Hold the Boats, I'm Not as Crazy as I Thought

Don't get me wrong, I'm still not as normal as some folks, but it turns out I'm not completely off my rocker when it comes to autumn colors.  Remember when I showed you these pieces and said I thought of them as autumn colors?

I've come up with a theory on that.  I went to Valentine (my hometown) this past weekend and spent some time out and about naturing.  Apparently the colors made more of an impression that I realized.  Look what palette you get if you run that soapweed photo through a palette generator:

Mystery solved!  I'm not as nuts as I thought I was.  Well, okay, the mismatched sandals and the snood thing are definitely headed in that direction, but I'm sticking by my color choices on this one.  I think I'll call it August in the Sandhills.

It's a really beautiful area (I've posted photos several times before, but some favorites are here and here).  I'll leave you with this little glimpse of heaven.

Celebrating Autumn - Octoberfest 2014 Blog Hop

My friend Rita of Toltec Jewels is hosting her third annual Octoberfest Blog Hop today and I thought it would be fun to join.  She asks only that participants do something - anything - to celebrate autumn and blog about it.  I've been enjoying autumn for the past several weeks, and what's more autumn than apples?  A friend has over twenty apple trees and sent home a whole bunch of apples for us.  

After conning my daughter and her friend into helping, we peeled and chopped apples until we couldn't stand it anymore.  We ended up with a huge roaster (the giant one I use for Thanksgiving turkeys), a huge dutch over and a large crock pot full of apples.  I added a little sugar and cinnamon and a splash of apple juice and set them all to cook for hours and hours and hours.  The sugar in the apples caramelizes and the apples break down and when all is said and done, you end up with apple butter.  

We ended up with something like 15 pints of apple butter and still had bags and bags of apples left.  I've been slicing them and drying them in my dehydrators every night for a week now.  And honestly?  I am not sure when I'll ever be able to even LOOK at another apple.

In the weekend between apple butter and dried apples, my husband and I took a trip up through the Rocky Mountains.  It's one of our favorite things to do in the fall and we always try to time a trip when the leaves are turning.  

My photography skills are just not good enough to capture the beauty, but I always try.  Notice the gorgeous waterfall in the distance in this one?  We hiked up to get this view and it was so worth it!

My favorite, though, is always the vibrant yellow.

A while back I found a great variegated cord and used it to make a chain of leaves (the class is available here if you want to try it).  I was never quite satisfied with the outcome, so I set it aside.  After being inspired by the mountain trip, I dug it back out and made a few changes.  At a suggestion from a friend (thanks, Lindsay!) I used some lizard leather to make connectors and added some swags of colorful glass seed beads between the leaves.

I also made a clasp to match and sponged on some of the necklace colors.

And I ended up with a colorful autumn necklace with cascading leaves, funky leather connectors and multiple strands of beads.

And that, my friends, is this year's ode to autumn from me.  I hope you'll take some time to visit the other participants below and see what they did.  And be sure to swing by Rita's site and tell her if you like her blog hop!

Toltec Jewels (Hostess)

Dini Bruinsma
Marybeth Rich
Karin Grosset Grange

Andrea Zenith Glick
Nan Smith

  Becky Pancake

Lennis Carrier
Sue Kennedy

Kim Dworak
Jennifer Reno

Veralynne Malone
Lori Schneider
Shaiha Williams

Pam Traub

Kathy Lindemer

Blanca Medina

Debbie Rasmussen
Heather Richter

Sherri Stokey <----You are Here
Michelle McCarthy

Dana Hickey
Claire Fabian
Renetha Stanziano

Jami Shipp

Toni Gifford

Sandra McGriff

Ann Schroeder
Inge von Roos
Robin Reed

Andrea Rivers

Janine Lucas
 Deb Fortin
Cynthia Kent Machata

Laurel Hanson

Jasvanti Patel

Lee Koopman
 Renetha Stanziano

The New Artisan Component Marketplace

I'm going to let you in on a little secret.  You know all those wonderful heads and pendants (like this oak leaf from Marla's Mud) I'm always showing you?  (Yes, I may have a slight bead buying problem, but that's a discussion for another time.)  There's a new online marketplace just for artisan made pieces - Artisan Component Marketplace.  You won't find any factory produced knock offs there because each shop is juried before being allowed to sell on the site.  That means each and every one of the pieces you find listed there will be hand made by the artist.  

You will find ceramic and porcelain, handpainted wood and lampwork as well as mixed media and metal.  There are seed bead components made of tiny glass beads woven together in intricate patterns, pendants made from polymer clay and clasps made from wood.  There are all sorts of little treasures from some of my favorite artists, so when I had an offer to do a guest blog post for them, I jumped at the chance.  

You're going to have to go there to see what I wrote, but I will give you a hint:  it involves Marla's ceramic leaf pendant and a little free macrame tutorial.  Have fun!  Oh, and I made up a fancy new, handy-dandy bar for the bottom of my guest post - what do you think?

Fall Daisies

Daisies have always been one of my favorite flowers - soft and pretty without being overly showy.  When I saw this pendant by Heather Powers of Humblebeads, I was definitely smitten.  Not only is it a daisy, but it's done in my favorite colors of teal and olive green with a dash of mustard yellow.  I've been on a kick lately with knotting half knot sinnets in several colors of cord to make a braid that looks a lot like kumihimo, so I pulled cord to match the pendant.

I knotted it together into a spiraling micro macrame cord.

Then I decided it needed a little something special, so I knotted a matching bail to suspend the pendant.

I was having such a good time playing with these colors that I made a couple pair of earrings, too!

Aren't these great colors for autumn?

Falling Leaves: A New Micro Macrame Bracelet Class

I've been working on this micro macrame pattern for quite a while now, trying to get it just right and I think I finally nailed it.  This design reminds me of leaves falling from the trees in autumn, so I'm calling it (what else?) Falling Leaves Micro Macrame Bracelet.  

  I can imagine this bracelet done in every combination of earthy browns, olive greens, rusty oranges and reds, and pops of Aspen yellow.  You know me, though - I tried to use green and orange and it just didn't feel right.  So here you have, Autumn ala Sherri Stokey :)

The pattern is a fun one.  I used a different way of adding cords than my "usual" (whatever that is!) and a method of gathering and dropping cords to increase and decrease the width of the knotting and form the leaf shape.  The leaves even cup just a little, which I really like.

For the class, I made the version you see above with two solid colors of leaves alternating with striped leaves.  From there it's easy to back down into just the two solid colors alternating:

Or a single solid color:

I cover how to make both of those variations in the class also, so you'll have loads of options.  I do show how to tie the knots in the class, but some macrame experience would definitely be preferable.  The class has 6 videos and over 60 still photos with written instructions as well as narration.  Once you purchase the class, you have unlimited access to it, so you can watch it as many times as you like, and you can pause and replay anything you like.  You can also print the handout, which is made up of screenshots of the entire class.  

You will find this class, along with my other online classes, at CraftArtEdu.com.  I know I've said it before, but I haven't chanced my mind - the folks at CraftArtEdu.com are the best.  They have a money back guarantee.  If you aren't satisfied, they will give you your money back.  Period.  If you have questions, you will get a response from a real live person.  I'm proud to be associated with them.  

To celebrate my new class, the fine folks over there have an introductory price through Friday (July 18, 2014).  And just to make it extra special festive, they've put all of my other classes on sale, too - up to 33% off!!!  You can see all of the classes and the prices here.

If you take the class, be sure to stop back by and let me know how you liked it!

Autumn with a Smidge of Winter

Seasonal Confusion

My husband and I like to take a trip up into the Rocky Mountains in the fall just to wander about and admire the scenery.  Don't get me wrong - we like to do that in the summertime, too, but autumn in the mountains is just magical.  The leaves are an amazing color of yellow that looks lit from within and contrasts strikingly with the deep hues of the evergreen trees.  We were a week or so later this year and stumbled into an interesting mix of seasons.  The trees were ablaze with color and the evergreens just across the river were covered in a blanket of snow!  When we drove higher up, we ran into this:

Snow Covered Peak

I couldn't WAIT to get back into the lower country!  I am not, not, NOT ready for winter yet.  I may never be ready for winter!  Thankfully, it wasn't long before we found more of this:

Colorful Mountainside

I'm sorry my photography skills aren't really up to the challenge because the real deal was ever so much more breathtaking than my pictures can convey.  I love these colors spilling down the mountainside.

Aspens and Evergreens

I tried making a couple of color palettes from some of my photos.  I'm thinking of making some jewelry pieces based on one or both.  Anyone want to join me?

Sunlit Aspen Color Palette

Aspen and Evergreen Color Palette

Fall is in The Air

Okay, so I haven't been blogging much lately, but that doesn't mean I'm not making jewelry.  As much as I hate to see summer leave, I do love fall and I've been on a kick making jewelry with a fall vibe.  The first piece I made was a bracelet using traditional autumn colors:  orange, brown and white.

I love this bracelet, even if these aren't the colors I usually favor.  Me being me, though, I had to play with the colors a bit.  I added an unexpected pop of teal to the mix and did fall colors my way.

Now this one, I love!  Everything is basically the same in this second bracelet, except for the addition of the teal.  I can't believe what a difference it makes and how the piece now pops!

Then I went to a bead show and picked up some pieces from Star Spirit Studio (more on the bead show later!).  

I obviously adore her pieces and I couldn't wait to make something.  I used one of the raku leaves to make this necklace.

How's that for a beautiful piece!?  I love the colors in the leaf pendant and I wanted to accent it without overpowering it.  I used a spiral pattern of knotting to make a cord and added just a few rows of seed beads in the front.  Not too much color, but just enough, I think to bring out the colors in the leaf.  

I've still got lots of new things from the bead show to play with, and don't worry, I have pictures to share with you.  Stay tuned!

October Fest Reveal

Rita of Toltec Jewels is hosting a little celebration today - an October Fest to celebrate the splendor of Autumn.  Her challenge was simple:  make an autumn inspired treat.  I chose colors that remind me of autumn, of pumpkin pie and butterscotch and turning leaves:

I also ventured outdoors to see if I could find any remnants of fall.  There are still a few leaves on our trees, but most are bare now.  The leaves that have fallen are no longer vibrant, but dead and dull.  We had a bit of snow the other day that left them sodden.  But beneath all the dreary, I found this:

A perfect leaf stenciled on our driveway.  Beauty is indeed all around us, even if sometimes we have to look a little harder.

Join me in visiting the other October Fest participants, and be sure to tell Rita "Happy Birthday" when you visit her page!!

 Hint:  This is Rita & it's her birthday --> Host Toltec Jewels     Jewel School Friends

Heather Otto   The Craft Hopper
Mischelle Fanucch    Micheladas Musings
Marlene Cupo   Amazing Designs
Shaiha Williams    Shaihas Ramblings
Shelly Graham Turner    Fabric of My Life
Shelly Joyce     au jour le jour
Charlie Jacka   Clay Space
Pam Sears   Crazy Creative Corner
Margareta Saari    Mags Jewelry
Marita Suominen    Moment of Jewelry
Lisa Posthumus   Lisa Posthumus-Harper FB
Jeannie Dukic    Jeannie's Blog
Cheri Reed    Creative Designs by Cheri
Susan Kennedy   Sue Beads
Sonya Ann Stille     Dreamin of Beads
Audrey Allen    Wrapped Up In Magic
Kashmira Patel   Sadafulee
Kathy Lindemer     Bay Moon Design
Kris Mattingly    Kris Hake Mattingly FB
Lennis Carrier     WindBent
Paula Hisel     Simply Beadiful
Karin Slaton    Backstory Beads
Shirley Moore     Beads and Bread
Alicia Marinache     All the Pretty Things
Lo     The Creative Klutz
Zoe Marcin     Beads, Tea and Sweets
Kimberly Booth     The Pink Martini Boutique
  You are here  --->   Sherri Stokey    Knot Just Macrame
Tanya McGuire    Tanya McGuire
Debbie Rasmussen    A Little of This, A Little of That
Christine Stonefield   Sweet Girl Design
Tanty Sri Hartani  TJewellicious
Sandra McGriff    Creative Chaos
Renetha Stanziano    Lamplight Crafts

Colene Waltermire    October Fest FB Group
Lee Nova    October Fest FB Groups

 And if you're still with me clear down here, be sure to stop by Artistan Whimsy 
and vote for your favorite hooters!  Read all about my entry here