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I had a groupon for Brooklyn Bead Box that I bought last year. I finally used it last month for a wire wrap ring class even though I had pinned a wire wrap ring tutorial on my pinterest. I like to take classe as you never know what tips and tricks you can learn and it’s focused time. No other distractions (except all the beautiful beads and jewelry that surrounds you!) Well, I loved the class! The teacher was super cool and the class was small (we were 3 and it goes up to 4). I think I made about 4 rings. The technique they taught was slightly different than the tutorial on my pinterest. At home I tried the tutorial and I like both ways. So, can you say addicted? Here’s the rings I made in class.

This was the very first ring I made. The stone was like 50 cents so I was ok with it if I screwed up. I think I did pretty well!

This stone was pretty big, that’s why there is wire across it as well. I have yet to wear this one. I’m ambivalent on this one.

I think this one is my favorite. I love that it’s not round and I like the colors.

I couldn’t resist this pink skull! This one is a little awkward as I wanted to make the skull look right side up, which means the holes are on the top and bottom. It’s easier to wrap when the holes are on the sides. I might do this one over as the bead is a little loose.

Here is what I made at home from the tutorial.

The stone is from the bead shop and I thought it would be fun to use a bright wire for it.

Bead from my stash. I really love how this one came out. I wear it the most, I think. Until the black started scratching off. I realized that the wire I used is square, as opposed to round, which I guess makes it more prone to scratches. The scratches are on the other side, I wanted to show the good side!

I made this pink stone ring for Sienna. She asked me to make her one after seeing all the rings I was making for myself. She still hasn’t worn it for more than 5 minutes!

The bee is a mood bead that I bought from beadaholique. I thought it would be fun, although I don’t know how accurately it reads your moods! HA!

I just made this ring today for a swap. I haven’t mailed it yet so I hope my partner is not reading this! The bead is actually a swarovski crystal button and it changes color depending on what it is reflecting.
And some earrings too:

Wire wrapped rhinestone chain around a ring. Got the idea from ornamentea. Their so sparkly and kinda fancy. Haven’t worn them yet!

These earrings are copied from the bookA Bounty of Bead and Wire Earrings that I got from the library. Lots of inspiration in the book.

And here is the last item, a wire wrapped pendant. I usually glue a bail to the back but thought this would be more interesting. I made this for a swap and my partner should be receiving it any day now. I hope she likes it.

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In February, we went to the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens with Peter. As I recall, it was a pleasant winter day. There wasn’t much blooming at that time yet but it was nice to spend some time outdoors. Sienna had the camera for a little bit and here are some of the photos she took. I’ll have to make a new watermark for her since she writes her name a little differently now!

I LOVE this self portrait!

Some goofy self portraits!


And here are some of mine. It’s been awhile since I’ve been out shooting just to shoot. It was fun!

I love how the petals look like butterfly wings!

I didn’t notice until editing the photo, but I love how the leaf on the lower right looks like an arrow pointing to the middle! Love these little surprises!

They were looking at Peter while he was taking their photo. I like how they aren’t looking at me.

This woodpecker was pecking away!

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As I mentioned in my last post, Sienna had a party weekend last weekend! Saturday was her party, the first official party we ever paid for! I figured 5 was a mini milestone so why not? The place we booked was very reasonable so I decided to invite her whole class. It was easier than covertly trying to invite just the people Sienna wanted. Then I crossed my fingers that not everyone in her class would be able to come. We ended up having 18 kids, some from her class and some of her buddies outside of school. Everyone had a great time!

Party Bags ready to go!

She took a disco nap about an hour before the party!

Playing “air hockey”

Caius told me to take a picture of him!

A blur in the ball pit

Leah gets a tattoo

Party Table

Dancing

Vinny spun her around so much, she got so dizzy and fell!

Blowing out the candles on the ice cream cake!

The loot! And this isn’t even all of it! She had already opened a Rapunzel and Flynn doll, a Barbie Ballerina doll and an X-men figurine! And this doesn’t show some clothes that she got. She made out very well!

This cake is from my parents. I had them come over on Sunday instead of her actual birthday since I was making cupcakes for her class. Might as well spread out all this cake she’s getting!

This picture is so adorable!

When my dad asked her what she wanted for her birthday, she told him Beyblade. My father asked me for confirmation since there were only boys on the box. She loved this game when she was at Nico’s and Sylvie’s house.

And this was Sienna at her school party on her actual birthday! I made the cupcakes and also bought munchkins. She threw up shortly after this photo! She said it was the white munchkin and not the chocolate one that made her throw up. I suspect it was from all these sweets she’s had the last few days. I don’t usually give her so much cake days in a row!

Sienna and her teacher! This photo is so cute too! My baby is growing up! Sniff sniff!
Here’s a video from the birthday party!

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Today is my darling sweetheart’s birthday. I can’t believe she is 5! I took this photo of her on Saturday, when we had a party for her at Kid’s World and it was a great time! Her whole class was invited and of course, her other friends she knows aside from school. There were 19 kids! More photos of her party weekend to come.

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Let’s get right to the crafts I haven’t posted yet, those that weren’t heart related.

I hosted a swap called Anything But My Heart in the hand carved stamps group. Carve something love related that isn’t a heart. These are the ones I made my partner. Only 1 other person joined so it was like a private swap. My partner sent me 2 bunnies kissing. Super cute! I’ll need to post a photo of that one!

These 3 photos were not for swaps but for one of Sienna’s best buds from school. It was Emma’s birthday on Jan. 31st so I made the front of her card while Sienna decorated the envelope and wrote on the inside. I made the shirt too. I always forget how easy the glitter heat vinyl can mess up especially when I use the newer (and hotter) iron. If you look closely enough, perhaps you can see the mess up?

Another birthday card, this one is for Daniel. As you can see, he turned 2 and he likes trains. The pop up is from the Silhouette store.

Before getting back to swap crafts, I made the top shirt for Daniel also. I gave it to Shirley at her baby shower brunch in January and didn’t give her the onesie until she gave birth to Lucila in February (they opted to be surprised!)

I crocheted this rose and made it into a pin for the How Do I Love Thee swap I hosted.

A huge 4 inch wide stamp I carved of a coffee cup for a Wacky Holiday swap. My partner was in search of a rubber stamp of this size so I thought I would carve her one. Forgot what holiday I made this for!

January 23rd was Asian New Year and it was Year of the Dragon. I joined a card swap for that. The dragon pop up was free online and I traced it in my Silhouette program so I wouldn’t have to cut it by hand. The Cameo spoiled me! I also had the Cameo write the sentiment on the front of the card.

I was excited that I won the My Friendship Bracelet Maker on a blog so I joined a friendship bracelet swap! It was really fun to make and I’ll have to make some more.

Another chalkboard pin!

I can’t remember the swap I made this for but this is so cute, I have to make a set for myself!

I made this one for a pendant swap. The star is a bezel and I embedded some gems inside with diamond glaze colored with some pearl ex.

oop! A Valentine card that I guess did not make it into the heart post. I crocheted the heart although it doesn’t really look like a heart, does it?

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Yves’ cousin, Samy, and his wife Sabine came for a visit last week from France. They live in Brittany, by the sea. This was Sabine’s first time in New York and they did all the usual touristy things. I met them for the first time on Wednesday. My dad came over to watch Sienna and I met everyone at the restaurant, Da Andrea. It was a wonderful time! The food was delicious and the 2 bottles of wine were devine! Sorry I don’t have any photos of the food but I do remember that I got the tower of grilled vegetables with goat cheese for appetizer, the squid ink taglioni with fresh clams for entreé and chocolate gelato for dessert. Samy and Sabine are such good people and it was very easy to talk with them. They sent us off with loads of crepés for Yves and a huge box of macarons for me! And a cute outfit for Sienna. So generous! They were leaving Saturday night so we invited them over our place so they could meet Sienna. We took them to Brooklyn Bridge Park. It was a super windy day, up to 60 mph! But sunny! We had lunch at Bubby’s, where I had one of the best sandwiches I had in a long time (THE PILGRIM – roasted turkey, cranberries, stuffing and cream cheese on housemade sourdough bread)! We walked around a bit but probably not as much as we could have because of the wind. Then, before heading back to the house, we swung by Coney Island just to show them. I felt it was colder by then so it was a super quick trip. Back at the house, we had coffee and cocoa and the banana bread I made that morning. Yves drove them to the airport with promises of visiting them in France soon. They will be back in August with their son and entourage so we will be seeing them again in no time. Sienna enjoyed their company as well and said to me that it was very nice that they came.

MMMMM macarons! NOM NOM NOM. They are all gone now.

Group shot!

By my favorite bridge

Sienna’s point of view! (I should have given her a camera for the day!)

Sienna and Sabine running

On the wall

Squinty by Coney Island

We sent them off with some gifts of our own. We bought a Brooklyn t-shirt for Simon and a notepad with a colorful Manhattan skyline on the cover as well as a couple of handmade items. I made Sabine an S pendant and a set of NY coasters from my photos.

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Yves sent me beautiful flowers for Valentine’s Day. 2 dozen roses! Here’s is the Instagram photo.

I decided to do something a little different and ordered chocolate covered strawberries from Edible Arrangements via a friend’s recommendation. Since there was a local branch, me and Sienna went to pick them up today. The strawberries were very tasty!

Here is the card I made for him.

When I saw this image of the kissing kids in a heart, I had to have it from the Silhouette store. I turned it into a pop-up card. It really came out cute because you can have them do the kissing motions by just opening and closing the card slightly. I just love images of kissing kids (although I kind of dread the day when Sienna has her first kiss! Ironic!)

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Ever the procrastinator, Sienna and I worked on her class Valentines today. We also worked on special treats just for her best buds, Vinny and Emma, pink chocolate covered sandwich cookies.

I loved this idea when I saw it last year and finally did it. These are for her classmates.
Sienna had a lot of fun making these with me. She was a great sprinkle adder.

I joined a bunch of Valentine themed swaps. This one was for A Piece of My Heart swap. I pulled out my Melting Pot and Ultra Thick Embossing Powder (UTEE) and some rubber stamps and started playing. I got the idea from this video on youtube.
This one was for a handmade heart swap. The birds and small heart were die cut using my Sizzix. I hand cut the big heart and free handed the love. I added fabric stiffener to the back of the heart, which is why it’s curved on the edges.

Some simple heart embellished paper clips.
Initial heart pendants. Initials cut by my Cameo using vinyl.

And here are a bunch of cards I did for card swaps:
 (I absolutely adore the kissing kids from the Silhouette store!)

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I know I have a lot of catching up to do! Thought I’d start the new year with a Sienna achievement! She was so happy about this.

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For the Monster Brooch swap, my partner justingrid. Based off a cute monster I saw in the Silhouette store!


These bracelets are for the Happy Crafters USA Favorite Craft swap and my partner ncsue. I’ve just started learning macramé and I love it! The first one is from the book Micro Macramé Jewellery that I have renewed from the library like 3 times already! The bottom one is kumihimo, something else I just started learning as well.


These 2 are not for swaps but for 2 friends that had babies recently. A former coworker of mine had a baby girl in August and another friend actually had her baby boy back in April so that one was a little late! I made the Brooklyn onesie, the Texas state and the “live with my parents” items with the Silhouette (as well as the bibs) and the month/date onesie is an iron on.

Bookmark for my swap partner whose name is Catherine!

Some Halloween cards I made at a Rubber, Paper, Ink meetup I went to in September!

A Pumpkin and Jack O Lantern stamp carve for my partner LavendarLizard.

A Birthday card for Sienna’s friend Leah!

For the Round 15 Craft Your Partner A Craft. Patterns from the same book I mentioned above!

For the Handmade Halloween/Spooky Charm swap. Even though the swap didn’t require the necklace, I wanted to macramé one anyway! Pattern from the same book mentioned above! For the pendant, I stamped a spider onto Halloween themed scrapbook paper and then embossed the whole thing with sparkly embossing powder and then coated with UV resin.

This pendant was made the same way as mentioned above. It was included with other goodies in the coffin shown below for the Halloween in a Trick-or-Treat baggie swap.

My partner likes skulls, as do I, so I made this for her the same way as the other pendants. Another Halloween swap, Halloween in a treat bag!

I made 3 of these adorable bats (from the new Super Cute Felt book by Laura Howard, I really love the book, BTW!)

And here’s that coffin I told you about. I used Martha Stewart’s template and traced it in my Silhouette program.

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