I’m so excited about this new book that is coming out soon: Where Women Create: Book of Inspiration: In the Studio and Behind the Scenes with Extraordinary Women. I’ve read a couple issues of the Somerset Where Women Create magazine, and it always inspires me to daydream about what my ideal workspace would look like. [...]

The birthstone for March is the lovely pale blue aquamarine. It is the pale blue or green version of beryl, and the color ranges from almost clear to mossy light green to sky blue. As with most gemstones, it comes in a range of prices and quality, and can be used in beaded jewelry or [...]

I’m on maternity leave – but before I left, I spent some time surfing the web for some great art and craft entertainment – so here are some links I enjoyed, hope you’ll like them too!
Mixed media and paper craft tutorials:
Make an inspiration book from a paper bag
(and from the same blog, make paper bag [...]

February has been a good month for me. First I got a baby gift from the lovely and talented Marisa of Elegant Snobbery – it’s a princess sock monkey print to hang in my kid room:
I already have a few boy-themed prints from her shop, so this will balance out the testosterone a bit for [...]

To all my blog readers:
And one more:
Feel free to use these three graphics for personal use (as long as you give me credit for making them). Not for commercial use.

Wrap, Stitch, Fold & Rivet by Mary Hettmansberger is a great jewelry making book that explains how to use a lot of creative cold connections in metal and fiber jewelry work.
If you like rustic looking jewelry, you’ll love this book. The projects all have that handmade look, and the author encourages experimenting.
I love cold connections, [...]

So, I took my jasper bangle idea and redid it in copper, and I’m SO much happier with the results now:
The colors blend better, and I think it shows off the jasper beads better too. Instead of a soldered or fused bangle, I forged the ends of my copper wire and made what almost looks [...]

I loved my set of 6 upcycled bangles, which recently sold out, so I’m working on another set. There is one thick bangle, and a few that involved loosely wiring together some very skinny bracelets with charms. I love the stones I’m using on this set – here’s a preview of the first three that [...]

I’ve been wanting to play with some new copper head pins I made that have beautiful deep pink ball ends, and when I received my latest goodies from artbeads to review, I knew the red poppy jasper beads would be perfect. (You can find the jasper beads and other shades of red and pink in [...]

Are you a blogger, and suffering from blogger’s block? In other words, can’t think of a topic for your next post? This list of possible blog topics might help.
If you are like me, you can use all the organizing help you can get. This article on organizing your supplies for crafting on the go has [...]