10/20/2015

SPOOKY HALLOWEEN!

I'm having a lot of fun using my home-grown pumpkins as my jewelry props!  The colors coordinate so well with the jewelry I'm creating right now, and of course I LOVE this time of year - fall - Halloween - the leaves starting to turn and fall - glorious lush oranges, reds, greens and yellows and ... So, below are my latest JDreams creations for this sp00ky time of year.  The pendant is so dang fun !!!! from a favorite artisan of mine Nancy Schindler of Round Rabbit designs, she really does beautiful work, and in this case perfect for the Season!  I also did a bit of patina wire work to attach the pendant.  I was so proud of myself with how that turned out and I thank a wonderful wire teacher -- Beth Routhier!  And last, but never least, my newest  stitched bracelet, designed by Eileen Barker of Bead Street.





The beautiful bracelet below is the design and creation of Eileen Barker @ Bead Street, called French Garden Cuff taught in a class by Sandy Taylor.  I've inserted the link above to Eileen's patterns.  This pattern uses 3mm cubes for the base, and I love this matte green for fall, especially when mixed with the orange and green montees! 



10/14/2015

FALL COLORS AND FUN!

So many wondrous things happening during this awesome time of year -- my favorite fall season!  Woo Hoo!  It's also a time of year when I'm preparing for birthdays and other celebrations, so I cannot post all my in-process little pretties, but soon, very soon!  Here are a few of late, that I can post.  The first is this adorable bracelet made in perfectly Halloweenie colors, of course!!! A pattern design by Eileen Barker at Bead Street (you can also follow her on Pinterest or view some patterns on Starman) using quadratiles, tiles, drops, 11.0 and 15.0 seed beads, and 6mm rounds, but of course I used 4mm pumpkin rounds (melons) with 11.0 seed beads on either side to fill in that gap.  I love this bracelet.  It flows with your wrist, and it lends itself to lots of color - the drops I used are so awesome.  Green/orange/clear.  One way they look green, another way they look orange.  A fun twist.



 
 Next, some witcheeee earrings.  So fun to wear.  They get noticed, I'll say that, even in all my hair!  I found a pattern on the Fusion Bead website (they do a great job in their Inspiration section!), and did my own thing from there.  I used some of what I had in my stash (another unbelievable thing... I know!) black onyx and lucite, including the darlin' melons for "her" head - they are fun to use on lots of different pieces.


 Another lovely fall colored bracelet below, that is wonderfully lacy on the wrist.  Sometimes it takes me a few minutes to warm to a new pattern, and this one was just that.  However, it didn't take long, and as I started assembling each of the parts, it began to talk to me!  A pattern by Lisa Jordan, a Starman TrendSetter, in a class taught by Sandy Taylor at Bead Street. We used super duos, mini duos, 4mm fp, 11.0 and 15.0 seed beads.


 These earrings are my design (JDreams) - I love leaves in all colors, but mostly in fall colors, surprise!  So I just started stitching and this is what I ended up with. Czech glass leaves, a 4mm bicone for added sparkle, a little bit of leaf chain, and a stitched flower of leaves with a 6mm fp in the middle, using copper 11.0's for the center.  I could have gone on and on stitching with these, but I just had to stop right where they are because they are lovely enough! 

The earrings above and the bracelet below are more of my JDreams designs - love these white bone melons, coupled with the green Czech glass spacers and the effervescent orange rounds.  Below a peyote stitched bracelet using a Bo Hulley ceramic heart button.  The button just finished off the wrap bracelet, don't you think?



10/08/2015

FUN BRACELET DESIGN!

A fun pattern designed by Nela Kabelova, she named "Undulation bracelet".  I had a ball making this with my beading pals, taught by Sandy at Bead Street.  I actually made one in class that was too dark for my liking, so I disassembled all the beads and started anew.  These are the latest two versions.  The pattern works up nicely and wears easily.  Very light on the wrist.  My second version is trended for Halloween, and I'm loving the oranges, greens and purples.  Bricks, 6mm fp or 6mm rounds, 6.0, 11.0 and 15.0 seed beads.