Bugs and Spiders OH My!

This week I am featuring handmade items that are bugs or spiders. With Halloween right around the corner, spiders, and bugs are a must. Starting next week, I will featuring Fall, Autumn, Harvest and Thanksgiving themes, then Christmas after that. I have already started looking at Christmas gift ideas, so it is never too early to start. To buy any of the items featured, click the highlighted link under each image.

First from Zizzybob is this adorable quilt applique of ladybugs.  Gotta love ladybugs!

Love spiders?  How about a pink glitter spider?  Missy69 has this 3D spider keychain done in pink resin, and glitter.  On sale too!

Need a baby photo prop?  Shelleyscrochetole offers this crochet spider hat to consider.  I am sure she would do it in other colors too~

Early Christmas Shopping Gift Idea Angel Christmas Ornament with Cameo Super Sale Item

My super sale item, for the week of 8/29-9/6 is this adorable Angel Christmas Ornament, with clear wings, a pearl for her head, and her body is made of teardrop shaped resin with a beautiful blue and white cameo embedded in the resin. Set this next to some lights and watch it shine. Only 8 dollars, right now, with free USA shipping. Check it out in my Etsy shop.

Etsy Sale Item Of the Week 8/21/15-8/28/15 Plus Free USA Shipping Victorian Cameo Pendant and Necklace

So, I still have not finished my Summer themed crochet apron, for my Team Support and Promote challenge. However, I did finish the painting, and that is now listed in my Etsy store. I will feature that another day.

Today, I am featuring my sale item for the week of 8/21-8/28. Each Friday I slash the price of a new item. This week it is this beautiful blue and white victorian lady cameo, set in resin, then made into a pendant and wire wrapped to the gold tone tear drop piece. Then a bail and a gold tone necklace to complete the piece. This would be awesome for a wedding, mother of the bride, or ladies who love more traditional jewelry. At 16.05 cents, it is definitely affordable, and if you are in the USA I ship to your for free. Start your Christmas shopping early this year, less than 20 bucks you can't beat it.

2 New Ebay Auctions and Unique Handmade Resin Butterfly Christmas Ornament

I have added the neon pink baby girl cocoon with hat, and the orange and cream baby blanket to auction format, in my Ebay store. You can view items in my Ebay store by scrolling to the bottom of this blog, and view the widget. The widget does not show all items, so be sure to click an item to go directly to my store.


The item below is a unique large heart shaped resin Christmas ornament, with a lovely peach pink and black butterfly with glitter embedded. These will last forever, and make great gifts for the butterfly lover in your life. I offer free USA shipping, always, everyday of the year. If you got questions, you can ask them here, or on Ebay.

Patriotic Red White and Blue Eagle Hologram Christmas Ornament

For the last little bit of resin I had left, I decided to try some of my new hologram stickers in the resin. Now, it does not work exactly like a hologram should. Both images show up inside the resin. So, you get to see both images of this beautiful Bald Eagle. I used red, white and blue beads as border colors, and then drilled the hole and use hot pink wire to make the bail to hang it with. This would make a beautiful Christmas tree ornament for anyone who loves the USA, has served their country, or was even born on one of the patriotic holidays such as 4th of July. It was glazed with a glaze to make it shiny and to protect it, but it doesn't look real awesome in the images. I actually prefer the resin pieces unglazed. The other pieces that came in this last pour will be shared as soon as I decide what to do with them, but they are beautiful butterfly pieces. You can purchase this ornament, and check out all the others, by visiting my Etsy store. 

Maroon Burgundy Infant Baby Girl Cocoon with Resin Flower Headband

This is my newest infant baby girl cocoon. It is maroon, or burgundy, with crochet white flower accents. The headband is maroon with a white flower. The center of the flower is one of my resin cabochons with a coral rose in the center of it. This is so cute, and would make an awesome photo prop and then the cocoon keeps baby warm and safe. It is available for purchase in my Etsy store now. 

Wire Wrapped Ring and Resin Peridot Prototype Ring

This is a prototype ring I have created. It is my second, and so far successful, attempt. I need to wear it and be sure it holds up to wear and tear before I list one for sale.

 This is a clear resin round piece, with a Peridot gemstone embedded in it. Then I used lovely emerald green craft wire, to create the wire wrapped ring. Then I inserted the resin piece. I actually was going to make the ring with hot pink wire, and use it for my monthly blogger challenge, but I loved the green wire so much better. So, I stuck with that. I also have a pendant prototype, that is pink, and I won't be sharing that until I decide if I will be using it for the challenge or something else. I told myself that everything I made this month would be pink. LOL, that has not happened. I did do three pink things so far, then this green piece, and started a caramel brown baby cocoon for a baby boy. What do you think of my prototype?

All About Blogspot Monthly Blogger Challenge: Spring

This is the very first team challenge for the Etsy team, All About Blogspot. I am not sure how many will join in this first time, but hopefully a few will. I made the theme Spring for obvious reasons. Since I am constantly creating new things, at least every few days I hope, I wasn't sure which pieces I would share for the challenge. I decided to go with my newest creations, little girl headbands. Back in January I started to make resin pieces. My very first pour was a whole bunch of cute pieces. But, after I made them I was not sure what I would do with them. So, I listed them in my Etsy store, as cabochons for jewelry making. As they got close to expiring, I got a clever idea. I decided to make headbands with a flower, and the center of the flower would be one of these cute resin pieces. So far, I have four done, and will hopefully get one done today, before I head out the door for a homeschool play date. The two shown are a cute irridescent baby tiger cub, and an adorable puppy in a peppermint cupcake. I have tons of cute stickers, and can take custom orders for just about anything you might want. If you want to talk about a custom order headband, please contact me through my Etsy store. If you have a blogger blog, and an Etsy account, why not head over to All About Blogspot, and join in the blogging fun.

Here are the other members who participated.  I will add them as they share their posts.  Please visit and support each member.  Thank you!.

http://zzzonkowl.blogspot.com/2014/04/i-love-owls-but-this-loving-duck-couple.html

http://zzzonkowl.blogspot.com/2014/04/ducks-in-lovethe-story-continues.html

Some Finished Resin Pieces Made Into Headbands Angel Kitten

This is the second headband in my headband series. The other one was red and white with a chunky glitter heart as the center of the flower. It is also available in my Etsy store.


This one, modeled by my 10 yr old, is Hunter Green with an Antique White flower. The center of the flower is one of my resin pieces, featuring a white angel kitten with rainbow wings. I have several other pieces I plan on making into headbands too. If you want any particular kind, ask me, I might be able to do it. This is available in my Etsy store now. 

Do You Need A Good Arm Workout? Hope Resin Keychain With Pink Beads

Do you need a good arm workout, for a really good price? Then you need to be drilling your resin manually, using a bead reamer. The other day, I drilled some more pieces and let me tell you my arms got a work out. It is hard work doing it this way. Most people use a dremmel, I like the old fashioned way, lol. Or just like torture. I have been being creative with my resin again. I had this charm, from another project, so I decided to place it in resin. Rather than using glitter, I used pink beads to add the pink color to the piece, and one stray blue bead got in there too. Then I drilled the hole, with my bead reamer, and added the wire wrap bail and the keychain component. This is a reversible keychain, because the other side of the charm has a dove on it. This is available in my Etsy store, which you can access by clicking on my Etsy store banner on this blog. This would make a great gift for any woman who needs a little extra love and hope to carry around with them.

What Have I Been Up To?

My newest project is a tire garden. I had old tires donated to me, which is a bit tricky because they are all different sizes. I had to prop some up to make it more level. Now I just need three more cans of paint, one more board, and start filling with dirt. Three tires already have stuff planted in them. I will show the final result, when it is finished. I am still working on the crochet wall hanging for the fire dept, here where we live. I have not decided, yet, how I am going to do the logo. I have never crocheted a logo before, so it could be interesting. I took about 400 pictures yesterday, of my resin pieces, and jewelry. I got some really good shots. I did get to sand some of my pieces, to last night, and will have new pieces in my Etsy store soon. That is what I have been up to. How about you?

Night Owl in Tree Painted Resin Heart

I was so excited today to give painting on the resin another try. I will tell you how I came up with this almost finished piece. First I mixed the resin, and added a tiny bit of black acrylic paint to the resin. I used a toothpick this time rather than squeezing a drop in. Even a drop was too much and it changed the property of the resin. After mixing it, it was this awesome smoky color, like when it just starts to get dark. Then I added the owl sticker to the resin, and let it cure 12 hours. If you use silicone molds the resin cures much faster. This was a silicone mold, my others take a full day. Then I popped out the cured piece, that is the very first picture.  Then I painted on the tree trunk, branches, leaves and moon.  I tried brown paint, but that did not show up well enough, so I ended up using black paint.  You can see the results in the bottom two images.  After I let it set a few days, I will seal it with a spray sealer, and then add a glaze over it.  Last but not least I will drill a hole and it will become my newest Christmas ornament.  It will be available in my Etsy store, with all my other cool resin pieces.  I made some more resin with gemstones too, but have not shared those yet.  So, watch for them soon.

Auctions are Coming to This Blog!

So, I have been thinking of ways to increase my traffic, and sales, and I am going to be starting some auctions on this blog.  I will advertise the auction on other sites, but the actual bidding will take place here. Here is how it will work:


Every other Friday, I will share an item, from my Etsy store that will be auctioned off.  All bids will be low, with one dollar increasing increments.  Shipping and handling and all info will be listed.  If you are the winner a Paypal invoice will be sent to you from me.  When you bid, you must leave a legitimate Paypal account email address.  If you bid and do not pay for the item, I will block you from all future auctions.  Bids are to be made in the comments, and the auctions will run until Sunday night at 9PM Eastern time, at which time I will close the auction to bidding and contact the winner.  The winner will have three days to respond to me with payment, or to arrange payment.  I will ship to USA, Great Britain, and Canada.  Canada and Great Britain bidders need to have a verified Paypal account.  If you have any questions please ask them in the comments, before you bid.

I hope this will be fun and a great way to get exposure to my Etsy store, and this blog.  First auction starts this Friday, March 7th, 2014 at 9 AM.  All times are Eastern time and the clocks do spring ahead that weekend, so keep that in mind. 

Mother's Pendant/Family Pendant Gemstones in Resin Custom Order

I have used up all my resin, except for a tiny bit to finish off pieces. I saved my favorite projects for last. I was a little skeptical about whether I should put real gemstones inside resin. I have been collecting gemstones for almost ten years. When you buy in large parcels, as I frequently do, you get a lot of stones that are not good enough to put in regular jewelry castings, but in other projects they are fine. This piece will remain mine, as it is the birthstones for my family members. There are two rubies, a peridot and an emerald. Now why would I put an emerald in resin? Emeralds are very fragile, and when I tried to use this particular emerald in a traditional casting it cracked. So, it was unusable, basically. But, I kept it because the color is amazing and it is my daughter's birthstone. I only have that one emerald. The rubies are small, the smaller the stone the harder it is to set in traditional settings, and I own so many peridot it isn't even funny. Anyway, this will be listed in my Etsy store as a custom order only. I think this style is lovely, but the donut shape mold would be nice too. I do not yet own that mold. If you are interested in having one of these made, please contact me through my Etsy store for details. Prices will vary, as some gemstones are not as easy to get, and are way more expensive than say a Garnet or Amethyst.

Making Resin Jewelry!

I was so excited to get my resin and one mold for Christmas. I have ordered a larger heart and some smaller heart molds. My first set of items, one mold with many openings makes a lot of pieces and shapes, came out really pretty good. This resin is awesome. It is clear and looks like glass. These are the only things listed in my Etsy store so far, and still need to go in Ecrater store. The butterfly keychain is my favorite. Then there are two heart cabochons. One has a pink flower embedded in it, the other has flat back pearls, pink on the outside and one blue one in the center. These are for wire wrapping or using them as the buyer would like to use them. Last is a Three Dancing Ladies cameo pendant. The cameo is black with white accents, and was embedded into the resin with a very tiny amount of glitter. I am not thrilled with the glitter, but maybe if I use it on the second layer, rather than the first, I will like it more. Also, some of these are quite thick and for jewelry I think thinner might be better. I will have to decide ahead of time what I will do with them so I know if I should make chunky or thin. I have many more pieces to share, once I have pictures and they are listed. I really enjoyed making the resin pieces. It is a several day process, and while this first set is affordable, I could see where they could get expensive depending on the time you put into it, and what you embed in them. I want a bangle mold, and a ring mold, but they can wait until I have a little bit more experience under my belt. I had my first sale of the new year, and it was an awesome sale. I don't share the sale item, until I know the buyer is happy and the sale is complete. Happy New Year! Happy crafting and jewelry making.

Goals for 2014

So, as the end of the year quickly approaches, I have been thinking about goals for 2014.  For this blog, and my arts, my goals are as follows:

1-  Learn to make resin jewelry, and ornaments too

2-  Increase my Etsy and Ecrater sales through various new ways to market my items

3-  Learn new crochet stitches

4-  Continue to grow in my painting skills and broaden my horizons in Art

5-  Grow this blog, get some guest posts, sell ad space, and do some paid reviews.

Those are my goals for 2014.

My New Love!

I just ordered myself, for Christmas, some supplies to make resin jewelry. My ultimate goal is to be able to add some of my painted images to the resin pieces. I especially want to make resin cuff bracelets and Christmas ornaments. Because this will all be new, I have a lot of learning to do. Resin Obsession, has a free ebook, which I have already read twice, and she is a wonderful teacher. Check out her website if you are interested. There are some lovely resin rings, with gemstones, that I would love to eventually learn to make as well. I will have a lot of videos on this topic, so I can watch them as I go along. I also now have all my handmade items listed on both Etsy and Ecrater. My blogs currently only have the Ecrater widgets. The prices are the same, and all sales and discounts will be the same. My Etsy store does have some items that my Ecrater store does not have. I will be starting my daily sales, for 25 Days of Christmas, on Black Friday. Be sure to bookmark this blog, so you don't miss the one piece you really want. Each sale will only run for a short amount of time, each day.