THE EASTER BUNNY LIVES!

Oh, the colors of Easter and spring... pastels all around.  Such yummy eye candy delights.  I really enjoy making seasonal pieces - I get into the mood of the colors, the weather, the fun and thus motivation of it.  Sometimes I'm truly amazed at what I did a year ago, or a few years ago, as I'm constantly evolving -- changing my methods, my likes, and my abilities.  This wonderful bunny pendant is from Ashley at Summer Wind Art and it's so perfect for my Easter necklace this year!  He's been safely held captive in one of my "stash" drawers.  It was past time for him to emerge.  :)  I added some copper wire wrapping and some dangles in czech glass (flower cap) and swarovski crystals.  Perfect!  Then for the necklace I strung green square czech glass and square puff blue angelite (I believe... although the strand wasn't marked, so that's my guess!) with some czech rondelles and size 8 sb in-between.  

And now for some Easter ear candy...Nothing too hard or serious, just lots of fun and bright color.  And what's Easter without bunnies and carrots dangling from your ears?  

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.

 

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?

 

 

MY FIRST COLLAR...

Stitching a collar design and having it lay flatly around the neck (without buckling) ... hmmm... a quandry for a tight beader like myself!  This is really a fun pattern (a design by TrendSetter Yasmin Sarfati) and has so many color combination possibilities - it's like a rainbow of color around my neck.  This was my first attempt at a collar, and I feel like I need to try it again - right away - so I can try to bead softer with less pull.  The problem I noticed as I was beading was the thread showing in-between.  Not a look I love.  On the very top row of RAW, I went back through, adding 8 sb in-between the 3mm fp.  That seemed to work, but the subsequent rows buckle slightly.  So, if someone knows the secret, please share! 

TURQUOISE AND BUTTERFLIES

A darlin' BUTTERFLY bracelet pattern by Vezsuzsi.  I had to remake this twice as the first time it was way too tight and wouldn't bend to go around my wrist.  I wasn't the only one in my beading group... several of us had the same difficulty.  I must say though, that the original pattern is for a bangle, and we were making ours for a clasp, which does change the bend requirements.  So after slightly altering the pattern and adding an extra 15/0 or an extra 11/0 here and there, it softened up and had more flex to go around my wrist.  I love the colors I used... bright and cheery for sure!  It's dainty, so caution will need to be taken when worn.

 

And, next this wonderful turquoise wrist eye catcher.  My beading sistah Judy had made one and I LOVED it, so I asked if I could copy her idea using the turquoise and make my own version.  I used a base of ladder stitch with 4mm cubes.  You could use any kind of chips ... or truly... anything else.  You are limited only by your own imagination.  I'm going to give it another whirl with something less expensive than turquoise.  But, isn't this fun?  I love my owl button too.  Kind of finished it off for me.

NEW EARRING INSPIRATION!

Not colors I would have necessarily chosen, but I received a special order request for bright primary colors, so I gave it an honest try and ... judge for yourself below, but I can honestly say I think these turned out beautifully.  I'm going to make myself a pair too - I think the colors combine incredibly.  The first pic below is indoor light, and the last few are outdoor natural.  It truly makes a difference in how the colors come through.

A Challenging Earring Gone Pendant Design!

I do love a good challenge, and Beadwork Magazine Designer of the Year, Penny Dixon, does not disappoint.  She is an incredible jewelry designer.  I wanted to start a new project, and her "Pergola" earring design, just one of her many mathematical equations, called out to me from the pages of the magazine!  So, I gathered the beads that I needed and started... and I struggled, let me tell you.  But, onward I kept weaving each and every little stitch.  For this trial run earring (yes, I have made only one at this writing!!!) I used the colors I could put my hands on in my stash, so this might not be what I would have put together if I had had all colors (!), but I thought it worked and I really quite like the way it turned out.  Some red/green, but not too much.  I used a combination of metals for the Czech bars (I originally thought my Czech bricks were the Czech bars called for in the pattern, but they are too thick so I had to start once again with the proper bead to get the spacing just right) and Penny's pattern used the quadra lentils and I used quadra tiles, which seemed to work just fine.  I feel pretty dang thrilled with myself having finished this ONE earring.  On to the next one...

MORE BRICK STITCH EARRINGS!

My new love of brick stitching around a component has me entrenched!   Here are my latest earring designs. I love the creativity in color and design this provides me.  On the first version I added five different colors of lentils near the bottom, and offset my rounds using 8/0 sb, along with the hex and 11/0 sb.  On the second version I used an 11/0 mix of colors, a pinkish 11/0, the 11 hex and 4mm fire polish, and didn't do a dangle, but simply wire wrapped a metal flower.  These are light and truly lovely!

 

MOM'S DAY SETS

Two darlin Mom's Day sets for my girls, (daughters-in-law).  The pendants are so special, from BoHulley Beads in the UK.  Bo has a flair for detailed designs, and they are eye catchers all by themselves.  So, I strung necklaces and earrings (w/birds and butterflies) to compliment what was the focal.  I think these are pretty perfect for spring/summer wear and my girls were very happy, which always makes me happy!

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.