TALKIN' BOUT SOME SPARKLES!

Some January bling to help keep the mood light and sparkling.  An adorable set for the neck and ears - the star is a pattern I purchased from Deborah Roberti, who does such a great job with providing good, easy to follow patterns. And, then I added some snowflakes -- Y E S please, from a Fusion Beads inspiration pattern. I used little star studs for first pair and made ear wires for the rest. 

No difficult pattern below...just some fun, "bring a smile to your face" kind of projects.  Some metal angels I spotted in a craft store, and thought hmmmmm ..., what can I do with those?  So I buffed 'em, painted 'em, sparkled 'em up and added some swarovski crystals and bells.  A very fun and light project, and I ended up doing many different color combos, some of which weren't photographed, as they were headed out the door.

and, some more snowflakes... 

NEW PENDANT DESIGNS FOR THE NEW YEAR!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas Holiday!  WE SURE DID - and with the December Christmas spirit came the birth of our third grandchild, a little girl, Lily Viola.  What a wonderful feeling it is to have grandchildren.  Truly, it is the best thing in the world.  Three will be it for our little clan, and we are grateful for each of these little people.  They bring us so many moments of incredible joy. 

I'm ready to take on new challenges for the new year and of course my favorite bead shop, Bead Street, carries me on this journey... Here are a couple of new designs by Vezsuzsi -- the first pendant below she named the "Ohm".  Is this beautiful or what?  It uses the new piggy beads on the corners.  I had an "ahhhhh" moment when I put those on and then added the rizos thereafter.  It's such an incredible design.  Some designers just have a gift and Vezsuzsi is one of my favorites.  Thanks, Sandy Taylor for teaching these wonderful classes and being such an inspiration.  :)

 

The second design by Vezsuzsi is below, named "Szirmos Misi".  I have no idea where the names come from... but I'm sure that would be an interesting story in and of itself!

SPRUCING UP BLACK FOR A FRIEND!

I don't usually bead black... I'm more about c o l o r... as you know if you follow my posts, but for this friend, on this birthday of hers, well... I decided "it IS her birthday" afterall.  And, she LOVES black.  But, of course, I couldn't go totally black, so added in the copper and silver and man oh man.  I might be able to do black with this combo.  Beautiful pattern by Vezsuzsi, taught by Sandy at Bead Street.  The picture does not do the earrings justice - they are that wonderful puffed bead designed by SashaSi, which I posted in blue on March 17.  They really look awesome on. 

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AIMEE!!!!

DRESS EM UP OR DRESS EM DOWN!

This is a piece meant to be worn by that special person - fit to wear when all dressed up, or in levis and boots!  It always takes me awhile to get all the pieces and parts of any project assembly out on my table in view so I can complete my visualization... sometimes several different combinations of pieces and parts - and, this piece was no exception - although, once I had that "aha" moment, I was so pleased with my JDreams Design.  Plus, this piece was designed with a very wonderful BFF in mind, so I let my Lu Lu vibes fill my heart, and that was that! 

 

The beaded bead design from Vezsuzsi (shown in a previous post) lent itself well to my overall design!  The initial beaded bead colors I owe to Irene at Bead Street, as I probably would not have put this combo of colors together on the first bead (lowest on the necklace).  Once I had that bead complete, I reversed the colors somewhat on the next version - the one on top w/more turquoise colored seed beads.  It's just a rich looking piece I think...

DRAGONFLY DESIGN

If you love fall colors, you'll love the combo I chose for this "Dragonfly" pattern taught by Sandy Taylor @ Bead Street designed by Eridhan Creations.  You've heard it before, but I LOVE THIS ONE! The colors speak to me L O U D L Y (imagine!) with oranges, rusts, metallic, purples and greens.  This is a time consuming project, but well worth it.  By the time I finished it I don't think I could have passed through any of the beads one more time -- they were FULL of 6 wt fireline!  I also bought one of the new fold over magnet clasps from Eileen and really LOVE it.  It attaches easily and seems to really hold.  I don't normally like magnets, as I've lost several anklets going through magnetized doors, but this is protected by the outer shell.

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 and NEW EARRING DESIGNS, OH YA...

A lovely afternoon of making beaded beads with pinch beads, 11.0 sb, Czechmates 2-hole lentils and Super Duos - all designed by Eileen @ Bead Street.  I love beaded beads!  They are just so versatile.  Thanks, Eileen, for sharing with us.  I had a great time!  New posts coming with projects using these beads.  A couple new earring projects below.  The first set hilights one of the new pinch beaded beads, the others use whatever was in my view... on my beading table and thereabouts! 

 



This darlin pair of earrings focuses on one of the new beaded bead patterns.  Love these multi-faceted pinch beads in orange/red/pink/yellow.  I also "just happened" to have the same multi-colored fire polish in my stash, and the darlin' copper hearts - p e r f e c t!



I needed a pair that included some turquoise to match a necklace I have, so paired chips with brass findings, instead of my usual copper.  And, because my hair is longer now, my earrings seem to be getting longer too. 

Ooooh, these are so lovely.  Brass findings again, with coral in two different tones, and the teardrops were in my stash, but I don't have a clue what stone they are.  It just all worked together.  Love this color!






MULTI-COLORED SUPERDUOS BRACELET

I  really love designs that provide me an opportunity to make them my own, like this pattern - a bit of color, a tweak here and there, and it becomes a personal project.  I enjoy multi-colored, seasonal jewelry that will go with just about anything, and this fits that perfectly!  Love love love my color choices, with the changing flowers and the 2mm orange AB crystals inserted with bright purple 15.0 on either side, making it complete (they kind of look blue in these photos, but they really are a bright purple).  You can see just what you can do with color, by looking at my last post of this same design ["Annelies Bracelet" by Ellad Des and taught by Sandy Taylor at Bead Street].  On this version, I used antique brass jump rings and toggle clasp for my closure, which made that part easy.

NEON SHADE OF SUPERDUOS MAKE A SPLASH!

A wonderful three-day weekend - one afternoon of it spent beading, chatting, laughing, etc. with my friends and fellow beadaholics at Bead Street!  I chose one of Eileen's new neon shades of two-hole superduos (magenta-ish) for this project below and oohhh la laaaa.  It's absolutely a jaw dropper color in person, at least I think so!  The pattern uses superduos, 8.0, 11.0 and 15.0 sbs, plus 4mm fire polish.  I added a 3mm round with 15.0 on either side down the middle to make the flowers pop, plus added drops to my closure loop.  I've gotta say, that's my favorite signature finish to any pattern -- and depending on the button used, it makes getting the bracelet on and off much easier.
 

A beautiful pattern named "Annelies Bracelet", designed by Ellad Des, and taught by Sandy Taylor at Bead Street.

A couple other projects I played with as time permitted over the Memorial Day Holiday. A wonderfully fun change of pace -- a Happy Mango Beads project designed by Erin Siegel for HMB.  The bright colors, wood rounds and brass Ethiopian beads grabbed me, plus it's multi-wear -- as a double drape necklace or a multi stack bracelet.  I like it best as a bracelet, but love the versatility.  All done on 1.5 mm leather with fun heart attached anywhere you want!

And, last but not least, another  casual wrap bracelet on 1.5 leather using wonderful crow glass beads (and czech donut rounds) with that same darlin' heart dangle -- because the glass can get heavy, I only did two strands.