Felted Fairies

This very sweet fairy doll is the felting work of Emily from Vermont. She makes the sweetest tiny dolls in pouches and I have a few that I will be giving to the girls for Valentine's Day. These little fairies will be perfect companions, the girls can wear the tiny pouches and have a home for the fairies when they get tired. The pouches are felted around rocks and they have soft neckbands. I cannot really say how sweet and compelling they are.

Visit Emily's shop at Vermont Fairies on Etsy. She also has sweet birds in nests that make me swoon...

Slumber Party Pics!

Last Friday's Slumber Party at Panopolie was so much fun. I came late (of course!) but I did get to see everyone's charms and enjoy a bit of food and wine. It was a perfect Friday night!

Everyone made charms and we also discussed having a charm swap. A Swap is an organized way to increase your charm collection. You make, say, 10 charms (of the same type!) in a mini-mass production and then swap them with a group of folks. You get 10 different charms made by 10 different people. Cool, eh? I have seen some really fabulous charms that folks have gotten from swaps and I love looking at necklaces filled with handmade charms. Expect more details on the swap soon.

Here are some past charm swaps to check out:
Ruth Rae's work is amazing and her swaps are primo!

EtsyMetal has some amazing charms to swap...I love those tiny books!

This last photo is of the fabulous Pat. I hope she participates in our theoretical charm swap. She is talented and is quite creative...I can only imagine the great charms she would come up with.

The photo above of the glass eyes is from a stuff swap we had that night. Can you imagine? Susan (top left photo) had a whole bag of plastic animal eyes to trade and share...I can't wait to use them in something...

Art Bead Scene Monthly Challenge

This is the Ice Storm necklace I created for the Art Bead Scene's January challenge. I used beads by Elaine Ray including a tree medallion for the center. The words 'ice storm' make me think of the giant pecan tree that shades our home. It is sheltering from the summer sun but in the winter, with a dangerous glaze of ice it seems to tower with a glittering menace. If that tree fell, it would smash our small house into ruins. I made this necklace a bit menacing with daggers of crystal quartz and a small vial of rock salt to protect the wearer from danger. I used flat shell beads along the neck like worn shingles and added some dangles with ceramic snowflakes and drops of water. Originally I was going to incorporate a hand-made sterling bezel by Susan Lenart-Kazmer with the number '32' inside but I messed it up first with Diamond Glaze and then with Amazing Glaze. Since I usually tell folks those are fool proof I may have to reset my ideas. If you know how to get dried Diamond Glaze out of a bezel, please let me know.

I wonder who will win the challenge. Whether I win or not, it was fun working with a theme and a deadline.