Photography is my second love

Since I've spent beautiful weekend in nature, here are some photos I'd like to share...I just love butterflies and dragonflies... butterflies seemed more cooperative for photo session :D
Click on the photo for full view ;)

Explision of colors

I present you this delicious, vibrant treasury full of gorgeous items
Hope you like it, todays inspiration was sun...summer...nature... joy...

Croatian Street Team Etsy: Croatian Etsy Party 2011.

Croatian Street Team Etsy: Croatian Etsy Party 2011.: "We gathered to... (in picture - from left to right/upper to lower- Ivana, Craftzee, Anniejewelry, Absolute Beginner, Craft Unikat, Amorfia,..."

BNR's are so much fun

I'm participating my second BNR ever (the first one was such a success and finished so fast I didn't even have time to promote it).
BNR means Buy & Replace. Curators make a treasury with certain participants to start the BNR with, and if you want to be included, you have to buy from one of them and then take their place in treasury. This is so much fun and a great way to meet a lot of people and their work, and promotion along the way doesn't hurt, does it :)

STATTEAM's weekly challenge

This week's theme is "Breathe" and "Breathing means living" is the first thing that came to mind :D



Hope you like my collection ;)

Going to a concert tomorrow

Jon Bon Jovi is having a concert here in Zagreb and I'm quite excited about it, shamed to admit but Bon Jovi was, after all my teenage crush (among loads of others, boy it was fun to be a teenage).

I'm also preparing for "Astrofest" in Višnjan where is one of the most famous of our observatories.
Celebration of summer solistice and the shortest night in the year, begins after the sun sets and is enriched with concerts and drama program which ends in the morning with the first rays of sun and hypnotic rhythms of drums.
Few of my creative friends and I, will be exhibiting our work there, and I hope to take the opportunity and go to the shore for a swim (Istria is peninsula so it will take us about half an hour drive to get to the beach).
So, I'm currently spending all my free time on jewelry making (with few exceptions, of course :D )

This Saturday Croatian etsyans are having a CRO Etsy Party - we are joining Etsy's global crafting initiative. I'm looking forward to meeting all those creative people. I'm bringing my tools, supplies and camera along, expect the report on Sunday ;)

Cheerios!

Saturday night playground

When most of people my age go out on Saturday night, I more often than rarely stay home and make jewelry.
It's not that I don't like to socialize, but lately it happens I feel more forfilled when I finish new piece of jewelry than when I'm out partying.
So, last night I finished three pendants, and I present you the one I like the most.
I called it simply "Forest fairy". It's made of two glass cabochons, tibetan silver fairy charm and silver plated wire. It took me quite some time to finish it.
Hope you'll like it :)

" Must have" pliers for wire work

In wire work, you can do lots of things with your hands, but for precision and neat work, and for certain techniques, pliers are indispensable.

These are some of the pliers in my arsenal that I use most of the time.

1) Round nose pliers

These pliers are available in most of the hobby shops, Ebay, etc. and they are similar in price, dimension and quality.

They are mostly used for making all kinds of loops, swirls, jump rings, etc.






2) Small flush side cutter pliers

I bought these on Ebay.
As for the application, the name says it all. These are great for making jump rings, and for cutting the wire ends on jewelry that are hard to reach with bigger cutting pliers.
They are perfect for softer kinds of wires, such as sterling and fine silver wire, copper wire and bronze wire.
For harder wires like brass or stainless steel wire it is better to buy bigger and more sturdier pliers.

3) Flat nose pliers

I got these pliers as a gift. They are specialized tool for precision work with electronics. Compared to flat nose pliers available in hobby shops, they have better quality that really shows in working with wire. They don't damage the wire, and I mostly use them, together with round nose pliers for making the swirls, to hide wire ends, chainmaille, for wrapping the cabochons, straightening the wire, etc.

4) Snipe nose pliers

These are easy to find in hobby shops and online. I use them when dealing with wire ends that are hard to reach, chainmaille and all the situations when I need a pair of pliers with flat inner side.


What kind of pliers do you mostly use?