Some new goodies.

It's been a sorta jewelry trend for me...

I listed some vintage goodies in the Kiwi shop...

Yes, I DID actually wear these...except for the teeny buddha. I don't recall where I got him. The purple heart choker was a gift, both my sister and I got one.


I didn't use a fancy shmancy clasp. I used THIS instead:
Necessity and all that...


This is just so pretty and interesting....
I don't know how they made the beads, with all the carving and scrolls and cut outs...

But I've also been MAKING some jewelry...

I introduced you to this one last blog post, but I love him too much not to show him off again. This is one of my fave pieces that I've made because it has so much meaning to me personally...

This one here was just a half formed idea I got while roving through my friend SageHealer's shop. She was going to use it, but it didn't quite fit, so I snagged it myself. Glad I did too because this necklace just came together so well. I also bought the Blue Laced Agate beads from her at the same time... The wood beads came from my stash and the turquoise-looking ones are dyed Howlite.

This last one I finished last week, but didn't list it...I hate listing on Etsy...it's so danged long to do and with the new picture thingee it's even more of an aggravation. But my friend Beadlady helped me out there. She called all the way from the West Coast to help me out...Thanks so much. It actually worked. W00t!!

It's part of KickingBear's Circle Challenge. This challenge has been going on since September, but we sorta put it off a bit because of the holidays.
I bought the focal from my friend, Aneurythm. She has a section called her orphans and I raid that alot. As soon as KB announced this challenge and I saw it, I had to use it. The black beads are from my stash too. As are the sterling pieces.

The focal reminds me of the phases of the moon for some reason. It starts out light then goes dark just like the moon phases. It came out really well and Ernie thought that I BOUGHT it!! And another person saw that THEY liked it and they're a jewelry maker. So I did good...

This one isn't finished yet. I had the idea and some of the supplies, but when I went to string the beads, I found out I needed headpins...guess who doesn't HAVE headpins? The beads are carved black bears. They're resin of some sort, I think. The chain is black enamelled, I think, diamond cut to show the silver underneath. So it's gonna be a black and silver anklet or bracelet. I think it'll be nice. I hope...

That's about it for now...don't forget to check out my shops. You never know what I might scrounge up from the cellar or my stash.
www.howlingcaterpillars.etsy.com
www.akiwisilkie.etsy.com

Wellllll...it's been a long time...

But I'm gonna try and be better at letting folks know what I'm up to for my Etsy shops.
I've continued with the Altars in a Jar line.
I have some for Mabon, Samhain, Halloween, and I want to do ones for Beltaine and Imbolc, but I dunno if I'll get to them...I can't seem to find exactly what I want...but I'll keep trying.

I even made one for a Sea Witch which I was in love with. I sold it to a gent in Coventry, England.


It has Gar Scales, Hermit Crab sand...hey it was on sale at work and a nice colour and designer/craft store sand is bloody expensive. There's also shells, sea glass and a vanilla scented candle. The one I REALLY wanted to use was a Yankee Candle one that was oceany scented but it wouldn't fit in...pfft.I bought the pretty blue jars at a yard sale on Federal Street. Woot! I bought her last two, so I can still make one up for me...

Another thing I made up was something I sorta stumbled over...I wasn't really looking and spent way too much, but it came out nice. It can be found in the Kiwi Shop.(www.akiwisilkie.etsy.com)



It's made of a metal and glass candle chimney that's painted to look like wood. It's a bit scratched up, but it added to the interest for me. There's styrofoam balls that are covered in various feathers, and some Cedar scented potpourri with some nuts and pods. This nifty goody is called "Thank Heaven for Little Birds."

There's a fruit bowl I made up for this past Mabon. It's also neat for an altar to Pan with grapes and leaves and a wine scented candle. I really like this one.




Another new project is a take-off of the Feathery Blessings bottles. I made ArchAngel Bottles and Zodiac Bottles. The ArchAngels are made with a gemstone, a feather piece, and Swarovski crystals. They've really come out nice and I've sold a few. The Zodiac Bottles are made with Gemstones that correspond with each sign.
I haven't gotten them all done yet, but that's certainly on the list.



So far I have Three of the ArchAngel bottles still listed, out of 15:
Tzadkiel, Ariel and Uriel.The rest I have made but not listed.
And I have 9 out of 12 of the Zodiac made and listed.



A couple of more new items are a Santiago's Cross Necklace. He DID give approval or I wouldn't have done it. Gracias Senor.
And Trias Magios (Three Magi for those not fluent in Greek) Ornaments.


Santiago's Cross, I made with a metal shell that I got at Michael's and a Sword Pendant that was marked down. I wasn't sure how I was going to use them, but it came together easily. I strung it on a piece of silk fabric.
The Trias Magios Ornaments are hollow hearts that I filled with a gorgeous purple and gold brocade fabric. Purple was a royal colour and Gold was one of the gifts that Gaspar, Melkior and Balthasar brought to the Christ Child. It also has Gold cube beads, and Frankincense and Myrrh resins that I snagged when I went to the St. Catherine's Taverna. Shh...I'll hafta turn in my witch license...They're alot friendlier there than at the place I got hitched and Mike got dunked in...and the Priest is cute too...

That's about it for now...time to watch the Steelers and Ravens...

Ok so it's been longer than a day...

But I've been a busy gal...

I try to make all of the Paganteam Chats and keep things going there...but I'm still creating away...

My newest things are bottles: keychains, or necklaces; ornaments, altars in jars.
I've been doing tons of Challenges between my teams and have joined a Native American Thread, which moves as quickly as a shadow in the dark. But we have tons of fun.

I now have a Facebook account too...my flickr's full and they want $$ to upgrade...pfft.

So here's some of my newest goodies:

Altars in a Jar-Samhain/harvest version:


They have some coloured Sand, incense or candles, silk leaves, fake gourds, all the things that reflect the season.

For the Balance Challenge in September 09 for the PaganTeam, I did a Hunab Ku done in the style of a Mola.









Here's the Feathery Blessings Bottles I've done too:

They have feathers from all of my birdies, and authentic incense from Mount Athos. I've also made ornaments and I wanna do keychains too, and maybe necklaces. I have a Feathery Blessings Keychain.


Around Yule there was an Introspection Challenge from the EAST Team, centring on Introspection. I made a mandella with a Bear ornament, glacier/snow looking fabric and wool...


And there was also a PaganTeam Challenge about the Wheel of the Year, and I had a pair of Wagon Wheels stashed in the cellar. Hmm...this is what I made.

I saved the wishbone from the Xmas turkey; I had some fake bear claws, some buffalo hide and I sent away to Sauk Mountain for Wolf Hair. It came out beautiful.

I've also made some simple necklaces out of pendants I had hanging around...

Another jewelry line is "mood beads". I still have my original one from the 70's.


I think that's enough for now...my brain's turning to mush...enjoy...

It's Been A While...

But I have finally sat down and worked on some more DreamWebs...AND I listed them on Etsy too! Yays.

I made two Easter/Christian ones, a Mardi Gras/Easterish one, a Pirate one, a Breast Cancer one, a Japanese one, and one each for a boy and girl baby.

I also listed some items that I had made from kits. Those are a pair of Talking Feathers, two small traditional DreamCatchers, and a medium sized one. I have to repair a War Bonnet and then I will list that one too.





Faith, the first one comes in light and dark shades. The Boy/Girl ones come in Pink and Blue.





The first one is Pirate themed, in honour of a dear Etsian, Liz Staley. Her NaNoWriMo was lesbian pirate themed. The next one has the colours of Mardi Gras, even though it has a jelly bean print fabric. The last one is Holy Carp! because another Eastie, Avalon, has a tendency to be dyslexic and type crap as carp...LOL But it's more of a homage to all things Japanese...





The only Kanji I was able to translate read, Hope...and that's what the name of that DreamWeb is...

Should I or shouldn't I...

I've gotten wrapped up in a thread that a person started about Gemstones for anxiety...I answered and posted another link to ANOTHER thread...We all gave some input and I recalled the necklace that I had made for my mother's 55th birthday. She had made me mad with all of her crap about "I can't leave Dad alone" "I have to make him dinner" all sorts of martyr Bullshit to prove to herself that she could never have a life of her own...

If I remember correctly, I had just left World of Science and I was still into gemstones and their properties.

She needed courage and spine and even small brass balls couldn't have hurt...

So I found a carved Sterling Silver Lion. She was a Leo (July 25) but never had courage at all.

I learned that Tiger's Eye, Smoky Quartz, Jaspers and such were good for courage and strength.

So I made her this necklace from Leopardskin Jasper, Carnelian, Tiger's Eye, Smoky Quartz, Red Jasper, and Poppy Jasper in Chunks, Balls, Tubes, Lozenges, and Crescents.

But sadly she never got to wear it because my grandfather found her dead in the bathroom ntwo days before her birthday. He thinks she stroked out, but I think she was drunk, got dizzy and fell and broke her neck in falling into the bathtub. That's neither here nor there...

I made myself a set that had some of the stones that I had left over from hers. It's a necklace and earrings that I made from some beads that I bought at Michael's Craft Stores, and others that came from broken earrings that I had bought at World of Science. Come to think of it, I still have some Citrine and Peridot beads...hmmm...gonna hafta to look for those...

My set is made from wooden rice beads, Leopardskin Jasper, and Poppy Jasper.

My conundrum is should I sell these or should I hold onto them? My mother's I wore once and that was at her funeral.

My set, I wore a couple of times. And I don't wear jewelry at work because something would try and eat it.

What do you guys think??

I made my Etsy Avatar into a Plushie...sorta

It's just a prototype, but I wanted to see if I could do it...

It's cute in a primitive sort of way. My DS thinks I should add fangs, but not googly eyes...shrug.

Like I said, except for the Sock Snakes I made for everyone's new babies' way back when this has been my first foray into stuffed critters...I still have a Cocytan from The Dig to make for DS which I promised I'd do 10 years ago and a Triops...

I made him out of Green Fleece and an Autumn Ombre yarn with orange Glitter Stiff Felt for his tummy. His spikes are from the yarn and his body from the fleece and he's stuffed with Polyester Fiberfill. I used my Glue Gun, but if I was going to do him for sale, I might sew him instead...