Here Comes the Bride....

. . . . . . .well, actually not until August! This is my adorable niece, Ashlee and her fiance Adam.

Ashlee loved my Marcia DeCoster Terracita bracelet so much I told her I could make her one to wear on her wedding day. Instead of the browns and golds, I used crystal, pearl, silver, and white. Although it's not very photogenic (unlike Ashlee and Adam - teehee) here it is:

It is absolutely stunning in person! I made up an earring too - if she likes the style, I 'll make another, if not, I'll come up with something else!

Off to golf - whoo hoo - first time this year!!

Bead Happy and Often :)

P. S. My Beading for a Cure auction pieces will be sold off on Sunday, so if you want to put a little bling on your desk, get your bid in soon !! Link is at the top of my sidebar (as if you didn't know that by now). Thanks lots and lots!

More on Marcia, Grace, etc.

My Love for Marcia Decoster's Beaded Opulence designs still runs true. Here is her Whitby earring design. I didn't add the baroque teardrop crystal to the bottom as she did though. It made the earring much too long for me. My mom bought me a fabulous snake skin print shirt for Christmas in shades of black and gray. These earrings are a perfect match!

After receiving my surprise gift from Grace, I just had to clear off the bead table and get to work on my next Good Woman doll.

I had a face on stash from Linsart, but no body. Bummer. Looks like its time to get out the dreaded Singer Sew Quick. I haven't had very good luck with it (sewing machines and I have never gotten along no matter how simple or elaborate). But after a few attempts, I was able to produce a somewhat OK shape.

She's coming along quite nicely. But, once again, the design I had in my head is not at all what is taking shape. Just beading from the heart (and not the head) again! Can't beat that. IN case you didn't watch my previous post, my gift from Grace was the raku bead button you see. It was made by Lisa Peters and is really really nice.

Now that my oldest is 19 (ouch, how can that be?), she has adopted her first dog.

Meet Diesel, the newest member of our family. A 12 week old SPCA special mix of who knows what. He was brought into the shelter as a wee baby and just put out for adoption the day Claire happened to go. Fate.

He's very good and has already learned his 'sit' 'stay' 'come' manners. Such a smartie!

I'm off to go check up on everyone's posts--happy beading!

Crystal-icious!

After pouring over the projects in Marcia DeCoster's book Beaded Opulence, I settled on 3 projects that I wanted to start with on my right-angle-weave-learning journey. First up was a ring pattern called "Quetzal". I know its far from perfect -

-but its good enough for my daughters to be fighting over who gets to wear it and my daughter's girlfriend has asked me to make her one too.

Then I tried a bracelet called "Terracita" (what is with these names??!). I LOVE love LOVE this bracelet. The one in the book is all blues/violets and was hard to pick out the pattern, so I wasn't real clear on what the design was going to look like, but when I made it in these earth tones, the pattern really popped!

I loved it so much, I made a pair of earrings to go with it.

The last project on my short list was Whitby (finally, a semi-normal name - well, at least I could spell it without having to look it up again)-- an earring pattern. But, I haven't taken pics of those yet. (blame it on my new Wii or that darned knitting addiction.......)

Speaking of crystals~~we finally got a beautiful snowfall this weekend, blanketing everything in sight. No wind, just a steady fluffy ultra light snow. I love how it stacked up on the rose of sharon seed pods.Ahh, winter in western New York - beautiful!

Bling Bling Bling

I am very happy to be a part of the beading bloggers program with Artbeads.com. Not only are they super friendly and nice to deal with, they encourage me to try new products I would probably would not have otherwise.

So with that said, I was given the choice of a vast array of cubic zirconia beads. Hmm, Nice. There were so many shapes, sizes, colors, all beautiful. I randomly picked some lavender and black shapes with a vague idea of a necklace and earrings set. I'm not much of a stringer-type beader and earrings always leave me stumped. Definitely a personal challenge to come up with something decent.

So I drifted through some blogs and came back once again to Marcia DeCoster. I couldn't believe she had made a pair of earrings using the exact beads I had just ordered! Fate. I quickly ordered up her latest book Beaded Opulence, and then since I was in the book buying frame of mind, tossed in another one I've been wanting for a while; Rachel Nelson-Smith's Seed Bead Fusion (both of which I would highly recommend).

Anyhooo, this is what I came up with. I so wish the pictures were better. These CZ beads are so incredibly beautiful - full of facets and a nice heavy feel.

The pendant is crowned with Rachel's small version of her oothecal bede. So much fun to watch it develop.Can you believe the facets in this pendant?? LOVE ITThis is Marcia's medici drop earring design. Quick and easy and elegant - could you ask for anything more? Believe me when I tell you these drops are just as faceted as the big pendant (it's just my lame photo skills that make them look a bit blah)

But the best part was seeing Meghan wear it to the winter formal ! (The earrings were a bit too long for her taste--go figure)

P.S. I understand Artbeads.com is giving away a $100 gift certificate on Facebook. Enter here

And then go make your wish list! Artbeads.com

FTC Fine print: I received the aforementioned cubic zirconia beads free of charge from Artbeads.com in exchange for my honest opinion on the product. I did not receive any additional compensation other than the product.