So I am part of a swap! I am so excited I just can’t wait. I found this blog http://iwasknittogetherinmymotherswomb.typepad.com/project_colorswap/
and after emailed to request to play along, I got in just in time!

I love it because it matches the Project Spectrum colors so I will be thinking of that color all month long. Plus I’ve never done a swap and I love getting mail. I love picking things out for people and, hopefully it works this way, it is something they think is great.

So here is my questionaire!

Are you crafty? Yes!

Would you enjoy things like: Buttons, ribbons and embellishments? Buttons yes – I have been experimenting with impressions in polymer clay. Ribbons – yes the skinny kind, like I could use on cards (Sorry to be picky! I’d hate to get something and not use it!) Embellishments – what is considered an embellishment? LOL

Do you dye your own wool? No, I don’t use wool for anything.

Do you like to scrapbook or make homemade cards? Yep – cards! I tried scrapbooking, just couldn’t get into it. I love to rubber stamp and a good friend turned me on to this craft. I made all of my Christmas cards last year - nevermind that we were in the middle of a move and I never sent even ONE out! Not to worry, I am going to use them up this year. I love making cards.

What are your favorite scents? Right now – food ones like strawberry, mango, peach, orange, cinnamon, etc.. I usually have a candle burning or an unscented tealight under a wax melter thing.

Do you like stationary and cards? Yes, I am addicted to stationary and cards. It’s probably a bad habit. LOL

Do you like to sew or embroider items? I do! I love to sew, right now I’m working on an apron for my Grandma. I haven’t embroidered for a while, but the last thing I did were a pair of pillow cases.

Do you like beads? I love beads. Love. I have seed beads, glass beads, plastic beads, big and small beads, wierd shaped beads, silver beads, bone beads, etc. I have beaded since I was about 12 years old (WOW! I just realized that!) and my collection is actually rather small considering it’s been 15 years. I am starting to use large, funky beads for a focal piece and then building around that. I’ve been looking around for a lampworker so I can buy beads from them.
What kind of candy do you like? Peanut butter cups are my favorite. It started with being a craving when I was pregnant with my son - I never had a craving before that and once it was gone, that was it. But I still love peanut butter cups like nothing else. Wierd I know.

Do you like hand lotions or soaps? Hand lotions, yes. Usually I get the small travel sized ones so I can throw it in my purse or leave one in the car. Even though it is humid here, I use lotion every day, I’ve heard that others don’t but that just isn’t me! I also love lip balm - not gloss really, but just a balm. Particularly the Burt’s Bees lip balm, addicting I tell ya! Soaps? I am picky about soaps so I usually say I don’t like them. LOL

Do you like to wear costume jewelry? Necklace, earrings, bracelets, etc.. Yeah! I love finding cool and/or funky things to wear or even find something I can reuse into another project.

Do you like to make/or use stitch markers? Um, what are stitch markers? (That’s my answer.)

Do you collect anything? I do! Notepads, notebooks, journals, cards, stationary, baskets, beading and jewelry making supplies, material and other crafting supplies. I don’t think I have that much stuff, my “collections” are small, but my office (desk w/ compuer and a little stand with the printer) is one of our bedrooms. It’s an office/craft room - oh I know, you can see it in my flickr badge, it’s the picture w/ the blue curtains in it.

Do you have any allergies: smoke, food, fiber, pets, etc. Smoke is irratiating to me, but I’m not sure I’m allergic to it? No to the others though.

Do you have any hobbies? Other then all the stuff I already talked about? LOL Yes, I love to read and write, I’m a regular at amazon.com, making my wish list, modifying my wish list, buying from my wish list, checking out new books, etc. I also love listening to podcasts, there are so many! I also journal, take walks and talk to my family. It’s tough being away from everyone I know, but that’s military life for you!

Do you like scented or unscented candles? It depends - scented if it is a votive or larger. For a tealight, either. I have a few large candle holders in my house - the holder itself is large but it uses tealight candles!

Are you a fiber snob? No.

Do you like to play cards or board games? Yep, I love backgammon and card games. We have some other board games but haven’t played in months.

Do you like neon colors, pastel, light or medium ranges in the color of the month. For any color, I like pretty much any shade excpet neon. June is blue and I can say that I like just about any shade of blue.

Do you like kitchen magnets or key rings? Magnets can be awesome.

I found more questions at my swap partners blog so I grabbed a few of those too. I didn’t add all of them because they were mostly knitting questions, and I’m not a knitter.

Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list? I have an Amazon one, I’ll get that link and update this post.

What’s your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products, etc.) I don’t think I have one favorite scent, I love food smells for candles and even for bath products - I have an awesome body wash from Bath and Body Works that is I think vanilla?

I also love the smell of rain, fresh cut grass and a clean baby. LOL

What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? Yes it can, I am a regular at ITunes, though I admit most of what I listen to there are podcasts. I have bought a few songs/cd’s from them but not that many. What do I like - country and rock mainly, some mainstream but just some. I have been into what I figure is blues or a blues/rock mixture. I am loving Marc Broussard these days, I’m going to see him in a few weeks here in town. I’m very excited about that!

What’s your favorite color? Or - do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer? Any colors you can’t stand?

I used to have a few favorites - maroon, darn blue and a dark forest green. I had a great forest green carpet and maroon curtains in my bedroom a long time ago. Really, I think I am still attracted to those colors. They aren’t so dark they make the room feel dark, but rich in color.

But that’s for the home! As for wearing, I tend to stick to blues. LOL I just realized that! I do have a red or a pink shirt here or there, and I’m not afraid to try color, but I have yellow undertones so there are some colors that are just bad.

What is your family situation? Do you have any pets? I am married and we have two kids - a girl 4 1/2 years old and a boy 2 1/2 years old. We also have a cat, we just got him a couple of months ago.

Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos? No, I haven’t for years! We lived in Washington for five years and it just never got cold enough. And now we are in South Carolina - ha, I WISH I would have a reason to wear scarves.

Do you like to receive handmade gifts? I do - if I have a use for it. And sometimes, I consider displaying, a use.

When is your birthday? (mm/dd) June 12. I’ll be 28 this year.

(Wow this is long.)

I found this bracelet in one of the jewelry magazines I subscribe to and had to make it. After a quick trip to Lowe’s (which sucked because their customer service, at least at this store closest to me, is horrible!!) and a dash to the only jewelry supply store closer then a half hour away, I came home and made it in about a half hour. I’m sure I could do it faster next time, but I was also keeping the kids away from my supplies at the same time.

Yep those are washers! Two different sizes and 10mm jump rings, closed with a magnetic closure. How cool! The magazine had a few different projects you could do with things from the hardware store, which all looked fun but this one caught my eye.

I also did a full bracelet with clay beads - I need a new camera, the original picture looked fine but sort of dull. And then I brightened it with my software and wow talk about bright! The beads are bright but not this much. LOL

Here is a cool memory wire bracelet I made - I just grabbed some random beads and stuck then on. It’s a nice quick thing and since there are so many colors it goes with a lot of different clothes items.

Okay finally back on track of posting! I have a swap partner - yay! - and I need to get my questionaire posted, I’ll get that done today. I’m sure I have more stuff to share too!

May has been busy! It is getting hotter and hotter around here and we have been living in the water. Well, what little water we can live in - which means the slip and slide. The kids have been out there every day which is fun, but just shows me how much I “need” a laptop or a way to get my crafts outside with me! We have a great screened in porch and a swing we bought back in WA set up in there, so I hace a nice place to sit while the kids play.

I didn’t do too many green crafts this month - this bracelet was one ~

That uses three clay beads, glass beads with flower designs and a few cats eye beads. I made it for my daughter, she picked out the flower beads.

I also attempted to make leaf beads - for use with my flower beads I made before.

And here are some circle ones that didn’t quite turn out!

May was a good craft/creating month for me. I haven’t played with clay for a couple of weeks now, I’ve been making jewelry instead! I love it, I cleaned up my office and had a huge stack of jewelry magazines. Of course they are half ads, which I don’t like, so I went through and tore the magazines apart. I picked my favorite designs, or ones that I would like to make at some point, and put those pages into a binder. Since doing that I’ve made five or six items - I should have tore them up earlier!

More soon as I want to share the jewelry I made!

ETA: All the pictures I post here will be in my flickr as well - there is a badge over there to the right!

Orange polymer clay beads

I love these flower beads - I found the project by watching Jewelry Making and have been going crazy with various colors. I have a pile of flower beads now (pictures coming) and lots of jewelry ideas but nothing made yet.

Wow, completely late on my projects for April. We are working with orange and yellow for April so here are a few! I have a few more but my camera battery died on me.
I started out by finally finishing a sewing project - This is a sheer window panel covered with fish and stars. The stars are cut out of quilt material, backed with material, sewn inside out and turned around so they have a soft of 3-d show to it. The fish are cut out of material and have backing just to make them a little stiffer so they will look better.

First, the grouping of fish and stars.

Second, the layout

The kids and I bought one of those, oh what are they called? Where you put plastic pellets into a form, stick it in the oven and bake it until it melts. It is a sun catcher, we planned on putting it in the kids room window. It hasn’t made it there yet. But it was fun to do, I know I did stuff like this when I was a kid and mine had a blast.

I also finally got into polymer clay. Wow I love this stuff! It is so super cheap and there are a lot of online resources to show you projects, help tips, ask questions, even how to clean the pasta machine you use.

I made an “orange” cane

which doesn’t look the best, but it was my first one so I think it looks great considering!

Back later with more polymer clay - beads and canes.