COMPLETED SPECIAL PROJECTS and some words of wisdom thrown in...

Ongoing projects recently finished, gifted or sold... The raku medallions continue to speak loudly to me, so they may be part of my posts on a continuing basis in one form or another.  I love working with them and I've ordered and reordered many from our local Dragonfly clothing/gift shop.  The colors are so gorgeous and ever-changing, plus my copper wire wrapping is never the same,  sometimes more challenging than I anticipate!  But, I can't get enough of them.  The siri silk continues to be one of my favorite, colorful finishing touches.   

Dragonfly colors are so gorgeous in life and in raku.  The Dragonfly symbolizes change and transformation with some emotional maturity and growth thrown in.  I am in that state of mind, so all good... 
  

The tree of life speaks for itself.  What an important symbol, up close and personal to me right now.  Symbolizing a fresh start, positive energy and strength.  On any given day I find myself hanging on for dear life... as are many of my closest peeps, so strength and positive energy in any form are welcome.  

An incredible Green Girl copper slider... I loved it the minute I saw it, and could envision it on a bracelet.  And, the message is one to remind ourselves... we are capable of doing more than we ever imagined when faced with what life throws at us as we are "unbreakable".

More of my hand cut earrings using the beautiful blue/turquoise leather.  I mixed some metals for the chain and added some very light and colorful polymer clay dangles from Areto Artisan beads.  Perfect for the changing colors of this season.

A brass bracelet connector I embellished with some Vintaj paint.  It turned out so ADORABLE, if I don't say so myself.  I macramed in a few size 6 beads close to the connector for some interest.

And, I always need something to believe in... so I wear this brass bracelet connector, embellished with some Vintaj paints in fall colors, on those days when I'm having some trouble with that... there is always hope too, right?  That'll be my next bracelet.  Without believing there is hope, I am lost... 

And, last for this post, BE KIND.  Can't be said enough.  Hard one to remember when others are not following that same path... so if wearing on one's wrist... good reminder!

Creating While Learning a New Stitch!

Learning something new is always a lovely choice... sometimes I get it soon after beginning the process, sometimes it takes a few projects to perfect it.  This new stitch "peyote with a twist, not crochet" is a load of fun.  It looks like crochet, but you don't have to string on all the beads ahead of time, which is awesome.  And, truly the designs are so endless.  I was focusing on stitching correctly - one stitch after another - and, imagine! this piece took on a life of its own... always such a surprise to me.  :)  As I was progressing, I looked through my stock of favorite bead artist pendants, and Gaea's feather jumped out at me, and the colors were so delicious with what I had already started, it joined the flow of it all.  My earrings were actually started before I finished the necklace.  Ooh la la... Fall here I come.  There's so much joy in these beads.

MORE FUN EARRING BLING +

As we head towards fall I'd best get all these summer colors out of my system so I can move on to the beauty of what the leaves will soon be bringing as inspiration.  So, here goes, more leather bling, a couple of very special anniversary macrame bracelets with initial charms stamped courtesy of my friend Aimee Stephenson, and another with a pre-stamped bar and then leather on the last one.  This leather is addicting... 

The colors of these earrings below are SO GORGEOUS!  The leather is a beautiful turquoise blue and then I added some paint to the flower charms for some extreeee pazzaz.  A really fun experiment with some fire polish and leaf charm dangles.

SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW, SOMETHING BORROWED...

Starting with something borrowed... my friend Aimee, who opened my eyes to this creative life-line called beading so many years ago... has gotten back into her own creative jive again by making some incredible adjustable bracelets using macrame... and I love what she is doing (imagine!) So, here's my hand at that "borrowed" thing... following Aimee's lead and absolutely copying her idea with a teeeeeny tiny twist. I reached far back into my stash and found this beautiful ceramic bracelet connector from Bo Hulley Ceramics.  It looks so awesome with the macrame.  Love reaching back into my stash of special pieces to find the perfect one to showcase.  Thank you Aimee, and Bo!!!

Now to the "something old" part of this post... actually something my brain just opened up to -- Dream Catchers  designed way back in the 19th Century, which I have always loved.  Heck, I have Dream Catchers on my nails right now!  So, here's my first attempt, far from perfect, but a good start I think.  It was a bit challenging for me using a small ring and 1.5 mm cord, but I do love the look, so lots of practice and more Dream Catcher variations will be in my future.  

And now, last but not least, the "something new".  My latest brick stitched lovelies... I love doing brick stitch around a component.  You can make it all up as you stitch.  I added some loose wire wrapping at the top of the earring wires for some added design and hung some tiny little metal flowers in the middle.  These are adorable in person.

MORE EARRING DESIGNS!

I like having several different projects underway, or at least a twinkle in my eye of a new idea that's just ahead.  I think most beaders are that way... to keep the momentum of creativity moving.  I do try to finish MOST projects before bouncing back to another, but it doesn't always work that way.  For the summer, earrings are such a fun, non-ending creative outlet, so here are those I've been bouncing back and forth from.... and to... 

My latest design... started out totally different than this finished product.  I love the meshing of the different tones with the copper chain, wire and filigre beads.  These do have a bit of weight to them due to my choice of beads, but oh so gorgeous in the light.

More of my leather weightless creations.  So many different choices of leather colors and then dangles to attach.

LIGHT AS A FEATHER!

Nothing too original or incredibly mind blowing here, but I've joined the leather craze and been trying my own scissor hand at cutting tear drops, rounds and straight lines!  Not as easy as I remember it, especially now that we can all zoom way in on any picture... so don't look too close at my cut marks.  I've added my own flair... course... and am trying really hard to just keep them light and airy instead of adding too many dangles.  That's the hard part, because if I add too much, they are no longer light as a feather!  I'm in a summer mindset of creating light, fun accessories, saving the longer-term more intense creating for fall and winter.  These fit the bill perfectly...and these are my first attempts, so stay tuned.  I think there may become many variations of this fun style for JDreams. 

I am also just starting to order from a couple leather vendors, so if you have any suggestions on good people to order from, please let me know.  There are a lot of awesome options out there that I didn't know even existed.

The leather portion of these earrings -- the teardrop -- measures 2"

                              These are smaller -- about 1 1/4" length