Julia and Cori ~artisans this week~

2 Busy Ladies  "Julia and Cori"

Two best friends, trying their hand at a home business, designing, making and selling hair bows and accessories for your little blessings!  

Julia

Julia is the Bow Queen!  She is the designer, maker and owner of Blue Eyed Blessings Hair bows! 

Julia is the mother of a 6 year old twin boys and two-3 year old little girls. They are truly blessings. Julia still works 1 or 2 days a week as a critical care nurse. Her hands are full LOL….

Julia has always loved crafting!  Before having kids she quilted all the time…when the kids were babies…she moved onto knitting…she started up scrapbooking…and now as the girls are really getting into dressing up and wearing their ‘pretties’ she has started making their bows and have enjoyed it so much!  Julia is excited to share some of them with you!

Cori

Cori is the social media guru!  She runs the blog, Facebook Fan Page, Twitter account and advertises for Blue Eyed Blessings!

Cori is a college student studying Social Media Communication at the University of Washington.  Many of you may know her as the owner and writer of Cori’s Big Mouth blog. In addition to school, she works part time as a nanny to 3 year old triplets, loves shopping, talking, scrapbooking and hanging out with friends & family!

Julia & Cori

So how do Julia & Cori know each other?  Cori was Julia’s nanny, or “Papa’s helper” when she went back to work.  Cori came over and helped dad with the twins when they were babies.  Overtime they have become great friends. They’ve always love scrapbooking and doing crafts together, so they were excited to embark on a new challenge….bow making!

You can find theses 2 ladies here:

http://twitter.com/#!/blueeyedbows
http://www.facebook.com/BlueEyedBlessings
http://www.etsy.com/shop/BlueEyedBlessings
http://www.blueeyedblessings.com/

Oxidize Brass- I Can Do That *The next chapter.

I will try to give you my .02 cents of advice as I am learning new tools, techniques etc…. I think it will be fun to see it from a beginner” point of view” and hope it will help others in the process.

Number #1

I cut some little disk with a disk cutter; Love it, fast and easy.

Then I hammer those little things, I hit it so hard the side was all squish OPSSS…. Better go easy next time, they say to practice before you do a piece and it is true, but I think you are wasting good metal. (I wasted a lot)

My motto, hand made is not perfect, it has character.

Another suggestion, I use a metal punch to make holes in the disk. It work really good BUT, I find it useless, you cannot see inside the disk where you have mark your little dots for the holes. My next purchase is 2 sizes hand punches.

Number #2

Oxidize Brass.

This is more like fume oxidation

I will try different method and let you know my .02 cents.

For this one, I use household Ammonia

Using household ammonia is really quite easy and is an inexpensive way to oxidize brass. I have tried this method on finished pieces that included my gems and it work good.

All you need is a clean glass jar with a lid, a piece of wire or fishing line to suspend your piece and ammonia. It is a little smelly but if you are quick it should be no problem. I use lemon scent and it’s not that bad.  At no time should the metal or finished jewellery come in physical contact with the ammonia. It is the fumes that will produce this patina.

First clean your piece of brass with alcohol to remove any oils or dirt so that the patina is consistent throughout the piece. Do not touch the surface that you want patinated.

Pour about 1 inch of Ammonia in a pint or quart size glass jar.

Screw on the lid and wait a couple hours. You can check the piece to see what color you want to stop at. I check every 15 minutes to see what color I wanted…it is a bit brown but it will be up to you to see how deep color you are looking for.

There will not be any ammonia odor to your piece but if you want you can leave it out for a while and very gently buff out any high points for contrast.

That's it! Try it its fun and easy

.

Before

 and After

                                                                      

 

RED ROSES CAKES ~Today Artisan!

 

I am addicted to chocolate since I can remember, so I am writing this blog and I want to eat everything I see. LOL….

Heather is behind Red Rose Cakes with her family.

Red Roses, started in 2010, it was a long standing dream of owning her own shop with the inspiration of her husband, now she can live and breathe her chocolate dream. Yummy!!

With nearly 20 years experience in the cake industry, Heather now creates special occasion cakes by her own rules with designs that span from the basic to the truly intense.  During her time in retail she trained a number of inexperienced men and women in to cake decorators and continues to show tips, tricks and tutorials today.

With a love of old school cake decorating, most of the creations are created from icing versus modern fondant and if the element can be crafted from chocolate, it will be!

Red Rose Cakes offers a wide variety of cakes, cupcakes, cookies and more and if there is something that you wish and it can be created, ask and you will receive.  For their virtual customers, Heather ship cookies, candies, chocolates and barks to our far away friends with the same homemade love and feeling as if you came to our door to pick them up.

Every time, I see the chocolate cookies or candy she make’s I wish Heather live near my house LOL...

Peoples in Northwester Pennsylvania, you are lucky, Heather provides pick up service for her customers, so please give them a call.

You can see Heather Creations here:

http://redrosecakesconnection.blogspot.com/
http://www.redrosecakespittsburgh.com/
http://www.facebook.com/RedRoseCakes
http://www.artfire.com/ext/shop/studio/RedRoseConfections

BAILEYS IRISH CREAM CAKE COLLECTION

This is my first collection for the guild ~Checked In Today~ .....We have lots of talented artisans in here.

Also ,I am posting this simple Baileys Irish cream cake recipe ...fast  to make and Yummy .

BAILEYS IRISH CRE...

Curated By: zoomgraphik

BAILEY'S IRISH CREAM CAKE  

   
2 c. flour
1 3/4 c. sugar
3/4 c. cocoa
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. baking soda
1 egg
2/3 c. salad oil
3/4 c. buttermilk
1/4 c. Bailey's Irish Cream Liqueur
1 c. hot strong coffee

Sift dry ingredients together. Beat egg, oil, buttermilk, liqueur, coffee together. Add to the dry ingredients; beat together for about 3 minutes. Pour into a greased and floured 10" springform pan or 9"x13" pan.

Bake in a preheated 350°F oven for 35 to 40 minutes for springform or 25 to 30 minutes for 9"x13" pan or until done. Cool.

FROSTING:

2 c. heavy cream
1/4 - 1/2 c. powdered sugar
4 tbsp. Bailey's Irish Cream, or more to taste

Beat frosting ingredients together until stiff. Turn cake out onto a plate and frost with whipped cream mixture. Sprinkle with chocolate curls if desired. Refrigerate.

I CAN DO THAT

I always say”Oh! I can do that " and I do it....I went to Web and graphic school with younger students and I worked my "BUTT" off and I show them "I CAN DO THAT" ....And guess what!!! I was third in my class .

This time, I want to go further in my jewellery making!!!!

What give me the push is that I apply to do a  art show during Christmas  last year  and I was not accepted because they say I did "strung work!!!! ", I was showing  hammer and twisted metal with a few beads here and there.....and I found out if the beads is not handmade or hammer it is STRUNG!!!!! 

So, I will learn new thing with all kind of metal, stamping, a torch,hammering ETC.... and they will see what I can do ....

I receive  small shipments of tools, stamps, metal pieces, bottle of sulfur and a mandrel for making bracelets.

I always designs on paper what I wanted to make BUT it is not for a beginner, YET. I have to start at the beginning even if I say I CAN DO THAT ….

I will show my progress and my mistakes while I am learning.

And I will be ready, to show few samples for that Art Show in December :O)

Some basic tools for now.

 

Sheets of metal, copper, brass, silver. Stamps,saw,blade 2/0-3/0-4/0,mandrel,liver of sulphur, caliper ,V-Slot.

For the caliper, you don’t have to pay the high price...my husband got one for me in a hardware store for 1/2 the price on sale....also for the piece of wood call a V-Slot bench pin ,he cut me one for nothing.

                                                                
From a beginner Point of View...do not buy on a wimp, look around on different site for their prices, shipping cost etc... I look for weeks to try to find the best places and still looking :O)

Now back to work ........

FishPrincessDesigns

Her designs are inspired by the beauty of nature. I just love her designs and the colors. WOW!!!!

 

She especially enjoys designing jewellery for "full-figured" women. She was disappointed so many times by trying on beautiful bracelet or necklace and it is just too small.

She try to make her own creations to be adaptable to all size ranges by including extenders built within her pieces-it not only gives plus sized women the ability to wear her pieces-but it gives everyone flexibility in lengths.

Almost anything she make can be adjusted to your perfect size. 

She has always enjoyed some type of crafting and creating. From her childhood ,she being taught by her Aunt Sophie and her beloved grandmother Babcia how to sew. 

Her current passion is for designing jewellery and collecting see glass.

You can see in her designs that she loves what she is doing.

Whether you are buying a pair of earrings that you are going to be wearing on your wedding day-to a bracelet you bought just because...

She will love to take a custom order and make what you desire.

You can see more of  FishPrincessDesigns here:

http://fishprincessdesigns.blogspot.com/

http://www.artfire.com/ext/shop/studio/FishPrincessDesigns

http://www.facebook.com/FishPrincessDesigns

http://twitter.com/fishprincess

Also you can follow her on Pinterest

Featured Artisan is Deni Winter Breitenbach

This Weeks Featured Artisan is Deni Winter Breitenbach - BreitWerk! Unique, one of a kind, handmade accessories and gifts! You can find BreitWerk on:

Zibbet

Facebook

Grab the Code for your blog HERE!

Sunday Artisan ~ Anne Hopfer ~

This weeks Featured Artisan is Anne Hopfer - Helping Hands Graphic Design. Banners, Avatars, Ads, Templates.. all customized to your Style! You can find Helping Hands Graphic Design on:

Website

Esty

Blog

Facebook

Twitter

Today Artisan is ~Crocheted Little Things~

 ~Crocheted Little Things~

This lovely lady is residing in Florida, but she is from Italy.

She is a mom of 2 little’s girls and her passion is crochet …..and I think she love cupcakes too!!!

She learned how to crochet when she was 9-10 from her mom who is a "doilies maker".

She started crocheting during her second pregnancy, she got sick and had to rest a lot for her little girl's sake, so what do you do when you can do nothing but rest “Crocheting” .

Her inspiration comes from little daily things....

Sometime, she use pattern from magazine or from the web, thought she never literally follow them, it’s for inspiration only. Some other times, the personalization come along while she is working, like all of us .

She just enjoy making every and each piece and I hope you will enjoy it too.

All the work  is on sale in her ETSY Shop 

http://www.etsy.com/shop/crochetedlittlething

 

To learn more, you can visit theses :

♥ http://www.crochetedlittlethings.blogspot.com/
♥ http://www.indiediscounts.blogspot.com/
♥ http://www.etsygiveaways.blogspot.com/
♥ http://www.sweetirieoriginals.blogspot.com/

Artisan Today is "Keri" from CRAFTS BY KERI

I LOVE KERI  felting animals....They are colorful, fun, whimsical and they make me smile every time she makes a new one.

Keri has her jewellery business since 2005.

She started "Crafts by Keri" in 2008 and has been making children's items since the birth of her little one.

Keri taught herself the art of crochet and has enjoyed making play food, dolls and toys.

Her site is a multitude of items and Keri has a hard time stopping herself in trying new crafts.

Keri is happily married and mother of one.

Also, she makes hair clips and she is a WIZ at felting little animals, flower ETC....You need to be really patient to do something so small.

Enjoy this Canadian Artisan.

You can see Keri here also :

http://craftsbykeri.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/CraftsbyKeri
http://www.artfire.com/ext/shop/studio/KeriMae
http://www.etsy.com/shop/craftsbykeri
http://twitter.com/#!/craftsbykeri

Raige Creations

 Today Artisan Is Raige Creations

Where creating is all the Raige.

Rebecca is Raige , she began her shop  to showcase her handmade creations. With much support and encouragements from her family, Raige Creations began and has since expanded to include all kinds of Raige!

In her shop you can find Rebecca's own creations, a collection of crochet accessories, an eclectic mix of Vintage items and antique pieces that Rebecca and Paul have collected over the years.

 Raige Creations remains to this day a family owned and operated business with all handmade products proudly made in the USA.

Another member of the family is showing her work. Her name is Bridget ,she makes wire wrapped and custom glass jewellery  which  includes handmade pendants, bracelets, rings, toe rings, and a few decorative house ware  pieces all handcrafted by her , a native of the Caribbean.

Clothing and artworks will soon be part of the Raige, with original designs by Paul, who is a 7th generation West Indian. 

You can find more about Raige Creations here:

 Blog:     www.raigecreations.blogspot.com
 ArtFire: www.artfire.com/users/RaigeCreations
 Zibbet:  www.zibbet.com/RaigeCreations
 Vintage on Zibbet: www.zibbet.com/VintageRaige
 Etsy:     www.raigecreations.etsy.com

Today ,I am showing Canadian Artisans.

Sometime, I forget they are all over Canada and we don't know them. I will show you the one I learn to know over the last year or so and some new one I found .

For some, everything started as a fun craft to do and make money on the side, for others it,s their business . Any good reasons is perfect to work with what we love to do and enjoy it.

Every items in their fabulous collections is designed and made with quality and style in mind.

Judy Cogo is from Ontario

Anna Lee Or GaHooleTree is from Toronto

Craft by Keri  or Keri Mae is from Ontario 

Sage,s cupboard is from Nanaimo 

Kranbearys from Thunder Bay

aMagpiesDream fromOntario

alwaysdaddysgirl fromAlberta

Zoomgraphik Quebec