New ICE Resin Pendants - Birds, Hearts and Flowers

 I just finished a group of pieces for the PonShop. I thought I was going to create a group of gritty, dark-colored pieces that involved a lot of hammering and soldering.

My creative brain had other ideas.

 Everything I touched turned to hearts and flowers.

 Eventually, I decided to go with the flow.

Sometimes you just have to trust your instincts.

Divine Secrets of the Junking Sisterhood

by Leslie Brier

 

 A few weeks back my friend Janet treated me to the most divine weekend of junking. We spent three glorious days stopping at every single antique shop, thrift store, and junk pile between Fredericksburg and Smith Mountain Lake. The junking was punctuated by button sorting, good food and lots of chocolate.

Janet and I have truly mastered the womanly art of junking.
If it was rusty or dusty, we stopped to look at it.

 

 When I go with my husband, and see an enticing pile of rust by the side of the road, I'll usually get one of three responses: "Huh?" "I didn't see it." or "You should have told me sooner".

 

Janet has catlike reflexes that allow us to go screeching into the seediest of roadside junk shops in the blink of an eye. 

 We didn't miss a single roadside stop, even when our knees and backs were begging for mercy.

 

Black Dog Salvage in Roanoake was one of the highlights.

 

 We came home with tons of good stuff, and I was even to recipient of two freebies - random acts of kindness from dealers who knew how much we appreciated their wares. I can't wait to get started making robots and jewelry from the goodies that we found.

 

Canning Jar Party Favors

by Leslie Brier

My husband and I recently attended his 30th high school reunion. He comes from a small town, with one high school for the whole county. Everyone seems to know everyone which makes it really fun.

 

 He was on the reunion committee, and I jumped at the chance to make the favors.  I purchased tiny canning jars at the grocery store and filled them with green and gold candies. Then, I put a circle of paper on top of the lid and under the rim of the jar, and decorated it with paper flowers. I have a paper punch that punches out a pinwheel that can be folded into a 3-D flower. (Of course, I forgot to take a picture until they were loaded into the back of the car.)

They favors were easy to make, and we were able to make them for under  $1 each.