6 weeks of creativity...a long way behind

I have been very bad when it comes to blogging... it's been 6 weeks since I posted anything. So lets have a peep at what the last 6 weeks has held creatively for me. Am I in front, behind or even with the 52 weeks challenge?

Tags

Necklace for a friends birthday

Some amateur photography

Steampunk vs Alice in Wonderland ~ this was a huge undertaking, more pics on Facebook fanpage

Beaded Bead ~ Geometric Styles

So I've come in at 5, which is a fair effort, as I was on vacation over some of this time as well. I'm working on a special piece just for me. I'll be using some artisan lampwork beads that my friend's mum made that I commissioned her to make for me a few years ago. It's going to be super-special, I hope. A little rusty on the pliers :). Stay tuned!

Also big news!!!! LunaBella was featured on Maddabling's blog!!! V.Exciting!! Check it out here!

Week 9 - The Big Reveal

So my swap partner has her bracelet. I can finally show what I have been working on. The challenge was to make a bracelet using seed beads and the theme was inspired by art. I knew my swap partner liked  green but had no other information apart from wrist size. I was looking through my art book and found this, one of my favourite paintings.

Then the inspiration hit. The painting is called L'Absinthe. Perfect. Green. Green Fairy. This is the bracelet born of this.

Each wing is constructed from odd-count peyte stitch, then joined together. The centre is a Swarovski rivoli crystal, captured in seed beads and embellished with more Swarovski crystals. The clasp is a 12mm Swarovski round, and is just divine. I could imagine a whole necklace made of these. Here is another photo on a different angle.

Week 8 - All caught up now :)

So I skipped a week in there! Bad Laura. But I have finished my swap piece for the Beading Forum seed bead bracelet challenge. I can't show it yet. As soon as my swap partner has it I'll show you. It's pretty special.
So I am going to send the bracelet to my swap partner tomorrow and I thought that I would add something extra. I am participating in the Art Swap - Tags run by Helga @ ArtChix. I have my required collage sheets and some manilla tags ready to go. This is my warm up piece, to include with my bracelet. I am really happy with how this turned out and am really looking forward to making many, many more of these.
I watercoloured the front, once it was dry I stamped the front and selected a few images from various ArtChix collage sheets. I wanted to do something with the back so ripped some scraps of pretty paper and collaged away. I then went around the edges with a gel pen. Super cute and so easy!

Week 7 - A little something for a lovley lady

Tonight I am heading to my favourite Japanese restaurant for a special friends birthday dinner. I have purchased a present but needed a card to go with it. Her favourite colour is blue so my mind immediately went to the twinchies I had made way back in Week 1. I folded some watercolour paper and cut some textured cardstock. I played around with the arrangement and voila! A cute card done!

But that wasn't enough! It needed more! I hand stamped the inside and stamped a birthday message also. All freehand. I love it!

Week 6 - A little behind

Ok, so I'm behind with my posts. Laziness and an attack from the black dog have taken over in the last two weeks. I have however been quietly working away on a project for a swap on the Beading Forum. I will post this once my swap partner has received it. The piece will be super special and I hope my swap partner likes it. I have challenged myself with a few new techniques and refined some others with new variations.
So there has been more glass tile madness afoot. I made a whole bunch and forgot to photo them before posting them off to their new owners - doh! But first I want to show you what else I have been playing with.

I purchased some of these pendant dishes from Beads Online. I don't have any resin, hmmmm, maybe Triple Thick Glaze will work? It says brush on?!? Hmmm, lets just dollop some in there and see what happens! It works, ok add a key charm to the next layer. It works, lets add some more layers! It works! But.....as you can see the glaze has reacted to the coating on the key charm and the copper has leached into the glaze surrounding it. *insert pout face here* I can see a resin purchase in the near future!These are fun to play with and the possibilites are endless! Stay tuned more disorganised creativness...

Week 5 - A Little Alice Crazy

Here we are in Week 5 and I'm going strong. I managed to squeeze in some creative in between work and a beachy weekender! I took my little man to see Sculptures by the Sea. It was a delightful outing, wandering along the beach, veiwing the amazing sculptures, followed by fish and chips on the grass.
I'm going so well this week in fact, I have not one but two creations to show you!

The first is an Alice in Wonderland inspired piece. I made the pendant using a pendant base I got in goodie bag from ArtChix. I adhered Alice Images on both sides using Diamond Glaze, my favourite multipurpose adhesive/glaze. This is for me so I wanted it long. It sits just under bust. I gathered up some Alice related charms and voila! Here it is!

 The second is another necklace. I have had these bamboo tile components hanging aound for some time. I purchased them from Wishware Beads. I originally wanted to use the pendant horizontally, making a double strand necklace, but as I got closer to the end I realised that it just was not going to sit right! Very frustrating! So I unpulled it all and began again. I am quite happy with the end result. It features two handmade lampwork beads by my friends mum, czech glass beads and bamboo tile pendant.

Week 4 - Home Decor

Wow, a month of creating already!
I recently moved house and have become stuck with some pretty average furniture. It's functional, but not as stylin' as I'd like it to be. The bane of my furniture existance is my TV unit, it's a cheap flat pack I bought from a friend, back in the days when the TV was sitting on a tiny table, or maybe a milk crate (I can't remember)

 

So here it is in all it's cheap flat pack glory. I thought that by covering some of the surfaces in decorative paper that it may look a little more stylin'. But what kind of paper? I thought at first scrapbooking paper, but then I would need sheets and sheets of it. Japanese paper would be too expensive. Wallpaper too costly and the pattern might be too big to really see it. What to do?

And then the other day I was driving down Oxford St, Leederville and I saw Lala Design. They had 2m rolls of divine good quality wrapping paper for $6.50. The perfect option. It is thick enough not to rip and cheap enough to change when I want to! I chose this pattern...

And away I went! I used Modge Podge to adhere the paper to the side of the TV cabinet, so I can soak it off if I get sick of it! I plan to cover the small shelves too eventually.