Thursday, May 06, 2010

Ol' Squeak Foot They Used to Call Her

Since I treated myself to some new clothes earlier this week, it was time to dig out some of my cute spring shoes that I haven't worn since last year to go with them. I've got on a really cute pair of Etienne Aigner slides and I'm walking around in them and all of a sudden I realize that every time my right foot hits the ground, that shoe is making a "SQUEAK!" noise.

So, now, when I walk, it's like "Squeak. Pause. Squeak. Pause. Squeak. Pause."

WTF?

Seriously? How does a shoe that was perfectly fine a year ago and hasn't been worn since then suddenly develop a squeak? Actually, are shoes even prone to squeaking? Is this some kind of new cosmic shoe squeak phenomenon? Because it's never happened to me before. And if it had - I'd expect it to happen with my cheap-ass Payless shoes and not my good Etienne Aigner shoes.

Now, I realize that there are more important problems in the world than a squeaky shoe. But those problems are not, at this moment, causing me intense public embarrassment so I really don't care about them right now, do I? No, I don't. I care about the fact that I can no longer sneak around life without being heard coming from a mile away.

Hey, I'm incredibly shy. Stealth is a LIFE SKILL for me.

And this shoe is blowin' it for me big time. So much for my dream of being recruited by the CIA. Seriously, I always thought I'd make a great spy - who would ever suspect the fat mom in her stained sweats, no makeup and her hair up in a butterfly clip? No one. That's who.

See what you have done, squeaky shoe? You have RUINED MY DREAM.

I see I shall have to fall back on my secondary career where I pretend that the girl who failed 7th grade art class can be a bead and jewelry artist:



The one piece that came out fabulously well...and I forgot to post it yesterday LOL! Oh, and love how I captured the water spots on the piece of plastic that I used to prop up this pendant for photo-taking purposes.

I am an excellent dishwasher (not).

But wait, there's more.

Okay - who just rolled their eyes? Y'know, as soon as I get rid of this squeaky shoe, I will be stealthy again and you never know when I might sneak up on you and...so, anyway, enough with the eye rolling!

With much purchasing from the amazingness that is Missficklemedia's great stuff on Etsy, I found all the right pieces to go with one of my resin bezels and created this:




My "Star Lover" necklace started with that hand-crafted resin bezel in the middle. I made it using some of my own art paper from back in my rubber stamping days, added a punched out silver metallic heart, a scrap of paper with the word "L'etoile" on it (that's French for "star" in case y'all didn't know) and a scattering of pink glitter bead embellishment and then I resined all that onto a Patina Queen brass bezel.


Then I came across this solid yellow saffron-patinated star charm on Shannon's site and I thought "hmmm...that looks like it would exactly match that resin piece I just created."


And y'all know how I am with the matchingness. It makes my soul sing.





But then I decided I needed MORE yellow starryness and Shannon was kind enough to work with me on ideas and after some finagling around and trying stuff and convo'ing back and forth, I ended up with these gorgeous filigree stars which she patinated to match the solid star.





How awesome are these filigree stars?




Shannon also had these great saffron rings AND a matching section of chain (again with the matchingess...I am in matchy matchy HEAVEN). AND...this set of lampwork beads from BeeBoo happened to randomly arrive in the middle of this and lo and behold they ALSO matched the color palette so in they went.





Then some brass chain and a hook clasp to finish off the back.




Eh, voila! My "Star Lover" necklace is basically done. I'm still fiddling with the arrangement on the left side because it doesn't feel quite balanced yet, but I think I just need to move a couple of things around or possible added a second strand there and it will be perfection.

Back tomorrow with this week's installment of Bead Porn. You will know it is coming when you hear the SQUEAK!

KJ

16 comments:

Irene Lenihan said...

Love your new necklace. It is a really pretty combination of textures and colors.
Oh and about your shoes, try this site for help.....
http://www.essortment.com/lifestyle/homerepairssqu_sadz.htm It helped me fix mine.

SueBeads said...

Wow, that's just beautiful! So is Shannon's stuff!

lunedreams said...

love the pink and saffron together! that saffron chain is awesome!! Love those big links in between the wrapped beads. (Going to tuck that away into my mental toolbox for later inspiration). i love matchy matchy too! your resin pendant does go perfectly with those stars. (I have a pair of shoes and both shoes squeak. I wear them anyway.)

Lorelei Eurto said...

I am swooning over this lovely pink and yellow color palette!! I have one of Miss Fickle's star charms, but haven't figured out the perfect design for it yet.
Love your squeaky shoe dilemma, I hope you can get rid of it somehow. I'm not sure how you could but maybe they just need to be worn in for a few days.

EmandaJ said...

Kelly I am laughing so hard there are tears rolling down my cheeks! I know all about having squeaking shoes -- and read somewhere in the last month (Where? I don't recall) how to fix shoe squeakiness. If I find it, i will forward it to you.

Love the matchy-matchy starriness!

Emanda

Marie Cramp said...

Love the necklace!! Fantastic!! I can not think of anything better to go with your cute little bezel.
Squeak you tomorrow!

chacha1 said...

thank you so much for the correct use of the word "palette." I want to scream every time a designer on HGTV talks about the color "palate."

And, with you on the shoes. I like to be stealthy, too.

Kaos Siberians said...

So that's what that noise was that woke me out of a sound sleep at 2pm. YOU!

The necklace and the stray bezel are gorgeous! And the cloudy dots on the back of the photo...very artistic!

Unknown said...

great color combination! that's awesome that Shannon worked so hard to get the colors just right for you!!!

Anonymous said...

love both pieces! wonderful designs!

TesoriTrovati said...

An unexpected and fresh color palette KJ! I love what you've done with this. That yellow is such a dynamic color. Anything would go well with it... I can see blue and black and red (not altogether but in other pieces!) And your shoe! I hate that. My Carlos Santana shoes are kick.arse and they had a squeaky problem. A little glue on the heel pad and it was solved. *sigh* I love shoes.
Enjoy the day!
Erin

Barbara Lewis said...

I almost woke the family with my laughing about the CIA! You're too funny! I wonder if you oiled the shoe with some nice leather lotion. I've had squeaky shoes ... they're a nuisance! But, the jewelry is awesome! So, your 7th grade art teacher was terribly wrong!

Michelle said...

I really like the cool pink against the warm saffron...PERFECT combo!

Jen Judd said...

I finally got rid of all the cheap-ass payless shoes in my closet because of the squeaking! haaaaaaaa

I love how "saffron" sounds so much cooler than "yellowish." haaaaaaaaa Absolutely gorgeous piece! I have bezels sitting on my table waiting for some resin love and you've totally motivated me. :)

mairedodd said...

the pink and saffron is a real winner! shannon's work is just so gorgeous... you did a beautiful job making it your own -

Unknown said...

My Glimmering Bird, you've got mad matchy skills!

I am blown away by this piece, you know I love the yellow and pink, but the whole lay out just flows and the detailing of your design is so perfectly perfect. I am so glad you found those Vintaj filigree stars!