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! ~

Sometimes Change is Good

Way long ago, I was fortunate enough to have my friends over at ArtBeads.com provide me with complimentary Swarovski elements, from which I made:

Well, truth be told, I never wore the set.

It hung there unworn, looking pretty.    What's the point of being pretty if its unworn, right? 

So I took out my snippers and cut the necklace apart. 
Gasp!  Now what??!  NO turning back now.....

How about a cuff bracelet?

Before mounting

Love that shine - nothing beats faceted Swarovski for light play

Just over 2 inches wide - this is one bold cuff

Yes, definitely more my style!

~Bead Happy and Often! ~

My Kind of Challenge

As a blogging partner of Artbeads, I was presented with the 'challenge' to create a piece that incorporates a little bit of yesteryear.  Oh yeah, I'm all about the vintage!  My mind immediately went to a button charm bracelet.

Here's all the Artbeads.com goodies I selected.  Links to all the products shown are sprinkled throughout the post, so please pop over to Artbeads and check out all they have to offer. 

 I have oodles of vintage buttons and Artbeads offers up some darn good faux vintage buttons. 

I love the open cutwork detail on this pewter button

This button is actually plastic, but you'd never know it !
It looks like metal

My first mission was to find a suitable chain.  No brainer there!  Loved Loved Loved this chain.  It was almost a shame to use if for a bracelet because it drapes so beautifully, I could definitely see it making a fabulous necklace.

Vintage treasures from my stash
and some Swarovski bicones thrown in!

Most of my vintage buttons in my stash were either cream or dark, so I choose the gunmetal finish and of course, Artbeads had both headpins and jump rings in gunmetal as well as a really cute toggle clasp in what they call a black pewter finish, which matched the gunmetal really well.  It was a bit small for the bracelet and I managed to find a really great vintage jet cameo clasp in my stash, so the toggle will be used for another project.

Vintage jet clasp from my stash that I didn't even know I had!

I love the look of using fiber with metal, and I was thrilled to have found this awesome hand dyed silk ribbon in a beautiful rich shade of blue/gray (all the shades Artbeads offers look gorgeous).   The ribbon I got looks a lot darker than what the website shows, but that didn't matter to me and I guess since it is hand dyed, color variation is to be expected, right? 

To pick up the cream of the vintage lace I was planning on using and some of my buttons, I thought this cotton yarn with the Swarovski pearls would work, but I found it really awkward to work with.  It sort of unwound and the pearls slid off the ends.

And speaking of Swarovski, I wanted to add a bit of bling, so nothing beats Swarovski products for that!  I made these little dangly charm kind of thing using channel drops in black diamond and a bicone in a midnight blue shade that I had in my stash.   My wire working skills leave a lot to be desired and I managed to break off a few of the head pins as I wound them around.   

When I saw this cameo with the three ladies on it, I knew I had to have it.  For a mere 54 cents!  Seriously?  It is sooooo nice! 

I mounted it on a TierraCast picture frame charm and it fit almost perfectly.  I love the detail on the back of the charm - I dare say it's downright charming (groan!). 

After getting all my goodies linked onto the bracelet, I wove the ribbon and cotton yarn through some of the loops and tied a piece of vintage lace to the clasp end. 

Its really fun to wear! 

FTC Disclosure:  The products shown as links in this post were provided to me at no cost from Artbeads.com in exchange for my honest opinion of the products on my blog.

 

Giving and Receiving

Meghan surprised me this morning with this adorable bracelet she found on Etsy:

Love it! 

Love Her!

I finished Donna's bracelet this morning.  After ripping out the beige seeds, I decided to fill in the background with the boucle (carpet) stitch in clear seeds with just a sprinkling of silver lined and clear gray here and there. 

It was impossible to get a good shot, so you'll have to trust me on the sprinklings!   Maybe if you click on the pic to zoom in you'll be able to see them.

The center cabachon is a vintage piece I found at an estate sale. 

I hope she loves it.....or at least likes it enough to wear it occasionally!

Here's what the overall design looks like before it was mounted and edged in the 4 mm Swarovski rounds:

Well, its after noon already am I'm still in my pajamas.  Pete and the dogs are bugging me to get myself in the shower so we can get to the woods for a walk about.  After constant rain yesterday we woke up to about 4 inches of snow.    I am sooooo ready for spring! 

~ Bead Happy and Often ~

Getting No Where Fast

Sometimes I just can't get my act together.

I'm making a cuff bracelet as a thank you for one of my husband's co-workers.     Lately, the only time I have to bead is in the evening.  I prefer to bead in the morning or during the daylight hours, but I'll take what I can get these days! 

I thought I had a good design laid out and had chosen my color story while the natural light was still available.  Considering its just blacks/grays/clears, it wasn't that complicated.  I looked for different finishes on the beads: some matte, some shiny, some metallic and some clear.  Easy Peasy. 

And then it just wasn't working, so I ripped it out and started again. 

Everything was going along great.  I was happier with my second attempt and decided I was going to keep it simple and fill in the background with silver lined clear seeds.   But I didn't have those seeds on my table.  It was about 8:30 p.m. or so when I pulled the beads from my stash and started 'finishing' the bracelet base. 

I looked at it today in the daylight and UGH. 

What the??! 

Why do these silver lined beads look so beige?

Oh, that's because they are!

Oh boy.

I'm hoping the third try is the charm.  Isn't that what they always say?  I hope it is.  I'm really get tired of snip snip snipping all those threads........

~  Bead Happy and Often   ~

The Whole "KIT" 'n kaboodle

I'm holding off on any bead embroidery projects until I get my order of Nicole's BeadBacking.  From what I hear, its some pretty fantastic stuff.  So in the meantime, I was scrounging around the studio and came across 2 kits gathering dust.

The first one is a simple bracelet kit from Mzuribeads featuring those awesome handmade paper beads.  I'm not a 'stringer' kind of girl, so I  tried to embelish the beads.

Neither attempt was any good, and I was getting annoyed.   Simple stringing it is then.

Next I came across another one of those fan-tab-u-lous Toho Ring Kits that I got at Artbeads.com.  I have said it before and I will say it again:  I LOVE these kits!  So organized, clear illustrations, gorgeous beads and takes just a bit over an hour to put together. 

Just look at the focal bead!  Just beauty-full.

Sunlight brings out some gorgeous turquoise green hues

You can see how domed the ring is - just loaded with beads!

A Family Portrait....

Psst,  my ring family will soon be expanding.  I just ordered another kit!

Links to the goodies:

  Beadbacking -- Beadwright

Paper beads -- Mzuribeads

Ring Kit -- Artbeads.com

Bead Happy and Often

Joan's Cuff

Lucky for me that the stars aligned in such a way as to bestow upon me the perfect timing of my friend Joan's request for a bracelet to match her dress and an email from Artbeads.com with their latest challenge as part of their Blogging for Beaders program.

Artbeads asked me to create something using the Pantone 2010 Fall Colors   I'll be honest.  My immediate thought was ....?Uh.....What?  I didn't know what or who Pantone was.  I always knew there were "in" colors and "out" (as in outdated) colors, but I can't say I ever really knew who determined that. 

So I jumped over to the Pantone Report and found there were (are) 10 colors for this year.  I couldn't believe my luck!  5 of those colors would be perfect for Joan's dress bracelet!  YiPpEE!

Look at their dreamy names:

Golden Glow

Purple Orchid

Chocolate Truffle

Oyster Gray

Rose Dust

Don't they just describe Joan's dress perfectly????

Now, for the hard part.  Choosing from the HUGE selection carried by Artbeads.com!  Yikes.  I knew this was going to take a while.....

But the winners are: 

Swarovski Pearls in Mocca, Maroon and Mauve  ~ scrumptious colors!

Druk beads in Champagne Luster and Light Amethyst Luster ~ amazing luster on these!

Fire-polished faceted rounds in crystal twilight and dark bronze ~ very nice!

Toho 3mm Bugle in Raku Cabernet Iris ~ such a great color and super uniform in size!

Toho 11 seed beads in Marbled Rose Crystal and Marbled Periwinkle ~  I never knew that there were marbeled colored seeds!!  They are my new fav :)

Toho size 6 seed bead in Gilt-Lined Mauve ~ absolutely beautiful shade!

I found a perfect cabachon in my stash along with some other elements and here it is:

I edged the cuff in the 4mm Crystal Twilight Fire-Polished faceted rounds and I like the elegant touch.

I was having such a good time with this color palette, that I couldn't resist making a ring!

I think it makes a great set and matches the dress quite well!

OOPS!  After I took the pictures, I realized I wanted to put a row of size 15 seeds along the cabachon bezel!  Oh for heaven's sake!  But I was able to get them on even with the bracelet already finished:

And the best part......Joan loves it!

FTC Disclosure:  The elements listed above were provided to me free of charge from Artbeads.com in exchange for my review of the products.