77 Days of Elving . . . more or less!

Well, the Vorenberg Workshop elves were a pesky lot this past holiday season. Nag, nag, nag -- and bicker, bicker, bicker over their employer's project list. Then they dragged their heels about leaving, insisting that there surely must be just one more thing to make.

No photos were taken of all the knitted and crocheted headwarmers, caps, shawls, scarves, and toddler and baby sweaters nor of the wardrobe of handmade dolly clothes but those rascal elves did allow time for quick shots of most of the beaded items.


This is the Mandy daughter's Christmas bracelet, the first cuff bracelet I have ever made. It is titled "From Sea to Shining Sea" because it was conceived and executed throughout the 2007 World Series baseball games and you just know which song is played during the 7th-inning stretch of every game, right? Mandy holds an MFA in media arts so I took great license with the design which was centered around a misshapen face I molded, then stained. Vintage rivolis and flatback peridot gems flank the bracelet.

Our daughter Melissa loves green nearly as much as I do and her Christmas bracelet is entitled "In a Zen Mood". Yet another handmade face finished with a copper patina is surrounded by Chinese chrysophrase nuggets, green turquiose chips, polished green stone nuggets, and vintage rivolis.

Elena, our oldest daughter, fell in love with this necklace design in a beading magazine while visiting last summer. It only seemed logical that it must be made for her. The necklace was made up with a "gazillion" Swarovski crystals, black charlotte beads, black and crystal seed beeds and finished with a sterling silver S clasp.

We have eight December birthdays in our family now with the addition of tiny Baby Natalie on December 15th, who is the granddaughter of our daughter-in-law, Shelley, and our son, David. Shelley's birthday is two days before Christmas and we always strive to make it extra special. She is a burgundy girl and this bracelet features vintage rivolis surrounded by freshwater pearls, garnet chips, and crystals.

Son David's birthday is the week before Christmas and he is always a great challenge to make an interesting gift for. A beautiful edition of The Tolkien Miscellany was accompanied by this "Tolkienish" dagger bookmark which I crafted out of another face I molded and gave a bronzed patina. The hilt of the dagger features a piece of faceted Tibetan turquoise held with bronze metallic beads and the blade is fashioned out of the same beads in peyote stitch.




Daughter Jennifer is a blue person and this bracelet's design seemed a natural fit especially with all the snow she experienced in the northern part of New Mexico in the weeks before Christmas. Her cuff bracelet was done in a different manner in that I made a peyote strip the width and length of the brass blank, then embellished it with freshwater pearls and cobalt blue glass beads of every shape and size. It is titled "Arctic Blooms".

"Winter Zen" was made in a similar manner to most of the gift bracelets utilizing a winter palette of colors. It, too, has a handmade face and vintage rivolis, freshwater pearls, and green sea glass pieces. Since it has not gone to it's intended recipient yet, she shall remain nameless here . . .

Alas, my dear husband's new sweater is far from being finished. Knitting for a six-foot, seven-inch tall man is a great challenge under normal circumstances but with all the handmade gifties being churned out by those boisterous elves here, I am sorry to say that only twelve inches of the back of Jim's sweater has been completed.

Knew I shouldn't trust those elves to get it done . . .

Holiday Greetings!

May the peace and happiness of this holiday season be with you throughout the coming New Year.

Voting begins for Beaded Art Doll Comp

Received word this evening that all entries for the All Dolled Up: Beaded Art Doll Competition are up on the Land of Odds website and ready for voting.

Galilea and five other fascinating dolls are patiently waiting for your vote.

Go to http://www.landofodds.com/store/alldolledup2007contest.htm and check it out . . .

Face Pin Swap

Sassy Art Goddess runs the most fascinating swap I have ever participated in. This was a fun challenge and I learned a bunch of new things making these pins. From molding the faces to experimenting with beaded bezel designs to learning how to make the faces into pins, it was a terrific experience!

Can't wait to see what I receive in this swap . . .

Roxie's Dresses

Heather (Bejeweled) over at Jeweled Elegance invited us to join a paper dress swap. We were asked to make two dresses -- one an Autumn or Halloween costume, and the other a design of our choice. My swap partner, Roxie Morrow, does not like black and orange, so here is her Halloween costume -- a Jane Austen gown fit for any Halloween Ball.

Since Roxie loves pink, I decided to make her a real old-fashioned party dress for the second requirement.

My camera was not in love with me the evening this photos were taken, so they are a bit dark. This paper dress swap was a fun challenge and if I would have a better supply of papers (I am a fabric, yarn, lace, and bead hoarder!) I might have done something a bit different. I am already looking forward to doing a project such as this again.

Hope you like your dresses, Roxie!

Competition Beaded Art Doll Story

. . . for those of you who requested the short story, I have posted it at my author's blog, http://kpvorenberg.blogspot.com/ .

2007 All Dolled Up: Beaded Art Doll Competition

Yesterday I learned that my entry into this competition was selected as one of the six semi-finalists. No one can imagine the excitement this news generated among our family and friends! Although online voting won't take place until November 7th at www.landofodds.com/store/alldolledup.htm , I am pleased to present my entry of Galilea here.

This year's theme was Celestial Reflections -- both a beaded art doll and a short story of 1,000-2,000 words was required for submittal. The first paragraph was mandated by contest rules.

. . . don't worry, I will unabashedly remind everyone to vote when the time comes!

The doll's costume is composed of sections of three Hubble photos:

. . . and if you can't stand waiting for the November 7th date to read Galilea's story, I can be coaxed to put it here . . .