Lynne: This is page from a notebook I kept while we were camping in the Indiana Dunes State Park. It’s not really a squiggle, but I find that I can draw better if I just get some approximate marks on the paper. It started out as a Kristin-sized squiggle then I smoothed the lines into a more realistic look.
It has been cold, here, and I have been too long from a warm sun. This drawing makes me warmer remembering a mile-long stretch of boardwalk through a green glade of swamp.
That lines two, three, one and four rhyme
seems strange and rather more like prose.
The constraints keep the meter close,
let meaning float beneath the lines.
-Lynne
Lynne: This patchwork dog is an experiment in brown. I was playing with yellow and seeing what browns could be made with it when mixed with other colors. This is marker and colored pencil.
Loryn: My favorite jewelry pieces are the ones that Kristin makes me. I especially love pendants, and she made me two beautiful pieces this year. Labradorite is one of my favorite stones, and the simple piece above has beautiful fire. I love her simple treatment of it. It’s shown on my omega chain.
This one is onyx and quartz that is side-drilled at the top. I oohed and aahed over this piece of stone while I was at her house a few months ago, and she didn’t let on that she was already planning a necklace for me! I love how she’s hung it from the bead necklace.
Here you can see the complete onyx necklace. I can wear it with just about anything!
Last year she gave me two great necklaces, too. The one above is red coral, and very dramatic.
Here is the complete coral necklace. I love the vintage vibe that it has.
This last one is a dark gray jasper on a beaded necklace. Another simple, elegant piece that I can wear any time!
–Loryn
Cheri: On to Kristin’s gift. Kristin and Lynne went to Lake Michigan several months ago to camp and had a fantastic time. Lynne brought me back some rocks as I am a pretty avid rock lover.
The rocks were really nice and flat and round. I was very intrigued by them because I had just read a tutorial on how to drill rocks on craftgawker and I felt that I really needed to try it out. It was a little touch and go, but I did manage to get holes in several of them.
As I looked at the rocks, I knew that I wanted to make Kristin a necklace. I also wanted to make it a little more personal, so I made a “K” out of wire and then flattened the wire. I looped the initial into the hole with a jump ring. I had a ball chain that I thought looked very nice with the wire and put that on it.
It would also look pretty cool with a thin piece of leather cord. I was really pleased with how it turned out and I think Kristin was really thrilled with it too.
Lynne: I was thinking about Christmas when I drew this. I used the complement pair red and green and tossed in the yellow softball to show the changes from red through orange to yellow.
Most of this is done with marker. It’s much less forgiving than pencil and is more difficult for me to get the nuances of shading. That is one of my goals for 2012–to learn more about shading with less fuss.
An envelope rhyme comes alive,
when the lines have eight syllables.
With strict straightforward simple rules,
lines two, three, one and four must rhyme.
-Lynne
Link once made his living on the vaudeville stage. Cats are good at talking without moving their lips.
–Cheri
Lynne: This guy stayed a scribble and turned into a walking squiggle reptile. I liked the primary colors which were done first with markers. I did the shading with colored pencils.
I’d have a lot of fun walking one of these down the street.
the crafty sisters 