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.

bAO item of the Week

Here are this week’s Items of the Week from the BAO:

My item this week is: Something Blue Bracelet

Purchase and pay for this item between now and 17th September and receive 20% off !!! $78 instead of the regular $98!!!

Go to the BAO blog to see what other specials are on offer this week from the talented BAO!!!

and don’t forget…. voting for the September “Indian Summer Dream” Challenge is currently in process at the EtsyBeadWeavers’ Blog – My entry is entry # 1 – go and vote for your favourite!!!
http://etsy-beadweavers.blogspot.com/

First there were three….

In my previous post, I mentioned that I was working on 3 of LisaPetersArt’s beautiful ceramic cabochons… well I was… and I did… and then madness took over me and I cut them up!!!

So after spending two whole days embellishing the piece, I decided that I really LOVED the colours, and the cabochons, but the three together was just too much… I’d already started making the necklace strap for it, when it hit me how much nicer one flower would look on the necklace…. so off with the head! I chopped it! took the lining off, re-lined it, and beaded it again!!!

And here is what came out of my momentary fit! much nicer, I think… let me know what your opinion is, should I or shouldn’t I have cut it up… :-)

Water Lilly

I’m really pleased with how this piece turned out… now I have these 2 left (below)… what to do with them??? hmmmm…. :-)

Here Comes the Bride - EtsyBeadWeavers July Challenge

The theme for the July EtsyBeadWeavers Challenge is Here Comes the Bride... chosen by Cielo Design who won the May challenge. All the entries are elegant and beautiful.

My entry for this challene is Neptune's Bride, # 4 on the list - see previous blog post

Go and vote for your favourite entry from today until the 15th July: http://etsy-beadweavers.blogspot.com/

I'm still in London, enjoying spending time with my son and watching him interact with his grandparents and gorgeous little cousins.... Working on my Use the Muse II beading design contest... can't say it's going too well... 9 more days to go to get it finished, I hope inspiration hits me soon :-)

Due to the rules of the contest, I can't post pictures of my piece until the big reveal... for now I'm off to try and finish my entry

In the meantime…. don't forget to vote

Neptune’s Bride

I finally managed to photograph my new piece and entry for the EtsyBeadWeavers July Challenge “Here Comes the Bride…”

I say photograph, although I’m really not happy with how the photos turned out… they lack the sparkle and colour intensity of the actual piece… but for some reason I found it really difficult to photograph…. strange how some colours and pieces are harder to photograph than others…

I was inspired to create this piece as soon as I read the challenge theme chosen by Cielo Design, winner of the May Challenge and a dear friend!

I don’t think I ever finished a piece for any of the challenges as early as I did this one! But as I’m going on holiday at the end of June for a few weeks, I was worried I wouldn’t get it done in time, and am glad I did! :-)

Neptune’s Bride was inspired by the colours of the sea, I envisioned a mermaid and attempted to design a bridal piece that was classic in its design while at the same time using non-traditional colours. In Roman mythology Neptune was the god of water and the sea. This piece was designed for his bride.

I really love how this piece turned out!!! but what I’m most proud of is the necklace band (see left photo), beadwoven in Right Angle Weave, which is one of the most versatile stitches and the first beadweaving techniques I learnt, and embellished with tiny Japanese cubes. You really need to concentrate on this stitch when using it, as the direction changes continuously and it’s so easy to get lost. So not the quickest of stitches but by far one of my favourites! :-) and once embellished, one of the prettiest!

In the next few days I will post another piece I’ve been working on, but in the meantime…. have a great weekend!!!! :-)

BAO Items of the Week + a new puppy

Another wonderful selection of items with specials attached to them from the BeadArtOriginals!!!

My item this week is:

Tropical Chic - Blue - Earrings

Purchase and pay for these earrings between now and 29th March and receive free shipping to anywhere in the world.

Make sure you visit http://beadartoriginals.blogspot.com/ to see all the gorgeous items and the offers attached to them!

And on a personal note.... we have adopted a new puppy!!!! This gorgeous little thing was abandoned together with her sister on one of our busiest highways.... my wonderful neighbours rescued them and are keeping one... my son and I are taking the other one. Meet little Houdini, she will be moving in with us in a couple of weeks!!! :-)

There are so many places these dogs could have been left at, why the people who had them chose to leave them on a busy highway is beyond my comprehension!!! I am so grateful to my neighbours for finding them and for letting us have one. I'm sure she will be a wonderful addition to our family!!!

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!!! :-)

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

 

Frozen Waters - Earrings

 

 

I'm so pleased with how the Frozen Waters earrings have turned out that I've already started making a second pair in a different colour.  Although it's really difficult for me to keep to such small dimensions, compared to my cuffs and collars, I really enjoy making these... it's so nice to be able to start a project and finish it in the same day! :-) instead of my usual days or weeks :-)

Sadly the pictures are not brilliant... this is the best one out of a lot of really bad ones...  lack of light, but I will take some more in a few days when I have a few more pieces to photograph and better light! :-)

 

 

 

These earrings are the perfect complement to my entry for  this month EtsyBeadWeavers' Snow Queen December Challenge. 

Frozen Waters - Cuff

Which reminds me voting is currently taking place at http://etsy-beadweavers.blogspot.com/ vote for your favourite piece! voting ends 15th December!!!

Frozen Waters Cuff

Here is my new bead-embroidered cuff!!! It took me a really long time (over 22 hours) but I really enjoyed making it and I love how it turned out!!! :-)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This cuff was created with the EtsyBeadWeavers' Snow Queen Challenge in mind, especially in terms of colour palette, but in terms of technique, I used the technique I learnt from making Sherry Serafini's collar and this has  definitely been a huge influence in this piece.   (see previous post)

Frozen Waters is probably going to be my entry for the EtsyBeadWeavers' December challenge "Snow Queen".  I say probably because I'm half-way through making a matching bead-embroidered collar and if I actually finish it in time, I think I may enter that one... don't know... don't know if I'll have the choice :-) also a pair or earrings are in the plan! :-) I don't know what happened, but I really like this colour combination and have been very inspired to make more with it!!! :-) come back soon! :-)

Autumn at the beach - Treasury

I love this time of year, the light is changing, the temperatures are dropping to bearable (today was about 30 degrees Centigrade), the humidity is finally dropping to a level whereas you don't think of needing to take a shower every 30 minutes! :-) ...and my all-time favourite part of the day is those last few hours before and until sunset, where it's still warm, but you can feel the end of the day approaching and you are soaking in those last few rays... and you know that winter is only a few months away, so those moments are treasured even more.... and the colours that I see and feel are the inspiration for the treasury I just managed to grab!!! :-)

Go check it out!!! :-)

This treasury expires Wednesday 17th September: http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=9126

Not sure where this is going :-)

 I finally got to bead weave yesterday... It felt like I hadn't beaded for so long that I couldn't remember how to! :-)

Didn't really have anything specific in mind... or maybe I had too many things flying around in my head that I couldn't see any of them too clearly... am not sure...

So I figured that I would be better off to just start rather than just sit and stare blankly at the table! :-)

 

 

Turquoise is my favourite colour!!!! and when mixed with a sort of lime green, it just blows my mind!!! 
I've had this large turquoise donut for a while now... and just bought some de-stash from Elements Jeweley containing lots of Delica beads that I'm not so familiar with using.... am not sure that it will work together, but sometimes it's fun to see how a piece develops when you combine things together that you usually wouldn't, whether in terms of using a colour combination that you usually wouldn't use or combining elements together that don't quite make sense... the worse that can happen is that you'll end up hating the piece!!! :-) but if that doesn't happen then you will not only LOVE it but will have created something new and different...

 

and this is what I'm doing.... I love using the Delica beads because they are so even, but am not sure if I like them with the natural feeling of the turquoise stone.... not sure of it.... but worse comes, I'll just cut it up and I will have learnt that I don't like the combination! :-)

 

 

 

 

 

Hopefully I will be able to work on it some more later on.... let's see where this takes me! :-)

Feel free to leave your thoughts and comments! :-) I love hearing everyone's different takes and opinions! ;-)

Water - work in progress - Part 3

Remember "Water" work in progress? Yes, it has been a while but this piece has always been on my mind even when I've been working on something else. In case you want to refresh your memories of this piece here are the previous posts:

Water - work in progress - Part 1

Water - work in progress - Part 2

So my beading rut has thankfully ended and my beading angel seems to be guiding me once more :-) so I started playing around with the idea to incorporate this piece into some sort of bag. The funny thing is, when I first started beading, I started because I wanted to learn to make beaded components for my knitted bags, however.... I got so hooked (ok, obsessed!) with the actual art of bead-weaving that I forgot all about wanting to make bags.... but... this piece scrams to be on a bag... and my neighbour popped up the other day with a huge bags of fabric samples from the furniture shop where she works!!!! Of course I have to make something out of all these wonderful pieces of fabrics!!! so I started playing around with some ideas. Understand that I've only ever made knitted bags... I have no idea how to construct a bag.... I do know how to sew, I have a B.A. in Fashion Designs and obviously we had to learn how to sew, but I HATE sewing!!!! :-) seriously!!! beading is not sewing :-) So armed with little knowledge :-), lots of ideas and lots of enthusiasm, here is the slow advancement of "Water"!

Ok... so here you can sort of see where I'm going... sort of :-)

I've used bead-backing as backing for the suede. The gorgeous chocolate brown suede is recycled from an old shirt that never got really used, the fact that it's slightly distressed or at least doesn't look new adds interest and texture and I like it a lot!!! :-) and the beigy fabric is from one of the samples I received from my neighbour (you can see the bag of samples in the second photo from the top)

I have no idea if this will turn out or not... but I've dusted my sewing machine and have started making something.... a bit worried about attaching the lining to the suede and backing...

I have a bag fetish.... I love them, if I could I would have a zillion, as it happens I have quite a few, but not a zillion.... so this one may just stay in my collection... whatever the outcome :-)

Will be posting updates, so come back or subscribe to receive my monthly blog newsletter by e-mail (top right under "About me")

Water - work in progress - Part 2

It was all smooth sailing... I was really enjoying the progression and the way the design was developing.... but then.... I realised, after having beaded around the whole motif, that I placed one of the large beads in the wrong place!!!!! probably less than 1 cm, but that one cm makes all the difference to the rest of the pattern working. So after a LOT of hmming and phuuffing, and trying really hard not to cry :-) I realised that I had 2 choices... scrap the whole thing and start afresh, or cut the offending bead and its surrounding, re-stitch it in the right place and strengthen all the beads around the area to make sure that none would fall out. # 2 shows the problem and the arrow points to where it should have been. # 3 shows the newly placed corrected bead, the red dot marks where it was.

1. 2. 3.

I have to say, the thought of giving up came across my mind at least every five minutes... I wasn't sure how to carry on, what colour, what bead, what stitch, what pattern. I kept on taking breaks, I kept on looking through all my bead books for inspiration, still nothing!.... the only thing I was 100 % sure about was that I really liked the colour, so I decided to carry on with the turquoise seed beads, but I wanted to give it a lot of texture to contrast the bugles and the other lines, so I tried a new method (see # 5) and I individually stitched each bead, rather than in rows, I stitched them in all directions filling in the spaces as I went along. I'm very glad I did this I think it works really well.

4. 5. 6.

Now comes the hard part.... I'm really, REALLY stuck!!!!! The piece outgrew my original plan, up to now it measures c. 4" x 4", so now am not sure what to do with it!!! should I make it bigger, should I fringe it, should i scrap it? I honestly don't know... for now I'm leaving it and carrying on with other small projects, but I do want to finish it!!! I love how it looks! I just don't know what to do with it!!! arghhhh!!! :-)

Come back soon to see how it all ends :-) and if you missed part 1, here is the link: Water - work in progress - Part 1

And in case you haven't yet you can still go and vote for this month's EtsyBeadweavers' Fire and Flowers challenge. Go vote for your favourite!
http://www.etsy-beadweavers.blogspot.com/

Water - work in progress - Part 1

I cleaned up my beading table.... I rearranged all my beads.... and as I said, new colour combinations have entered my thoughts.... I guess it's a logical progression from the Fire and Flowers challenge (voting currently taking place http://www.etsy-beadweavers.blogspot.com/)... the exact opposite... in colour, in temperature, in mood.... it extinguishes fire but provides life to flowers :-)

Here is my progress so far.... yet to be named, as I'm still unsure where it's going....

1. 2. 3.

4. 5. 6.

This morning I went to the post office to pick up a package of cabochons that I ordered from JadeDogBeads. Within the package I received were these lovely Vintage Glass Pointed Oval Cabochons and they were the beginning of my colour selection.

Blue is one of my favourite colours and especially turquoise... I love turquoise!!!! and as summer approaches, you will see just how much I love turquoise.... there is always a period just before summer that all I can think is turquoise, so I usually end up making everything with some turquoise inside... in an almost obsessive way :-)

I started playing around with the white cabochons... and all I could think of is fish swimming around, so I angled the cabochons... just to try something a bit different.... we'll see how it develops...

Come back in a few days to see this piece progressing and of course the finished piece :-)

again, a quick reminder: voting is taking place at http://www.etsy-beadweavers.blogspot.com/. Don't put it off less than 6 days left! vote for your favourite!