Retro Drop Necklace

Here is the last of the Retro series… I say last but I mean last for now, as I absolutely love this colour combination and an sure I will make some more pieces… but these are the last I made up to now :-)

This necklace, or rather the pendant I used to make this necklace, was actually the inspiration for all of the Retro pieces. I bought some gorgeous pendants and beads from Golem Design Studio, which I fell in love with and this is the first piece I made using one of their ceramics.

Retro Drop - Necklace

I also made this cuff as part of the series, but ended up giving it to my mum… my parents are visiting from London and she really liked the Retro Flower – Cuff but unfortunately for her (and fortunately for me) the cuff sold the day after she saw it, so I gave her this one instead… I think she like it, she was wearing it today at lunch :-)

In case you missed the previous posts of the Retro pieces, here are the links:
Retro Flowers
Retro Chic

As I said, I really like the colour combination, so I’m sure I’ll be making some more eventually, especially as I just received some more pendants from Golem Design Studio! :-) Check them out, they do really beautiful stoneware beads and I can promise you the quality is superb!!!

and just a reminder, today is the last day for voting at the BAO September Challenge, so visit the post and leave a comment saying which piece is your favourite and enter your chance to win a fabulous prize!!!

Bead IQ Trivia Sweepstakes‏

Artbeads.com has just launched a new contest called the ‘Bead IQ Trivia Sweepstakes.’ You can test your bead knowledge by taking the short quiz and then enter the sweepstakes for a chance at winning a $250 ‘Bead Genius’ Prize Package, which includes a $100 Artbeads.com Gift Card and $150 worth of beading and jewellery supplies.

Unfortunately for me, the sweepstakes is only open to US and Canadian residents (excluding Quebec) 18 years of age and older. So if you are eligible, go and enter before September 16, 2010 by clicking on the picture below!!!

Good luck! :-)

Sea urchins + JL - Necklace

I’ve been nursing a stinking cold! Unbelievable!!! 30 degrees centigrade outside (and inside, come to think of it, as I try not to use the air conditioner too often) and I’m as sick as a dog!!! :-)

The only thing that could have possibly cheered me up was the arrival of notification that a package was waiting for me at the post office… so I quickly went to see what could be waiting for me! :-)

It was a package from Janice Abarbanel of Naftali!

Remember my post at the end of May about a new necklace I created with Naftali’s gorgeous polymer clay cabochons for her stand at the Bead and Button Show…. well Janice sent it back to me after the show was over… but that is not all…. she enclosed inside the package one of her  gorgeous…… and I mean GORGEOUS… Sea Urchin Cabochon!!!!!!!!! How exiting is that?!?!?! I’ve been ogling at these beautiful cabs since she posted them in her shop!!!! and now I’m the lucky owner of one of them!!!!! thank you sooooo much Janice!!!!!

I was too eager to post about this, but as it’s the end of the day here I was unable to take photos of my urchin (a gorgeous silver-grey one, similar to the one in the top left picture) so instead I will show you some of the Sea Urchins she has available in her shop!

 

Click on the photos above to be taken to the listings and to see more details - These are only some of them! there are more in red, green, lilac and other colours.

and… as the necklace has now returned, I have listed it in my shop:

JL – OOAK Necklace

 
As soon as I get past this stinking cold I will start to create something with my gorgeous sea urchin!!! don’t know what… but something for sure!!! :-)

happy beading everyone!!! :-)

Summer Breeze

The theme for Artbeads blogging program this time is “Summertime”! yeah!!! I love summer!!!!

I was informed that I could choose anything from their incredibly large selection of products from the following categories: Charms, Pendants and Glass Beads.

So I chose the following:
2 14 mm Bermuda blue Swarovski Crystal Cosmic Rings
1 20mm Swarovski Cosmic Ring Crystal Bermuda Blue
3 24mm Faceted Teardrop Pendant Crystal (1 in Bermuda Blue and 2 in Crystal Volcano)
and my favourites at the moment, some Swarovski pearls in cream.

OK, so not the most original of choices… the pearls, well, I just love them… and at the moment I seem to want to only create pieces using Swarovski pearls! and the crystal cosmic rings, although I’ve seen them used quite a bit, I never saw them used within beadembroidery and I really wanted to try them out as well as wanting to try out this Bermuda Blue colour, what better colour to portray the summer!!!! at least for me as I relate summer to swimming, the sea and fun holiday time. I chose the cream pearls to go with the Bermuda blue because I LOVE the off-white/turquoise-blue combination for summer, in fashion, in jewellery and even in home decorating!

So this is what I made:

Summer Breeze – Necklace

Originally, I was going to use the teardrop pendant as a pendant and not beadembroider around it, but the hole at the top of the pedant kept on cutting my fireline and after 3 tries I gave up and decided to treat it as a cabochon. So be aware, although gorgeous, the teardrop pendant is not very good for beadweaving and would probably suit wirework or the use of a metal bail much better, or as I did beadembroidery.

The necklace was beadwoven using hundreds and hundreds (over 700) Swarovski crystal pearls.

I still had the 2 smaller cosmic rings to create something with and I really wanted to make a pair of matching earrings, and here they are:

Summer Breeze – Earrings

All I have left now is the 2 volcano pendants which I will turn into a pair of earring to match a necklace I’m currently working on… stay tuned! :-)

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Disclosure: I am a reviewer of Artbeads.com products and a participant of its blogging program. I received all the components free of charge. This post reflects my honest opinion and Artbeads.com is not compensating me for my endorsement as it pertains to the products received and reviewed.

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! :-)

La primavera - Spring

I was so excited when Artbeads contacted me as part of the blogging program and told me that this time the theme was “Spring” as spring is my favourite time and I could chose anything from their incredibly large selection of products that reflected my own individual interpretation of Spring for their ‘The Beauty of Spring’ theme.

So I chose the following: Light green Swarovski pearls in 4 different sizes and Swarovski XILION Gold-Plated Setting with 2-Holes in Light Amethyst and this is what I made adding some Japanese gold and gilt-line opal lilac seed beads and a few light amethyst Swarovski crystals.

This is what I made!

La Primavera – Necklace

Luckily, I have a new flatmate! :-) I say luckily because I was able to model the necklace on her neck… as this necklace looks so much better on the neck than off! so thank you Jai Lynn for lending me your neck! :-)

I’ve been super-busy beading up a storm this last week and have since made a complimentary bracelet to this necklace, another necklace and 2 more bracelets… need to stop beading and start taking pictures so that I can show you! :-) hopefully in the next few days and soon after that I will post them!

In the meantime… happy beading everyone and I hope your are all enjoying the spring!!! :-) and don’t forget to check out www.artbeads.com

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Disclosure: I am a reviewer of Artbeads.com products and a participant of its blogging program. I received all the components free of charge. This post reflects my honest opinion and Artbeads.com is not compensating me for my endorsement as it pertains to the products received and reviewed.

Nicole’s Brooch Kit

I cannot believe it is almost a month since my last blog post!!! shameful!!! and I apologize but I’ve been so uninspired (and tired) lately…. I started lots of projects but was neither inspired nor did I have the energy to finish any of them… until yesterday!

Yesterday I received a package in the mail from Nicole Campanella of Beadwright!!!! I was so excited !!!! I love receiving packages, especially when they contain beads!!! :-)

So I went to my favourite place to bead… my bed… I opened it and was pleasantly surprised to find one of Nicole’s beading kits inside!

I’ve never had a beading kit before and I never made a brooch before so I was super-excited to try it out and quickly opened it and laid it all out on my bed!

Inside was everything you need to create a gorgeous bead-embroidered dichroic brooch: Instructions, a beautiful dichroic cabochon (see photo below) , my favourite beadbacking (which Nicole makes), leather, beads, thread, wax and even a needle! All I had to provide was the glue, a pair of scissors and a few hours of my time :-)

So I set off to make the brooch! The instructions were clear, concise and easy to follow, there were plenty of beads (even some left over in case I decide to make something to match). Everything was clearly labelled so that when the instructions required to use one of the materials I knew exactly what to use!

I had so much fun making this!!!! and it couldn’t have come at a better time, in terms of me feeling uninspired and because I’ve been wrecking my brains trying to figure out what to give my mother for her upcoming birthday… and this is just perfect!!!

Picking up needle and beads again jump started me into finishing 2 of the many project I’ve had on the go and had no inclination to finish!!! So come back in a few days and check them out! In the meantime, here are Nicole’s links:

Kits: http://www.etsy.com/shop/Beadwright?section_id=5100236
Etsy Shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/Beadwright
Website: http://www.nicolecampanella.com
Blog: http://www.beadwright.blogspot.com
Nicole’s Beadbacking :
http://www.nicolecampanella.com/MYWEDSTIE/Bead_Backing.html

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Disclosure: I was asked to try out and review Nicole Campanella’s bead kit and I received the kit free of charge. This post reflects my honest opinion and Nicole Campanella is not compensating me for my endorsement as it pertains to the products received and reviewed.

Purple Rain

Some of your may know that I belong to the ArtBeads.com blogging program. A while back I received some gorgeous Cubic Zirconia products from them. I’m ashamed to say (and apologise profusely) that it’s taken me this long to create something with the products they sent me. The reason why is… I chose items that were completely out of my comfort zone, both in terms of material, shape and colour. When choosing, I usually try to pick items that I wouldn’t usually chose for myself… to try something new and different and to challenge myself.

This is what I received… way back in December:

From left to right:

1. 9x36mm Light Amethyst CZ Faceted Flat Teardrop Pendant
http://www.artbeads.com/cz-lam-td36.html

2. 12x18mm Light Amethyst CZ Faceted Fan Pendant
http://www.artbeads.com/cz-lam-fn18.html

3. 20x30mm CZ Faceted Oval Drop - Light Amethyst
http://www.artbeads.com/cz-lam-ov30.html

The Teardrop Pendants were a no brainer! They would make perfect earrings!!! And I knew I would use the Oval Drop as a centrepiece for a necklace…. but the Fan Pendant…. that left me really baffled! The shape was quite bulky and a bit awkward… for some reason I was expecting it to be a bit flatter… so rather than dwell on what I didn’t know how to use, I started beadweaving around the Oval Drop. I wanted to show the beauty and transparency of the Cubic Zirconia by bezalelling around it and had this image in my head of creating something very graphic and modern…. but when i finished… I wasn’t so happy with the results, so I put it aside and went on to other thing… finally last week I decided it was time once again to revisit the started piece… well I really hated it, so I unpicked it and decided to treat the pendant as though it was a cabochon (yes, back to my comfort zone!). That was the best decision I made!!! and I was able to realize what I had envisioned… but best of all I even found use for the Fan-shaped pendant that had been the cause of my creative block! :-) and this is what I made:

Purple Rain – OOAK Necklace

I beadembroidered around the pendant with some beautiful silver-lined AB purple Japanese seed beads that I bought a really long time ago, but had no idea what to do with them, and my favourite beads, Swarovski pearls in dark purple. Once the centrepiece was finished, I had no doubt that using the pearls in lots of different sizes in a Right Angle Weave would work perfectly with it!!! Isn’t it great when you finally get it together using materials you had no idea what to do with! I love how this piece turned out!!! It’s pretty, it’s elegant, it’s perfect!!! :-)

The earrings were easy once the necklace was finished:

Purple Rain – Earrings

I mentioned in my last post that I was working on a bracelet to match… well I’ve been sick all week and just didn’t feel like beading… or doing anything else for that matter… so the bracelet is still a work in progress… hopefully I will finish it over the weekend… in the meantime go and check out all the wonderful Cubic Zirconia products that ArtBeads have on offer – they come in so many lovely colours and they are really nice to work with!
http://www.artbeads.com/cubic-zirconia-jewelry-beads.html

Now I’m going back to bed to nurse this stinking cold!!!

Wishing everyone happy beading!!! :-)

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Disclosure: I am a reviewer of Artbeads.com products and a participant of its blogging program. I received all Cubic Zirconia components free of charge. This post reflects my honest opinion and Artbeads.com is not compensating me for my endorsement as it pertains to the products received and reviewed.

Copper Fields

A few weeks ago I received my HUGE order of my favourite beadbacking from my dear friend Nicole Campanella of Beadwright and inside my seriously HUGE box she added a bag filled with goodies!!!! My favourite of all that was in the bag were these absolutely STUNNING dichroic cabochons. You have to understand, until then the only time I had ever seen dichroic glass was on the web, I had not seen one in real life and wow… they are just so gorgeous!!!! So the first thing I did was bead around one, of course :-)

Copper Fields – Pendant

Not only is Nicole the loveliest person… a talented beader…. but she makes the best beadembroidery backing!!!! and the best thing about it is that it comes in an array of colours! and… so much cheaper than the lacy stiff one (which only comes in white)!

Above is one of the cabs she sent me which I finished beading about a week ago… and below are the other 2 that are screaming for my attention!!! :-)

 

 

 

 

 

and these started me thinking…. I want to make some!!! So I’m now researching the possibility of me learning how to fuse glass… I’ve become obsessed in the search for information…. I need to try this out… I’ll let you know what develops….

and hopefully soon I will have made something out of those 2 gorgeous cabs above!

Wishing everyone a fabulous weekend!!!

Look what the postman brought me!

Amongst all the running around from doctor to doctor… I managed to sneak into the post office  for a few minutes yesterday to pick up a package that had arrived… whilst I was running from doctor to doctor :-)… Incidentally my son is feeling much better, although he still has a bit of a fever and a bit of a tummy ache, but obviously and thankfully  the worse is over!!! and nothing could have cheered me up more than his recovery and opening up my package!!! :-) and this is what I found inside!!!

 
Lots of gorgeous ceramic cabochons from Lisa Peters Art!!!! and trust me when I say the picture does not do any of the pieces justice! they are all so gorgeous!!! I revelled in unpacking each and everyone and then spent a good hour just sitting on my bed admiring each and everyone!!!! Can’t wait to start using them… don’t know when… don’t know what I’m going to do with them… but I can’t wait!!!!!

Check out her gorgeous ceramic and raku pieces by visiting her website or blog, you won’t be disappointed!!!!

Truffle Temptation

Remember I said, I’ve been quite busy beading three new pieces?…. well here is the first one!!! :-)

I received these amazing Swarovski components from artbeads.com at the beginning of September and I am so ashamed to say that it’s taken me this long to finally create something with them… but finally I did! 

Whilst I laid in bed with the flu this weekend, I had this overwhelming need to use these luscious Swarovski crystal components! I ordered an Octagonal Fancy,  a Fancy Pear and some Rivoli buttons, all in Jet Nut, a colour that I was not familiar with, but I thought would be nice to try…. well, the colour is just so gorgeous!!!! A deep, rich dark chocolate brown almost verging on black… just yummy!!! probably why I wanted to use these when I was sick, as chocolate is by far my favourite comfort food and I guess beading with this beautiful colour was what I needed! (I was too sick to go out and get chocolate ;-D)

Truffle Temptation Necklace

So I bead-embroidered around the Octagonal and the Pear shape Swarovski using these beautiful bronze-lined crystal Toho seed beads, and some yummy,  luscious  deep brown Swarovski pearls.  That was the easy part… the hardest part was trying to find the right necklace for this piece… that took me about two days of going through every magazine and book I have on beadwork before I decided to go with a lovely chevron stitch using the same Swarovski pearls but in a tiny 3mm… and I’m happy to say those two days of research surely paid off, as I’m really happy with how this piece turned out!!!

For the clasp I used one of the Rivoli buttons and then made a peyote stitched loop to accommodate the button.

As I said I’m really pleased with how this piece turned out, but let me know what you think! :-)

And if you are looking for Swarovski products, check out the extensive range  artbeads.com has.  Not only do they provide a great selection at great prices but they also offer amazing customer service, they are a pleasure to do business with!!!! Here are some links to their Swarovski products:

Swarovski crystal beads: http://www.artbeads.com/swarovski-crystal-beads.html

Swarovski rhinestones: http://www.artbeads.com/swarovski-flatbacks-rhinestones.html

Swarovski pendants: http://www.artbeads.com/swarovski-crystal-pendants.html

Yesterday, I received this lovely letter from them which included a card offering 10% discount.  They informed me that I could share this discount code with friends, family and of course my blog readers! :-) Did I not say they are great?!?! :-)

So here is the discount code: SCF10P-ARTBEADS-0424
There is no minimum order and it is valid until 31st December 2009
Free shipping to the U.S. and only $1 to Canada!
Check them out!!! I know I will be definitely placing an order very soon!!! :-)

To see what I made with the rest of the Rivoli buttons, come back tomorrow!!!

Wishing everyone a great beady day!!!! :-)

You must check this out!!!

I thought you may want to know…. if you, like me, love beads… and I think you might, otherwise I don’t think you would be reading my blog :-) you must go to Artbeads and check out their $1 bead sale!!!! I’ve already placed my order… how could I resist, some of the items are at as much as 60% off!!! The sale ends at 9am (PDT) on Tuesday, April 28, 2009!!! Have fun bead shopping… all I have to do now is wait for my order to arrive! :-) Happy beading!!! :-)

I love going to the post office!!!!!

On Thursday I received a notice from the post office telling me that a package had arrived... unfortunately the post office here is closed on Fridays, so I had to wait till this morning to go and pick up my parcel... I knew what was in there... I was waiting for this beautiful, handmade glass Murano bead from ArtBeads.... and yes it arrived!!!! I rushed home and cannot even begin to tell you how stunning this bead is!!!!!

Murano Glass Bead

The picture does not depict all of its glory. First of all this gorgeous bead is hollow, which for some reason is not what I was expecting, it is so much more delicate and beautiful than I could have possibly imagined!!!!! The bronze stripes shimmer and in between those stripes the glass is transparent therefore allowing you to see right through!!!! Oh, I can't stop looking at it and drooling over this bead!!! STUNNING!!!!

My challenge now is to create something around it which does it justice!!!! the wheels have started turning and churning!!! Go check out this bead and the other variations it comes in: Murano Glass Beads - they are all so gorgeous!!!!

ArtBeads are a great online place to shop for your beads - I usually get most of my Swarovski Crystal Beads from there, and I can honestly say that they not only have very competitive prices but they also offer wonderful customer service! Highly recommend them!

Ok, now onto my task of thinking up how to create something wonderful and befitting this gorgeous bead!!! Stay tuned! :-)