More Fun with Wire!

Copyright 2006 Margot Potter for Beadalon
Copyright 2006 Margot Potter for Beadalon

(Click on images to view close-up)

Here are two exposed wire bracelet designs I made three years ago for Beadalon. I'm working on instructions so these can finally go live on the Beadalon website. It's funny to revisit designs- on many levels. Firstly you see how much you've progressed in your techniques, secondly you sometimes realize you were on to something interesting and it's worth revisiting and finally you often like your work better in retrospect. By the time I've spent a few days on a piece, I'm often rather tired of it. I can't "see" it anymore. This is why I parade my work in front of my family and ask for their honest assessments. Then I get mad and make pouty faces if they don't like what I've created.

I'm a Leo, we're annoying like that.

I'm very excited to take both of these techniques further. The first uses thick Beadalon silver plated wire and two hole spacers to create an interesting ladder effect. The focal element is a fair trade ceramic bead from Kazuri West and it inspired a unique color palette of CRYSTALLIZED™-Swarovski Elements. I think this technique could be beautiful with larger beads and longer spacers...maybe with more beads. Everytime you make a change to these tension ideas, you have to rework everything. It's the tension of the wire in the crimp beads, along with the way the spacers are suspended that makes this design stay stiff and crisp on your wrist. If the tension isn't right, it'll flip and flop and lose structure. Though they look simple, it's a lot of engineering and trial and error that goes into getting these right.

The second design opens a whole host of possibilities. This reminds me of the Cat's Cradle we used to make with string as kids. I want to keep exploring this one. What if I add more wires and weave a tube? What if I use more beads, bigger beads, smaller beads? I'm not mad for these seed beads...I think this design would look much better with gemstones or crystals. What if it was all beaded and didn't have exposed wire?

Are you seeing where my mind is heading?

The instructions for these will go live sometime in the near future. I promise to share the links.

I'm on QVC Friday EARLY in the 1 o'clock am EST hour with two items. It's a Pink Ribbon Jewelry show. Tune in if you're awake! The host and I are both in allergy/asthma overdrive so it could make for some interesting live TV.

Until next time...craft on with your bad selves.

xoxo
Madge

Mixed Media Jewelry Project

Triple Deco Pin Copyright 2009 Margot Potter

This is a mixed media pin I did a while back for a book that didn't materialize. I really love this design. It’s got an art deco flavor and a modern appeal. I used Ranger paint dabbers in red pepper, jet and lettuce on inexpensive wooden discs I purchased at the craft store. I stamped them with Ranger dabbers in silver, snow cap and jet to create texture and interest. The pewter twig is from Ornamentea. I used Beacon 3-in-1 glue to adhere the discs and attach a pin back. It’s all sealed with a layer of Judikins Diamond Glaze.

It’s fairly easy to turn inexpensive materials into striking jewelry components. Wander the aisles of the craft stores, scrapbook stores and your local hardware stores...heck even poke around in your recycling bins. You’ll soon realize there is an endless array of cool stuff you can trick out for a small amount of pocket change.

Ten points to those of you who understood yesterday’s post. It’s from Winnie the Pooh. I didn’t suddenly forget how to spell!

Until next time...craft on with your bad selves.

xoxo,
Madge

Bisy Backson

"GON OUT
BACKSON
BISY
BACKSON"
M.P.

Link to Free Jewelry Project Confetti Collar for Beadalon

Confetti Collar Copyright 2007 Margot Potter for Beadalon

One of my design specialties is exposed wire work. I use soft wire to create woven designs that utilize tension to suspend the beads on the wire. They’re architectural and dimensional and doing them with soft wire creates a unique set of problems to solve. I started exploring this when we had our retail shop ten years ago. In typical Impatient Beader™ path of least resistance fashion I was looking for a way to get the appearance of an illusion necklace without having to knot, crimp or glue the beads in place. I discovered that by weaving wire in and out of beads you’d get the same suspended look without the futziness of the other techniques. Since then I’ve done countless designs like these ever exploring the idea of tension and suspension.

Beadalon began buying my pieces almost ten years ago when one of their employees Yvette Rodriguez discovered them in our shop window. They’ve used them for catalogs, packages, ads and newsletters and eventually I became a Design Team Member. My challenge in that role is to constantly devise new techniques and innovations to showcase their materials. We have a really great trio of designers at Beadalon and I’m honored to be among them.



Over the past two years I’ve been playing with the soft wire circle. I’ve created a lot of variations on this theme, still seeking the perfect expression of this idea. The design above was featured on the cover of the Beadalon catalogue two years ago. I’ve been waiting for the instructions to go live so I could share them with you. If you follow this link, you can get the step by step instructions for this Confetti Collar. It’s a very simple concept, mostly a matter of repetition of pattern and variation of size. It does require some patience to create, because it takes a lot of time to make that many circles! Once you start making these wire circles, you’ll want to make more, they’re very addicting. I have a simple wire bracelet in Bead and Wire Jewelry Exposed that uses a variation on this technique.

I find this work really challenging and exciting. It’s easy to keep doing the same old thing again and again, or to use techniques that already exist, but creating new techniques is far more exciting to me. Keep looking out for more of these ideas here over the next few weeks.

Until next time...craft on with your bad selves.

xoxo,
Madge

TastyLinks™ Saturday!

Illustration Copyright Enoch Bolles

It’s going to be a hot, sunny day here in Amish Country. I’m praying that the manure spreaders won’t be in full force or I’m afraid I’ll be stuck inside yet again. The poop spreaders cometh, phew. Our trees are just about fully leafed...which means that the annual Leafing Days are upon us. Tra la, tra lay...The Leafing Days! Hopefully they’ll be fully unfolded soon because I’ve been miserable. Snerg, wheeze, cough, sniffle.

I think we may actually get our Christmas tree put away this weekend. Have I mentioned I’m so not Martha?! Egads woman, it’s APRIL! Would it help if I mentioned that my husband kept saying he wanted to have a cocktail party with the tree up in the Spring?

Not so much, eh?

There’s a lot on the docket this weekend. We’ve got to do the bi-annual clothes swap and Goodwill run. The garden is prepped and ready for planting. I’ve got to put the finishing touches on my *TSP for a presentation on Monday. I need to make one more sample for my class proposals for Tucson 2010. Plus we’ve got a family gathering to attend this weekend.

It never stops around here. Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeee...

Big The Impatient Crafter™ Shout outs to Melissa J. Lee and Sister Diane of CraftyPod for their awesome reviews of my new book Beyond the Bead! I was gobsmacked! I wasn’t sure if people would get my intention, which was to break down and simplify basic mixed media techniques in a way that would resonate for the Average Jane. I wanted the book to be easy to digest and the projects to show a variety of aesthetics. I’m really glad to see that folks are digging what I threw down.

Thanks to Wendy T. Gibson for blogging about our Intellectual Property rights day on her blog Craft Dinner!

Congrats to Herbette of the Little Epiphany blog for winning the Rings ‘n Thigns loot. Email me at theimpatientcrafter@gmail.com with your mailing address so I can get that out to you!

Without further adieu here is this week’s sampling of TastyLinks™ “All the good blogs wrapped up in one!”:

About Family Crafts Why not make a special May Day treat for your neighbors!

Aileen's Musings Aileen has a Bottle Cap project just in time for Mother's Day or for that end of the year teacher gift!

Alexa Westerfield a.k.a. Swelldesigner Swelldesigner finds some colorful inspiration by Wrecking her Journal!

Blisstree Arts Cyndi's done a round-up of all her image transfer tutorials.

Cathie Filian Cathie Filian has lots of spring garden projects! Pop by her blog to learn how to recycle paint stir sticks into a garden planter, blend up fresh fruit smoothies, easily create wood burn garden markers and ideas for painting a garden set that is perfect for mom.

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world Craftside has a call for entries: 1000 Artisan Textiles, a tutorial on how to upcycle an old promo charm with stamped polymer clay, fusing plastic bags from the soon to be released book: Green Guide for Artists, and two asymmetrical jewelry designs made from recycled elements.

Crafty Princess Diaries More about YuDu - If you still aren't convinced after seeing Margot Potter's video on how to use this interesting contraption, then here is some more information for you to consider.

CraftyPod Sister Diane is super-excited to launch her new ebook, Making a Great Blog: a Guide for Creative People. It's all about how to write and photograph compelling blog posts, and how to keep the inspiration flowing.

Cross Stitch at About.com How do you organize your flosses and fibers? See what other stitchers do, then share your own methods.

Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery Earth day Jewelry Making Inspired by Heidi Boyd's Simply Beaded Bliss- making charms from button covers and advertising buttons.

The Crochet Dude Drew met the King of San Antonio!

The Impatient Crafter Madge shares some thoughts about copyrights, artist's rights and intellectual property theft in this thought provoking post.

Copyright Linky Love!

Thanks to everyone who participated in Wednesday’s Artist’s Rights and Copyrights event! Here is a list of related links with some great posts on the topics. Hopefully we can keep this dialogue going!

Cindy Gimbrone’s insightful post on making a technique your own.

Art Bead Scene shares the 411 on copyrights and fair use.

Barbe St. John’s concise and clear explanation of trademarks and copyrights.

The Copyright Alliance has a great site filled with valuable information. Super shout outs to Crafty Chica for sharing these links!
http://www.copyrightalliance.org/content.php?id=86
http://www.copyrightalliance.org/files/userfiles/file/10myths.pdf

Here’s a great Facebook notes post from my talented and brilliant mom, Sharon Scanlin.

A page of great links from the Starving Artists Law site.

A great informational resource on artist’s copyrights.
http://www.rightsforartists.com/copyright.html
http://www.rightsforartists.com/definitions.html

And finally here are two saucy, smart and hilariously funny posts about copyright infringement from a gal who always tells it like it is Linda Woods.

Here’s a great post on claiming copyrights from craft industry Trademarks and Copyrights Expert Tammy Browning-Smith P.C.:.

If you posted and I neglected to mention you, remind me and I'll get you into Saturday's Linky Love post. If you posted about my Video, I'll get you in tomorrow! I'm off to my monthly coif and pouf session with Angel...the world's best hairdresser!

xoxo
Madge

Three Big Things!

Copyright Margot Potter 2009 Butterfly for Houston Museum Holocaust Project
Copyright Avalon Potter 2008 Butterfly for Houston Museum Holocaust Project

So much to share, so little time! Eek! I have three big things to share today.

First I wanted to let everyone know we are nailing down the details of the Beads and the City trip for August 13-16th 2009 and the Crafty Cabaret Southern Caribbean Cruise for October 9-17th 2010. As soon as I have links to the sign up info online, I’ll post them here along with details about both trips! I hope you can make it!
Secondly I received my Create Your Style with CRYSTALLIZED™-Swarovski Elements Ambassador kit on Wednesday afternoon. Calloo callay! I am one of 21 designers who have worked with the CYSWCSE brand as teachers and consultants and were invited to become official ambassadors. A few folks asked for a sneak peek, so here is a little of what I got. I also received bead mats, a Create Your Style color wheel, the ginormous catalog, a look book for Spring/Summer 2010, a jaunty mouse pad and educational materials. As always, impeccably presented. I’m so honored to be among such a talented group of designers and to be an ambassador for a brand in which I wholeheartedly believe. Plus...we all know how much I love to sparkle. Here’s a little sneak peek at some of my kit.

My daughter and I worked on butterflies for the Houston Museum Holocaust project. You can see our finished designs above. We both used Tim Holtz™’s Grungeboard Elements, CRYSTALLIZED™-Swarovski Elements and Ranger paints to make these vibrant three dimensional butterflies. Avalon did a stellar job, I love the colors she picked! I followed her pop art vibrant color lead.

The Houston Museum is attempting to collect 1.5 million handcrafted butterflies for a display that represents the 1.5 million children who died in the Holocaust. My dear friend and gifted poly clay artist Michelle Zimmerman asked me to participate. Her father is a Holocaust survivor. Everyone is invited to join the cause and I truly hope if you’re an artist or even if you’re not, you’ll consider making a butterfly and sending it to the museum. If you’ve never read the poems written by the children of the concentration camps, you should. They are deeply moving and viscerally powerful. It is my hope that one day we will live in a world where this sort of thing is impossible. Unfortunately, we’re not there yet.

Here is the poem that inspired this project. Amazing.

I Never Saw Another Butterfly

The last, the very last
So richly, brightly, dazzlingly yellow.
Perhaps if the sun’s tears would sing against a white stone....

Such, such a yellow
Is carried lightly ’way up high.
It went away I’m sure because it wished to kiss the world good-bye.

For seven weeks I’ve lived in here,
Penned up inside this ghetto.
But I have found what I love here.
The dandelions call to me
And the white chestnut branches in the court.

That butterfly was the last one.
Butterflies don’t live in here, in the ghetto.

Pavel Friedman, June 4, 1942
Born in Prague on January 7, 1921.Deported to the Terezin Concentration Camp on April 26, 1942. Died in Aushchwitz on September 29, 1944

Finally if you posted about internet piracy and copyrights this week, send me your link so I can do a link round up for tomorrow. Thank you very much for your participation!

Love,
Margot

Copyrights and Artist's Rights

Permission Free Image Dover Books

I work really hard each and every day to come up with unique and inspiring ideas. My goal in life is to inspire creativity. I love seeing people riff on my ideas, because that’s a dialogue. In the classical music period, musicians had musical dialogues with snippets of music called motifs. They were expanding on each other’s ideas in creative and fascinating ways. Jazz musicians also do this. That’s the sort of dialogue I want to have with my readers. I also love knowing that they’re making the designs I’ve created and enjoying them as is. That’s a really wonderful feeling.

I don’t so much love finding out someone has co-opted my work as their own. That’s...the complete opposite of the point. It’s a subtle distinction, but let me see if I can’t clarify.

My blog, my books and my magazine projects all have a common thread. They’re protected by copyrights. That means if you want to reproduce a project I’ve shared with you for yourself, that’s my intention. I want you to do that! That’s why I make and share projects! If you want to give said project to a friend or family member as a gift, that’s fabulous! But...and here’s the big but...if you want to copy said project and make it into a kit, a class or a design for profit...that’s not okay. It’s okay to take a technique I’ve shown you and make your own unique design and sell that, because then you’ve engaged in a dialogue. Can you see the distinction?

If you copy and paste the picture of my project or an entire post into your blog or on your website without my express permission, that’s also not okay. The internet has created a free for all when it comes to horking intellectual property and I’m here today along with other artists to start staking our claims to our work.

The problem is that everything is so easy to take from the internet, so it seems less wrong to take it freely. It is, however, wrong.

If you copy someone’s art work and sell it for profit, you’re stealing. Do you steal regularly? Do you feel entitled to walk into a store and take things off of the shelves without paying for them? Do you hork stuff from your friends’ houses? If you visit them and see a vase you really like, do you feel entitled to plunk it into your purse?

Intellectual property is property. Artists and musicians and creative people work incredibly hard and they deserve to be paid for their work just like everyone else. Illegally downloading a movie or a song is stealing. Pirating software is stealing. Copying and pasting a copyright protected image into your blog without permission or credit is stealing. Uploading a segment from a TV show to YouTube is stealing. Copying an image that is under copyright, printing it and reproducing it in your artwork is stealing. Copying a design, reproducing it and selling it for profit is stealing. (On a side note it is okay to use images you cut out of books or magazines in collages, it’s just not okay to copy them and use them multiple times. See the difference? One is recycling, the other is theft.)

Anytime you co-opt someone else’s professional creative output for personal gain or profit or even for your personal pleasure without paying for it, you are breaking copyright laws. These laws can be very expensive to enforce, so you may just get away with it. Lots of people do. That doesn’t make it right. Because it is theft and theft isn’t right. It’s becoming a rampant and serious problem with the boom of the internet. People who create for a living have the same right to make a living as everyone else.

I see my work in projects sold to magazines and in ads for manufacturers and even winning design contests, only it’s actually other people copying my work. What incredible audacity it must take to steal someone’s work and claim it as your own. The way I see it, if you aren’t creative enough to make your unique designs or to give due credit when you are inspired by someone else’s work; you probably shouldn’t be selling your work. I’m just sayin’.

This topic gets everyone all kerfuffled. Even artists can’t agree on what is and what is not copyright infringement. If we can’t agree or if we’re so afraid of being unpopular we can’t take a public stand against copycats and copyright infringers...well I’m afraid this sort of activity will continue.

For the record, I am taking a stand. I have no interest in making lazy people easy money. If you want to sell kits, classes, projects for publication or finished goods, use your fertile imagination. I want you to make my designs and wear them and enjoy them. I want you to be inspired by my work to expand into new directions and most of all I want to see you become empowered to make your own unique designs. If you want pictures to post on your blog, take them yourself, use stock photos, permission free images or credit the source, if you’re thinking about taking my pictures or text from my blog or website make sure you ask permission and that if I grant it...you give me credit.

So every time you illegally download a song or a movie or copy software or sell a copy of someone else’s work in your Etsy shop or copy and paste a picture from a Google search into your blog, think about what I just told you. It’s not okay.

If you'd like to participate in educating the public about this topic, please post a blog this week and I will share your link with my readers in a group link post. We can't complain if we aren't willing to take a stand.

Cheers,
Madge

Linky Love Showers!

Image Copyright Gil Elvgren

We interrupt this blog for the following newsflash! The folks from ArtBeads are having a $1.00 Super Bead Sale! Run don't walk!

We now return you to your regularly scheduled post.

This is a hearty and heartfelt THANK YOU to the following talented folks who posted our new The Impatient Crafter I do, YuDu video in their blogs this past week. All of these artists are people you should visit. I’m so incredibly blessed to have so many amazing friends scattered like wildflowers across the planet. No one can live in a bubble, though we all know I’d like to this time of year. Wah, wah. We're here to connect and to celebrate those connections.

We put a lot of love into our humble video offerings. It’s our intention to educate, empower and entertain. We try not to take them or ourselves too seriously. I mean...it’s crafting. We’re not saving the universe, but we are doing all we can to make it a prettier place.

Grab your slicker and your wellies folks! Linky Love Showers are commencing for the following friends of The Impatient Crafter™:

The Technicolor Crafty Goddess Ms. Jennifer Perkins of The Naughty Secretary Club

Thoughtful, Talented and Thought Provoking Mr. Andrew Thornton

Ever Inspiring and Inspired Leslie Smith Gidden of Mad Maggie Designs

Porcelain Bead Master and Steampunk Genius Ms. Melanie Brooks of Earthenwood Studios

Delightful and Endlessly Eclectic Designer Candie Cooper kindly added us to her weekly link round up.

I’m also sending a whole lotta Linky Love to the O June Jewelry Blog for posting a fabulous original project utilizing a fun chipboard technique from my new book Beyond the Bead.

If you linky love us, we’ll linky love you back. It’s only fair. If I’ve neglected to mention you, just shoot me an email at theimpatientcrafter@gmail.com so I know in case Google Alerts don’t pick it up.

Until next time...Carpe Gaudium!

xoxo
Madge

Recycled Jewelry Project and Madge's New Tiara

All Eyes on You copyright 2009 Margot Potter

This is the All Eyes on You necklace. I’m mad for this one. Every time I wear it, I get rave reviews. I’ve got it on in the new video, so I figured I’d give you the 411.

These are 1.75” Bazzill Basics thick chipboard circles with images from fashion magazines cut out and adhered with decoupage medium on both sides. They are light as a feather, so you can really pile them on. I used my Crop-a-dile to punch a hole in each one so I could hang it from a 10mm jump ring. To give them a more distressed look I took a nail file to the images (gently) and then added layers of stamped flourishes in Ranger archival ink in jet black and stamped type in Ranger silver paint dabber. I sealed it all with Mod Podge Glossy using a brush to get some texture and edged each pendant with Krylon silver leafing pen in silver. They look fabulous with the Beadalon Quick Links components, very mod. I have a similarly themed project in my second book The Impatient Beader Gets Inspired taking sections of images from vintage fashion magazines and adding ironic text from the actual ad copy beneath each image. I put those in soldered microscope frames, which added another element of irony to the concept. I think it interesting to dissect the messages with which women are regularly bombarded. Plus I’m all for upcycling and there are so many great images in the mags we toss out, why not put them to good use?

The BQOTU's new tiara.

Green Acres is the place to be!

This past weekend my hubby took some pics of me in a new tiara I’m hoping to teach for an upcoming special event. Here it is and here I am wearing it in a Green Acres photo op with our escape chicken and Amos, one of our pot bellied pigs. I gave my ‘Holly Would’ tiara from Sparkletastic to a very lovely woman who worked in a washroom in Chicago. She had the most gorgeous voice...forget Susan Boyle-move over Aretha...this woman was a superstar. I just figured she needed that tiara more than I did, and she was thrilled. Honestly, I think every gal needs a tiara. Even if you just wear it to wash the dishes. I think we should all crown ourselves queen of something, which is why I sometimes call myself Bead Queen of the Universe or BQOTU™.

Why the hell not? You can be anything you choose. So choose well.

“I am a princess. All girls are. Even if they live in tiny, old attics; even if they dress in rags; even if they aren't pretty, or smart, or young. They're still princesses. All of us. Didn't you father ever tell you that? Didn't he?” A Little Princess by Francis Hodgson Burnett

xoxo,
Queen Madge

TastyLinks Saturday

It’s a gorgeous day in Amish country and I’m enjoying the view from my studio immensely. I’m busy working on a giant plastic bubble I can take in the yard so I can be outside without being miserable. I’ll let ya know how that works out for me.

I must clean this mess of a studio today. I had some deadlines this week and it got out of control yet again. Plus the files...the files must be filed! Egads the papers pile up quickly, don’t they? Sometimes I feel as if I’m buried in papers.

I wanted to remind everyone that on April 22nd I’ll be posting here about copyrights and internet piracy. I’d love for artists, writers, designers, musicians, directors and a;; creators of intellectual property to chime in on the topic on their blogs. I feel it’s important to educate the public about what is and isn’t acceptable. Just because it’s on the internet, doesn’t mean it’s free for the taking. We can’t complain if we aren’t willing to take a stand. If you post and send me your link, I’ll gather the links into a single post later that week. Email me at theimpatientcrafter@gmail.com with your link.

Jaime Guthals from Interweave asked me to remind everyone that there’s still time to enter this year’s Bead Star competition. The deadline is May 1st. It’s a fun competition because the public votes on the winners. Here’s the link to a video with the 411.

And without further ado, please enjoy this week’s springtastic sampling of TastyLinks™ from the Crafty Bloggers Gang:

Crafty Princess Diaries Become a professional crocheter with the help of an organization designed for those who are interested in make yarn craft a j-o-b.

Cathie Filian Cathie Filian is calling all Colorado crafters! Stop by the Colorado Women's expo April 25th & 26th. She will be doing presentaions on both days - the topic is...Living Creatively by Re-Crafting and Recycling.

Alexa Westerfield a.k.a. Swelldesigner Create a very cool, colorful accent wall on the cheap using scrapbook paper!

Cross Stitch at About.com See how Kitchinstitchin used an old window and a piece of crazy quilt for an unusual framed Cross Stitch project.

Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery You'll have a "ball" stitching yarn scraps into beads with a little help from the new book: Strands by Jacqueline Myers-Cho.

The Impatient Crafter Check out the new YuDu home screen printing machine in this brand spanking new The Impatient Crafter video hosted by Madge. While you're there, follow the link to her interview with fellow crafty blogger Sister Diane of CraftyPod on personal branding!

Vickie Howell's Pop Goes Crochet Vickie's latest book, Pop Goes Crochet, hits stores in 2 weeks! Get a sneak peek of 5 accessory projects now though, including designs by The Breeder's Kelley Deal, The Stitch Diva and The Crochet Dude. Give 'em a gander and enter to win a free, signed copy!

The Crochet Dude Drew recaps an amazing Southern Caribbean Crochet Cruise!

Naughty Secretary Club Jen shows you how to wear your stuffed animal collection as a bracelet. Plus enter to win a free copy of her book The Naughty Secretary Club!

CraftyPod Sister Diane reviews Betz White's new book, Sewing Green.

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world Craftside is in full bloom with an inside look into the soon to be released: Collaborative Art Journals and Shared Visions in Mixed Media by L. K. Ludwig along with a full tutorial on stitching a bird cage on a card, a how-to for embroidering barbed wire, cleaning and cutting Acrylic and how to paint a checkerboard floor.

Blisstree Arts Miriam Schaer makes books from materials that you would never think to use! Come see how she pushes the boundaries of bookmaking.

About Family Crafts Discover many creative projects all made using paper plates.

New Lava Rock beads from Rings n Things

The folks from Rings‘nThings sent me some samples to peruse for the month of April. I’m a big fan of lava rock. I particularly like it with shiny or sparkly things, because I love the contrast. As soon as I saw these brown puffy pillow beads I immediately wanted to wrap them up in shiny wire, and so I did. Usually I like ordered wire work, but this more organic, chaotic look works well here. I’m a big fan of less is more...when I’m not celebrating more is more. I just don’t like that place in between where it’s just sort of neither more nor less.

This is a less is more idea.

Lava rock and 20 gauge Beadalon German style wire come together to make a striking pair of earrings to complement a funky summer outfit. ‘Boho’ keeps threatening to make a serious come back and these would rock (pardon the pun) with a smock topped maxi dress, some strappy goddess platform sandals and your hair braided and curled in a Botticelli inspired updo.

They also sent some samples of the two newest CRYSTALLIZED™-Swarovski Elements colors Indian Pink and Dark Indigo. Click on the links to go see! Both are quite yummy indeed. I was going to mix it all together and I could have added a crystal or two to the wire, but less was more yesterday.

Tomorrow...all bets are off.

If you’d like a generous sampling of round and rondelle shaped brown lava rock beads and some German style wire to make your own cool jewels, leave a comment below and I’ll announce the winner next Friday. Make sure you check back, I can’t hunt you down all over the vast interwebs. If you win it’s up to you to contact me.

Cheers,
Madge

Free Jewelry Making Project!

This project from my new book Beyond the Bead is available as a free download at the MyCraftivity site until April 24th! Learn how to turn poly clay into faux metal with a fun and simple technique. I still need to make a necklace for this set...hmmm...better get on that!

I've got a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes here and hopefully soon some of it will be solidified for announcement status. At least it's keeping me out of trouble! Tom Petty was so right when he said the waiting is the hardest part!

Until next time...craft on with your bad selves.

xoxo
Madge

Good Day, Sunshine

Copyright 2008 Margot Potter

I made this necklace last spring and posted the pic on my Impatient Blogger blog. It's been so dismal around here this week, I decided to reshoot it and post it again. The lovely ceramic flower, ice cream cone clasp and striped square beads were my focal points. Jennifer Heynan of Jangles does whimsical better than anyone I know. The colors in the ceramic beads worked perfectly with the saturated pastels of these vintage Lucite moonglow effect beads(you can find similar beads at The Beadin' Path.) I added a smattering of Hill Tribe Thai silver pendants that looked like rays of sunshine to continue the sunny vibe. I played around with a few other Thai silver accents, moving things around the bead board until I was satisified and ended up with this delightfully asymmetrical design.

For me, each design is a journey. I’m trying to make the beads sing. I want every element to make sense and propel the story of the design. When I use art beads, I am particularly mindful of creating a design that celebrates them and doesn’t compete with them for attention. Every element has to support the focal pieces. Though this is a simple, strung design, it was a creative journey.

Every design is a journey. A designer isn’t just a person who slaps paint on a canvas or plops beads on a string. A designer is someone who thinks deeply about every element of the design and takes the time to really see it and to translate what they see into something that makes sense and is wearable. Everything should work with perfect synchronicity, even if it’s a dissonant concept it still needs to be controlled chaos. I try to picture the person who would wear every design I create. This one is for a gal who loves Lilly Pulitzer dresses, straw hats and bare feet. She’s got immense amounts of joie de vivre, an infectious laugh and a sunny but not cloying outlook on life.

I’d quite like to meet her, wouldn’t you?

I called this Good Day, Sunshine. Insert Beatles’ song here. I’ve not been able to find this necklace a home in a publication, which surprises me because I think it’s a very well executed idea and the colors are so unique and different from the dark, drab, rusty, serious stuff that seems to be taking over as of late. We can’t always be gothically delicious, even if it is wicked good fun. I rather like feeling like a cartoon character some days.

I’m officially retiring this to my personal collection. I have to get another ceramic circle so I can remake the earrings, one of them got broken (you can see them below.) So this design is apparently not everyone’s cup of tea! So it’s not Earl Grey...a little Red Zinger with a slice of lemon is a nice change of pace now and again.

Until next time...craft on with your bad selves.

xoxo
Madge

I do, YuDu!

Image and text copyright Margot Potter 2009

It’s been ages since we created a new The Impatient Crafter™ video. So on Saturday we hauled out the lights and the camera and got to work. Drew worked his editing magic and we posted it last night on YouTube, you can watch it below!

When the wonderful folks from ProvoCraft sent me a new YuDu home screen printing system to explore, we knew it would make a great video topic. We did this on the fly working from the instructions that come with the machine and we found it very easy and super fun. It took us about 6 hours to film since we were working in live time. I also spent about 2 hours fine tuning my sketch you see above, it took about ten versions to get to this one, and I'm really happy with it. Provo has images you can purchase and of course you can mine Dover books and other permission free sources, but I really wanted to make something from scratch. You can use this machine to screen print on a wide variety of materials and items, t-shirts are an obvious choice...but check out the YuDu site for some really fascinating ideas including book shelves, belts, shoes...

It’s an investment, but screen printed items look so much better than the decal style items you can have made online. If you've got a team or a troop or a group event or a fundraiser, why not make your own shirts? I’ve got a lot of plans for this machine...

While you’re here, please check out my interview with the inspiring Sister Diane of CraftyPod on branding. If you’re trying to navigate the complexities of creating a personal brand, we’ve got some insights to share with you. These days, in an ever expanding sea of talent, branding is the key to standing out. Diane is a savvy lady whom I greatly admire and I was honored to be invited on her pod cast. Thank you Sister Diane!

My muse awaits...so until next time...craft on with your bad selves!

xoxo
Margot

A Peeps Bouquet

I’m so not Martha...so sue me.

Here’s my Easter week project...the day AFTER Easter! You'll recall I had planned to create a Peeps bouquet. I managed to eek this out an hour before we left for family dinner. I had to reconfigure the ribbon attachment after a small glue gun mishap, so it's a little lumpy but I fixed it after I took the pic. There wasn't really time to take a fabulous picture; we had to scoot! The car was really hot and the chocolate started melting and I had an asthma attack and was trying to take my coat off and get my inhaler and not cough into the bouquet...and I accidentally leaned over into a melty chocolate covered Peep that was lovingly arranged in the flower pot on my lap and I got a big glob of chocolate on my sweater. So we had to turn around, go back home, reboot...and we were late for dinner. Actually dinner was supposed to start at 3 and we were there at 3:03, but I guess folks got hungry because the Easter ham was down to a few slivers by the time we started filling our plates. So on the way home we stopped at Taco Bell.

That’s our story and we’re sticking to it.

Okay so about the Peeps bouquet...

One small tweak...next time I’ll work on the more even distribution of chocolate and lay the peeps on their bottoms instead of sides to cool. That and I'd start with the tape runner for attaching the ribbon and not the glue gun. Other than that I love this and it elicited a lot of 'oos and ahs'!

Everyone was also really impressed and with the ‘I’m a little black sheep™” t-shirts we created for our new video using our awesome new YuDu. That is until Avalon’s 9-year old cousin showed off the Easter dress she made herself. Sheesh. Thanks a lot, kid. Way to steal my crafty thunder.

Yeah...well...I get paid to make stuff. So there.

Ha ha.

Tune in tomorrow...we’ve got a brand new The Impatient Crafter™ video that shows you how to use the ProvoCraft YuDu machine! It’s a hoot in a handbasket, I swear!

Peeps Bouquet
Copyright 2009
Margot Potter

4 packages various colors Peeps
6 packages egg shaped gum or one large package jelly beans
1 small package Nestle’s semi-sweet morsels
1 large ceramic pot
1 ceramic dish for under pot
Thick grosgrain ribbon in festive colors
1 large silk flower
Hot glue
Fiskars tape runner
Wooden skewers
Styrofoam cut to fit bottom of pot
Aluminum foil

Tools
Scissors
Silicone spatula
Aluminum or wax paper lined cookie sheets
Hot glue gun

1. Run two lines of tape along rim of pot and adhere ribbon smoothing out any wrinkles as you work.
2. Remove flower from stem and use hot glue to attach to place where ribbon ends meet on pot.
3. Cut Styrofoam to fit into pot, leaving about 2” from top for candy.
4. Place a layer of tin foil on top of Styrofoam, sealing any gaps.
5. Pour gum or jelly beans on tin foil covering it completely.
6. Insert skewers into pot, leaving space for Peeps to fan out and not touch.
7. Melt chocolate chips on stove using a double boiler method.
8. Cover two large cookie sheets with foil.
9. Holding Peeps by their heads; swirl their bottoms into the chocolate. Use a silicone spatula to coat sides. Place Peeps on tray standing up.
10. Place trays of Peeps in fridge to cool.
11. Gently slide a cooled Peep on each skewer. Place extra Peeps on ceramic dish.
12. Eat them with gleeful abandon after soaking in the generous compliments of friends and family.

TastyLinks Saturday!

TastyLinks™ are all the good blogs, all the good blogs wrapped up in one!

It’s a gloomy, cold, rainy Saturday here in our little valley. I’ve got a mixed media project for a manufacturer that needs finishing and we’re considering a The Impatient Crafter™ video shoot...it’s been forever! I have to design the project still...and figure out how to use the machine...and hope I don’t have any craftastrophic mishaps...which I probably will because I am The Impatient Crafter™ after all! So we’ll see how that goes!

Two exciting things to share here today! Firstly I’m working on an NYC The Impatient Crafter™ Beads in the City trip for August 13-17th. Join me in Manhattan where I’ll show you my top secret bead, findings and trim sources and we’ll dig through boxes of vintage goodies and rows upon rows of strands for treasures. We’ll hit a Broadway show and maybe even get backstage (I’m hoping for Wicked), take a trip to Pearl River Trading Company and Chinatown and do some NYC site seeing. Plus we’ll have an evening of bead swapping and designing together at the hotel located in Times Square! Sound like fun? I’ll have the details and url for the website where you can sign up soon. Save up your pennies, this is the mother lode of beady and crafty goodness my friends!

Our crafty cruise is coming together for Fall 2010. I should have the details for you very soon. At that point I’ll announce the dates, location and my top secret crafty celebrity co-host! We are both so excited and I think it’s going to be an amazing trip for everyone involved.

Linky Love shout out to Aaron Cohen who gathered 155 links about Peeps on his blog! If you need the 411 on Peeps, he’s got it! I’m still working on that Peeps edible bouquet, I think it’s going to happen. I’ll snap a pic and post it here.

Thanks to anyone who Linky Loved me this week! If you did, and I’ve neglected to Linky Love you back just email me at theimpatientcrafter@gmail.com and I’ll get you in next week. Sometimes my brain has so much rolling around inside it just kicks random files out. Do forgive!

Happy Easter...or as we like to say around here Bappy Beaster! Don’t ask.

Here is today’s linky sampling from the Crafty Bloggers gang:

Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery Martha Stewart's New Encyclopedia of Crafts is my muse this week to create a hoppin' cute Easter Card

Naughty Secretary Club This week Jen explores using fabric to make jewelry.

CraftyPod Sister Diane offers lots of creative ways to use Sharpie Paint Markers.

Crafty Princess Diaries ArtFire Crafty Princess Shop is Live! Tammy is kicking the tires, testing the waters, and basically, trying to figure out what the deal is over at Artfire.com.

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world Craftside's got mixed-media art from Lisa Engelbrecht and an ATC by it, a free Amigurumi knit antler pattern, a couple of Art Nouveau jewelry designs with a how-to on making a wire ball bead and some pretty greeting cards with a tutorial on an Easter card made with stiffened fabric die cuts.

Cathie Filian Cathie Filian is having a spring fling with 11 different spring projects.

Blisstree Arts Unexpected results abound when you use this easy method to create background papers for your work.

Alexa Westerfield a.k.a. Swelldesigner Swelldesigner shows you how to make rainbow tie-dye rosettes!

Aileen's Musings Aileen's offering freebie Spring images for you to download and use in your art. Happy Spring!

About Family Crafts Find a wide variety of egg related projects! Everything from creative Easter egg coloring to cute egg crafts

The Impatient Crafter Madge shares her three pronged approach to success and a link to her CraftCast interview with Alison Lee.

To Peep...or Not to Peep...

Image Public Domain Jon Sullivan

I would hazard a guess that Vickie Howell isn’t the only crafter to be derailed by the quasi-evil little marshmallow creatures known as Peeps. In fact the Peeps website has a crafts section and there’s an annual Peeps Diorama contest. Two weeks ago I couldn’t resist their siren song and I purchased FIVE packages. They come in a huge variety of vibrant shades now and I simply had to have every single color. Plus they were under a dollar a pack. So much joy for under a buck? Sign me up!

One package of orange rogue rabbits was gleefully consumed by my daughter, and the rest have been sitting on a shelf in my kitchen cruelly mocking me since. I don’t know what it is about Peeps. Why are we all so drawn to craft with them? I mean, if you break it down they’re actually pretty lame. It’s just a blobby drip of marshmallow rolled in super fine electric kool-aid sugar and the eyes are more often than not dripping down their faces.

Yet...they’re so...damn...cute.

I bought them with the intention of making a project. I considered leaving them out to get hard and spraying them with an acrylic sealer and making them into jewelry. I contemplated a Peeps wreath for the front door. I’m still brainstorming a Peeps-on-a-stick bouquet in a clear vase with jelly bean faux rocks to secure the stems as our dessert offering for Easter dinner. If I manage to eek that project out, I’ll let ya know. It’s not looking likely with the size of my straw pile.

To Peep...or not to Peep...that...is the question.

Perhaps the best way to enjoy a Peep...is to gobble it up head first...if I open just one little package I’ll have plenty left for my bouquet...

xoxo,
Madge

The Amazing Ms. Bernie Berlin

"Insasmuch as ye have done unto the least of these, my brethren, ye have done it unto me." Matthew 25:40

Today is all about the amazing Ms. Bernie Berlin. Bernie is a gifted artist. She creates Faberge style eggs, teaches mixed media classes internationally and has written the quintessential book on Artist Trading Cards. Beyond those impressive credentials, Bernie is a shining beacon of light in an oft times dark world. Bernie runs an animal shelter called A Place to Bark (and meow). She rescues over 5oo dogs every year, rehabilitates them and takes them to Chicago to be adopted to loving families. She takes in the dogs who would ordinarily be euthanized, nurtures them, heals them, loves them and literally changes their lives. She assists in raids on puppy mills where dogs are imprisoned in cages and forced to keep producing puppies, never walking on the good earth, never seeing the sun, never knowing the soft touch of a hand gently patting their fur. She's seen the worst of human behavior and greed, and countered it with compassion and infinite unconditional love. That is the point my friends. That's why we're here.

Bernie needs our help. She's lost funding and food sources and she's got a shelter that needs to be finished and dogs that need surgeries and food and rescuing. Without our donations, she can't continue building her dream. She's asking for 10 dollars from each of us, and for us to ask our friends and family to consider joining her fight. Please repost this information and visit her blog so you can place her widget in your blog or website to help spread the word. I've never met anyone like Bernie Berlin and I am so deeply blessed to call her my friend. You can follow this link to donate.

What's 10 dollars, really? It's a single movie ticket, it's a download on NetFlix, it's a dinner at a fast food chain...it's money we spend so quickly we can't remember where we spent it. So why not spend it somewhere that matters? Bernie isn't just a crafter, she's crafting hope. We need as much of that as we can get these days.

Love,
Margot

Madge's Three Pronged Approach to Success

Illustration Copyright Enoch Bolles

I’m working on a few more samples for my new book query. I have so many ideas in my head it’s often hard to focus on just one. I’m trying due to a financial shift to come up with the most lucrative ideas, which is of course a bit of fortune telling. I’d like to write some humor/self help/creativity titles and I have what I think are some really great concepts, but that’s a whole new genre. That means I have to forge some new pathways and make some new connections. So I’m trying to figure out how to reach the editors who publish these sorts of books. I will; I’m determined. Every time you change genres, it’s a whole new ball game. I work in a niche market and breaking out of any niche takes some effort.

It's not all champagne and roses around here my fine friends!

People email me constantly asking how to get a book published, how to be a professional designer, how to get their work in magazines or (and this one kinda makes me scratch my head) if I can introduce them to my editor or stop to give them free counseling on their work and their career. Many of my colleagues tell me that they get the same requests, often followed by rather curt replies if they don’t stop everything to answer in a way that pleases the person contacting them. The truth of the matter is, there is no one way to do it and I can’t recommend total strangers to my editor. If you want to get published badly enough, I believe you will figure it out. I’m happy to send you to my blogs where I’ve written many, many posts about how to get published and to sincerely say, “Yay, you!”

Then, my little kumquat, it’s entirely up to you.

It takes tenacity. It takes clarity and vision. It takes being in the right place at the right time with the right idea.

Writing a craft book is just another form of shameless self promotion. It won’t pay your bills and it won’t make it easier to quit your day job. It’s another means to the end of building a brand upon which you might capitalize through teaching, licensing products, selling your products, working for manufacturers...

There are no easy answers or short cuts to success. You need to hone your skills enough that you stand out from the crowd (just because your cousins all like that necklace you made doesn’t mean you’re ready for prime time.) You need to build a name by submitting designs to magazines for publication, creating a popular blog, working for manufacturers or selling popular designs online, building a compelling website, impressive portfolio and eye catching promotional materials, figuring out ongoing dynamic ways to market your brand and your work...in short you have to work hard and work the angles. All of them! You have to work hard every single day, especially on the days when you’re just not that into it.

Remember Madge’s three pronged formula for success doing what you love:

1. Do something that you truly love. You must be incredibly passionate about it. If you don’t truly love it, the bulk of the time you spend in the trenches doing the hard work will be abysmal.

2. Do something for which you have a true proclivity. If you aren’t exceptional doing this thing that you love, it may not be the key to your financial success. It may be something that brings you joy, and that’s a pretty damn good return on an investment, but it may not be what you should be doing for a living. Be honest with yourself and ask others for honest assessments of your abilities. Think of all of the people on American Idol who love singing and REALLY can not sing. They should still sing because it brings them joy, but they should also realize that it's unlikely anyone is going to pay them to do it.

3. Dream the dream and be clear about what you want and flexible enough to realize that it might not come in the way you envision. Don’t get so caught up in the specifics that you miss out on unexpected pathways to success. Then do the hard work. It’s a lot of hard work. Working for yourself means it’s always with you. You can’t clock out. When you go on vacation, there's no one minding the store. You have taken control of your destiny. You have to accept that there will be set backs, tough times, false starts, huge advances and occasional retreats and you have to be willing to fight the good fight through all of it.

If you follow this three pronged approach, you will be on the pathway to doing what you love and having the money follow.

I think the hardest part of doing what I do is fully believing in myself, my talent and my worth even when the world is working in opposition to this belief. It's very easy to get discouraged and to feel like I'm spinning wheels. It’s very hard to ask for more or ask for what I feel I deserve, because people and women particularly, have issues asking for more. It’s okay to ask for more. What’s the worse thing that might happen? They’ll say no. They might even think you daft or try to make you feel badly for asking for more. If they do, screw ‘em. I am worth more. You are worth more. Never underestimate or undervalue yourself, and NEVER apologize for asking for more because as soon as you do that you’ll get less. Ask for more with absolute conviction and be willing to compromise. There is no more important skill in making success than diplomacy.

My interview with Alison Lee of CraftCast is live! We had a really fabulous time together and I think we touched on some interesting points. Alison interviews fascinating people on her podcasts and has some totally innovative new interactive online classes. Check out her website!

Tune in on Thursday to CraftyPod when the indomitable Sister Diane and I discuss personal branding and why it matters. More information for you to help build your own mini-dynasty!

Until later...craft on with your bad selves...

xoxo
Margot

Siren Song Necklace by Avalon Potter

I managed yesterday to clear off the long desk in my studio that has been totally covered with crap for weeks. Most of my studio cleaning involves moving piles of crap from one spot to another spot...I guess that's what most cleaning involves when I think about it! Cleaning...is not my thing. I do it when I have to, but mostly I ignore clutter and hope it organizes itself when I'm not looking.

I’m not made of the stuff that easily organizes seemingly disparate elements into cohesive groups. I’m impatient, have I mentioned that? At some point though the chaos begins to make my brain stop functioning properly and I have to buck up and get to organizing. It’s absolutely insane how many craft tools, machines and supplies I own. Okay maybe not what since I craft for a living, but dang if it isn’t tough keeping it all organized!



While working on organizing and getting the final details of one of my TSPs* finished, my daughter Avalon was given the task of creating a necklace around an extraordinary miniature canvas pendant from the folks at Art Beads. She's my new intern, but she's far more talented than I could ever hope to be! I love the sleek simplicity of her necklace design featuring Beadalon Quick Links and chain and CRYSTALLIZED™-Swarovski Elements jet black briolette pendants. Stunning! Oh and that gorgeous shell is one she just plucked out of the water in Jamaica and she insisted it be in the picture. She's a designer and a stylist! Love that kid of mine!

I fell madly in love with this artwork. It’s like a Rorschach test! When I look at it I see a large ship being engulfed by an octopus, while my husband said it looks like a tropical island with big palm trees...what do you see? There is an entire collection http://www.artbeads.com/pendants-canvas-on-wood.html of these miniature masterpieces on the Art Beads site all created by surfer and artist Charlie Clingman and each one is both stunning and incredibly inspirational. They are evocative and provocative and exquisitely fashioned.

I’ve got some podcasts pending. I’ll let you know when they go live. I’m slated for CraftyPod with Sister Diane on Thursday of this week and CraftCast with Alison Lee sometime in the very near future. They’re both interesting interviews with women whom I greatly admire. I was humbled and flattered that they each contacted me. I’m also slated to be on Reclaim U with the inspiring Sandy Fowler sometime in the near future, so look out for the 411!

I have a lot of straw to spin today so I must away! Until my most auspicious return...craft on with your bad selves!

Cheers,
Madge

(*Top Secret Projects)

TastyLinks Saturday!

Illustration Copyright Enoch Bolles

It’s time once again for the Linky Love to be spread across the blogosphere! Here’s this week’s sampling of TastyLinks™: All the best blogs wrapped up in one!

I had a very auspicious day yesterday. I got a YuDu http://www.whatdoyudu.com/ machine delivered to my front porch that I’m really looking forward to breaking out, so look for a YuDu/The Impatient Crafter™ video soon!

I spent the better part of the day yesterday playing virtual hooky with viral marketing guru Peter Shankman http://shankman.com/. He was giving away a boat load of amazing prizes via Twitter. I had a snowflake choker to sell a while back on QVC and did some snowflake research to romance the design. When he asked about stellar dendrites, I knew immediately that they were a kind of snowflake. I won an oscillating drill kit from Dremel! Now I can drill on the go! Woo hoo! Thanks Peter and Meaghan!

The icing on the cake was a huge rainbow in our little valley and watching the incredibly inspirational film Slumdog Millionaire. I’m totally inspired to do some Indian inspired designs; I’m a huge fan of the vibrant colors and the intricate patterns in Indian fabrics.

Life is large.

I’ve been dreaming up some crafty excursions with Madge. The cruise with my celebrity co-host is being ironed out here and hopefully we can announce the details very soon! I’m also working on a NYC trip and exploring some more exotic locales for future adventures. I’ll keep you posted!

The winner of the Rings ‘n Things prize pack is Knit Purl Girl Susan! Email me at theimpatientcrafter@gmail.com for your prize! Congrats!

Thanks to Kcrystina Stephan for the interview she posted on her blog this week. She asked some very interesting questions, go see!

My interview with Alison Lee hasn’t gone live yet. I’ll let you know when it goes up. I may have a couple of podcasts to share this week; we’ll see how it goes!

If you own my new book Beyond the Bead and you've enjoyed it, please consider writing a review for me on Amazon. It really helps to have positive online feedback! I’d deeply appreciate it.

Without further ado, here are the Crafty Bloggers:

Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery See how to make "For the Love of Flaming Hot Coffee Cozy"- Inspired by the Crafty Chica's Guide to Artful Sewing

Naughty Secretary Club Every Thursday in April Jen is revamping a project from her book The Naughty Secretary Club: The Working Girls Guide to Handmade Jewelry. First up fabric scrap and tape roll bangle bracelets.

Cross Stitch at About.com Childhood memories influence the name of Connie's new free pattern. It is a Dilly of a chart.

CraftyPod Sister Diane reviews the new Heather Ross book, Weekend Sewing.

Crafty Princess Diaries 2 Fun New Jewelry Projects, Glue, and You - Tammy has two new jewelry projects that involve a little glue and a lot of fun.
Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world This week at Craftside there is an inside peek into the new book Sculpting Mythical Creatures with some Easter Bunnies thrown in for the season, a Mother of the Bride box project, a photo standup Easter Eggs decoration and an interview with Quilt Artist Robbi Joy Eklow author of Goddess of the Last Minute.

Cathie Filian Cathie Filian has a step-by-step guide for making boutonnieres - perfect for wedding and prom season and a super $$ saver.

Blisstree We're crazy about books, and we've got lots of information to share!

Alexa Westerfield a.k.a. Swelldesigner Alexa shares how to make glam graffiti earrings out of gift cards!

Aileen's Musings Aileen's getting in the Easter spirit with her quicky Easter card project.

About Family Crafts Not only is recycling good for the environment, it can help save you money, and, with the projects I have gathered, you can find out how to recycle creatively!

The Impatient Crafter Check out this fab free mixed media collage jewelry project Madge created for Beadalon.

Free Mixed Media Jewelry Making Project for Beadalon

Congrats to Marjorie Jumisco for winning the Beyond the Bead comments prize! Email me at theimpatientcrafter@gmail.com to claim your prize! You and your kitties are going to get a copy of my book, a promo button and a judicious smattering of CRYSTALLIZED-Swarovski Elements!
Huzzah!

My How Soft Your Lips Are
Free Jewelry Project
Copyright 2006 Margot Potter for Beadalon

My How Soft Your Lips Are copyright 2006 Margot Potter for BeadalonMy How Soft Your Lips Are Copyright 2006 Margot Potter for Beadalon

(Click on images to view close up!)

This collage necklace is a design I did for Beadalon three years ago. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I’ve been veering into mixed media since my second book The Impatient Beader Gets Inspired. When that book came out a lot of folks in the bead industry totally scratched their heads. They simply did not get where I was going, but I did. I'm restless. I find doing the same thing more than twice to be incredibly pedantic. I like to forge new pathways, make glorious mistakes and delicious discoveries and move forward...always.

The pendant is made of a faux optical lens I got from Outside the Margins, unfortunately these aren’t available anymore. You could opt to use a vintage lens (you can get them at Art Chix Studio) and collage the items on the back and then seal them with Mod Podge OR you could use a different frame. This is an image I cut out of a vintage magazine and I couldn’t resist the pun. I’m a romantic, what can I say? I love the collage work of people like Ann Taintor and Josie Cirincione. Image and text works for me since I'm such a verbally driven person. You can find similar images, optical lenses and lots of great charms at Outside the Margins and ArtChixStudios (see links below.) Aren’t these Victorian style charms adorable? The little chicks make me so happy I could just squeak.

Tune in later today to hear my interview with the creative dervish Alison Lee at CraftCast! We had a fabulous time and I’m only sorry she doesn’t live nearby because I’m quite sure we’d be stirring up creative trouble on a regular basis!

My How Soft Your Lips Are
Margot Potter for Beadalon
Copyright 2006

This saucy vintage image from an old magazine was slipped into a faux optical lens with a bit of visually ‘punny’ text and a tiny cut out heart. Old magazines are easy to find at antique shops and online or you can get images from online sources who sell them in collage sheets. If you can’t find an optical lens, use a mini frame. The chain, CRYSTALLIZED-Swarovski Elements and charms give this a very Victorian appeal.

Materials
Faux or real vintage optical lens (or mini-frame)
Vintage Magazine (or Ephemera sheets from Art Chix Studio or Outside the Margins)
Red construction paper (for tiny heart)
Printed text on white paper (Old English Text 12pt.) ‘the better to kiss you with’
6 20mm cream Swarovski pearls
4 8mm bright gold Swarovski pearls
4 6mm crystal copper Swarovski rounds
4 6mm silk Swarovski rondelles
3 gold plated metal chick charms
4 gold plated metal hand charms
3 gold plated metal lock and key charm sets
2 gold plated filigree 2 strand connectors
1 gold plated hook and eye clasp
12 gold plated filigree bead caps
25 6mm gold plated jump rings
1 20mm gold plated jump ring
1 8mm textured gold plated jump ring
2 8-link segments, 2 26-link segments, 1 25-link segment, 1 105-link segment gold plated elongated cable chain
10 ball tipped gold plated head pins
8 gold plated head pins
Beacon Zip Dry Paper Glue
Beacon 3-in-1 Advanced Craft Glue
3” length black satin looped ribbon

Tools
Round nose pliers
2 pairs chain nose pliers
Flush cutters
Scissors

1. Select image to frame inside of lens. (If using a vintage lens, you will need to adhere the image to the backside of the lens with decoupage medium and seal it. If using the faux lens or frame, simply slide image inside.)

2. Trace image to fit inside lens. Cut with sharp scissors.

3. Create tiny heart by folding red construction paper and cutting.

4. Print text and cut into three segments: the better, to kiss, you with.

5. Adhere text and heart to image with Zip Dry glue. Allow to dry.

6. Insert collaged image into frame and secure it closed.

7. Tie small black craft ribbon bow to loop in top of lens or on jump ring that connects pendant to necklace. Add a dab of GS Hypo Cement to secure bow.

8. Attach a chick charm on the textured jump ring to loop in top of lens.

9. Create coil topped head pins for the 6 filigree encased cream pearls (sandwich pearls between filigree before threading on head pins) and 4 copper crystals using ball tipped head pins.

10. Create coil topped head pins for the remaining beads using regular head pins.

11. Remove chain segments.

12. Create your chains. The longer chain pattern is: 105 link chain working from left to right add a hand charm on a jump ring to the 9th link using to pairs of chain nose pliers to open and close the links, a filigree encased pearl to the 17th link, a chick charm to the 24th and alternating this pattern every seven links* until reaching the last hand charm. (*Add the pendant to the center chain link.)

13. Attach this chain to the outer links of the filigree connectors using two pairs chain nose pliers.
14. Create your second chain. The shorter chain pattern is: 8-link chain, connecting jump ring with attached silk, pearl, copper crystal dangles on jump ring, 24-link chain with lock and key attached to the 13th link with a jump ring, connecting jump ring with attached dangles on jump ring...repeat this pattern until reaching the final 8-link chain.

15. Attach this to the inside loops of the filigree connectors using two pairs chain nose pliers.

16. Attach hook and eye clasp to connector ends using jump rings.

Sources
Chain, jump rings, clasp, connectors, bead caps, head pins Beadalon, hand, lock and chick charms Art Chix Studio, faux optical lens Outside the Margins, pearls and crystals CRYSTALLIZED-Swarovski Elements, Zip Dry Paper Glue and 3-in-1 Advanced Craft Glue Beacon, ribbon Offray, image vintage magazine.