More Retro Cuffs

I’m not quite myself lately and it seems that every little thing is taking me forever to do… I have to get used to a whole new schedule as my son didn’t want to go to the school afternoon programme anymore, which means I pick him up at 1.45 pm everyday and of course have to give him lunch! :-) and then play with him… I’m not used to this middle of the day interruption to my work schedule so I’m completely thrown off my routine…. and I really don’t like change!!! :-)

I’m sure I will get used to it, eventually…. I hope so!!! :-)

Trying to fit in beading has been almost impossible… taking photos even worse… and blogging… well you know when the last time was that I managed to post anything… so tonight I’m staying up late just to do all of the above and here are (finally) the last four cuffs I made a few weeks ago:

Retro Drop – Cuff

This cuff (above) was created around one of Golem Design Studio’s gorgeous pendants. Yes, I did say pendant… I like using pieces that fit my design ideas regardless of whether they are supposed to be used that way or not :-)

Retro Square – Cuff

Retro Square Black & Mustard – Cuff

Retro Square Red & Purple – Cuff

As you can see, I really like making these leather cuffs!!! and every time I sell one, I somehow make two more! ;-) I just love playing with different colour combinations and variations of this design + they look so gorgeous on!!!

Hopefully this weekend I will get some actual beading done…. I can’t go on more than a week without picking up needle, thread and beads… that’s ridiculous!!! I just hope my son can entertain himself and leave me some nice chunks of time where I can totally submerge myself in my beading!!! :-)

Till the next time…. :-)

For the Love of Andrew

Andrew Thornton is an incredible artist and is dealing with cancer and the hoard of medical bills that come with it. The EtsyBeadWeavers have been donating some of their gorgeous beadwork to send money to the Andrew Thornton Medical Bills Fund.

Here is my donation:

Purple Balagan

This piece is on Sale (25% off) $187 instead of original $250 and 100% of the proceeds will go directly to the Andrew Thornton Medical Bills Fund.

Please check out the EBW treasuries featuring donations for this fund here:

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4cbf44f812b58eef61ca2377/for-the-love-of-andrew?index=1

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4cc1d04a5ccc8eefc04f22b6/pay-it-forward-andrew-thornton-medical?index=0

and if you are doing some early X-mas or Hanukah shopping what better way than to purchase something from these treasuries and know that your money is going to help a fellow artist though some very difficult times.

Waiting for Autumn

It’s been an incredibly long and hot summer here!!!! Temperatures have rarely gone below the 30 degrees centigrade since around May!!! We had 2 glorious days (10 minutes each day) of rain and a drop of about 5 degrees… making us all think that autumn had finally arrived…. well after the second heat wave this week and temperatures back up to 32+… we are still waiting!!!! The only difference, thankfully is that the humidity is down and the evening are a bit cooler…. but it’s almost the end of October… even I, who hates rain, is hoping for some relief soon!!!

Ethan is back in school and I’m back in my studio (bedroom) beading my little heart out!!!! I made 5 cuffs and am 3/4 of the way through finishing a beadebroidered bag!!!

This is the first of those cuffs – as soon as I saw the gorgeous MAKUstudio raku cab I thought of the autumn that isn’t quite here… the colours are just so gorgeous – gold, bronze, green with flashes of red, and with that bright green leaf in the middle it really depicts the colours of our so-called autumn!

Waiting for Autumn – OOAK Cuff

The MAKUstudio raku cab is surrounded by bronze and green Japanese seed beads and dark brown Swarovski pearls. The cuff is covered with genuine leather on top and chocolate brown Ultrasuede on the inside – I love how this cuff turned out!!! Let me know what you think… in the meantime I’m going to go and have a nice refreshing shower trying to escape the sweltering heat!!!

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!!!

No Bones About It – BAO Sept. Challenge

Here are the entries for the September BAO Challenge “No Bones About it”:

Please visit the BAO blog before midnight of the 1st October, leave a comment on that post (not this one) saying which entry is your favourite and enter your chance to win a fabulous prize by one of our talented BAO members!

Retro Flowers

It’s been a strange day today… I spent most of the day feeling incredibly lethargic and spent most of the day sleeping… something I rarely do… I usually have the opposite problem and I average about 4 hours of sleep per night… I guess today was my catch-up day! :-) so I woke up in the late afternoon feeling extremely rested and energized and managed to work on two more pieces from my “Retro” Collection… and here they are:

Retro Flower – Necklace

and

Retro Flower – Cuff

If you missed my earlier pieces from the “Retro” Collection you can find them here, and as I’m feeling completely awake now… I think I may work on the last two pieces…. hopefully I will post them in the next couple of days… in the meantime…. let me know what you think! :-)

Happy beading everyone!!! :-)