Flights Of Fancy Necklace

Hello my friends!  Today I have a new vintage-inspired necklace and a story to share with you.  Quite a few yeas ago I was at the Philadelphia Beadfest and spent a little time chatting with Suzanne of A Grain Of Sand.  Not only did she have gorgeous vintage beads and clasps, but AGOS is the same town as family, so there was a bit of a 'connection'.  Since then I've kept up with the Facebook page and drooled over new stock posts about the famous Vintage Bead Hoard.

Last year Suzanne and team created a new Facebook group dedicated to jewelry designers who are inspired by the Miriam Haskell design house (1930s-present).  During the past year, I've been inspired by so many incredible pieces posted by designers from all over.  In January I decided to enter the AGOS 2nd Miriam Haskell Design Challenge - how exciting!

The entrants bought a challenge-specific assortment of vintage beads from AGOS and had a few weeks to design.  The top 3 winners received gift certificates to buy more great vintage stuff.  What could be better than that?

I entered... and I won grand prize!  Can you believe it?  I was surprised.  No really.  When you go to the FB page and see all the other entries, you'll be in awe, too.

This necklace was made with a cage work technique, meaning all components (except cabochons) are wired to the filigree base using a fine gauge wire.  This is a fiddly technique but oh-so-satisfying to make.  I feel like I'm carrying on an almost-lost tradition when I make this type of jewelry.

See the wee hummingbird on the flower?  That's Fancy, and this necklace is part of my Flights Of Fancy line.

Thanks for your visit today.

Cheers,
Susan

Travel Board Book/Album

Hi folks!  It's Susan, here to share the beginning of an ongoing project.  I used to make albums often, but got away from it for a while.  At some point I decided to use mini albums blanks as board books that tell a story - like the kid's books from years gone by.  (I have a very detailed Halloween one in the works!)

Today I want to share the beginnings of a travel mini album / board book, using the GSL Cuts staggered bracket edge mini album and elements from a couple different sets.

Here's the album.  See how pages 4 and 5 are set with brackets on top and bottom?  I accidentally put bot bracelets on the bottom (see above).  No worries, though - it still works!

The first thing I did was to choose the paper for each page.  I used IOD "Gallivant" since it has a vintage travel theme.  Number the pages 1, 2, 3, etc and note which side is the front to make sure you don't accidentally flip a page while gluing the paper (like me).

I outlined the album pages onto the paper design and cut by hand.

The papers were attached using Mod Podge, and I set a heavy object on them the keep them flat while drying.

Fine and extra-fine sandpaper cleaned up the edges.

Ink and a brown pen gave the edges a vintage look.

I was recently talking with another education team member about embossing powders.  I figured this would be a good project to use them again.  First I prepped the laser cuts I wanted to use.  This travel word is from the small Chevron Words travel set. Other words in the set are journey, adventure, and destination.  I'll end up using all of them in this book.

Since I only wanted the word, I snipped off the chevron parts.  Travel was eventually embossed with browns and landed on the album front.

Next I wanted to add a little color without painting.  I used blue Prismacolor pencil and layered a little brown on top.  This was a total experiment!

Embossing ink and clear powder added, and voilà, it worked!  I added more ink and powder to the cut-out Steampunk Frame balloon basket to fill in.

This banner strip got the same blue pencil/embossing powder treatment as the balloon.  Here I'm gluing it to the front page.  From here I continued embellishing the front and first two pages.  I'll continue the project in the next few weeks!

Here is a view of the embossed balloon, compass rose, and medium size tudor rose.

Thanks for your visit today!

Cheers,
Susan

GSL Cuts Used
Bracket Edge Mini Album #D100BE
Banner Border Strips D34D
Chevron Words Travel Small C71
Steampunk Frame D20C
Compass Rose D61B
Tudor Rose Singles D6Q

Other Supplies Used
Iron Orchid Designs "Galivant"
Brown ink
Brown marker
Embossing ink
Embossing powder  - clear, fine clear, brown blend
Prismacolor pencils - Copenhagen Blue, Sepia
Mod Podge
Vintage tatting
Cheese cloth