Finding Beauty

Yesterdays walk was so therapeutic.

Jack and I ventured out again this evening.

 Looking for bits of blooms left behind by Summer.

There's beauty everywhere if you take the time to look for it.

karen

The Colors Of Summer

It's a bit chilly here today with dark skies and some drizzle, but the colors of summer are popping out all around me.

Happy colors.

karen

Textile Bracelet Tutorial

Just a quick how to:

You will need some...

memory wire

wire cutters

round nose pliers

scissors

fabric strips or ribbon (1/2 to 3/4 in. wide and 1 yd. long)

glue

embellishments

 Cut a piece of memory wire 2 inches more than the circumference of your wrist.

Using the round nose pliers, curl a loop onto each end of the wire.

 Place a dab of glue next to one of the loops and anchor the end of your ribbon.

Wrap wire tightly, overlapping as you go.

When you reach the other loop add another dab of glue and anchor your ribbon at this end too.

Wrap again in the opposite direction.

 When you reach the end or beginning, depending how you look at it...anchor with one final dab of glue. Trim off any excess ribbon. They should look like this.

You can either leave them like this

or add whatever  you like. I embellished mine with beads and wire.

 I apply a jump ring to each of the end loops to keep the charms and beads from sliding off.

Here are some made with torn strips of cotton textiles.

You can see I over wrapped some with flax, hemp, ribbon and wire.

Here you can see the jump rings and some beaded wire wrapping.

Another set with just bright copper wire wrapping and some simple silver beads.

If anyone decides to make some of these I would love to see them.

I think the possibilities are endless.

karen

Fiber Vessels

Fiber vessels in the works.

 Made with my own hand spun wool.

 Just the beginning of something great I hope.

karen

A Fresh Look

Like many of you, after the holidays, I like to give my home a little freshening up.

Once all of the Christmas decor is put away, things just look kind of blah, so I dig through the boxes of STUFF that I've accumulated, purge the things I don't want any more, and get started shifting things around to give everything a fresh new look.

Yesterday I worked on one of the bathrooms.

It all started with this pretty balloon shade that I thrifted a few months ago.

The label is Simply Shabby Chic and that's exactly the look I was going for.

It was the perfect window treatment to go with the shabby purple rug I got for Christmas.

It's made from recycled silk clothing in shades of purple.

I added a few more touches of purple here and there to tie everything together.

Some lavender and some purple feathers in a pretty jar.

Some purple potpourri with sparkle.

A wire basket for holding soaps and things.

A vintage ice bucket holds my favorite wooden combs.

I'll be working on some more freshening up today.

I'm hoping to get a few more rooms finished up and some more pics of the results.

It's blustery cold and snowing outside, so it's the perfect day for working inside.

I hope you are all warm and cozy where you are.

See you soon.

Karen