International Charm Day 2012

This year I will be missing International Charm Day.
The reason is that I am taking a trip with my husband to Namibia for a few days.

My mom and dad (which are both 86) will be going with us.

So instead of hosting a class on the day,
Benice and I decided to make and share our charms this year
- just the way Amber Dawn had intended when she started this initiative!!

Remember those stretched canvas stabilizers?

Well this is what we are turning them into.

 

 

 

 

Prrrrretty little charms!

To all our followers in South Africa:
Send us an email with your vital stats and postal address,
and we will send you one of these pretties.

(We hope to get them out by May 15th!)

For our blog followers from abroad, I am really sorry that we cannot send

you a little charm, but here are a few tips on how to create your own.

 

 

Paint the wood with gesso and the paint colour of your choice.

Then use gel medium to adhere the tissue paper to the wood.

Sand off the extra overlapping tissue paper, once your gel has dried.

Drill a small hole with your Dremel in the top corner.

 

 

Choose a small stamp and your Archival ink to stamp an image onto

both sides of the charm.

Paint the sides and add some dangles or silver charms.

I will be back in May with a few photos of one of my favourite places, Namibia!

First attempt.

Yes , everybody has a first attempt.

Some are so lucky that the first attempt is a masterpiece!!

But for most of us it is a learning process and the start of something that can develop into a masterpiece. Even if it just a personal masterpiece.

This year you will create your own masterpiece on a tiny piece of wood.

(I had to frame the picture, because I downloaded the new

version of Picasa and had to try the "fame thing")

In the meantime the creative process has evolved

and as I said yesterday,

stamping, painting, decorating and much more has now

become part of these little treasures.

International Charm Day

Like I said... I like to gather stuff, sometimes you just know you

can do something with these things that you have gathered.

This time it really happened!!

I did find a use for these...... I don't even know what you call them?!

Canvas stabilizers!?

I used a scroll saw and some sandpaper to transform and alter them.

Now it is time to paint and stamp and spray and doodle and drill and glue!

 

I am sure you can also now see the potential........ !!

International Charm Day - A South African version

We hosted our second “International Charm Day” on April 28th, 2011 at my studio in Centurion, South Africa.

(Or as Amber Dawn from Inventive Soul calls it - International Handmade Art Charm Day!)

Guests were treated to Turkish Delight and Passion Fruit cupcakes in honour of our blog name!!

(Elna and I did a whole lot of baking on Wednesday!?)

Ina brought her friend, Tessa, along for the day.

Eretha, Teighler and Jeannie proudly displaying their “Bobbin Fairies”!!

Donè, Dawn, Marnè, Maryke and Rita relaxing after a very creative morning!!  Dawn decided to bring her daughter, Maryke and her two granddaughters with for the morning.

Dawn and Rita attended our workshops at Soul Sisters where they caught the "Bead Bug" and, if you look closely, you will Rita wearing her Soul Sister "Fiber Watch"!?

Guests made a "Bobbin Fairy" - to keep and...

... a "Message on a Thimble" which was swapped out for one made by another guest.

Maryke, Dawn and Marnè trying hard to get the split-pins attached to the ribbon-clasp!?

The studio was a hive of activity with ladies scratching for beads, ribbon and fibers.

Oh, what fun we had!!

A huge "Thank You" goes out to Amber Dawn for starting this wonderful opportunity to share with others!!

Please hop on over to the International Charm Day website to see other related events...

International Charm Day - 28 April

Just a quick post to let you know that we will once again host an event to celebrate International Charm Day!!

(Or as Amber Dawn from Inventive Soul calls it - International Handmade Art Charm Day)

To quote Amber Dawn -

On this day we celebrate life, friendship, artistic charms to wear. We do this by sharing and wearing our own handmade art charms or give gifts of charms, charm making supplies or charm related items. Love, hope, charity, creativity, friendship, kindness, happiness and sharing are many of the founding components behind this event. We share with those we know and those we do not know.

Please join us on 28 April 2011

at my (Benice's) Studio.

You can pop in  at any time between 10:00 and 15:00.

(Allow at least 2 hours to complete your works of art
and socialise a bit)

R50 will buy you a cup of tea, a cupcake (what else?)
& the supplies needed to make two items of handmade art.

 

You will make a "Bobbin Fairy" (to keep), as well as
a "Message on a Thimble" which you will swap for another one
made by one of the other participants.

Please email us to ensure we keep a "spot" for you!?

Be sure to check out Amber Dawn's website to find out what people all over the world will be doing on the 28th...

A Charming Parcel

This parcel arrived in my mailbox last week, all the way from New York!?  We celebrated International Charm Day on 28 April 2010 - the brainchild of Amber Dawn from Inventive Soul and this parcel was her way of thanking us...

Here is just a sample of the treasures inside.

Amber even made personalised charms for the two of us!  Are we blessed or what?!  The charms measure about 1" each.

These charms measure about a quarter of an inch each.

My favourite - these tiny bottles with even tinier cupcakes inside...  Just to give you a better perspective, look at the size of my thumb (in desperate need of a manicure!?) next to the bottle...  I've encircled the cupcake for your attention.

Thank you to Amber for her vision to start the International Charm Day initiative and especially for spoiling us with her works of art!!

We plan to host another event on the 28th of April this year...

We've Been Published!!

If you've been following our blog for a while, you will know that we hosted "International Charm Day" on April 28th.  You can read more about the day in our post of April 29th.

The lovely Michelle and charming (pardon the pun) Retief from theBeadBook visited us on the day and in the latest issue (24) they are featuring the event as well as details on the charms our guests were able to make that day...  theBeadBook also has a website with a host of beading projects, so please go and have a look.


Elna & I are sooo chuffed with our first steps as "Published Bead Celebrities"!!  Thanx again to theBeadBook for making this happen.  A huge Thank You also goes out to Amber for her vision of proclaiming April 28th International Charm Day...


PS - Needless to say, we did celebrate with some cupcakes and tea!?

International Charm Day

We had an amazing day yesterday...

More than 30 of our friends and clients joined us in celebration of International Charm Day.

There were eight different designs to choose from - each person had to make three identical charms, keep one and swap the other two with charms made by two other guests... Most of our guests are paper crafters and this event has opened a whole new world to them!!

These are the eight designs that were available. We also had a pink range - especially for Claudene!! We used rubber-stamping, double sided tape and glitter, rub-ons, alcohol ink, paper serviette decoupage, paint, wood domino's, quilting fabric, tulle, paper flowers and sewing material to transform ordinary beads into extra-ordinary beads and in some cases even create charms from scratch!? Charm # 1 was inspired by Disney from Ruffles & Stuff.

Needless to say there were many cupcakes, tea and chocolates!?

The charming (pardon the pun!) Michelle and Retief from the Bead Book popped in for a cuppa and we are now even bigger fans of their publication:)

Elna made these divine business cards to ensure our guests remember our blog address ;)

Here Elna is busy explaining a technique to one of our guests while Retief (from the Bead Book) is looking on.

We would like to thank Amber Dawn for her vision when she proclaimed 28 April International Charm Day!! Yesterday has most certainly created at least 20 new beading converts!!

Mission accomplished!

"Play date" at my studio - 28 April

It is International Charm Day on April 28th, 2010!! Go check out the official site and register as a follower.Elna & I have decided to have an open day at my studio and invite our friends to come and play with us "Between (eating) Cupcakes and (drinking) Tea".

In keeping with the intention of International Charm Day (Wear & Share), we will have workstations set up where you can learn how to create your own charms from unusual materials, including buttons, paper flowers, mosaic tiles, etc... The idea is that you make 3 identical charms, keep 1 and get 2 others made by someone else in return!!

Check out the "Classes and Events" section on the right to RSVP. You are welcome to pop in anytime between 10am and 4 pm. Cost will be R25pp, which will guarantee you the materials needed to make at least 3 charms, a cuppa and some cupcakes!? Directions will be sent to you, once you've booked.

You only need an hour to make 3 charms, have some cupcakes & tea and catch up on any gossip!?

Looking forward to seeing you on the 28th...

Elna & Benice
PS. This is NO April Fools joke!?