I was going to do some more on the kitchen, but Tessie disappeared and I am not doing it all by myself. 

I might just have to go find the tall birdcage that I bought a month or so ago and turn that one into a jewelry display too.  I haven't decided what kind of mini will go in it yet and it may as well be put to good use for the time being.

I'm off to look for Tessie now.  She had better be in the mood to work!  I want to get the cottage finished!  On to something else!

See you tomorrow.

Confessions of a Saturday Slacker...

This is what's left...

It was full of all of my necklaces... Now it's not.

These are the ones that I don't really care for.

I had most of my necklaces hanging in this door. It was hard to find anything and to get them in and out without making a mess.

These are the ones that I do like.  They get a new place to live.
Now about the Mesquite branch.  Walter trims the big tree out front every year.  I help by saving a branch here and there that I think might come in handy.

I have been hanging on to this branch for a couple of years... Now it has a home.

This is the wall that I have to stare at when I take a bath.  I get bored with what is up there quite easily.  It gets changed often.

This was an easy change.  I took down the poster that was hanging there and grabbed the branch.  I hung it up with a couple of pieces of my round leather cord in two places.  Oops, I still need to trim the cord ends.

Anyway, the only time consuming part was hanging the necklaces in an order that I liked.

The mesquite branches have little nubs and thorns sticking out.  Natural hangers. 

Now I have something pleasing to look at all around.

A bonus was finding these two Oriental ivory carvings... I made them into pendants a couple of years ago. I don't know how old they are or the name of the carver, but I like them.  I wore the monkey yesterday and now that I have a place to hang them I will wear them more often.  They are standing on stones from the gem and mineral show.  The monkey is twined in square copper wire and already has a chain.  I need to go find some antique brass chain for the pig.

Now that I know where they are, they will get worn a lot.


Kota woke me up in the middle of the night and I couldn't get back to sleep.  Organization sometime come from that.  I have plans to turn the hall closet into a pantry today also... Thus the lack of minis.

Sorry about that.

See you tomorrow.