Finding new beads

I like finding new shaped beads.  Maybe I may miss ones that are already available.  I have a few components that I want to turn into earrings:

Shells are always a good purchase, in my book, especially if I like the iridescence.  I also found heartshape beads that I never saw before:

They are just right: not too big, not too small.  There is no motif on them.  I am not sure that I will buy more but they will certainly will end up on a project or two one day.  I like it more when it is in the silver colour!

Necklaces and wrist cuffs

I made a few quick projects with fimo beads.  It result in this:

There is only some glue to secure the knots and snips the extra macrame cords and it will be looking professional.  Well, except the one with the black and yellow beads.  For that one, there is fishing lines and there is no need for glue.  I am pleased with the silver and red rings.  I find the way I put them on the strings show the most of those rings.

Shopping and a comment

I got some shopping.  Sometimes, at the store, as I browse, I can't stop thinking on some comments.  For example, as I was browsing in the jewelry part, I couldn't think there was some components that were too big for my taste:

Sometimes, there are components that are way too big.  I am not a fan of blings.  I would have expected to have blings just in gold but it is not the case.   If I buy one of these, it will be more used as a focal point in a necklace, no other beads and with a chain that isn't too long.  I would like to set that component to shine by itself.  Maybe some coloured seed beads just to add some colour surrounding those components.  I just won't go over the board with those components.  It just to make something different without feeling overcharged.  It is all a matter of taste.  Maybe I have too simple taste...

I didn't bought much but here what I had purchased:

Those are heart shaped beads.  It just the perfect size.  I can put them with some round beads, it would look great.  I also can put them with some chips made of gemstones.  Of course, they are now part of my bead collection.

Embroidery Hat

I made two baseball cap with embroidery.  The first one is of a cat:

The longest part was the white.  The rest was more quick to make.  The second one, my intention was to make an sheep.  It look more like a dog:

Well, it is not the first time this happen to me.  In the past, I made an ring with a wolf on it but the wolf look like more like an bear with a tail.  It is bad enough that I have lost that ring.  I liked it very much

Earrings

I got some practice for some earring with the above photos.  It will probably the last time I will use those beads.  It was a good warming up for the kit I had purchased at the dollar store:

The result was this:

There was some leftover:

It was time consuming.  Especially those at at the bottom.  Preparing the right lenght of chains was the longest to make.  It will be useful in inspiring me in the future.  It is not my style to do elaborate earrings.  If I find the right components, it may changes a little.  It may open the possibily in getting a step further in doing earrings.

Making an experiment with coulored crayons

Here are coulored pens I have:

I also have also some prismacolors in a transparent pack:

It is nice and compact.  I just miss the old ones with the cardboard, with the same concept.  The cardboard ones had more crayons.  I just have to get used to this new packaging,  I don't know how long it will take.  I used all those crayons with the graph paper:

I love the result!  I may not use all the crayons as above.  I am thinking more taking one set and play with the coulors.

Update sock making and mint/shalots

I am not a fast loom worker.  So, the sock making loom is a labor of time.  On a good note: I finished the ribbing.  I am now in the part where all the stitches are the same, so it is going a little bit faster.  I find it easier too:

So, I am having some lenght under the loom!
On another note, my mint didn't survived my not  green thumb.  The other two fine herbs are faring better:

Norman Rockwell biography

I finished Norman Rockwell biography by Deborah Solomon:

It was a long read.  He lived a long life, after all.  It was just sad to read the last chapter on the last few years of his life.  What I liked on reading the book: it put his body of work into context.  It also put a chronology of his paintings.  I never had a clue on what painting came before another.

As I was nearing the end, just after the part with his therapist Erik Erikson, I stumbled into this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgX_bGQVM9k&list=LLz_Bv37rodzi6Fr63xUADww&index=25&t=0s  It is on the Youtube channel for the Norman Rockwell Museum.  They spoke of Norman Rockwell and Erik Erikson.  It was a nice synchronicity.

I found two videos that I put aside to listen later:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1jOOhp4OLw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mtQK77JoRw

Even if it took a long time to make his painting, he needed deadlines, he painted to nearly to the end.  He had left a big body of work.  I now see that he was dedicated to his work.  I haven't grasped how long he lived before reading this book.  I learned a lot even if the book seems to be an overview of his life.    Before reading the book, I didn't knew much of his life.  Now, I know more and appreciate even moe his body of work.

What I found while shopping!

I found something new while shopping:

These are weaving sticks.  It got my attention, particuliarly my curiosity.  I am curious on how to use them.  There isn't much information on how to use them on the packaging.  I will have to open them to get the instruction.  I find the pictures on the packaging a bit non explaining.  I wonder how to use them because there is no sense on how to use them.  I just hope the instruction will be a bit more like solving a mystery.

I just hope it won't be a waiste of time or a waiste of interest.  I have a particuliar type of yarn for this kit.  I don't know if I will like it yet.  It is as everything I tried before: it is unknown if it will be a success until I try it.

Sock loom, a slow start!

Here, above, is the little I was able to make.  It is definitively a slow start.  I have to do ribbing at the beginning, for a 1 1/2 inch.  I have not finished that part, obviously.  I am getting there slowling.  I have to take the knap for the alternative stitching.  Well, it must go with the practice, I guess.  At least, I know how to make the ribbing now.

Once this is done, I will probably will go a little bit faster because I won't do any ribbing and all the stitches will be the same.  It will be easy and easy sailing until the heel part.  I hope it will be headache free for the heel part.  It is the part that worry me more than the ribbing.  The ribbing is more about getting used to making the stitches.  The heel, I never done it before, so it is a big unknown.  I will have to follow the instruction closely, step by step...

Liquid soap making,labels and nothing useful!

I found a way to make liquid soap with a bar of solid soap:
https://www.thesprucecrafts.com/liquid-hand-soap-recipe-1388706?utm_campaign=artcraftsl&utm_medium=email&utm_source=cn_nl&utm_content=17380874&utm_term=list_gl_dt_crafts-default  Now, I know what I was doing wrong with the tries I had before!  It is an interested project to try but I wonder how liquid soap are made.  It would be something interesting to try.  On the other hand, doing weighting is not my forte.  I always feel rushed to do it and mix everything.

I also found a article on how to read label: https://www.byrdie.com/skincare-ingredient-labels.  There is also the no brainer of pest control: https://www.thespruce.com/preventing-bugs-and-pests-1900371?utm_campaign=househomesl&utm_medium=email&utm_source=cn_nl&utm_content=17310255&utm_term=list_gl_dt_crafts-default.  The first is really useful.  The second one is a no brainer because of common sense.  A clean home always help in getting the bug away.  Not totally full proof but it help anyway.

Is there a thread in all this?  Not really.  It is just a few disconnected titbits that I found while browsing.  Yeah, I like browsing and it can go in all direction.

Setting a spirograph station

I found some cork boards to use with the spirograph kit I have:

I even was able to put pins to stabilized the rings.  They weren't that strong.  Time to find better ones.  There is also the pen that I choose wiser.  Here are the results:

So, I still have to work on that.  Some minor tweaks.  Well, I never been the best one doing spirograph but I am ready to work on it.  I want to be able to do it whatever circle I choose to do.

Trees theme

I tried to capture a moment.  It is a nearby tree.  It was a moment where the tree seems to be a bit tired and there was rain.  I am also trying to take a picture of birds in this tree:

I haven't been much sucessful, in my opinion.  It would be a reason to add up to get another lens.  It is time and occasion where I would be able to focus more on my subjects.  It wasn't my first intention to get up close and personal but now, I start to feel more the urge to do so.  Time to focus!

It is a start--Sock making

I just have started to make an sock with the sock making loom.  I didn't took a photo of where I am at because I haven't made much.  But I photographed the content of the kit and the yarn I am using for the socks:

There is instruction to make the socks.  It is good because I have no idea how to do it.  As for any instruction, better go one step at a time: read one step and then do it then repeat.  I don't know if it will end up right.  It is me: I may worry while I do something for the first time.  I am not sure of myself in those moments.  It will be a bit easier for the second sock, I guess.  It is want happen usually.