iPod Case and Card Holders

I've made a steady stream of simple wallets, card holders, and iPod cases but I haven't posted them to the shop yet. Summer was quite hectic and busy and now that fall is settling in I'm putting some focus on the shop again. Plus, I must admit, I have given quite a few away and taken many, many for my own use. They are so handy for so many things.

The one pictured I made specifically for my iPod Touch. The little zippered section is for the earbuds. Then there are two pockets on either side. Most of the ones I have ready to post to shop this week (once I get photos done) are card holders and wallet-sized. The iPod holder is between the two but I plan on making some iPod specific soon.

Leather is always a challenge on a home sewing machine. I splurged a few months ago and bought a new sewing machine with additional bells and whistles though my old one is still doing fine. I think I'll dedicate the old one to sewing leather projects. Despite the occasional broken or bent needle and unhappy sewing machine I so like the results, which is why I keep doing the leather projects.

Cosmic Pony on Facebook

Don't forget that Cosmic Pony is also on Facebook. If you get the chance check it out. There's a link on the right side of the page.

Pink Pearlized Leather Hobo

Apologies for being away for so long. My computer decided to fade into a slow decline this spring. In all fairness, it was a wonderful computer that lasted a long time and even as it started to have issues, at least it was slow and steady so I had time to transfer data and use it still until new computer arrived but it made computer activities a draining experience so blog was not on list of priority uses. I highly suspect that the removal of PSE will grant it additional life but since I need and use PSE it had to be replaced. I went with an all in one computer this time and I really am so happy with it.

I have been working on leather wallets and card holders but first I must show you the lovely pink pearlized leather hobo I recently made. It's an eye catching purse and the leather is just amazing. I went with the hobo silhouette to best showcase all that lovely pink pearlized color. I did run into some issues with attaching the straps. Because of the thickness, sewing through that many layers marred the strap and I didn't notice until I was done. So I won't put it up for sale. What I did was add some slipcovers but they are "bumpy" so I won't put it up for sale. I did consider cutting strap down and attaching slip covers then attaching to some spring hooks to regain the length from cutting but in the end decided to just keep it for myself. It was little frustrating because I had been so cautious and careful throughout the process--pink pearlized leather is not cheap. Then at the very end saw the marring on the straps. If I had noticed it on the first attached end I could have slid covers on before attaching second end. Alas, I thought I was in the home stretch all clear. Oh well, now I will be using it instead of putting it in the shop.

Russian Spiral with Crystals, Oh My

Whew, finally got several Russian Spiral bracelets and necklaces posted to the shop. It was a lot of time involved with this one. I feel like they're my little kids being shot out into the wide world. I have them laying on the table on this mat because I was shooting them in order to help streamline the crop and post process and every time I walked by they sparkled and glimmered at me like little stars in an evening sky. It's tough to capture that in photos. I have some good memories of working on this and suddenly the cat pouncing on bits of light dancing across the floor and up the walls when the room filled with sunlight.

I have some more to finish details with and then will be adding them as well. I can't decide between big brown glass beads or smaller tigereye beads for the finishing touch on my topaz spiral with crystals, for example. And I'm thinking of changing out the magnetic clasp bracelets for good old secure lobster claw clasps. I'm just not satisfied with the performance of the magnetic clasp. They seem fine and then the magnetic pops out of the casing. I've lost a bracelet and necklace already because of the magnetic clasps. Losing it could be prevented with a small safety chain but it wouldn't solve the non-working clasp.

Russian Spiral Bracelets

The Russian Spiral is an amazingly simple yet complicated stitch. The key is to get a few rows done without error and then it becomes easy to see path and almost automatic. It's a time sucker also. But the results are magnificent. I made several bracelets and necklaces and had the urge to do a whole bracelet using Swarovski crystals but that would be too much, besides the cost of that many crystals it actually would be a bit uncomfortable to wear, in my opinion. I've made necklaces where I can feel each bicone edge of a Swarovski crystal. The round crystals don't have the brilliance of the bicones. I did come up with a solution. I entwine the crystals in the spiral. I did the first one with silver beads and AB clear crystals. I gave that one away for Christmas but will definately do another one, for myself, which means doing another one to post on shop. I've done some pearl seed beads with opal crystals, black seed beads with jet AB crystals, and a red mix with siam crystals. All amazingly beautiful. I have the beads and idea for so many more but only so much time to get everything done. They are a time consuming little project.

I had made quite a few of these over the months leading up to Christmas and took a break over Christmas for family and the holiday. A week after Christmas I sat down to make some more necklaces with my lovely new crystals that came in the mail just the week before Christmas and I couldn't seem to get going. I had to look up the pattern instructions again to see where my false start was. As I said, a simple yet complicated little project/stitch. If it had been a few years since I'd made one I could understand forgetting or if I had only done one or two projects. One little error at the start can throw the whole thing off.

The other fun thing about making these bracelets and necklaces is that when I'm sitting in the craft room with the sun shining in I suddenly have a cat pouncing across the floor and up the walls chasing the rainbow flickers of crystal refracted light. Who needs a laser pointer when I've got crystals in my hands?