Now where did put my creativity juice?

So my faithful followers. I know I have been very remiss at posting anything on my blog since I finished my necklace project over a year ago. But I really have been busy (or at least that is what I tell myself). Since my last post I have created an Etsy page as well as a page on Goodsmiths. So there has been some productivity happening. Anyway, I am hoping that the motivation to be creative will come as I post my completed projects on here.  I just spent the last couple of hours cleaning out my office/ craft room and getting my crafting things organized.
One of my problems is that I am so eclectic when it come to projects. I love to crochet and make up patterns. I make jewelry that ranges from stringing, to wire wrapping, to bead weaving. I am trying to learn how to knit. I like to sew and have a lot of material I need to use. And I love paper crafts like book binding. I am pretty sure that if I had a garage and any sort of a yard I would be doing woodwork and re-purposing or redoing furniture.
My biggest problem right now is that I have so many things completed and I can't keep them all, my family and friends are pretty crafted out, and I can't seem to sell them. So I am in a creative slump because I just don't know what to do with my stuff. And on the subject of selling. I haven't really made much profit on my online stores and there aren't all that many craft shows in the area. Plus, I will not create a piece just because I think it will sell. My motto is if I wouldn't wear it or use it than I am not going to make it. That might be my biggest set back as someone who makes things to sell, but I just refuse to work like that because trends change so quickly that I wouldn't be able to keep up.
So my followers I will be trying to post my finished projects on this site and pray that I can find the motivation to continue to create.

Yes I started with a piece of jewelry because that is what I already have pictures of. This picture is actually pretty funny to me because you can see the reflection of me taking the picture. This is a created quartz disk on a rose gold chain. I have made a couple of these necklaces because I just think they are so simple and can work with a number of looks.

Necklace Project Day 76 + (to the end)

Alright so I have decided I just have way too much going on to be worrying about whether or not I have worn a necklace already or not. That and I have favorites for a reason and I want to get back to wearing them. So I went through my jewelry armoire and took picture of the rest of my necklaces. And since the point of this was to see how many necklaces I have and where I got them I figure I am accomplishing that by posting them. (I make the rules!!!) 

The first three necklaces I did wear this last week.

This picture definitely does not do this necklace justice. It is a beautiful strand of opal. I know if I wore it more often it would polish the stone and the opal would sparkle more, but it is a choker style necklace and the back gets caught in the little hairs at the back of my head so it is a little annoying if my hair is down. But I love this necklace because it is my birthstone. I also love because of who gave it to me. It was from my boss/friend from Silver City who has given me so many beautiful pieces and I think of her every time I wear it.

This was the first locket I bought when I got into the mood to buy lockets. I love the cameo on the front. The problem with lockets is finding pictures small enough to fit in them. And then since I am not married, who do I put in it? In this locket I have my sister's two oldest kids, but there are two more. They just need to come up with a way to make small digital picture frames that look like lockets and aren't too bulky.

This necklace is another example of how much I like opalite. I made this necklace to wear to my sister Anne's wedding. I made one for my Mom and my other sister (except she doesn't like opalite, nazi, so I put a simple pendent on her ribbon). I don't wear this necklace very often because it just doesn't work with too many of my shirts. I am thinking I might give it to one of my nieces because it is pretty and I know she will like it.

 This is one of those necklaces that I tend to find at the back of my jewelry box and I don't know why other than I just forget about it a lot. It is a small quartz spear with peyote stitching around it. I might skip over it a lot because I don't really have earring I feel goes with it. I know I could make some but I guess I am just not motivated to do it.

 This is another simple quartz spear without the bead work on it. I pretty much never wear this necklace and in fact am thinking of taking it apart or giving it away.

I have had this necklace since high school when Y necklaces were popular. I love the blue hearts but I just forget about his necklace when I am going through them to wear something with my blue shirts. I have  bracelet that goes with it and maybe one day I will make some earrings to go with it. Or it will stay at the back until I decide to take it apart. I might just take of some of the hearts and leave the pendant. I am not sure.

 I like this necklace because it is mostly all hemitite. And I love the turtle pendant. And ESPECIALLY LOVE the person who gave it to me. That would be my Edenton Momma in North Carolina. I just haven't had the chance to wear it because I forgot I had it (sorry Momma). So I am going to try really hard in the neck couple of weeks to find a reason to wear it.

I love the red of this necklace and the fact that the bigger stone are actually plastic so this really long string of beads isn't very heavy. But I haven't worn it in ages probably because I tend to choke myself whenever I wear it. And usually it ends up wrap around my wrist by the end of the day.

I think this is a necklace I actually gave to someone else and it ended up coming back to me. I gave it my sister, who then gave it to my brother, who then gave it to me. I wonder where it will end up eventually? I don't think I have ever worn it and I just don't know what I would wear it with. Hmmmm!

I made this necklace to imitate the red necklace I posted above. I used up the last of those blue beads that I had and quartz chips from a bracelet that broke. The same problems I have with the red necklace I have with this one because it ends up on my wrist by the end of the day. That or in my pocket because the quartz pokes into my skin.

Yes that is a bottle as pendant. My Mom made this necklace and I stole it from her years ago. It had a cork and glitter in it but the cork rotted and fell in after all the glitter fell out. I never wear it now but I love it because it is so pretty. Maybe some day I will figure out how to get the broken pieces of cork out of it and find a new cork to put in it.

I can't really remember where I got this necklace but it is really pretty and one of the only necklaces I have that has turquoise  This one even have turquoise chips which I hate. But the pendant is so pretty that it is almost worth it. The reason I haven't worn this necklace yet is because it catches the little hairs at the back of my head so I have to be wearing my hair up to wear it. That and I want to find some earrings to go with it.

 I bought this necklace because I like the pendant and it was cheap. But I have never worn it. I think I will probably take it apart and use the pieces for different projects. It is a pretty necklace though so maybe I will wear it at least once the way it is to see if I like it. But most likely it will be taken apart and turned into something else.

This necklace is almost exactly like the one I made for my sister's wedding only I used a green ribbon. I made this necklace years ago because I wanted a different necklace to wear on St. Patrick's day. Granted where I was working at the time I really didn't have much fear of being pinched but I always wear green on St. Patrick's day just to be on the safe side.

So that is it. That is all of my necklaces (I think). If I find one that I missed I will post it. I know I have some necklaces that I have made while I was doing this but I didn't want to keep them because I didn't want to have to write about them. But I am done, I feel so accomplished. Now to quit putting off homework to get this done.    :) Who knows maybe my next project will be (gasp) bracelets!  

Necklace Project Day 75

It seems when I do a whole lot of necklaces at once I have more to say or maybe I am just fooling myself that I am making a longer post. Oh well. I was talking to a friend the other day and explaining that I was on day 70 something for this project and she didn't believe I still had necklaces left to write about. It wasn't until I explained to her that I have a jewelry armoire that was pretty much full. That and she hasn't seem me repeat a necklace in weeks. I think I come by my jewelry obsession naturally because I am pretty sure if my Mom were to do this project it might take her longer. What is funny is neither one of my sisters really have a lot of jewelry. Or I guess I should say they don't have as much as my Mom or I have. 

I love this necklace. It is one very long strand of peach colored freshwater pearls. Not only is it a beautiful necklace I love that I bought it at and Asian market when I was visiting Hawaii in 2008. I also bought a ring there but I have lost some weight since then and the ring doesn't fit me so I gave it away. But the necklace will always fit me so I will probably always have it. I have looked at making earrings to go with it, but I just borrow the earrings that went with another necklace and they work perfect.

Necklace Project Days 68-74

I know I have been saying this for the last couple of week but I really think I am getting close to being finished with this project. And as I have been looking through the last dozen necklaces I have left there might be some that I just don't wear because I just never really cared for them or they are just not my style. Who knows, I could surprise myself and wear them all just to say I did. I know I am completely out of gold necklaces now. I think I only have about 4 more silver ones. Then a couple of beaded necklaces. The ones I am having the most problems figure out when to wear them are my ribbon necklaces. I think I will have to wear something with a collar with those.

So on to the necklaces I wore this week.

This necklace was really put together by accident. I had the chain for years but it was just so thick, long, and plain that I never wore it. In fact I used it as an extender for a prism I had hanging in my window for years. Then I bought this pendant at Michael's or Hobby Lobby. It is hollow with rhinestones on the inside with an intricate metal work over the top. It was such a bulky pendant that I felt like putting it on a slimmer chain would not have the right proportions and adding anything else to it would make it too busy. So the pendant sat in my bead draw for a while. Then one day I was just trying to clean out the stuff in my desk and remembered the thick chain I had been using in the window and boom, the necklace was created.

I got this necklace from my friend Stephanie this last Christmas. It is another one of those necklaces that I wouldn't normally chose for myself, but now that I have it I like it. It is long but very light because it is made of aluminum with plastic beads.

A few years ago I bought a subscription to a jewelry kit of the month club. It came with some tools I already had and a new piece of jewelry to make each month. I figured I might learn new techniques and come out with some new pieces. This is the only piece I made that I actually kept. I think I only completed one other, cancelled the subscription, and gave the other kit away.  The reason I kept this piece was because those are freshwater pearls and it was a different piece that I don't have many like it. I also like the earrings that go along with this necklace because they are long and fun to wear.

I love this necklace mainly because of who made it for me. My best friends mother made this for me while we were still in high school. She had taught herself how to make rosaries and wanted to make one for me but since I am not Catholic and wouldn't have much use for one so made me this necklace. This sweet lady lost her battle with breast cancer a few years ago and now this is a wonder reminder of how wonderful she was to me. I don't wear it very often because I need to add a couple of links to it. But I think once I get those added I will probably wear it a lot.

I cannot remember where or when I bought this necklace. It was probably some clearance item or I needed it for some outfit. My Mom asked me when I got it and I really couldn't think of where it was. I don't wear this one very often because it gets caught in my hair. But once I fix that I might wear it more.

I think this is the last necklace made with the net stitch that I have. I made it when I was in high school when I first learned how to do bead weaving. I made it with a tortuous shell patterned beads, which means different shades of brown that are put together randomly which is really hard for me because I don't do random well. I used to have a small glass pendant on this necklace be took it off because the necklace tends to twist around my neck so sometime the clasp ends up in the front and the pendant would be in the back. So I figured I didn't need it.

This is one of my best thrifty jewelry purchases. I bought this necklace and ring set at a yard sale for $5 for both. They are Avon and have lapis semi precious stone in the middle. Up until yesterday I didn't have earrings that would go with it. I would usually just wear some silver earrings. So yesterday I found that I had some lapis beads and made myself some simple earrings.

Necklace Project Days 62-67

It seems that the closer it gets to the end of the semester the further and further behind I am falling in a lot of things. My supervisor is so surprised when I tell her that yes I am still doing the necklace project. I haven't repeated a necklace yet, just skipped a couple of days wearing necklaces. Like this last Saturday, there was no need to wear a necklace because I slept all day. I participated in the UW Relay for Life on Friday and was up for over 24 hours, so I slept for most of Saturday. Then with Sunday being a day where I didn't need to dress up for church there was another day with no necklace. I am coming to the end of my necklaces I think so that will be good. Then I will probably only post on here when I remember or when I have made another piece of jewelry. We will see. SO on with the necklaces.

 I just made this necklace a couple of weeks ago when I had a small amount of time to work on jewelry. I really hadn't meant to wear any of them until after I was finished with this project. But it was the only necklace that matched the outfit I had for that day. SO I wore this. It is a lapis disk on a gold chain. I imitated a necklace that a friend of mine has. I actually made a couple necklaces like this with different gemstones.

 I am running out of simple silver necklaces so this is one of my last ones. It is a rose quartz dagger on a silver chain. I am sure either me or my Mom made this years ago and it is one of those necklaces that I have to remember I have in order to wear it. I might just take it apart or add to it one of these days.

 This is the last of my Avon set of necklaces. I don't wear it all that often because I don't usually wear heart necklaces. I don't know why.

 This was not four necklaces that I wore all at once. It is one necklace with different pendants and chains. I loved this idea when I bought the necklace especially since it had a locket. But the problem with this necklace is that it twists and knots up really bad. Plus, I have pictures of my niece and nephew in the locket, but I now have so many more nieces and nephews so I need a bigger locket.

 I think I originally bought this necklace so I could take it apart. The pendent is an imitation smoky quarts  which is really why I picked this up. And I figured I could make a simple pearl necklace with the golden freshwater pearls. I have not done that yet because I like to wear the necklace with some other earring that I have made to go with it.

This black necklace was an impulse buy because I wanted the earrings that went along with it. I haven't worn the necklace very often because it seems so intricate and a little fancier than the clothes that I have a tendency to wear. If the pendant had glass or crystals on it I might wear it more, but it is plastic. Which probably makes it lighter to wear. 

So I am getting close to being done. I could stop right now but I am determined to finish this project.

Necklace Project Days 52-61 (Technical Problems)

So I got pretty behind on this because I have been having problems with my computers. I am a dork and messed up my netbook's touch pad but pressing the disable function key. It took me a while to figure out what I had done. And my laptop has pretty much crashed. But I took pictures of every necklace that I wore. So here we go with the catch up. I had better be done soon because I do have to say that this project has messed up a couple of planned outfits because I didn't have a matching necklace left to wear.

 I love this necklace, which is one of the reasons I saved it for later in this project because I didn't want to go through all of my favorites at the beginning. I got this necklace for Christmas from my brother Shane. It is gold and diamond chips. I sometimes wear this as a double necklace with my other gold necklace but I wasn't going to with this project so I could stretch them out.

My Mom made this for me a while ago and since then I have made quite a few similar to this for other people. I haven't actually made another of these for myself I just realized. This sits just on the collar bone so I like the way it looks with pretty much all shirts.

I can't remember when I got this. I know I got this necklace and earring set from my Mom. I like butterflies and have had a few different pieces with them on. This necklace  gets touched quite a bit when I am wearing it because it tends to spin and get stuck on the other side.

I think I got this necklace from my brother Shane. It is rose quartz on a gold chain. This one is a pretty big crystal, about 2" long. I had forgotten I had this necklace for a while. I love rose quartz and I have a lot of beads that are rose quartz. I haven't made very many earrings or other jewelry with it. Hmm... might want to get on to that.

I have recently fallen in love with all thing Fossil. So this last summer I bought two Fossil bags and this necklace on clearance. It is a little flower that is simple and easy to wear with most anything. Now I just need to find some way to get more Fossil jewelry.

I bought this necklace on clearance at Macy's years ago. It is a 1920's brand necklace and one of my favorites. I love the delicate filagre and the green surrounding it.

This is another necklace I bought at Kmart for a couple bucks. And I get so many compliments on it. I have thought about trying to make earrings to match it but I usually just wear gold earrings with it. A few years after I bought this piece I actually found earrings at Kmart to match it.

Here is another Avon necklace I got when I bought the star necklace. It is just  simple gold cube on a gold chain. I like this  because I can wear it with pretty much anything. And figuring out what earrings to wear  too.

Yep, at is right this necklace looks like a bullet. I bought it on ebay and I had specifically searched for a bullet necklace. I get so many comments on  necklace because it is so unusual. But I also get asked a lot about where people can find her on.

is is part of the necklace that my Mom made me for junior prom way back in1998. There was a bracelet and earrings that go with it. I don't  the bracelet anymore, I think my Mom has it, but I do wear  earrings with this necklace. It is a hemitite ring with a melon shaped crystal in the middle. The other pieces look just like it.

Necklace Project Days 50 & 51

Yep got behind again but only by one day. I guess I shouldn't say that it is getting behind unless it is over three days since my last post. At least that is how I am going to spin it to make myself feel better.

It wasn't really hard to figure out what I was going to wear on Sunday which was St. Patrick's Day. This was the only green necklace I brought. Granted I didn't need to wear a green necklace since I was wearing a green shirt but I wanted to. This is another one of my net stitch necklaces. I think I still have two more to wear before I get done. This one is a longer one so it sits pretty low.

My Mom made this one for me a few years ago. It is made of freshwater pearls and garnets. It is on a gun metal colored chain. I don't have earrings that match and I have been meaning to make some but have just never got around to it. This one is a little hard to wear sometimes because it is a little too formal for most of my outfits but not really formal enough for some of my others.