Birthday Present

Happy Saturday! Just a quick post for today because it is Saturday and we have lots to do. Last Saturday was my mom's birthday. Happy Birthday Mom! I made her this fun sewing notebook. I didn't want to post it until she had opened her present so that's why I am just getting around to it now.

My mom is a quilter and I thought it would be nice for her to have a sewing notebook to jot down all of her ideas in. I patched some fabric scraps together to make the cover and sewed on the vintage sewing machine picture. I added one of my buttons for the closure. There is a ribbon coming from the back of the book the she can pull to the front and wrap around the button. I used my Bind-it All to join it all together. I love that tool!

She was really happy with her gift.

Have a great day,

What's New

Hey, Hey,

These are the new beads I was working on last weekend. I am really happy with the way the turned out.

This is how it all started. It was beautiful outside and Birkley wanted to make clay animals. We sat out in our back porch and played with clay. I have been thinking about snails quite a bit lately, I am not sure why, but they just keep popping my head. I took that as a sign and I thought I would work on some snail beads while Birk was playing. Well, I think my snail turned out pretty cute and I thought he needed some wood land friends. I looked around because I live in the woods and Birk and I came up with more and more things I could make to go with my snail. Hence the woodland bead collection was born. It was a challenge to glaze them because they would usually be beads that would be more earthy and muted in color. But come on.... I don't make beads like that! So I painted them up in bright colors and put as many polka dots and stripes as I could on them. I think the owls are my favorite. I am working on a project with him for my upcoming newsletter as we speak. So what do you think?

Birkley had more suggestions like slugs and snakes but I didn't think anyone would want slug charms.

And about my picture at the top. I found that sweet little patch of fuzzy moss in the woods, I new before I even had the beads out if the kiln that I had to photograph them on that. I had to lay down in mud to get that picture but I think it was worth it. I just hope the neighbors weren't watching me. Oh, the glamorous life of an artist.

Have a great day,
Jennifer

Happy

Good Morning! Yippee! I get to tell you all about my new adventure. You're guesses were all so good, I would love to have some pottery barn dishes, stationary, or bed linens.

Jen guessed first thing, so you're the winner, send me your address.

I have a line of fabric coming out. My line called "Happy" will be available for sale in independent quilt shops all over the world, as well as my matching buttons. Unfortunately, I can't show you all 25 fabrics right now. We are still tweaking them but soon I will be able to show them all off to you. In The Beginning Fabrics will have them for order at the end of March. These are wholesale orders only so if you want your quilt shop to carry them, start asking now and they will be able to order them soon.

If you are a quilter, sewer, or have ever thought about trying it out, stick around I will start throwing in some more sewing/quilting projects into the blog. Don't worry beaders, nothing is changing here with Jangles beads. I will still be beading away.



The winner of the beads for the random commenter is Lauren Nicole. Jen and Lauren send me your addresses at jennifer(at)jangles.net and I will mail out your beads.

Have a great day,

Spring A Ding Ding

I hate to do this to those of you who live up north but.. oh my gosh we had a beautiful weekend! It was warm and sunny and we spent the whole two days outside. Look at one of my trees above...those are buds. After doing the usual spring yard clean up the boys and I got to crafting.

I got out my paints because we had a end table that was bare wood! Can you believe it? In my house...well it wasn't bare for long. I painted it up in some bright colors and then varnished it. It's a bit smelly still, but it's coming in soon.

Well I can't show you what I did next. Birkley and a friend wanted to make clay things so we got out the clay on the back porch. I had a 20 pound bag and I think he used 15 of those pounds making animals, dishes, etc. I was so inspired by the spring weather and birds chirping I made some springy beads too. I really like how they turned out, so now the pressure is on to glaze them just as cute. The wrong glaze can really screw a cute bead up. :) I will have them glazed in the next few days and then I will be able to show you pictures, until then, I leave you a picture of Otis. He is wearing a bee costume that Birkley wore when he was two. He is happy spring is coming too, he's just not showing it in the picture.

Thanks for all of your great guesses about my new adventure. I will give you the scoop tomorrow.

Have a great day,
Jennifer

A New Adventure and a Give Away

EEEEEK! I am super duper excited about this! I have been wanting to share this news for so long but I have had to keep things a secret. I have a new adventure that I am smack dab in the middle of. What is it you ask? I'm not going to tell, I am going to see if you can guess. The picture above is a hint and the picture below is what you could win if you guess correctly. Leave me a comment here and the first person who guesses correctly will win these beads. You have until Monday to guess, I will let you know the winner and tell you all about my new adventure on Tuesday. Just to keep everyone guessing, I decide to add another set of beads, I will choose a random commenter to win these beads, so even if someone has guessed your guess you still will have a chance to win.
Good luck,

Sweet Treat Jars

Good Morning!
I didn't get all the way done with my springy crafts, but I did realize I have a bunch of crafty, beady projects from last year that never made the blog. Seriously, I make things all the time and I just can't always stop to photograph them. I made some holiday jars like this before, these are the same concept but they are ready for spring.

In a nutshell, they are mason jars that I painted the lids and glued some trims on. I poked a hole into the center of the lid and strung a wire through it. I strung the ceramic flowers, seed beads, and leaves onto wire and twisted off the top. I think these would be so cute as a gift filled with sweets.

While you're here reading...I had my painting night the other week and totally forgot to take pictures. Genevieve Gail who came posted her painting on her blog. She made us all look bad when she painted this really snazzy boat for her husband's valentine gift.

Come back tomorrow for another give-away...

Home At Last

Good Day! I am back from the Buyers Market, what a trip that was. It's always good to see old friends, but getting there was a whole other story. I was suppossed to arrive last Wednesday but the blizzard hit the east coast. After four flight cancellations, I finally got out on Thursday. I arrived just in time for my train to be cancelled because of snow, so I took a shuttle bus through some really scary snowy streets to make it to the convention center in Philadelphia. I sat up my booth while the Jewelers Preview was going on. That's okay because the buyers couldn't get there either! The show went as well as it could considering the crazy weather, we did eventually have buyers. I did get to travel home Monday night like I was supposed to but I was a few hours late because of de-icing and more snow. I have to say when I touched down in Atlanta and saw all the snow here had melted I was pretty happy.

Today is sorting orders, cleaning up the studio(yes it is still leaking), and getting organized. With all of this junky weather, I am so ready for spring, I feel some flowery bright springy, I-hate-winter posts coming. I am feeling inspired to bust out the flower beads. I'll let you know what I come up with tomorrow.

Have a great day, I am so happy to be home,

Winner

The winner of my springy flower beads is Beth F . E-mail me at jennifer(at)jangles.net with your address and I will mail your beads out to you right away. Thanks every one for your comments. Make sure you keep stopping by the blog because I will be having another give away this week but this one you have to use your brain for.

A New Quilt

Hey, Hey,

I mentioned that I started another quilt this past week. I snapped a photo the other day of my cut pieces. I think the cutting is my favorite part because I have to decide which colors to use. You all know I love color. Here's what I have so far, believe it or not this is going to be a more muted quilt....ha ha I know for some of you it will still be crazy bright.

I have a goal of making four quilts, my hubby had the brilliant idea of making a cool quilt rack for the living room. It's going to be all folk art-y( is that a word?) We want it to hold four quilts then we can all choose which quilt we want to use and they will be displayed like a piece of art. I have a long way to go since I only have one quilt made. Of course, I will keep you posted on my progress.

Have a great day,
Jennifer

Giveaway Friday

Hey, Hey

I thought it would be fun to have a little giveaway. Why not right? Spring is coming, really it is. I have to keep telling myself that because of all the snow and cold that we've all been dealing with. It is around the corner so to get everyone in the mood I busted out the flowers! If you leave me a comment today you will be entered to win this set of flower beads.

Make sure if your post name is anonymous or sue or something that I won't be able to figure out you leave me your name in your comment. I don't want anyone to miss out on the opportunity to win. You can comment until Monday the 15th and I will pick a winner on Tuesday morning.

Good Luck!

Luna Park Beads

Hi there, I mentioned last week that Art Bead Scene was having a design challenge. It was my month to choose the painting we would all create jewelry from and I chose Luna Park by Vestie Davis. You all know I am in love with folk art so of course I would choose a piece for the challenge. After choosing the painting I decided to challenge myself and come up with a bead that was similar to the pinwheels in the painting. That is my favorite part of the painting. These beads are the result. I have added some sets to the Etsy shop, they are all a little different so check them out here.
Have a good one,

Free Project and a Snow Day

Good Morning! Well I am supposed to be on my way to Philadelphia, but there is a blizzard and the airports are shut down today. I am hoping to fly out tomorrow. So today is going to be a catch up and play day. I have lots of things I have wanted to get to and today is the day to get them done. First on my list was to get this free project up. It's my new Carnival Necklace. What do you think? I am in love with it because it packs a ton of color and this time of year we all need some color.
If you want to make this necklace you can scroll down to the post below this one and click on the image. It will open it in a separate window and you can print it out. Super cool, eh? I also added some sets of these fun beads to my Etsy shop. I kind of wanted to keep them for myself, but I can't make a living that way.

Have fun!

Carnival Necklace, Printable Project

Hey There! I promised you'd be seeing more of these wonderful felt balls in my work. And here they are! Yipee. This is a free project that you can print. You can print it today by clicking on the above image it will enlarge the photo and tell your computer to print it. If you come back another day and want to print it, scroll down the blog, you'll see a projects widget and below it will be a picture of this necklace. Click on it. It will bring you back to this post where you can again double click on the picture and print it. How easy is that? I plan to add more projects over the next few months so check back often for more inspiration.

Oh, and if you're looking for the supplies for this necklace, check out the Etsy shop. I have added some sets to make this necklace. If you're just interested in the ceramic components you can find them at the Jangles website.

Have fun!

Getting Ready

Hey, Hey,

Today was the last day to get ready before the Buyers Market. I have catalogs to put together, jewelry to price, and orders to ship. I woke up to an e-mail saying my flight has been cancelled. There a big ol snowstorm hitting Philly tonight and tomorrow. I was given a later flight but I am not holding my breath on this one either. We will just wait and see. I guess the good news is I am at home not sitting in an airport somewhere.

Of course my mind is thinking about all of the things I could do tomorrow morning ....

I started another quilt, so I could sew. I could catch up on my studio work, I could get started on my taxes. Hmm...

Craft Night

Hey Hey...Last night was Girl's night at my house. We decided to do some painting. I gathered up all my paints and brushes and we went to work. It was loads of fun and everyone is ready to come back for more. Nik snapped this photo when we were getting started and then we got so into talking and painting, I completely forgot to take more pictures. I guess I will have to try harder next time. But above is my painting from last night, still working on it I think. I might have to glue some stuff to it, but I am still thinking.

Birkley, my little crafter couldn't stand the thought of us painting without him so I let him do a little pre party painting. He painted a tree and a letter. He is coming home from school today ready to paint more, he's a die hard crafter like his momma.


Everybody have a good day! I'll be back soon,

Design Challenge

Over at the Art Bead Scene we have just announced the February design challenge, and this month is a panting I chose titled Luna Park. You can read all about the painting, the artists, and the design challenge here. I hope you enter, I am working up some deigns in my head now....hopefully they will turn into actual jewelry soon! My plans include some of the new polka dot beads I made with the turquoise and red....oh I wish my studio wasn't torn apart or I would be designing today. I hope you enter and I can't wait to see what you come up with.



And as a bonus, if you enter there are prizes to be won and my beads are one of the prizes. Yippee!



Have a good one,

Books!

Happy Ground Hogs Day! I don't know about where you live but here we will not being seeing the groundhogs shadow today. You could probably guess it's raining here. But if there was any day I wanted it to be cloudy today is the day. I am ready for spring and this means it's coming early.

I have been meaning to mention to super cool books for about a month now...I am just a little slow. There's probably one that you need to get your paws on. If you're a seed beader, you most likely have Beth Stones first book, Seed Bead Stitching. This is a follow up with More Seed Bead Stitching...hee hee that's the title too. I am drooling over the book and I am dieing for a road trip because that's when I bust out my seed bead projects. I will be picking something from this book for sure. She uses a lot of bright colors ands it just fabulous. Oh and as a bonus, I was some of Beth's Inspiration. She took a look at my tube necklace(above) and wanted to create one similar in seed beads. You can see my necklace and hers in the book. How cool!

This book, is more for you art beaders. I fall into this category, just in case you were wondering. :) This book is absolutely full of designs. You name it it's in here. Barb has done a great job, of putting together a wide array of work in this book. It's great inspiration for beaders of every skill level. Oh and yes....I have a few designs in the book. I have a Halloween bracelet and a bright flowery set. Check it out!

Well, It's off to work on drainage problems today...

Here's wishing you an early spring,