Wednesday, December 26, 2012

New Things and a Little Bit of Christmas Cheer

New in Bronze, green, blue, and brown, one of my favorites that I made this year

Red!  With black, purple, and green.

Pink suede with purple, orange, olive, and turquoise

Two cute kids on Christmas morning just wanting the picture taking to be over with so they can see what Santa brought for them.

Monday, December 24, 2012

Have a Very Merry Christmas

So, I was going to make a nice long blog post about what has been going on around here for the last few weeks, but in the midst of celebrating the season last night, I cut my index finger rather badly and can't type very well now.  So, I will wish you a SUPER HAPPY HOLIDAY AND VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!  (yes, I am screaming it out because I want you to enjoy yourself that much:)  I will catch up with you all after the holidays and after this finger heals a bit.  Cheers!

Much love from me to you:)

N.

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Free Shipping and All That Jazz!

Two newer pieces made by me:)  and available now in my Etsy shop.  I'm also shipping all my leathery goods for FREE through the holidays.  So, enjoy and the Happiest of Happy Holidays to you!

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Attack of the Wallets



I am making lots o' things to prepare for a couple of events that I am doing this holiday season.  I started with a stack of billfolds and came up with these (and more to come soon) and now I am on to coin pouches and larger wallets.  I love being able to work again.  I actually make myself work at night now, I can't see worth a darn but I am actually getting stuff done and it feels good.  It's also nice that my goal for the year has been to simply work enough to fill up my Etsy shop so I can concentrate on some metal work and other wild accessories in the new year.  I hope to heck that happens!

Well, back to work I go...............

Friday, November 23, 2012

New Stuff!

I finished up a few things over the last couple of days, including this large pouch wallet

this coin pouch

and this one too!



I've been working a lot lately and trying to figure out these darn kiss lock frames.  I think I have finally got it though!  

I hope everyone had a wonderful day yesterday and hope your weekend is even better:)

I'm going to go sew up a pile of billfolds so I can sew up some more of these little kiss lock thingies.


Enjoy your day!


Monday, November 5, 2012

Some Newness for Monday

My newest little coin purse in orange suede with a kiss lock on top!

New Billfold!

I got a little bit of sewing in this weekend and finished up these two little pieces with are now available in my Etsy shop.  We had a nice quiet weekend after all of our various celebrations for the last couple of weeks and now it's dawning on me that I need to sew EVERY DAY!  so I can get my darn shop stocked up.  I look forward to the challenge and hope to have a fully stocked shop very, very soon.(provided that I can keep from dropping my sewing needles in my sewing machine, which I did last night and it took WAY too much time to get out)  Here's to a productive and happy week!

Thursday, November 1, 2012

It Was a Good Day!

My Trick or Treaters, the witch and Spongebob taking a break from candy time.
It rained all morning but let up in time for the big event "Trick or Treat on the Plaza"

We got home just in time to put out our jack o' lanterns and watch them glow
 We had a wonderful Halloween and we hope you did too:)
Edolie's jack o' lantern

Ciaran's jack o' lantern

           






Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Hey! This Kid Had A Birthday!

 Ms. Edolie turned 3 this month.  She wanted purple fairy wings to wear on her special day.

 She also wanted a "bumble bee" cake and so we made one for her.

She also wanted a "pretty dress" made especially by her mom.  So I made one for her.  She got a pink fuzzy  handbag to wear with it.  

We had a pretty nice day at the park and the coffee house, then home for cake and ice cream.  Happy Birthday little Edolie!  We love you!

Monday, October 15, 2012

My New Friend

I had to fight with this guy to get to the last of the ripe blackberries.  I love the markings!  What a lovely creature!  We have tons of these spiders and woolly bears this time of the year.  I think that is why I love autumn here so much.


I have been trying to get sewing done in between costume making and birthday dress making.  It is hard!  I need a time manager or just a manager to kick my butt and get me focused!  I decided to cut down on the amount of designs I am making for the holidays this year so that has been easier but just finding the time to do anything with my leather has been pretty hard this last year.  It's getting better but I just can't seem to push from better to best.  Makes me frustrated!  I did make a pretty cool witch costume for Ed and Ciaran's Sponge bob costume seems to be coming along so that is all good!  Just need a few extra hours every day to work on my stuff........not gonna happen though unfortunately:(  I just keep chanting "some day, some day, some day"..............................

Friday, September 28, 2012

Newness

 A new pendant in copper and brass.  This one is for a friend but I will be adding some similar pieces to my shop soon!  Oh metal I've missed you sooooo!!!!!!


New billfold!


Last but not least, this is actually one of my favorites, it's so soft and purty!...Oh!  I mean handsome:)

Thursday, September 20, 2012

A New Design



This one and many more like it will be happy hangin' out in my Etsy shop and hopefully going off to new homes over the next few weeks.  I made one for myself and I really like it!  It's pretty much everything that I wanted in a wallet for myself.  So, I am offering them up after taking mine for a nice long test drive:)  Enjoy! and thanks for looking!

Monday, September 10, 2012

Turning Negatives into Positives

 First of my newly finished pouch thingys all set and ready to go to a new home
The second pouch thingy hangin' out and ready to be someone's new best friend.

So, I woke up today to some criticism of my work.  Not in a good way either.  This someone was not pleased with the quality of my work.  It kind of sucked to read what was said, but what exactly can you do.  Not everyone is going to happy with what you do 100% of the time.  Part of me wanted to write this person back with all sorts of explanations of my work and pleas for understanding my process, and, another part wanted me to meet her face to face and say something like " It's handmade lady!  If you don't like how I do my work, make it yourself!"   BUT, and it's a big but, I wrote back to apologize and offer a refund,  again, not everyone is going to like what you do and get the whole handmade thing.  It's just the way it is.  I do the best with what I have.  I make things that will last for a long, long while, in my design and style.  I think most people that create things do.  I thought what I had made turned out pretty awesome, but someone else did not.  I guess I just have to shrug it out and move on to the next adventure. 

In other news,  I am on to making pouch wallets this week.  Just like the one I made for myself.  I really like it and I am hoping it will make a little more sense with the new design I came up with.  We shall see though.  The first one is turning out pretty nice in all of it's dusty plum-ness, turquoise-ness, and such.  I can't wait to share it!

 *  I am crossing my fingers for being finished by the end of the week:)*

Friday, September 7, 2012

Playing with Copper and Other Nonsense

 So, this last weekend after trying to come up with a good idea for a custom item for a good friend, I opened up my box of copper and brass scraps and started playing around and came up with the piece above.  I like how it turned out and I'm thinking that I want to utilize this type of work in some of my collars and cuffs as well as make a few pendants and such for my shop.  I forgot how much fun it is to play with copper and brass, I miss it so much!


While I was playing in my studio, lucky Abner got to go for a ride in the Tonka dump truck with Ciaran and Edolie.  I'm not sure if he had fun or not.  I thought it was great that Ciaran put a small piece of wood over the opening in the back of the truck so Abner didn't have an accident and fall out.  It's nice to see the kiddos getting over their fear of the tortoises and wanting to spend time with them.  I'm not sure how anyone could be afraid of, or creeped out by a tortoise, they are to damn cute!

So that's it for now, I have to go organize the lab so I can make it messy all over again!

Monday, August 27, 2012

First Day of School

 Ciaran ready to go in his new school outfit that he picked out himself.


 On the way to school
 Stopping to watch the traffic


 Ed at the top of the hill
 Mr. Kindergartner, all ready to get to learning!


Edolie playing in the grass on the way home.


A very easy transition with no tears!  He has been ready for such a long time.  I'm not sure if I'm ready though.  I sure hope he loves his new school. 

Saturday, August 18, 2012

I'm Still Here




I have been preoccupied with the pretty little being in the pictures above.  Her name is Nutella, and she's LOVELY!  She just came to us on Thursday so she is making herself comfortable in her quarantine enclosure(which I made myself!)  and getting used to the noise and craziness that comes with living with us.

Life has been a little nuts this summer with my two children who seem to have more energy than they know what to do with.  There is lots of wrestling, screaming, getting into things, and laughter.  I am also trying to keep my dad company, since he is completely alone now and is really feeling the absence of my mom.  So, my work in the laboratory has been in little teeny spurts here and there.  I am hoping that once my oldest starts school in a week, I will have a little extra time just to create.

I have been creating some new designs and playing a little bit with copper and brass too so that's been really nice.  I hope to keep it going and show you all something other than cute geckos in the near future!

Sunday, July 29, 2012

Oh Darn it!

I meant to get a lot of sewing done this week but fell into a little bit of a hazy allergy and family issue filled week and weekend.  All is well, but I have once again automatically put myself in "catch up" mode.  I just really enjoy when I can sit down and work and just get stuff done!  It is so good for my mind right now.  I am crossing my fingers for a productive week this week, think good thoughts for me!

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Step by Step

 The Beginning of Billfold Making- Sketching out the design on the leather.

 This big pile of leather is the billfold faces all cut up and ready to be glued.


 The billfold faces after they've been glued and interfaced.


The finished product.  All ready to go!

Thursday, June 21, 2012

How it All Begins



This is what a stack of billfolds looks like before I start cutting and gluing.  Each appliqued area is hand drawn out and then cut out by ME!  Then it's all about finding pieces of leather and suede to glue on to compliment the design.  Then interfacing the whole lot of them,  then sewing the appliques, and then putting the whole thing together.  Seems like a lot of work but it goes relatively quickly.  This is how I will be spending my day while I wait for phone calls and such.

Monday, June 18, 2012

New!

 My Newest Creation, a mix of my itty bitty messenger bag and My large envelope wallet.  This is the first of the batch and I get to call it mine:)  Only so I can see if it's something that will work well for what I designed it for.
 A close-up of the applique design this time purple, orange and olive green suede!
 The contrasting front flap interior in purple suede(goes so nicely with this particular shade of teal
 The exterior of the bag
The interior featuring three card pockets, one zipper pocket and two large slide pockets all fully lined in a paisley cotton print.

And there it is:)  I feel so accomplished!  It's just one of many things on the table this week.  Including a stack of billfolds all ready for cutting, gluing, and sewing,  a wristlet that just needs a zipper and a button to feel complete, and, a cuff from the same teal suede that needs some stitching and a handmade button to make it happy(and wearable)  Here's hopin' that this week some work gets done.