CATCH UP PART 2!

Continuing on with my catch-up theme.  This may take me a few posts...  Feels like cleaning out a closet or something... feels good to be cleaning out a space for new designs.

This adorable necklace was made especially for my "one and only" niece!  I know how much she loves her kittens, so when I saw this fantastic pewter cat pendant by Inviciti, I was smitten and knew exactly what I was going to create and who it was for.  I used a 6mm beautiful multi blue/purple/green glass czech glass pearl with 2mm pearls as spacers for the necklace.  Staying with the theme of the pewter, I used hematite for the wire and findings.  For a dangle, I added both copper and tiny bronze hearts to pop a little.  So cute.

 

The back of the pendant has it's own finished design, which I love.

Some fun earring designs... love the white flower glass with the beautiful large seafoam/opalesque teardrops.  In the light, the color is so awesome.  I needed ti make a pair with an earring post versus a wire, so I took apart a pair of Brighton earrings I no longer wear and the silver bead post was perfect!!  Recycling does work!!

I started stitching the rounds and here's where I ended up.  I love these multi-colored 2 hole superduo beads.  I added fire polish, 11.0 and 8.0 seed beads, along with some bead caps and pellet beads.  I love mixing and matching different sizes and shapes for a subtle look of interest.

And last for this post, but certainly not least, a fun owl necklace with a Heather (Humblebeads) pendant, coupled with one of her famous rondelle beads and a wood distressed dangle.  These wood pieces truly are so fun... any color, any markations work to make it a nice addition.  Thanks, Heather! I also used Lashell's (Design Talented One) sari silk for the necklace.  Her silk is so wonderful and I use it in a lot of my projects.

REMEMBERING CHRISTMAS!

As we neared Christmas, YEP, that holiday that's just a distant memory now... I found a really fun earring pattern that I could easily color adjust to make each one an original.  The pattern is so versatile, and the earrings turned out really light and just pretty gorgeous.  I also made some brick stitch trees inbetween because I'm not great at making the same pattern too many times, so a diversion and distraction was in order.  The last pair shown was made for my mother, who's birthday is December 23 and needed to not be Christmas colors!  Plus, she wears clip on (components f/Fusion Beads), so this pattern lent itself well to that change.  The pattern on the repeat earrings was aptly called "poinsettia" and can be found on the FusionBeads.com website.  They have many fun patterns posted in their inspiration section, and these were exactly that!

 

PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE!

This gorgeous wire wrapped earring design by Penny Dixon, who has been featured on the cover of beading magazines, and on the inside pages too many times to mention, is a wonderfully intricate and challenging designer and artist.  This particular design was featured back in August 2013 in Bead&Button.  I actually took the class from Penny way back when and I just struggled and couldn't get the hang of all the very delicate wire wrapping (4 rounds of 28 gauge wire) around the 20 gauge wire base, so the pattern has been in my "too challenging for me" box. However, I had always hoped I would try it again, as they are so delicate and intricate and beautiful.  And, I can happily say, I DONE DID IT!!!  I've learned a few things over my years of beading, and yes... practice practice practice, plus age, plus ability, plus patience... and if you look closely at this first completed pair you will see they are far from perfect... but I am truly proud of myself.  Give this a try.  You will love how light and gorgeous they are!  Thank you Penny for always challenging me!

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?

 

 

TRANSITIONAL PATTERN USING SUPERDUOS!

I love patterns that are flexible in their design so you can transition the pattern from a bracelet to a necklace or even earrings.  This pattern is just that - "Chainon" designed by Eileen Barker at Bead Street.  Here's my transition from the bracelet pattern to a necklace.  Love these fun colors OF COURSE!  Notice I interspersed some BRIGHTER peachy 11/0.  Some of my pics show that better than others.  This pattern uses superduos, lentils, and 11.0 sb.

SUMMER EARRINGS!

One really can never have too many earrings, right?  Here are a few of my latest creations!  

These darlins are earrings, made from the same pattern in my last post, which was a bracelet pattern taught by Sandy at Bead Street.  Isn't this great chain too?  These came together so nicely - the colors, the chain and the great twisted wire all  compliment.  

A great flower pattern from Fusion Beads using the new pellets, O rings and Super Duos.  I added some splash with color on the birds with some leaves over head.  These colors seem to be everywhere this year.

Another color variation of the pattern above.  These pellet glass beads are a fun new choice.

And, my newest triumph in wire wrapping!  Doing the free flowing thing... not always easy for me - I like my wraps close together and tight, but in this version I wrapped loose and free.  LOVE how these turned out, and the process took me out of my comfort zone.  They go with my pea pod metal smithing necklace from previous post.  The round deep purple beads are the druzy quartz.  They are incredible up close and personal!

SHADES OF BLUE!

Blue and turquoise - I seem to repeat this color combo, but love turquoise with anything, really.  It's a versatile color and so gorgeous with this bright blue.   A pattern by Deb Roberti, taught in a class by Sandy at Bead Street.  The flair around each segment of this bracelet is lovely, and truly, there are so many color combos, my head's all aflutter with what I can do next with this pattern!  I have trouble doing the same thing too many times, so I varied this slightly, to give it a different look, and used 3 different colors of seed beads, along with the two colors of pearls.  See my next post for earrings made from the same pattern.

AN EYE CATCHER OF REDS!

I do love a good RED, and for me that means more to the orange side of red.  And, this shade of red in a variety of differing beads comes together incredibly adding in some other bright colors - green and turquoise glass beads, with some translucent brass and antique brass metal thrown in for good measure.  I actually made the earrings more than a year ago--a beaded bead design by Eileen at Bead Street with Czech rounds with gold little birds added as dangles--and the necklace was made several months ago, which is tubular herringbone using 8.0 sb (a great project for long stretches of straight road in the car headed to and from MT to see our kids/grandkids/granddog!).  The pendant is the Wendy Speare design from my recent post, just with a totally different color combo, and the bracelet is newest -- another design by Ella Des taught in a class at Bead Street by Sandy. This combo certainly brightens up any outfit I might be wearing!  Ha. 

COLOR makes my heart SING!

A most beeeuuuuttteeeeeful new design by Eileen Barker, owner of Bead Street, named "Brookside", taught in a class by Susan Weber.  Of course, I chose to make it as colorful as possible (imagine!) with as many spring colored beads I could gather spread out on my mat.  The orange/peach/pink/rose combo with all the turquoise/green/yellow/metallics is so much fun.  This is a substantial bracelet and quite the wrist statement. It starts with RAW and works out from there.  It also incorporates many fun 2-hole beads, including super duos and piggy beads.

Some darlin bird earrings with multi colored piggies dangling below...

 
 And, last, but certainly not least, a fun color of a necklace, a slightly different version of the bracelet pattern, with three sections stitched together as triangles with double chain to hold in place.  I tried one chain on either side, but the middle triangle kept trying to invert, so a jump ring linking the two separate chains seemed to give it a little more stability and made the diff.  It now lays nicely!

I went back and added on to this necklace, below, so it would lay better around my neck.  Added in the rounds along the chain, and it really helped keep the chain separated and straight.

LOTS OF SHIMMER AND SHEEN!

Pictures do not do these new silky beads justice... let me just start off by saying that...

"Simply Silky" design by Akke Jonkhof Akkesieraden, taught by Sandy Taylor at Bead Street.  Using the newly available Czech 2-hole silky square angled beads and Bead Street has them!  They have quite the multi-color shimmery finish--and for this bracelet, I wanted a combination that would pop, and by George... I think I've done it!  The purplish sheen, coupled with the "bright" blue super duos, and purple Czech O rings are so loverly!  Then I added copper 15/0 sb around the outside of the super duos to finish it off.  I'm quite pleased with this one...