Lilac & Purple Meadow – NOT a Leather Cuff! :-)

Here is my newest piece!!! and it’s not a leather cuff!!! :-)

This is the first time I attempted to make a barrette and I owe it to Nicole Campanella of Beadwright.

If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you may remember last April, Nicole sent me one of her Brooch Kits… it was my very first kit and brooch… making the brooch taught me the skills needed to make the barrette, so thank you (again) Nicole!!! and here it is:

Lilac & Purple Meadow - OOAK Large Barrette

I’m actually relieved to finally make (and post) something other than a leather cuff!!! :-)

And whilst trying to stay away from my leather cuff addiction, today I started a bead-embroidered purse, which will hopefully be my next tutorial… actually I also have a bag I started a few weeks ago, that I’ve put aside for now… so hopefully I will be able to post one of them in the upcoming weeks.

The leather cuffs are not forgotten of course, I actually have to make two for my upcoming workshop, which I’ll be teaching at Bogal (Gloria’s place) in Ranana, sometimes soon… so if you are interested in the workshop (and live or are visiting Israel in February), get in touch with either Gloria or myself for more details.

Happy beading! :-)

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.

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