New Elaine Ray beads are here!

New beads are up on the site from Elaine Ray. Delicious colors including the bright and yummy Creamsicle...we have several new toggles, beadcaps and pendants that will be up this next week and then we'll rearrange Elaine's pages on our site to make your designing easier. Check it out!

These brighter colors took a lot of work with Elaine. She is an artist and has her own personal palette that is much more subdued than mine. She prefers greens and browns in a million shades to brighter, tropical colors but I have pushed her to expand her shades and we both love the result. She had to push me, too, to accept what clay and glazes will and won't do as well as to expand our beads to include these patterned glazes that you see. I came to love the patterns and have to say, Elaine is ALWAYS right when she tells me a glaze just won't work the way I want it to.

Our collaboration with Elaine is such a great thing. She is an artist who wants to spend her time playing with clay and glazes and shapes and not trying to update a website or ship boxes. We happen to be pretty good at the box shipping!

(Oh, these colorful and yummy beads are at the stores this next week...)

Some pretty photos

of Ornamentea...

How To Decopatch (Decoupage) Shoes

Recently a mom was in the store covering a pair of her son's worn out shoes with Decopatch paper. It seems that he wants something unusual. She carefully applied a nice layer of Decopatch Sealer to seal them up, since he wants to wear them.

This made me think about a messenger bag that is in the back of my closet. Even though it is so worn I refuse to carry it, I haven't gotten rid of it. The bag is made of vinyl billboard fabric, repurposed, and I bought it at least 15 years ago. I love the pockets inside, they are placed just right, and the strap is wide and comfortable. The 'indestructible' fabric is worn from years of travel and daily use. Perhaps I could freshen it up with some strategically placed Decopatch flowers?

This project was so easy. She first prepped the shoes by wiping them off with a cloth. If your shoes were dirty at all, I recommend a nice stiff brush, first. Just make sure the surface is clean and there are no bits of dirt on it. Apply the paper in small bits, using plenty of sealer both under and over the paper (it acts as a glue) to make sure your paper is STUCK!

This could be done to a pair of fancy heels, too. Imagine updating those darn patent-leather nude shoes we ALL have in our closet. Right now they say 'Hello, 2015!" but with a bit of deco patch they could say 'Hello, tomorrow!"

Quote of the day

We take our colors, chameleon-like, from each other.

Sebastien-Roch-Nicolas de Chamfort, writer (1741-1794)

Thanks to my friend, Julie, for this lovely quote. I am thinking on this rainy day of friendship and how we do influence those around us as they influence us. I am off to a lunch today with some new friends at the Gregg Museum at NCSU and have to go figure out what to wear...I need some friends to influence me to have a more organized wardrobe!

Spirals and Beads

Are you in the mood to get inspired about wire working? Check out Jewelry Lessons.com, a fabulous site by Eni Oken and friends. The project above is in the gallery section. It was created by Becky C. when she took a class taught by the talented Tracey Johnson of Panopolie. The Spirals and Beads Bracelet came about after Tracey spent a few long nights playing with silver wire and beads. This class has been popular, but Tracey was really honored by the sweet words Becky wrote in her gallery post. I logged in and spent a lot of time oogling all the amazing work by so many talented wire artists. I may have to spend a summer evening curling some wire!