AHHHH... SPRING COLORS!

I think the saying goes "March comes in like a lion"... well, it's going out that way as well.  We had unbelievably fierce winds of up to 70 miles an hour on Sunday night with the temp dropping from a high of 75 to a high of 45 on Monday.  Fierce for sure!  But... besides that... I am so happy to see the beauty of the colors "springing up" around us.  Makes me feel more inspired than I have in awhile.  A good feeling!  Here we go with some beautiful, yummy shades...

I'm starting with Gaea inspired beauties.  This necklace has three Gaea pieces -- the heart eye, the half moon and the lil' pale pink hearts.  The earrings weren't quite done when I took this pic (update coming) but for now, you get a good idea.  6mm fire polish in a yummy deep pink/peach color around the back with two different copper wire choices.  I wired some frosted 8mm glass rounds across the top of the heart eye, with some wired drops inbetween.  The earrings include Czech glass flowers with those adorbs lil hearts!.

Butterflies - I always say "yes please".  I recently learned to make paper beads through a Stars Beads tutorial, and I have fallen in love with that new process.  It is so relaxing and just plain fun.  There are so many papers to behold, from magazines to music sheets to everything inbetween.  I finally have another use for all my scrapbooking papers!  The metal charms are from Gaea, and they go so perfectly with my rolled paper beads (or is it the other way around?)  I made some really bright and colorful bead caps for the necklace and then added some 8mm glass rounds, that look like bird eggs, on the end.  Some blue and yellow peanut beads finished the look.

One last pair of earrings highlighting my new love of paper beads.  Some beautiful paper, czech glass beads, jasper gemstone rondelles, 3 mm czech sparkle in blue, and hematite wire and findings.

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.

HALLOWEEEEN/FALL FUN!

A little SPOOKiness for Halloween.  


Some darlin darlin fire polish pumpkins.  I started with a Fusion Beads beaded bead pattern from their inspiration page, did some extra embellishing with the leaves and the top stems, and voila!  These are very fun to make! 

Spider anyone???

Some earrings to go with that spider?

A wonderful tile pendant by J-Lynn Jewels.  I added a 4mm FP beaded beads in purple with orange 4mm FP added to  the outside to give a little depth, plus some old brass Ethiopian beads, some wood beads, and some charms to top it off.  Isn't it cute? 

And, last, but certainly not least, some awesomely fall inspired, fun earrings!  Czech glass leaves, Czech glass pumpkin beads, semi precious stones, and some Lucite leaves.  A great combo!



Sugar Skull Fun

A new Artisan widening my horizons.  Very exciting to do something different - and I have discovered a new found appreciation for Sugar Skulls!  This Skull by Staci Louise Originals.  She is so creative  and inspiring on many levels, and I'm excited to have made my first purchase from her, and now my first original necklace design, using none other than a couple of her polymer clay designs.  Just in time for Halloween and the Mexican Day of the Dead celebrations.  Visit Staci's page and see what I'm talking about.  It's a new view for me...kind of out of my comfort zone.., and that's exactly where I need to be!

There's another of Staci's Artisan polymer beads on the right hand side with the wheel design.



I have had these ancient brass/copper beads (I think they are tribal handmade beads from long ago) just waiting for that right project, and here it is!  They were perfect, together with the rough cut Czech beads and the colorful new lucite feathers I've purchased from Eileen at Bead Street.  Quite a cross over of worlds in this one piece!

FUN FUN FUN!!!

REDIRECTION OF A PROJECT

This was a fun project, and the colors were just oh... so gorgeous, but alas, it was one of those projects where you spin your wheels, you learn (AFTER remaking it twice!) and then it's just time to put it down.  I had this bracelet all but complete, for the second time, as shown in these first two pics below, just needed to finish the peyote stitch on one side of the magnet to cover the silver - when I put it on to show my hubby how lovely it had turned out - and, splish splash... one of the tiles came loose (and the tiles are critical, since they make up the base of the pattern) and the rest came tumbling down thereafter.  Yes, I bead tight, and my tiles must have been sharp on the inside, because the fireline looked like it was cut, even though I had gone back through the entire bracelet two times. Oh me oh my... what a sad day for me.  A beautiful bangle bracelet pattern designed by Vezsuzsi and taught by the lovely Sandy at Bead Street.  So... nothing left to do but let my own creative juices flow.  I just started stitching with all the same beads, sans the tiles, to make my own pattern.  See below for that project.

My JDreams original below - not as fancy as the intricate pattern above, but I'm in love with it, and so far so good - it's wearing just fine...out of disappointment comes new light, or creativity ... or something like that! HA!

EYE CANDY --NEW EARRING, BRACELET AND RING DESIGNS!

Some adorable little daisy ceramic pendants I bought from BoHully Beads.  The size is perfect for earrings, so I added some czech glass donuts, melons and flower caps to make them really pop in the sun of day!  

 

 

 

A new bracelet designed by Deborah Roberti called Venetian Cuff, taught by Sandy Taylor at where else? Bead Street.  It's gorgeous in person.  I used kind of a multi brown 4mm fp w/brighter rust/red 3mm fp and copper 11/0 sbs all around.  Then added the small copper tube beads together w/ 15/0 sbs on the outer edge to give it a little additional JDreams oomph!

And last, but certainly not least, this adorable little flower bracelet in a ring!!!  I found this color of 12/0 seed beads and just had to make something (although they were awful size-wise, and I had to cull through them to try and get most of them close).  I started with a peyote strip and decided on a ring.  Then just started adding - a ceramic flower on top, some greenery, a couple flower bead caps, o-rings and 8/0 sb.  Oh, and the drops on the top outer edge.  This turned out soooo cute.  My new fav! It's an eye catcher on my hand!

 

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! 

 

 

 

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.

 

NATIVE LOOKING EARRINGS/NEW BRACELET DESIGNS USING O-BEADS

I couldn't resist trying these drop earrings from the design in my July 1 post - the Marcia Balonis Spring Loaded design -- the pattern is so versatile, you can make as many components as you would like I made two components for these earrings and I think they are pretty perfect.  Any more might be too heavy.

 

 

A new design called "J-O-sef" by Vezsuzsi, taught by Sandy Taylor at Bead Street using superduos, rizo beads, o-beads and 11.0 sb.  I added the pearl/Czech glass beads down the middle just to add a bit of splash and they also help the rizos stand up like little petals.  

 

This is another version of my July 14 post, showing totally different colors using the "O bead" design by Marcia Balonis.  The colors just meld in this bracelet.  I have gathered beads from wherever I travel, and so I started looking in my stash... imagine that!  Using beads I already have... totally new concept!  But, I digress...  The peachy fire polish beads I used from my stash were perfect with the turquoise and greens and darker reds - I found them in a little store in Helena, MT.  The finished color combo looks very Santa Fe-ish!  :)