SuzeBlogz

Amsterdam Part 2

Hoping to get this second blog going so I don't get too far behind...

I Want you to enjoy more of Amsterdam...since they're setting up and getting ready for Christmas

 

The temperature has been easy to take...not freezing at all... very much like home (New Jersey) in the mid 40's. 

window design....artistic, no?!

 

 

 

Vendors are out throughout the center of town selling their wares

 

Here's something I'd never seen before...totally edible chocolate tools !! I'd sure love the mold for those !!

 

You're sure to notice they sell a LOT MORE than just chocolate !!!

 

 

Have pin....will travel !! LOL

 

 

 

 

 

  Oh, yes, getting back to selling MORE STUFF..quite prominently

 

Decorated condoms....hilarious ! In all shapes and sizes !

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To read all about Amsterdam before you visit (and you should !) you can click HERE

 

Tomorrow I have a sneaky suspicion there's gonna be some windmills !

 

 

Amsterdam

We began our Viking River cruise yesterday and already I am in love ! This is not my first time in Amsterdam. I've been here before when I did demos for Ranger, but it is my first cruise here.

Amsterdam is the capitol city and also the most populated of The Netherlands. Yesterday, before the ship departed, we were able to take a little walking tour of downtown where I snapped a bunch of pictures that I hope you'll enjoy.

No point in going into lots of explanation...just want you to enjoy the visuals. Unfortunately the sun rises very late in the day here and sets early plus it was a grey day, but I think you'll enjoy anyway !

 

 

I've made the pictures smaller than I usually do so they'd load faster...we're on a satellite for wifi so things are a bit tenuous here !

 

 

Check out the leaning building. Some buildings were actually designed that way for storage purposes and others are built on pilings that are possibly deteriorating.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This statue represents the 'legal' prostitutes' seen all throughout the 'red light' district. They ask that you do not take any pictures of them and for once I obeyed !! But, there they were, standing in the windows on full display.

More interesting is that there habitats are right across from a church !

 

 

 

 

I have many more but wifi is so tenuous here that Im better off just posting this while I can and get more out to you later.

Hope you enjoy !

 

Fairietime

Retirement has such wonderful benefits! Like being able to take classes whenever you feel like it !

 

I've told you how much I love my friend Colleen and her fabulous shop...THE ARTSY SOUL, in Manahawkin, NJ, and today she had such a great class.

I'm not really into making fairies but I AM into seeing lots of good artsy friends all in one place so I decided to go!

We worked with air dry clay. 

Everyone got a kit

More fun than I ever imagined !

we had to mold a face, make hands and feet, make the dolls hat and the face decoration and attach everything to the star body with wire.

then, you work to build up the dolls chest with additional clay and rubber stamp into it.

Colleen showed us everything step by step and then baked all our pieces for a quick dry.

she showed us examples of fairies she's made (L) AND bought (R)...to give us inspiration.

Just the chance to sit and schmooze with my close friend Linda Hahola made the hour trip extra worthwhile

 So..lets get bizzie....

 

and here are some of the pieces as the work progressed....

ME

 

 

and my FINISHED fairie....

who I think just might have to become

AN ELF ON A SHELF !!! LOL

 

 

and, on the 8th Night

all the gals got together for the last night of the holiday and lit the Chanukiah (that's what the Chanukah Menorah is called)

and, everyone brought food so we had latkes, chicken, hummus, eggplant, ruglach, cakes, you name it...we ate it !

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then...we did a little prezzie exchange...hilarious!

We asked everyone to bring a $10 (or so!) gift to exchange.

the idea being...you are given a number randomly and you get to either pick from the stash or 'steal' someone elses...

stealing is very funny...then everyone waits with baited breath to see who'll steal back again!

Marilyns scarf choice was a steal waiting to happen !

 

Dolores got a tea assortment...nice !

  

 

I got...CHOCOLATES     !!

 

AND SO DID CONNIE !

 

Gwen almost stole this scarf but decided to play nice and picked something instead! She got cute fuzzy slippers !

 

Some people...LOL Susan...said..Ooooh...Myyyy turn to steal !!

 

 

but why she doesn't look happy with a cool infinity scarf is beyond me !!!

 

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then we keep up our yearly Fortune Cookie tradition....our resident fortune cookie maven, Connie, touches the wrapped cookies and "feels" who it should go to....it's VERY funny...trust me !

She never gets it right, of course !

and, then the girls decided to "SHOP" all the jewelry I'd been making...I honestly never expected that...and they ALL left with happy exciting things

a terrific, wonderful, comraderie evening ! 

to see more of the jewelry I've been making please visit my ETSY PAGE !

 

Are You an Artsy Soul?

My artsy friend Colleen Colquhoun owns a spectacular store in Manahawkin, NJ...right on The Jersey Shore....called

THE ARTSY SOUL.

I visit her as often as I can because the ambience in her store is pure magic...so...even tho I've shared pix of her store before I want to share again because you need to understand just HOW magical it is there !

Colleen specializes in all kinds of incredible mixed media supplies, findings, paint, resin, glitter, jewelry supplies, rhinestones, hard to find product...like Chroma Crackle & Aves Epoxie Clay,  and especially anything to do with making fairie dolls

she has gorgeous doll samples all over the shop.

 

 

In fact...this coming Saturday she is teaching a fairie doll class at the store (10 am...come !!) where we'll be making this one below...

I think I might just need to be there !!

Take a little tour....you might just find something that you need...

Her displays are marvelous !!

 

 

 

you can see why I love to visit. I came home with a bag full.

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WELL...tomorrow is the last night of Chanukah and it's party time at MY house...so...come back again to join in the fun.

In the meantime...take a visit over to

etsy.com/shop/suzeweinberg

for holiday gifts that are all one of a kind

Here a Tassel, There a Tassel

So, when your good friend and fellow artiste Carmi Cimicata (from Canada) asks you to take part in another of her "What Can You Make with this Product" blog hops...you give her a great big resounding

I have no idea what I can make, but...Y-E-S....count me in !

and so...the package arrives from Carmi....and in it....faux suede and tassels...in lots of glorious colors, products from the John Bead Co., Canadian distributors of jewelry components. These components are from their Dazzle-It line.

I was so overjoyed to play with something so different for me. How could I possibly make just one thing. C'mon now !!

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Now..just in case you are wondering where to buy these items....well, John Bead does NOT sell to the consumer. They are wholesalers. What you should do is visit their FB page (they do a lot of give-a-ways) or, their Dazzle it FB page,  or their website 

 

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So...here we go......I LOVED this faux suede and the tassels were exceptional so now I'm going to incorporate them into the type of jewelry I am comfortable making.

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Lets begin with a simple embellishment....adding rhinestone chain to the tassel bales to dress them up a little.

(The jewelry pieces come from Kabela Design and Susan Lenart Kazmer, the chain from NUNN Design)

 

 

Turquoise & tarnished silver make a beautiful combo.

 

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Next I used the innards from an antique watch, glued them into a bezel, added rhinestones around the bezel and added another bezel (from Susan Lenart Kazmer) on top.

The fushcia (reddish-purple) tassel and cord added just the right "pop"!

 

John Bead provided the goldtone connectors too. You simply use a bit of good glue and stick the cords into them. Let dry.

 

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Here I decided to use Apoxie Jewelry Clay around the tassel bale and added rhinestones to it. Let it set overnight and in the morning added the hanging rhinestones and the neck chain.

I love the simplicity...it's gonna become a favorite 'everyday"  necklace for me !

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By using one bezel on top of another bezel it allowed me to double up on the tassel.

and, I attached the cords into filigree cones with glue (from Kabela.)

 

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On this one I decided to try folding & looping the cord then wiring it closed in order to add something to the middle of the cord.

 

I used an old watch antique innard for both the focal piece and the cord piece. The experiment worked just great for me.

 

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THEN......I had fun with this button!!!

 I loved the little porcelain house, the birdhouse (from Vintaj) and the bird so I wired it all into the button before securing everything, from behind, to a smaller bezel using jewelry apoxie clay. Everything hardened and dried overnight.

Having that smaller bezel behind gave me the ability to loop the neck cord and the tassel 

It's simple but it makes a fantastic statement when worn.

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 My conclusion....I had never used tassels or cord before in anything...I was completely drawn in. I loved it. I was wishing I had more...more...more !!!

Thank you Carmi, John Bead & Dazzle It !!

If you see something you love...please do let me know !!!