[Jewelry] Polymer Clay Faux Turquoise Necklace

Polymer Clay Faux Turquoise

I.  Am.  Back!  How are you?

One of our dear friends celebrated her 50th birthday and we gave her a surprise celebration!  Whew!  The 3 weeks of preparation, secret meetings and close encounters was fun and we're glad it turned out to be a wonderful celebration.  The theme of the party was "High Heels" since she loved wearing them and we used the colors:  black, gold and white.  

This was the necklace that I made for her.  The pendant is faux turquoise made from polymer clay.  To complete the necklace, I added mother of pearl square spacers, red and black crystals and ceramic beads all wired and attached to a chain.  It drapes the neck nicely and is very elegant.

So, how are you?  Have you been doing a lot of projects lately?

Have a blessed day!

♥  michelle  ♥

[Christmas] HPCG 2013 Party

The Christmas season is filled with parties left and right and I am loving it!  The HPCG had our Christmas party this past Sunday hosted by the gracious Ms. SP.  I brought home made Chicken Enchiladas.  We had fun exchanging and stealing gifts - there were a couple "hot items" that were a hit!

I gave these:  LP's Magic Gloss, a set of bezels and a mother-of-pearl pendant/brooch.

I initially picked up a set of Lumierre inks but it was "stolen" from me.  LOL.  I ended up picking a book:  "How to Make Polymer Clay Beads" by Linda Peterson.  It's just what I need.

Until next year!  Now I'm off to more parties!

♥  michelle  ♥

[Jewelry] The Challenge of Music 2013

It is the 2nd Annual Challenge of Music blog hop by Erin of Treasures Found and I am so excited to be part of it again.  
Read about my entry last year HERE.

This year, Erin asked us to "find a piece of instrumental music that speaks to your soul."  That means, plain music - no choral accompaniment.  Oh, what a challenge with all the beautiful music around us.

The first challenge for me was to find "my music" that would allow me to interpret it in my artpiece.

The second challenge was:  How to share the music in my blog.  I wanted to try something else besides YouTube so I explored what's new in the web and came across Soundcloud.  I wanted to share a Traditional Filipino folk song/dance called "Tinikling." 

Click LISTEN to hear the song.

The music was composed by Levi Celerio (April 30, 1910 – April 2, 2002)   Celerio was a prolific songwriter, with over 4,000 songs to his credit. He is perhaps best known for being a leaf-player, a feat for which he was put into the Guinness Book of World Records. In 1997, he was namedNational Artist of the Philippines for Music. Read more about him HERE.  You must have seen this being danced during one of the cultural shows in your City that feature the Philippines.  The tinikling dance is one of the most popular and well-known of traditional Philippine dances.  Can you hear the clanking and banging sound?  The dance is comprised of 2 people who tap bamboo poles on the ground and against each other in a rhythmic manner while 1 or more dancers step in and out of the poles.

Tinikling
Photo grabbed from Parangal 2006
www.likha.org

Here's a complicated version of the dance with several pairs of bamboo.

The dance originated in Leyte among the Visayan islands in the central Philippines as an imitation of the tikling bird dodging bamboo traps set by rice farmers. The dance imitates the movement of the tikling birds as they walk between grass stems, run over tree branches, or dodge bamboo traps set by rice farmers. Dancers imitate the tikling bird's legendary grace and speed by skillfully maneuvering between large bamboo poles. I chose this music because it reminds me of home - the festivities, the delicious sweet mangoes and other fruits, the beautiful and colorful floral arrangements and costumes.  This statement/bib necklace was made using wired mother of pearl diamonds that were wired to form flowers and accented by crystal beads and round pearls.

Mother of Pearl Statement Necklace

To complete the necklace, I added yoyo fabric.  What is that you ask?  It's the ruffled circles fabric - learn how to do it HERE.  It's pretty simple, just do running stitch all around your chosen fabric and gather the edges to create the ruffles and add a button or pearl to seal the open part.

A big thanks to Erin for hosting this challenge once again.  It was nice to learn new things every time.  Now its time to hop to other blogs, listen, read and admire the beautiful work of these brave ones.  Enjoy!

The Challenge of Music 2013

Erin Prais-Hintz Alenka Obid Ali McCarthy Alicia Marinache Amy Severino Amy Grass Carolyn Lawson Cece Cormier Cynthia Riggs Ema Kilroy Emanda Johnson Emma Todd Erin Kenny Evelyn Shelby Evie and Beth McCord Gerd Andersson Holly Westfall Jennifer Justman Jenny Davies-Reazor Jess Green Judy Campbell Karla Morgan Kay Thomerson Kristina Johansson Lola Surwillo Lynn White Malin de Koning Mallory Hoffman Mary K McGraw Melissa Meman  Melissa Trudinger

YOU ARE HERE:

Michelle Escano  

Michelle Bourbonniere

Michelle Heim

Michelle Mach

Molly Alexander

Molly Schaller

Monique Urquhart

Niky Sayers

Pam Farren

Rebecca Anderson

Sally Russick

Sharon Palac

Sharon Driscoll

Susan Kennedy

Tari Kahrs

Tracy Stillman

Veralynne Malone

Blessings!

♥  Michelle  ♥