Bead and Paper

Arty Girlz have started an on-going recycling challenge! The idea of this challenge is to create something from recycled materials. I made a little box from a simple cardboard box. First I glued some cardboard to the box to make it sturdier. Then I covered it with some wrapping paper I got when I bought flowers and saved it as it had a nice floral pattern. The pink parts I painted with acrylics. The piece of ribbon is meant to make it easier to open the box (just pull the ribbon and the cover at the same time ). The box size is about 13×7 cm (5.1×2.8 inch).

 See before and after photos below. Click the after photos to view larger versions.

This is my first contribution to Hiekkaoliivi’s Bird Collage Art group. The quote is from Wayne W. Dyer’s book Everyday Wisdom. The bird in this picture looks so pure and innocent. I’m sure she doesn’t worry about tomorrow or next month. She knows she will be provided.

If you’re interested, view my other images I have at Flickr: Sanna’s Flickr gallery.

See more bird collages here:

I just recently found Arty Girlz Challenge Blog and decided to participate right away! This week’s theme was chocolate. I made a birthday card with a chocolate cake. Because of some nice coincidences the cake turned out looking like a real cake.

It’s been almost a month since my last post in my blog. I’ve had so much work to do that my new blog has been all alone. But not anymore. I started a new bracelet on a loom, but postponed continuing it for now. I have to think more about the model and what kind of clasp to add to it. I’ll post a photo of the first rows of the bracelet later though.

But… I’ve been making some tote bags lately. I don’t know where I got the inspiration. I made 3 almost identical totes. Photos of the first one are below (that’s my own, the others went to my mother and sister). The fabric was super cheap (bought it from a mail catalog sale) and the lining is made of an old sturdy, but damaged and partially stained tablecloth (from the clean parts of course). So, the bags didn’t basically cost anything and recycling old materials is always wise.

I will post more pictures of other totes I’ve made soon. I also made one reversible bag from a cheap, but very opulent looking fabric. Just wait for the new photos… I was going to make some to be sold on the internet, but my family members buy them all before that… Same happened with some necklaces I made. But I know they will run out of money at some point, so maybe in the future there will be something to sell too.

These are my first pieces of jewelry made in a loom. It was surprisingly easy to learn how to do it. I like the technique very much and now that I have done some basic pieces I might try something more advanced. As such these bracelets look quite simple, but I have many ideas for fancier designs already.

I like the white bracelet the most as it has a vintage look, like it was from the 40s or 50s. It still misses a suitable clasp. I hope I’ll find a clasp that adds to the style of the bracelet.

This necklace took longer to make, but it looks quite nice. The design is quite basic, but as it’s made of shiny rainbow seed beads it looks classy. It’s sort of a hippie party jewelry.

If you want to learn how to start making jewelry on a loom, take a look at these books. You can preview a few pages of the first two books at Amazon, so click on the links to take a closer look. The 3rd book teaches also off-loom bead weaving techniques.

I was just checking out some of my favorite websites and noticed that Teesha Moore (one of my craft-artist-idols ) had made a major update to her website. I browsed her new site and found the workspace of my dreams. This is what I want too, a huge room (or many!) to work in, surrounded by creations already completed and those still waiting to be finished, and a huge arsenal of supplies and tools to work with. I have a lot of crafting supplies, but not nearly as much as she has. Thanks for the inspiration, Teesha!

I wish

• to have more time for making crafts
• to find new friends online or offline who like making beautiful things
• to find out how to be able to stop working for others, doing things they want me to do, and instead start doing what I want to do — it’s about time I did that!
• everyone reading this will find out what they *really* want to do in their life and find the means for making it real!

Happy New Year 2008!