I've been busy making these little guys over the last few days.  They are a super simple design all dressed up with applique!  I'm even putting my newly designed lining fabrics to the test too.  These two are available now in my leatherythings shop, and more will be listed in the next couple of days.  Thanks for looking!

Nicael

New Stuff!

    I've been working on some stuff and slowly but surely filling up my shop again.  I am also making a ton of catnip pillows for The Companion Animal Foundation, one of our local animal rescues.  The money made from the catnip pillows goes right  back to the Foundation so they can help care for homeless animals in our area.  I hope to get back to helping to clean and care for the animals again soon.  Maybe when kitten hits again.  It feels good to help. 

     Right now, my focus is on some smaller card wallets that should be finished up and listed later in the week.  I can't say enough how thankful I am for my little shop and all the wonderful people who look at and buy my work, it has been a life saver for me!  I really feel this today because our financial situation sucks right now, and will probably keep sucking for a while to come.  With one of us out of work, and myself stretched beyond reason with a couple of part time jobs, and lots of sewing, on top of caring for my kids, it has been ridiculously hard.  But thanks to all the people who have bought my work, we are scooting by! Right now,  I can feed and house my family, and that feels wonderful!  So thanks to all of you out there who take the time to look, and to those who buy handmade, you do a lot for us little artsy peoples, and you are so very AWESOME!

With love,

Nicael

I'm Still Here!

      I am still here and making leathery things and metal things.  I recently started working at my kids' school as an aide in the mornings so my sewing and creating time has been cut in half.  I love my job though, I work with 3rd Graders and they ROCK!!!  Making ends meet around here has been particularly tricky over the past few years and I'm trying to do my part to make things a little bit easier for all of us.  I'm not giving up my creative side though, and don't plan to any time soon.  I'll be back with more goodies soon:)

Shiny New Things

Carved Labradorite, copper and brass

Rainbow obsidian, sterling silver, copper, and brass

I needed a break from sewing so I sat down and made these two metal thingys.  Both were experiments but I like them enough that I think I may make more. 

Back to Makin' Leathery Things

I'm back to sewing and creating and all the happy that goes with it!  Lots of changes since we moved but maybe that is for the better down the line.  Now that I am finally settled in, I can get shit done!   Enjoy!

All Sorts of Things!

My newest piece in copper, brass, and glass

So, the last I wrote, I think I was in the midst of our move to a new apartment.  We are now mostly moved in to a smaller and more expensive, yet, cleaner, drier, and less cruddy new place!  I have just started working again!  I am bouncing between metal and leather right now, trying to get some ideas that have been crawling around in my brain out and put down on paper, metal, leather, etc.   I hope you like the new stuff that I am putting together, I am excited to share it.  Any of the metal pieces I make now will be going in to my Princess Lizard shop on Etsy until I get all my crap together and move the leather pieces too.  So for now, one shop for leathery things, and one shop for metal thingys.  Enjoy!  and a very belated "Happy New Year"  to all of you. 

Yeah I've been busy......

I have a LOT more of these to come over the next couple of days.  LOOKOUT!!!!

New Friends

        We keep finding these little guys all around our apartment.  This one just wants to hang out on our screen door and taunt the cat.  Linus however, can't be bothered from his seat up on the top of the couch in the sun.  Just like a cat!

Dragon Eye Necklaces!

                                   Now Available in my new shop!  and more to come soon:) 

http://www.amazon.com/handmade/Princess-Lizard

More Eyeballs......

The rest of the current bunch of eyeballs for your enjoyment.   Once they are connected to their fine copper chain, they'll be up for grabs in my new shop on Amazon Handmade!  Thanks for looking:)

EYEBALLS!

My newest adventure!  I can't wait to get them finished up!  Fun times indeed:)

All Done

I have three of these done now and all ready to find new homes.  So far, I am really enjoying the whole process of making these.  I always loved working with copper and brass.  This style is leading to all sorts of other ideas, so LOOK OUT!!!!  There will be more to come, and soon:)

More Pendants

Freshly cut pendants with dichroic glass cabochons

Dipped in wax to add a protective coating to the copper

All Done!  Only waiting on the copper chain to come so I can make them into necklaces

So, I made a few more pendants to put up for sale in my new Amazon Handmade Marketplace shop, which should be open sometime this week.  My Amazon shop will be mostly jewelry and accessories for the meanwhile.  I am working on lots of different ideas at the moment but these I think are my favorite pieces that have come out of the lab so far.  More to come..........

Trying Some New Stuff

Sometimes playing around can turn out awesome! 

             Dichroic glass cabochon set in copper.  The bubbly, colorful look on the face of the copper,    is the patina solution I applied to the copper doing it's work.  The finished piece will be coming up soon:)


Thanks for looking!

N.

And Back They Go......

Back to school for these two!  Now spreading their silliness throughout the halls of their school for the next meanwhile.  I now have a third grader and a kindergartner.  Crazy times!  I hope they have a blast this year,  and it looks like they're off to a good start:)

My New Look

Happy Birthday to me!  New year, new look.  I think I'll keep it!:)

Sick Days

I have one small child with a belly ache, so I am taking the opportunity to clean, and get some stuff made!  So far, I have these two beauties all set and ready to find their new homes, hopefully soon:), I have dyed one HUGE pale green handbag a darker shade of emerald green, and I am slowly doing my spring cleaning now, it feels good to be a little more organized and less chaotic right now.  My very distractable mind is having a really hard time with the free time that we have now.  So, cross your fingers for me that I can keep moving at this pace:)

The Last Day of School!

Ed's Kindergarten Play

 Checking out Ed's Memory Book

 

Bye-Bye 2014-2015 School Year:)

We've wrapped it up for the year and now we get a nice long break.  Well, the kids do, not so much for me.  Now I get to try to figure out how to work around Summer activities and keep my productivity up.  Challenging stuff, but I am up for it:)

Working on the Inside.....

The pennies are placed where the stamps will go

The stamps are done!

My first carved stamp!

All done?

Sometime last year I started contemplating having my lining fabrics printed with my own designs.  Then, I started remembering how much fun I had in high school with printing and painting on fabric.  So, I dragged out some plain white cotton from the stash that I collected from my mom a while back and started playing.  My first attempts were pretty gross.  Not much was happening except for mud.  I tried washes and dry brush and spray bottle painting and I was not impressed with any of it.  So I gave up and just kept collecting random pieces of cotton for my collection.  Then, I thought I would give fabric stamping a try.   So off I went to our local art store and got myself some fabric dye and blank stamps for the carvin'  and I finally got results I like!  This one is green with black hearts, and multicolored dots.  I think it's a mighty fine start, and a nice break from sitting at the sewing table too!