Fun Color in Crochet

Ok gang, I just had to show a picture of this! Magda Sayeg of Knitta, Please! made this Smart Car Cozie for a festival in Italy. It combines crochet (my fav!) with another fav, the Smart Car and supplies loads of color inspiration. It's in the spirit of yarn crafts in unexpected places. LOve it!

What about you?

(Photo Credit from the Talking Crochet! magazine newsletter.)

Mad for Monday - Frit!

I'm not a slave to fashion or anything but every so often, I figure I better check out what colors are in style. Honestly, if you've done any shopping lately, I don't know how you can miss the orchid, mauve, deep blue that is out there. Every shirt or blouse I've liked is either orchid or mauve. People have commented on it too, as if it were something I was trying to do. Heck, it's the only color available!

Sometimes I feel that way about glass too. The color palette is dictated by the glass manufacturing companies, meaning you only can get what they make. I don't think any of the factories take a look at the Pantone color palette when they make glass colors.

I add to the palette by using frit. I hopped on over Val Cox Frit to select a few frits that would match the Pantone fall color palette.

First, there's Bittersweet, a deep chocolate brown.

I contrast the Bittersweet with Fairydust, a cool greenish-blue.

Then I'd tie the colors all together using Champagne Rain, a mix of browns, tans and creams.

I'd put the frit on a neutral glass color like white, ivory, black or even taupe. What do you think of my color palette?

Handmade Vogue: Statement Necklaces

Everywhere you go these days you see 'em - they're in vogue - Statement Necklaces.  They're over-the-top, full of chains, beads, flowers, and what-nots. I love 'em!  So much so, I made my first statement necklace in February. I'm hooked now and want to design more but before I do, I've been pouring over the internet and have scooped up inspiration for us both!

Statement necklaces can be worn with anything but keep your shirt simple, button down, small collar or t-shirts make a great canvas to show off your statement.  I'm particularly enamoured of the "lots of chain" necklaces. Like this one....

Betsey Johnson's Picnic Statement Necklace on Zappos (photo courtesy of Zappos.) It's Betsey Johnson what can I say? I should write a whole blog post on how I've loved Betsey Johnson since the 1980's. Her style, her clothes, her jewelry just puts a smile on my face. But I digress from my mission today, to share my inspiration.

Cruising over to Etsy to check out the inspiration there, I found this handcrafted, seed bead encrusted beauty...

Custom Doloris Petunia Necklace on Etsy (photo courtesy of Doloris Petunia)

If you love Steampunk Style, then you'll love what I found on Artfire.

Steampunk Tribal Kuchi Cogs n Gears Statment Necklace by Decibel on Artfire (photo courtesy of Decibel on Artfire)

The Art Bead Scene Carnival Bloggers will show off the statement necklaces they've made this Friday, June 4 in a visual blog hop. We'll have a hop from blog to blog with lots of inspiration for you.

Have you tried making a statement necklace?

Butter, butterscotch, lemon....

I'm going to keep the yellow inspiration coming just because it's spring and I see yellow everywhere.

Here's some lovely butter colored filigree from Paloma Antiqua, whose shop is a lovely yellow color. I love how the brass shows through the yellow just slightly balancing out the color:

Shorn Sheep uses deeply hued yellow in her shop but it shows off these antique German tags to great effect:

Maybe you need the palest of raffia for your packaging?

You can spoon your sugar and pour your cream from these vintage Moderntone Glass sugar bowl and creamer:

Pour some coffee and see what you can come up with today that uses yellow.

Keeping Inspired....

As I mentioned yesterday, it's the time for seed catalogs. There's alot of inspiration to be had in them, the flowers of Thompson and Morgan English seeds.

Or you can hop on over to Moosey Country Garden to take a look at their "Colour in the Garden" for more spring time inspiration while it's still winter. The pictures below are courtesy of their website.





How are you keeping inspired while the world in blanketed in white?

Inspiration from Toronto's Chinatown

If I'm jonesing for some big city excitement, we hop in the car and drive to Toronto. A little color inspiration for you today - taken at a market in Toronto's Chinatown.