Countdown to the Countdown to Christmas 2016

Every year, Blu and I (that’s me and Blu) host a Countdown to Christmas that runs for 12 weeks from the middle of September until the first weekend or so in December.

The countdown showcases handmade gift ideas, vintage items and some supplies for your crafty do-it-yourselfers to make your own gifts.

Usually, there are around 100 unique, one-of-a-kind gift ideas featured each week. These items are designed to make your gift giving easier.

When you give something that is different from every other gift on the shelf, you are giving something that means you cared enough to select a gift that you thought would be just perfect for the recipient. A blender may become regifted, but a  handmade necklace will become a cherished piece of jewelry.

Make your gift one they will treasure. Give handmade.

Here are some examples of the things you may see in the countdown:

 

If you want to be notified when new countdowns come out, then subscribe to the RSS feed for this blog. http://bmebluprint.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

Happy shopping!

Julie and Blu

Hurricanes and Beach Houses

Volume 13 Issue 9, September 2016

What's New in September?

The hurricane season is just getting ramped up, and we’re doing our annual preparedness checks. Trimming trees, cleaning up trimmings and other ways to protect the property. After a month with no rain, it’s nice to be getting rainy days. The flowers all appreciate it, but the birds aren’t happy about a wet feeder.

With all the rainy weather, I have spent some days tucked inside listening to it rain and making more beads and jewelry. I have a very long project list that I am working on getting through. I have things on the list like trying new techniques and adding new product lines to my store. Some of my experiments fail spectacularly!

When the beads won’t roll right, I have to turn to doing other things like working on graphics and other projects.

This is a work in progress that will become a line of home accessories, and at some point, something that we can personalize.

More Beads: I have a whole new line of individual beads listed and am working on finishing a new shape of bead with faux lampwork techniques.

Canes: I am reworking my cane stash. It’s been too hot to ship them, so I have been working on designing new canes.

Watches: I finished five new watches. Two of them have duplicates.

You will find all of my beads, canes and finished jewelry on my website. www.bluemorningexpressions.com

Until next month,

Julie & Blu

Things to Look Forward To:

New Products:

Hotrod magnets: I am adding hotrod magnets to my shops, and since I only have one finished, I am not ready to show them off yet.

Bangle Bracelets: Have a few bangles done, but adding a lot more.

Hotrod Calendar: I finished two hot rod calendars and a Yellowstone calendar. They will be in the shop shortly.

Rocket Launches and Autumn Beads

Volume 13 Issue 8, August 2016

What's New in August?

My flower gardens are in full bloom, and the butterflies are trying to crowd each other out when it comes to landing on my jatroba. I have even been blessed with a couple monarchs as they enjoy the blooms on my milkweed and honeysuckle. I would say that my attempts to turn my yard into a butterfly garden have been fairly successful. My neighbor down the lane put in a bee hive, and I keep adding more flowers, so they have something to eat. I saw a neat trick on how to water bees. It said put pie tin filled with marbles in the yard and add water to it. That way, they have something to sit on (the marbles) while drinking and won’t drown. I have several birdbaths in the yard, so I might do that.

Another thing that has been interesting this year is the overabundance of anoles (lizards). I found a lot of their eggs when I was planting flowers, but there are these little tiny lizards that are less than an inch long running everywhere. Crazy thing for sure! They are so cute!

In between admiring the butterflies and being entertained by the birds, bees and lizards, I have been making some beads. While I didn’t make a lot, I did start to look towards an autumn palette even when the temperature is over 100 degrees.

Today, I watched a rocket launch from my back yard.

More Beads: While I am working on individual beads and chandelier components, my beads are almost completely sold out, so it’s bead making time around here. I have been working on faux ceramic beads.

Canes: I am almost out of canes, so they are on my list as well. I did one kaleidoscope cane for a magazine project, but I need to make even more! I forgot how much fun they were to make.

Pushpins: There has been a run on baseball pushpins, which has gotten me motivated to start creating more pushpins from my To Do list.

You will find all of my beads, canes and finished jewelry on my website. www.bluemorningexpressions.com

Until next month,

Julie & Blu

 

 

Things to Look Forward To:

New Products:

Hotrod magnets: I am adding hotrod magnets to my shops, and since I only have one finished, that’s all I can show you this month.

Bangle Bracelets: My magazine column this issue was about bangle bracelets, and I have been on a kick ever since. I am planning on creating a lot new bangles in the near future, so keep an eye out for them.

Hotrod Calendar: I have one 2017 calendar completed, but I have so many photos that one is just not enough!

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Baseballs and Butterflies! It’s Summer!

Volume 13 Issue 7, July 2016

What's New in July?

We are past the halfway point in the year already, and even though the summer is starting to heat up, I am already thinking of fall and all those luscious autumn colors. While it’s not quite reflected in my creativity yet, those colors are lined up and ready to go on my workbench.

This summer has been filled with lots of flowers and butterflies as my yard has been transformed into a butterfly sanctuary by all of the butterfly tempting flowers that are blooming out there. This means that I am surrounded by yellows, oranges and reds with a few whites thrown in for good measure. Although the zebra butterfly is the most prevalent, I have managed to stalk and shoot a yellow swallowtail and a black swallowtail as they flitted among my flowers.

Then there was the day the big, red headed vulture showed up and perched himself in one of my trees. The squirrels froze in mid-jump and stayed that way for 20 minutes while they waited to see if he would leave. Apparently, they cannot distinguish one raptor from another.

Hope you are enjoying your own butterflies and flowers.

More Beads: While I am working on individual beads and chandelier components, my beads are almost completely sold out, so it’s bead making time around here. I have been working on faux ceramic beads.

Canes: I am almost out of canes, so they are on my list as well. I did one kaleidoscope cane for a magazine project, but I need to make even more! I forgot how much fun they were to make.

Pushpins: There has been a run on baseball pushpins, which has gotten me motivated to start creating more pushpins from my To Do list.

You will find all of my beads, canes and finished jewelry on my website. www.bluemorningexpressions.com

Until next month,

Julie & Blu

 

 

Things to Look Forward To:

New Products:

Hotrod magnets: I am adding hotrod magnets to my shops, and since I only have one finished, that’s all I can show you this month.

Bangle Bracelets: My magazine column this issue was about bangle bracelets, and I have been on a kick ever since. I am planning on creating a lot new bangles in the near future, so keep an eye out for them.

Hotrod Calendar: I have one 2017 calendar completed, but I have so many photos that one is just not enough!

Candy Drops and Summer Flowers

Volume 13 Issue 6, June 2016

All the gardening I had been doing is now starting to payoff with lots of big, brilliant colors in my yard and flower beds. Even some lilies that I planted last year have finally raised their heads and added red and orange daylilies to my little gardens. My blackberry bush from last year yielded exactly TWO ripe blackberries that I have been watering and attending to while patiently awaiting the day when I could bite into them. That day was today, but someone got them before I did. Either a bunny or a bird ate the blackberries off the vine. I guess there is always next year.

Thanks to all these wild colors, my creative side has turned to creating colorful and fun dangling chandelier earrings. They are appropriately titled the Candy Drop Collection and consist of mouthwatering colors and sparkly dangles. This is a limited collection, so when they are gone, well, they are gone for good. Don’t they look good enough to eat?

More Beads: Individual focal beads are my focus along with chandelier components.

Watches: Lots of new watches are now available. While most of them feature my handmade polymer clay beads, some are made strictly from Swarovski elements and agates because I thought they were pretty!

Thimbles: A dozen new collectible thimbles are now available. I went on a made creative binge of thimbles. Lots of flowers and butterflies. Get them while you can!

You will find all of my beads, canes and finished jewelry on my website. www.bluemorningexpressions.com

Until next month,

Julie & Blu

Things to Look Forward To:

New Products:

Hotrod magnets: I am adding hotrod magnets to my shops, and since I only have one finished, I will have to show them off next month.

Focal Beads and Chandelier Components: I am focusing on making individual beads rather than sets for a bit while I play with new techniques. In addition to the chandelier components, I am focusing on bracelet connectors.

Hotrod Calendar: I have one 2017 calendar completed, but I have so many photos that one is just not enough!

Waiting for Months

 

After waiting and waiting for Microsoft to play nice with Blogger, this open source Live Writer has been developed. It appears as if Microsoft and Blogger will never get along, and those wonderful folks who work in open source have had to come to the rescue of bloggers everywhere who relied upon Live Writer to write and publish their blogs.

Thank you to you good sirs! It has made my life so much easier.

J

 

PS – If you want or need the functional version of Live Writer, here is the link to Open Live Writer.

http://openlivewriter.org/

Pure Elegance

White adds class and elegance to a design. It signifies purity and innocence. It goes with everything and when combined with other colors, it creates pastels. White opens up space in a design, which gives it depth and breadth. It is simple and can  play alone like a long strand of pearls. When you are looking for a comfortable design choice that will go with anything, make it predominately white.

White Opal

October babies prefer this fiery stone. Approximately 97 percent of these stones come from Australia, which makes it the national gemstone of Australia. This is also known  as the milk opal.

White Spinel

Most of the white spinel you see on the market is now synthetic. This stone naturally occurred in Sri Lanka, but those white stones are now lost.

White Star Sapphire

Found in white as well as blue, the white star sapphire is the birthstone of April. A single light source will send off these brilliant rays of light.

White Moonstone

The moonstone is another pearly, white stone that seems to glow from within. They come from feldpsars, as do sunstones. The layering of orthoclase and albite during creation give them the ability to refract light, which makes them glow. August babies lay claim to the moonstone.


In addition to these lovely gemstones, you will also find these white components in jewelry: pearls, chalcedony, quartz, jasper, howlite, aventurine and even bone.
Looking for something elegant for mom? Look no further!

Guitar Wall Clock

KevsKrafts

Funny Embroidered Dish Towel

SimpleEmbroiderySew

Swarovski White Pearl Bracelet Victorian Style

TreasuresofJewels

The White Dragon - Fantasy Art Filet Crochet Image Décor

RSSDesignsinFiber

It's Time For Spring Silver Leafed Flower Necklace Crystals

Wyverndesigns

Soft and Cozy White Lacy Mittens Knitted in Cotton - Adult Medium or Large

ennadoolf

Peyote Wolf Pattern

Polymerclaybeads

Red and White Superduo Snakeskin Beadwoven Handmade Cuff Bracelet

KatsAllThat

Freshwater Pearl and Pewter Handmade Bracelet with Heart Charm

SolanakaiDesigns

White Three Strand Cat's Eye Necklace

TheSingingBeader

Peter Rabbit Tale Stickers

AdorebyNat

Greeting from Niagara Falls 1907 Vintage

PostcardsintheAttic

Dichroic Glass Post Jewelry Earrings

2GlassThumbs

Oval Petrified White Palm Wood Pendant Gold Freshwater Pearl Necklace

DianesDangles

Rabbit Pendant and Pearl Necklace

ShadowDogDesigns

Pearl Earrings

BlondePeachJewelry

Blue Crystal White Pearl Short Dangle Earrings Sterling Silver Handmade

PrettyGonzo

Beautiful and Unique White Hooded Scarf

JazzitupwithDesignsbyNancy


Don't see what you are looking for?
You will find more gift ideas from these designers and artists here:

Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
Week 7
Week 8
Week 9
Red is for Passion
Green with Envy
Think Pink
Who has Time for the Blues?
Orange You Glad it’s Getting Warmer?
You are My Sunshine
Royally Purple
Black is Black
Feel free to reach out and ask the artists and designers if they could make something just for you.
Enjoy
Julie and Blu

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