A BUNNY, SOME OWLS and A HEART!

A spirited, unique clay pendant from Nicole St Laurent (Ravens Meadow), a beautiful enameled light purple heart and charms from Gaea and some gorgeous complimenting gemstones make for a unique Easter and all-year-round piece.  I started daydreaming about how this whole piece would come together a few months before I actually sat down to get 'er done!  I do that... I like to look at a piece, and let my mind wander about the possibilities, and hopefully sooner rather than later...(but sometimes it's years later!!) it tells me where I'm going.  For this necklace, I  began by wire wrapping around the top wire of the pendant using a deep purple 20 gauge wire, just to soften the edges.  I kept shifting the heart to see where it would best fit, and it felt perfect where I wired it in place.  I added some turquoise, amethyst and jasper, and 8 sb for the necklace portion - I also wire wrapped a couple of links to soften the connection of the necklace to the piece.

The time of day makes such a difference in the lighting for pics.  The view below shows truer coloration.

Next, every necklace needs a cute set of earrings, right?  For this pair, I started with Gaea's gorgeous enameled metal charms, using purple wire to make the connector, and going up from there with turquoise and jasper rondelles.  Light turquoise czech glass flowers and my copper ear wires topped them off.  Is this a fun statement combo piece or what?   

STAYING AT HOME THEME!

I'm creating all over the spectrum right now - totally distracted at every glance - but here are a couple of my newest creations.  I think many of my blogs will be a bit disjointed right now and into the near future, as we all strive to find our own way.  That old life doesn't look like it will return, and really, it's probably time for a whole new outlook on life anyway.  Lot's of good things happening amid all the chaos of this pandemic.  Beading -- even though sometimes distracted -- has saved me on many a day.  I am grateful for so many many things, including this wonderful craft of beading.


Here are some earrings I made to go with the necklace, also shown below.  I wire shaped the hearts - slightly hammered them to help harden the wire, then wire wrapped around the hearts w/3mm melons, czech glass leaves and 2-hole piggy beads with a 3mm fire polish in the middle.    

Here's my necklace to match the earrings, which was inspired by one of Heather Powers' Bead Table Wednesday.  I already had the adorable heart vine house in my stash, so the project started out perfectly for me.  Heather's theme had a "staying at home" message, so her little houses fit the bill.  I've mentioned before that Heather generously provides project-making Bead Table Wednesdays - showing new ideas to get our creative juices flowing. If you haven't watched one of her videos, you're missing an opportunity!   So, this is my version of one of those recent Bead Tables.  I love her idea of the wire wrapped, hammered connectors and using 2-hole piggy beads on the connectors.  I added some different dangles (peanut beads, czech glass and a little metal bird) plus a tree charm I painted with Vintaj paints.  Truly, just so many endless ideas...Thanks so much to Heather for always providing wonderful ideas to get my brain flowing...

The Blues...

This incredible pattern designed by Natalia Savastano, aptly named "Bright Starburst Pendant" and featured in the February 2020 issue of Bead & Button magazine, is just that -- a starburst of incredible color.  I chose varying degrees and shades of blue and turquoise... and oh my gosh, is it gorgeous.  I finished it off with some chain and just a few swarovski pearl dangles to compliment the pendant.  Hope you LOVE it Kriss!!

To compliment the pendant, but not add too much extra bling, I stitched peyote pieces and attached to different sized jump rings, and added more crystals.  Perfect!