Meaningful Jewelry

Recently I've been digging deeper, trying to find my direction in my jewelry.  These crocheted heart necklaces are the result of a bit of soul searching. A couple sold yesterday (yeah!), but these are what is new in the shop now.

ChickieGirlCreations Etsy Shop

Have an inspiring creative day! ~Janet

Handmade Tween Valentines

There loads of great ideas on the web and Pinterest for handmade school Valentines. Here's my Be Mine Sweet Valentine board …

I had quite a few glow stick bracelets leftover from Halloween and I was going to save them for next year, but then I was inspired by all the "You make my heart glow" cards. Perfect use for those extra glow bracelets!!

I went to my favorite photo editor site, PicMonkey, to throw together a quick design. Ombre background of dark pink to light pink, a cute heart in the middle and the simple message. It was sweet, but my daughter is 9 years old. So, for a tween, this is a very basic and boring layout (not to mention 'so not cool'). I struggled with how to make this work for her. In the end, I decided to let her play around with the layout and tweak it on PicMonkey. And here's what she did:

Pretty darn cool! She played around with the Sweetheart theme, and added some Bokeh Hearts, Doodle Hearts, Doily Hearts and more Hearts. Then here's when the magic happened … she went to the Curves section in Effects and just moved those settings around until she was happy with how it looked. Ta Dah!

Curves is in the advance part of Effects (scroll down to the bottom). In order to use it you have to be a PicMonkey Royale member. However, I believe you can easily do this if you have basic photoshop, though I haven't tried it yet. It might be worth experimenting to see what you can do.

It always amazes me what children can do with art. They are so free from the fear of making a mistake and blissfully experiment to their heart's content. We, as adults, should remember to embrace this fearless way of creating art. Truly there are no wrong or right ways to do it, and accidents are usually happy ones.

Have a joyous and creative day!! ~Janet <3 p="">

Cyber Monday is Almost Over!

Last few hours left to save 40% off entire shop!

New coupon code!! Please use

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GOBBLE4U2
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at checkout!

Inspirational Collage Pendant Necklaces

ChickieGirlCreations at Etsy

Thank you! ~Janet xo

Holiday Savings!

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Wanted to remind you all that my 

Holiday Sale still going on! You can save a whopping

40% off the entire shop!!

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**NEW COUPON CODE**  GOBBLE4U2

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ChickieGirlCreations Etsy Shop

Hope you stay inspired during this Holiday Season! xo

Day of Thanksgiving

Hope you all have a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving!

-Janet xo

BLACK FRIDAY & CYBER MONDAY

BLACK FRIDAY & CYBER MONDAY is here early!

Sale is on now ... 40% ...

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**NEW COUPON CODE**  GOBBLE4U2

♥♥♥

offer expires Monday, Dec. 2. :D

https://www.etsy.com/shop/ChickieGirlCreations

Jewelry with Meaning

Wanted to pop in quickly today to share some more resin goodies! Lots of painted altered metal, polymer clay and a little sparkle.

Janet Wilson of ChickieGirlCreations on Etsy

Keep creating!

Hippie Boho Charm Earrings

So, finally, I am listing some new pieces! There has been so much happening this fall already, family outings, daughter's school, illnesses, etc... so glad to be posting a few new items.

I had a few small tiles left over from the last time a batch of polymer clay tiles were made. Love the rustic earthy look to these, but this time they are coated in a thin resin glaze which gives them a little sheen. And the Swarovski Elements Crystals add just a bit of sparkle. Ahhh ... what's not to love?

Wish I made myself a pair ...

Will be listing these in my Etsy Shop today.

ChickieGirlCreations Etsy Shop

Never Too Old

Keep your dreams ~xo

Sweet Nikki

Nikki, a photo by ChickieGirlCreations on Flickr.

My dear sweet Nikki crossed the Rainbow Bridge last night ... Love you always and miss you tons sweetheart.

Ice Ice Baby!

I love this time of year. The pace really picks up in anticipation of the upcoming holidays and working in the studio is no exception! The shop is being filled up with artful pendants and inspirational pieces. As of late, I have been using resin in my work, and I have to say Ice Resin® is my favorite. It is a non yellowing, crystal clear, jeweler's grade two part epoxy resin.  Now, I'll be honest, I haven't used a lot of different brands, but one big reason I love Ice Resin® is because it's actually very forgiving as far as resins go. It is hard after a day, so you are able to handle and work with it. And at this point you can fix little mistakes, like pour overs by peeling them off or sanding. It takes a fews days to fully cure and once it's cured it is rock hard! And smooth as glass. Love it!

A great book to have in your creative library if you can get it is Explore, Create, Resinate: Mixed Media Techniques Using Ice Resin® by Jen Cushman. It has step by step tutorials, tips and tricks, and shows you how to fix mistakes (love that part!).

Another book that would be a must have, especially if you would like to take your mixed media resin creations to the next level, is Resin Alchemy: Innovative Techniques for Mixed Media and Jewelry Artists by Susan Lenart Kazmer. I do not have this book yet, oh but I will ... oh yes, I will!

If you use resin, what is your favorite brand to use and why?

Keep creating and try something new! Blessings!

Bead Chat Magazine

One of my pieces has been featured in the July issue of Bead Chat Magazine from Melinda Or and her crew at Artisan Whimsy! Woo hoo!  My Bloom Chatelaine Necklace can be seen on page 43, along with other amazing jewelry artists from B'sue Boutiques Creative Group (pgs. 43-44).

The magazine is chock full of wonderful designs from many different artisans and styles and follows the trends seen around the internet. An amazing source of inspiration!!

Bloom Chatelaine Necklace by Janet Wilson of ChickieGirlCreations

Celebrating Summer

Summer vacation officially starts, for us, this Friday! Woo hoo!! Very excited, it is going to be fun! So to celebrate, I'm having a sale! Come on over! 

CHICKIEGIRLCREATIONS - Etsy Shop

Sale is going on now and expires June 23rd.

Let the fun begin!!

Art Journaling

I hadn't been art journaling as often as I should or would have liked. Just as I was giving myself a little push to get back into it, I found Daisy Yellow's Index-Card-A-Day Challenge (ICAD). Perfect! Just what I needed to get back into that creative mode again. It runs from June 1 to July 31, but I came into it late and that's a-ok according to the official ICAD FAQ ... it says:

"Create something on a 3x5" index card every day for 61 days. If you start after June 1 you do not need to catch up, really, seriously, just start. You can do more at the end if you wish. But get going, that is what is important."

Works for me! So I've jumped right in and have made six index cards so far. (happy dance!)

Here are some of the most recent cards I've completed:

If you have been out of your creative groove, or are in some sort of emotional type rut, perhaps consider doing something like this ... quick, easy and just what the muse and soul ordered.

SALE!!!

Just a quick post today to let you all know that I'm having a weekend sale!!! 

***Sale is from  February 1 - February 3***

 *** 15% OFF WEEKEND SALE!!!!! ***

Use coupon code - WK15END

  ChickieGirlCreations Etsy Shop

Hope you all have a wonderful, relaxing and safe weekend! x

Giveaway!!

What a wonderful Monday! I popped onto my Facebook Page to see that I have 50 likes!! Yes! Thank you to everyone who has stopped by to share some love and leave a comment. <3 To celebrate I think there should be a giveaway. This will be for one custom **Inspiration Pendant** of your choice including a ball chain. Look around my page or my Etsy Shop for ideas. ChickieGirlCreation - Inspiration Pendants

So, like my page (if you haven't already) and leave a comment there about what you are doing today. Have a project? Working? Nothing? Doesn't matter! Just leave a comment. :) Janet Wilson's Mixed Media Art - Facebook Page I will pick a winner tomorrow and announce it here and on my Facebook Page. Whoooo hooo! Love you all!! x

Art Journal Inspired

I've been art journaling for a while now, and it has been such a help to me personally and creatively. So I've been tossing around some ideas how to incorporate some of the art journaling techniques I've learned into my pendants. I decided on one of the black tree pendants to be part of my experiment. I used a mix of colors on the background with small script stamping on top.

I like the effect a lot and can see more experiments in the near future. And here is another finished pendant of my usual style.

Only 20 more days till Christmas! Woo hoo! Awww ... but who's countin'. ;)

More Pendants!

I've finished up a few more tree pendants. These pendants were created from a mold I made from a few of my tree designs. Then I added more details to the molded piece and almost reshaped it a bit with some sculpting, to give each pendant a unique feel and look. It is fun to play and see how I can change each one just a little with reshaping, color and of course a little sparkle and shimmer if it calls for it.

Finally my photos are looking better. I've tweaked the settings and experimented until I got to a place where I didn't cringe every time I took a photo. What do you think?

We Are Live!

Shop is now open and here is my first listing, Storybook Tree Pendant:

This was a little tricky to photograph. I had great lighting with my light box, but the pendant has a lot of shimmer from the mica powders and glitter so my photos did not turn out the way I had hoped. I am going to play around with the lighting and such and see if the photos turn out a bit better. This pic is one I took outside and shows a bit more detail than some of the others I took.

New Pendants

Just a quick post today! Will be opening my shop in a few days!! Here's a sneak peek of some goodies...