Hagerstown Jubilee Days

Harmoniously Tangled was basically born April 5 of this year when I launched an internet store over at Storenvy.  My first debut in a public setting was the fourth of July weekend in Liberty, Indiana.  I am excited to say I will be setting up for my second festival this Friday in Hagerstown, Indiana as they celebrate Jubilee days.  I will have the good company of my sister Lisa with her crochet items from Creative Kitty Crochet.

One of the things I noticed from my first festival was the poor little boys who had to endure their moms or sisters stopping to look at my handmade jewelry.  My Attitude charms helped entertain them for a bit but I knew I needed to find something little boys might find more interesting.  While networking my business I came across a wonderful page, Dandelion Ivy.  Here I found little creepy, crawlers that might catch a boys attention.  Be sure to go into the photo albums and click on the Spiders.

After seeing these wonderful little crawlies I needed to know how one might create them. (wink; I had a pretty good idea but it never hurts to look for directions.)  It didn't take long to come across this helpful page, Create a Wire and Bead Spider.  So I spread my bead boxes on the table, grabbed my wire and got down to business trying to create these little wonders.  Here are a few that I finished.

Not as wonderful as the ones over at Dandelion Ivy but I think they will work and it helped to reduce my bead population as well. LOL  I did get a bit carried away and created these.

They are on the large size but if they don't sell I can always take them off the ear hooks and sell them.  This was a fun project.  You may want to keep these guys in mind for a rainy day project or for a birthday party.

Now with that project out of the way it is time for me to rest.  If you happen to be in the area of Hagerstown, Indiana on August 19 & 20 come look us up.  We would love to meet you.
Happy Crafting Everyone.

Getting back to what I had in mind.

When I started this blog my idea was to share the journey of jewelry making.  To allow you to come along as I learned to make different pieces of jewelry and let you know how I over come the problems I faced.  I should have known that I would probably not be able to follow that plan.  Mainly because I am the type of person who finds a solution and moves on.  I am now thinking that posting these small triumphs may be a way for me to see the progress that I am making.  This will also show I am not in the time warp I sometimes feel I am in.

First I want to say when I decided to start making jewelry it was a need to remake myself.  I left a very stressful job as a surgical technologist and my youngest daughter had graduated high school, married and left home. So faced with an empty nest and no career I needed to find something to do with my time.  I picked up a few odds and ends for jewelry making one day.  After creating my first piece I was hooked.  Not because it was so incredibly great but because it gave me a feeling of accomplishment and I enjoyed the creative process.

Naturally I started searching the internet for information on jewelry making.  I came across wire working.  I was amazed at the weaves and circles.  I watched videos showing people holding their wires as they created different patterns.  I gathered my supplies and jumped in.  I am not a strong or rough person but the first problem I came up against  when weaving was I would bend my support wires.  I was using 20 gauge.  Which is still the gauge I enjoy using.  I did what I always do when I come up against a problem.  I called my Dad. LOL  My Dad is 70 and I am so blessed to still have him in my life and close by.  He is someone who can come up with simple low cost answers.  I explained I would like to have a frame that could help hold the wires while I was weaving but I wasn't sure what kind of clamps to use.  His answer "How about a clip board?  Then you can cut the middle out."

Here is the outcome of that conversation.

 
I chose to use two clip boards so i could vary the length.  I cut out the middle and placed holes in the sides and used screws and wing nuts to hold it together.  The length can be varied by using the different holes.  The ends of the wires are slid under the clips which hold the wires straight and allow me to weave easily from front to back with out bending the support wires.  Note; I used mini clip boards.

This is one of the projects I have completed using my home made wire loom.

This is a journey of learning.  Sometimes self teaching is a slow painful method of learning.  Sometimes you surprise yourself and find you are more capable than you ever imagined.
Happy Creating to Everyone.

YOUR FIRED!!

Normally I do not talk politics or anything to do with it but today thanks to our government I am very stressed.  My husband is a government employee so all this bickering and showdown bull crap going on with our government is really causing me a great deal of stress since we are facing having our major source of income gone.  If any one tried to run a business they would have been fired long ago.  There is no simple answer.  Many of the issues that led us here has gone for too many years.  The welfare has needed a a clean sweep for a long time.  If we would help people instead of penalizing them for trying to work they would be handing out a lot less.  How about helping the small business out there?  How about taxing the goods of big companies who have taken our jobs out of this country?  Also I have never once heard them mention cutting their own paychecks, expense accounts, pensions, health care or how about the security of those after they are out of office?  How about cutting foreign aide until we get back on our feet

My heart goes out to all the military who are facing working without a paycheck and to those who faithfully paid into social security in the belief it would be there when they needed it.  I can only ask that all who reads this pray because we are in a very bad way

Someone once told me "What do you expect.  Break the word politics down and see what you have.  Poly means many and Tic equals a blood sucker."  Okay it is a play on words but it made me laugh.

Thank you for allowing me to rant.  I wish I could say I feel better.  I guess knowing that many of you are also praying makes me feel better.

On a lighter note.  My daughter wore one of my Attitude necklaces out and it was a great success.  It caught peoples attention.  I have a special deal that will be running until 5pm today (July 31. 2011).  Go here to see what I am talking about.
http://nvy.gd/qq0dBy

I wish you all love and peace today.  Enjoy every happy minute you can for they seem so few and far between these days.  I am unsure of what will happen in the future but I am sure that God is here with me and that is all I really need to know.

New Items

Yes it is HOT out but that has not stopped me from thinking about fall creations.  My Fall Collection of items are now available in my on line store.  Please click the link to your right for Harmoniously Tangled's store at Storenvy.  I am excited about these new creations.  It was great fun getting them ready for you.  Here is a quick look at a couple of items you will find.

Moving ON

Today is your last chance to play in Creative Kitty Crochet's  and Harmoniously Tangled's Christmas in July.  Thank you to all who played and I hope you enjoyed the gifts.  We appreciate everyone who follows our blogs and befriended us on facebook and a big thank you  for those who have purchased from our stores.

Now we are moving onward to preparing for festivals.  I just sent in our registration for a neighboring town's festival.  If all goes well we will be at the Hagerstown Jubilee Days.  We are looking forward to taking our handmade creations there.  It will be great fun to get out and meet new people.  I have been working very hard on some new fall creations.  I hope if you are in the Hagerstown, Indiana area on August 19th or 20th you will look us up and say hello.

For all our friends getting ready for festivals in their area we wish you well.  Have a great weekend all!

Disappointed

I understand peoples lives are busy but I have been sad at how few people have been willing to hunt for the Christmas present that Creative Kitty Crochet and I have been hiding.  We hid Christmas presents in either our blogs or our on line stores.  Then asked people to tell us where they found them to be entered in a chance to win.  Here is the full information.  http://creativekittycrochet.blogspot.com/p/its-giveaway.html
Oh well we tried to bring some fun and prizes into your lives.  We are continuing this through Saturday.  Thank you to those who played and we hope you enjoy your gifts.
I have been working very hard on new fall items and I am looking forward to starting my Christmas items.  The big decision is where else to go with these creations.  My experience at my local fourth of July festival was so encouraging I am looking at doing more festivals.  Decisions.... decisions...
I did have a very frustrating experience the other day concerning one of our local craft shows.  This show is normally held in our jr. high school building around late fall.  I called early because I wanted a spot.  I was told that I would not be accepted because they already had too many jewelry vendors.  What happen to competition??  Very frustrating to have lived in a community the biggest part of your life and be shut out!  So if you go to the Liberty, Indiana craft show at the school this year please tell them you are disappointed that Harmoniously Tangled was not allowed a spot in the show.
Buttons continue to be a big inspiration for me.  I love working with button because the possibilities seem endless.  Many of my fall creations have buttons in different forms.  The best part is they do not have to be specialty buttons.  Now that I have my motivation going I guess I need to jump off here and get busy!  Have a great day.  May you be showered in blessings.

Almost Ready

My sister is spending the day with me.  We are getting all the details done for the Christmas in July giveaway.  Boxes are being filled and wrapped.  Presents are being hid for you to find.  Going to be lots of fun.  Make sure you follow both Creative Kitty Crochet Blog and mine.

Head over to http://creativekittycrochet.blogspot.com/p/its-giveaway.html now to read the rules.

The fun starts July 11th.  Head to my facebook page and make sure you hit the like button so you will see my post of "MERRY CHRISTMAS".  That will signal the start of the fun!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Harmoniously-Tangled

You also need to like Creative Kitty Crochet's facebook page because she will be the one posting MERRY Christmas on certain days also.  This will signal that a present has been hid and you need to find it to enter.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Harmoniously-Tangled/153630134699851?ref=hnav#!/CreativeKittyCrochet

Make sure to join us for this week of Fun!