Roses are Pink... this time.

Would you believe that we made it through January?  Pretty quick, huh?

Tomorrow will be a new month and pretty soon, there will be a huge demand for flowers, particularly roses to celebrate Valentine's day.

I made this pink rose from polymer clay and set it on a brass ring that is adjustable.

It looks nice and pretty when worn and I think I will make more.

Hope your January was great and that your February will be filled

with love and lots and lots of roses!

Hugs from me to you,

♥ Michelle ♥

January 2012 Bead Soup Blog Partner [Melissa M.]

Have I told you that I am uber excited to be included in my first Bead Soup blog party?

Today, I will introduce to you my partner:  Melissa M who makes gorgeous eclectic art jewelry.

Gorgeous wire work!
Photo by Melissa Meman



 Check out her BLOG and discover how talented and creative she is - it scares me when I think of what to send her or what to make out of what she will challenge me with.  Her designs have been featured in several magazines and her ETSY store is beaming with her beautiful creations.

Love the shades of blue
Photo by Melissa Meman

 The Bead Soup Blog Party experience is fun.  I got to meet new friends in Lori Anderson of Pretty Things Blog who graciously hosted the party and Melissa.

Lovely design
Photo by Melissa Meman

Come back soon to see what we come up with.

Enjoy!

♥ Michelle ♥

Twist and Turn Part 2 [Makin's Clay Extruder]

Three months ago, I wrote a blog on how interesting the Makin's clay extruder was.

I used a different color palette this time, using mainly basic colors - black, red, ble and yellow.

I recently learned an interesting fact about this technique:  Donna Kato calls this type of cane a Klimt cane as it looks like the patterns in the work of the painter Gustav Klimt.

The color combo of this cane is so bold or perhaps psychidelic that it reminds me of Missoni fabric prints.  I love color and this makes me happy and cheery.

I'm in the process of making a design where I can use this pattern.

Stay tuned!

Do you love colors or are you a neutral type of person?

Book: " The Art of Polymer Clay Millefiori Techniques" by Donna Kato

How was your weekend? 

It's been snowing where we are and to keep me warm, I thought of the beautiful flowers of spring.

I spent the weekend reading Donna Kato's book,

 "The Art of Polymer Clay Millefiori Techniques" and was able to make a floral cane.

Millefiori, if translated from Italian literally means "thousand flowers." 

Many polymer clay artists make use of the technique in their art and jewelry. 

The technique looks very complicated and is definitely not for the fainthearted. 

This is actually my nth attempt on this technique.

I decided to follow Donna's instructions in the book in making this daisy cane.

It was really a challenge that needed patience and time.. lots of it.

I had to condition several colors of polymer clay then, made a Skinner blend... rolled... reduced...  cut... reduced... until finally, the petals were formed.

The assembly was fun - I started using 6 petals but figured that I had to use 8.  After some more

reducing, the cane looked pretty decent.

Donna's book was very informative and well-illustrated.  Definitely a good, if not a must-read for the

beginner polymer clay artist.

You know what they say, practice (and patience) makes perfect.

Have a great and creative week friends!

♥ Michelle ♥

Materials:

Premo' Polymer Clay:  Translucent, White, Cadmium Yellow and Black

Amaco Polymer clay conditioner

Sculpey rigid blade

Ceramic tile

Ruler

The Heart of my ♥ [for Mr. Cabby Crafter]

My husband and I are celebrating our 3rd Year Wedding Anniversary today.  It feels just like yesterday when we had the wedding ceremony and since then, we have discovered more things about each other.

He is my bestfriend and ever supportive craft sponsor.  Doesn't it feel good to have someone

criticize your work with love?  Ahahaha.

This card is for him:  The ♥ of my ♥.  Super corny, huh?  Bear with me. 

I thought of forming a heartshape in the middle and build around it to form a bigger heart.  I used several pieces of white quilling paper 1.5 inches long to complete the artform.  This was placed on a slightly distressed red mat that was then layered on a dry embossed heart white shiny paper and a floral designer paper.

I stamped the word "LOVE" in gold and embossed it with clear embossing powder.

There you go....

Three years past and a lifetime to go! 

Our wedding bands are etched with the following phrase:

Deus nos iunxit

("God has joined us together.")

Material

Quilled creations quilling paper:  white

Coredinations paper

Floral rose designer paper

Reflections white cardstock

Martha Stewart Arch Lattice Punch

Versamagic pigment ink:  Gold

Judikins clear detail embossing powder

Letter stamps

Yay for Ms. Lori Anderson

Yay!  The gracious Ms. Lori Anderson of Pretty Things Blog has announced the participants for the 5th Bead Soup Blog Party. 

The Cabby Crafter was among those randomly chosen to be part of it. 

This would be my first bead soup blog and I am so excited!  I will be posting details about

my partner but for now, I have to gather beads so I could mail it to her by January 31.

Have a great week, friends!

Idea Dilemma [Black and Gold Polymer clay pendants]

Hello friends!

There are 2 polymer clay pieces that are staring at me, begging me to turn them into something nice.

I used One stamped image and 2 different techniques.

This piece measures 1.5 inches in diameter and was made using the Chatoyant / Mica shift technique.  I like how it is encased in what appears to be seed beads.  I added a wire on the top which makes it possible to turn this into a focal piece for a necklace.  If I have the energy and a little more patience, I can add beads too.  A little sanding and buffing will turn this seemingly rough piece into a fine piece of artbead.

This one measures 43 x 47 mm and uses the same color palette.  I added leafage to create an elegant feeling to the piece.  For this, I am thinking of adding a riveted piece of metal accent.  Again, this can turn out into a beaded pendant or a component for a chunky bracelet.



I will keep you posted once these babies have seen the light. 

Happy crafting!

Materials:

Premo; Polymer Clay:  Antique gold and Black

Lisa Pavelka Texture stamp

Versamagic Ink:  Black Onyx

Gauge 20 gold wire

Happy Everything! [Hero Arts Birthday Card]

This card is for my sister-in-law's birthday.  She loves the color yellow so I used that as the mat background.  The stamped flowers and sentiment were from Hero Arts Thinking of You clear stamp collection.

I colored the flowers with markers.  I did a little experiment by adding Versamark ink using a fantastix pen and clear embossing powder - I think my little experient worked because I like how glossy and plump the flowers looks.

The sentiment was clear embossed as well. 

I like how dainty and elegant the card looks especially with the dry embossed distressed background.

This card is ready to fly to OZ!

Sending you Happy Everything, my friend!

Materials:

Hero Arts CL146 Clear Design Thinking of You

Cuttlebug D'Vine Embossing Folder

Coredinations Textured Paaper

Reflections Paper: yellow and white

Ranger Distress Inks:  Vintage photo, Walnut distress

Clorbox cat's eye pigment ink:  Midnight

Versamark watermark ink

Tsukineko Fantastix

Judikins Clear Detail Embossing Powder

Tombow ABT markers

Tombow Mono Adhesive

Us girls, rock! [Vintaj January 2012 Rock 'N Roll Challenge]

One of my goals for this year is to share my art form by joining Challenges and what a great way to start the year by joining the Vintaj Rock 'N Roll January 2012 Design Challenge.  Cool!

Here is my entry:  "The Rockista Leather Band."

When I think of rock n' roll, I think of leather, metal, and of bling.  The focal piece is the wire crocheted pendant wrapped with a Vintaj Clover Petal Filigree - the one that I made HERE.


In the process of coming up with the design, I listened to female rock bands such as Joan Jett, Blondie, Evanescence, Alanis Morisette, Vixen and a Philippine Female rock band called Aegis.
Aegis' songs are so popular that they have been sung by Filipino International artists such as Lea Salonga, Charice Pempengco and Arnel Pineda of the group Journey among others.

 

Join me as I visit the Vintaj website from January 9 - 13, 2012 to see what others have done. 

Rock on!

Materials:

"The Rocker Pendant" - my wire crocheted piece

Vintaj  F410 Clover Petal Filigree
Vintaj Leafage Fastenable FS019 Tanglewood
Vintaj RV010 Brass Rivets, HW0063 Standard Washers; Brass Headpins
Lt. Blue Crystals
Medium Leather Band
Denami Vine Rubber Stamp
Ranger's Walnut Stain distress ink and Acrylic Paint Dabbers

January Birthday Card

I've been making handmade cards for quite sometime now and I thought it would be nice to incorporate the birthmonth color motif in them.  The birthstone for January is Garnet hence this card RED, lots and lots of red!

For the red background paper, I dry embossed and sanded the paper to distress it.

Then, I layered a stamped image and sentiment that was heat embossed with clear powder.

To add more red, I added two different kinds of ribbon.

Finally, several red blings were randomly added to finish the piece.

Oh, how I love the different textures!

Happy crafting!

♥ Michelle ♥

Materials & Tools:

Coredinations Cardstock in VC Ruby

Reflections White cardstock

Cuttlebug embossing folder 37-1142 D'vine Swirls

Inkadinkado stamp 97635 Round frames

Colorbox catseye pigment ink in Scarlet

Judikins Clear detail embossing powder

Celebrations Ribbon

Metallic detail in Red

Tombow monoadhesive

Dimesional Adhesive

Sizzix BigKick Machine

CF Art Swap #1: Found Objects

It's a happy day!

A few weeks ago, I joined Christi Friesen's very 1st Art Swap and the theme was "Found Objects."

My piece was a "Floral Swirl Pendant" - you may read about it HERE.

With much anticipation, my CF originals package was delivered.  Yay!

Oh my.. I was so thrilled to see and open the box!

Inside was an Art Swap certificate with a CF original Dragon pin.

Here I am with my silly pose in attempts to imitate CF.

Ohhhh... it was so nice to finally touch something that was made by a wonderful artist.  I could just imagine the fun that she had in creating this cute, tiny creature.

CF Original ArtSwap Found Object Dragon



My ArtSwap piece:  "View from the Pond" came from Ms. Stacey Painter. 

I love how Stacey used so many elements and techniques in making the piece - glass, metal and a humongous screw!  I drool over the gorgeous stained glass which my photo unfortunately doesn't give justice to.

"View from the Pond" pendant by Stacey Painter

I hope my Art Swap partner loved the necklace/pendant that I made.

I can't wait to join the succeeding CF Originals Art Swap.

If your day makes you crabby - get crafty!

♥ Michelle ♥

Yay for Wire Crochet! [Book: "Wire Jewelry" by Chrissie Day]

A BLESSED YEAR 2012 to you all.

Welcome back to The Cabby Crafter's blog.

One of my goals this year is to learn & relearn techniques and what better way to start than by reading a book on Wire Jewelry by Chrissie Day.  I do yarn crochet and have been fascinated by the intricacy of this artform done in wire.

Wire crochet utilizes the same stitches as with yarn crochet however, it is more challenging for the hands.  After practicing the stitches using fine gauged wire, I decided to add beads - actually, just a bead.

I used a round light blue ceramic bead.

This piece may be used as a pendant, brooch or as an element for a nice jewelry.

It measures 37mm or ~1.5 inches.  I love how it turned out.

Just like other techniques, wire crochet can be addicting too but in my case,

I think if I do this regularly, it would be only once a week.  I need to give my fingers some lovin.'

There might be some special gloves for wire crochet work out there.  If none, I might have a chance to invent and have my own patented jewelry &wire crochet gloves.

Now that's a truly wired idea!

Be crafty and never be crabby.

♥ Michelle ♥

Materials: and Tools:

24 gauge artistic wire

Crochet hook

Ceramic bead - 14 mm in diameter

Wire cutter

Flat nose plier

Nylon Jaw pliers