Tropical Fever

As I mentioned a few days ago I had a few more of those little flowers beaded and I was asked to make a pair of earrings to complement the Tropical Chic Choker. Here they are, the earrings and a new choker:

I actually really enjoy making these little flowers, and with the amazing selection of Delica colours available, the possibilities are endless... will definitely be making more of these!!! :-)

BAO Items of the Week

 

 

 

 

Ok... I know I say this a lot... but look at the amazing selections from the BAO this week!!!!  I'm in love with all of them!!!  Check them out for yourself! visit http://beadartoriginals.blogspot.com/ and see what specials offers are attached to these beautiful pieces!!!

Tropical Chic

My friends and family have been going on at me to make smaller jewellery... this is not and easy thing for me to do... although I'm not tall (5' 5") I have HUGE shoulders (years of swimming + genetics), I've always battled with my weight, so little tiny delicate pieces sort of get lost on me and.... I simply like big jewellery!!!! :-)
But I listened to my friends and decided to attempt creating smaller pieces.... so this weekend... while nursing yet another cold (have I mentioned my dislike for winter) I sat on my bed and made lots of little flowers in lots of different bright colours in an attempt to create something with them that was smaller than my usual.... and here are the results of those efforts :-)

Both necklaces are made with the same flowers. The flowers were brick-stitched using Delica and Czech seed beads around Swarovski crystal pearls. The green/fuchsia flower on the right is a variation of the other flowers, I just added some Swarovski fuchsia crystals on the outside (see, it's so hard for me to just stop, it needs to grow! :-D). ... Both necklaces were made with gold and nickel plated base metal chokers that I bought from my favourite bead supplier Bogal Ltd. These chokers are so cool! you can undo the bobble at the top and bead them, which is exactly what I did... funny thing I didn't know you could do that when I bought them, but am so glad I discovered that to be a possibility! :-)

I have about 4 more flowers that are screaming to be made up into something, I see more variations of this necklace coming up.... stay tuned! :-)

Oh yes, and almost forgot.... the left one with the blue flowers is my entry for the Tropical Holiday January/February EtsyBeadweaver Challenge.... voting starts on the 9th February... I will post more details nearer the time...

In the meantime... let me know what you think... are you a big or small jewellery person?

Happy beading everyone!!! :-)

Kumihimo Braids + BAO Items of the Week

Yes, I'm still here :-) it's been a very quiet week... I've had, what I suppose I would call, the blues...  The situation here and around the world has been worrying me, so I've literally been glued to the news in an almost obsessive manner, and have not felt like doing very much and at the same time doing loads of little things....

I have been beading, but at an almost un-natural snail pace.... I started making a flower that I had an idea for, and no joke, but I only managed to make 1 petal per day!!! and that is ridiculous seeing that each petal takes about 30-40 minutes to make!!!  the flower is still not ready... I'm on the last petal and did 1/2 yesterday, but cannot for the life of me sit down and finish it!!!

I also just bought a kumihimo disk (and book) and I am learning how to use it... I've so far managed to do the basic braid.... I will be attempting more elaborate braiding soon...  all I can say is that I love it!!! once I got into the rhythm, I found myself being able to do it in my bed whilst watching, what else, the news! :-)  see the samples on the left.  All 3 were braided using the same technique, I just changed the colours and yarns.  The middle one is the one I'm using for the Flower button below.

 

 

A few months ago I bought one of Lisa Peters Art's gorgeous Handmade Raku Fired Ceramic - Brown Lustre - Flower Shank Button (see left photo - you can see a similar one here) and I started making a necklace for it using one of the kumihimo braids I made.  The necklace is completely different to anything I've ever made and I love it!!!! however, I am struggling a bit with how to end the braid and whether to create a clasp or not... I've left it for a couple of days... but come back and check out  what (eventually) I decide to do with it! :-)  I became familiar with Lisa Peters' gorgeous work through the Bead Art Originals to which we both belong. ... which brings me to this week's items from the BAO

 

 

My item this week is:
Turquoise Delight Cuff

Purchase and pay for this item between now and 25th January and receive 10% off + FREE shipping.

 

 

Please visit the BAO and check out all the amazing bead artists that belong to this group and be sure to check out the Items of the Week and see what specials are being offered this week:
http://beadartoriginals.blogspot.com/

BAO Item of the Week + Front Page

Feeling a bit better today... but still have a migraine... but not as bad as yesterday :-)

Here are this week's Items of the Week from the BAO - visit the blog and find out what offers are attached to these items for this week only!

My item this week is Picture Framed - Pendant
Purchase and pay for this item between now and the 18th January and receive 5% off + FREE shipping to anywhere in the world!

And.... a few days ago, apparently I made it to the Etsy Front Page!!! yeahhhh! of course I missed it! :-) but I was sent this screen shot:

 

Wall Flower Bracelet

Thank you so much to jibbyandjuna for getting me to the front page!!! Please take the time to visit their shop and check out their beautiful original pieces - see example below:

 

Yellow Blossoms Ring by jibbyandjuna

Miriam's Jewel - Choker

This is going to be a really quick post, as I'm struggling to concentrate on anything at all.... I've been sick with the flu for the last few days, and today, although my cough has gone and my nose has stopped running, my head is absolutely exploding!!!!!

As the sun finally came out, I thought I would take the opportunity to photograph my latest (and probably favourite) piece... I absolutely LOVE this piece, am so happy with how it came out!!!!!

Miriam's Jewel - Choker

 

For more information on materials, techniques and to see more pictures, please visit my shop or click on this link.

Ok.... going to back to bed now, before I pass out!!! :-)

Blue Lagoon Choker

Here is the Blue Lagoon Choker that I spoke about a couple of days ago... I had it all ready for posting, but I got distracted by a new piece, which I love even more than this one, and I love this one a lot!!!  the perfect complement to the Blue Lagoon Cuff!

The pendant is bead-embroidered with my current favourite colour teal....  I tend to go through colour stages... and at the moment, strangely enough for me, I'm on a gold roll... I say strangely for me, as I've never really been a gold person... I have always worn silver, and when I did buy or receive something in gold it's usually white gold... but all of a sudden, all I can see in my mind is these wonderful bright colours combined with gold... does it mean I'm getting old? ;-) are my skull-and-crossbones-silver-jewellery-hanging-from-a-piece-of-leather-days completely over???? well, ok, the skull and crossbones days have been over for a while, I just hadn't paid attention to it... :-)  however the silver pendant on a leather choker pretty much still exists, although since starting to bead, my pendants tend to be beaded and larger, but still hanging off leather :-) it's the repressed hippy in me! :-)

So in this crazed gold and bright colour roll I've almost finished a bead-embroidered cuff, all that is missing is the right clasp/closure for it (I will be checking the net today for just the right one).... and for the last 3 days I've been working on another bead-embroidered choker, also in gold, but with amethyst cabochons and ruby red Swarovski crystals.... I love this colour combination, it's so rich and majestic... and that's what I will be doing for the rest of the day... if my son can entertain himself (he's home from kindergarten with yet another ear infection, but he's ok... his ear is leaking which is why I'm keeping him home... a couple of days of eardrops and he will be back to normal and he's already expressed an interest in playing on the computer today, so my beading time looks pretty much un-threatened )

And one last thing.... my heart, thoughts, prayers go out to all the brave soldiers out there and their incredibly brave and strong families.... to all the mothers of these boys, I have no words.... praying that they all come home safe and sound, that this conflict will be over soon so the south can go back to normal living and in an idyllic world that there will be final lasting peace in the region with ALL our neighbours.... wishing everyone a safe, quiet shabbat shalom!!!!

Celeste Earrings

As the craziness of December is finally over, or is at least winding down... I find myself able to go back to all those projects that I didn't have time or energy to finish... and here is one of those project.

Believe it or not the earrings were almost finished a long time ago, all I had to do is attach the top part to the bottom.... would you believe it if I told you that it took me over 3 weeks to actually sit down and do it?!?! talk about procrastinating... I'm almost ashamed! :-)  I don't know why but there are times when the design is so close to completion and nothing on this earth would actually make me sit down to finish it! why??? I'm not lazy... there are just so many distractions... mainly in my head, with ideas for new pieces... and I just have to move on to the next piece.... it's all very well, until I find myself confronted by tons of pieces that are in the almost-finished-stage... with still more stuff cluttering my little brain! :-)

Anyway, here they are: Celeste Earrings - Bead-embroidered around white Quartz and Jade cabochons in gold glass beads and greeny-blues Swarovski crystals - I just LOVE them!!!! I wish I had learnt how to bead while I was out and about partying in my 20s and 30s... I would have worn these to death!!! :-) now my idea of partying, is cuddling up under the duvet in front of the telly and hoping for 6 hours of sleep! :-) not much need for ear decorations :-)

Tomorrow I will post the Blue Lagoon necklace.... I'm still working on the photos... till then... happy beading!!! :-)

BAO Item of the Week

I didn't get around to posting the previous week's BAO Items.. just one of those weeks, sorry :-) ... but here are this week's 12 BAO Items of the Week - visit http://beadartoriginals.blogspot.com/ and check out what special offers are attached to these beautiful items!!!

My item this week is: Midsummer Nights Dream Necklace which came 3rd in the EtsyBeadweavers’ July Challenge "Midsummer's Night Dream".

Purchase and pay for this necklace between now and the 11th January and receive 5% off + FREE shipping to anywhere in the world!!! :-)

I have managed to finish a necklace and a pair of earrings and I started a new cuff... if I get a chance to take photos this afternoon I will hopefully post the finished pieces in the next couple of day... so come back soon and check them out! :-)

Blue Lagoon Cuff

 

Here it is... my first finished piece for 2009!!!! the first of the many projects that I've been working on for the last few weeks!!! :-) Funny, because this was actually the third I started... but with so many on the go at the same time, it's the one I felt like finishing first... for no particular reason.... or maybe because I just LOVE making cuffs. ...

Strangely enough it was inspired by my Frozen Waters Cuff, obviously the water theme... I was thinking of waters melting in the sun... in an effort to keep warm as the temperatures finally dropped and winter arrived... and I already miss summer :-) we've only had a few weeks of winter, so I can hardly complain :-)

 

 

 

I played around with lots of combinations, and cut up the cuff and restarted it more than 4 times till I finally got to this one... and as I was doing that the bead-embroidered centrepiece grew in height, which I'm really pleased with... I like the fact that it's not flat and that it has a rather domed effect....

The matching necklace, which was actually created first... I do tend to do things backwards... is almost finished, well it is finished, as soon as I find the time and inclination to make a bail for it... the actual bead-embroidered part was finished even before starting the cuff... what can I say... I'm a bit confused at the moment :-) 

For more information on materials, size,  etc. please check out my shop - or click on this link:  Blue Lagoon - Cuff