Breakfast with santa at Johnson elementary!

I got the opportunity  to do a small craft show at Johnson elementary. Great crowd, good holiday fun!

My version of the rick rack rose necklace.

I love pinterest, love, love love... I used to search, on my own, through blog after blog after blog for inspiration, now, thanks to pinterest, I can be lazy in my searches. I found this tutorial, have to check pinterest for the actual site, but it was making roses with rick rack. Love it, pretty and cheap. The rick rack I bought was on sale (BONUS), 12 ft for 99 cents, awesome! I think it came out pretty good. Can't wait to try more colors.

Scarves

Since moving to college station, I haven't noticed much difference in the weather. Like houston, its has just been plain hot. Until today, it finally got to a high  of maybe 62. This made me wish I had scarves (spelling?) But why buy scarves when you can make them. I have been wanting to make this "infinity scarf" for years, today I hour off my but and made one in about 5 minutes. Love me some quick craft projects.

 This looks like fun! I will try this someday!

http://resinobsessionblog.blogspot.com/2010/08/sea-glass-tutorial.html#links

Woo hoo Thank you android phone!

So I finally have an android phone and with this great blogger app, maybe I can keep up with my blog. I have been making jewelry but this makes it one stop publishing. I can take a picture with my phone and post immediately. For example  I made this a while back but couldn't find a camera!

Getting back to Work

Ok, I have realized I need to stop sleeping. I now have an 8-5 job that to be honest, I love. Its hectic and crazy but I love it. But thats is also part of the problem. I have two kids in school, a job and a house to keep in one piece. This is a problem only because I have begun to neglect my craft. I haven't really made any thing in a really long time. Not having time to work on my jewelry is making me upset to be honest. But I have several things working for me right now. Its labor day weekend and I have time to work. Plus a friend of mine wants to get into the world of craft fairs, so we are signing up for one in october. This is going to force me to get my butt in gear. Anyway, I am going to be working on a line. I have a few designs I have made over the years that are completely replicatable in different colors and beads. This is my focus right now. Plus I am going to be working with my resin, polymer clay, and silver clay. Below is a picture of what I am working on right now

I will finish this and more pieces this weekend. I will organize the stock I have and prepare for the show ahead.

Silly Quiz!

I love this!

You are The Moon

Hope, expectation, Bright promises.

The Moon is a card of magic and mystery - when prominent you know that nothing is as it seems, particularly when it concerns relationships. All logic is thrown out the window.

The Moon is all about visions and illusions, madness, genius and poetry. This is a card that has to do with sleep, and so with both dreams and nightmares. It is a scary card in that it warns that there might be hidden enemies, tricks and falsehoods. But it should also be remembered that this is a card of great creativity, of powerful magic, primal feelings and intuition. You may be going through a time of emotional and mental trial; if you have any past mental problems, you must be vigilant in taking your medication but avoid drugs or alcohol, as abuse of either will cause them irreparable damage. This time however, can also result in great creativity, psychic powers, visions and insight. You can and should trust your intuition.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

I Love to Create - Easter Egg Mosaic Earrings

I Love to Create - Easter Egg Mosaic Earrings Love this!! and I probable have everything for them in my house now! I alway get excited when I find a project that I can do with stuff I already have. I hate when I have to go in search of materials.

New Sites for tutorials.

I am constantly searching and researching websites for tutorials, inspiration, free stuff, free tips, if it has to do with art, jewelry, metalsmithing, I will find it, and usually find it free...So, I figured I should list some of the sites and information I find, not only to help others but so I have them written down somewhere. I have four kids and a house to keep up, I am lucky if I remember my name, my real name, not MOM!! Anyway, here are a list of Great sites I found::

1. http://www.beaducation.com/ - This site has free and paid tutorials for every thing from beading, to metalsmithing, to polymer clay. Very informative.
2. http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2006/06/how_to_get_traf.html - I really want to make my blog something people actually look for and use and READ!!! I have been looking for ways to drive people to my blog. This is a great and loooonnnnggg list of things to do to do just that!
3. http://www.craftgossip.com/ - I love this site. It has something for every craft enthusiast. They share blogs based on specific types of crafts by that I mean they are well catagorized. There are templates, tutorials, contest....
4. http://www.cutoutandkeep.net/ - I found this site years ago when I started getting back into crafts. Lots to look at, you set up your own profile, you can post projects you finished, tutorials with pictures or video (I have one search for me, Groovymama!!!) , inspration from other blogs they have found, learn about Crafty superstars out in the world, etc. I could spend hours on this site if I wanted to, there is soooo much to see!!
5. http://naughtysecretaryclub.blogspot.com/ - I think I have a craft crush on Jennifer Perkins. I want to be like her when I grow up. wink wink. She has great style and and great spirit. I like to look at her stuff for inspiration, she does everything and she is a texas local. She is in Austin. Someday, I will meet and pick her brain. (did that sound stalker-ish?)

Thats what I have for today. I will be posting great sites anytime I find them. If you find some you like, send them to me or comment below about it. I looooovvvvveee finding a diamond in the rough of the internet!!!

Up-cycled corner shelf, my new piece of furniture! But still need ideas!!

So, My husband found this by the side of the road near our house, Off of Caudill and Haines, in College Station, TX.

This is one of the great things I have discovered about College Station. People throw out good stuff that just needs a cleaning and a little paint and maybe some imagination. So. Fred brought it home and pressure washed it. and I sat around looking at it for two days, trying to figure out what to do to it. Honestly, I still haven't or at least it is not finished. So here are pictures of the process.

 This is when I first got it in the garage.  

First Coat!!!!

This is it in my house.

Now comes the dilemma, what do I do to it now! I am torn between decoupaging pictures and stencilling cool designs on it in black. Leave a comment with your ideas!

My Etsy shop

I started to realize that I don't know if I have ever posted about my etsy shop. So, My etsy shop is lesliemarquezdesigns.etsy.com. there is also a link below...

First Tutorial: How to make Simple Loops to make links and a Great Bracelet!

OK, I am finally going to make a tutorial. I got a hankering today to do something and stop procrastinating and here we are. OK, I have a "studio" set up in my garage, but with four children, I am lucky to get out there, so my studio comes inside sometimes. You can see my set up below!

Now, with my trusty sidekick beside me (that's my baby girl, Nevin)...

...I can begin

This is a tutorial to teach you basic beading and wire techniques to make a simple and elegant bracelet and necklace. Everything you need can be bought at your local craft store, hobby lobby, Michael's for example. These are tools and supplies everyone needs if you are going to be getting into jewelry. So if you are going to pursue this, know this, You get what you pay for. Get the good pliers, and good beads. Don't think just because they are on sale that it is a good deal. I had to learn the hard way!!!

Supplies:

1)  I used scrap wire that I have but it is best to start with a head pin if your a beginner. You can also use 20 gauge silver wire.  

2) Beads (doesn't really matter what kind, but it can't be bigger than the head pin.

3) Tools: Round Nose Pliers and Needle nose pliers.

4) If you want to make a bracelet or necklace with the final product,  you will need closure of some kind, I use a toggle clasp.

Instructions:

1) Grab a good size of scrap wire, if you have a headpin, you can go ahead and add the bead and work on closing the one side, if you have wire, cut about an 1 1/2 inches of wire.

2) Using your needle nose pliers, grab the wire about 1/4 of an inch from the edge and bend to a 90 degree angle.

It should look like this!

3) Grab the end of the wire with your round nose pliers and turn to create a loop. Here's a tip: make sure you use the tip of the pliers if you want a small loop. You can move down the pliers to create a bigger loop. I have done it before on a few pieces and it gave the piece some personality!



It should look like this. Sorry if it is hard to see!

4) Next, add the bead and, using the bead for leverage, bend the wire at a 90 degree angle again and loop it as you did before. 

Tip: No matter what you are using, it is likely that you will need to trim down the other side to make the loops the same size. Just use your flush wire cutters to snip it down to about 1/4 inch, but be careful, if you cut to much and its too short, you will have to chunk that one and start over on that particular link.

5) Finishing up: When you have finished the first link, it should look like this. Here is a tip, if the loops are not lined up, grab your needle nose and round nose pliers, grab both ends and twist until they are lined up. I have to remember to do this all the time, or the piece doesn't lay right.



To create a bracelet or necklace, open the links by using your needle nose pliers to grab the end of the loop and pull towards you. Don't try to undo the loops, it won't work and it just makes it look horrible.

6) add another link and close up the link the same way you opened it. Keep adding links and it will start to look like this.

7) Once you have it long enough to cover your wrist or neck, whatever the case, add a clasp to the end of the links, same way you did with all the other links and your done. a Beautiful piece of jewelry and you made it yourself!

This technique an be applied to all manner of beads. You can mix the beads, mix up the colors, the possibilities are endless... If you try this at home, I would love to see it. Send a pic to lesliemarquezdesigns@gmail.com. Hope you like it. I am going to embellish on this tutorial to show how you can take this to the next step but we will see if I have time for this this week. Happy Jewelry peeps!

Try these books if you want more info:

Started going through this book last night and created a set of earrings using one of the projects. It came out pretty good. I will post pictures and how I did it, because, as usual, I tweaked it to my style, color and supplies I had on hand! Great book though. It showed lots of different projects that were different but easy to manipulate and do myself. I don't and never have learned how to do anything  by reading about it. I am more of a hands on kind of girl and I am impatient and I tend to not actually read the instruction but go by the pictures, bad, I know, but this book had really good pictures that alone show you step by step how to do these projects!

Welcome to Leslie Marquez Designs Blog.

Welcome to my new blog. I will be posting tutorials, how to's, pictures of my latest challenges, contests and more. I can't say how often I will post how to's as I have four children under the age of 6. I might have one once a week, I might do a weeks worth of a certain type of jewelry making or accessories, you never know. So, Check back often. I will also post other tutorials I find that I think are neat or helpful. I love the internet, so much inspiration at your fingertips!!

I have been crafting since I can remember. I can remember helping my mom make those wonderful glittered, painted, flowery, shoulder padded t-shirts (tied at the bottom corner) back in the 80's(I will find a picture).  I have made everything from candles to purses to record bowls to jewelry. You name it, I have probably made it. I am the woman walking around the mall saying "I can make that" and I probably went home and figured out how to make it. Recently, I have discovered I have a real talent for jewelry making, I love it, it keeps me sane (I did say I have four kids), and there are so many aspects to it, I never get bored. I get to do what I love and make a decent living at it! I want to show everyone how easy it is to make jewelry.  I sell a lot of my jewelry and accessories at arts and craft fairs, but I want to expand that to the internet. Having said that, I will say that seeing people walk up, talk to me, tell me what they think, and walk away with a smile after purchasing something is the greatest thing imaginable. I have done sales in past and I used to think the rush from making a sale could not be beat, but I was wrong, when it is something you put your heart into and it makes someone else happy, that is even better!!!

Currently, I have been working with polymer clay. It is a very under rated medium for jewelry or any craft project. I love it, it is so versatile and inexpensive. My goal is to work so much with the clay that when I get to Silver Art Clay (to be explained later) I will be such a whiz that it won't spook me. OK, Silver art clay is a soft clay that can be molded like any other clay, but when fired with a torch, reveals a 99.9 % silver piece. I have some and am so excited but polymer clay first, mainly due to the cost of silver clay vs. polymer. Can't wait to show you whats coming!

I do a lot of work with a lot of gemstones. They come in delicious colors and come in such a variety of different shapes and sizes that I couldn't work with cheap beads anymore! I have sooooo many beads I have run out of places to put them.  I recently moved to Bryan/College Station, so my studio is not together yet. I will post pictures! I also do custom work so if you need jewelry for a wedding or even your favorite outfit, lets talk and design something special and unique for you! 

Check out my other sites:
Etsy: lesliemarquezdesigns.etsy.com
Facebook : http://www.facebook.com/pages/Leslie-Marquez-Designs/173282952708483
Thanks!