Another Class Project and Can Coolers

Aloha everyone,
Hope all is well with you all!  I'm still here and still crafting.  I've become a bit of a knitting addict but I'm still doing a little sewing and I'm still making jewelry.

As some of you know, I've been taking classes from Bead It in Kailua and kaimuki. I took a bezel ring class and this is what I made.  Sorry for the white streak of white on the photo.

It's black malachite with sterling silver.  It was a six hour class of sawing, torching, sanding and burnishing.  But it was fun!  Katherine Albu, the instructor for this class was thorough in what she taught us.  I signed up for one more classes that Katherine taught, bezel sunrise shells.

              

         
 Here are some can coolers I made for my husband. He lost the original one that was a gift from a friend of mine.  These are knitted then felted.  My husband loves them for his can of beer.  Keeps the wetness off my table and keeps his beer cool.

I'll post some of my knitting soon.  Until then, have a great weekend!

Aloha,

Oh My, It's Been A Year!

Yes, it's been a year since I've posted my blog.  Not only did time elude me, but so did the aspect of why I used to enjoy blogging.  I mean, I wasn't even sure if anyone really read my blog.  It was quicker to post a pic on FB and get a response then to blog.  However, I realized that blogging is for me to journalize the things I enjoy making or to express opinion on the topic of choice.  So, I'm back and post I will.
First things first, my husband and I have become grand parents for the tenth time!  Yes, I said tenth.  My daughter gave birth this summer to her seventh child, her last she said.
I'm still busy making jewelry and sewing.  Some of which I have photos and some sent out without remembering to photograph.
Here is one project I worked on this summer.

I've re-covered my pune'e (day bed).  My ocean theme was stenciled using about 4 different colors to get the shade I wanted.  I hope to have some cushions ready for sale by the end of October. 

When my best friend came to visit this August, we shopped, crafted, gathered shells and driftwood from the beach and ate all her favorite local foods.  Most times we'd eat a late lunch, then couldn't eat dinner.  Or we would craft all day, not eat lunch, and be so hungry for dinner we didn't know what to eat!   
Here's what we made one day.

Sterling silver with FW and Tahitian pearls

  Actually, my friend made way more than that. Cyn made enough that she won't  forget what to do when she returns home.

Well, that's it for now.
Aloha,

OMG school started!

Aloha!
I know most kids started school well over 2 weeks ago, like my son's children.  However, since my daughter home schools her kids, she decided to start her school after Labor Day.  You're wondering why I'm mentioning this?   Well you see, I'm the "sitter" for the babies that aren't school age yet, which means I'm back to work for my daughter.
So for today's school opening, I made some snack bag treats.

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Not sure where I saw these, so my apologies for not giving credit to the right person for a fun idea.  In  the original photo of this snack there were grapes on the side the candy is on, but sometimes I can be a bad grammie and give the grand kids some not too good treats.  And in case you're wondering, the snack bags are suppose to resemble butterflies.

Prior to school, I had a fantastic end of summer! My BF from Texas spent 2 weeks here in Hawaii; we did some serious crafting and shopping!   We shopped, we talked, finishing each other's sentences, we enjoyed every morsel we ate; we like the same foods and of course we always share what we know about crafting.  We also spent a day at the beach searching for shells and glass.  My back was so sunburned, I'm itchy and peeling now!

Here's some of the bracelets we torched together.

14k gold filled wire, cone shell and freshwater pearl

I wish I took photos of Cyn's bracelets too.  She made more that two, using SS and gold filled wire.

Sterling silver and freshwater pearls-earrings

This last piece below, is a "Sandra Lee Semi-homemade" , for those of you familiar with the Food Network.  You see the majority of the necklace is purchased already made. What I did was drill a whole in the main piece to add a freshwater pearl.  Hence, the semi-homemade.

Well, this is it for now.  Hope your summer ended as splendidly as mine.  

Thanks for the visit.  If you're interested in any jewelry pieces, just email me.

Aloha,

What!? It's August already?

Aloha!
Time sure flies when I'm busy being lazy and uninspired.  I have no idea what happened to July.
 I did however take a couple of jewelry soldering classes.  I wanted to step outside the box to get over my fear of the flame.  These classes were a great start for me because, in class we used the smaller butane torches and not the acetylene torches.  Those big mamas scare me big time!
Here's the first project:

I used fine silver (99.9), and this was a fusing technique, so no solder needed.


In another class, we were instructed to use sterling silver and/or 14k gold-filled square wire.  I did both gold and silver projects.  Here's some simple rings:

So, my final class, a bezel cup attachment class, a few weeks later, I almost melted one of the little cups! The torch was a little bigger, meaning a little more power!  But inspite of it all, here's that final project:

 

Well, that's it for now.  Hope you all have a wonderful August!
Aloha,

 

Off The Radar

Aloha to all!
Seems it's been forever since I posted.  I must say I do miss it.  My computer broke about six months ago and though I tried posting via my ipad, I did run into some quirks.  Like pics that didn't show up but for a tiny blue square,  finding an app to watermark my photos but didn't have the font I was looking for, and not having Photoshop to adjust the pixles. You know, just little things like that, but it was enough to bring me down to a level of not wanting to blog.  I also noticed that more people are Facebooking than blogging.   Is it because more people are reachable?
So, until I can make up my mind on what computer to get, I'll have to figure out a way to post and get those photos on the blog too.
For now, just a quick heads up on my family life.  We welcomed another grand daughter to the family a few months ago; absolutely wonderful!  My daughter inlaw became Mrs. Petite Hawaii 2013 this Spring and will represent Hawaii at the Nationals in Florida this August.
Well, that's it for now.  Keep on creating!
Aloha,
Creative Grammie