Lark Crafts

Every Friday, I post a set of free project instructions. (At least that’s what I aim to do!)

After the fantastic time I had at Bead&Button, how could I not post free instructions featuring beadwork, beadwork, beadwork?! Here’s a lovely necklace designed by Leslie Frazier.

Leslie was one of the artists showcased in Masters: Beadweaving. But the instructions for the Twisted Ribbon Ndebele Necklace pictured above—get a free PDF of the instructions for making it by clicking here—were featured in the classic The Art & Elegance of Beadweaving, by Carol Wilcox Wells. Talk about a virtual who’s who of beading for 2002, when it was released! This stunner of a book includes projects by superstars Marcia DeCoster, Linda Fifield, Suzanne Golden, NanC Meinhardt, Karen Ovington, Rebecca Peapples, Madelyn Ricks, Wendy Ellsworth, Karen Paust and Jo Ann Baumann, plus another 20 top beaders.

Each year, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the Audubon Society sponsor the Great Backyard Bird Count, when bird enthusiasts spend a specified amount of time observing birds in a specified location—a backyard, a trail, a bird sanctuary—or so on. To continue the celebration of our Blogiversary, I thought I’d conduct my own little bird count in downtown Asheville. Here’s what I saw today from 1 to 2:30 pm as I walked a lazy circle through the city.

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My first and favorite piece of jewelry was a necklace that transformed into a brooch, hair clip AND into a little toy girl with red hair. I thought she was awesome. And of course the plastic jewel was PRICELESS. (It was called “Sweet Secrets.” I’ll post a fun 80s commercial at the end of this blog about those gems.)

My love for dual-purpose jewelry has continued over the years with poison rings (I’ve never had to put it to use, though), lockets, ring watches…anything that has a purpose OTHER than looking pretty.

These days, I’m becoming more attracted to the pieces that have a classic look, but with a modern secret twist that can allow you to take pictures, use video, save your files to your USB necklace… it’s insane what has transformed into jewelry lately.

What would you like to see double as jewelry? A weapon? A mini computer? I’m sure if you search hard enough or wait long enough you can have it.

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No one has to twist my arm to get me to browse Etsy. I love jewelry and I love birds so looking for bird-inspired jewelry was a real “tweet”!

Lovely works in silver

Left to right: BeckhamDesigns, janiceartjewelry, sarahboodesigns

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You’ve got one, I’ve got one, we all (in the United States) have one.

No, I’m not talking about belly buttons, favorite ice cream flavors, or strong feelings (either way) about rock ballads.

I’m talking about state birds. Each of our 50 states has a state bird, and today, in honor of our Bird Love Blogiversary, I’d like to shine a light on these real, live birds and their creative counterparts.

*I’ve got to say—somehow I’d imagined that every state would have a different bird, and in that 50-bird array I’d have found a wildly colorful collection of feathered friends. Instead, it seems to have been a bit more of a popularity contest when it came to assigning state birds, which is great news for fellows like the Cardinal and Western Meadowlark. (Interestingly about the Cardinal, I’ve lived in FOUR states that boast that red guy as their state bird. Hmm.) I do also want to add that I learned about birds I’d never heard of before, and I was delighted to discover beauties such as the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher and the Willow Ptarmigan. Pretty neat.

So, for your personal records, we have 29 birds among our 50 states. Thanks to the talented artists mentioned below for finding such varied and beautiful ways to share a love of birds.

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Baltimore Oriole – Maryland

Hand Embroidered Dish Towel Oriole by CraveCute

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….continue reading for all of our state birds….

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Dad’s day is here this weekend so the focus of my blog this week is on men’s jewelry. My father didn’t wear much jewelry beyond an occasional tie tack, so it’s refreshing to see the necklaces, bracelets and earrings that adorn men now.  Here’s a selection from etsy I think fathers would love to wear.

1. StampingOutLoud 2. dreadnoughtworkshop 3. lesleytinnaro

4. ElkAndIron 5. jewelrybyjohan 6. 360JewelsElite

7. inediblejewelry 8. lynntodddesigns 9. tinahdee

10. fosterweld 11. amybsjewelry 12.  trudyjames

In addition to our blogiversary, there’s also another important event going on all over the country: the start of summer!

Even though the actual day of summer solstice isn’t until next week, most schools have already set the kids (and teachers) free.

So today’s free project is all about that area where bird-tastic celebration and summer vacation overlap (see figure 1)!

The pretty pillow you see above (from 100 Pretty Little Projects) features a very unique feathered friend. In fact, the Child’s Play pillow doesn’t even come with a template for recreating that bird, because you’re supposed to use your own kid’s drawing as the central motif! Note that if you don’t happen to have a kid, you can likely beg or barter with a niece or nephew for a one-of-a-kind drawing. After all, they should have plenty of free time on their hands starting any day now…

Download the Child’s Play pillow project here.

Sometimes the stars align and two great things join forces. Example #1: the awesomeness that is bird-themed fabric. Take a peek: do you happen to have any birdies in your stash? If not, enter for a chance to win some!

To celebrate our bird love blogiversary, we’re giving away a stack of beautiful bird-themed fabrics. To be entered for a chance to win, leave a comment on this post by 9 p.m EST on Friday, June 17. Any comment will do but we’d love to hear about your favorite thing you’ve made involving birds. One winner will be selected at random and contacted on Monday, June 20. Click here for the official rules.

Need some bird crafting inspiration? Be sure to check out a free bird quilt block and a too-cute owl stuffy pattern from Tina Givens.
Comments are now closed for this giveaway. Congrats to Suze!