Creative University - Part 3

The Charm Swap

Aside from a few yarn and macaroni necklaces, CU's charm swap was my FIRST ever experience making jewelry.  I stressed about it from the day I signed up for the swap.  Erin Grotegut organized the swap.  Erin is a very talented artist.  She also taught our CU jewelry class.  Her blog, Inky Smiles, is HERE.  The swap rules were to create an art charm and a filler charm within the theme "woodland fairy" and use no silver, only gold, bronze, & copper metals.  We had to make ten of each style charm--one to keep and nine to swap with other CU attendees.  I made a few extra, so I swapped a couple more after the organized swap.

Here was my offering to the charm swap.  My art charm was basically a wooden disc with stamping and Modge Podge.  I'll post instructions here soon.

And here are the other creative ladies' charms.  When available, I've linked their blogs with their names so you can check out their other fabulous artwork.

This is from our charm swap leader, Erin Grotegut. Awesome!  There's a tiny little dry dandelion inside the bottle to make a wish on...I think I wish I had as much talent as Erin.

This charm was made by Tahne T.  It's a cute little wooden door.  I'm pretty sure a gnome would live inside there.  Tahne taught us the chain mail bracelet on my last CU post.

This set was made by Diane K.--a beautiful little fairy in the frame plus an owl filler charm.  I love the colors and the art nouveau feel.

I swapped twice with Linda S. and got these two sets.  Look how creative she was to make that toad stool on the far right with two beads.  Linda sat behind me in the cropping room--she's a sweetheart, even when she's tiring of making angry bird cards.

These two charms were made by Melody P.  Her charms match her background so well I don't want to detach them!  Melody also has a cupcake business and brought along some very tasty cupcakes to share at CU.  And, when I forgot one of my bags at CU, Melody was kind enough to deliver it to me in Spokane.  Thanks again, Melody!

Tamara W. made this set.  It's a little hard to see in the pic, but the colors are also awesome.  The little tag from the fairy charm says "believe."  Tamara was one of us "downstairs" gals, and I really enjoyed her and her sidekick, Kim.

Nichole L. is the artist behind these charms.  I love the fairy dust!  And her base card is adorable too.  I'm glad I took pictures of them all before disassembling them.  Nichole took hundreds of pictures at CU.  I can't wait to see them.  I peeked at some of her projects on her table, and they were amazing.

This very creative charm was made by my good friend who I've known since the 3rd grade, Robin G.  She was worried it wouldn't be good enough.  Ha!  It's adorable, and she made it from a real puzzle piece.  Robin helped me a lot with my charms and taught me how to wrap the ends of the head pins to get me started.

Another example where the photo doesn't do the charm OR the card justice.  This set was by Lisa S.  I enjoyed meeting Lisa and her mom, Linda.  Both are very talented women.  When I got home one of the first things I did was order some of the watercolor paints Lisa was using at CU.

This cute dragonfly and "believe" charm is from Darlys R..  The photo is a little blurry, but her charms and card are beautiful. I'm absolutely in love with the dragonfly. 

Both of these charms are pretty enough to be the art charm of the set.  Bobie G. is the artist.  She used resin for the charm on the right, which I'm too scared of to use.  Hanging off the top of the left charm is a little acorn.  Too cute!

Lastly, here is the set by Lisa T.  How creative that Lisa made a fairy wand?  And her blue fairy charm on the left is gorgeous.

Those are only the charms I got.  There were many, many more involved in the swap.  I'm not sure yet if I'm going to make a bracelet or several necklaces.  For now, I might hang them up in my studio, still on the cards, so I can admire them.

Here are a few more pictures from CU:



Traveling buddies:  Jeannie W., Molly, & Robin G.



Melody getting a flower painted on her arm by Tresa Black.



Traci & Olya



Robin & Joy

What an amazing weekend!