Fun Swag Crafts…

soooo … I have been doing a Blog Block Party with RRBC (Rave Reviews Book Club)… great post by bloggers, authors, and all manner of peeps… and I wanted to offer something new as a prize this time… over course I have some of my bracelets and earrings to pick from, but I wanted to add some new fun swag…

I broke out my tools, added some keychain rings and some chain…. and wha-la…

so far I have five keychains with various charms… I just need to add sayings in the bottle cap charms…

so that has been my art project this month… if you guys want a chance to win a keychain or bracelet/earrings, I am scheduled as one of the stops on the RRBC block party on the 29th, over at my book blog Finder’s Keepers Series … I will have a character interview with Marin from my Finder’s Keepers Series… Makayla (also from the books) did an interview on the 5th over on my author site Finder’s Keepers – Author Tracey Clark …

but I’m not the only one will cool prizes and posts… check out the RRBC Block Party line up… there are stops every day this month… alright guys… that’s all for now…

Best Earrings Yet…

these things are sooooo dang cute… by far, my faves…. they have a hoop of beads with a dangly flower in the middle… mom suggest I do this with some of the baby bling… I immediately pictured one of the strollers dangling in the middle… like  rock-a-bye baby earrings… 😛

most of ya have probably seen what I needed to make these earrings, but I thought I would throw it in here again for anyone new dropping by… you need wire (not too soft), wire cutters and rounded pliers, charms & beads, and the post of your choice… woo who…

see ya later guys, tracey

more ear bling :P

I am loving these dangly earrings with charms… they are adorable… now the piece I was working on that was more complex…. welllll… I have dismantled it… lol… I was too heavy, and that was when I was halfway through…

I thought that if they felt too heavy, in my hand, they would kill a person’s ears… I think I will either turn the charm (a splitter like thing so you can have three things/charms/beads hanging from the charm) into a cute pendant for a necklace, or a different type of design… I thought of a different way to use it in an earring design that might not be so heavy…

I really hope my new earring design isn’t too heavy… in my head, it looks really cute… lol… we’ll see when I finally get it put together… fingers crossed…

okay… later guys… tracey

Soothing Creations

I love for my beads to have that marbled look… it opens up the possibilities to mix them with both light and dark colors… each bracelet I make has some element that speaks to me… if it looks cheap or boring to me, why in the heck would I expect someone to buy it… I wouldn’t… and if I wont wear it, and no one else is picking up for a gift or for themselves, then I am just wasting my time…

always makes something that you love… I know that everyone has differing likes and dislikes, but I can only make what appeals to me on some level… it’s like a chef… if they love food, they want it to taste delicious, and their best dish will be something they have been making over and over again for themselves… know what you like, try to branch out, and always try new things… in the end you will make something that you and everyone else will love…

keep it simple, mix and match, add some connector and decorative items… playing with your beads can be stressful or soothing, hopefully more soothing than anything else… make sure you have enough light to work by, cause low lighting makes those tiny holes a pain in the arse to get your elastic string through…

have fun, and create … later guys, tracey

Preggo Bling… :P

I am still working on (@$#^%^@W%#$ – its a secret… muhahaha) but I wanted my cuz Erin to have some Preggo Bling so I came up with these… there are some really cute baby charms out there… but these are two of my faves…

if you look hard enough, and price shop, you can find just about anything … I tend to get sucked in, with no hope of ever stopping, when I start searching for charms… lol…

okay… this is a short one… check out the Ear-ring post to see how I made these… it is easy if you have patience and a steady hand… two things I usually have trouble with… later guys… tracey

Ear-ring

making these dangly earrings was both hard and easy… the concept is simple enough… it is the steady hand and patience that might make you want to scream… okay…. make me scream…

first you gather up your tools and materials… you need wire (not too soft), wire cutters and some rounded needle nose pliers… pick out the type of post you want to use, and some charms … and I added some beads…

I did my best to make the wire tight when is circled/knotted through the circles of the post and the charm… and wow was that a pain in the arse… but if you have time, a steady hand, and the ability not to get aggravated… you can make your own jewelry, no matter what type of pretties you want to accent your outfit… even better, you can find post in different shades of metal, and (not 100% sure) I think you can find gold/or gold plated posts… very cool….

I have another piece in the works, one that is a little more complex, but it isn’t done yet… I may have to finish it next week… right now it is driving me crazy…

later guys, tracey…

beware the dragon… muhahaha

some time ago I went to DragonCon… one of the venders had a necklace with a pendant that I just had to have…

it is a little hard to see in this photo, but it is a dragon in a circle… I would love to learn how to make something similar…

lol… I told you all my horrible first attempts at working with polymer clay… who knew that overcooked clay will blacken and grow, looking like large lumps of clay-coal… very frightening… and the smoke/fumes… omg… I am just happy that I thought ahead and started my project in the garage…

so here is my first successful attempt at making my own little dragon…

lol… I love him… but I would have used different colors if I knew that it would work this time… or maybe tried to have him in a different position… frankly, I thought I would end up with another clay-coal-rock… but now I just need to coat him in a clear resin to make him sturdier… but I think I will keep him for myself, not making him into a pendant … 😛 kinda like pinning my first dollar on the wall… woo who… later guys, tracey

Author Tracey Clark

Hey guys… Tracey Clark here…

I am the author of the Finder’s Keepers series… I have one book out and a second in the final edits stage… woowho… Southern Discoveries (Finder’s Keepers: book 2) has an awesome cover that I am waiting to reveal until next month… Finder’s Keepers is a paranormal/fantasy romance series… I also have a contemporary romance that will come out later this year, Skymann series… book one is tentatively titled Artistic Beauty …

My arts and crafts do more than just relieve my downtime… I like to create my own swag… instead of ordering bookmarks and such, I like to try to make them… I’m sure there will be somethings that will be beyond me (like those huge banners… lol… I wouldn’t even know where to start…)… but bracelets and pendants, booklets and bookmarks… those I can do…

necklace

Drop in from time to time, to see what I come up with…. not all of my art is for swag bags and selling at the author table… some will be just for me… and frankly hard to transport!!!

I got bored and decided that I needed a tree on my wall… I swear I will finish it someday soon… I have a number of art projects to beef up my swag scheduled for next month… hopefully I will have the time to share some of the projects with you, starting with the various bracelets mom and I have been working on…

I also hope to make key chains, necklaces, and maybe a few bookmarks and booklets… what crafts do you guys have planned???

happy wordage 😛 Tracey Clark

By the Sea

I want to learn how to do this … I was at Hobby Lobby (of course) with mom and she spotted this painting…

this is just a close up of the children… I hope that if I study the brush strokes, I can figure something out… now most would take a class… HA… lets do it the hard way, I say… lol… it drives mom crazy, but I love to just grab a brush and go to work…

Mom loves going to the beach… it is her go-to vacations spot… if she has a chance to go out of town, her first thought always goes to the sea… I would prefer to go on walk-about… just jump in the car and drive… the most fun I ever had on a vacation, mom and I packed up our clothes and the dogs and slowly made our way from the East to our destination of San Francisco… all the little stops along the way, all the wonder full roadside rest areas were divine… I loved it and would do it again and again, if I could…

but first I would like to paint the sea for my mother… 😛

MS Shirts… support

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My aunt talked me into participating in the Multiple Sclerosis Walk one year… and in my typical OCD fashion, I decided to make our team shirts instead of buying them… I got out my crayons and sketched a design… then I went to Walmart and bought some iron-on sheets… they are in the craft section…

they are easy to use… you can either go to the Avery website and pick a design or if you have a scanner/printer/copier you can make your own, like me… you can put the sheets in the copier and hit print… then you just iron them one… this could be a fun family idea for those with small kids… I even ironed the design for the front pocket of the shirts onto a hat…

making the shirts wasn’t necessary but it sure was a lot of fun… on the sad side, I wasn’t able to walk even half way around the park, but those of us in team clark decided to get together and go out to eat, wearing our team shirts… we went to an Irish pub and one of the guys that wore kilts agreed to take a picture with us… and the food was delicious… lol…