Preparing for the RAW event

I have been super busy preparing for this event and I sure hope its worth all of the work...  I have not only made jewelry but I also made the tags, labels, I even made my own displays...  I have some stuff already but I want this event to go very well for me and I want to present myself as being not only professional but also quite creative...and FUN!  So first I want to share with you the tags I have been working on.  Its all a learning process for me since using the Cameo Silhouette is still a piece of new machinery for me.

So what I did first was do the hunt...I went to Graphic Stock and found a really nice graphic I thought would go well with my style.  Below is the process with which I went through to create it.  It looks like a lot of work, but really it goes fairly fast.  I use PaintShopPro and Photoshop to do most of me editing, but with this particular image, I used PSP.  I removed the background and some of the shadow and put a white circle on the top.  Then step 3, I put the image into the Cameo software, (by the way, it only accepted a jpeg image, so dont try to use a png!), traced out the image.  Once I was happy with the results of the line drawing, I grouped the pieces then copied and pasted them and put as many shapes as I could on the page.

Save the file..always save before you cut or print..I have made enough mistakes over the years that its something I automatically do.  Although the Cameo software does a nice job of autosave.  Then step 4 as you see is the final results after cutting.  I am going to eventually put another little label on the bottom half of the tags that say THANK YOU.  I found the exact shape on Graphic Stock and digitally cut out each label and saved them with different names...  I am really liking Graphic Stock.  There are far more designs I can use for more than just eye candy!  Anyway, I hope you like the tags...  When I get the second label made and adhere it to the tag I will show it to you then.

More fun stuff coming soon!

Thanks for stopping by..Chris  :-)

New project/challenge on Face Book

Well about a 2 months ago, I joined in on a challenge from from JewelryLessons.com by Eni.  I belong to her group on FB.  Eni created this awesome website where you can purchase jewelry making tutorials from many different artists.  She also created her own Design tutorials where you can learn from her lessons.

Anyway, our first lesson was to make a drawing of a shape and create different ideas as to how you would make a piece of jewelry from it.  Then the next month was to pick a flower and draw it in several ways in which you can create a piece of jewelry.  We focused on shape first, then reshape it, then put it together in a drawing and then make it into a finished piece of jewelry.  We could choose any medium we wanted to, there are no limits as to how you want to make it.  So, with trial and error I put together this fun pendent.  I am going to make it into a necklace eventually.  I love how Humblebeads makes her designs and beads from different types of clay.  She has shared how she creates her designs through Art Bead Scene, she is my inspiration in this design.

first creation, not that pretty... YUK..

second creation, getting there, but needed more work. OK

third attempt, MUCH BETTER, is putting a smile on my face now!  I feel this is the final creation for this design.  I like it a lot.  It was faster and easier to make this time around.  And a bit messier since I used alcohol inks instead of acrylic paints...and I made the press mold much better so it didnt leave a ridge like it did on the first creation..

Please feel free to leave me some feedback.  Thanks...  :-)