OWLS!

Aren't owls such incredible birds?  Britannica refers to them as the bird of Athena, the Greek goddess of practical reason.  Makes total sense to me - and I am totally drawn in.  Some owls moved in to our back yard a few years ago, nesting in a very old, mostly dead tree that had lots of internal nooks and crannies and external year-round foliage.  They were white and gray, so I think they were juvenile grays based on the Idaho F&G site.  My husband didn't believe me when I whispered "THERE ARE TWO OWLS ON THE FENCE", but he slowly came to where I was and saw them with his own eyes.  Sometimes that's what it takes... for him to see with his own eyes!! But, back to the owls... it felt like a magical moment to have them in such close proximity and in our garden!  From that day forward, we started hearing their haunting hoots and calls on a regular basis.  So, to have Gaea capture their beauty in her art work and art beads is a wonderful gift.  The eyes draw you in immediately.  This finished piece started with the owl and became what you see.  Something about Gaea's art brings out the best in me too... 

The ceramic bead is also from Gaea.  I felt like the blue star went perfectly as part of the arrangement.  I wire wrapped 4mm fire polish and 11.0 seed beads around the top and bottom and then added some blue translucent drops around the bottom of the pendant.  The top piece is herringbone stitch.  It just felt good as I put the pieces together...

NEW CHRISTMAS DESIGN!

Learning a new beading pattern or technique is such a gift to my mind and my soul (especially this stressful time of year!) and I am so grateful to Eileen Barker, owner of my favorite bead store, Bead Street, and those who work beside her, Sue and Irene, and Sandy Taylor, who teaches many of the classes I take!  Thank you SO MUCH!  I enjoy my time in that shop so much!!!  So... getting back to the beading at hand... here's what we learned last weekend - a bracelet pattern which I made into earrings (Fritch bracelet) designed by Vezsuzsi.  I also made a necklace, and unfortunately,  lighting is difficult this time of year.  When I took some of these shots, the sun happened to be out for a minute, so I hurried for some natural lighting.  These earrings are not quite as light as shown, the second picture reflects better color.  I also used 4mm FP for the round circle in the front, and on the the pendant I used 4mm Swarovski bicone crystals around a coral gemstone center.  Again, color slightly less bright in reality.  Kind of fun to see what a difference a bead makes in a design.  Both equally beautiful, just different.

And, some darlin' little light wreath wire wrapped earrings to match the necklace.  SO CUTE!

BACK TO HEARTS N EARRINGS!

I can't get enough of these hearts... have I said that before?  Well here I go again... The black / crystal / copper is using 4mm fire polish all around with 11.0 sb.  The colored versions use 4mm Czech rounds instead, with the fire polish on the outside.  I'm kind of liking the different look of the rounds in the center.  What do you think?

 

Earrings to match this previously made heart for my darling daughter in law, Lindsey.  Love the translucent turquoise colored glass flower beads.

And, then a re-make of a pair of earrings after one original was lost.  Unfortunately I didn't have enough of these incredible AB blue/purple Swarovski crystals left, so I remade the set with only four crystals.