A PENDANT WITH OPTIONS: TWO DIFFERENT LOOKS!

My May 18 post, which highlighted the beautiful angular design of Robijo Burzynski, needed a lovely necklace to hang from, but I'd been too busy (what's up with that anyway?) to figure out what beads would make the piece sing.  So, in the meantime, I put it on some chain, which worked fine and was a quick fix, and off I went.  But, I finally took the time to go through my "stash" and come up with a more complete look, using a darlin' Humblebeads bird.   From wearable, but not quite where I wanted it to be, to adorbs!  See what you think!

First shot is of the pendant on the chain version... keep scrolling ...

 

 And, last, but not least, some darling earrings made for a birthday gift...love the color combo!

FALL LEAF REMAKE

I love it when a piece of mine speaks to you, enough so that you want one of your very own!  That's what happened with my Falling Leaves Ensemble posted on September 27.  Here's a slightly altered version of the necklace and earrings made by special request.  Just enough of a change - different pendant hanging from the newly beaded necklace, with some wire wrapping and Swarovski dangles, along with new shorter version of leaf matching earrings.

EMBELLISHED CABOCHON FOR FALL!

A fall creation for a birthday bestie...I'm a little behind in getting this posted to my blog.  Let's just say the local and national events of last week threw me for a loop and I've had to talk to myself a lot about it.  I think lots more beading may be in order to freshen my mind and my spirit. 

As I've mentioned in past blogs, my pieces really do come to me based on the person in my mind view.  This one is for Aimee who loves black and brown -- and, I've done that for her on at least one occasion !!! but, I cannot do it too often because color gives me the boost and the enthusiasm to create - that and the limitless possibilities of beads and pendants and shapes and wire and leather -- did I mention beads?  So, here goes... this is a fun, unusual necklace creation for me, starting with the Golem cabochon.  I was so happy with my embellishment and the colors I used for the bezel in 11.0 and 15.0.  I kept thinking I needed to do more, but this really was quite perfect.  (I do tend to want to overdo it... so I had to hold my mind and my fingers still!!)  I also incorporated a bit of leather as part of the strap, painted and sanded the button to pull in the colors of the pendant, and put in three Czech glass leaves for pop.  Love the look and how the smaller leaves move out slightly. 

The earrings are my design - although I have seen other artists do something similar.  18 and 24 gauge copper patinaed wire wrappings to give a cage effect.  Love how the beads are always in movement -- free to go back and forth on the wire.  This ensemble and these colors look beautiful on you Aimee! 

A BRIGHT STAR OVER THE MILES...

One of my recent star necklaces using Deb Roberti's pattern (August post), coupled with some darlin' pumpkin-round crescent earrings for my dear dear friend Lonette, who truly is a shining star, and who recently showed me ten glorious days of sites and history in Italy, traveling from one coast to the other.  Her birthday is this month -- November -- so as my pre-birthday gift to her, a token of my love and appreciation... in what else but fall colors!  HAPPY BIRTH MONTH Lonette!  These look great on you and I'm happy I was able to see that in person over all those miles. xoxo

 

These crescent beads make such a wonderful round pumpkin, coupled with 11.0 sb and other embellishments.  The colors perfectly compliment the Star Pendant and are very light on the earlobe.

 

FALLING LEAVES ENSEMBLE!

I know I've said it before, and yes, you're gonna hear it over and over -- I love this time of year because it presents such a wonderful opportunity to make gifts and create jewelry for my favorite holidays... fall birthdays, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas... :).  The colors always speak to me, as the weather starts to change, and as the leaves take on their new gorgeous shades of red, yellow, orange, brown, I start to imagine special pieces.  I started this piece, designed by Deb Roberti, because I loved the shape of the necklace design, which sits so nice and flat on the neck.  It really started to speak to me as I alternated 4mm swarovski crystals with the 4mm fire polish -- it didn't over pop, but was just right, and in the sun, or specific light, oh it is so gorgeous!  I added something leafy to give it the fall feel... a J-Lynn Jewel's wood pendant with a few fire polish added for some dangle movement.  Someone is usually on my mind, spurring me on as I start my pieces.  And, this one said LU LU!!!    So, here's my creation for this year's birthday.  Lu, may you wear these pieces and feel my love for you each time you do.  xo

CRESCENTS SUBSTITUTE FOR SUPERDUOS

Changing from one shaped bead to another, well, it can change the entire look of a piece!  This pendant is no exception, and since I've been loving the star-shaped pendant design by Deb Roberti, and had made each one as designed with superduos, I was antsy to experiment with the crescent beads.  It was SO FUN to see it materialize!  Working with the crescents was a tad bit tricky, as they don't sit next to each other as easily as the super duos,  but it was worth the effort.  And, because I needed a wedding set, I added earrings (another design by Deb Roberti) and a bracelet (designed by Trendsetter Kathy Simonds).  The colors of this ensemble are not my usual, as I usually go more towards bright.  But, I do love these darker shades together, and the pop of the copper mix 11.0 seed beads helped give some pizazz...  :)  Who knew?

 

 

OH MY STARS!

Can't get enough of making these wonderful pendants right now from my last post ... pattern by Deb Roberti.  They are fun to make... and just the right size.  FUN!

 

 

THE STARS ARE OUT!

I was looking for a pattern using czechmates 2-hole superduos and found this star by Deb Roberti - Deb is so generous in periodically providing free patterns.  And, her patterns are very detailed and easy for this ol' gal to follow.  Thanks, Deb!  I have several people in my life who are true stars in my eyes... so this pattern spoke to me.  I'm on a roll now, so you'll see more of these as I try different color combinations.  Here's my first one.  

POLYMER CLAY MEETS PEYOTE!

An unlikely pairing you might think!  Peyote stitch around a wonderful polymer clay Day of the Dead pendant?  I think the contrast works great, but getting to just the right contrast was a challenge.  It took me two very long attempts to get it right.  I spent several hours on the first version, which just wasn't coming together - hate it when that happens.  But, finally, my "aha" moment - also love that reverse side of things when it happens!  The polymer pendant is from one of my go to favs, Staci Louise Originals, and it has an incredible reverse side as well.  Staci makes her pendants wearable on either side, which I love, and this set, for the fall, Halloween and the Day of the Dead celebration, is just plain fun!  The earrings came first, and were in my last post, with the hope that a necklace would follow and be a compliment.  I think I accomplished that...

 

 

EARRINGS - FROM FORMAL TO FREE-FORM WIRE WRAP

I wanted to make a formal pair of "wedding" earrings for a friend, so found this pattern "Diamonds in the Rough" by artist Cassie Donien. They are so light and elegant in person - perfect for any wedding fare!  I had a tiny bit of difficulty photographing them in the best light -- I wanted the camera to highlight the AB superduos in the center, as they sparkle ever so beautifully when held up to natural light.  But, alas, that is sometimes the difficult part -- bringing artistry to the eyes of others through a photograph.  I love the overall photo with the tree greenery in the background though... ha ha! 

  

 

The earrings below are my free-forms - I sometimes get in specific moods... and right now, that includes some wire wrapping.  In the pair below, I truly did try to be free-forming, so the wire is not wrapped as exact and tight as I normally would.  The wire has a little air if you will. The green to blue shades of seed beads are lovely together, and I think the 8mm round Swarovski crystal at the bottom, along with the Czech glass milky opal flower cap, pull it all together.  The facets of the crystal are awesome in person. 

 

LOVE how this funky pair below turned out!  I started by making my own wire rounds, using 18 gauge patinaed copper, and then wrapped with 26 gauge.  Once I got started, the colors kept coming!  When I first finished, I felt they needed one more something, so I added the outside wire with add'l beads for some spunk!  Again, love the colors together -- these will be my prototype for future designs.

 

 

 

MIX N MATCH OF SUMMER!

My creative inner beader has suffered this summer.  Seems like being outdoors, in our garden, sitting in a chair sipping a lovely cold beverage, or a variety of other nice weather activities have all taken priority for my available time.  I do miss my "creative self" right now, but I guess not enough to get back to my routine.  Soon enough I keep saying... so for now, here are my very few projects completed since my last post. 

Some adorable little Cubic Cuties, as the stitch designer, Anna Elizabeth Draeger, calls them.  They truly are adorbs in my earring design!  It did take one of my beading sistahs and myself a little time to get the cube thing down, making it fit together evenly.  Unfortunately, you can't see the Swarovski crystals in the peachy/turquoise pair - they are hidden in the center of the cube, but they are the same color as just above the drops.  Thanks one more time Sharon for the wonderful idea of the 6mm bugles, and for sharing some with me.  They pretty much put the finishing touch on the cube in my opinion!

This darling necklace is my design, using one of Tracee Dock's (Classic Bead) adorable ceramic pendants, along with some free form wire wrapping and bead stringing.  I have many many of Tracee's hand crafted artisan pendants and beads, and I keep them safe -- until I am ready to let go of one.  They are all unique and wonderful.  This one is no exception.  A posie in greens and yellows.  So cute! 

And below, one of my works in progress... Nope, it's not quite done -- close -- but not done.  It's a very fun bracelet, but peyote takes some time, and getting the right 8.0 sb to "puff" for the diamonds, around the 11.0 sb base, took a bit.  I love the bright colors... big surprise! Yep, I'm almost done.  One more row of blue/turquoise transparent drops down one side and it'll be ready for wrist viewing.  Ha ha!