A to Z, 2012-- J is for...

ME!

No, wait... that's not quite right... well, I mean, it is, but it's not the word I want to talk about.

Today's word is Junk.

As much as I love to use fancy rocks and beautiful gems and whimsical glass, there is something to be said for creating something beautiful out of practically nothing. I believe that the term now is called "upcycling"-- using things that would have otherwise been discarded, for an entirely new purpose.

My mom picked up a pair of earrings down in Florida, made from soda can tabs and shells:

Thanks for sending me the photo, Mom! Love you lots <3

On Pinterest, you can find many more things like this-- a ring made out of an old fork,  a bracelet made out of old credit cards or gift cards, a bracelet made out of knitting needles, beads made out of old rulers, a bracelet made out of tape measures, a necklace out of old book pages...

Oh... I almost forgot... they have beads made out of paper, too! This example used Archie comics... I wonder who made it? They must be an AMAZING artist, and a wonderful handmade jeweler~ hee hee hee!

(By the way, those links are NOT from *my* Pinterest page... just someone who has very similar interests to mine!)



I love getting deals at thrift stores and bargains at yard sales. It's the thrill of the hunt-- the idea of finding something special that I can use for a project, something that has been discarded by someone else.

On my most recent thrift store expedition, I found two very interesting objects at an absolute steal-- less than $5 for both--

I'm going to have to do a close-up of each of these at some point. They're all really interesting beads-- carved from stone-- some of them look like chess pieces, others look like Transformers, others look like Aztec relics. Oh, and there's one bird thrown into the mix, too~

Or at least, I think it's a bird... either that or a fish...

And "found object" number two-- a brass bracelet, with black and white resin centers!

I've already taken apart the black and white and brass bracelet-- I'm using one of the "links" as a focal point on a necklace-- but I have NO IDEA what the stone beads are going to be yet.

My family always said that one man's trash is another man's treasure, and I couldn't agree more. Before you throw something away, think not what it is today, but what it *could* be.

See you all tomorrow. Happy creating!

A to Z, 2012-- I is for...

INSPIRATION!

I absolutely love this inspiration board-- pardon the pun, but it's such an inspiration! It's not mine, but you can click on the image to be taken to the original source~

I originally intended to post up a photo of my own inspiration board, from my studio. Unfortunately, my board was one of the casualties of the flood-- it was hung on the wall where the water came from, and is no longer useable. So many of my pretty images are gone-- I'm only glad that my "current project" inspirations are hung immediately above my work station, no where near the water source! I would take a photograph of *that*, but there's only one or two images currently up... nothing truly exciting or inspiring there!

While I'm a huge fan of Pinterest, and the website was a complete game-changer in the way people store images and links, there is way too much to talk about for it to be part of today's post. Since that's a different issue, I'll have to save that discussion for a different day.

As a side note, for those of you who, like me, look for inspiration in the world of color, there's a website out there that lets you create palettes of up to five colors. It's called ColourLovers-- and they have programs that let you pull colors from a photograph, and others that help you turn those colors into patterns. I find myself inspired by at least one thing, every single time I go on the site! But again, the site deserves more of an in-depth look, so I'll have to hold off on this topic as well.

Studio flooding issues and interesting websites aside, in addition to my "Pinspiration" boards as I call them, I have (or had...) bulletin boards. I think I'm going to use this flooding incident as an opportunity to start over in the studio, and get myself a TON of bulletin boards, basically cover a section of the wall with them (akin to the photo above). I use these boards mostly when I'm in the studio, and need more ideas for a project I'm working on. I swivel my chair around, take a look, then spin back and create.

I looooove my spinny-chair!

... Moving along ...

I also have a notebook that I carry around with me, wherever I go. My phone is a camera, so inspiring color combinations are easy to capture for later~ just one click away~ but designs are awfully hard to replicate on a digital sketch via a small screen and clumsy fingers! That is where my book comes in. It's shaped like Harry Potter's book for "Care of Magical Creatures", and it looks absolutely ridiculous:

Rawr!

In addition to being awesome, this notebook has the added bonus of freaking people out when they see me pull it out. Striking terror into the hearts of strangers is apparently my new hobby. SCORE!

How does inspiration play a role in YOUR studio's layout and your creative process?

Day Thirty-One, Can't Believe I'm All Done!

So today's entry is bittersweet-- the end of the month, the last day of my personal challenge to make a pair of earrings each day.

I'm happy because it will let me pursue other projects that I've been meaning to do, and had to put off day after day; I'm sad because I truly loved pushing myself to create something new every single day.

Since part of the goal of this challenge was to increase my earring-making skills, I decided to push the envelope a bit. Today's design was inspired by something that I found on Pinterest (from About.com)-- not an exact replica, of course, but I'm way too tired to find the link tonight. I'll try to do it tomorrow.

In any case, here they are: the last of the Mohicans... er... the daily earring updates...~

These earrings are made out of brass wire, brass figaro chain, and small round onyx beads. All the non-chain elements were made by myself, from hand. No autographs, please!

Seriously, though, I'm proud of myself. Not only did I create a pair of earrings for every single day of the month... not only did I improve on the quality of my earring construction... I also took photos and blogged every single day! This was a month of true self-improvement.

As I used to tell my parents when I was little, "You can say 'Good Job, Julia'!"

What's next for me, and what's in store for you, all my faithful readers? Well, for the month of April I'm taking part in another post-a-day challenge-- the A to Z blog hop! Basically, I'll be posting every day of the week except for Sunday (unless I truly feel inspired~!); every day of the month is assigned a different letter.

In other words, I'll be blogging my way through the alphabet, and will touch on, well, pretty much anything and everything related to my art interests.

Again, today is bittersweet. I'm upset about being all done with the earrings, but I'm very excited to start a new challenge for this month. And I'm looking forward to taking all of you along with me on this special journey.

See you tomorrow~ and don't forget to say "Rabbit Rabbit" when you first get out of bed!