Tuesday Tips and Art Jewelry Elements Reveal

I love how these came out. They are Gelish and I wish I could remember the name of the color but I am so sorry I can't remember. I was so proud of myself because the brush was all messed up in the bottle so I grabbed my trusty gel brush and applied this color that way :-) 

I was so not telling my client I couldn't use the color she picked!

I was the lucky winner of these beaded beads and beaded leaf from my friend Kristen Stevens.

I had to beg to get these beads back from my daughter, she thought they looked like berries and was feeding them to her dolls.

I created this bracelet from the beads. I added acorn bead caps from Vintaj to the beaded beads.

I layered this Vintaj leaf on top of the beaded leaf for some interest and some additional texture.

I found these lampwork glass from PinkBeach, Polymer beads from Humblebeads, pearls from Hobby Lobby and a dozen or so spacer beads all from my stash.

Visit Art Jewelry Elements Blog to see what the other hoppers made!

Sheep, Wool and a Hurricane

All I can think of right now is hurricane sandy so I wanted to take my mind off that, that and all the deadlines I have looming, and share with you the fun time we had at the sheep and wool festival.


Here we are crossing the Mid Hudson Bridge. The view is amazing.

Here is my pretty girl. Can you believe the short sleeves? In October. It was 70 degrees that day!

This handsome guy that you rarely see on my blog is my husband :-) We met 14 years ago last week, in a bar, a bar neither of us had been to before or since. 

Yup, these 2 pictures are now my screen saver. I just love my little family :-)

Now onto the fun. I want a goat. I think petting the goats was my favorite part.

Sheep Shearing

More sheep

Alpacas. This one was so friendly.

Love the colors of this Alpaca. Would love to have some one day.

I get the coolest buttons from this booth:

She makes the prettiest things

Buttons!

These were in a grab bag I bought

And so were these. I just love the feather one upper right.

Another booth I always stop at for buttons

Aren't they pretty?

I have never shopped at the booth I bought this toggle at but I couldn't resist. The back is turquoise! 

So pretty.

This guy was just playing away as tons of people walked past. I could have stayed here all day.

I had to stop and get more of these tiny guys:

and I just love these colors:

This artist started signing her work just this year:

and I think it is awesome!

 I had never been to this booth before but I ran in when I saw:

these horn buttons! Aren't they awesome sauce?! I love bones so these spoke to me. So cool!

Another super cool thing that happened was I got to meet Stephanie of Space cadet Creations http://spacecadetcreations.com. If you don't know who Stephanie is you have to watch her interview with Tara Gentile: http://www.taragentile.com/stephanie-alford/. It was like meeting a celebrity :-)

Hope you all stay safe this week. I know we have the generator ready along with chips, warm blankets and flashlights.

~Shannon

Finally Friday

Design-Seeds - Crashing Blues

You still have another week to make something inspired by this beautiful palette.
I wanted to take today to share some inspiration I found on etsy.

MarshaNealStudio

gaea

SLArtisanAccents

Aren't they beautiful?!

Do you have beautiful beads that go with this palette? Link up below so I can check them out.

~Shannon

Echo Creative Club Reveal

I used a Marsha Neal Studio Pendant, one of my etched copper pendants, the blue round bead in the front and back are from Jeannie, a lampwork glass bead from That Bead Girl and vintage lucite and Czech glass.

I hope you visit the rest of the bloggers:

Kim Dwork http://cianciblue.blogspot.com/ 

Michelle Buettner  http://www,misheldesigns.blogspot.com/

Shannon Chomanczuk  http://www.formysweetdaughter.blogspot.com/ -you are here :-)

Jeannie K Dukic http://site.jkdjewelry.com/blog - our fearless leader!!!!

Cindy Cima Edwards http://www.cindycima.com

Beth Emery http://storiesbyindigoheart.blogspot.com

Erin Prais-Hintz http://treasures-found.blogspot.com

Charlie Jacka http://clay-space.com

Kristen Stevens http://kristen-beadjourney.blogspot.com

Lola Surwillo http://www.beadlolabead.blogspot.com

Happy Hopping!
~Shannon

Beading to go tool kit - video

I wanted to share a video tour of the tool kit I take with me when I travel. This video is part 1 of 2 because I actually take 2 "boxes" with me when I travel. 1 keeps my beads and the other tolls and other essentials, well you'll see if you watch the video :-)

Hope you have a great Monday!
Stay tuned this week and next for the reveals of what I made with these:

I am also going to be sharing on Friday some beady inspiration for my Finally Friday palette. You have an extra week to create this time and if you make beads I will have a linky tool this friday so you can link up your beads for inspiration :-)

Here is the palette:

Design-Seeds - Crashing Blues

Hope you'll join me!

~Shannon

Sheep, Alpacas and Lamas - Oh my!

I am so stinkin' excited. Today and tomorrow is the Sheep and Wool Festival in Rhinebeck, NY.
We went last year and it was so nice. Less crowded than a regular fair but still had the food and the animals.

The 2012 Featured Artwork is based on original artwork by Susan Harding Merancy. 

My In-Law's are interested in getting some Alpacas, sheep and goats someday so we are going to hopefully take an informational workshop while we are there.
The other reason I am excited is because of the buttons. Yes, I said it, buttons.
They are used to make sweaters open and close hence the reason they are sold at almost every booth at this Festival.
Last year, remember this post? I went nuts. I cannot believe how beautiful these buttons were and so nice to meet the artists in person.
I am even more excited this year because I am working on a collection I am calling "Going in Circles" so buttons are on my list of items I can use in my jewelry which are round :-)
I will post some photos when I get back, I am not sure when I am going but I can't wait!
What are you up to this weekend? Whatever it is have fun!
~Shannon

Finally Friday - Color Pick

Hello, Hello! It's Friday :-D
This week went by so fast for me, probably because I spent the week fighting with my computer. Do you know how you get to a point with your computer where you have more pics on there than the memory can hold and then when you need said pics the computer decides to change your iphoto library so those 100 million pictures are never to be seen again? Yup, that explains my week and if anyone knows where my iphoto library went please send her back, thanks.

Here is the super fantastical palette I was working with this week:

Design-Seeds Color Pick

I fell in love with this pendant from MarshaNealStudio at the bead show I went to last weekend. The hand dyed silk is from her shop too. I made the etched copper disc, the other beads are peridot in the largest size I have ever seen, vintage lucite, riverstone, and porcelain from Gaea. The lampwork beads I bought at the show but can't find her card right now, they look like peacock feathers.

I am so excited because I had someone email me to participate and here is what she made:

FairiesMarket

Thanks Karen for playing along!

I am extending the weekly challenge to every other week, twice a month. 

That means more time to create! 

So that means that this reveal will be on 11/2 which is the 1st Friday of November. So the reveals will be the 1st and 3rd Friday's of the month if you are keeping track ;-)

I am also going to start sharing some inspirational things, like beads and other items on the off week. So if you would like your item shared on the off week please let me know.

I am also looking for people to interview here on the blog so if you would like to talk with me send me an e-mail :-)

Here is the palette:

Design-Seeds - Crashing Blues

Make an item or choose materials inspired by the palette and write a blog post about it, post the item for sale, or post the item on your website. Add the link to your blog post, shop or website in the comments next week.

The only rule is that if you use the Design-Seeds palette you must link directly to http://www.Design-Seeds.com

Have fun and I can't wait to see what you make!

Add your link to the linky tool below! E-mail with any problems or questions - formysweetdaughter@me.com

~Shannon

Finally Friday - Dried Tones

Design Seeds - Dried Tones

I made the pendant from a Vintaj blank, I love the swirls!

Then I added glass teardrops, vintage lucite and lampwork glass beads (not sure who made them)

Here is the palette for next week:

Design-Seeds Color Pick

Yikes! This is SO out of my comfort zone. Let's see if I can make anything :-)

I hope someone will play along :-( I have been having so much fun doing these but it is pretty boring all alone.

What would help you to play? Two weeks to make something? Bring the InLinkz thingy back? Help!

Make an item or choose materials inspired by the palette and write a blog post about it, post the item for sale, or post the item on your website. Add the link to your blog post, shop or website in the comments next week.

The only rule is that if you use the Design-Seeds palette you must link directly to http://www.Design-Seeds.com

Have fun and I can't wait to see what you make!

~Shannon

Also, I have come up with what I think is a great way to share what my readers are making. If you e-mail be by 6pm the night before (so Thursday night) I will happily share a picture of what you made and a link to your shop, blog, etc in my post. So make sure to send me an e-mail at formysweetdaughter@me.com before 6pm next thurs to have your item featured on my blog.

Guest Blogger

Produced Color

I am guest blogger over on the Hudson Valley Etsy Team Blog.

My poor daughter has a bad cold :-( so it has been a really rough few days but I did manage to get some more new pieces listed in my easy shop, yay!

For My Sweet Daughter

Have a great day!
~Shannon

Tuesday Tips

Gelish Soak Off Gel Nails

I was asked last week to post larger pictures of my work. I hope this works. I went back and updated a few of my last posts with larger pictures of the nails I have done too. 

I hope you can see the details better.

For today's tips I wanted to take about something that gets mixed up and confused almost every time I read about it. It was even messed up in an online article in Shape magazine which made me want to scream because the person they were quoting was supposedly a podiatrist.

This is Sanitize, Disinfect, Sterilize.

Sanitize - to make something clean. We sanitize things by washing them.

Disinfect - render an item free from pathogenic organisms or make them inert. 

Sterilize - to completely eliminate microbial viability. This process kills all non-pathogenic and pathogenic spores, fungi, and viruses.

You cannot sterilize an item by placing it in alcohol. I have a huge problem when nail clients are told to bring their own tools. Do you know how dirty the inside of your purse is? So are you really going to carry around a set of nippers in the bottom of your purse for 2 weeks between appointments? Let me ask you this: If you are so worried that your nail tech isn't disinfecting their tools properly why are they your nail tech? 

If a client asked I would be happy to show you not only how I disinfect my tools but the bottle of hospital grade disinfectant which I replace daily.

In my state sterilizing the tools I use is not required by law however in some states (like Texas) it is. To sterilize the tools are placed in an autoclave. 

I am sharing below a link to a wonderful article about this topic:

http://www.beautytech.info/qa/qa1s.htm

Happy Tuesday!
~Shannon

Beaded Necklaces Now on Etsy

I had the chance over the weekend to take new photos and list a few new necklaces in my etsy shop.

Available here: For My Sweet Daughter

Let me know what you think of the white background! 

Happy Monday, pass the coffee

~Shannon