The best laid plans….

Remember how in the last post I wrote about Janice Abarbanel of Naftali’s gorgeous cabochons that she sent me…. and how I was going to make something out of them for the Bead & Button Show…. and how I was going to “have to” ship them by Tuesday or Wednesday at the very latest!!!…. well… the best laid plans… Tuesday and Wednesday I had to deal with some unpleasant legal stuff, which I won’t bore you with… but I had to deal with it!…. and I thought never mind, I’ll finish the necklace off Thursday morning and send it by 4 pm on the same day…. what I hadn’t taken into consideration was my little boy getting really sick yesterday and having to spend all day trying to nurse him back to health…

he’s a bit better today, still has a bit of a fever but he is on the mend…. So the necklace was finally finished yesterday night… after having made 3 other chokers for it till I finally made this one which I liked the best! (hopefully I will use at least one of the other chokers for something else). Here is the finished piece:

I’m really, really happy with how it turned out…. and hope that Janice likes it too! :-) and…. really, really hope that it gets to the US in time before Janice leaves for the Bead & Button Show! I’m going to send it express first thing Sunday Morning (should take 4-5 days)… this is cutting it so short, but unfortunately sometimes life happens and it interferes with our best laid plans! If all goes well, and you are one of the lucky ones going to the Bead & Button Show, go and check out Janice Abarbanel of Naftali’s booth (#1244) and you should be able to see this piece in the flesh! :-)

Wishing everyone a very happy weekend! happy beading! :-)

Polymer Art of Naftali

About 3 weeks ago I was contacted by one of my favourite polymer clay bead artist and a fellow member of Bead Art Originals (BAO), who asked me whether I would I be interested in creating a piece using some of her cabochons to be displayed at her booth for the Bead & Button Show… would I??? of course I would!!!! Janice Abarbanel of Naftali is one of my all time favourite bead artists!!! I’m the proud owner of two of her pieces which I wear often (see 2 photos below, back and front of one of the beads I own) and a few cabochons which I’m yet to do anything with…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

So I was extremely honoured to be asked!!!! Her work is incredible!!! and last week I received my little package with the following cabochons:

Please note, the pictures do not do justice to these beautiful cabs! Although I was sent photos of a few cabs to chose from, and chose these two… once I opened the package and saw them in real life I was amazed by their beauty and richness!!! I specifically chose these because even though I love this colour combination, yellow and grey, yellow is a colour that I tend to avoid using… not sure why… but I like challenging myself, so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to do so!

I started rummaging my bead stash for complimentary beads so that I could start working on these… I found the perfect seed beads, dark metallic grey, that I had purchased a while back without having any notions of what I would do with them… and they are a perfect match for the cabs… plus I found some yellow beads, bought because I wanted to get over my fear of using yellow and never used them… and started working on the first cab:

I do have to get on with these as the show starts on the 6th June, and I have to send them to the US before that date!!! I hope to finish it by Monday the latest so I can ship them (express) by Tuesday or Wednesday at the very latest!!! Guess what I’ll be doing all weekend? :-)

Please take the time to go and check out Janice's websites, you will not be disappointed!!! and, if unlike me, you are lucky enough to be attending the Bead & Button Show, go and check out her booth and hopefully see this finished piece in real life, as well as Janice's amazing polymer art beads!

Etsy Shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/Naftali
Website: http://janiceabarbanel.com/
Blog: http://janiceabarbanel.blogspot.com/

Here are some of my favourite pieces from her Etsy Shop:

I’ll be posting more pictures of my progress with these gorgeous cabochons as I go along, so come back and check out how it will develop!

Happy beading everyone! :-)