HOME AND THE HEART!

What a great place to be -- home -- and with the ones I love! A new set, inspired by this adorable wood pendant from Ashley at Summer Wind Art.  Because it started out so light weight, it gave me an opportunity to add some heavier options - I wrapped some 20 gauge wire and made a little heart connector, and then hung my own little peyote stitched howlite butterfly.  A little added detail that really brings the eye to the piece I think.  I strung some wood oblongs that I've had in my stash for awhile evidently, because I cannot reorder them from Fusion !!! (what's up with that?) and interspersed some wood saucers and metal melon beads with a new czech glass flower and some fire polish on the other side.  I am aware that I need to design more light weight around my neck, so my back doesn't speak to me at the end of the day -- this turned out perfect in that regard.  And, the earrings are a nice compliment.  I wanted to have the look of flowers, and it does kind of look like that, but it definitely took on it's own vibe!!   I don't do many projects in white (or black!) but this ended up with plenty of color. Love the set. 

BALLOONS AND OTHER PURDIES!

The Spirit of Boise Balloon Classic, and this darlin' friend of mine who kept encouraging me to start attending that celebration with our grandson, is the inspiration behind this wonderful creation.  Aimee has always loved the balloons, and she finally got me hooked.  So, a few years ago when I saw that Bo Hulley was making these incredible balloon pendants, I immediately knew I had to have one.  Bo is not making beads now, so this balloon took on a very "secure" life thereafter - mostly staying securely in my bead room :) Ha!    It has also taken me a few years to "feel the creativity" of properly accentuating the pendant with beads that make it stand out.  A light bulb went off while watching a Heather Powers Bead Table Wednesday video on how to make this wire component.  I really love the hammering of metal and the process of creating your own form.  No one makes one the same way, so "original" still applies to the finished product.  Happy Birthday Aimee!!!  I hope you enjoy it and feel the balloons soaring above every time you wear it.  

The earrings are the modified St. Petersburg stitch, and I originally posted a Halloween set on October 24.  I love that the earrings are light on the ear lobe and also the way they drape so nicely.  

STITCHIN' EARRINGS!

It's a great time of year (especially since we seem to be experiencing more wintery weather now than we have all season!!) for bead stitching, which translates to fun/colorful earrings and dangles.  Peyote and brick stitch are a nice change of pace, and so versatile - large, small or somewhere inbetween, with just about any design.  Add some fringe to finish the project off, and oh my my... Well, give these a look see and let me know what you think.  A variety of color and size, and all very light on the lobes.

The next two earring designs are my own -- but there are so many variations out there on many different sites or in magazines, the ideas are only as narrow as your own imagination.  I'm especially proud of the first pair - the turquoise and copper.  I started stitching and came up with the design as I went, so it's a JDreams original!  The fringe really makes the design.  The purple color combination is hard to miss, a bit less dramatic design and smaller size, but still gives an incredible pop of bright.

A side by side shot to provide sizing perspective.

 And, below, I thought this view from the end of the fringe was a cool shot!  The turquoise earrings have Super Unos at end of fringe, and the purple earrings have small drops.  I love the change in look by altering one thing (or a few!).

Next, earrings using instruction and design from Jill Wiseman called Russian Leaf.  I struggled with this design at first - it called for 6 lb fireline, but the earrings would not hold any shape - very flimsy - so I ended up cutting up the first earring and redoing it using 10 lb fireline, which was much better and held the dome shape.   

I make all my own earring wires, mostly using copper wire.  Copper is my metal of choice.  And, the wires below are fun with a bead wrapped on top for a bit of extra, and to coordinate with the 6 mm fp in the earring design.

And, last, but certainly not least, this beautiful design from Robin Smith and Linda's Crafty Inspirations blog.  I didn't even notice there was a heart in the original design, but I added a few seed beads here and there to shore up the tension and there it was... one of my most favorite things - hearts!  These are so dang fun.  I added the raku looking rounds with the 4mm marbled fire polish and I think they truly make the combination stand out.

FUN BRACELET DESIGN!

A fun pattern designed by Nela Kabelova, she named "Undulation bracelet".  I had a ball making this with my beading pals, taught by Sandy at Bead Street.  I actually made one in class that was too dark for my liking, so I disassembled all the beads and started anew.  These are the latest two versions.  The pattern works up nicely and wears easily.  Very light on the wrist.  My second version is trended for Halloween, and I'm loving the oranges, greens and purples.  Bricks, 6mm fp or 6mm rounds, 6.0, 11.0 and 15.0 seed beads.

TWO SIDED BEADED BEAD STATEMENT PIECE!

I love the versatility of this double-sided beaded bead from my last post (Vezsuzsi).  In this project I made it bigger than the original pattern, using 11/0 and 8/0 sb, along with 6 mm fp, and made it my focal, along with this wonderful pendant, from one of my favorite clay artists, Tracee Dock @ The Classic Bead.  It is a wonderful spring/summer piece.  And, I made darlin' bird earrings to match using the smaller beaded version from the original post.  L O V E!  (THIS DARLIN SET HAS SOLD!)

 

TWO-SIDED BEADED BEADS!

A fun new pattern using beaded beads!  I made the bracelet pattern into a necklace, with a couple of slight alterations, and strung a lovely heart pendant by Humblebeads.  Plus, earrings of course!  The bead pattern is a Vezsuzsi bracelet pattern she calls "Edgar", taught by Sandy Taylor at Bead Street.  I chose to use peachy/pinks/maroon shades, with copper and silver interspersed using 11/0 and 15/0 seed beads.  I also used bronze wire to wrap the pendant, so it's a mixed bag of colors for sure.  Copper colored Czech O rings are inserted on either side of the 6mm pearls to enhance the color shade change to the 6mm fp.  I'm liking this combo very well!  

CERAMIC PENDANT HEART ENSEMBLE

This is one of my favorite pieces (well, they all are!), sold to one of my best customers!  I love these ceramic "Golem" designed hearts.  They aren't too big and come in lots of different color designs.  The coral and green are so great together, and you can wear it all year- round.  Some fire polish, some glass rounds, some wonderful little cut coral flowers with coral rounds, strung together with these darlin' bronze flower bead caps, chain and spacers.  I know this piece will bring you lots of joy when wearing, Kriss! 

 

 

 

BRACELETS GALORE!

A design by Eileen Barker renamed "Along the Seine" River (created during one of her trips to Paris!) and taught by Sandy Taylor at Bead Street.  It uses herringbone stitch down the middle with the 2-hole superduos (I interpersed both matte and polished super duos in the light yellow), 1.5 or 1.8 cubes for the peyote stitch and then finished with 11.0 sb.  It's a great pattern with lots of possibilities, which is another good teaching for me -- I bead tightly and as I continued to stitch this design, it continued to pull in the length... leaving me with a bracelet that was shorter than when I started!  Here's where the creative side of my brain has to kick in.  I haven't finished the bracelet below yet - no longer than normal closure designed as yet... so stay tuned.  However, the next pictures are the same pattern - a little more SPRING (in my step!) for sure.  I do love it when my creativity kicks in...

This is a pattern where it is important that your beads are close to the same size, and all in good shape -- culling them would be a good thing to do -- I was tring to pay attention, but alas, didn't notice and one of mine is slightly mis-shapen so it didn't fit in as well as it should have - if you look real close you will see it in the picture above.

This is the same design as above, just finished with a great closure, adding two rounds of super duos (on both side ends of the bracelet) and 11.0 sbs and a peyote stitched bar!  Aren't the colors fun?!  I think I may have lost the "Seine River" in this version - the center super duos are not as pronounced using two colors, but I love the different feel and look of the same pattern.  And, the added focal point of lucite flowers in the middle - large orange, mid sized bright pink and smaller turquoise, layered, add some add'l fun.  This is gonna be an eye catcher!

I continue to strive to make a leather wrap that goes flawlessly!  This one is getting there...I like the European looking Edelweiss clasp/button.

I think this is my favorite thus far, and it's a single wrap!  The mustard leather is so awesome with the turquoise 6mm Fire Polish and the closure is FANTASTIC -- it's a ceramic bead/button, made by Tracee Dock at The Classic Bead  Tracee is one of my favorite artists for sure!