Nymph's Chorus

Nymph's Chorus is slowly making it's way to Peacock Tres Chic. I've had an extremely busy weekend, and I haven't had as much time to get these little ladies listed as I would have liked. But there are a couple at the shop, and included in the listing is the free pair of matching earrings. The earrings are a limited time offer!

Phoebe is available!

Josephine
Geneve was purchased by a lovely regular shopper of mine. Thanks Amber! Hope you love her!

Bess will be available shortly!

Things to love... Friday?

Yea I'm a day late with the things to love.
Been very busy with a fussy baby.
Anyway, these are some things I pulled from the favorites I added on Etsy this week.
Love these ankle chains from Dear Bearcat. What a crazy name. I'm thinking I might be making myself a pair of these in the near future. I made some foot sandals out of chainmaille once upon a time and they were quite popular. Though styled differently, I love how these ankle chains drape across the top of the foot. And I love the nude heels.
These earrings from Fanciful Devices are dripping with rustic elegance.

I was browsing elephant graphics for my son's first birthday party coming up, and though not what I was looking for as far as birthday decor, I found this print by The Haunted Hollow Tree. This print just speaks to me, the elephant being one of my favorite forms for the last three or four years.

And I've been looking for a new messanger bag. I'm pretty in love with this one from ikabags. Been thinking of making my own in canvas..... if I ever get the time.

Promotional offer to celebrate the new collection

Introducing the new collection, Nymph's Chorus, at Peacock Tres Chic!

To celebrate, for a limited time only, I'm including a free pair of matching earrings with each Nymph's Chorus necklace.

I currently have two necklaces listed.

Phoebe, is my personal favorite.

Geneve is lovely too.

More pieces from Nymph's Chorus to be listed daily at Peacock Tres Chic!

Oh Sweet Ruin...

I was browsing my activity feed on Etsy this morning and someone in my circle added this treasury to their favorites. I was initially attracted to the treasury because it focused on teal, and it is my favorite color. But the first item that jumped out at me, was this mask, by Sweet Ruin.


My first reaction was 'Why have I never seen this shop before!?' I was blown away. She describes her shop in this manner "...where you will find odds and bits of tattered charm, faded velvet and broken yarn..." Such a wonderful description. The shop has a difinitive charm, a cohesion that lets you know that the items in this shop are the artist personified. My hat's off to you, Kathe Knitch, for knowing who you are and being such an inspiration. I feel like a kid in a comic store.....

Made in Michigan treasury

I live in an ity bity town in the middle of Michigan, and to say the least, there's not a lot of artistic opportunity in these parts. Michigan as a whole, however, is more fortunate. I found so many wonderful Michigan sellers today on my treasure hunt!

Polymer clay flowers, again.

I've been spending way too much time making these roses. But as long as I'm having fun, I don't care. And I'm thinking they might go over well at the craft fairs.
Here's a look at a couple more I've made today. I'll be listing some of these beauties on Etsy very soon. Clearly, they all need chains and whatnot. Every flower is handmade, no two flowers are ever the same. Some of the roses are made with colors that I can't reproduce as well. Like the purple one up there.... not sure I have any of that left. It was made using a combination of scraps =)

New jewelry designs coming soon to Peacock Tres Chic

So I've been learning some polymer clay techniques because I have a polymer clay bead project coming up at JoAnns that I'll be teaching. I've never used this medium before, so I've been trying to learn anything and everything. I got a little side tracked from the actual project.
This is what I was supposed to be making....
...but instead I spent all day yesterday and some of the day before making these.

I know what you're thinking. Whoopidy doo you made a clay rose, who hasn't. Well I never had, so it's exciting to me! I had some of the most gorgeous shimmering gold and a beautiful maroon that turned out to be my favorite flowers. The maroon one has some gold in it, so it also shimmers.

I had made these pendants out of beads I've had s ince my honeymoon. I didn't make the beads, but I was recently inspired to experiment with the messy wire wrapped technique and I thought it would look pretty with them. I think these are to blame for the whole polymer clay obsession I've developed recently. That and the fact that I'm forced to work with it because I have to teach it. I wouldn't have picked up the medium otherwise.

I apologize for the harshness in some of the photos. My camera has been acting like a two year old. The exposure is auto correcting when I have it on manual, and it's just been acting all kinds of weird. But at least you have an idea of what's to come this fall season at Peacock Tres Chic, and hopefully I can get some better photos before these lovelies get posted.

Video jewelry tutorial by Susan Street

Susan Street is the owner of VintageJewelrySupplies.com, which is where I buy most of my jewelry elements. She also has a website dedicated to teaching jewelry techniques, and it's diffiucult to find such instruction for free anymore. Finding her websites forever changed my jewelry design in one fell swoop, and since then I've connected with her on facebook and gotten to know her as an amazing individual.

Susan has recently expanded her teaching repuitoir to include videos. If you're anything like me, watching it done is the easiest way to learn something new.

Check out Susan's first video

Things to Love Thursday (Again)

I wanted to post my treasury earlier, but I was having some computer issues. All is resolved, so here it is!

Things To Love Thursday

There are a couple shops from my Vintage Fusion Treasury that I would like to draw your attention to. These shops are stunning.

The first is Blasphemina's Closet. What drew me in first were the hair accessories. Upon closer inspection of the shop, I was captured by the clothing as well.

I mean, look at this dress!! "This is a one of a kind art deco dress inspired by pieces in the decorative arts wing of Minneapolis Institute of the Arts. All of the pleats were hand measured, the brocade and velvet ribbon made to mimic the look of a particular chair." I ADORE fashion inspired by art. It reminds me of my favorite Project Runway challenge where their final runway piece was to be inspired by something from the Metropolitan in New York.

The second shop is a fellow Michigan artist. Wendy Beath Creations has an abundance of gorgeous things! The mixture of flowers and feathers is done with a casual grace that quite honestly makes me jealous. There isn't a single hair piece in that shop that I don't adore.

And paper flower earrings, how often do you see that?

Craft Project page corner bookmarks

This is a completely non-jewelry related post, but it's what I did with my Labor Day. A couple of friends and I got together to make these adorable page corner bookmarks from this tutorial on 'I Could Make That.'

These are a lot of fun, they're easy, and the materials are the types of things most people have laying around, especially if you're crafty or have kids.

I'm on the bottom left, my friends Aimee and Lisa are with me.

My munchkin and Lisa's munchkin had a play date in the other room. Riley, on the left, is my son and he's 9 months old. Chloe is on the right, and she's 10 months old.

We made the daddies babysit. It was pretty awesome.

DIY Jewelry Display made with wood and dowel rods for necklaces bracelets or rings

I saw a picture a while back of a similar display where she had rings hanging from a dowel rod. I can't find that picture to give credit for the idea, so if you have seen it before let me know!
I have made three of these so far, they're all different, and I intend to make at least one more of these small ones, I have more bracelets that need to be hung.
These are my step by step instructions on how I made this display.

These are the materials I started with. I purchased all of them at JoAnn Fabrics and Crafts at an excellent price. I saw similar beveled boards and dowels at Wal-Mart as well in their craft department.
I am on a teal kick this season, so I painted the wood teal, and added some antique white to give it some character. It's hard to see here, but I measured and drilled two small holes with my Dremmel tool where I want my hooks to be. I selected a piece of scrapbooking paper that I had in my stash with a pretty script and floral pattern on it.

I cut the scrapbooking paper to the same size as the top edge of the wooden board, inside the beveled edges. Before I glued it down, I lined the paper up where it would be glued and poked two small holes in it with a pin where I drilled the holes in the wood. Just so I know where to put the hooks through the paper.

Once the paper was glued down, I screwed the hooks into the small holes I had drilled. I got these little hooks at Wal-Mart, they're a pretty brass with a floral motif on them. I'm sure you can get fancy hooks at other places, like Home Depot or Hobby Lobby.

All that's left is to insert the dowel rod and set it on a decorative plate stand or picture frame stand. For all my displays, I painted the dowel rod antique white, though that hasn't been done yet to the bracelet display in the photos.

This necklace display was done with the same technique, except I used a decorative painted board that I found at Goodwill. Really, I'm there almost every day. Can you tell?

I'd like to find some similar scrapbooking paper to the painting, and make some matching bracelet displays. This one is going to be hung on my bedroom wall for my personal jewelry.

Hope you find my jewelry display idea useful!

I love old things

I'm in love with my new old table. We had this tiny round table that was too small to get any good amount of work done on, but this baby's huge! And it has two drop down sections that come out to make it bigger still. Going to be my new work space, and my husband's gaming table.
I say new old because it's an antique, though the legs aren't the originals and it's already been used as a work bench for several years so I'm pretty sure it has no remaining value as an antique. It came from my mom's house, they had been storing it in the attic after replacing it with another gigantic table in the kitchen. I have many years of fond memories with this table, and many more to come.
Also, say hi to Herbie! The orange tabby who snuck into the photo, perched on a chair...

DIY Display ideas - Plate and candlestick

A little while back I posted a link to the plate and candlestick jewelry trays by The Speckled Dog. The process is extremely simple, literally as simple as gluing a plate and a candlestick together. Even though I adore her trays, with a plate on both the bottom and the top, I'm also fond of the candlestick with a single plate, like the one I've made here.
The plate and candlestick came from the local Goodwill, which I visit almost daily. It's just a few blocks away and next to where my husband works, so I pack my son up in his stoller and walk down there to visit. And shop.
I had every intention of painting the candlestick to match whatever plate I came up with, but the original gold finish matched the decorative plate that I fell in love with so perfectly. I'm not sure if I'll be putting rings on it, or business cards. It makes a lovely business card presentation too.

Things to love Thursday

I was tickled pink to find LiliesOValley on Etsy this morning! Not only are the clothes gorgeous, but the fabric looks SO comfy!

I can't get enough of these handmade ceramic jewelry bowls from Redhotpottery on Etsy. I can't wait to purchase one of these some day.

I'm all about the bolero this season, and this little beauty has been in my favorites for quite some time now. Lovely crochet work from Callmemimi on Etsy.

WaterNymph on Etsy is one of my favorite jewelry artisans. She seems to share my fondness for teal and brass.

So these are a few of the things I'm lovin this Thursday =)

You may have noticed the teal and ivory trend, it's my new addiction.