HVS update...

Well, as soon as it was there, it was gone...POOF!  The HVS announcement has been put on hold for awhile. 

A digital image kit startup with some awesome artists that had to put it on hold so they can get ahead of the game.  I was asked to be on their creative team...I was so honored!  A real opportunity to learn the digital world and make some awesome stuff. 

I will hopefully be able to reveal this to you - just in case I had you hanging onto the edge of your seat - in the near future.

Thank you for being excited for me.

Well, my birthday is here and gone.  Time to go create something.....thank you for stopping by today.

Ciao friends!

Teaser Friday....

The teaser today will be my special ART announcement on Monday, 2/13.  My lips are sealed till then and let me tell you I am uber excited!  

Excited and nervous.  

Excited for some great mojo to appear.  

Excited to step out of the box.

Excited to learn new things.

Excited and honored - who woulda thunk me?

 

I guess I'm just plain EXCITED!!

Ok, I couldn't resist, you begged right?

Here is a little hint....HVS!

HVS??  Ok.....3 words (like playing a game*wink*)....and it includes one of my favorite words....

VINTAGE!

Ok, that's all you are getting from me today....

stay tuned friends & have a wonderful weekened.

Ciao! 

November, December, January......

...3 months better than 6 to catch everyone up on what I've been doing.

WIRE WRAPPING CLASSES AT ZELDA'S

Wire Wrapped Leaf

Spiral Necklace

YAHOO ARTCHARMS GROUP SWAPS

angel charm for a fill-in swapper

Clear/White Swap

Red/Green Swap

Anything Goes Swap

Black/Blue Swap

All Hearts Swap Group A

All Hearts Swap Group B

Well friends, that's all I have to show for now.  Hopefully the next time it won't take 3 months to post.

Thanks for stopping by....

Ciao!
Bev

Button Swap Finished

Well, the time to swap has passed and I believe my package was received by my partner Mary K.  The theme:  Fall In Love with Buttons.  We had to alter an Altoid Tin and send our partner a tin full of fall buttons.

Here is what I sent my swap partner Mary K at Thyme to Spare...

This is what awesome stuff Mary K. sent to me:

This swap was a treat to connect with my Button Floozie friends.  If you love buttons, give this group a look see by searching Button Floozies for their blog.

Thanks for visiting today!

Ciao Friends....
Bev

Like Buttons?

Just hopped over to the Button Floozie Blog and they are having a SWAP!  I think this is becoming my favorite word!  Alter an Altoid tin and send your partner 40 "fall colored" buttons.  Sounds like fun!

Stop on over to the blog HERE if you LOVE buttons and join in!

(wow 2 posts in one day....must be the lemon slushy!)

Ciao friends!

April, May, June, July, August....

....and now it's SEPTEMBER!  Wow, where has the time gone??  6 months and no new post - really!

Life has been uber busy these days.  For those following me and have visited, disappointed that there was no new post, so sorry.  Those who are on Facebook know I am still alive and living life as usual - hectic with drama.

I have still been crafting away, making new friends, and learning new things.  I still belong to my favorite groups and try to keep up with all the new swaps.  I love them all, but only have so much time.

Life these days consist of a Junior in high school playing soccer - add to the mix new driver and those expenses.  A returning college student - should be a junior, but slacked a little and joined the ranks of sophomore - playing baseball on a scholarship.  A broken furnace (air conditioner) gotta have that, and my new found weekly habit...BINGO (a great time to spend with Mom - winning makes it much better too)!  I also have let my Artfire Shop close due to the new costs associated with selling.  I may start a new blog to sell my items if I get to that point and just link the two.  Stay tuned for that.

I have a new "art job" too!  Not sure I mentioned this before, but the ArtCharms Yahoo group I belong to had asked me to be a moderator.  This has been a great "job".  The people are awesome and the level of talent of these members is so diverse.  I have been so busy here I love it.  Moderating and hosting monthly swaps keep me busy and active in my art.  I couldn't ask for a better group!

Ok, so you should be all caught up.  Onto more interesting stuff - ART!

Still doing swaps with my friends at Red Lead, here are some Vintage ATCs made a  month or so back.

Next, the Art Charm group.
This charm was made for our Summer Garden Swap that I hosted in the group.  It was made from a vintage necklace that I received from a wonderful lady at our camp up north.  She is an antique seller and I had asked her if she could save me any broken jewelry she finds.  One day, she sold me a heaping pile of awesome stuff.  Although I had to sort through it and smelled like Jean Nate for a week, I found some great pieces.  I added a head pin, a seed bead or two and added a plastic leaf.  It was so cute.

This next set of charms are made for our Halloween Swap.  I used vintage bingo calling chips and seed beads to fill the back.  I may add something to them, still thinking about it.

 These lovelies are made  for our Monthly Color Swap I'm hosting.  September is Green/Purple.  There are 4 of each color jump ring per charm. I found the jump rings at Pat Catan's- and bright green buttons I had in my stash.  A great match!

Last but not least, here is a charm I made from a stamp that was from someone in our group.  I used a bottle cap (packaged from Pat Catan's), plastic leaves and sealed with Diamond Glaze.

I guess that with 6 months with no post, you were most assured it was going to be a long one!  I hope to update more often with lots of Art Stuff!

Now I am sure that I have moved up the ranks of those who have me on their blog visit lists! (Deb)  It was tough being at the bottom!

Hope your weekend is full of ART!

Also this weekend, please remember those HEROES of 9/11 and Armed Forces.  We are so grateful and will ALWAYS remember.

Thanks for stopping by friends.......CIAO!

Spring is in the air!

Spring is here and time for new beginnings so I decided to update the blog a little and I hope you like it!

I have been MIA for a while, but I promise you I have done nothing but crafting!  I had some detours along the way, but all is good.  Back to school, back to sports, and most important, back to crafting.

So as I last mentioned, I participated in A Swap For All Seasons Fabric collage swap.  This is the collage I made.

I received this from my swap partner Freda.  Although she followed the directions to the "T", I didn't and added a little more flair than she was expecting.  Thanks Freda it was a fun swap as usual!

**************************************************
Next are the charms I was working on for the Art Charm Yahoo Group.  These gals are awesome!  I even made Moderator of the group!  We have such fun.  If you are into charms, come take a look, sign up and start charming!!  This was what I made for our Valentine Swap...

Then came the Steampunk Swap.  This was WAAAAY out of my comfort zone and I actually drew blood on this one!  Note:  You cannot drill a hole in the back cover of a watch!  It says shock resistant for a reason! This was also the first time I used resin.  You have to mix this stuff just right or it will never dry and be sticky FOREVER!  Yep, some didn't come out just right so I had to deviate from the plan and this is what I made.....

**************************************************
Next up is the Red Lead Welcome to my Cottage Swap.  We had to place an order at their shop and in return, they sent us three chipboard houses to decorate for the swap.  When they receive our swap entry they will return 3 other swappers creations with a little extra goodies in the package.  Here are the Cottages I created....

The next swap with the Red Lead Yahoo group is the "Hello Spring Tag Art Swap" where we are creating 3 large tags and in return we will receive 3 tags and one of their bunny swap just in time for Easter!

At the Art Charm Yahoo group I am hosting a Kilt Pin Swap - "FLY" and also hosting a Spring Flower Swap.  If your interested I'd love to see you sign up and join in the fun!

And last, but not least,  A Swap for All Seasons is doing a Mother's Day Brooch swap.  I can't wait to get started with this.

Whew!  Sorry for such a long post, but I guess that's what you get when someone is MIA for almost 2 months!

Hope you are well and enjoying the sun that is beginning to shine.  Enjoy your week.
Until tomorrow friends,
CIAO!

New Year, New Classes, & New Swaps, OH MY!

Although this year has started with a lot of snow already here in Pittsburgh (it's been frigid!), I hope your year has started off on a good note.

Another way to start off the new year is with some new swaps & new classes!

The first class of the year....Zelda's Bead Kit Co. A Really Cool Bracelet Class . With this bracelet, you can incorporate everything BUT the kitchen sink!  This class was a lot of fun with the ladies that attended...I didn't get home until 11pm!  The most awesome part of this bracelet were the wrapped mini Christmas lights.  Maria Richmond showed how to wrap them and add them to our pieces.  This part was a challenge to me....it took me a long time to get one right and not break the tiny little wires before the wrap was completed *sigh*.  Here is my finished bracelet ...

 

Next are the swaps.  

I've signed up to do the 2nd Valentine charm swap with the Yahoo Art Charm group I belong to.  I've started on them, hoping to complete them today.

The second swap I signed up to do is with A Swap for All Seasons - A Mini Fabric Collage Swap.  I am back!  I haven't done one of Linda's swaps for a while and am willing to step out of my comfort zone for this one.  It is SEWING!  Yes, I do know how to sew, but getting out the machine and coming up with a theme will be the most challenging.  The swap is cut at 100 swappers, so this is an awesome popular swap as always!  I've made several friends doing Linda's swaps.  Linda is an awesome host.  So if you are up for a quality swap, keep your eyes peeled for the next one!

So as a new year starts, step out of your comfort zone and try some new art challenges!

Until tomorrow friends....CIAO!

CHRISTMAS IS ON IT'S WAY!

Oh ya baby!!  This year is waaaay better than last year.  I've gotten some of my holiday spirit back.  Hubby has the lights outside up and the tree is assembled in the living room.  Now all I have to do is put on the decorations, bake some cookies, keep the house clean from Thanksgiving and I'll be set to invite some family and friends over and Santa of course!

To add to this holiday spirit, I am the winner of Melissa's Christmas CD giveaway over at Honey Girl Studio. 

Stop over and visit her.  She is having a 30 day countdown to Christmas giveaway every day and it is AWESOME!  (Tell her Bev sent you! *wink*)

Hope you have a wonderful weekend and stay warm!

Ciao friends!

Jewelry, Jewelry...

....seems to be the next "thing" craft I am into these days.  Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  I'm on my last day off from this holiday so I thought I'd take a few minutes to update all my followers on what I have been doing.

I've taken a few cool classes at a new local bead shop- Zelda's Bead Kit Company- this last month.  First off, I ran into one of the instructors at a craft show that told me about this store...soo bad!  So I definitely had to check it out.  It worked and I was sucked into yet another craft!

This is the first class I took there.  Paisley Pendant.  It is made from copper and patina'd by using liver of sulfur.  Who wudda thunk - right?  Smelly stuff to say the least.  My wire broke 3 times but I did prevail! What do you think?

Next was a class I took last night - Herringbone bracelet.  It did take a while - no broken wire this time, but "accidentally" made two different types of links so I just went with it!  This was also put into the smelly stuff.  After a little steel wool - perfect!  (pics don't do justice, but click and it should get better).

Lastly, with my Art Charm Yahoo Group, I made these Blue/White(clear)/Silver charms for this holiday swap.  Funny thing that another gal in our group chose to use the same pop can tabs, but she ran out of clock faces...too bad! (lol) And she had to settle for another charm to make.  Did I mention that I had to make 40?!?  Yep, lotsa gals do the swaps and it is awesome to actually get enough to put on a bracelet in one swoop (swap). Ha Ha ( this is another thing on my list *wink*)

And this, well, this is my finished suitcase I made to display my bookmarks/jewelry and other items for the craft show I was in.  I actually finished it!  I got the idea from Melissa at Honey Girl Studio .  Thanks Melissa for a wonderful idea!

Well friends, that is all I have for today.  The lights are up outside compliments of the hubby and next comes the tree.  Made a space for it in the living room today.  I think I am in a better mood this year for Christmas so far....we'll see how long it lasts!

Thanks for stopping by!
Ciao Friends...

 

Trick or Treat!

Happy Halloween Everyone!!  Hope this day is frightful for you!

So if you are in the Two Treats One Trick Swap with Christine Edwards, I'm glad to have you stop by for some trick or treat sweets!  You finally get to see who made what in our swap as our tricks and treats were a secret!

Without further suspense, here were the TREATS I made for the swap....

There were 3 boxes of treats for one lucky trick-or-treater!

This was inside one of the boxes.

Another Treat for the Swap....

NOW FOR THE TRICK!

A Coffin!

When you open the coffin, it has one of those sound effects inside.  You will also find a sticky rat in a bunch of moss.  Truly a scary Trick!

Thanks for a great swap!  I love the items I received......

MY TREAT

A box of insect Halloween bling!

MY TRICK...

A white decorated pumpkin with a scarey skeleton.

ANOTHER TREAT

A "spooky" crow banner!

And the hostess sent a gift as well....

Thanks so much Christine!  This was a real fun swap!  Happy Halloween Everyone!

Ciao Friends.....