seventyeight: xmas presents

below are some new pieces i made recently. i think most of them will be given away for christmas, so beware you may be looking at your christmas present. the pictures are not great. since i have moved i have not been able to figure out the best way of taking photos. i have also been lazy and not wanted to put the time/effort into taking good photos.
i went to a show put on by students at the corcoran college of art and design. i noticed that each of them had websites and business cards. i don't know if this is something that the school encouraged, but i think it is a good idea. as i have mentioned before, i would really like to have a site in which to display all of my work in one place, rather than just a blog. i think i should work on doing this. i was also encouraged after seeing people's works. there were some pieces that i could not make, but there were quite a few that looked like something i could do (and i think i do a better job). that made me feel great. at some point, i might consider doing the jewelry certification program that they have there.
i signed up for a silver smithing class at the torpedo factory in alexandria. it is going to start in february, i am getting pretty excited about it.

seventyseven: worst blogger. ever.

i think this has been the longest amount of time i have gone without posting since i started this blog over a year ago. as i have vowed in almost all of my recent posting, i will start to update more often! i promise! i have been quite busy though, i moved since my last posting and i have only now been able to take photos of my recent creations. i don't really like these pictures, but i thought i would show what i have been up to recently.
the necklace is below is my favorite of the necklaces i have made. my boss bought some beads for me from new york, i used a lot of them here:
i had two necklaces that i never wore very much, they were long single-strands. i did not take pictures of them before i made the necklace below. i get a ton of compliments on this one when i wear it. i like it a lot. the green, pink, grey, and black make it a really versatile piece.
this is not finished. i can't decide how i feel about it. i go back and forth on whether or not i should finish it.

seventy four: cork + hot glue = happiness

i keep corks left over from my parents' wild wine nights, i have now saved up several hundred wine corks (over the past couple of years). i am always trying to figure out how i can use the corks as well as the other stuff i have in my crafts room. last week, i decided to cover the inside of a wine box with corks, to make a pseudo cork board for jewelry. it took me a while to cut all the corks and then to glue them, but i think the final product looks pretty good. i didn't like any of the push pins i had available, so i decided to make my own. i grabbed some mismatched beads and some old sewing needles and voila! i can't wait to start using this to keep all my earrings.
i made push pins using needles and leftover beads. i think they look really good. especially in the cork box.

seventy: i have too many beads

i have not posted in a while, essentially because i have been busy watching 90210 reruns (that is what i am doing right now). i was never allowed to watch it when i was younger, so now i watch it whenever i get the chance. it is a not-so-guilty pleasure of mine.
earlier today i cleaned up my craft room and assessed my collection of beads. i love my beads and i love getting new ones, but i am beginning to think that i should stay away from purchasing any new beads in the near future. it took me quite a while to get everything properly organized (by color and/or size), but now that they are arranged i like to look at my great organizational accomplishment.