Trying Something New...Resin Jewelry!

I've decided to try making resin jewelry! I love how quirky the pieces are and I also love the idea of embedding practically anything in the resin to be preserved forever! I tried to make a few pieces last year but it was one disastrous FAIL after another. So after making cloudy piece after cloudy piece, I gave up and put my resin away. It wasn't until my mom was looking for something a few weeks ago that she found my resin and molds and it sparked my interested again so I tried to give it another go.
Oddly enough, it was on my second attempt that I realized it was actually the mold release that was making each and every one of my pieces come out cloudy in some spots. Plus, I didn't have my hardener/resin mixture exactly evenly measured so everything was turning out sticky. Unfortunately, when you don't get the resin mixed properly, you're wasting a good chunk of money (depending on your brand, I use Castin' Craft) on failed batches of resin and hardener. So needless to say, it makes me wince every time something comes out less than perfect. *Fingers crossed* that I have it figured out now! Here's a little progress timeline:

Here was the first batch, before I realized the mold release was making them cloudy...



Then the second, no mold release, trying out separate layers of glitter with the sticker in it's own layer in the front!





And third...trying transparent color resin dye...another thing that kills me to waste..too much and the resin will not fully cure, but turn out flexible instead. Too little and the color is barely visible. These turned out great!




And just a few of my latest! I actually colored a couple with just a touch of tempera paint to make them opaque and did more layers of glitter on the others since I'm a sparkle girl. I already put necklace findings on the rectangular ones and a ring back on the green glitter one. LOVE them, may list them soon. Or not. ;)




Any thoughts?

Lots Going On, But a Surprise Feature!

Lots of things have been going on this week, some not so great (relationships, car troubles), others, REALLY great (a friend is engaged!).

Today, Garrick over at the Senioritis/Itmakesyoulazy Blog was kind enough to feature my shop in the Friday Finds blog post!
http://itmakesyoulazy.blogspot.com/2010/03/friday-finds-32610.html


As for the Senioritis Etsy shop, it's one of the most interesting, fun shops I've seen. They have great prints featuring well-known historic figures like Albert Einstein, Lewis Caroll, Dr. Seuss and Babe Ruth in fun ways and including a fitting quote on the print. I guarantee you that you've never seen a shop like this!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/senioritis


I have to say, my favorite is the Jean Harlow print:





Thanks again to everyone at Senioritis/Itmakesyoulazy for the great feature!

Hearts and Hands United Team Project

For one of my Etsy teams, Hearts and Hands United, our latest team project was to create something to fulfill two of the the "Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed and Something Blue" categories for the upcoming wedding season.
I decided to make a set of 2 bows, one in white and one in blue, to fulfill the old and new categories.



See what other items the team has come up with here!
First installment:
http://heartsandhandsunited.blogspot.com/2010/03/team-project-no-1-something-old.html

Second installment:
http://heartsandhandsunited.blogspot.com/2010/03/team-project-no-1-something-old_19.html

Owl Cam- So Cute!

I've been addicted to this owl cam since the other day. Everyone is waiting for the baby owls to be born and watching the mommy (Molly) and the daddy (McGee) in the meantime. It's definitely addicting, I'm taking forever to write this tiny piece because apparently one of the babies, whom the owner of the owl box and camera are calling "Max," has been born!
Here's the website or you can just give it a second to load and push the graphic of the arrow on the picture to stream it below (great if you don't want the annoying chat that goes on from the main site):
http://www.ustream.tv/theowlbox

Free TV : Ustream

Peeps Ice? I'll Take One!

I'm probably the biggest sucker for different drink creations. I love all the new flavors Starbucks comes up with (ok, except for gingerbread and eggnog, not my favorite), love the variety of drinks at Sonic, flavored Coca Cola, etc. So imagine the squeal I let out when I got an email from the Peeps company advertising the new Peeps flavored Ice at Rita's! I quickly checked out the site for more information and to find out where I would be able to buy one of these interesting sounding concoctions. Unfortunately, there are NO Rita's locations in California, Nevada or Arizona, places where I would be able to check them out before they left the stores. I would love to know how these things taste, I'm imagining probably just like sugar ice but it's the idea of it all! And yes I know it looks like yellow snow but we all know it isn't. Lol.
Someone please try this for me when they come out, I'm desperate!




Another thing I was missing out on this year was my beloved Shamrock Shake from McDonald's! Apparently no locations near me were selling them (do people in California only eat bland, diet-y stuff?) and don't try to ask employees about the shakes, lest they think you're a lunatic. Upon reading several blogs though, it seems that this year's shakes were nothing short of disappointing, lacking the classic minty flavor and including {shudder} whipped cream and a cherry??? Just...no.
So I got out my ingredients (thank you, Restaurant Secrets cookbook!) and made myself a Shamrock Shake that was just as tasty as I remember from when I was little.



Ahh, pure delicious-ness!

Happy St. Patrick's Day! (Psst, Cupcakes Here!)

Lol, sorry for the weird title. I've been trying out some new stuff besides my felt items, this time I'm trying resin jewelry! I've just been practicing making pieces that are clear, bubble-free and now I've experimented with color! Anyway, I've been meaning to post more but haven't because of that. So sorry!

Just also wanted to say Happy St. Patrick's Day and post this yummy picture of cupcakes from Sprinkles (Dark chocolate with Bailey's Irish Cream frosting)! If you're in the area of one, have one for me please!

Golden Girls as Inspiration? How Random.

I've done a few blog interviews and one of the most common questions is, "Where do you find inspiration for your pieces?"
Oddly enough, I just realized that one of the things that seems to do it for me is watching Golden Girls on the Hallmark channel at night! For example, I was watching it a few minutes ago and happened to look to the right of the television and saw a pretty little arrangement of faux sunflowers. That arrangement has been there for at least a year now, and lo and behold, it inspired me to make a sunflower hair clip! Not the most wild of ideas, but still, for some reason, finding inspiration seems to come from watching this show at night...I wonder what the correlation is?
Possibly because the clothing they wear on the show is so brightly colored and very 80's, something I would say the majority of my items also are. Granted, my items are geared towards the younger crowd, but I think the bright colors and prints of the decade inspire me quite a bit!
Wow was that a random entry but it just occurred to me and I had to put it out there!

Here's to the Golden Girls!