Some thank you's and more bird nest rings!!

First of all I want to say thank you to everyone who has commented on my bird nest ring.  I'm so pleased that you guys like it much as I do.  I've made some more rings since then with different wire and I am loving the results.  But more on that later.  Back to the thank you's...

Thank you Cheri over at It's So Very Cheri for picking the ring as her pick of the week.  I could not be more appreciative!  When I saw it this morning my jaw dropped.

This evening I got a message from  Barb at Santa's Gift Shoppe and Ideas that she had featured my ring today also!  Thanks so much Barb!!

So a pretty great day in the blogging world for Jane of All Crafts!

I would also like to say thank you to Gingerbread Girl and This Little Life of Mine for mentioning my ring on their blogs as well!  Check these gals and their great blogs out!


Like I mentioned above I made some more rings using different gauges of wire.

Here's one using 20g wire and only 3 beads...

 Here's one with same wire but 4 beads...

This one is 24g silver plated copper wire with 3 beads that are all the same size and color...

Natalie wanted to get in on the modeling :-)

And here is a bird nest pendant...I pretty much made it up as I went so it needs some tweaking but I still love it anyway!

So what do you guys think?  I'd love to hear your opinions.  

Do you like the messy look? Or would you prefer if they were a little more polished?  

My personal favorites are the silver plated copper ring and the 20g with 3 beads. 

What's yours?

Thanks are in order

Last week the creative girls behind Creative Mamas were so sweet and gave me a stylish blog award!!  Thank you so much!!!!

Anytime that  I receive any type of recognition for this blog I am in complete awe.  This whole blogging experience has been nothing short of awesome!

This award has some rules:

•  Thank and link back to the person (or people) who gave you this award.
•  Share seven things about yourself.
•  Award 15 recently discovered great bloggers.
•  Contact these bloggers and tell them about the award!

More then you ever wanted to know about me:

1. My middle name is Denee, sounds like Renee with a "D".  I have rarely heard anyone else with this name.  I think that is one of the reasons I like it.

2. I wear contacts and have since I was 15 years old.  I started wearing glasses when I was 8 or 9 just to read the chalkboard in school.  Eventually I had to wear them all the time.  The 90s was not a great decade for stylish glasses.  I'm scarred for life ;-)

We have the same name, but not me.

3. From age 7 to around 12 I was deathly afraid of water especially the deep end in a swimming pool.  Like panic attacks and hysterics.  Not sure why I became so fearful.  In England swimming was a normal part of P.E. and my teacher made me dive in the deep end for one of those diving toys and from then on I became less and less afraid.  Still not a huge fan of deep, deep water.  The vastness of the ocean freaks me out.

4. I have never gotten a speeding ticket.  Not that I haven't deserved one ;-) I have gotten a warning for an illegal u-turn and a parking ticket for parking the wrong way on a one way street.  But that's it in the last 18 years since I started driving.

5. It took me awhile to grow into my ears.  I was picked on as a kid and hated wearing my hair up for the longest time, like not until after college.

Yep, that's me.

6. One of my dreams is to write and illustrate a children's book.

7. I am a very empathetic person.  Even when it comes to fictional people. Haha! When I was 7 my family went to see American Tail.  The moment Fievel was separated from his family I was a mess.  I cried hysterically.  All I could think about was how it must feel to be lost and not find your family and how scary that must be.  Crazy, I know.

Now I'm suposed to pass this along to 15 newly discovered blogs.  Well I feel bad about this but I haven't done much discovering lately.  So 15 is a lofty number.  Instead I am going to pass it on to 5 if that's ok with you guys.  Check these guys out!!

Homemade Ginger
My House of L
Pink Calaveras
The Stucco Bungalow
A Home made by Kiki

This ring is for the birds!

Earlier this week the girls and I went and hung out with Cassie and her daughter.  We had a yummy lunch (thanks again Cassie!) and while the girls played we did some crafting and a lot of gabbing ;-)  I had a bag full supplies to make all kinds of things but only managed to make one thing.  BUT I have to say I'm pretty impressed with my one thing.

As I have said before I have a never ending list of crafts I want to attempt.  Well at least a year ago I saw a bird nest ring somewhere in blog land.  I wanted to make one for my mom.  My maiden name is Robirds and my parents always talked about having a business and naming it 'the bird's nest'.  They actually do have a business license but it's called Paddlefowl Peddlers, get it row birds? But anyway...
I had bought all the supplies but never actually attempted to make one.  So at Cassie's I decided I was finally just gonna sit down, without a tutorial and see if I could reproduce the picture of the ring I saw in my mind.

 Please try to ignore my extremely dry old lady-looking hands...I just love the cold weather!

While writing this post I searched for the rings I had seen that inspired me to make my own. And this is what I found...

source

Aren't they amazing?  I used 24 gauge wire for mine but I think I will try a higher gauge next time.  I think these are way better then mine, but for making mine without a tutorial and only a picture in my mind, I'm thinking I did a pretty good job!  What do you guys think?  Don't worry I can take it!

It's so Very Cheri

Faux pearl Valentine decor

Last week I shared a tutorial over at Gwenny Penny on how to make this glass bead mosaic on the cheap...

I had so much fun making it that I decided to see what else I could come up with using the same idea. This is the result...

So like before I glued the beads onto the glass with tacky glue. I decided on just doing the outline of a heart instead of filling it in.  No scrapbook paper this time instead I just the beads with pearlized white craft paint.  It reminded me of pearls.  Love it!

Then I painted another dollar store frame with surprise surprise, aqua!  I wanted this one to be displayed on a table or bookshelf so I decided to back it with some fabric.  Love this fabric!  If I get my behind in gear I actually have a really cute sewing project that I plan on using this fabric for also.

So there you have it, same concept but I think a completely different look!  Again...endless creative possibilities!!

Come visit me!

Today I'm over at Gwenny Penny showing how to make this inexpensive Valentine decoration...

Head on over to find out how you can make one!  And make sure you stay awhile and check out some of her projects.  She made the cutest stuffed toys, Niblet and Biscuit.  All of her ideas are awesome.  And if you haven't seen her sewing closet, you should definitely check it out!

Procrastination printable

So it's no secret to you guys that I am a procrastinator.  And darn good at it.  Thank. you. very. much. Me being the optimist and total comedian, I made up a fun printable for my "lady cave" and thought I would share it with you guys.  And of course it's in aqua :-) 

©jane of all crafts 2011

Right click picture and click on 'save as' to save it on your computer.  Print and enjoy. 
Any problems, please let me know.

Valentine Decor

For whatever reason I just couldn't get into Valentine's decorating until a few days ago.  I tried to motivate myself with my mini valentine topiaries but it didn't really work.  I guess it was because I was in organizing mode?  Well either way the decorating mojo is BACK and I'm pretty happy with the results.  

Other then at Christmas I'm not big on decorating with lots of red.  I don't mind pink but usually only as accents unless it's a little girls room.  Those of you who have been following me for awhile may already know my deep love for all things aqua.  I'm a tad obsessed.  So I said to myself, "Self, just because the traditional colors of Valentine's Day are red and pink does not mean that your Valentine's day decor has to be traditional!"  I have no idea why I had never thought of this before but I figured I should decorate with the colors I like and hence the return of the decorating mojo. 

My first idea actually came from Family Fun magazine. I love this magazine.  The seasonal crafts are so awesome.  This is what I saw:

source

I love the idea of recycling toilet paper rolls!  And who doesn't have those?  But instead of painting them red I decided to paint them aqua...of course!

Here they are after they have been painted and cut up...

For the beads I used this little package that I picked up at the dollar section at Jo-Ann's.

Have I mentioned my love for crafts that are cheap and easy? ;-)

Then I took some braided pink embroidery floss and got to work.  

I just randomly added beads.  Now the one I made uses only four hearts because I wanted it to hang on a door or in a window but you can make this as long as you want...just as long as you have enough toilet paper rolls!  So could make a potty joke here...but I won't ;-)

Continuing with the aqua theme I wanted to make a center piece for my kitchen table.  Here's what I came up with...

I just used a vase and candle holder from the dollar store, filles the vase with conversation hearts (again from the dollar store) and added some branches from a tree out front and made aqua and pink pom pom ornaments to hang on it.  I have a pattern for crocheted hearts that I was planning on using to make a few more ornaments but I kinda like it like this.

I may be obsessed with the color aqua and pom poms now!!  They are so fun to make.

Next I decided my little shelf in the kitchen needed some love too...hardy har.  So I had this little frame from, you guessed it, the dollar store and painted it aqua.  Then I used some scrapbook paper from the target dollar spot of two birds in a cage as a picture for the frame.  Then I added some foam glittery hearts from the dollar spot and this is the result...

Okay and lastly I had this white frame, added some scrapbook paper and an aqua fuzzy sticker and voila...

Too much aqua and pink?  Maybe...for someone who hates aqua...sounds like a crime against humanity if you ask me ;-) Although for me, I big fat LOVE it!!!!!