Walmart has been a surprising source of leaves:

I see these ones as pendants more than anything: they’re a bit too heavy to be anything else in my mind. Black cord would be a nice contrast, and go nicely with the black veins that are visible in the leaves.

These cuties could be used on a necklace too, or mixed with some fine chain and tiny jump rings for a long and delicate looking set of earrings. It might look nice to have different lengths of chain too in one pair of earrings.

If you’re into making jewelry and live in Canada, the best place you could go is the The Sassy Bead Co. This store is a delight for any jewelry lover: every surface is covered with glass jars, from the tiniest of jam jars to larger mason jars of beads. The beads all have funky names too, clearly chosen by the employees. The newest location in Ottawa is so bright and sunny that I was surprised to find the store all but empty the last time I visited it. While I was there I picked up these delicate looking leaves:

Another thing I’m rather taken by is kidney clasps. No, this isn’t an extreme jewelry fetish of mine, they are the delicate earring clasps that are used in this beautiful etsy offering:

(photo courtesy of juneshin)

Dooce also featured a pair of earrings with a kidney clasp opening in her daily style section, which you can read about and see here. I found a large pair of sterling silver ones that I can’t wait to use:

Prior to this year, I had never heard of shrinky dinks. A coworker had the cutest earrings and when I commented on them, she informed me that they were handcrafted. Another coworker, overhearing our conversation, told me that she strongly suspected that shrinky dinks were involved in the making of the main “bead” of the earrings. After hearing that I just had to know all I could know about shrinky dinks.

What I found out is the following:

• shrinky dinks (SDs) is the brand name for shrink plastic
• when put in an oven (not the microwave!) this plastic sheet which resembles a sheet of acetate used on overhead projectors more than anything) will shrink up and thicken
• the stuff has been around since the early 1970s and seems to be making a comeback

When I did a search for jewelry made with shrink plastic, the first thing that caught my eye was Planet June’s tutorial, which I shared earlier. A search on etsy revealed the beautiful rings of Dillon Designs

I decided to pick up some ink made for unusual surfaces such as plastic, and some of this plastic and see if I could fashion some cute earrings.

Here’s what I started with:

…and here is the final result.

Side by side:

(the final product is about an inch in diameter)

I can already tell that a challenge will be determining (through trial and error, I suspect) the sizes that I’ll need to make the starting piece of plastic in order to get it to shrink to the size(s) that I need. Simple earrings can be fashioned by simply attaching this to a jump ring and then to earring hooks and I’ll be set!

The instructions that came with the SDs said that permanent markers work well so I picked up some colourful fine point Sharpies while I was out. I can’t wait to see what else I come up with!

I’m rather frustrated because it’s past 3am and I was all set to show you all sorts of pictures, complete with explanations, but now I’ll have to wait.

And I am not a patient person!

I bought shrinky dink plastic and I have this shrink plastic ring tutorial.

I bought earring-making materials (will share those later)

No, I’m not pregnant but my friend is. Here are some things that I’d love to make for my friend/her baby:

What I need: time, lots and lots of time.

If I had more time and more skill with a sewing machine, this diaper bag would be so lovely! This crafty person made hers from an old dress but I’d love to make it using a blue/grey colour that I know the mom-to-be loves.

A baby blanket, preferably knit from supersoft wool and a very easy pattern, would be ideal. There are a lot of options for easy patterns out there, and I do have time to do this. I really must get cracking on this! (Update: I have found the perfect pattern that uses yarn that I already have on hand: Hoodie Baby Blanket)

A diaper cake for the baby shower’s centrepiece is a must! Have you heard of these? You roll up little diapers then stack them together vertically to make a layered “cake”. Some more elaborate ‘cakes’ have baby rattles, pacifiers, bibs and other small but necessary baby things nestled in the cake. Some good instructions for this masterpiece are here or here if you’d like a nice illustrated tutorial. You can find a very impressive gallery of variations of the diaper cake here.

I’m currently trying to figure out what I want to do for the invitations. The grandmother to be is a florist and very artistic so she tends to like themes, and the baby room has a theme but I think the parents want that to be a surprise for guests to their home after the baby is born so we can’t use that theme. Is it too cliched to use the basic blue theme? It is a boy we’re expecting, after all!

Here are the little notes I made:

I bought the printed vellum that is layered on top of this yellow sheet of cardstock years ago. What I really need are some colourful markers thicker than the pink pen I used to write the message.

One of my favourite artists, India.Arie, has the following quote by Gandhi in her song Better People: Be the change you want to see in the world. (Incidentally, I keep misquoting this as “Be the change you want to be in this world.” I guess both are close enough in meaning that it’s not such a big mistake.) I love the quote so much because it speaks to the fact that change doesn’t have to have a huge campaign, or be started by powerful people: all it takes is someone who is willing to work for the change and it will grow from there. You can be the good (peace, beauty, love) you want to see the world.

I love bright orange and pink together and these next two simple messages used those colours primarily. I like the idea of sharing that the individual is special and important and even though they might feel like they’re insignificant or unimportant, they aren’t. We’re all important all have a place and role in this world.

Sunny yellow rules this last message. I know I often feel like a failure, like I can’t do anything right so I’m hoping someone who’s feeling the same will be cheered by the colours and the message.

Is anyone else doing this project?

The wool prices are also making me catch my breath a little.

I decided to browse etsy too and see what I could get myself. So far I’ve just been looking and drooling over on etsy:

Art Under Glass
This crafter makes soldered pendants and each piece has a scrapbook/collage look to it that has completely charmed me. She can put any image you want under glass, or you can go with one of her own designs. I’m rather partial to the pendant below, mostly because of the poppies (I hope it’s ok for me to borrow a picture from the site):

(Image is the property of Art Under Glass)

Lisa’s Pieces
I’m a big silver jewelry fan and I’m forever doodling spirals so this site that creates (among other things) spiral shaped pendants with inspiring messages on them was an instant fave. You can even choose the words you want to have stamped on to your pendant. Since hearing that it was Gandhi who said that we must be the change we want to see in the world, I’ve been hooked on those words.

(Image is the property of Lisa’s Pieces)

In the end it was the monogrammed aprons offered at Pink Chameleon that caught the eye of my prize winner. With a move to my own place imminent, I must keep an eye out for a cute apron for me too. If only the donning of an apron would give you super cooking powers, and work in the same fashion that capes do.