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

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Before

 and After

                                                                      

 

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

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

My Garden

 

I love gardening. I love planting my seeds in the spring and look at them grow. I am not the best gardener in the world but love to play in the dirt.

I have no problems with flowers, but vegetables!!! This is another matter….. LOL

Some years they grow perfectly, other year they stay in seeds stage, other one look pitiful and go kaput on me.

This year, my salad was perfect, also my radish. My cucumber flowered only last month …so they are late. The first batch of beans where very good to eat, after they went black and they shrunk on the stems!!!!

Right now, I am waiting to eat the rest of my vegetables. And they all coming in the same time….I will have to give some to my neighbours.

One thing sad about it is when all the vegetables are gone and the dirt in the garden is turn for next year….fall is coming… *SIGH*

I found some Gardening Quotes who kind of describe me in the garden..

"A garden is never so good as it will be next year."-- Thomas Cooper

"There are no gardening mistakes, only experiments." -- Janet Kilburn Phillips

 My green thumb came only as a result of the mistakes I made while learning to see things from the plant's point of view.  ~H. Fred Dale

  

They are huge ...

 

 

 and the boss who follow me everywhere