Last weekend for holiday shopping

Okay, last call friends! The W Jewelry Designs holiday shop will be closing after this weekend. Call to make your appointment now! 717-371-3726 or e-mail me at meleenia@aol.com.

OOPS

Oh how silly, for those of you who received an e-mail from me about my open house, I messed up the dates. Please refer to the post below. I'm such a goober and have been so tired, I really shouldn't have tried to send out e-mails after a big show last weekend until I had fully recovered.
So the dates are November 16-18, not 17-19. Duh me!

W Jewelry Designs - Open House

Open House and Holiday Sale!

Friday November 16 4-9 PM spend Happy Hour with Dianne Miller

and her newest jewelry designs with a wine and cheese reception.

Saturday and Sunday November 17-18 12-5 PM, shop for Holiday gifts

for yourself or others, hot drinks and sweets will be served.

Anytime up until December 15th - call for your very own private

jewelry show and shopping appointment.

Guarantee yourself no crowds and plenty of parking.

Directions and details at the web site - http://www.capitalwjewelry.com/

or e-mail meleenia@aol.com

I live in Leola, Pennsylvania, just east of the city of Lancaster.

W Jewelry Designs - Latest Show Update

Oh my, so much to tell, so little time -

#1 To those who I have told about the Conestoga Valley Community Center Great Escape for Women night on November 10th, I have just been sadly informed that this event has been cancelled.

#2 Now I really don't know what to do about my open house, I will be moving it from the first week of December to either Thanksgiving weekend or the weekend before. Does anyone have a preference? Feel free to post here.

#3 I've been doing some really cool wire work lately, I'm also working on some items that will be available for special order.

#4 If anyone has any November or December events that they know about that would like to have me as a vendor - please let me know. The first weekend in November is taken as I will be in Philadelphia at the Unitarian Society of Germantown's festival of the Arts.

#5 I am now set up to do trunk shows in your home with you and your friends, at your place of business or at bridal salons, fashion boutiques, etc. Call for an appointment. There are rewards for such an arrangement! Does free jewelry interest you?

Feel free to e-mail me at meleenia@aol.com or call at 717-371-3726.

Animal Photo Shoot

Some photos I did for an animal photo swap on swap-bot
Top to bottom
an Amish workhorse team
the cutest hairless rat I've ever seen
a nest of robins
Howie, my SIL's Conure
a sweet cow face.

I really credit Swap-bot for reawakening my love of photography.

More workshop from Bernie Berlin

The first is the stencil technique. First problem, didn't really have any stencils. So, I found some mesh, and used that in a couple of colors for the background, then i had a heart stencil that I used on the top. Surprisingly simple and loved the effect of layering the stencils.

Next is the inky papers. Well, I love layering papers. I did a whole cardstock sheet and then cut it up into ATC size. More bang for the buck and i'm all over that. Next with the glazing, i just mixed acrylics in with gel medium. Then some ink and whala! Add some images, stamp some keys, add a few letter and fiber -and you're done. This technique was right up my alley.

Next, the leafing pen resist. I (and my son) tried several different pens. For me, the paint pens, the sharpies and a fiskars pen in metallic did not work. Had to use the leafing pen. But, some of the pens sort of worked and had they been new may have worked better. That being said, I drew some swirls added the watercolor paint and stamped the dragonflies. I loved this. My son who is seven had very good results with this technique too. Cool technique for you AND the kids! what more could you want. My son always wants his cards to look as good as mine and may i say, his (with more vibrant color choices) were really cool.

I will do some more cards like this for sure.

One techie note - it seemed that the resist did not work too well the wetter you get your paper, and i tend to work really wet with watercolors. Note to self, dry off the brush a little!

Painted Paper Towel Examples

Painted Paper Towel Examples from Bernie's ATC Workshop

For the paper towel i did both the Lumiere paints and the Watercolor Mists (on different towels, this example is with the mists). The metallic watercolor mists did not have enough color alone to color anything, but it was nice to add a sheen on top. I really liked them on the paper towels because they didn't get as bulky to collage with my gel medium. I brought in some c-fold towels from work and redid the lumiere paints and liked it on those towels a lot better.

For the intuitive watercolor on my last post i used my twinking H2O's just cause they get kinda neglected in a lower corner of a cabinet. So they have a sheen you can't see as well.

ATC Workshop

I am participating in the ATC Workshop based on Bernie Berlin's Book. These are some of the results.

These are "intuitive watercolors." Basically you "find" the picture." I'm not really sure I like them all that much, just not my cuppa tea. I do really like the purple and red lady though.

These are more backgrounds - baby wipes spritzed with watercolor

sprays.

I like these and can't wait to turn them into cards.

Next we have a paper towel painted with lumiere paints, which, by the way, if you're looking for them, i found them at AC Moore with the FABRIC paints and TYE DYE, why the heck they are there, i have no clue!

Queen Street Block Party Info

Update: I will be near Art and Glassworks, East side of the street, 319 N. Queen Street. Stop by and say "hi."

Queen Street Block Party

Hey everyone - I will have a tent at the Queen Street Block party next Sunday, June 3, 11AM to 6PM selling my jewelry. The bike race is that day too! Double your fun! All the stores will be open and there will be other crafters and artists. Promises to be a great time. Hope you'll stop by!
Location - Downtown - Queen Street - Lancaster PA.
For more information go to W Jewelry Designs web site - over in the link section, in the right sidebar.

May ATC Technique
This is the first ATC technique I ever tried. I can’t find the link, so I can’t credit the originator.

Materials needed
Acrylic paint, 3 colors
A playing card for a base
a page from a book, dictionary – any text will do
a rubber stamp - focal image

rubber stamp - background text or script
black pigment ink
a cosmetic sponge

Directions: Smush your acrylic paint on your playing card, lightest to darkest in this manner – lightest in the center, darker on left, darkest on right, don’t clean the sponge in between and don’t worry if the card shows through. Add paint till you’re happy with it. Feel free to blend paint together over each other or whatever. Let dry.
Add a piece of text from the dictionary, book or even a phone book to the left side, angled up toward the right. Use a glue stick or whatever your favorite adhesive is.

Add text to the right side, angled up toward the left

you may want to add a background text stamp here in a subtle color, or maybe a metallic

Ink up your focal stamp and stamp slightly above center and to the right or left
Let dry and add some decorative tissue paper, vellum or napkins work great too.
Add more text if you feel like it needs it.
Embellish with a charm or fiber.
Feel free to experiment and substitute different materials, put the text in a different place, use an image instead of rubber stamping one. Post about your difficulties and successes, your experiments and your ideas. This is a starting place. Have fun.

Pages from an altered book round robin through swap bot. the theme of this book is neverwhere. A place where fantasy meets reality, but my fantasy is reality. This is where my soul lives even though i visit just a few times a year. Cape May, NJ. The two pictures on the left are the left hand page with a pocket for an atc with it in place and removed.

Flicker Site -
Recently I started a Flicker site so I could share my photos. You can access it here. I have pictures from the stamp show and pictures of my jewelry. I also hope to get pictures of my ATC's for trade.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7842485@N05/

My sil and i went to a stamp show yesterday and picked up some more rubber stamps - like we need them but oh well. We also picked up some new techniques that i am excited to share. Will take me some time to get it all worked out, so stay tuned!
Dianne

New Work by Dianne -

new collage pins, this is the first of two sets, the other will be more vintage inspired, this was more asian inspired. I used japanese washi paper as backgrounds.

Some more new jewelry pieces that I finally had time to take pictures of . . .

Here is a full doodle page that has been cut up into ATC's and sent to various people from Maine to Washington State to Belgium.

new jewelry

Bead surrounded and encased cabachons with spiral weave strap. These are 3 out of 4 new pieces. My goal this year is to complete 4 new pieces per month. This month's were especially elaborate, with the fourth beaded on leather measuring 4x6 inches (approx.) The strap is not finished. February i plan to do less time intensive but still quite striking strung pieces using ceramic focals.

My latest idea, compliments of a swap-bot swap. I think it's a good idea to make an inspiration box. A box you can put things into that could inspire you in times of idea famine or just to get you thinking "outside" the box. Here's a list of things you could put in it:
foreign coins
vintage or really cool buttons
hand made or textured paper
any kind of fibers,
a couple of pages from a dictionary or paperback
watch parts
an earring that's missing it's mate
vintage photos
vintage or unusual beads
something shiny you found on the street (that's clean, i hope,)
fortune from a fortune cookie,
poem that you found in a book that spoke to you or a copy of your favorite poem
pen in an unusual color or form
pencil with a pattern on it
A photo of your summer vacation, a sunset, a sunrise or a rock that you found interesting
A story from your newspaper
dried flower or some seeds
ticket from a movie or concert or play or any event
matchbox or pack from a local restaurant
memo pad with a picture on the front
lucky penny
brochure from your town or any flyer that has pictures on it
something from your "junk" drawer
something you found in your father's desk drawer (my dad had political pins in his, i will have to ask if he still has them, it'd be nice to scan and use on ATC's for ephemera)
balloon
that thing that keeps floating around your house cause you don't know where to put it
magazine article
something from your sewing box
an advertisement for a piece of jewelry you could never afford but is breathtaking
one of those kid's erasers in a fun shape, like sponge bob or something
something out of a gumball machine

feel free to post your ideas and i'll add them. This article/post is copyrighted, this article may not be reprinted without permission, so please ask before you post it to your web site, I'll probably say yes if you give me credit and I would be happy to create a link to drive traffic to your site.

I will be posting a picture of my box and its contents when i finish it.

one more set of new asian cards

What a wonderful world is no longer available as above, but i have another with a different charm
More new cards, just name them yourself when you e-mail me, by the word on the card or colors, or placement on the page.

New Cards for trade. E-mail me if you're interested Purple Dancer
Orange/red dancer - traded
Pear on Red/blue background

Pear on Orange/red
Cape May Cabanas