Treasures by Louise

Quilt in progress: Late last fall, I took some quilt tops off to my Longarm Quilter. Here's the litle crib/wall quilt all quilted. It is quilted in an overall heart pattern, in hot pink thread, which is very 'valentiney'.  Now attaching the binding by machine on the front. I combined some of the pink print and some strips of burgundy for the binding. Last step is to hand stitch on the binding to the back... That will take a bit of time, so no finished picture just yet...

Here are a few items used in the waterfall necklace for Lorelei's slider challenge blog hop: Included are Crystazzi 6mm Light Green Bicone crystals, green seed beads, brass spacers, crimps, jump rings and Beadalon gold plated 4mm crimp covers .

For our blog hop, t his Friday wi ll be the big reveal, but today I'm sharing a bit of photo inspiratio n for my necklace made with the cool acrylic sliders from Michaels. Enjoy! Michigan's upper peninsula has many beautiful waterfalls to inspire artists and crafters

I was promising myself that I wouldn't buy beads for a while, but, I went to a Bead Show this past weekend, and just stopped in with a little to spend, on purpose, to limit myself. The nice people at Bella Venetian Beads provided irresistible temptation. These beads looked good enough to eat, if you know what I mean. There's a problem with the camera/computer interface right now, but I hope to share pics soon. Meanwhile I'm sharing a link, so you can check them out. My favorite are the beads called Aventurina, which have a bit of copper added, and really sparkle. bellavenetianbeads

Big News! I've updated my blog name to match our Etsy Store: Lily and Jasmine's Treasures. The blog will be in transition for a while, as I am launching a line of earrings and other jewelry onto our Etsy Store. We will alwa ys include some vintage, and add in jewelry, as time allows. Fall is such a creative time for me, as the weather cools, and I am inspired by the colors of fall. Here's some beautiful September color from a local garden: Lantana Wouldn't these shades make a colorful and beautiful necklace ? Or I'd love to see them used in a quilt.

I am trying out some of the Tim Holtz alcohol inks and some special  Kraft resist paper, preparing to use them in collage and decoupage. These are fun and inspiring products to work with. I like the effect of the inks on the Kraft paper, and found that adding Snow cap Mixative makes the inks show up a bit more - they become more opaque. There's much more to try - I want to break out the silver and gold metallic mixatives next! Check back soon to see what I create with these!

Happy July everyone! I hope you are using the hot weather to energize your crafty urges. It's nice if you have air conditioning or a cool basement for creative pursuits. If not, maybe a nice fan at the window.  The beginning of a project   I love summer, I get so many ideas. Now to follow through...Inka over at Altered Artifacts Blogspot  has some free printable organizers that can help get you started if you need to sort your supplies. I love Inka's Etsy store, too. I recently purchased some of her images, and plan to create all sorts of collages and altered realities!  Click here to visit Inka's store .