Stitchy McStitchelton.

So my knitting peeps who do the super tiny knitting (socks amaze me) have put the word in my ear to do some stitch markers. I did knitting way back in the day (think 4-H in high school but still, I think I had something go to the MO state fair!) and more recently crochet but I never follow patterns and just sort of do what feels/looks right so this whole counting stitches thing is akin to flip-flips to my genteel feet...just never happened.

I did some of that there webbernet research, saw about a billionty different ways to make them, got some inspiration and then spent a couple hours jamming various bits of wire into various bits of beads. In the end, I learned a few things:

1. Stitch markers are fun to make! They remind me of tiny graphics on websites that really pull you in.
2. I need some size-mo-trons as I was just guessing really. The very tiny ones have a 6mm jump ring but the wire ones I just cut even lengths to work with and sized them on a smooth pencil.
   

I'm going to take the two sets I made into work on Friday to distribute for testing. I believe these stitch markers to be snag free! We'll see eh...


Big photos on Flickr!

And I'm not even a water person!

Ever since the Paradiso family started our annual trip to Hilton Head, South Carolina, I've realized that some part of me loves a certain kind of beach. I'm not a fan of the heat-baked white sands of say Florida, but the moody tides of the Eastern coasts (and mind you, I go once a year so allow me my romanticism) are wonderful.

So I've been hoarding bits of shells for awhile now (some cowrie shells since 1995 I brought back from Ghana) not really sure what to do with them. I think with shells too it's hard to do something neat and tidy, sort of against their nature at least how they ended up. I started making the wrapped loop charms last night and came up with a first version of the hemp part but didn't care for that so took it all part tonight (not the charms, ye gads, that took me long enough).

The idea to wrap the hemp in wire was a whim (I wanted something to contain the strands mostly) but once it stretched out I realized it looked and acted like the edge of a spiral-bound notebook and that appealed to me immediately. Mind you, this thing is nice and long, just shy of 30 inches so all those shells are front and center. It could definitely be shortened though and would make a very neat choker I think as well.

So I posted photos on flickr and have posted this necklace in the Etsy shop too. Now it's time to do all the things I promised myself I would do instead of what washed up in my head...

Exposure blitz!

So I'm working on getting the Seedlings name out there in a number of different ways including posting new photos on Flickr and giving Twitter a go.

If you'd like to keep up with our Twitter feed it is at http://twitter.com/seedlingstweets and the Flickr photostream is at http://www.flickr.com/photos/seedlingsjewelry.

I do post quite a few photos on Facebook too, to the fan page which all are welcome to join, but I know Facebook doesn't appeal to everyone.

I have been slow to adopt to some of these sites, Twitter especially, but Facebook has been great for being able to stay in touch with people so we'll see with these other tools.

The next couple of weeks I'm going to concentrate on a mixture of getting all my existing pieces updated with the new Moo cards (moo.com mini cards are so neat) and working on some new pieces that have been rumbling around in my head.