This is a lamp I made using shrinky dinks and some beads and wire. I got these lamps at a yard sale for 3 dollars for the pair. They didn't have shades and they were a yucky brown color. Since I love color or all kinds I painted them white and then painted the floral on it and matched the shrinky dinks to the colors. Bought every color sharpie marker I could find. Then matched those to the colors of paint I was using and then the beads had to match by one tone off to get this.

Last but not least the final post before this site goes public for your enjoyment. This is my passion and this is what I do mostly. Tatting. It is an old world art that has been around for a very long time. No one really knows when it started. I absolutely love this and everywhere I go I take it with me and everyone wants to know what it is I am doing. I love confusing people. LOL. Some of these are actual patterns found around the web and some are just something I put together using a pattern of a single motif I had found on the internet. I will post links to the ones I know where they came from and the others I will note that they are from the internet but the creator of the pattern is unknown so again if you know whose pattern it is please let me know so I can give credit to them.

The one above is a pattern I got from a closed group called intatters. I do not remember who designed this. I loved the design way back when I was learning this and printed it out thinking when I get good enough I will make this. This is 2 motifs put together and this is a work in progress. Once it is done it will go on my dining room table. So as you can see it is a long way from done. This is also being done in Lizbeth size 20 thread. If interested in any of this thread got to http://www.hhtatting.com/. They have many sizes of thread and many colors and they stand by everything they sell. Good source for supplies. I use this thread for most of my tatting. It works up very nicely.

The above doily I made for my mom to sit under a pot of african violets. I got this pattern from http://be-stitched.com/tattingpatterns.php. She has many beautiful patterns on her site. This one I would say would be for a more advanced tatter to do. It uses many techniques that a beginner wouldn't understand. However if your a beginner you will get there.

This one is called Blue Doily and yes it is another pattern I had found a long time ago and here it the link for it. http://www.oocities.org/leen_tats/BlueDoily.html. I loved the way it turned out.

The one above is Renulek's Spring Napkin. This one took me 3 months to complete. It is made using size 10 thread and it measures 36 inches across. It hasn't been blocked yet so one it is it is going to get a bit bigger. Anyway here is the link to her site. Make sure you use a translator on it because it is in another language. She does have some wonderful patterns on her site. http://renulek.blogspot.com/

This one is a very small motif pattern I had found some time ago and I loved the way the pattern worked. This was an easy one. I could do it and not think about what I was doing. Anyway I connected these small motifs into a design as I went and this is what I came up with and it fits that cabinet perfectly. I don't know where the motif pattern came from. I do know it was on the internet again if you know the creator of this magnificent motif let me know so I can give credit.

Ok so this last one is mine. I was learning how to tat and decided to come up with something that showed what I learned as I learned it and this is the results. I am very proud of this piece as it is firstly my own design and secondly the first big thing I made. It measures 18 inches across. It is all done using Aunt Lydia's crochet cotton size 10. Being a newbie at tatting I didn't want to waste my expensive threads I had been buying.


I hope you all enjoyed this adventure. I will put up new post as I make new things. I do hope that I have inspired you to go out and try something new and different. In case your wondering about this tatting. I will describe it. Way back in the day people made lace by hand. They used various techniques like bobbin lace, crochet, knitting and many other techniques to make the lace. Tatting is known to day back as far as King Henry's time frame and some say even further back than that. It is done using either shuttles or needles. So if you interested in learning join the classes. They are free and you will meet other tatters from around the world. Here is the link to that again for you. http://www.georgiaseitz.com/newtat/index.htm. If you can't make time to go to the classes check out my videos. I work with the teacher of the beginning class to put out these videos to help others learn that can't get the time frame of the classes to work with a busy schedule. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBNsSGrUButFlOu68ixY4aA. Have a great day and as all us tatters say Happy Tatting to you until we tat again.

Well we have covered the wire work, polymer clay, bead stitching, loom work, tatted and several other ways to make jewelry. Now to move on to the crochet, tatting and other things I enjoy. to start with lets look at the crochet work. What your seeing is a very small amount of the crochet I have done. I make a lot of crochet items for family and friends and I also do plastic canvas work. Not as much as I used to but I use plastic canvas to make things I need for a specific purpose. You will see little snippets of plastic canvas items in some of the photo's I am showing. Like the kleenex box sitting on my craft table. Looks like a little house. Anyway so here is some of my work with regular crochet and tunisian crochet.

The top picture is a bedspread I made. I seen one like this on Pinterest and thought how colorful it was. So I bought up all the different variegated yarn I could find and started to work. No pattern just a basic granny square. The bottom one is my own pattern that I made up as I went using the tunisian crochet techniques. My baby girl has taken this one over. She won't let me use it when it gets a chill in the air.

Here is some of my plastic canvas work. No pattern my own design. I needed some doilies that wash easily without having to be ironed and all that jazz so I cut out the designs in plastic canvas and went to work on making these doilies. Wash them in the sink hang them over the shower rod and by the time the house is cleaned they are dry.

The kleenex box is another of my fun deals. It is a wooden kleenex bok and I got the ceramic faces at the craft store. Painted them up bead stitched around them and attached them to the box. Gave it a little more than a box sitting there. My DH took this picture and it looks washed out a bit. He had to use the flash on the camera even though the light was on and it was during the day. LOL. The doily color is a burgundy with a cream. I made one for each end table and one for the cocktail table. That one is about 3 foot long. It didn't take as long as I thought it would to make these. It took longer getting the pieces cut out and everything lined up to work like I wanted. LOL

Now on to some more adventurous crafting I have done in the jewelry making.As you can see I have worked with various mediums and techniques. I made bead and focal beads with polymer clay and added wire elements. There is even a pair of fishing lures I have manipulated into earrings. If it can be used to make jewelry with I tend to try it. I have hand stitched and loom stitched various pieces as well. I hope you enjoy my creations as much as I enjoyed making them.

The following pieces come from patterns from other artist. This first set is a tatted set and the pattern is Marilee Rockleys. She is a wonderful tatter and she has a class on Craftsy to teach this technique. This is the set you will learn to make if you take her courses.

This set here was a pattern I had found on the internet somewhere. I have no clue where it came from so if someone out there knows who the creator of this pattern is please let me know so I may give them the credit for the pattern. Anyway it is a snowflake pattern and I decided instead of making them to put on my tree at Christmas they would make a nice addition to my Christmas attire. :)

This pattern here is from Corina Meyfeldt. You can purchase a copy of this pattern at her Etsy Store located at, https://www.etsy.com/shop/CorinaMeyfeldt. She has many beautiful patterns on her site. Check her out you will be amazed by her work.

This set here is a combination of Marilee Rockleys earrings from her Craftsy class and a bracelet pattern I fell in love with on http://free-tatting.com/?cat=14. Check them out too. A huge selection of patterns to choose from.

Last but not least my steampunk/tatting work in progress. The big piece will be a necklace one day when I decide what I want to do and how I want to do it. 

So these are some of the wire worked jewelry pieces I have made in the past. I still work with wire sometimes but most of my work now is trying to combine various craft techniques together and see what comes out. If the picture is from a pattern that was not mine I will post a link to the place where you can obtain a copy of the pattern. Otherwise the pattern was my own. It may look like someone else's but trust me I do not step on copywrite.

The above ring I call Blue Swirl. It is a cocktail ring I made for my Mom. It is made out of 26 gauge sterling silver wire and 20 gauge sterling silver wire. The stone is a swarovski crystal and sterling silver base. Now that she has arthritis so bad she cannot wear it anymore and she gave it back to me for safe keeping.

http://www.jewelrylessons.com/

The above ring was made from a pattern at the provided link. You will have to signup with them but it well worth it. A ton of tutorials on this site from the easiest to most advanced. You can learn so many techniques thru here that it can be mind boggling. LOL.

This one is made out of 18 gauge sterling silver wire. I made this one about 15 years ago. I used to wear it all the time. Now it is one of those pieces I wear on occasion. The nice thing about it you can shape it in size when you gain weight or loose weight. I have almost wore it out with my up and down weight issues. LOL. 

http://www.jewelrylessons.com/

This is called a peacock ring. It looks like the tail feathers of the peacock. It also came from jewelry lessons. There are some seriously talented artist there. It is made using both 20 and 28 gauge sterling silver wire.

This is another of my creations. I call it Firelight. It is made using 18 gauge and 26 gauge sterling silver wire. Most of the wire I use is either half hard or full hard wire so that the rings hold their shape under the stress of everyday life. 

This one is my first attempt at some steampunk jewelry. I think it turned out pretty neat. However that is my opinion. It is a ring and the watch parts and crystals are mounted onto a ring blank. I think it needs a few wire coils yet and she will be finished.

This one is called Celestial Nights. It is made using a glass blown cabachon and 20 gauge full hard wire. 

This is my baby girl. In my videos she tends to want some attention so I do talk to her, sometimes. If I don't she tends to want in my lap. While working on whatever she has to inspect for flaws after it passes her inspection and she approves she then wants down to go do whatever else has struck her as interesting. LOL. Her name is Asia. It came from when she was a little baby she had a marking on her that looked like the shape of Asia and her background comes from various parts of Asia. She is a Mal-shi.You ask what that is. Her Momma was a Shi-tzu and her Daddy was a Maltese. Her hair is like human hair and very soft and she doesn't shed. She is one of those loveable pet breeds that works great for allergy sufferers like myself. She doesn't have the dander that other dogs have. She is very loving and caring and a big time lap dog. Like I said always wants in Mommy's lap.

So this is the place where all my imagination and creativity takes place. I call it my little piece of heaven right here on earth. Yes there is a video camera in the room so that I can do up all the videos I have on my You Tube Channel. I make videos for the beginners tatting classes sponsored by Georgia Sietz and taught by Cynthia Stevenson. If your interested in learning the art of tatting come visit us in class. Here is the link for that. http://www.georgiaseitz.com/newtat/index.htm. If you want to use the videos I have then here is the link for those as well. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBNsSGrUButFlOu68ixY4aA. I hope you enjoy this blog as it will branch off into the many crafts I still do or have done in the past. If you have comments or questions feel free to post. I will reply as soon as I can.