A Bouquet....

One of my favorite patterns for earrings is what I call "Fringe" earrings. They remind me of Native American beadwork, but there are so many variations to the basic pattern. 


So...I thought I'd show you a 'bouquet' of some of the colors I have made these in. All have 7 dangles, in graduating lengths, and at the end of each dangle is either a dagger bead or (in the 'dressed up' version) Swarovski crystal beads. 


I intend to write down my version of these earrings and give away the tutorial - just need to find the time (ha ha!) to get it done! In the meantime, these cute and swingy earrings can be yours for just $15.00 per pair - and if you don't see the color you want, just ask! May just have what you're looking for in my bead stash!!


Here it is!

The colors are....going clockwise from the almost-top - light amythest, pale blue, dark amythest, jonquil yellow and green....makes a pretty little picture just as they are. Oh, and I need only to attach the earrings to their silver-plated french hook earring findings to be complete!

More to come....

Sometimes Simple Is Best...

Though I love the tini-ness of the Delica beads, and the whole process of beadweaving, whether it be the peyote stitch (my favorite) or herringbone, or even the brick stitch - sometimes it is fun to just put a simple embellishment on a really lovely bead, and leave it at that!

This blue faceted glass teardrop bead is the most beautiful shade of blue, and the facets are subtle - not so much 'sparkle' as 'shimmer' - and the silver coil draws attention to it rather than distracting from it. Hung from a pretty sterling silver figaro chain with a sterling lobster clasp, this is such an elegant addition to any outfit!

The necklace measures just under 24" (58.4 cm), and the bead itself is 3/4" (1.9 cm), 
and, should you wish to purchase it....the price would be $39.00. Just send me a message!

Here it is:

More to come.....

Cancer Awareness....

....a subject close to my heart. As some of you know, in 2010, I fought a battle with Non-Hodgins Lymphoma, and am now 18 months in remission! My form of cancer is considered 'incurable but treatable' - and this remission is as good as it gets, and I thank God for every single moment I have - He is the One who got me through that experience, and is still my Rock! If you like, you can read about my journey with Lymphoma in my blog about the experience: Raindrops And Sunbeams Blog 

Since then, awareness of cancer has been a subject dear to my heart. I want someday to walk in the "Light The Night" walk, which in Virginia Beach is in early November, and I decided to make some 'awareness' jewelry to offer for purchase, and use 50% of the profits from those sales to try and reach the $100 goal to get my 'survivor' T-shirt and walk the walk. Alas, just 'cause you make the jewelry does not make it sell.....but I always have hope that someday the things I make will reach the right person....and I'll be on my way!

I designed these little earrings, and can do them in any color to represent any cancer that has a color - but the first ones were to be lavender - that indicates support for ANY type of cancer - and I love lavender!

The main part of the earrings is a tiny strip of peyote stitch made with delica beads - and the background is white with a lavender heart in the center - I love my little heart pattern!! I then 'zipped' up the peyote strip into a tube, strung some Tanzanite Swarovski 4mm crystal bicone beads on a head pin - 2 at the bottom, the 'heart' tube, and then 2 more at the top - attaching it to a silver-plated earring.

They are tiny, but they move with you and make a statement of your support in the prettiest manner! These sweet earrings are $15.00 per pair - the profit on them is not big, since I'm trying to make them a reasonable price, hoping for quantity to make up the difference! :-)

Here they are: 

More to come......stay tuned!!

Thought I would show y'all what we did in March for our monthly Craft Night at church - it was spring, and I wanted to do something with flowers.....so....

I used bell flower beads - the ones pictured are the palest pink, but I had several other colors from pastel to bright for everyone to choose from. We strung them on silver-tone wire, so they'd be different lengths, putting spirals at the bottom for interest and added two shades of green glass dagger beads for leaves. Then we found pearls (some real, some glass pearls), to match or contrast, and strung them on silver tone head pins, using the excess length to spiral down the bead a bit as we finished off the wrapped loop. The whole collection was then suspended from silvery chain, so they would move every time your head moved!

The results were extraordinary - everyone's earrings looked completely different, just from the different ways they decided to put the components together - that's what makes Craft Night so much fun - there really aren't any 'rules' - just a main idea to jump start the imagination!

Here is the sample I made....

More to come.......keep checking back....and if you're so inclined to want to purchase them....just send me a message!

 

I'm back......really!

Last post in January - and now here it is almost the middle of June! Talk about not being with it!

Yet again I am hoping to get on a more regular schedule of posting - and show y'all what I've been playing with craft-wise - and it's not all jewelry! I am still trying to put together a website, but this blog will do just fine til that's done, and will get me in the habit of posting and changing up the content.

Just need to get some photos together, get out the camera and re-acquaint myself with how to use it, and get back in the swing.

I was looking through a huge stack of magazines I have accumulated in my craft room,
and found a really cool design from way back in 2005 - don't remember which magazine, but I had the components to try this out, and when I did, I loved the result! Thought I would show you what I came up with - 

Dragonfly Earrings!

How pretty these are!! Dagger beads and Swarovski crystal bicone beads - such rich colors of iridescent dark amythest, and clear crystal beads - I like! Thinking I'd love to try these in some other color palettes......suggestions?

More to come, I promise.....just need to get pictures!

Back soon!

Topsy-turvy world.....and life! Time has flown along with last year. Some obligations became too much to do, and so I just opted out. Had to.....just too much going on in my life that required my time and attention. Note to self...do NOT commit to long term projects....

Now...new year....new church to help with, as my dear husband is now pastoring a brand new work here - and as his wife, a lot of 'stuff' fell on my plate....exciting and fun, but boy, there is just no 'free' time any more!

Now January is about done, and I have finally gone and purchased the domain name to match this, my original blog....and soon will begin building it - I'll keep you posted on the progress! It will probably be slow - I have a new book on the latest revamp of HTML and CSS, and will be using that extensively in the building of the site - hope to have some cool stuff to show off.

Meantime, we have started a "Craft Night" at our new church, Arise Christian Fellowship - and this is a favorite thing of mine! I love trying to come up with new ideas for jewelry we can make - at a reasonable cost (I foot the bill), be able to be done by people with no crafting experience, be fun, and have something pretty to take home to wear!  Sometimes 
the cost part gets to be a challenge....when you have 20-24 people coming each month!

So...for January I thought it would be fun to do what I ended up calling 'dangly heart earrings' - as I never had the time to get a sample done til a couple days before the event! I had fun finding all kinds of hearts, along with pink and red pearls. Add in silvery chain, head pins, and pink jump rings....and there is the making of all kinds of designs. And that was the order for the night - my idea was to make earrings that deliberately did NOT match - who made up that rule anyway? Lol!  We had a fun time, and everyone surprised themselves by making some really cool earrings!

Therefore....I thought I would post the pair I made....just to show them to y'all....and I'd be happy to make them yours for the tiny price of $20 - just let me know, and I'll send you a Paypal invoice!

Here they are....mismatched heart earrings:

...the behinder I get...

July has gone, and so has August....and here I am, finally posting the JULY Bead Journal project. July was a jumbled up month....mostly overshadowed by the decline and too sudden death of my dear Mama (mother-in-law to be technical, but to me, she was Mama) at the end of July. I loved her dearly, and will miss her always...

I actually had my project done before things accelerated and seemed to scatter all over the landscape, but there just was not ever time or inclination to sit and put it up here. Didn't help that the project was yet another that sure did not match what I had in my head when I started!

 The idea actually came from my sister (ah...technically another in-law, but I just don't feel that separation at all) to do something 'beachy' - since it was summer, and I love the beach...so that is what I had in mind. I thought of the tiny symmetrical patterns the sand sometimes makes where it is real shallow on the beach, and picked a pretty green fabric for the background that had that kind of pattern in it. Liked the 'sea' green color too.


Then I added a little starfish to the center....I think they are such marvelous little creatures....like the ones from the sky come down to the sea to live. Then my idea was to have my beads....sea-green and sand-beige kind of flowing over and off the little starfish, like water motion captured as it moved. I really liked the whole idea of it....but alas....when I added my streams of beads, the reality didn't much match my imagination. But...at that point, there wasn't much more to do...but to do...and I added a little beaded decoration all around the edge to represent tiny shells...nah....didn't much work either.
Ah, well...there's always next month!


So...such as it is.....my little 'beachy' project.....

To add to it all - my scan didn't turn out too well (the starfish made the scan uneven)....but you can see the idea....

I have my idea for August ( I WILL catch up!) - and it will be for Mama....have exactly what I want to do in mind....and am now getting my time back to yet another 'new normal' - so hope to have that up here very soon....and the September one too....no pressure.....no pressure.....:-)

Stay tuned....