Project Palettes

I was recently asked if I was going to have a hard time parting with all the jewelry I've made once it comes time to start selling. Not too long ago, I would have answered, "YES!" Now, the process of creating something new is more exciting to me than wearing something new. I love all my finished pieces. If I don't absolutely love an outcome, then it's just simply not finished yet and I rework it until I do love it! So, to keep the creative juices flowing, I have just increased my bead supply. Not exactly something I really needed to do. I'm addicted to beads, I guess, and I can't say that it's a miserable addiction to live with. I hope you enjoy my addiction too--at least the side effects of it...jewelry!!

I've sorted out my latest additions into piles that someday will become a necklace, bracelet, and/or earrings. I've even got names picked out already. This first lot is made up of yellow tiger eye, rainforest jasper, jade, and aventurine. I couldn't help but call this "Jungle Love."


This next one was the bead shop's and my daughter's fault. Really. The bead strands were all organized by color and my little one was grabbing handfuls of the strands. When she started playing with the creams and clears, it hit me just how lovely they look together. For several reasons--all of which are just too hard to put into words at this time--I'll go with "Baby's Breath" for this one. There are several different pearl varieties here along with moonstone and crystal.


This one I call "Time Traveller" since it conjured up images of a primordial world with enormous dragonflies and other now-forgotten inhabitants. The beads are glass, pearl, Australian jasper, and something new to me called Phoenix stone. The dragonfly and fossil fish charms are detailed front and back, a detail that I love.


I have another palette photo, but have decided to hold it back for a while. That particular collection of beads did make it into a two-strand necklace, of which I also have a picture. However, I am going to submit this design to Stringing magazine for their Winter edition's design challenge which is "Black and White." If you want to check it out, voting for submissions is held between September 15th and October 15th at http://stringingmagazine.com. All I will tell you is that my necklace has a lot to say. Heh, heh, heh. I'll post a picture here for you when voting closes.

I will wrap things up with a final photo. I made a pair of earrings for my Grandma to go with the bracelet I showed you in the previous post. Grandma never pierced her ears (and was not at all thrilled when I pierced mine), so this is a pair of clip-ons. The beads are all Swarovsky crystal. I was going to hold onto her gifts until her birthday, but we have an out-of-town family reunion (Grandma's side) this coming Sunday. I think she'll really enjoy the chance to sparkle at a special event like that. Happy early birthday, Grandma!

Birthday Season

I mentioned earlier that my grandma's birthday opens up our family's birthday season next month. Actually, my husband's birthday is in two days, but then it's another month before Grandma's. We have a birthday the day after hers and then two more in the following week. Another one finishes up September and then there's one in October, two in November, two in December...whew. Anyway, what I really wanted to share was the bracelet I just completed for my Grandma. She absolutely loves pink, so that was pretty much a requirement for whatever I made! This bracelet is all Swarovsky crystal with sterling silver findings.

Playtime

Today, my daughters had a play date with a couple of friends while the friends' mom and I got some time to bead together. It's really nice to sit down with a fellow beader and work on a project or two. The kids were screaming and shouting and behaving, well, like kids. With beads in my hands, and a friend across the table, it's so much easier to stay calm and collected. Things changed when I finished my project. I went upstairs to find lemonade spilled on the floor, the sugar bowl raided, and the lid missing to the canister of hot chocolate mix. Momma wasn't as calm and collected at that point. I got a lot of the "I didn't do it" responses, so I guess the Ida Know ghost had struck again.


Anyway, the project I finished used the fabulous, stone, fish pendant that I mentioned long time ago. I'm really happy with it! I call it "From the Deep." The main materials I used were various pearl formations, shell, jade, and aventurine.

Sparkly Earrings

These extra-sparkly earrings were created as a request from a friend of mine for "black, sparkly earrings." Well, not this pair specifically. She has the original pair. I loved them so much, that I just HAD to make another set. I used 8, 6 and 4mm Swarovsky crystals in jet and black diamond colors. I call it "Reflections."

Happy Anniversary

Today is my grandparents' 62nd wedding anniversary! It's so nice to have one more thing to celebrate when you're wondering if this will be "the last one" for one of your loved ones. My grandma's birthday is coming soon, marking the beginning of the birthday season for our family. Every little party we can cram into a calendar is great!

The girls have been doing their usual crazy stuff. The little one scraped up the back of her neck goofing off around the bricks of the fireplace and the bigger one got a dose of road rash when she sneaked out on her bike without safety gear. I guess some things they just have to learn on their own. Our schedule has been crazy, too. We had some very special guests spend a weekend with us--my husband's folks from North Carolina drove out here. We were constantly on the go, it seems. The next weekend, we participated in the National Wildlife Foundation's Great American Backyard Campout. Oh, that was a blast! The weekend after that was Independence Day and our garage sale. If you recall that star-spangled necklace that I posted back in May, I wore that and got several compliments. I made some earrings to coordinate while I played cashier in my garage.

I made a few other things that I simply haven't had time to photograph and post until today.

Here's a pair of earrings that I love for their "rockabilly" character:

I finally made some earrings to go with the "Solar Flair" necklace and bracelet set. The photo makes it almost impossible to tell, but there is actually an orange bead on each earring, not another red one.

When I bought a dress at Old Navy, it turned out that I had a lot of glass beads that matched it. I wanted to use up as many beads as I could, so I put together a long necklace that could be doubled for a shorter one. I made earrings at the same time so I wouldn't have to play catch-up again!

This morning, while the girls were in Vacation Bible School, I made another necklace/earring set and a "goes with anything" kind of bracelet. The pendant is ceramic glazed with turquoise and brown. I paired it with amber glass beads and reconstituted turquoise chips. The glazing on the pendant reminded me of peacock feathers and the turquoise chips reminded me of something much more North American. I'll call this set "Horse Feathers." Because I can.

Here's a close-up of the pendant's front:

I started dabbling in some macrame jewelry, mainly for some children that I know who are highly allergic to metals. I even got some quality mother-daughter time in when my older daughter wanted to make a bracelet with me! Yay! I started to dabble with a few different items and this is one of the outcomes:

I like the way this little handbag turned out, but it launched a whole new mess of ideas. I'm on a desperate hunt for a specific type of purse handle that I can modify into a long beaded, ribbon strap. I want to try a black boucle yarn with the jewel-toned ribbon yarn. I think that would be dazzling. And I want to try a chunky bead or something on the front. As long as I keep it all very close to the whole jewelry thing I've got going on right now.

Before I close, I just have to mention that I've been playing around with my website. I modified my "Coming Soon" page so it will have my sun logo and mention when "soon" is. I still have some playing around to do to make the site more interesting, but I don't want to invest too much time (and Excedrin) into something that is going to be COMPLETELY different come February of next year.

Well, that's everything to date! I've got to get ready for my grandparents' anniversary dinner now.