Wrap bracelets

They've been around for ages, and hadn't particularly appealed to me, but then a friend of mine came home from a trip to the US with one and it was fine and so pretty and all faceted semi-precious beads — much nicer "in the flesh" than the pics I'd seen on line. My friend said, "You should make one of these."

So I did. I made the first one with leftover beads — some semi-precious, some antique beads and various others. And I wore it and liked it and decided I needed another one in greens, because I'm very fond of wearing green. And then I saw some pink freshwater pearls with large enough holes for a needle to pass through —  I love pearls, but all mine are so finely drilled a needle and thread won't go through them — so I bought them and made a third bracelet.

Here they are tastefully displayed on a paper towel roll. A few friends have delicately hinted they wouldn't object to a wrap bracelet coming their way, so I guess I'll be making them for a little while longer. I don't make jewelry for sale, only for friends and only to entertain myself if I'm watching TV or  mulling over a plot problem. I think if I sold it, it would take all the fun out of it.

Making stuff

In my downtime I pursue a range of crafts -- not for any reason except that I enjoy it, and because sometimes when I'm concentrating on doing something fiddly with my hands, it helps me sort out story ideas and plot problems.

One of the "craft" things I do is to make necklaces and bracelets and earrings — not for sale, but just for fun. And sometimes for friends. At the moment my passion is for rough-cut crystals and semi-precious stones and though I already have plenty of jewelry in these materials, I keep making more in different combinations -- just because I can. And because I enjoy it.

I made the bracelet above last night. It contains rough-cut amethyst, quartz crystals, chrysoprase and a couple of baroque pearls. Might have to make a necklace to go with it. 

I made the combo above back in December for a Christmas outing with friends -- red coral, lapis, chrysoprase, crystals and malachite. Funny how the light and the automatic camera shows things so differently -- both pics are of jewelry taken on the same untreated balsa wood tray. One pic shows it as white, the other as yellow -- and the greenish chrysoprase stones in both pics are from the same batch.

Do you follow any craft that gives you pleasure?

More Paper Earrings

Several times I've made paper earrings from my book covers, for me, and also for a few of my friends. Book award time coming up, I had a request from another friend for earrings made from the cover of her award-nominated book. So I made them.

I put them on FB and it provoked interest from a couple of other friends. So here are some more - the covers and the earrings. Kelly Hunter's RBY final What The Bride Didn't Know — a wonderful book— and her two books for Tule Publishing, both of which I loved — and they had such pretty covers I had to make them into earrings, too.

And BTW the blue bikini one —The Honeymoon Trap—is on special for the next few days at 99c and it's fabulous - set at a gaming convention and so sexy and funny.

Can you match the earrings with the covers?

And Trish Morey's RBY finalist book - A Price Worth Paying. I couldn't decide which cover to use, so I made both.

I'd already made some tiny books of my own RITA nominated Autumn Bride cover for last year's conference, so that'll do for me. Unless I get inspired again tonight — I make things in front of the TV when I'm relaxing.

But I did make some tiny earrings out of some leftover Japanese paper and I think they look pretty gorgeous, don't you?

Trifles — and something exciting.

No, I'm not talking about the dessert made of cake, jelly, fruit and custard that I used to see when I was a kid; I'm just talking about small things— paper earrings — and then I remembered I should mention something not so small, and quite exciting (for me, anyway.)

 I haven't been posting a lot recently, as I'm deep in book-world, but I thought I'd just dive in quickly with a small insignificant thing -- ie a trifle.

Last year, for the ARRA (Australian Romance readers Conference) I made a few origami-style paper earrings from the cover of my books, and gave them away. I blogged about it here. So this year I made some more paper ones, only in a different style — little paper Autumn Bride books.

I'm thinking of going to the US to the RWA National Conference in Atlanta in July, so my question is, should I make some paper earrings to give away there? 

Oh, and I just realized I haven't put this on the blog — the something exciting — why might I go to the US conference? Because my book, BRIDE BY MISTAKE is a finalist in the RITA competition, the romance writers' Oscar, which I'm thrilled about. 

So. . . decisions, decisions.

Creative Procrastination

In my Twitter profile I call myself a creative procrastinator and it's true. There are times when I'm trying to nut out a scene or a plot point when I have to drag myself away from the writing arena and do something else — take a walk, or if it's raining or night-time, do some kind of fiddly craft activity. I find fiddling with small things helps free up the muse.

As well, if I'm watching TV I like to do something else at the same time. My mother was the same. In her case it was knitting, but I'm no knitter, so for me it's fiddling with small things — usually dolls' house stuff, or making Christmas decos or jewelry or on the odd occasion, I'll crochet.

These days it's mostly making jewelry and I thought I'd share with you this pearl set I made recently, while watching a Burn Notice DVD. I made it for the Romance Writers of Australia silent auction fundraiser. We've been doing this at the RWAustralia annual conference for years now since the first one was organized on the initiative of Harlequin author Carol Marinelli.

We usually raise money for medical research that will benefit women — we've raised heaps for research into breast cancer and ovarian cancer but this year the money will be going to the Heart Foundation. I did wonder if I should make something in red — a red coral necklace, perhaps, but in the end I went back to pearls and a crystal heart, though not pink pearls for a change. The pearls are baroque pearls, because I love their individual shapes and the tiny silken ripples on their surfaces.

One of the first necklaces I ever made was the black and white pearl necklace I'm wearing in my blog photo.  I'd never been a big fan of pearls until my dad bought me a triple string of white pearls interspersed with small chips of black jet. I love black and white and these were funky pearls, not boring,  and I wear them a lot. That's why when I came to make my first pearl necklace, I put in some black beads as well. I often mix my dad's pearls with the ones in my photo.

Below are some pieces I've made for the auctions in past years. Since they were for a "pink" (ie women's cancer) fundraiser, I mostly used pink pearls and crystals. I like to make them a bit different every year.

And below are the ones I made in 2010 for the silent auction - a mix of pink real pearls and white synthetic pearls.

This one was to raise money for  flood victims —grey pearls and crystals.

And the woven pink pearl necklace and bracelet was for last year's pink auction.

So it's fun for me to do, and nice that some money is raised for a good cause.

So what about you — do you do any craft? Are you a skilled procrastinator? Are you fond of pearls? Do you think I should make something in red for the silent auction, seeing the theme is heart health and we're supposed to wear red on the day?

Buttons

I wrote a post about buttons on Word Wenches a short while back and I searched everywhere for some entertaining/interesting and copyright-free pics of buttons. I ended up tipping out the old button jar and taking some pics of those buttons, but wouldn't you know it, a short time later I bumped into a friend of mine and she was wearing this gorgeous button-decorated top.

Too late to put the pic up on WordWenches, but not too late to share it here. Isn't it pretty?

Would you wear these?

I watched a movie on TV last night, and because I like to do stuff while I'm watching TV, I tried making some paper earrings out of my book covers. Each one only takes a few minutes. They're a miniature version of the paper decorations I made for Christmas one year.

 I thought they might be fun to give away at the ARRA convention I'm attending in a couple of weeks time.

Can you identify the books they're from?

 #1

#2

#3

#4

Here they all are together, hanging off a coffee mug.

What do you think? Should I take them to ARRA? Is it a dumb idea? 

Would you ever wear something like this?

Leave a comment or match the earrings with the books, and I'll pick someone to receive a pair of earrings made of whatever cover you want.

Post script: After Trish Morey's comment,  I made these from her book covers and some for another author friend. I gave my earrings away at ARRA and they were such a hit I might make some to take to New York in June.

Quick, fun Halloween craft

We don't really do Halloween downunder. My first ever sight of a carved pumpkin Jack O'Lantern was in Scotland when we lived there for a year when I was a kid. I loved them, longed for one, even butchered a hapless pumpkin in my 8 year old fervour for one. A desperate failure, I suspect and I've never had one since.

The country where they really go all out for Halloween activities is the USA. And influenced by US TV,  the kids here are starting to pick it up. What's not to like about dressing up, scaring people and the legalized taking of sweets from strangers? The only problem is that when the local kids go trick-or-treating and knock on doors, they often get blank looks. Or a diatribe about it not being our tradition and watching too much American TV.

A couple of years ago I was heading off to the supermarket and I saw a small gang of kidlets down the end of my street dressed as ghosts and ghouls and pumpkins, clearly going trick-or-treating, and though I kind of agree with the "not-our-tradition" folks, it's a bit of fun for kids, and these kids had gone to a lot of trouble and looked really cute,  so I bought some chocolates and lollies for when they got to my house.

I was only gone half an hour, and it was still light when I got home, but my door got nary a knock.
So there I was with a small pile of the sort of stuff I try not to buy or bring into the house. What to do with it all? Oh, the dilemma!

Anyway, since I enjoy crafts, and in my neck of the woods we're in for a long, wet weekend, I thought I'd share a few easy, kid-friendly halloween crafts. They're all in paper, so cheap, fun and easy is the theme.

 If you have any littlies who want masks, there are some good, simple ones here.

You might want to make a lovely Halloween decoration — collect a bunch of interesting twigs, spray paint them black and hang the paper decorations below from them. Easy, gorgeous and cheap.

The decorations below are printable and downloadable free from the craft ideas site. There are lots more good ideas on this site.

Here's a downloadable paper origami cat that comes in black or marmalade — just print it off, cut fold and glue — dead easy. (pun intended, heh heh) I've made these and I really like them. Tammy Yee, the designer, has other animals that are print and cut out, too, including bats, and some really beautiful owls.

The hanging paper pumpkins below are both elegant and amazingly easy. All you need is orange and green paper, scissors and glue or a stapler and some cotton to hang them. They're a variation on some Christmas deco designs I've made before, and it's all about strips of paper that are different lengths.
A different, just as easy and elegant design is here.

So whether you celebrate Halloween or not, enjoy the evening and don't scare the kids too much. 

Paper beads

One of the ways in which I unwind of an evening, after walking my dog,  is to watch TV, but I seem to be like my mother in that I can't just watch TV without doing something. What I do varies according to my interest or needs at the time. I go through cycles.

A while back I had a spurt of making paper beads, and as usual, inflicted some of the results on my long-suffering friends. Paper beads are very easy to make and the results can be surprisingly attractive. The first ones I made were from a free local magazine and I cut the triangles in random widths. They turned out rather well, so I strung them into a necklace and made a pair of earrings as well.

I had an old calendar picture whose colors I liked, so I decided to turn it into beads, too. It had wide white borders, so rather than cutting them off or having white beads, I drew stripes and squiggles on the borders with a permanent black marker. This is the result, the paper beads teamed with copper-colored freshwater pearls. (BTW, the safety pin you might have noticed is attaching the two tiny earrings to the necklace so they don't get lost— it's not part of the design. ;)

My next inspiration was to turn a couple of friend's book covers into beads. I printed the covers out on glossy photo card. This book cover became the necklace and earrings below it. I chose pinks and greys because they're colors my friend often wears.

I wanted to inflict--er, make another lot of beads with another friend's RITA finalling cover and she said, how about a bracelet? So since she wears red really well, I experimented with a few variations on the bracelet design.

And at the conference a few weeks ago I gave to the HeartsTalk people some paper bead necklaces and earrings made from pages of HeartsTalk, the Romance Writers of Australia monthly magazine, which is printed in black and white.

I've made rather a lot of beads now and am moving back to other pursuits. (Friends in various parts of the world heave audible sighs of relief.) Here's a handful of my beads that a friend of mine took a photo of.

If you're interested in making paper beads yourself, there's an on-line tutorial here. It's fun, cheap and the beads can be pretty. I'll probably do another batch as Christmas approaches and make strings of them for the Christmas tree.

Procrastination is not a dirty word...

So, I've been thinking about procrastination recently. I'm an expert procrastinator. I put things off until the last minute. I never arrive anywhere early — I'm not late, you understand — I just squeak in at the nick of time. Usually. (I think I just heard my editor sniff. ;)

I make lists compulsively. I even include on the lists things I've already done, just so I can cross them off and start off with a feeling of achievement.  Sad, I know.  

Anyway, my procrastination often takes a creative direction. It might be that I join Twitter and in the same breath start a blog. It might also be that I take up beading while I watch TV at night. I go through phases of doing little fiddly projects, and while my fingers are busy on one thing, my mind is working on another. In the past I've made cards, things for dolls houses, tiny clothes for tiny dolls -- at the time I was babysitting a friend's little daughter on a regular basis and the dolls house was an ongoing obsession project. And if  I'm not doing craft stuff I'll make soup — all that repetitive chopping of vegies sets the story spinning afresh as well.

The beading started when I attended a pearl knotting workshop, to learn to knot pearls correctly - research in mind, not procrastination. After I'd done the class projects I made this little bracelet from some leftover freshwater pearls and jet chips I had after I'd pulled apart a 3 strand necklace and made it into two longer strands. And as a result of the pearl knotting course, I also discovered wholesale bead and semi-precious stone suppliers, which are so much cheaper than ordinary bead shops. So then I really got hooked.

 I got a bit carried away in the wholesale suppliers, and I also dug out a lot of old beads, broken necklaces I'd bought in charity shops, and some of my mother's old beads, and I started making necklaces. Years ago I used to make earrings but hadn't done anything like that for ages, though I still had some of  my old bead supplies, so it was fun trying different combinations.

There's no real skill involved -- it's actually a bit kindergarten: threading beads-- but lots of fun. And some of the results are very pretty, I think.

This is the first necklace I made, with misshapen freshwater pearls and green glass beads. Green is one of my favorite colors and I liked the combo of the straight-edged glass beads and the knobbly freshwater pearls. Cultured freshwater pearls are amazingly cheap, and yet they're still real pearls. 
Do you know how to tell real pearls from fake? I'd read a squillion times in books that you rub them against your teeth and that real pearls felt rough, not smooth. But I'd tried it a squillion times and never felt the difference.

But all these years I'd been doing it wrong. You rub the pearls gently along the sharp, biting edge of your teeth, not against the front of them, as I'd always done. It feels distinctly different, and it's nothing to do with the actual surface texture of the pearl. Real pearls and fake both feel smooth to the fingers. But rub real pearls along the biting edge of your bottom front teeth and they feel ever so slightly gritty. It's to do with the composition of the nacre -- the substance a pearl is made from. Have you ever eaten a souvlaki (gyros) and accidentally bitten down on some foil? Feels weird. It's a chemical thing, not a texture thing, and my guess is that pearls are like that.
Anyway, enough of the pearl lesson. This necklace was made from the remnants of a broken shell necklace of my mother's. I remember her wearing it when I was a child and I loved the tiny pinky shells. With the shells I used misshapen freshwater pearls (I love the odd ones so much better than the perfect round ones) plus some antique drop shaped semi-opaque glass beads that I'd had for years and never found a good use for them, and some small cubed metal beads. I'l probably never wear this — I hardly ever wear pink, but I like how it looks.

I'd had these blue-green stone beads for ages, but wasn't sure what to team them with. In the end, I chose mauve and green quartz chips and aqua-colored fake pearls from an old broken necklace, and I was pretty happy with how it turned out. 

But even though all of this is a form of procrastination, I know, it's not necessarily a waste of time. I find when I occupy my hands with small, fiddly things, my mind roams free. Half way through a project I'll put it down and head for the computer or my notebook and write down an idea for the next or a future scene of my book. It's as if the fiddly manual nature of the activity has set free my imagination or subconscious to roam.

At least that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Do you have a hobby, a craft, or a favorite form of procrastination?