• Blog - Creativity

    A second look: 1000 Jewelry Inspirations

    July 2, 2016 - By 

    Today for Second on the 2nd I’d love to share a second look at my very first published item. Strangely enough, it was jewelry not paper arts.

    On a whim I created a charm bracelet in response to a call for items for an upcoming book. I didn’t even really dream that my work would be chosen but was over the moon when it did. My bracelet ended up in two sections of the book, including one full page spread.

    bracelet second look

    Take a look at the original post from 2008

    eyes


    I just got word that the book my bracelet is published in is on Amazon for pre-order.

    As far as I can tell my bracelet didn’t make the cover shot. It was sent off with 49 other pieces as to be photographed for possible cover shots. Bummer. I’m certainly not going to complain though!! It just would have been the super sweet icing on the cake to be on the cover as well!

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    I find it interesting when I look back at posts from the start of my blog. They are so short, tiny photos and frankly, a little boring.  It’s a wonder that I had any readers at all! Oh well..style definitely develops over time. Thanks for taking a walk down memory lane with me.

  • Art - Blog - Crafts - Creativity

    T Tuesday: a second look edition

    February 1, 2016 - By 

    Welcome to T stands for Tuesday AND Second on the 2nd…both hosted by Elizabeth.  Hmmm…I wonder how she’s planning on keeping these links straight. 🙂 Anyway…lets get on with it, shall we…

    long shadows tea | Halle's Hobbies

    First I have to take care of a bit of business. I apologize to my T Tuesday friends for not getting around to visiting. I had to abandon sitting at my desk with the exception of short bursts. Sitting for long periods just does a number on my body. I need to stay active or everything sort of cramps or gets stiff or all crunched up. I’m sure it’s my posture at the keyboard. I’ve started doing yoga every morning and stretches throughout the day. It’s really helping. Of course, since I didn’t get up early enough do my yoga over the weekend (I’m too embarrassed to do it in front of my family since I still really suck at it) I’m a little stiff today.

    vintage button stack pendants | Halle's Hobbies

    I also wanted to show the pendants I posted about last week. They turned out quite nice. I’ve a bunch more set aside to create more pendants. I’ll be listing some in my etsy store soon.

    Now on to Second on the 2nd… I looked back through my blog and realized that I started what I would call an art journal now way back in 2007. I considered it a “no theme” altered book then. Really they are sort of interchangeable terms to me unless you are literally journalling in one.  This post kind of cracks me up. I was very critical of myself. Looking back I still know which pages I wasn’t find of but now I can appreciate them all and truly like them!

    Take a look at the post from November 10, 2007…

    eyes

    I picked up a this book at a local thrift store the other day. I had originally intended it for something completely different but decided since it was small that I should just dive in and play!!

    I

    I really like 3 of the 5 pages. The other 2, I am not so pleased with. I don’t actually hate them enough to cover them up but may go back and revisit them later to see if I can make any good changes.

    Can you guess which ones I like??

    I still have plenty of room to play some more in this book. It’s very freeing to work without a theme…at least for today. 🙂 Sometimes I need a theme to get me started. In fact this book was planned to be a book in which each spread dealt with one of the senses. Yeah…that changed pretty quickly.

     

     

  • Blog - Crafts

    Vintage button stacks

    January 30, 2016 - By 

    A few months ago, one of the knitting ladies casually asked me if I could use any buttons in my art. She had come across her mothers collection while cleaning out the attic and wanted them to go to someone who would appreciate them.  The next time I saw her she had the stash hoard with her. I was shocked! It was a huge box. Over the past few months I’ve slowly sorted through… cleaning and throwing out broken bits from the several pounds of buttons.

    vintage button stacks | Halle's Hobbies

    This is just a very small fraction. Seriously.

    vintage button stacks | Halle's Hobbies

    I thought it may be fun to make some necklaces so I turned on Netflix then started sorting and stacking.

    vintage button stacks | Halle's Hobbies

    I kept auditioning different buttons until I found a stack that that spoke to me.

    vintage button stacks | Halle's Hobbies

    vintage button stacks | Halle's Hobbies

    I used E6000 to adhere a bail to the back of each stack as well as gluing the buttons together.

    I also saved out a few fancy mother of pearl buttons to try out some wire wrapping. So far my results are less than pretty with that endeavor. Practice, practice.

    I’ll share the completed pendants when they are good and dry.