INSPIRATION FROM THE HOLLY DAZE!

Happy New Year 2020 everyone!!!  I am working hard at not writing 2019 on everything... updating my blog has steadily been moving up my catch-up list. I haven't posted any of my projects from about Halloween through Christmas because it always feels like such a whirlwind.  Today, those few months all seem like a blur of magic dust!  But, onward I march into 2020 with a smile on my face and peace in my heart... most days!  Here are some of my wonderful projects that kept my mind and soul busy during the Holly-Daze.

I'm starting with beautiful original art metal by Gaea - the colors are so "me".  A perfect piece for fall, or anytime really.  The branch is from another wonderful artist, Dana George, New Moon Design (that was also in my stash), and it fit perfectly with this piece.  I wire wrapped farfalle beads as the connector to the branch and embellished the piece overall until I was happy with the look.  More farfalle beads, fire polish, czech glass leaves and coins, flower caps and pips.  It's just a happy piece.  My elderly mother looked at it around my neck and said "is that a picture of you"?  Why yes... yes it is!  Ha.  A likeness in coloring for sure.  Thank you Gaea. 

An adorable pendant from my stash... not sure where I purchased it, maybe Artbeads a very long time ago.  My 5 year old granddaughter Lily loves unicorns and sparkles, so this was a special piece for her December birthday!! 

Two original artist pieces were integral to this next project.   I feel so very fortunate to have several wonderful artists to follow and learn from.  They all take turns in my creations, and my own creations are so much better because of them.  I am grateful to have their inspiration!  Tracee Dock Classic Bead created the ceramic donut, which was in my stash and was just what I needed to work as a connection between the Eagle Zuni Bear pendant by Nicole St. Laurent (Ravens Meadow) and the necklace.  I wire wrapped each piece together and then added some of LaShell's (Design Talented One) beautiful fibers to soften the connection.  I love that look!  The necklace has many different beads -- some wood, some czech rondelles, czech leaves and metal spacers.  So fun!  The earrings are 11.0 delicas in brick stitch - my own design coordinating the many colors in the necklace. 

The next piece includes a Heather (Humblebeads) polymer clay bird.  Her birds are always beautiful and unique and just plain fun.  I have to reteach myself on the wire nest wrapping each time, and sometimes that's more of a challenge than I expect... but always fun!  The polymer square in the earrings are Heather's as well, which match so nicely with the necklace.  I added some czech glass and farfalle bead dangles, plus some painted little bird egg charms.  All very light and chirpy!!! :)  

more projects yet to be posted.  Stay tuned... 

REMEMBERING CHRISTMAS!

As we neared Christmas, YEP, that holiday that's just a distant memory now... I found a really fun earring pattern that I could easily color adjust to make each one an original.  The pattern is so versatile, and the earrings turned out really light and just pretty gorgeous.  I also made some brick stitch trees inbetween because I'm not great at making the same pattern too many times, so a diversion and distraction was in order.  The last pair shown was made for my mother, who's birthday is December 23 and needed to not be Christmas colors!  Plus, she wears clip on (components f/Fusion Beads), so this pattern lent itself well to that change.  The pattern on the repeat earrings was aptly called "poinsettia" and can be found on the FusionBeads.com website.  They have many fun patterns posted in their inspiration section, and these were exactly that!

 

Creating While Learning a New Stitch!

Learning something new is always a lovely choice... sometimes I get it soon after beginning the process, sometimes it takes a few projects to perfect it.  This new stitch "peyote with a twist, not crochet" is a load of fun.  It looks like crochet, but you don't have to string on all the beads ahead of time, which is awesome.  And, truly the designs are so endless.  I was focusing on stitching correctly - one stitch after another - and, imagine! this piece took on a life of its own... always such a surprise to me.  :)  As I was progressing, I looked through my stock of favorite bead artist pendants, and Gaea's feather jumped out at me, and the colors were so delicious with what I had already started, it joined the flow of it all.  My earrings were actually started before I finished the necklace.  Ooh la la... Fall here I come.  There's so much joy in these beads.

SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW, SOMETHING BORROWED...

Starting with something borrowed... my friend Aimee, who opened my eyes to this creative life-line called beading so many years ago... has gotten back into her own creative jive again by making some incredible adjustable bracelets using macrame... and I love what she is doing (imagine!) So, here's my hand at that "borrowed" thing... following Aimee's lead and absolutely copying her idea with a teeeeeny tiny twist. I reached far back into my stash and found this beautiful ceramic bracelet connector from Bo Hulley Ceramics.  It looks so awesome with the macrame.  Love reaching back into my stash of special pieces to find the perfect one to showcase.  Thank you Aimee, and Bo!!!

Now to the "something old" part of this post... actually something my brain just opened up to -- Dream Catchers  designed way back in the 19th Century, which I have always loved.  Heck, I have Dream Catchers on my nails right now!  So, here's my first attempt, far from perfect, but a good start I think.  It was a bit challenging for me using a small ring and 1.5 mm cord, but I do love the look, so lots of practice and more Dream Catcher variations will be in my future.  

And now, last but not least, the "something new".  My latest brick stitched lovelies... I love doing brick stitch around a component.  You can make it all up as you stitch.  I added some loose wire wrapping at the top of the earring wires for some added design and hung some tiny little metal flowers in the middle.  These are adorable in person.

MOTIVATING EARRING DESIGNS

A wonderful advantage to beading and creating jewelry --  of all shapes, sizes, colors, and methods -- is that I get to be my own guinea pig and wear and appreciate my own "blood, sweat and tears."  :)  These earring designs are fab - the first a combination pattern from several seen on Pinterest, but w/my own adjustments and unique color combination (of course)!  I don't usually use silver or stainless, because I just prefer the warmth of copper or bronze, so this was a very fun change and they came together beautifully -- and they're quite large -- which makes them perfect for long hair.  

And so the stitching continues... including wonderful time with my beading friends who help keep me motivated, and who freely share their ideas, designs and colors with me.  We are all so different, yet we share a mutual love for this creativity thing... it is a P R I C E L E S S bond and always wonderful, healing time.  

And, the lovelies below, from a Fusion Beads Inspiration Project.  I purchased some of the materials for these, but slightly varied the bicones, and added a fire polish instead of another component at the bottom.  It was a bit more challenging than I thought it was going to be.  And, inserting the stones after wire wrapping the frames almost didn't happen.  Bit of frustration for me trying to get the stones to stay in so I could bend the four little prongs in.  Oh my, but so well worth every moment.  The colors are absolutely scrumptious on these - they SCREAM SPRING as you can see when the sunlight hits.  

The pic below shows my wire wrapped earring wires a little better.  Love incorporating beads to my wires.  It brings everything together for a coordinated design.

BRICK STITCH ON WOOD!

I found these wonderfully designed wood rounds somewhere... can't even remember where, but I was trying to come up with a new idea for earrings, and these popped out at me from my rather large stash oh beads and stuff!  I wondered what I could do to jazz them up a bit, and brick stitch came to mind.   These are not for the faint of heart as they are a statement in size alone, but so light you don't even know you are wearing them.  I knew someone special who could carry these off... and by golly, she sure does!  

The first pic is a bit dark, but it highlights how the blue/green transparent 8.0 seed beads at the top pop in the light.  I also added some Vintaj paint to a few of the spokes for additional interest and to draw your eye to the wonderful design.  Love how these turned out!

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.

Creation Post Valentine's Day!

I meant to post my latest Heart creation on Valentine's Day, but time would not allow, so here it is a few days late.  Better late than never... My friend Judy get's full credit for the idea.  She had made herself a lone heart necklace, so I copied her idea, made it bigger and lopsided, and changed directions four times.  She also had the best idea to peyote stitch a link for the necklace, so I did the same, using several colors to tie it all in.  I have to say that CRAW stitch is so much fun to twist and turn... and then to embellish, which helps stiffen up the shape.  And to think I was afraid of this stitch just a month ago.  Time and practice heals all fear!!  I added a gorgeous red sari ribbon for just the perfect softness and finish -- love me some ribbon!  Thanks Judy for sharing your awesome idea. 

And to finish it off, some darlin heart earrings I made a year ago.  These go perfectly with this necklace.  I used 16 gauge patinaed copper wire to form the heart shape, and then brick stitched around the heart.  

HEARTS PAST...

I do love hearts, have I mentioned that??? and while I didn't get my Valentine's Day post done in time, I'm going to post anyway, even though late.  Better late than never - and, hearts are wonderful all year round.  I'm especially proud of these because I taught my very first earring wrapped wire beaded heart component, after I made the first pair, which was a hit.  Wrapping the wire and making two "close" to the same size/shape components is always the challenge, but also the fun part of this creation.  I lived through the class - and, so did they, but because they are my very special beading sistahs, they are SO forgiving -- I thank them for that experience!  Here are the results... my latest heart creations.

This pair is different than the top pics, which you may note already because the heart shape is a little wider - but the colors are more peachy/pink, and if you look close you can see the translucence of the 11.0 sbs on the first brick stitch go-around the hearts.  Love these!  I started this pair during the class I taught.