Things Treasured

The next necklace for the shop is finished. I tried it on last night and it looks amazing. It's done in silver and green aluminum rings in the byzantine weave. I love this weave. I love making it and I love wearing it. I just snapped a couple of quick shots with my phone. It will get the glam photo shoot when the weather and sunlight cooperate.

I am toying with the idea of making a twisted weave with the byz as a choker. I played with the concept with the finished necklace and draped it over my wrist to see if I liked the effect. I like it very much. I'm excited to try it.

I've got a couple of custom orders I need to fill first though.

The new sparklies are here! I can hardly wait to dive into them and get to work. I've got a big batch of shiny aluminum, three colors of anodized aluminum, and I'm trying out a shiny brass. I think it's going to be beautiful with the pale pink. That is the first combo I'm going to try out. I will keep you updated here, and as soon as something is finished it will get added to the shop.

I've got something else I've been working on, another prototype. I have this really interesting yarn. It's bumpy and wiggly and a really awesome color for summer. So yesterday I whipped up a little dice bag! It just needs a cord to go with it and then I'll photograph that to show off as well. Dicebags are so personal as any table top gamer will tell you. I have one to go with each particular character I play. HA! I also love making them. My mother, who is not a gamer, also commented  on how much she loves the little bag. I think she wants to commission one a bit larger as a pouch for her sunglasses. There's an idea also... small change purse? It could be anything I guess, couldn't it? Well pictures to come soon!

After a long hiatus, it is official.

Things Treasured has an etsy shop now! 

Currently in the shop are my favorite stitch markers. They are light weight aluminum rings with Czech seed beads strung into them. Some of the sets have whimsical row markers on them, and some are just a bunch of the beaded rings.

By Friday I should have a new jump ring order arriving by post. This means Byzantine necklaces should be in the shop by the end of next week. This one is already sold, but others will be coming soon.

Hello...
...hello...
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Echoes anyone? 

It has been a long time since I updated regularly. It's been a long time since I consistently created anything. That is going to change. I need to create. Even if all I am doing is creating inspiration for myself. 

I'm working on a small sweater. When that is finished I shall show it off. In the meantime, feast your eyes on some things I found that I love. 

The Crocodile Stitch tutorial!


Czech Glass Spider Buttons!!

I'm hoping to buy these buttons today!

Badge for my challenge 3 participants.

Work in progress, work in progress...

Crochet Thestral! If you don’t know what a Thestral is, get thee self to a library and read the Harry Potter Books… seriously.

Tiny Barbie Bloomers! I got them from a pattern for an 1866 Atlanta Bell. It’s an outfit based on the one Scarlett O’Hara made from her curtains in Gone with the Wind. I’m looking forward to tackling the dress. That is so massive that even though I am looking forward to the dress, I will likely start with the hat next.

Octopus Jar Cozy! I’m thinking I’ll use this as a weight loss tool. It was originally meant to be a savings jar to go to GG’s big 2015 gala event, but I need the motivation right now for my health. So I will put colored glass and plastic stones in this jar for all of the weight I want to lose. Then I shall get another clear jar. When I lose a pound, I will fish a stone out of the cozied jar and drop it in the clear one. I don’t need to constantly see how much I have to lose, but always seeing how far I’ve come has got to boost moral.

And this is my in progress Haruni Shawl. It’s coming out so beautifully, and I really like working with this yarn. It’s Blue Heron Metallic Rayon. It’s giving such a lovely drape to the material. I’m afraid of running out of yarn before it’s complete though. I need to finish chart A so I can weight it again and see how it’s going.

I want to be really excellent at Sewing. I’m not though. I think most of this is afraid of doing poorly and wasting materials, and a lack of practice. So I began to remedy this. I have made my first drawstring bag. It’s blue and silver stripy material that my mom had in a big trunk. So I have no idea what kind of fabric it is. It is a little bit weighty and had good body to it though.  I designed it with a round bottom. To make sure that it stays round when objects are inside it, I’ve sandwiched some plastic canvas in there to give it structure.

 

I did almost the entire project by myself. Mom helped me sew one part that I couldn’t figure out how to get into the sewing machine, and she gave me general instructions on when to flip it inside out and if I should be stitching right sides or wrong sides together. The final sewing around the bottom had to be all hand sewn, so I also asked her to show me how to do that. But I did all of that sewing. I’m really happy with how it all came out. I hope my swap partner enjoys it! 

I’m looking forward to trying more projects now. There is a little box shaped bag I am eager to try!

 

I had a treasured moment today. Hubby and I decided it was a perfect day for an adventure. We looked around on line at things to do locally and were coming up a bit stumped. Several of the places were for various pick your own fruit farms. Most of them in the area are for blueberries. Now I like blueberries, but no one in the house really loves them. So we kept looking until we found a local (miraculous) farm selling pick your own strawberries.

So we got ourselves into the car and headed to the farm. It’s really a lovely cute little place and the drive was scenic. We weren’t quite sure what to do when we arrived because you just pull into this field and there are crops on one side and a building on another. We went into the building and the people were incredibly friendly.

The strawberry picking was such fun. All of their crops are hydroponic and planted vertically. There is no stooping over to pick berries. We picked a little over two pounds and then headed inside. Inside of the building I found ALPACA wool for sale! The woman there owns and shows champion alpaca and was selling wool. So I bought several ounces to try.

We struck up a conversation and she showed me her electric spinning wheel which I’ve never seen before. I explained how I can spindle spin ok, but my wheel gives me fits. She then put me on a list to contact when she has spinning classes this fall. It was a magical fun day and I can’t wait until our next adventure.

 

If you follow the rest of my blogs, you will know that I am currently in a resurgence after a blogging hiatus. As I explained in my health and fitness related place, I've been suffering from a general over-lode of life and a liberal sprinkling of depression. (Self Diagnosed)

My husband and I struggle with infertility. We have been trying to start our family for... oh... 6? Years now.. I think. It's begun to run together. Sometimes I think I might just collapse from watching everyone around me have babies.

Sometimes I try and find ways of coping. Often, those ways involve making things for our future babies, however we might come by them.

This is a blanket I made not too long ago when I was going through a particularly down moment. It's a lovely lace pattern knitted with some soft worsted weight yarn. I love the colors. They are a bit on the feminine side, but I'm not one for color coding children. My favorite color has always been blue, and I wouldn't find a boy who's favorite color is pink to be any less masculine.

Right now, I'm going through another hard spot. So I once again have reached for my yarn to help me get through it. I'm making another baby blanket. This one is crochet and it is the lovely ripple pattern by Lucy at Attic24.  I've chosen white and blue in uneven, yet rhythmic ripples. There will be pictures soon.

This new set of stitch markers was made for the Ravenclaw Postal fundraiser yardsale. I’m about to go put it up now. However, I’ll have sets just like these in a multitude of colors very shortly when I get my etsy shop open. It’s very exciting. I love these little stitch markers.

 

 

And a few tidbits to show you of in progress projects!

 

 

 

 

I’ve been doing a bit of crochet lately. I was attempting to make a messenger style bag. I need a new ‘purse’. Well I sort of just designed this as I went. It’s a lovely green strip, and then a variegated green stripe around and around in a circle. It’s definitely durable because I made it out of cotton. However, it really turned out too larger and too round. I discovered I really don’t want a round bag on my side. But it will make a lovely beach bag I think.
 

You know, sometimes you need to make something just because it is fun. This past weekend, my best friend and her son, her mother, my husband and I went to the pumpkin picking farm. While I was there I bought some sunflowers to keep on my nightstand.
Now if you follow my other blog at all, you know how zombie obsessed I am. You would know all about Plants VS Zombies by now.
Without further ado… my Pea Shooter! He lives on the nightstand with the sunflowers. Naturally.

New creations for Diadem Days.

As it turns out, I like baking. Who knew? Also, diet friendly baking – even better!

Do you want to see pictures? I thought you might!.




This was my first venture into baking lately. Two Banana breads. They came out moist, and banana-y and a little sweet. Just perfect.

I enjoyed some with my tea. It was a perfect treat.

Here Is another banana bread and a honey loaf. Oh my word, this honey loaf is amazing. It’s a little denser than the banana bread but it’s spiced, and sweet from the honey. The little nuts on top are ever so tasty!

In between those two baking experiments, was a pumpkin bread. Apparently though, I never got a picture of it. I’m still working on perfecting the recipe for that one. It came out a bit on the dry side. Tasty experimentation however.

I’m not 100% sure this counts as a refashion. Who writes the rules on what does and does not count though. I’ve certainly taken a plain purple t-shirt and turned it into something special however. 

Note the stained t-shirt

Note the purple butterfly.

Note AWESOME NEW BUTTERFLY SHIRT!!!