Butterfly - final design of a Girl and her SHOES series!

Welcome to the final post of  "a Girl and her SHOES" series. If you missed the original post, you may want to check it out here to see what inspired this series.

The butterfly is a much loved creature. We see it used in home decor, clothing, accessories, paper products and much more. It is admired for its beauty and grace but most of all, it is a symbol of transformation.

I thought it appropriate that my final shoe transformation
would be a tribute to the lovely butterfly.

The shoes. I loved the design on these shoes when I first spotted them at the thrift store but unfortunately they were not on the discounted ticket. So I waited until they were the

half off sticker for the day, and lucky for me, they were still there!

I cut out around the stitched area of one shoe, removed the bow and this is when I noticed that the design resembled a butterfly. I enjoy these types of happy little surprises! I lightly scuffed up the leather and rubbed it with some brown permanent ink (for stamping) to add character and age and then added the pearls for color and texture.

I didn't want to use the bow but the braided lacing was pretty cool, so I incorporated
it to act as a way to attach the handmade pearl links. I finished the piece off with
a copper chain and a handcrafted hook clasp.

I've had a lot of fun creating for "a Girl and her SHOES" series! I hope it has inspired you to be like the butterfly...willing to make a transformation and let your imagination take flight!


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Spider - part five of "a Girl and her SHOES" series

Welcome to part five of  "a Girl and her SHOES" series. If you missed the original post, you may want to check it out here to see what inspired this series.

The working title for this redo was Spider. My reasoning for the working title will become clear a little later in the post. I realize that Spider is not a very attractive name for a necklace but since it is so close to Halloween, I decided to stick with it!

The Shoes. A very unique pair of sandals that I just couldn't pass up.

The first thing I did was cut the leather straps away from the sole. I played around with the shape for awhile until I got the idea to create a copper wire frame that the straps could attach to. I cut the straps down to a reasonable size and this is what I ended up with.

 

Okay, my working title is making sense now!

I attached the straps around the frame and wired on some metallic stick pearls for that needed bit of bling. Finally, a couple of the tiny buckles (also from these sandals)

became interesting additions to the copper chain and handmade hook clasp.

 

Normally I wouldn't think of allowing a spider to crawl around - or even come close - to my neck, but I'll happily make the exception for this Spider!

Tomorrow will be the final shoe transformation in "a Girl and her SHOES" series. (At least until I find time to visit the thrift stores!) I hope you will return!

 

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Geometry - part two of a Girl and her SHOES series!!

Welcome to part two of  "a Girl and her SHOES" series. If you missed the original post, you may want to check it out here to see what inspired this series.

I'm calling these two designs Geometry because the leather shapes

of the shoes that I re-purposed them from reminded me of a trapezoid.

That's about all I remember from my geometry class all those many years ago!

The shoes. Very cute but not my size.

Turquoise Geometry

Turquoise  Geometry was inspired by a vintage earring that had belonged to my grandmother. I think it looks beautiful against the chocolate brown leather.

All that was needed to complete this designs was the addition of a few

rough cut turquoise nuggets, a copper chain and a handmade hook clasp.

 Golden Geometry

Golden Geometry was super fast and easy to make. I already had this beaded chain in my stash pile. It's okay but a little boring for my taste so I decided to dress it up with a leather pendant. I just attached the leather pendant to one of the oval links of the chain. It still needed a little more so I removed a few beaded links from the necklace and attached
them as dangles from the pendant. It doesn't get any easier than that!

I hope you'll return for part three of  "a Girl and her SHOES" series!

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a Girl and her SHOES!

What is it about a girl and her shoes? We want them! We need them!! We have to have them!!! But what do we do when we find that perfect pair at a garage sale or thrift store (only a dollar or two) and, darn! wrong size? Pass up a cute pair of shoes?...I think not!

My solution...make them into a necklace!

A little crazy? Maybe! And yet, I've created some designs that I would never have imagined otherwise and they are completely unique!

 This design called Autumn Leaves began with these sandals that I found at a thrift store.

I painted the suede leaves to up the luxury value

and embellished them with lustrous pearls.

 I finished the piece off with a copper chain and a handmade hook clasp.

Over the next couple of days I will be sharing more of my shoe-licious leather creations. I hope you will return and check them out!

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Road Trip - Junk to Jewelry

Over the past several years the wonderful world of jewelry has been expanding its boundaries. Creating jewelry from found objects seems to be the new trend. One benefit of designing jewelry this way is that each item created is a completely unique piece loaded with character and most likely will never be exactly replicated. I love reusing old discarded objects - junk so to speak - and perusing through thrift stores, looking at unlikely items and wondering how I can transform them into wearable art .

I named this piece Road Trip. I think that's appropriate for a couple of reasons. First (and most obvious)...it reminds me of an old clunky pickup that has traveled many miles of road over its long, tough and dependable life. Second...it was my first mixed media jewelry creation and it represents a new journey and direction that I look forward to exploring.

This road trip began with the following thrift store finds:

denim overalls, a gauge, and old cash register buttons from a mechanics garage

The gauge was a little hard to disassemble. I removed the casing and discovered that the metal face was riveted to the lower metal piece. When I asked Hubby to cut it apart for me he replied, as any man would, "You ruined a perfectly good gauge!"

Once all the parts and pieces were disassembled, it was time to make them look like they had spent years out on the road. I added some "rust" with brown acrylic paint.

It looked good but still not quite right.  It was perfect though, once I added a layer

of metallic copper spray paint.

I put all the bits and pieces together and filled the gauge/bezel with Ice resin. I used packing tape to back the buckle/clasp thingy, filled it with resin and added the gas, oil and chg buttons. After the resin was set, I added a zipper (from the same pair of overalls).

A handmade copper chain consisting of funky links was added

bringing this piece to its final destination!

This rivet has the no boundaries trade mark...very appropriate for this project!

I'm happy to say that this piece came together without any major roadblocks!

Take a road trip  from the usual - it's amazing what you can create with no boundaries!

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Happy Creating!

Kathy

Shake It Up!

A couple of weeks ago during one of my thrift store shopping sprees, I spotted these salt and pepper shakers.

I certainly didn't want them as shakers but decided to take a closer look anyway. When I discovered they were sporting the weekly 50% off colored ticket, the bargain hunter in me took over. I placed them in my cart, shopped a little longer and by the time I was through the check out I had created this design in my head!

The process for this pendant was really quite simple. First things first, I needed something solid to support the silver caps. I headed into the garage and was ecstatic to find a wood dowel that fit perfectly - how often does that happen? Hubby was kind enough to cut it to the right length for me before he took off to work. Such a great man!!

I glued the dowel into place with E600 (love that glue!) and then covered it with just the perfect section of a decorative paper (why is the perfect spot always in the middle of the paper?). I glued the rhinestone chain into place and applied ICE resin in three very thin coats. It does run so I had to rotate it quite often as it hardened.

For the final touch I forged a wire into a U-shape, inserted it through the tiny holes in the top cap, finished off the U with decorative curls and wire wrapped a large handmade jump ring to it. Since the pendant is kinda girly-girl, I thought it should be accented by an equal amount of femininity consisting of delicate silver chain, rhinestone chain and sheer ribbon. I knotted all three strands together in a few places and finished them off with a handmade hook clasp.

Don't be afraid to shake it up a bit!

Happy Creating!

Kathy

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Is It Junk? Crown Jewels? Or... Something Else?

And the answer is...

I started out with what might be considered junk.

I added a small fragment of a candle holder

that resembles a crown that I found at a thrift store.

Then I added a few jewels.

The final creation... A beautiful something else.

I'll let you decide what that something else is...

maybe a gift tag or even an ornament.

Recognize the junk? Yes, they are those laminate samples that can be found at the home improvement store. A couple of years ago when we remodeled our kitchen, I picked up a whole purse-load of those little samples. They've been kicking around my work room ever since. Every now and then I had them in my hands, but just as I was ready to toss them, I would look at them and think to myself, "I'm sure I can do something with those someday". Well, someday finally came.

I covered them with copies of photos that I took on a trip to Italy, glued the crown fragment and jewels into place and then covered them with ICE Resin. Once the resin was cured, I tied on a sheer ribbon and Voila!! (I wish I knew the Italian word equivalent to voila)

Did you notice the necklace in the background? The silver end caps on the faux vessel pendant started out as an unlikely jewelry item that I found at a thrift store. Can you guess? If you're curious, check back later - I'll be posting that article soon.

Kathy