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.

Ode to Miriam

A few weeks ago, during the Passover holiday, I did something I don’t usually do…. I ventured out of my flat…. with my son and a box of beads… took the train and travelled down south to visit my dear friend Miriam of Cielo Design! My son was so excited to go on the train…. I was so excited to go and bead with Miriam!!!! :-)

Miriam met us at the train station near her village and drove us back to her house. As soon as we got there, Ethan went off with her son ( who he had not met before) and I proceeded to follow Miriam around her bead world! Once I was able to pick my jaw up off the floor… I cannot put into words how absolutely incredible her beadwork is!!!…. she handed me a bead mat and we sat opposite each other at her dining table where we began to bead!!!! Miriam was working on her Bead Dreams entry (and it is absolutely spectacular) and whilst beading she taught me a couple of techniques I had seen her use that I absolutely LOVE!!!

Here is the first piece I made using one of those techniques, a flat spiral weave chain which complemented one of my beadembroidered centrepieces perfectly!!!… and of course I had to appropriately title it:

Ode to Miriam

This is such a beautiful and elegant chain and so quick and easy to stitch!!! Thank you so much Miriam for teaching it to me!!!

Sadly I was only there for 4 hours, although it felt like 20 minutes! I had so much fun, Ethan had so much fun! Miriam had to go to work, and we had to get home :-( As soon as we can manage it again I will have to take another trip down south!

Here is one of my favourite pieces Miriam made using that technique:

Celestial Ocean Necklace by Cielo Design

Visit her shop and her blog to see some truly STUNNING beadwork!!!!

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.

Fly me to the Moon

Remember I started to fuse glass in my microwave? Well, here are two more cabochons that I (successfully) made and used within my own beadwork! I’m so proud of myself!!! :-)

The first piece I made into a cuff:

Fly Me to the Moon – OOAK Cuff

The second I made into a necklace to match the cuff:

Fly Me to the Moon – OOAK Necklace

and whilst I was in a matching mood I made some earrings too! :-)

Fly Me to the Moon – Earrings

I rarely make matching pieces, but these HAD to be made. I’m so please with how each one has turned out and love them as a set but also individually!

I got some more glass a while ago, must get my glass fusing kit out and make some more!!!! I really do get so much enjoyment out of beading around cabochons that I made myself from scratch! It just adds to the beading mania!!! :-)

I have actually made another set, well… I’m halfway through making the bracelet, the necklace and earrings are finished, but I wanted to show them all together… so you’ll have to wait till next week…. What I can tell you is, they are purple and GORGEOUS! :-) so stay tuned!

1001 Nights – EBWC Challenge

The March theme for the EtsyBeadWeavers’ Challenge is Fairy Tales. My entry for this challenge was inspired by a favourite childhood book of collections of fairy tales titled 1001 Nights – also known as Arabian Nights. This book captivated me with its beautiful and exotic stories of faraway lands and its gorgeous illustrations of bejewelled princesses and treasures. Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, Aladdin, Sinbad the Sailor where some of the stories in this book. This beautiful sparkly necklace was inspired by both those stories and those beautiful illustrations and was created with loads and loads of gorgeous Swarovski crystals and Czech firepolished multicuts glass beads.

1001 Nights – Necklace

Please visit the EBW blog between the 9th and 15th March and vote for your favourite piece!!! http://etsy-beadweavers.blogspot.com/

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