Bronze Hoop Earrings

No, I didn't recently make them.  I've had them made for quite some time now and haven't been able to post them. These are simple hoops using tubular peyote stitch I would say the size is small. 

Bronze Beaded Hoops (small)
15/0 and 11/0 Seed Beads

Bronze Beaded Hoops (small)
15/0 and 11/0 Seed Beads

My First Guest Post!!!!!

A week ago Y from Pretty China Doll contacted me and asked if I was willing to do a guest post for her. Well of course I was! It's very satisfying when some one acknowledges your talent! I was super excited when she had contacted me for a guest post, I literally was bouncing off the walls at this opportunity! I kinda had writer's block since I had no clue what to write about. That gave me the idea that I should write about how to get out of creative ruts!   So if you want to know more click here!      And if you are not already a follower of Y, please follow her. 

The Semi-End of my Sewing Journey

 I have FINALLY completed my sewing project with the help of my wonderful Mom.  I had finished the patchwork bed cover and I was ready for the backing that's when things got hard... really hard.  To make a long story short: I asked my Mom to sew on the backing for me, after all she IS the sewing genius.  And finally, it was done.   THANK YOU GOD!  I don't think I could have handled another day of sewing, I'm tired and my back hurts.

It actually feels so surreal that I have completed this sewing project!  Well it still needs a couple more pillows BUT I'm done for now.  I will start beading once more starting Monday!  Today and tomorrow will be spent doing my duty as a blogger: promoting myself and finding other cool blogs!

To Bead or Not to Bead....

....That is the painful question.  It has been a little over a week since I have touched my beads and now I feel like I'm going through withdrawal.  My room has been taken over by fabric. Blue, purple, taffeta, silk.  I have been unwillingly (sort of) coerced into making a bed spread before this Sunday. Oh the agony!  I would say I'm almost half way there...

My Mess

Pillow Covers

Ok, you see the purple border in the above picture? I needed more of that fabric, so I went to a Joann super store to look for it.  They had EVERY shade of purple EXCEPT for mine. Apparently, the piece of fabric that I had bought was one-of-a-kind.  How ironic. I was not amused. I spent forever looking for some sort of replacement/new addition.  So instead of purple, I found a dark grey-blue taffeta that you can see in my first picture, this will be the last border in the spread.  The middle of the spread can be seen below along with the predicted border

The center of the bed spread

So, I'm off to try and finish this today (high hopes, I know) so I can go back to my lovely beads.

Surprise!

I CAN SEW!! My mom has been haggling me to start sewing because its a "wifely" thing to do and I've been putting it off for about ever since I was "of age".  But finally, I decided that I needed cushions for my room as well as accent pillows and that instead of buying them I would make them.  So I went digging in my Mom's stash of fabrics and found some silk scraps (yes SILK!) that matched my room color. I sewed the scraps together to create a  random patchwork piece. I hit a lot of bumps along the way,  there were a lot of long sighs, breaks, and unspeakable words uttered, but I got through it and learned from my mistakes.  I think the hardest part was putting on the backing fabric since it was a taffeta style fabric and it kept on slipping, I couldn't cut it straight let alone sew it straight.  The zipper was yet another challenge but my Mom helped or else they would have become a mess.  Regardless of whether everything is straight or not I'm exceptionally pleased with myself, as well as extremely proud that I was able to FINISH this project all by my self.
Behold my Masterpieces:

27 x 27 Patchwork Cushions
Silk! and Taffeta

You may be able to take the purple out of my room but you can't take the purple outta me!

(I will tell my purple story in another post)

Unfortunately, these cushions seem a bit lonely all by themselves.  So, I've decided that I want to make matching pillow cases and accent pillows for a complete look.  AND I kinda have a deadline: July 24th, we're having guests over and I want the complete look done before hand.  I will also try with my new projects to complete my owl since there are many of you who are eager to see its outcome.  I work well under pressure so hopefully everything will be done this week.


I also found time to create my button thanks to Manic Mother. Her tutorial was simple and easy to follow!

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Coming up Next...

My inspiration comes from all sorts of places: mother nature, current fashion, other jewelry artists, other artists in general and photography. My next project/design is based on current fashion and the interest and fascination in owls. May I just say that owls (especially this one) are just GORGEOUS.

Courtesy of Jen Hall

So it's safe to say that this magnificent and elegant bird will be the source of inspiration for my next piece and maybe more than one.  This particular piece will be a bead embroidered pendent, I already have the design and color scheme worked out, I just need to sit down and bead.

The beginning of the bead embroidered owl

The color scheme, as of right now, is dark, deep blue with black/purple accents.  His belly will be a black onyx stone bead.  There will definitely be beaded beads to accent the chain.

Speaking of which, I'm also working on a Berry Beaded Bead Tutorial to share the love (it will be free).  I can see why tutorials aren't free through, they're hard work.  Thankfully pictures are worth a thousand words.  The reason I am against selling tutorials (no offense to those who sell tutorials, this my personal view) especially for basic techniques is because there are beaders out there like me who are too frugal to pay a small fee and end up tirelessly searching the web for little snippets of information to then cohesively compile and digest to make a simple beaded bead.  It's very discouraging.  Literally it took me months (exaggeration... maybe) to find enough information to attempt making a beaded bead.  So to all those poor beaders who are searching, I will hopefully end your pain.

On another side note, I'm also going to do a series on gemstones.  Fun facts, myths, and general information regarding many different gemstones. Stay tuned, a lot is coming your way...

Into the Light...

Finally, my cuff is done.  As I worked tirelessly on it I had an epiphany:  the effect reminded me of dawn and dusk.  The intricate black design against the soft pink stone characterizes it to most sunset and sunrise pictures.

Into the Light Cuff
Bezeled Pink Stone with Intricate Black Overlay
11/0 Matte Black Delicas, 13/0 Czech Black Rounds
6/0 Matte Black Rounds

Instead of making the super long earrings I mentioned, I decided to try my luck with making bead embroidered studs.  Here's how they turned out...

Into The Light Studs
Bezeled Rhodonite Stone

I absolutely LOVE how they turned out and I'm currently working on a second pair.   I assure you that you have not seen the last of this style.  I'm too much in love with how both turned out.  Stay tuned... I'm working on a new design, different from the this one.  As you will soon come to know, I cannot be hung up on one design, too boring, I usually cycle through techniques to get my fix to create unique jewelry.

Bead Shopping

Joann's was having a Fourth of July sale starting from the first of July and  Swarovski crystals were 50% off, a super good deal.  I bought a couple of packs of crystals, two shell pendents, clasps, glass pearls, and gunmetal wire all for around $30. 

Swarovski Crystals, Shell Pendents, Glass Pearls

Gunmetal Wire, Multi strand Clasps

I am super excited about the red shell pendent, I have a gazillion ideas swarming in my head for it, I definitely want something grand and spectacular to show off the lovely colors.  I'll sketch out some ideas and post pictures.   My major inspiration will most likely be from Thom Atkins Rouge et Noir, it is an elaborate red and black beaded bead piece.  I couldn't find a picture online, so I will most probably scan it from my The Art of Beaded Beads book. 

If you can't tell from the top picture, I'm kinda going through a blue phase.  I don't know why but I'm completely in LOVE with the deep turquoise/blue color. I'm already visualizing different beaded beads, and pendents using that color.  I'm so excited. I'm sure you all think I'm crazy but I assure you I'm not, I'm just a little bit obsessed.

No, I haven't forgotten about my cuff.  I am sincerely going to try and complete it tomorrow.  If I don't it will most probably be put on the back burner since I have so many other ideas for projects that I want to start.

Dilema Solved

So my second idea for the cuff went a lot more smoothly than the first and I was able to get the effect I wanted.

Bezeled Stone using 11/0  matte black Delicas
13/0 Czeck seed beads used for vines and leaves

Now I only need to put everything together, I have the background fabric picked, its sort of silky but not real silk. I believe the color is taupe, to be exact.  The fabric and my cuff design inspired me to design fabric based earrings as well.

Earring Sketch

The length of the earring is about 3 inches, super long, I know.  But I feel like once they're done they'll look super sexy.  I already have one of the beaded flowers done, the center stone in the picture is a round 6mm rhodonite.

Earring Sketch

It's going to take a couple of days to finish these pieces.  When they're done I'll have them up.