Simple and adorable

Buttons galore

So I got a giant bag of buttons and decided to turn them into earrings. More for my etsy shop!

Get excited!!!!!

Missoni at Target!!! I've been waiting for this day!

Feather headdress for a child

When I was home a child put  on one of my feather headdresses. It was adorable, but I think it was too heavy for her head and the feathers were too high.  So I made this smaller headdress for one of my friend's daughters.  I used shorter feathers which are less expensive and easier to work with also.  It gave me the idea that I should make some with shorter feathers.  Look for the line of headdresses coming soon!

Day at the zoo

Beautifully painted elephant at the Los Angeles Zoo

Getting ready for a stand-off!

Is it bad that when I see these I want to make them into feather headdresses?

Every new idea is an old one

Sorry I have been gone!  I went out of town last weekend to San Francisco.  It was a fantastic time.  My sister came and I made her a feather headdress to wear and we got loads of compliments on them.  Our picture was in SF weekly, that was pretty cool!  The reason I was inspired to write this blog was because I found this website of lego jewelry that was published a year ago.  And here I thought my idea was completely original.  That's ok, a woman came into my work tonight and wanted to buy a pair, so I do not think it is totally mainstream yet.  I'll get my big new idea somewhere.  I finished all three feather headdresses I wanted to make.  You can see two of them in the link I provided earlier of my sister and I in San Francisco.  The other one I sold and I was quite pleased with how it turned out.  Here are a couple of pictures of me wearing it.  I really need to spring for a nicer camera someday soon.

It's feather headdress time!

I finished the skirt that I said I was going to make a couple of days more ago.  I am happy with how it turned out, but I would like to make another one because I only had sixty inches of fabric to work with and I feel like if I had more the bottom of the skirt would flare better.  Here is a picture of the skirt:

I am going to San Francisco next weekend for Outside Lands music festival and I wanted to make a new feather headdress for myself and my sister, and my friend Rachel also wanted one for Burning Man.  So yesterday I went downtown to my favorite feather shop and trim shop to find the supplies.  I am really happy with what I found.  My headdress is going to be purple and white with lace trim and the copper coins, Rachel's is going to be the long purple/black feathers, the yellow ones and green ostrich with a patch in the middle and for my sister's I am going to use some combination of these feathers and feathers I have from all the headdresses I made previously.  I am really excited to be making three more!  As my friend Steven says, "Practice makes better."

Adventures in Santa Monica

"Papillon" Ring and Brooch set    Spring '08

                   

"Cloud 9" Hairclip     Spring '08

       
I was asked to participate in an art show at my alma mater, Northern Illinois University, but one of the pieces requested I had sold to a lovely woman that lives in Santa Monica.  She loaned it back to me for the show called "On the Body and in the Hand" that will be going on at NIU's art museum from August 23-October 29th.  So today I went with my roommate to Santa Monica, picked up the ring and sent my pieces to Illinois, then had a couple hours to kill.  It was too cold and breezy to go to the beach, so I walked around and got inspiration from some lovely shops I found.  My favorite was one called 'beau and aero.'  I met one of the owners, her name is Jessica Seaton and she also designs jewelry.  Her work is chunky, eclectic, and wearable.  Among my favorites were the ring that she cast to look like an arrowhead, and a pair of earrings that appeared to be branches on chain.  They also carried some extremely well-made feather headdresses from feathersmith: I want one!!  I then went to a natural foods store called One Life, they have jars and jars of herbs and powders.  I recently discovered henna for hair dye and I am scarily obsessed.  I want to keep dyeing my hair until I get the perfect shade of red for me.  I ended my journey in Santa Monica on the third street promenade at a store called Brandy Melville.  It's California's answer to Forever 21, which in my opinion is very cool and trendy, but a little too east coast for the laid back Cali vibe.  In Brandy Melville, everything is loose and flowing and one size fits all. The colors are pastel and neutral and the fabrics are soft and pretty.  I can not wait to make a skirt that I happened to see at a couple of shops today, it's short in the front and long in the back and flowy with an elastic waist, and I just so happen to have the perfect fabric sitting around to make it with!

First Blog

Today I am starting my blog.  I have wanted to do this for a while, but it is tough getting started, especially with life being busy and my tendency toward laziness.  The purpose of this blog is to get the word out about my jewelry and clothing and whatever else I think is cool at the moment.  For example, I am really into feather headdresses and will find any excuse to wear one.  I also want to share a bit about my process as a designer and link up with other designers out there to learn about how they get crafty.  It is important to me to plan and think a lot about what I am going to do before I do it, but I know other people are more spontaneous, and it is interesting to learn what makes a creative person tick.  I am going to get some pictures going on here tomorrow! Thanks and have a great morning.