PROJECT: Easter Egg Cages

DIY Project.

Goal: To create an Easter gift for the non-chocolate lovers!

So much chocolate gets given at Easter time and it seems such a waste, well... unless you love chocolate!
I however am not a huge fan of chocolate and while I know that many of you cannot cope without the indulgence, I am quite happy to have alternatives.

So what can you give to people like me, or those that may be diabetic, or even to your childrens school teachers who probably get passed so many eggs from their little charges that they have no idea which student gave them which eggs?!?

I thought this was a cute alternative and could even be used as a table centre piece at Easter time.  To be honest it has enough cute, woodsy charm that it could be used all year round or even for wedding tables!

What you need:

Miniature Birdcage ornament ( I got mine from the Reject Shop)
Sphagnum Moss or similar
Artificial Eggs (in abundant suppy at the moment)
Feathered Butterfly (can be found out florists or cheap shops)
Dried Vine (can be found in bundles at florists and dried flower stockists)
Glue

Instructions:

Grab a small amount of vines. Using your hands gently twist it around and around into a circular shape. Tuck and weave any loose straggyly ends into the edges of the nest. This creates a bit more stability and more of a nest feel. Gently place it into the cage and re-shape as necessary. Add a few touches of sphagnum moss to bulk it out and to hide some of the gaps in your nest.

Add eggs... I fiddled with a few different combos of colours and amounts of eggs, but honestly nothing beats the simplicity of 3 beautiful eggs!

Then get your feathered butterfly and glue it to the outside of the cage.

All done!

Admittedly not the most difficult or time consuming project but I think it is effective nonetheless. Even better is the fact that it costs well under $10 per cage!

Quist Quest

The life we plan to have:

Each of us go through life with all sorts of plans and ideas of what road we think our life will take.

As a child we may plan what job we may have or how many children we may have. As a teenager we dream about the person we may marry. Once married we plan our dreams together of what shared ideals we wish to pursue.

However sometimes life does not go the way we wish it to. Our dreams of how many children we will have, may be shattered by the news of infertility. Our plans of growing old with our partner may get cut short due to illness or disease. The idea of having your own mother watch you raise your children may not come about as you lose a parent early.

Whatever life may bring, there is always a certainty that you simply cannot plan everything and at times there may be devastating situations that cross your path.

So what happens when our plans go catastrophically awry:

Some people are markedly changed for the worst through such circumstances and depression and anger may haunt them. Others become amazing people that shine forth to all that see them and hear them.

It is this second type of person that I want to aquaint you with!

Meet Rebecca:

I spent much of my high school years with a friend named Rebecca, and though our lives are no longer so closely entwined due to distance, I was shocked to hear some devastating news last year.

At the end of last year I found out that my friend, who is very young and has 2 beautiful young girls, has stage 4 cancer!  She has 5 cancers in her liver, many in her stomach lining and 1 large one in her colon. 
Now for most people this would shatter their lives completely... and I am not saying that it is not shattering their lives. However, my beautiful friend is displaying such strength, faith, courage and beauty throughout all of this and I do not think anyone that has contact with her has not been affected by it.

You can even watch a Youtube video of Rebecca talking about how this new part of their life affects her and her family and her faith and courage here : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vSHIXwcLRE

So why am I telling you all this?

No matter how strong a person may be and how many amazing people surround them and support them in their difficult journey, there are always huge costs involved with the type of medical treatment that Bec needs. I may not live close enough to help clean her house (and those that know me and my house, know that that is not really my forte anyway), or have lots of money to donate.... but I do make jewellery and I would love to help in some small way.

For me a butterfly is all about transformation and new beginnings! 
I know Bec is on a new journey and I beleive she is being transformed into an even more amazing and beautiful woman!
So I am going to auction off one of my blue morpho butterfly wing hairclips (pictured below) with all the money to go to Bec.

If you want to bid on the item head over to my facebook page and put in a bid, the higher it goes the more I will add in for the winner. Auction will end on Wednesday night at 8pm.

 (image courtesy of heels & bows photography)

In the meantime if you cannot bid on this item, please keep Bec and her family in your prayers.

International Day of Happiness

Today, March the 20th, marks the International Day of Happiness.

Which leads me to ask: "What is it that bought you happiness today?"

Here are some of the things that have bought me happiness today:

 

I had some images arrive in my inbox today from the amazing Heels & Bows Photography! Photos like this of my work, make me DELIRIOUSLY happy! I was asked to lend some pieces that would suit the lovely Amber's eyes. I think the silver and blue tones of the pieces I made suit her perfectly and I am so delighted that what I pictured in my head worked so effectively when combined with the model and photographer.

Ahh... soothing chamomile tea. Happiness is sitting down to a lovely warm cup of chamomile tea while responding to emails and just taking a minute to breathe. The cup also brings me fond memories of my husband and kids giving me this cup as a present. And seeing the chip on the edge reminds me that I have beautiful children who, despite the fact that damages may occur, will empty the dishwasher every day for me.

Large parcels of supplies, like this one that arrived today, make me feel like a child on Christmas day. I love digging through and pulling out all the awesome pretty things and can't wait to play and create with them!

In my life I have SO many things to be thankful for and things that make me happy.

I hope that you also found some measure of happiness today.

Who am I?

So this is my first journey into the big, scary world of online blog's!

It was suggested by some of my Facebook fans that perhaps a blog detailing my creative journey and some diy projects would be a good read. Since then I have been debating where to start? The beginning always seems to be the best place, so here goes...

The creative journey begins:

I am very blessed to have been raised by a Mum that had a love for making things and instilled that in me from a very early age. So many different art or craft activities were lovingly and patiently shown to me. I have memories of FIMO clay, hobbytex pens, paint, plaster, fabric puff paint pens, crosstitch, long stitch and some weird plastic melt stuff that you could make jewellery from. When I was in high school Mum taught me how to make jointed teddy bears too. Most of my high school years I spent sketching various images and drawing fashion outfit designs in moments where I was bored or had free time. I also filled notebooks with poems and songs that were filled with the usual teenage views towards love and friendship.

The creativite journey becomes essential therapy:

Fast forward to 2009... and I am in one of the darkest moments in my life.  I am struggling with severe daily chronic pain which makes me barely able to get up out of bed or walk around the house.  This alone would place a strain on anyones mental health. Add to this the fact that my amazing mother passed away only a few months prior and that I have a 1yr old and a 3yr old who are relying on me, and I can tell you I was not in a good place. I was very blessed to have amazing, supportive people that could help a little bit with the kids and the housework here and there, I don't know where I would have been without their support.

As part of my health issues I was sent to a pain management clinic. One of the first questions they asked, in the initial interview, used to find out more about your health and lifestyle, was "Do you have a hobby?". I had still been dabbling in various creative pursuits up to this point and thought the answer was yes.  A week or two later found me pulling out a beading kit that my mother in law had bought me, I figured that I may as well do something while I am lying on the couch. I completed the kit and found I enjoyed it and it helped to distract me. So I indulged in that great pasttime of internet shopping and I looked for some supplies to make more things.

Creating jewellery gave me a great feeling that I had not found in other creative outlets, I will admit that my first pieces were in no way anything fantastic and in fact were quite basic, but I loved it! Don't get me wrong it was not a magical switch that made everything better, I still needed medication and lifestyle changes to cope with the pain and the depression of dealing with all the things happening in my life at the time, but it did help immensely.

The journey takes a new turn:

I then had the encouragement of some amazing people that would be instrumental in me taking this journey even further. A few lovely ladies from my church recommended that I should start selling my jewellery as they really liked it and could they buy some. Of course I said 'yes' because there was no way I could keep the masses of jewellery I was starting to create but I couldn't stop making them either.

The biggest encouragement however came from the lovely Judith from Beads Online. I had started to buy some supplies from her and was asking her lots of questions about different techniques and supplies. Judith was so patient and helpful and even encouraged me to submit some designs for her website's inspiration gallery at the time. Through Judith's encouragement I started to broaden myknowledge and skill base and found that the internet was a great source of knowledge.

September of 2009 saw me create my very first real design, I say that because it was the first design I really planned and thought about and tried to tell a story with. And thus my Secret Garden Choker was born!  Not only was it what I consider to be my first real piece, it also won a design challenge too! You can find details and an image of the piece here:

I still have this necklace and I don't think anything could make me part with it.

The journey is always growing and changing:

So since then the journey has continued.  It has had its' up and its' downs but I can say without a doubt that I LOVE what I do! From it's beginnings I have progressed over time to taking different steps in the journey: creating a website, doing markets, having featured artist articles in magazines, creating projects for magazines and of course meeting so many amazing people along the way!!!

(Image courtesy of Fable Photography)

So this is me (my apologies for such a long story) and I look forward to sharing the rest of my creative journey with you.

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