March is one of my favorite month's for a few reasons. The first one being that Spring is on its way! After sloshing around in the snow and rain we will soon have warm weather, and after the harsh winter we just had we are so totally looking forward to it!!! The other reason is St. Patrick's Day!!!!! Some of you may not know this but I am part Irish and love St. Patty's Day!!!!!!! My brother was born on St Patty's Day, so that makes it a double day of celebration.
When my brother and I were younger we would visit my grandmother often and she would take us out into an open field near her house where she would tell us to find and bring her four leaf clovers. We would look very hard and sometimes would find one or two which we would bring to her. She explained what each clover mean. One leaf represented hope, the other faith, the third love and the fourth luck! We were so excited when would find them and didn't mind searching for hours for them. The bracelet below was made in her honor.
The other thing I love about St. Patty's Day is wearing Green! Since I make jewelry this is never a problem. Here are a few other pieces in my Etsy store which help to capture the spirit of the season.
It has been a long time since I posted but I have been very busy! The holidays seemed to be a whirlwind! I was busy most of the time trying to keep my head above water as I completed all of the craft fairs I was scheduled to attend.
As I got toward the last one I decided I needed a long break! So I then just enjoyed the holiday time with the family! After Christmas though I got back into it because I decided I wanted to make additional items for my Etsy store. So at the present time I have 104 items in total! It feels more like a real store to me because there is so much variety! Please check it out at, https://www.etsy.com/shop/FeithHodgeCreations?ref=si_shop. I also added new sections, which includes seasonal items and tutorials as well as an anklet selection. As always I will be creating things with a variety of prices. The good thing is I'm always learning and trying things. During December I even posted an easy tutorial for a beaded ornament! It did well so I will be featuring it again come September for the next holiday season.
After Christmas I collected a lot of left over wrapping paper from family and friends to create more paper beads with! I made these beads with my new paper bead roller. I guess it is true what they say, "one man's trash is another man's treasure."
Some would view this as a bag of garbage....to me I just smile and know what pretty beads I can get from it!!!!
During the holidays I also purchased a new paper bead rolling tool. It was one of the best gifts I ever gave my self! I love the way it makes paper bead making easier!
This tool was purchased from https://www.etsy.com/shop/PaperBeadWorld. One of the things I love about it is that you can eject the beads off clean and easy from the tool. My beads seem to be more uniform and have been quicker and easier to make! See the video below on how to use it,
Like everything I needed a little practice, but once I got the hang of the new tool, I wondered how I ever used anything else! This particular roller is in 2 sizes. The 1/16 roller and the 1/8 roller which makes beads with bigger holes. I will be purchasing the other very soon.
So far I have been making a lot of beads with the wrapping paper I received. I even did an angel earring order for a friend which I will also be placing in my Etsy store.
beads made from that big bag of "trash" on the new roller! So uniform!
Used the new roller to make this cone shaped "dress" for my angel earring!
You can visit the paper bead jewelry section of my Etsy store to see what else I am up to with my paper beads at, https://www.etsy.com/shop/FeithHodgeCreations?section_id=13371888&ref=shopsection_leftnav_6.
I have so much to be thankful for this year! I am especially thankful for my health and the fact that I get to bead! To show my appreciation I would like to offer a 10 % discount to all for shopping in my Etsy store for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. If you use the code HOLIDAY1 in my Etsy shop at checkout, you will receive a 10% discount.
I don't know where the time has gone, but it is surely flying, and we are soon to enter the Christmas season! I know that I have been very busy, but I wanted to post this because I just completed my first Etsy bead tutorial! I love the season of Christmas! Especially here in New York, where we have the big tree in Rockefeller Center. It is usually topped by a large Swarovski crystal ornament! These ornaments which I created have Swarovski crystal as well, and are easy to make. Follow the link to purchase the pattern https://www.etsy.com/listing/168288028/simple-netted-christmas-ornament-cover.
It's the end of the year and now I have to get ready for the fall and Christmas fairs that I have coming up. This weekend on Sat, Sept 28, I will be in Plainview, New York at the Episcopal Church of St. Margaret. 10% of the profit from this fair goes to help local families in need. Please come out and join me for a good cause. The church is located at 1000 Washington Avenue in Plainview New York. You can find them at http://www.stmargaretepiscopal.org/
On Saturday, October 19th I return to Staten Island for the Fall Fair at the Reformed Church of Hugenot Park. This is my third time at the church. This church will have activities for kids of all ages and there will be tours of the church building which was founded in 1849! It is located at 5475 Amboy Rd, Staten Island, NY 10312. Visit their website at http://huguenotparkchurch.org/
I end with the 3rd annual Holiday Shopping Boutique in New Milford, NJ at the New Milford Public Library on Saturday, December 14. This is one week before Christmas...so stop by for your last minute holiday gifts and stocking stuffer's! The library is located at 200 Dahlia Avenue, New Milford, NJ. You can visit their website at http://newmilford.bccls.org/
I know it has been a long time since have submitted a blog post, but I spent this last summer recuperating from surgery. As some of you may know I was diagnosed a few years ago with a lupus like disorder, and as a result of that disorder ran into some complications with my lungs. This surgery was a result of those complications. A benign cyst was found on my left lung and something had to be done about it so that I would have less pain.
me, 1/2 an hour before surgery....sorry, no make up!
The combination of just trying to feel better saddled with lovely pain medications made this summer seem like a muddled blur. Sitting for long periods were not possible, so my bead work went on standby. All I could do was read my beading magazines and look over at my bead table, longing to make anything!
I realize during my recovery that creating with my hands was very important to me. After the third week I couldn't take it and began to use my knitting loom. Yes, you read correctly, my knitting loom. I started loom knitting with my daughter in the late spring. We had made plans to make beautiful hats and scarfs for the fall. Since the loom could be done while I was laying down it was the perfect craft for me until I could get back to my bead work. I started making socks, and hats and also a few fall poncho's. It became my new love!!!! That doesn't mean I'm abandoning bead work, it just means I am expanding my creative horizons!
Loom knitting in bed....literally.
It also made me think about my blog here and how I can expand my topics to bring more to you the reader. So I guess some creative good came out of my down time!
I am focusing now on getting back up and running! You can still find my jewelry at feithhodgecreations.etsy.com and I will be starting the craft show circuit here in NYC and New Jersey. So come back Wednesday and I will let you know a little bit more about my schedule.
