Twins!

As a thank you swap with my painter-artist friend, Cindy, I made her a bracelet.

Well, I liked it so much I had to make myself a similar one.  I have this aversion to making identical pieces (where's the fun in that??!  oh - maybe that's why I can't make earrings......hmmmmm), so I used the same beads but arranged them (ok, fine - the beads arranged themselves, as usual- so I won't take the credit) in a slightly different manner:

Lynn's bracelet on bottom - Cindy's on top

Cindy's "cupcake" medallion

Lynn's "cupcake"

I don't know where or how I came up with studding the Swarovski crystals in this random pattern, but I LOVE it.  I used a mix of clear, jet, and smoke in various sizes with a bit of silver seeds sprinkled in.

Cindy's bling

I made the bling section on my cuff even larger and outlined the edge with the crystals too.  The play of light is spectacular when the cuff is worn.   Talk about BLING!

Lynn's Bling

Left Cuff - Lynn       Right Cuff - Cindy

I was pleasantly surprised at the ribbon pattern that emerged to separate the bling section.  I just alternated a small bugle, teardrop,small bugle and then three small bugles on the next row then outlined the strips with seed beads. 

When you see Cindy's cuff on, it looks like studded leather thanks to the use of the matte black beads.   Mine, not so much, but I do like the way the pattern that surrounds the center cupcake on mine looks like two sideways crowns.  Not that I think I'm the queen of anything, but it reminds me of the crown of my mantra "Keep Calm and Carry On".  Pretty neat.  

I didn't even see the crowns until I looked at my cuff from a distance.  Once again - the beads have a voice and I'm just their conduit.

~ Bling  Bead Happy and Often! ~