It's Once Again Time for Some Craftiness!

Tammy, of The Crafty Princess Diaries, has been sewing Halloween dresses for Blythe dolls. Go check out her photo shoot with one of her favorite dolls...Tudy. 

On BeadLove blog, Ann uses a variety of brightly colored beads to make a fun cat themed necklace. I love how she sorts her beads into this beautiful, bright piece.

Pantone just announced their 2019 Spring/Summer Color Report. Check out what they think will be the hottest upcoming colors! And...usually the color of the year is picked from this selection. Andrew Thornton asks...What do you think will be the color of the year?

Check out the second installment of Allegory Gallery's NEW podcast! This time they are featuring ceramic bead artist, Diane Hawkey.

Terry Jeanette, the Tappingflamingo, steps aside from her norm, and focuses on blood clots...Pulmonary Embolism (PE) and Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT), and how important it is to be aware of your body and proactive with your health.

Upcycling Jewelry, Elephant Beaded Necklace, and a Mermaid/Flamingo Tote!

A lot of us love to make things. What do you like to make? Here are a few bloggers with some of the projects they have been working on lately. 

On BeadLove blog, Ann has a substantial elephant stamping that allows her to use some of her larger beads to create a necklace that turns out just as she envisioned!

We all have old broke jewelry lying around....What do you do with it?  Upcycle it into something better! Terry Jeanette, the Tappingflamingo, shows what she did with a broken bracelet. 

Tammy, of the Crafty Princess Diaries is making another tote. This time she has a custom order through her brand new Kawaii Doll Shop on Etsy.  Mermaids and flamingos....just right up MY alley...hmmmm.....I think I may go check out her new shop! After all, you don't have to be a doll collector to buy a new tote...right?

Stay tuned for more crafty projects in upcoming weeks!

Recycled Jewelry

Several years ago someone asked me if I would be interested in a huge bag of broken jewelry. This person knew how much I loved to make jewelry, and he thought I would be interested in going through these pieces and possibly making something out of them.

As soon as I brought the jewelry pieces home, I started to sort through everything. I found a lot of interesting things. There were necklaces, earrings and bracelets, that were pretty much intact, just maybe missing a jump ring or something else easy to fix. I began to put these pieces back together again, and then donated them to the local Senior Citizen Bingo group. 

Eventually, I put the bag away...until today. Yep, I got it back out and started going through it again. I decided to pick out a few broken pieces and repurpose them into something much different than they originally were meant to be.

The first piece was a bracelet with missing rhinestones. I knew I wanted to keep the bling on this piece. My plan to to take some wire...brass, since the bracelet was brass, and wire some beads onto it.

But then I remember this ball of Sari ribbon.

The ribbon has a brassy gold pattern on the blue background. It also has different colored rhinestones throughout.

And here is the finished product....

Boho Hippie Style

Bangle Bracelet

What do you think?

Here is a video I put together about it....

PE/DVT Awareness

I have to apologize for last week. I did not post. Friday was my birthday, and that morning my mom went to the emergency room. I would like to share her story to bring in some awareness...


So...about four months ago, Mom started to have some aches and tiredness in her legs.  My dad and I started to do some investigating, and learned that she had been on statins (drugs that lower cholesterol) for way over 10 years. If you read the literature it says one should not be on it or more than two years! HMMMM.....

What are the side affects? A couple of them, my mom was suffering with...joint aches and tiredness in the legs. We told her she needed to get off of them ASAP!!!! One other thing that they had learned was when on statins you NEED to take CoQ10, because the drug will deplete it from your body. A lot of doctors, including my mom's, never mention it. 

Several weeks after all this started, my mom went on a cruise with my sister and I. Normally, Mom is the first one off the ship and walks pretty quickly. This particular trip, though, she did not feel like getting off, and just seemed tired all the time. HMMMMM!

As time went on, Mom's aches and pains grew worse, and sometimes she would have shortness of breath. She talked to her doctor about it, and got no where. Eventually, Mom is referred to a pulmonary doctor, but the doctor pretty much ignores her. By this time, my mom had her 80th birthday, and the doctor writes her off as an old woman who is not active. WRONG!!!!! Up until these aches and tiredness started, Mom has been very active. She goes to the gym everyday, keeps up with her two grand sons who have autism, and enjoys life.

Before she went to this pulmonary doctor, I talked to my parents, and reminded them of my blot clot story (DVT and PE). I told them to mention that to him. I had very few symptoms. Mom's symptoms were minimal,  but she did have the achey legs and shortness of breath. My parents mentioned blood clots to the doctor, but he didn't believe that was her issue. He ordered three tests, one of them being a test to check for blood clots...but this was not to happen for several months. WRONG!!!! If you are checking for a blood clot, you do it immediately!!!!

So, that was the end of the doctor visit for a few months. I kept nagging and nagging about checking for blood colts. Well....Friday, a couple of weeks after she had seen the pulmonary specialist,  my mom's shortness of breath came back, but this time it was really bad. She called the doctor about it, and they said they would call her back. Three hours later...no doctor. I begged her to go to the ER!!!! 

They finally headed to the ER.....

Guess what!!!!! She had blood cots....in her lungs. Yep, the doctor, who wrote my normally active mom off as an old inactive geratric, missed the mark! Luckily, I had gone through this several years ago, and was able to nag her until she got sick of hearing me. I do believe that if she would have waited for that doctor to do his thing, she would not be with us. 

Why am I sharing this? Well....we need to be aware of our health. We need to ask questions, and be proactive with our doctors. If the doctor won't listen, go somewhere else. Doctors are there to help us, not to make us feel inferior! If we educate ourselves and listen to our bodies, this can help the doctor determine what health issues we may be having.

I also feel it is important to share your experience with others. This helps individuals to be aware of what may or may not be going on with their bodies.

One last thing....I have been making autism awareness bracelets for the last few months. Many of the colors I use with these bracelets are also awareness colors for other health issues. One of them being  blood clots....PE/DVT....Red! 

If you or a loved one has suffered with DVT and or PE, and want to help bring awareness, I hope you go check out my TappingflamingoBling Etsy Shop for a fun crochet red bracelets that is water proof! Great to wear to the beach or pool!

In the meantime....let us all be aware of our health, educate ourselves, and communicate with our doctors.

Fall is Quickly Coming

I am really not ready to say good-bye to summer and hello to fall, but the reality is....fall is just around the corner.

As a jewelry designer, I have to always be ahead of the game. In other words when it is summer, I am thinking about Fall and the holiday season. In the winter, I am designing and making things for Spring and  Summer. 

Since my favorite place is the beach, I like to design things that are inspired from the ocean. I made this necklace YEARS ago for my personal collection, and I wear it all the time. The shells from the earrings were just found this past summer, and I was lucky enough to find three so I could make a matching necklace earring set. 

 You might also notice that I love to mix my metals. I find it makes things a little more interesting. 

This next set was made to match. You will find a wide variety of beads in this ensemble, including some paper beads I made from an old magazine.

I added carnelian, jasper and crystals and some glass ebeads to give these pieces a variety of texture and depth. When I designed these pieces, I had just bought a dress and I wanted something to go with, and these came out perfectly! 

So.....what have I been working on to put in my Etsy shop for Fall 2018?

Here is one piece. This beaded chain necklace is made with crystals, obsidian and maifanite beads. I added brass beads and a brass chain with no clasp, so it is very easy to put on and take off...just over your head. 

Here is another necklace from my Broken Shell Inspirational collection. This one is a bit shorter and made of crystals, purple glass beads and green jasper. I used copper wire to wrap the shell and added some copper beads to this 18" necklace.

This shell fragment has become naturally distressed as it traveled through the ocean, eventually being tossed up on the shore, waiting for someone to discover it and appreciate its different shape, angels, and size. While this bit of shell is no longer a whole shell, the harsh conditions it experienced in the ocean transformed it into something distinct and beautifully unique. It is my hope that as you go through your own challenging experiences, you will become a better version of yourself, an individual who has gained wisdom through adversity. This beautiful shell piece is to help remind you of the positive growth that you will take away from your experiences.

--TappingflamingoBling

Whether she cruises the high seas on a ship, hang tens on a surfboard or just likes a quiet walk along the shore...Wearing a creation from TappingflamingoBling will keep her favorite places close to her heart and soul.

What Is A Crafter?

Well, I looked it up and according to dictionary.com "A crafter is a person who practices or is highly skilled in a craft; artisan." This week, we have some highly skilled people who have blogged about some pretty cool stuff...

Ann from BeadLove uses fun resin tiger head beads to make a quick bracelet that turns out just how she envisioned.

Tammy talks about selling off some doll customization crafting supplies and also dolls from her collection and shares her thoughts on collecting what you love in a recent Crafts and Dollies blog.

A lover of all things owl, Andrew shares some of his favorite owl-inspired art beads from his private collection.

On a recent trip to Asheville, NC, Greg Ogden of GreenGirls Studios explains lost wax casting. Check out the video of him walking us through the process!

Terry Jeanette of the Tappingflamingo, talks about different types of wedding jewelry and some interesting accessories.

Beading Arts shares a chenille stitch rope necklace tutorial.

I hope you check out what these talented artisans are talking about this week. 

A Variety of Crafts....Some From Old Things, Some a Bit Newer....

Tammy Powley, of The Crafty Princess Diaries, shows off the quilt that she finished. Her grandmother started it many years ago, and Tammy was able to finish it and present it to her mother. They celebrated by going to their favorite restaurant in Port Canaveral, Florida.

Cyndi Lavin, of Beading Arts, is one talented lady! I admire those who work with the tiny beads in bead weaving. You really need to check out her newest blog on this beautiful herringbone necklace. 

Terry Jeanette, the Tappingflamingo, loves the unexpected. She has designed this fun beaded cruise themed ornament from recycled guitar strings! Keyword here is recycled! Check out her blog to see what else she has made with recycled guitar strings.