Crafts by Chris

Musings on beads, polymer clay and jewelry

vote handmade

Posted on | June 30, 2009 | No Comments

How cool! I just found my dainty purple flowers are on Vote Handmade.

bd924

Category: Uncategorized

silver cored beads

Posted on | June 23, 2009 | No Comments

I was out of town last week and am still playing catch up, but I wanted to answer Lori’s questions regarding the silver cored pandora beads.

silvercore The beads I’ve shown were made and cured first. I then drilled a hole large enough to fit the silver tubing. I purchased the silver tubing from Monster Slayer. There is a fabulous tutorial on Lampwork Etc. showing how to do it.

As an alternative, you can also purchase flared bead cores from Metal Clay Findings and make your beads around the core.

Category: beads, jewelry, tutorials

forever 29 sale!

Posted on | June 13, 2009 | No Comments

29sale

One day only! Saturday June 13, 2009 until midnight central time. It’s my birthday and you get the present.

29% off everything in my Etsy shop (excluding custom orders), plus shipping is only $.29!

Make sure you put “forever 29″ in the notes to seller when checking out and I will send you a revised invoice.

Category: Uncategorized

each day is an adventure

Posted on | June 12, 2009 | No Comments

There is never a dull moment around here. Yesterday, my son, Brandon, had a routine check up and was due for a tetanus booster and something else. So, the nurse comes in and gives him the shots. Brandon then leaned forward a little and I thought he was goofing around until he didn’t stop. The nurse and I managed to grab him. He still landed on the floor, but at least not head first. Then he did this shaking thing and finally came around. He fainted from getting shots! Gave me a few more gray hairs, but he’s perfectly fine….didn’t even remember getting the second shot.

sp909

Listed a couple new bead sets in my etsy shop today, including the green apple spacers shown above. These are the first in my summer fun collection. Cherry tomato red, sun-kissed orange, and pool blue will be coming soon along with some coordinating print beads.

Just a heads up. I will be having a special sale in my etsy shop tomorrow only. Will post details later tonight or tomorrow morning.

Category: Polymer Clay, beads, color, etsy, family/pets, sale

color names

Posted on | June 10, 2009 | 2 Comments

A couple of weeks ago the boys’ bikes went missing out of our yard. I figured we would just have to buy them new bikes. Then my mom told me that they usually just get abandoned somewhere and end up at the police station. So, I called the police station and the gal I talked to looked through reports and was sure they had Ben’s bike, but not so sure about Brandon’s bike. I know…what does this have to do with color? I’m getting there. :)

I went to the police station this morning to get the bikes and they did have Brandon’s bike also. I honestly couldn’t remember what color the bike was, but Brandon had said it was red and silver. It’s actually more of a wine color. The police captain said whoever wrote the report put purple for the color and he thought it looked more brown next to Ben’s bike, which is bright red.

This got me thinking about color names. The only non-basic color that my husband knows is fuchsia, because he likes the name. LOL! When I make solid color spacers, sometimes I struggle with names. You can’t just name all shades of blue, “blue” and be able to differentiate the beads. Sometimes the color reminds me of something and is easy to name. Other times I go searching for a name. Paint company websites are a great source of colors and names.

seaworthy

seaworthy

I have some fun summery colors on my work table. Will have some new things to show soon.

Category: Polymer Clay, beads, color

pandora

Posted on | June 1, 2009 | 3 Comments

May was a crazy busy month, but I want to say, “Thank You!” to those who purchased heart pendants or other items from my etsy shop during May. Thanks to your purchases, I am able to donate $55 to the American Heart Association!

On a different note, I recently made some silver core pandora beads for a custom order and have been thinking about adding these to my store. I’m usually behind the current trends, but think these are adorable. I even bought myself a Pandora bracelet. :)
pandora1pandora2

Category: Polymer Clay, beads, charity, etsy, jewelry

after the rain

Posted on | May 18, 2009 | 4 Comments

Life gets kinda crazy sometimes and we forget to enjoy the simple things in life. Last week was mostly cloudy and rainy which can get rather depressing. However, I was inspired by the beauty of the raindrops on my hibiscus and took a photo to share with you.

hibiscusblog

I hope it inspires you to take a moment to enjoy the beauty of the things around you.

Category: color, inspiration
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