CONTINUING ON THE CATCH UP TRAIN...

Each of my creations truly does begin with a tiny flicker of a vision, and many come from pieces or parts I have purchased from other creators.  If you follow this blog, I'm repeating myself here, but I have my favorite artists - those who never disappoint.  Their work provides me with so much positive energy, and joy through the process.  The necklace below started with an incredible pendant from Staci Louise originals, which I then wire wrapped so I could layer on one of her incredible bronze pieces.  I also painted a metal leaf to dangle off the bottom, with a Czech glass flower, rondelle and round.  This piece feels like it has a lot to say... if I listen carefully.  LaShell Wyskochil sari silk for a soft drape of a necklace.

I also wire wrapped around the ribbon just above the pendant to keep it close to the focus.  I really liked the dimension it added without being too much.

And, below, some earrings I put together to go with.  The beads all jumped out at me as I was piecing together the design.  The light purple color of each is hard to see in this photo, but you get the idea -- they are truly yummy!  Czech glass and some swarovski crystals with some enameled C-Koop heart locks I'd been saving for just the right project.  Ahhhhhh, really beautiful together with the copper.

And then... one more raku pendant shot below with the gorgeous earrings, making it a set.  These are a design by Michelle McEn, from a 2015 Beadwork magazine.  Good thing I keep ALL these magazines chalk full of inspiration.  I was thumbing back through my stack... and came upon this pattern using pellet beads.  So many fun shapes of beads anymore... I can't keep up, but always love trying new beads and designs.

LIGHT AS A FEATHER!

Nothing too original or incredibly mind blowing here, but I've joined the leather craze and been trying my own scissor hand at cutting tear drops, rounds and straight lines!  Not as easy as I remember it, especially now that we can all zoom way in on any picture... so don't look too close at my cut marks.  I've added my own flair... course... and am trying really hard to just keep them light and airy instead of adding too many dangles.  That's the hard part, because if I add too much, they are no longer light as a feather!  I'm in a summer mindset of creating light, fun accessories, saving the longer-term more intense creating for fall and winter.  These fit the bill perfectly...and these are my first attempts, so stay tuned.  I think there may become many variations of this fun style for JDreams. 

I am also just starting to order from a couple leather vendors, so if you have any suggestions on good people to order from, please let me know.  There are a lot of awesome options out there that I didn't know even existed.

The leather portion of these earrings -- the teardrop -- measures 2"

                              These are smaller -- about 1 1/4" length

FALLING LEAVES ENSEMBLE!

I know I've said it before, and yes, you're gonna hear it over and over -- I love this time of year because it presents such a wonderful opportunity to make gifts and create jewelry for my favorite holidays... fall birthdays, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas... :).  The colors always speak to me, as the weather starts to change, and as the leaves take on their new gorgeous shades of red, yellow, orange, brown, I start to imagine special pieces.  I started this piece, designed by Deb Roberti, because I loved the shape of the necklace design, which sits so nice and flat on the neck.  It really started to speak to me as I alternated 4mm swarovski crystals with the 4mm fire polish -- it didn't over pop, but was just right, and in the sun, or specific light, oh it is so gorgeous!  I added something leafy to give it the fall feel... a J-Lynn Jewel's wood pendant with a few fire polish added for some dangle movement.  Someone is usually on my mind, spurring me on as I start my pieces.  And, this one said LU LU!!!    So, here's my creation for this year's birthday.  Lu, may you wear these pieces and feel my love for you each time you do.  xo

PICOT STITCH PROJECT

I am on a pink/peach/orange kick and I found these beautiful fire polish beads on a recent trip to Seattle at Garden of Beadin.  The AB sheen (up close and personal) is really gorgeous.  Unfortunately, Garden of Beadin' is not on-line, so the fact that I didn't buy enough strands to do much more than this necklace is a dang shame...I don't know what the color is exactly, (the price tag didn't include color) but I had not seen it anywhere else.  And the final necklace shown below is not what it started out to be... it was supposed to be layers of picots, but for some reason as I neared the bottom layer, it didn't want to form a nice circle... had a mind of its own, and wanted to lay kind of funny.  So, I pondered it for a day or two and then finally it dawned on me that I could fold it over and just zip it up using peyote - I guess that would be peyote... the zipping part anyway!  I love the way it turned out.  The pinkish AB fire polish on top with the pearls in a light coffee color underneath are really wonderful.  It gives the necklace real dimension.  And, mixed with copper bead caps and a little chain... yummy!  I can also twist it so the pearls and fire polish are both given equal "show".  It's a versatile piece I didn't imagine when I started. 

 

Darlin' flower earrings to match.  I put a little bit of turqoise paint on the edges of the copper flowers just to give it a little extreeee pizazz...

 

My next project, again in the pink/peach/orange family.  This dyed agate (thanks so much Terri for educatin' me on the stone!)  is really gorgeous - the layering of colors really caught my eye.  Again, Garden of Beadin, and I only bought one.  What was I thinking?

 

The necklace is czech glass squares with darker color veins that vary in each square - I spaced with copper 2mm balls and 11 sbs.

 

 And here are the earrings to go with this necklace - drops are really pretty - darker on the outer layer and lighter pink inside.  I had a hard time showing that depth with my camera.  Swarovski crystals with Czech angular drops on copper wire.

TURQUOISE AND COPPER

Turquoise and cooper are meant to be together! A summer necklace with lots of fun ingredients.  The pendant started free-form with 18 gauge wire and I linked it at the top with a criss-cross and hammered it a bit for texture.  Then I wire wrapped 26 gauge wire w/turquoise chips, czech glass, crystals, seed beads, lentels, copper 3 and 4mm etc. The sun charm dangles on top of a shell donut round.  This necklace SOLD itself while I was wearing it!  Thanks Kriss!  I think the "sun" caught her eye... She's truly one of my most avid supporters, which I appreciate so much!  See the earrings below that I whipped up for her to go with.

 

 A button closure - copper button glued to a shell round and it clasps on the side, which shows it off!

EARRINGS to match.  These turned out so lovely.  Very light and airy... I again did a little bit of wire wrapping - across the front of the copper pieces w/28 gauge copper wire.  Added top spacer, bead cap, turquoise chips, czech drops and voila!  A really nice combo. 



A different necklace . . . simpler version w/gemstones, turquoise, bronze, copper with a leaf and a bee dangle on the front.

PRECIOUS METALS

A new special order project just completed for a special customer! Thanks, Bri! She requested mixed metals as a gift for her mom's birthday, and in the beginning I was a little stumped, but am so happy with the way these pieces turned out. I just kept redoing what I didn't like, and it all came together in the end. And my best critic, my hubby, gave this set a glowing thumbs up.

Necklace bracelet and earrings all together.  Lots of different metal pieces combined for a rich look. The necklace was seed beads and fire polish, with bronze chain intertwined throughout.

I started with the earrings because I found this wonderful design by Liz Stahl Ijust had to try.  These are a nice size and drape.  And, YES, I personally test all my creations by hanging them on moi first!  They looked loverly on...

 

I wire wrapped the center gold round to a larger vintaj hammered copper round and then surrounded with a bronze vintaj round, adding some dangles of fire polish and a bright copper key. 

A better view of the bracelet, which started with the large copper center piece and grew out from there.

 

A bracelet of lace.  Beautiful pattern learned at BeadStreet.  Thanks, Eileen.  Love this pattern, which was originally designed by Eva Marie Keizer, and then the pattern was altered slightly by Eileen to include only one row of the super duo pattern and an outer edge of scallop embellishment.  I bead rather tightly, so the scallop really meanders.  Fun!

RINGS N THINGS . .

It's Friday . . . ahhhhh.  I'm looking forward to a weekend with real glee!  Hope I can take an hour here or there to zone out w/my beads.


Another design using leaves and tuquoise rounds



My ring design using salt water pearls, peanuts, swarovski crystals




A decoupaged peacock bead embellished with 11's, 15's and drop beads...it's so light!

My pictures of this necklace are slightly lacking... The glass on the necklace was hard to capture, but the milky finish on the larger white beads is lovely with the copperish/goldish czech rondelles and the brass seed beads/chain.  Love love love these brass modeled beads.