Love

Some things I’m loving right now in no particular order:

* Trader Joe’s Peaberry Coffee- grinding the beans and making at home. It’s helping me curb my addiction to buying coffee out. I used to spend SO much $ buying iced espresso 2x’s a day. Yep. So this is helping me with my new budget.

* My new life- working towards my goals and creating full time. Even though the new budget mentioned above limits from some luxuries my husband and I had gotten used to (going out to eat yummy breakfasts every weekend with soy lattes and mimosas and egg white scrambles, oh my! haha, dinner, lots o’ coffee, books, movies, etc.). Working full time for my self is totally worth it and eventually it will pay off and we can add the old luxuries back in little by little ;)

* Creating with wire. It’s fun. Also frustrating, but sometimes you create something new on accident that you like even better than originally planned. I like to switch my mediums up quite often but the past week or two I just keep picking up that wire even when I sit down to work with fabric.

* My early morning walks/yoga. It’s just the most beautiful way to start your day :)

* My city. I love Los Angeles. I’ve been living here for over 6 years but I still find something new every day and I love that. I was in Echo Park the other day and I hadn’t been over there in a while and I fell in love with it all over again. I also recently got acquainted with the fabric/fashion/jewelry district in downtown where there are TONS of places to buy supplies at discounted wholesale type prices. Thanks Mark Montano for introducing me to that area!

* My husband doing this silly dance in the doorway of the living room. I make him do it often to make me giggle. It’s hilarious! I would post a picture of it but I think he would have me killed ;)

 

Now I invite you to list what you love right now, whether in the comments or create a blog post and share the link here. Let’s spread the vibration of LOVE around as its the highest vibration and great for manifesting MORE of what we love. Ready, set, GO!

 

xo

 

Julie

Inspired Ideas

I’m a new age junkie, for real. I love it all. Energy work, meditation, frequencies, vibrations, la la la lala. You know what I’m talking about.  I like to get inspired by all things metaphysical while I create, while creating with source energy. It’s a full circle experience. A few years ago I made a 7 chakra pendant out of clay and acrylic paint.

 

And last night I sat down and quickly created this 7 chakra bracelet by 1) knitting a simple base bracelet (3 rows knit stitch for the desired length- then stitch the ends together to form the bracelet loop! easy peasy!) 2) needle felting little rounds of colored wool roving directly into the knit bracelet.

 

 

Isn’t it super fun to look at? 

This is a super easy project for a beginner knitter and felter, but if you aren’t up for the challenge I’d be delighted to craft you one! Click HERE to view the 7 Chakra bracelet in my Etsy shop :)

 

Thanks so much for looking! Be sure to follow my blog and stay tuned for tutorials and giveaways and new shop listings :)

 

xo

 

Julie

Volcano!

Ok so I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this previously but I’m a pretty huge rock nerd. I studied geology in college and it was love at first rock. I’ve been known to make inappropriate advances toward rock and mineral specimens. (in a joking way, of course. i think. anyway.) It’s something about the history of it all that just mesmerizes me. These prehistoric minerals and rocks created during crazy early earth times- it’s just amazing. Think of what they have experienced. I know not all rocks have been around foreverrrr but you know what I mean. Oh and fossils, don’t even get me started on those…ooooh boy.
So anyway, yesterday I picked up some wire and some pumice stones (a volcanic rock- you may know of it as a wonderful exfoliant for your skin) and created this:

another view:

Patch of dry skin? No problem, buff it up with your trusty pumice ring! Haha.
My husband said “This one is…ugh. Not pretty.” Haha. I of course told him it’s not always about being “pretty” in a traditional sense. I would describe it as “neat”, and I like neat things. And I hope other neat people out there can appreciate neat too!!
Oh and even better, this could be made for a guy too! I would make the wire band a little less fem.
What do you think?
Love it? View it for purchase in my Etsy shop here.
Be sure to add me to your blog reading list to stay updated on new listings, chances for giveaway, and exclusive coupon codes for blog followers!!
xo

Julie

Wired

Hello! Hope everyone is doing well. It's nearly been a week since the last day at my job. I find that time moves much faster without a traditional job! NOooooo. This isn't good.

So the other night as I was falling asleep I got this like download from the universe or something to create some new wire pieces.  So I hopped right out of bed and started creating!  I can't wait to roll them all out but for now, here is my first official one just listed in my Etsy shop.

Isn't the design so simple and sweet?

Anyone else work with wire? I'd love any tips you may have. I just kind of make it up as I go :)


xo

Julie

New Routine

So it's day 3 of my new position as self employed artisan. I've gotta say, I'm loving it however I am still working on getting into my groove. I'm trying to use the first week or so just really organizing my craft area and supplies in order to streamline my productivity.

 I've been waking up between 6 and 6:30 which I LOVE to get the day going like that. Maybe I should even wake up earlier. Yesterday I went on a walk first thing around the beautiful reservoir in my neighborhood and this morning I did some yoga in my livingroom. Such a wonderful way to start the day! Then came back to make coffee and have some toast and take my husband to work. It's nice.

(I took this yesterday morning- sun coming up over the hill and a tractor mowing the grass at the park)

 I spent a large part of the day adding new listings to my Etsy shop that I hadn't gotten around to before so that's good.

(a precious little floral mini tote, available HERE)

I think I will need to pre-structure my days in order to get the most out of them. I'm also thinking maybe planning a weekly blog perhaps even with tutorials and such.

So to all of you self employed artists out there, I am accepting any advice you may have as to keeping yourself streamlined/efficient/productive. It would be much appreciated :)

xoxo

Julie ooolie oooh (that's how my Grandma addresses me in birthday cards. hilarious!)

New Adventures

Exciting news folks! After this Tuesday I will no longer be working as a nanny in order to pursue my handmade business full time as well as teaching craft classes with the amazing Mark Montano!

Hopefully I will have wonderful updates on that soon and on that note, I should be able to actually update my blog much more often. YAY!

No surprise I've picked up another technique to obsess over: needle felting! Yup. It is sooo amazingly cathartic to stab the shit out of the wool fibers with the needle. Haha. Oh and I've been lucky enough not to "stab the shit" out of my fingers. Hopefully my next blog won't be a photo of a bloody finger ;)

Exhibit A: Knit and Needle Felted Necklace

Pin It

Another View

This piece can be viewed for purchase HERE :)

Yay! More to come!

Mother’s Day

Not gonna lie, I’m super proud of this design.

Inspired by Mother’s Day and my own mother’s love for this particular shade of green, I created this lovely spring time scarf for her :)

Will there be many days in hot, humid Texas this spring for her to wear it? Nah, probably not. But will she love it anyway?

I think so :)

Who else crafted up something lovely for their mom?

A New Addiction

Well, I’ve decided to fully embrace my crafting ADD. It’s a new year, a new season and the weather has been just lovely here in Los Angeles!

I’ll let the photos tell the story of my newest  obsession: knitting!

P.s. For those of you interesting in learning to knit and happen to live in the LA area, or for those of you who already knit, please check out: The Little Knittery of Atwater Village where I learned to knit in a 2 hour class about a month ago :)
 


Bows!

 

         

&




Belt! <-- click for Etsy shop listing!





Ruffle!  <-- click for Etsy shop listing!


More to come soon, must get back to the yarn and needles :)

Well helloooo

2011? Whoa.

Apparently I took a leave of blogging absence. I'm going to blame the holidays.

Here are a few things I've been working on. It is definitely time to get back into serious crafting mode!

So a recent interest: I've been dappling in wire wrapping. Oh goodness, and clay I forgot that I picked up my clay towards the end of the year and went kind of nuts with that and have a ton of finished clay pieces laying around sadly waiting to be turned into a piece of jewelry! Eek. Glad I'm writing this blog and reminded myself about this. Oh boy.

Anyway the piece above has two faux pearls and, well, a clay center in blue.

This one is a simple style with one faux pearl.

So I have acquired a ring mandrel to wrap the wire around for size and shape. Super neat. I just have to get the technique down. I bought a book for that. My crafting ADD is insane as usual. I will get really into something and acquire bits of knowledge and materials and then get distracted/involved/immersed in something else.

I love this piece. It is a pressed flower under glass tile backed with vintage lace. I actually just listed it here in my etsy shop!

Anyway. Taadaa. I hope to post again soon! Stay posted.

Pumpkin Patch!

Yay. Fun times at the Pumpkin Patch. If you live in the Los Angeles or especially the Orange County area you should really go check out Tanaka Farms in Irvine. They have an awesome “U-pick” pumpkin patch set up right now and they have year round “U-pick” veggies.

So invigorating pulling those veggies right out of the soil. Mmmm.

I am actually at this very moment enjoying a little soup I brewed up using the veggies I picked yesterday plus a little chicken, broth, rosemary, celery seed and some other seasonings. I simmered it for a long time and wow. So good. The carrots are like melt in your mouth soft. YUM. Kind of proud of myself actually ;)

It’s been a lovely weekend. Don’t want it to end. Matt has been enjoying some Oktoberfest beers and I have been sipping on mimosas and coffee most of the day. Oh AND I got an awesome mirror for the livingroom at Goodwill today!

Anyway. Enjoy the photos. A lot of fun can be had editing and putting filters on the photos with Photoscape. Which is a free download by the way ;)

View of the patch. It’s actually even bigger than this, I just couldn’t get it all in one photo :)



This is Harvey, our pick of the patch. Isn’t he handsome? I felt he deserved photo editing and framing :)



A close up of the veggies we picked. Baby onions, carrots, green beans and radishes. See the soil?



Me holding the veggies after picking them.  This photo was supposed to be more background, less me- but that’s what happens when you hand your camera over to the husband ;)



The end :)

Being busy is Lovely

I’m writing via Windows Live Writer- testing it out to see what it is all about as I have heard great things about it!

Feels good so far ;)

It’s that lovely time of year where Etsy sales pick up! I love it.

I made my 36th sale yesterday, which isn’t a lot by any means but it is still exciting!

So, as of yet I really don’t have a set, uniform way of preparing or packaging the items that I sell.

I sort of use each sale as an opportunity to get creative and come up with packaging for that particular sale.

So a week or so ago I sold this “View of Earth from Space” pendant (the 2nd one of this model I have sold this year!) and I decided to sew up a little muslin bag (I don’t use a certain pattern or anything, I just sort of wing it) and lately I have been obsessed with hand stamping fabric. It’s way fun. You should try it.

Also- I love getting to use my custom shop stamp, made earlier this year by BlossomStamps on Etsy.

I recently got the funky tree stamp (used on the muslin bag) during one of my (waaay too often) runs to the craft store.

 

Anyway. Just thought I would share this idea with the rest of you, since I know many of you are Etsy sellers yourselves and you just might be looking for something new to do when packaging up your goodies!

Time for sleep. Going to a concert at the Hollywood Bowl tomorrow night with the husband to see LCD Soundsystem, Hot Chip, and Sleigh Bells. Yay.

A night alone...

It's night #1 without Matt (he is working the screenwriting expo put on by the mag he works for) and I've cleaned out our closet! You can get a lot of stuff done when you have no one to distract you.

The most awesome part is that I took like 3 or 4 shirts that I haven't worn in a while because I just didn't find them to be very flattering or interesting and cut them up to redesign them. I can't wait to come up with a tutorial and post in a blog for everyone!

More good news, yesterday and today I sold the same pair of shoe clips on Etsy! Both buyers were from Australia. I love that! I might not get to go there anytime soon, but I like knowing that something I've made does. I guess I should be jealous of the shoe clips?

What do you think? I love them- I made my own pair and wear them almost everyday.

They are so fun to wear!

They have this magical way of making you feel daintily adorable ;)

They are pictured here in comfy flats, but they also look great on heels!

They are for sale in my Etsy shop for $14!

Better get to work making the pair I sold tonight!!

Autum is in the air...

As I'm sitting here watching Jon Stewart rip on that idiot Rick Sanchez, I thought I might as well blog.  I find the Daily Show to be quite inspiring and think that it should be required watching by all Americans :)

(the last batch of "fancy" brooches I sent my mother in law a few weeks ago)

I've been getting down and dirty with crafting lately and I couldn't be happier. My "fancy" brooches are selling quite well at my mother in laws' boutique which is so exciting. I need to start expanding and try to get into boutiques here locally in Los Angeles, anyone have any tips or advice on approaching boutiques?

(a closer look)

Matt will be staying at the Hilton waaaay over near LAX starting this Thursday night  for the screenwriting expo put on by the magazine he works for, so while he is gone, though I will miss him dearly and will probably get scared during the night (what? you can be 28 and afraid of the dark, right?) I plan on doing a serious organization project as well as serious crafting. I am going to stay with him Saturday night though atleast.

I did a much needed photo shoot yesterday on some pieces I've made lately that I've just been too busy with the fancy brooches to list in my Etsy shop but I've finally gotten a few listed last night and today. Yay.

My Autum Leaf Hair Clip or Brooch, availabe here in my Etsy shop.

And as a brooch :)

I'll post some of the other ones tomorrow perhaps. Way sleepy right now. Goodnight!

yay for RED

How awesome, my retro red and white shoe clips were featured in a lovely red themed treasury on Etsy.

I made them with the fabric from a vintage blouse and added a little white tulle ;)

These are listed here in my Etsy shop but I'll have to make my own pair. I got some awesome vintage flats at Goodwill yesterday that these will look fantastic on. They also look great on these vintage heels!

I'm so glad shoe clips are part of my life now. As of this moment I'm declaring them the greatest accessory. So there! Whats your favorite accessory?

Sentimental Stitches

I made this hair clip for my little sister's birthday. Her birthday was on the 7th but shhh whatever.

I was trying out new techniques- which by the way this weekend I got crazy with some new carnation style fabric flowers- photos to come soon!

I love the colors in this piece!

Not only will this be a gift of fashion for my sis it will also be a gift of sentiment. My nephew Oliver picked the flower I used in the center piece when they were out for a visit last summer so it will be extra special for his mommy ;)

Happy (late) birthday sister!

Is it only Wednesday? Hmm.

I got off of work a little early today so to take advantage of the extra time I decided to work on some product photos. A few that had not yet been photographed and some that needed some serious re-photographing.

I just worked on these the other night- they will probably be used as center pieces for more of my brooches mentioned here. I absolutely LOVE working with the pressed flowers/leaves again. I'm almost out so I picked some more flowers and leaves to press yesterday while out on a walk :)

I had actually forgotten about this pendant I made earlier this spring I believe. Its an earth made with white, blue, and green polymer clay attached to a circular glass tile. I didn't have my new camera at the time I made it so the photos needed an upgrade!

I made this wood burning semi recently and originally attached a hair comb to the back to wear in your hair but it just didn't quite work out the way I had hoped so I removed it and experimented around a bit and ended up taking a small strip of fabric and drilling tiny screws to secure it. Quite fun actually!

Anyway now it can be more versatile:

(click this one to see it enlarged for better detail!)

And around the neck:

Goodnight!

-Julie