Discovering the ways of the fibula

I just made my first wire wrapping project, and it was soooo fun!! I really loved being able to whack something with a hammer. I don't have anything like this up in my store, but plan on doing more after the holidays. In the meantime you can check out the rest of my store here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/RandomWish

It's a fibula for my mom for Christmas. I think it turned out pretty good for my first try :) 

For those of you who don't know a fibula is like a shawl or scarf pin. From what I've seen, they are usually made of wire. The pointy bit can either be connected or loose. I chose to let mine be loose this time. 

I've read that the two best wires to use when doing wire projects are copper or silver. I chose to use silver filled wire because it's a lot cheaper. Here's a link to my supplier: https://www.etsy.com/shop/silverschells

There are also different tempers, gauges, and all kids of things you need to know about wire. For the temper I use dead soft wire. It starts off relatively easy to use, and gets harder the more you work with it. Be careful because if you mess with it too much it can get brittle. To make the frame I used 16 gauge wire. The smaller the number the bigger the wire is. I think I used a 24 gauge wire for the bead threading. Wire also comes in different shapes I guess you'd call it. I don't know how it matters if your going to hammer it, but I used round wire. 

If you'd like more wire tips let me know, but there are lots of books and helpful tips on the internet :)

Bookworms

Here's another bookmark I've been working on :) You can find it here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/172057241/french-leather-bookmark-beaded-tan

I've started working on a mini one with a brick pattern, but haven't decided what I'm going to do with the top.

Anyone read any good books lately?

Owls

I'm quite fond of owls and have had this pendant for quite awhile. I decided to take a break from bookmarks to make this necklace, and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out :) Head to my Etsy store to see more pictures of it: https://www.etsy.com/listing/171948273/owl-chain-necklace-beaded-zig-zag

Etsying

Just finished the white bookmark. This one has more of a retro feel to it I think.
https://www.etsy.com/listing/171813343/butterfly-music-bookmark-white-leather

Today is feeling like a sleepy day. I have a long list of things I need to be working on for my Etsy store and still more Christmas gifts, but it's so hard to make myself get off the couch. Maybe later I'll feel motivated. For now I'm going to give in to procrastination..

Bookmarks and Randomness

Cyber Monday didn't go that great for me, and I realized today that I had forgotten to post about it on my Etsy page..Oops. The days leading up to it where pretty good though, so I'm happy :)

Today I made some more bookmarks. I finished them both, but haven't finished with the pictures for the white one. Hopefully I'll have that done tomorrow. The blue one is done and up in my shop though :D

You can find it here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/171677890/music-butterfly-bookmark-blue-leather

Cyber Monday On Etsy

It's almost Cyber Monday, and I'm getting excited to do some more Christmas shopping. This year I'm either hand making all of my gifts or buying them from Etsy. I think it's a great idea to buy from people who put some much thought and effort into what they do. I've already started some of my Christmas shopping on there and there are a lot of people who have started their sales early this year. I wish I had discovered Etsy sooner because it has made Christmas shopping a lot easier for me. Go check it out because there are tons of cool handmade and vintage stuff: www.etsy.com

This year I'll be having my own Cyber Monday sale. I've got free shipping until the end of the year, and 15% off until after Monday Dec. 2nd. When you check out use the coupon code: CYBER
Here's a link to my store: https://www.etsy.com/shop/RandomWish

Cyber Monday

Etsy Shop Link: https://www.etsy.com/shop/RandomWish

Cyber Monday is coming up, and I decided to join the crowd and offer a sale of my own. If you go to my Etsy shop, RandomWish, on December 2nd you can get 15% off your purchase. When you check out just use the coupon code: CYBER
If you have any questions let me know.

I've also decided to extend the free shipping until the end of the year. Call it an early Christmas present from me :)

And if you didn't know, my shop is mostly filled with steampunk and a sprinkling of randomness here and there.

Here's a few of my fav's :)

You can find all of these here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/RandomWish

Gamer Earrings

I love video games and couldn't resist turning my health and mana potion keychains into earrings.

You can find them in my Etsy shop, RanomWish, here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/169877592/health-and-mana-potion-earrings?ref=listing-shop-header-0

You can get them as two red health potions, two blue mana potions, or one of each. 

Etsy

The Holidays are quickly approaching. Before you spend precious time and gas running from store to store and fighting the crowds only to find the same selection of gift ideas everywhere you go why not spend at least a few moments visiting etsy.com

Etsy is an online marketplace made up of over 850,000 independently owned and operated shops that create and sell their own handmade jewelry, clothing, housewares and personal care items as well as unusual Vintage and Antique items.

By shopping with one of these independently owned artist shops from the comfort of your home you will not only find unique gift ideas but you will be helping a small business person this season.

What could be easier. Unless you take a few moments to look you will never know if the perfect gifts for the special people in your life could be found without ever leaving the house.

While your at it, take a look at my Etsy shop :) 
https://www.etsy.com/shop/RandomWish

More Bookmarks

Just finished making some more bookmarks, and I think it took longer to take photos and edit then it did to make them lol. Two of them are ribbon bookmarks, and the others are leather bookmarks. You can find them at my Etsy shop here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/RandomWish?section_id=14437257

I'm in a good mood and want to makes someone else's day brighter, so the next person to who buys anything in my shop gets free shipping!!

All you have to do is click " Apply shop coupon code" before you submit your order and type in SHIPPING1

I'm sorry, but this only applies to people in the United States. International shipping is crazy expensive. I can't afford to pay it myself...

New Bookmark

Here's my new bookmark :)
It's made of brown leather and imprinted with a gear pattern. At the top of the bookmark is a key cutout with two chains attached to it. A lock and gear dangle from the ends of the chains.
You can find it in my Etsy store here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/167419721/steampunk-leather-bookmark-brown-mini?ref=shop_home_active

Yesterday I just made my first purchase from Etsy! I figured if I was going to sell on Etsy I should support it as well. I found a craft supplier on  Etsy and planned to just get some ribbon clamps for making ribbon bookmarks (coming soon), but kept finding nifty things and ended up getting more. Here's a link to her shop if you need jewelry making supplies: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TreeChild1?ref=pr_shop_more

Bookworm

I just finished making some bookmarks, and this is my favorite so far :D I'll be adding more soon, so be sure to check back later. You can never have enough bookmarks.
This one is made of blue leather and imprinted with a gear pattern. I cut a keyhole at the top and added chains with charms on the end. I hope you like it :)

You can find it here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/167359222/steampunk-leather-bookmark-blue-mini?ref=shop_home_active

So much work..

I looked some of my older listings and realized how horrible their pictures were, so I've been redoing a ton of pictures for the past two days. When I took them I didn't have a camera, and had to use an iphone. They look so much better now, but it was a lot of work. I still need to take pictures for a few more of them, but at least everything has a good first picture. Here is a before and after for one of them.

Yikes I can't believe I had photos that bad O.o

Here's a few tips for taking photos of small items. 

1. On your camera there should be a setting for macro, super macro, or small objects. It depends on the type of camera you have, but make sure you have it set to something like that. It helps a lot.
2. Natural lighting is the best. If you can go outside to take pictures. If you can't go outside, try taking pictures next to a window. If you have to use indoor lighting try using a light bulb that gives off soft light. A good bulb to use for it is "Reveal" light bulbs from General Electric. You should be able to get them at Walmart.
3. If you have shaky hands get a small tripod. I got mine at Walmart. I don't remember how much it was, but it was pretty cheap. You can also set up a tripod and use the timer on your camera to take the picture for you. 
4. When setting up backgrounds you might consider using fabric and pinning it to a chair. You can get cheap scrap fabric from Walmart, Hobby Lobby, and most craft stores. It's a cheap way to get different background colors. If the fabric has too many creases, and you don't feel like breaking out the iron, crinkle up the fabric before you take the picture.  I did this for my steampunk cinderella jewelry, steampunk peter pan necklace, and my unlock my steampunk jewelry if you want to check it out.  If you want a plain white background you might consider making a light box. It diffuses the light so you don't get a shadow. 
5. Another thing that helps is editing your pictures a bit. I use photobucket.com. It helps to crop your photo, adjust the brightness, contrast, and sharpness a bit. You probably don't want to add borders. As you can see in the before picture it makes it rather messy. You can also want to make sure your photo's orientation is correct. On some photo's it will look like it is right side up because your photo viewer corrected it, but when you add it to other sites it will be wrong. You can fix this on photobucket as well. 

I hope this helps, and if you have any questions just leave a comment :) 

https://www.etsy.com/shop/RandomWish

Unlock My Steampunk

Yesterday I showed a sneak peak of this jewelry set. Here's the finished set. I hope you like it :)
I didn't get any suggestions about what to call it, but I came up with an idea this morning: Unlock My Steampunk.
https://www.etsy.com/listing/166901369/steampunk-jewelry-set-necklace-and

I really like working with leather, and I'm hoping to start doing painted leather pieces. I haven't found a good glaze for leather yet though. Not really sure what would work. 

Sneak Peak and Suggestions...

I'll be adding this necklace to my Etsy shop soon, but I'm not exactly sure what to call it...
Suggestions?

Steampunk Fairy Tale

I really enjoy making steampunk creations based off of fairy tales, and I just finished making this Steampunk Cinderella jewelry set. I hope you like it :)

Any suggestions for what fairy tale I should steampunk next? 

Christmas Is Sneaking Up On Me

I just realized that Christmas is right around the corner, and I haven't started making gifts yet.
I'm so glad that I started doing crafts, because it is definitely going to save me a pretty penny on gifts this year.

Here's an idea you might try:

Decorate a box:
My grandmother recently gave me a wood burning kit, so I plan on decorating a box using wood burning, paint, and mod podge. Wood burning might be a bit hard, but modge podge should be pretty simple. You can get a bottle of it at Walmart or a craft store like Michaels or Hobby Lobby. Pick a box and layer mod podge, colorful paper, and random findings until you have a design you like. You might also fill the box with something like dried flowers. Grandmothers love things like that.

I plan on doing something much bigger, but here's an  example of what you can do with Mod Podge.

Matchbox Drawer I use to ship my charms in. 

Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/RandomWish

Peter Pan

After I got the idea to make acorns yesterday, I got the idea to make a Peter Pan inspired necklace. The acorns represent the kiss he gave Wendy. If you like it you might check out my Wendy's thimble kiss necklace :)

Peter: https://www.etsy.com/listing/166261320/steampunk-fall-statement-necklace-peter?ref=listing-shop-header-0

Wendy: https://www.etsy.com/listing/163030379/industrial-seamstress-jewelry-set?ref=shop_home_feat

Acorns :D

So happy it's Fall!! And in celebration I made Fall inspired Steampunk jewelry today. Check back tomorrow to see how the rest of this necklace turned out :)

I got an idea to make acorns out of wooden beads and bead caps. Really cute and easy to do.

Take a nail head pin and thread a bead cap, wooden bead, another bead cap, and a seed bead if you want onto the pin. After you have everything you want on it, take your pliers and wrap the wire into a loop and keep wrapping until you get the look you want. I chose to wrap it under the seed bead because it made it look pretty nifty. It also looks better if the top bead cap is rounded. For the bottom bead cap I used one that looked like leaves.

Anyone else been getting ready for Fall with cute crafts?

Oops moment of the day..

Made a sale today, and then realized I had sent everything to make it back home with my husband. Oops.. On the bright side it means I get to go to Hobby Lobby tomorrow :)

What oops moments have you had recently, and were you able to find a bright side? 

I decided I really like these, so I spent the day making remaking them for myself. After that I made some more, so you can now buy them separately in my Etsy store: http://www.etsy.com/shop/RandomWish. 

I had wanted to work on making a steampunk alchemy necklace, but then I remembered I didn't have what I needed with me. Hoping to get that finished when I go back home in a few weeks though :) The physical therapists decided they can't help me anymore, so I'm off to learn Tia Chi O.o Wish me luck with that one..

.

I've been really liking dream catchers lately, and started making steampunk dream catchers.

This first one I made for a friend of mine. It's huge, so if I make one like this again I'll probably turn it into an actual dream catcher rather than calling it a keychain lol.

I also made some earrings that kind of match this last keychain, but never ended up taking a picture of them. I had been having a really good week and wanted to do something nice for someone, so I threw them in as a surprise :) 

http://www.etsy.com/shop/RandomWish

I felt like taking a small break from steampunk and created this :)
I had a lot of fun making this. The chain is handwoven, and I pressed the circle to give it a vine like texture.

 Don't worry though I've got tons of steampunk related things swimming around in my head :P

Just finished making this as a birthday present for someone's grandmother. I hope they like it :)

First blog ever O.O

First blog ever...Not sure where to start???

Sooooo...Look what I did :D

I got very sick a few years ago and am not able to work at the moment because of it. So recently I decided to open up a store on Etsy: http://www.etsy.com/shop/RandomWish

These are a few of the things in my store. Before last March I really hadn't done much crafting at all. I think I've done pretty well for myself considering :P I really love learning new crafts and hope to have all kinds of things in my store eventually :D