Tag: Art

Currently Creating

On By SaraIn Art and Crafting, Uncategorized4 Comments

You know how sometimes the creative juices just aren’t there, and then other times you can’t catch up with all the ideas racing around in your head? Do you experience that too? Last month was a bit…stalled creatively. This month on the other hand! This month has been awesome! And a lot of the awesomeness has all occurred within the last week! ❤

Some of this is due to taking a short post-birthday vacation. I had 5 glorious days to spend on blog improvements, a few DIY projects, an art piece and some new jewelry, both finishing pieces and pieces to be fused!

Sadly, even on vacation I have more ideas then time, but that just means that I won’t run out of projects any time soon!

I feel like I really made some progress on my jewelry this month. I have been putting some extra time into improving my wire wrapping skills and I think it’s starting to show! After some great advice from Michele over at @tigerlilywraps on Instagram, I headed over to YouTube and checked out a few channels for tutorials: Go Art Yourself and OxanaCrafts. A few of the pieces on here were actually done using the tutorials, specifically this one.

While I still feel like I have a lot of room for improvement, I’m excited to see what I have gotten done this month!

Along with my jewelry, my vacation gave me a bunch of time to work on other projects! I stained the backboard for my next mosaic and cut the sheet of glass I need to start it. This project has actually been in some stage of progress for over around 2 years, so I’m looking forward to getting some glass laid down on it soon! I also have some more pendants to be fused (and I’m waiting for some that aren’t pictured that I’m getting back today!)

Since staining that backboard seems to have gotten me in a mood, I actually stained a bunch more boards for 2 DIY projects. The “Love & Coffee” is part of one of those, so be looking for posts on those projects soon! I can’t wait to share them with you 🙂

And for what is possibly my most exciting DIY project of the month. I have sanded, primed, and started painting some furniture for our bedroom and closet remodel! Now, these are all pieces I’ve had for years…The dresser for around 10 and the side tables since I was a kid. These things have gotten pretty beaten up over the years, but I think they are going to turn out great!

So that’s what I’ve been working on this month! I hope you enjoyed this little peak into my studio and home. I can’t wait to share the new DIY projects with you soon!

Have you been working on anything new lately? Any projects you’ve had on hold that you finally got to get started? I would love to hear your thoughts, so please leave me a comment below!

Sara (1)

glass fusion jewelry with wire wrapping

100+ Followers…and a Giveaway to Celebrate!

On By SaraIn Art and Crafting, Uncategorized25 Comments

When I started this blog I honestly wasn’t sure how well I would do. (Sometimes I’m still not) I’m not great with putting myself out there, plus I was worried that I would give up or only post sporadically. Instead, I found out that I love blogging! This blog has already improved my life, introduced me to some amazing people online and pushed me in some unexpected ways. I can’t wait to see where it continues to take me!

Now, I know that 100 followers is not a huge milestone to a lot of bloggers, but it definitely feels like a big one to me! And I appreciate all of you! So, to celebrate this milestone, my first giveaway! I hope you like what I have for you all 🙂

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Giveaway Requirements:

  1. Be a follower of Nymph In The Woods (if you aren’t already, you can follow now to enter)
  2. Leave a comment below stating which one you would like to win. That’s it!

The giveaway will run from Feb 9th-16th, 2016. The winner will be contacted privately and also be announced on here. I can’t wait to see who wins and which one they choose! (Also, the 16th is my birthday and I can’t wait to celebrate it by giving one of you a gift!)

Edit: The giveaway is now closed! Congrats to Teresa over at Mama Muse Me on winning!Sara (1)

Currently Creating: What I Made This Month

On By SaraIn Art and Crafting, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Hey all! Welcome to a new monthly series “Currently Creating.” I’ve been focusing more on creating my art lately, especially my jewelry! At the end of each month I will show you what I made, including in-progress shots. This month is all jewelry, but next month I plan on having some progress on my next mosaic to show you too! 🙂 I hope you will enjoy the look into my studio!

I would also like to highlight other artists, so if you have anything you made that you would like me to link to, send me a picture, description and your website and I will include it in a future post!

Have you been making anything new lately? I would love to hear your thoughts, so please leave me a comment below!

Follow me on Bloglovin’

Sara (1)

Exploring Grandma’s Attic: Adventures in Jewelry Making

On By SaraIn SpotlightLeave a comment

Confession time: I love jewelry! Like, seriously love jewelry. It might be a problem….but it’s one I’m okay with. Even more so if it is unique jewelry, and at Grandma’s Attic there is plenty of that!

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Grandma’s Attic is a store in Ames, Iowa and has so many awesome offerings including handmade jewelry, belly dancing scarves, incense, jewelry repair and custom pieces! This shop is not a new one for me, but instead an old favorite.  I’ve only made jewelry here a couple times, though I’ve shopped here many times. Some of my favorite jewelry is from here! This time was especially fun because I got to introduce one of my friends to the joys of jewelry making!

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Christy going over the basics of jewelry making with Salina before we got started.

Salina and I decided to spend a Saturday afternoon in the store exploring the beads and making some new jewelry. It was so much fun!

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Just a few of the THOUSANDS of beads available! Aren’t they pretty?!

Narrowing down the choices and deciding what style I wanted to make was so hard! I knew I wanted a necklace, but I went in with no idea of what style/colors to put into that necklace. On the other hand, Salina seemed to know right off she wanted to make a bright, colorful bracelet.

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Bracelet in progress!

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Not only was I apparently very intent on what I was doing, but Salina is very sneaky with the camera!

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Once we had our beads selected and laid out in the pattern we wanted, it was time to start stringing them!

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Starting the beading process
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Almost done stringing the beads!
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Stringing the beads for my necklace.

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Once we were done stringing the beads and making sure the fit was what we wanted, Christy would finish off the pieces, adding the clasp and other necessary things to turn it into actual jewelry. And voila! A beautiful piece of jewelry, ready to take home!

Here is how our pieces turned out!

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Review of Experience:

This is probably one of my favorite ways to spend some time with a friend! Not only is it fun and relaxing, but you get something unique to take home and wear! Plus I love that unlike going to a movie or something similar, the conversation just flowed all throughout our time at Grandma’s Attic. We had a great time!

Christy is great with both beginners and repeat visitors. Whether someone needs a rundown of how to start, feedback on a design or help when stuck, she’s always there to help!

Approximate Cost:

This is the other great thing about Grandma’s Attic. You pretty much choose the cost. Beads are priced individually and are wide-ranging. You can make something to suit any budget! You saw a few of the beads available above, but here are a few more!

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Other Services Offered:

As I mentioned earlier, there are a lot of different offerings at this store! In addition to offering the make-your-own-jewelry, Christy does jewelry repairs, custom designs and her own jewelry is there for sale too. In fact, her jewelry is usually the case I head straight for! All of the pieces I have bought over the years are ones she has made herself, but she also carries a large inventory of other jewelry as well. Some of it is antique, others just unique, but all of them are pretty awesome!

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Other items for sale include, but in no way are limited to, belly dance scarves, a few wall tapestries, incense, perfume bottles, Egyptian-themed artwork and statuary, along with wooden boxes. There is more, but it would be impossible to list them all!

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Have you ever made your own jewelry? Did you go to a store like this one, or make it at home? Do you have any stores like this near you? Let me know what you think!

Bingeable Podcasts

On By SaraIn Self Improvement, What I'm Learning3 Comments

How do you entertain yourself? Radio, Pandora, TV? Podcasts maybe?

While I do love Pandora and probably would go crazy without my daily dose of jazz, I listen to a lot of podcasts almost every day. A LOT…like 5-7 hrs a day most days. My real-world job is pretty much menial tasks and doesn’t require a whole lot of thought. Enter podcasts!

I actually only started listening to podcasts at all about 6-8 months ago. I know, I’m really behind on the times! So instead of being bored, or just daydreaming (though I do a fair amount of daydreaming anyways), I can use the time to learn new things, listen to interviews, be inspired, or just be entertained!

So without further ado, here are some of my favorites!

History:

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  • Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History – This is by far my favorite podcast! I have listened to many of his episodes multiple times. I just recently finished up re-listening to his series on World War I. His use of first-person accounts really makes me connect with the events he’s telling about.
  • Stuff You Missed in History Class – This one is a lot of fun and so random sometimes! I have learned about so many different topics that I would never have even thought to look up or find out about. Just today I listened to ones on Mary Ann Cotton, the Amazons of Dahomey and an interview with the author of “The Billion Dollar Spy”.
  • The Egyptian History Podcast – I have been into Egyptian history for as long as I can remember (at one point I could write my name in hieroglypics) and this one has been so fun to listen to!
  • The History of Rome – I am actually planning on re-listening to this one soon. There was so much detail and I would like to absorb more of it!

Entertainment:

  • The Art of Slaying – My guilty pleasure…Buffy the Vampire Slayer! This podcast is an episode-by-episode analysis and discussion. I have not finished this one yet, but I loved what I have listened to!

Art:

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  • Artists Helping Artists – While I am not a painter (though I wish I was!), this podcast has inspired me artistically, entertained me, and helped jumpstart my putting my studio together.
  • The Potter’s Cast – This podcast makes me wish that I had my kiln already! I am planning on getting one soonish, but these interviews are just so inspiring and motivating! (And as a complete side-note, this podcast helped confirm that the brand of kiln I’m planning on is the right one to go with)

Fitness:

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  • The FitCast – So many good interviews and information! I can’t say enough good things about this podcast. It’s entertaining, informative, and motivating! Every time my motivation is lagging, The FitCast gives me a boost!

Humanistic:

  • TED Radio Hour – One of the top podcasts (to me) on this list! I have listened to so many episodes, on so many topics. I have smiled, laughed, cried…so many emotions have been inspired by this podcast. I have heard amazing stories from incredible people. The episodes are thought-provoking and moving. Their most recent 2-part episodes called “Screen Time” was fascinating!
  • On Being – A very spiritually-based podcast, she interviews so many amazing people. Their stories, their messages, and their lives are so beautiful to listen to. There have been episodes that have inspired changes in my life, especially to try to be more mindful in my daily life.
  • Invisibilia – Another NPR production (like TED Radio Hour), this podcast is still pretty early on. Only one season in, I am eagerly anticipating their new episodes. With episodes like “How to be Batman,” “Fearless,” and “Our Computers, Ourselves” this podcast is not to be missed!

That’s all for now! Do you have any favorite podcasts? Have you listened to any of these ones? If you have, what is your favorite one?

June Favorites and July Goals

On By SaraIn Self Improvement1 Comment

Hey everyone! Welcome to the first installment of ‘Favorites and Goals’! A few of the reasons I started this blog were to keep myself motivated and document life’s moments. In this new series, I’m going to post some of my favorite pictures from the previous month and lay out a few goals for the new month. In future posts for this series I will also add in how I did on the previous month’s goals. 🙂

Onward to my favorite pics from June! Continue reading “June Favorites and July Goals” →

Family Time with Kil’n Time Studio!

On By SaraIn Art and Crafting, SpotlightLeave a comment

Family traditions can come from just about anything, and in this case it started over 10 years ago at a (different) paint-your-own pottery studio in Des Moines, Iowa. One of my cousins was getting married and the women on my mom’s side of the family decided that we would go have a pottery painting party as a different style of “bachelorette” party. Except instead of painting for ourselves, we painted things for the happy couple! It was so much fun! And when the next cousin was getting married, we decided to do it again. Voila, a family tradition was born!

Continue reading “Family Time with Kil’n Time Studio!” →

Learning Henna

On By SaraIn Art and Crafting, What I'm Learning1 Comment

Henna is something that I had seen before, but hadn’t had any personal exposure to until around a year ago, when I went to a small gathering teaching about henna. I didn’t do any myself, but was shown how to and had a design done on my hand. I was hooked! I immediately went home and started researching, reading as much as I could. I ordered some from Henna Caravan shortly after that and started practicing. I honestly haven’t done much yet, but I am slowly working to build my confidence.

Here is some designs I did last summer.  Continue reading “Learning Henna” →

Ciccotti Art Glass and Our Anniversary!

On By SaraIn Art and Crafting, Spotlight4 Comments

Hey all! This is the first post in a new monthly series on this blog spotlighting (mostly) local places that I think are neat, awesome and more! This will give you a look into a great local place, an overview of my experience, and general estimated costs (if there are any). While I realize that most people will not be local to central Iowa, I hope that maybe this will give you some ideas for new businesses and places to search out in your areas as well!

Now that the rundown of the series plan is over, I can get on to the fun stuff! 😉 The BF and I just celebrated our 1 year anniversary! To celebrate, we took some time off of work, relaxed at home together and wanted to do something fun, new and memorable for our anniversary date. We decided on taking a workshop at Ciccotti Art Glass. Continue reading “Ciccotti Art Glass and Our Anniversary!” →