BLUE AND PURPLE DEW DROPS

Beautiful blues and purples - what's a better combo?  The gorgeous shades of blue in this bracelet really gave me something to cheer about.  I started the pattern with what became the earrings - slightly lighter shades and I just felt like I needed more, so I  switched a few bead shades and oh my - color is truly what makes the world go round.  Can you see the drops interspersed on either side?  Love that... I diverted slightly from the original Marcia Balonis' pattern aptly named "Dew Drops" and added a 2-hole pyramid in the center to give it some pop!!  I also added a short strip of peyote on either end, with a bronze metal clasp.  I really like these interlocking clasps - I just need to remember they take up some room, so sizing a bracelet is a bit more of a challenge. 


Thanks Sandy for teaching this fun class at Bead Street!  And, for all those sweet goodies from my fellow beaders.  It was a wonderful Valentine's class!  And, last but not least...Sharon...your unexpected thoughtfulness truly overwhelmed me.  Thanks so much!  Random acts of kindness... 

These earrings came together so nicely.  Especially after I spotted the large rounds at Bead Street.  I kind of had a vision of the end result, and low and behold, here it is...Love the flower brass bead caps.  They kind of finish the look.

SNOWMEN AND DUELING BRACELETS

First, some snowmen to add some smiles to this stressful time of year.  These can't help but make you grin!  Their scarves keep them warm too, don't ya know!  :)

 

 

Next, a fab, albeit very time consuming, bracelet design by Marcia Balonis named "Whistle Stop", taught by Sandy Taylor @ Bead Street.  It's a gorgeous pattern, and well worth every moment I spent beading away...  I wanted a mixed metal look, so used matt silver lentils on top/gold sb and copper/orange/redish fire polish w/reddish/brown bricks.  I don't know the exact color names of what I used, so don't you love how precise my descriptions are? Ha. This bracelet feels really nice on the wrist too - it's one of those that feels great next to the skin and it moves with you.

 

 

This is a Vezsuzsi design named Leo Bangle, also taught by Sandy Taylor at Bead Street.  I'm having a devil of a time getting a decent pic of this bracelet.  It doesn't matter if its taken inside or outside.  It wants to show more pink tones, but it's really a true beautiful red--disappointing.  It drapes beautifully around the wrist because it is designed to be a bangle, but I made it a clasp instead.  I like to be able to size it closer to my wrist size and bangles don't work so well for that.

LOVELY ENSEMBLE FOR A FRIEND

It's September, and the start of the season of making gifts for friends and family, plus getting ready for the Hollydaze... well, hold on, not quite ready to start looking at only red and green quite yet!  Ha.  But, the beginning of cooler weather and fall very close by, gives me a different perspective for sure on what I choose to make and what colors I choose to coordinate.  Tis the season of wonderful fall leaves and earthy tones!  It's really my favorite time of year - must be because I'm a Libra!  So, here's one of my latest creations for a dear dear friend.  Hope you love and will wear this ensemble with joy, Ms. Sherrie!  Hope the earrings are light enough for your ears too.  This was adapted from Marcia Balonis' Spring Loaded design.

 

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!  :) 

PINCH BEADED BEADS in a completed set and O RINGS bracelet pattern.

Finished my necklace and earrings, from my previous post of the pinch beaded beads I learned at Bead Street week or so ago.  I added a few more beaded beads, some Czech glass pearls and some new Czech shapes, and Ohhhh My, the finish on these brand new Czech glass beads is absolutely incredible.  If I could afford all of the strings Eileen had, I would have purchased them!!!  It's fun to have a new grouping of shapes.  This necklace is really a beautiful piece, w/earrings to match.  Yummers is all I can say on the meshing of the hues in varying shades of blue/grey/green/copper/gold and bronze.



 

NOW FOR THE NEW DESIGN using the new Czech "O" Rings.  A bracelet designed by Marcia Balonis, taught at Bead Street by Sandy Taylor.  A different grouping of colors for me in that I really started out wanting to make something that would go with black.  I started with the 4mm dark grey fire polish, had additional 3mm black fp on my beading pad, but then couldn't go through with it.  I needed something to make the copper/silver/grey pop, so used more of a mustard 3mm.  This is really fun - colors in person are really more unusual and blended than it shows here.

SPRING LOADED TRIANGLES

A new design by TrendSetter Marcia Balonis aptly named "Spring Loaded", learned in a class taught by Sandy Taylor @ Bead Street.  Dang it, my photos came out slightly overexposed - it was pretty bright out this morning when I took the pics.  But, you can still get the idea of how incredible the blues and  the turquoise colors mesh in this design.  The dark blue pearls are absolutely incredible -- really a warm shade.  I actually changed the design slightly and added the Czech flowers in the center, instead of round button beads as in the original design - you really can use anything that's 10mm without having to alter the number of 11.0's you use.  I'm in the process of completing this set with earrings and a necklace.  Will post when finished.  Thanks Eileen for providing such wonderful beads so we can all make beautiful jewelry!!!!  Couldn't do it without you!