I like these!

Pendant- Lisa Peters Art

Drilled stones- Stones Studios Too

Vintaj Brass findings and chain

I really like these. I hope someone else does too. I made two owl necklaces. I'm going to submit one of them to publication. Looks a lot different than this one. I will be listing these two in my shop momentarily.








Chain- AD Adornments

Shibuchi Mermaid- Green Girl Studios

Glass drops, and Faceted Czech rondelles

Ceramic Ring- Round Rabbit Extra

So Far So Good

2 new bracelets now listed in my shop!

I am faring okay with Joe gone, keeping quite busy. Yesterday I cleaned out my closet, threw away a lot of old clothes, put away the sweaters and wool dress pants, brought out the shorts and t-shirts. Reorganized my closet back to a useable space, ironed some wrinkled clothes. It was a HUGE task and took approx. 4 hours. I'm taking 3 bags of clothes and 1 bag of shoes to the salvation army today. whew!

I saw a couple of movies over the weekend, He's Just Not that Into You. It was on Movies on Demand, and I liked it. It was entertaining and funny and had a great cast. I went to the movies with Tara on Saturday and we saw The Proposal. Another good romantic comedy. Great cast, and really funny. Loved it.

I stopped at Barnes and Noble on Friday- I try to stop in once a week just to peruse the magazines, and see what's new in the jewelry books. I ended up buying a new book- Secret Life of Bees, and have been reading it almost non-stop. It's got my attention and that's huge. I have read a book in months. I also found a HUGE clearance table where I found the most awesome Presentation book- Vera Bradley sells some special items at B&N and I have eyed this presentation book before. It's perfect to showcase the magazine articles I've written so far. I figured I could leave it out on my table when I set up my small Trunk show at the museum next monday.

Weekly Links

This past week I was invited to participate in the Bead Bloggers Yahoo group! I am thrilled to be a part of this talented and beady group!

Here are the weeks blog links, take a minute and catch up on what's going on in blogland!

A Bead A Day Lisa shares her selection of summery pink beads and crystals. The "Watermelon Crawl" bead mix is sure to conjure up visions of a family picnic on a warm summer day!

About.com Jewelry Making Take these quick polls about wearing and making jewelry. Which are your favorite pieces?

Art Bead Scene The Trendy Bead shows off wood filigree pendants.

Barbe Saint John Read Barbe's interview on the Objects and Elements blog

Beading Arts Cyndi's initial thoughts on working with the new CopprClay. There'll be lots of projects coming this summer!

Carmi's Art/Life World Carmi hand felts a pretty bead from wool roving.

Cindy Gimbrone aka The Lampwork Diva A trip to glass city doesn't go as well as planned. Yet Cindy finds inspiration and few new tools!

Earthenwood Studio Chronicles Melanie mixes up gunmetal chains and components with brass to make a necklace with one of her Toolbox Treasure pendants.

Humblebeads Heather sketches out some new designs using this summer's hottest color.

Jean Campbell Ink: Eureka! Beading in the fresh air clears the mind, bringing fresh creativity

Lorelei's Blog: Inside the Studio Searching for some new inspiration? Lorelei's got just the place for you to find it!

Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done! Jean reviews Wirework, a new book by the famous Dale "Cougar" Armstrong.

Strands of Beads Melissa shows off her new lunar phases and compass rose designs.

The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton Andrew introduces eight new fine pewter pieces from his family's company, Green Girl Studios.

Do you Dream in Color?

Join in the fun- my friend's giveaway!

This is my friend Cindy. Cindy, of Sweet Bead Studio, is having a really awesome giveaway, with three prizes. She's picking 3 winners, how generous!! And did you get a load of the prizes? An AWESOME hammer, one of her amazing hand-stamped Heart pendants, AND this handmade, handstamped copper and lampwork bracelet. I am hoping to win any one of these things, Cindy makes amazing jewelry. I know, because I bought this necklace.

If you want to enter, click this link and you'll be taken to her post.

TGIF

Poisonous

Click here to purchase.

This bracelet design started out as one of my wrap bracelets. Until I got all the way to the end, and went to pull the leather knot tight with my chain nose pliers, and SNAP! goes the leather. Cut it right where I didn't want it to be cut. gah! So, I improvised, and just string it like a normal bracelet, onto the cording.
The Poison charm was made by my friend Lola of The Lola Collection. She's not producing these anymore, so they are one of a kind, and I have the last of them, so when they're gone, they're really GONE!
Anyhoo, this edgy bracelet is for sale on in my Artfire shop.

New Inspiration -COMING OUT SOON!

The Spring season is slowly coming to a rainy end, and the beginning of Summer is riding on our heels. I'm about due for some new inspiration, aren't you? Welllll, you're in luck! Coming to a beadshop/craft store/ book store near you in a few weeks: the 2009 edition of Creative Jewelry, published by Interweave Press!

This issue is chock-full of new and colorful designs for the Summer season, but also has some great articles like, Do You Etsy? and also a nice section on Designing on a Dime- perfect for this current economy we're in!

Yes, you'll see my work there! 7 projects for bracelets and necklaces- and also a small feature about my ever-growing success on one of today's top leading craft selling websites, Etsy!

Better pre-order your copy now, just so you don't miss it! Click here to pre-order!

hello, wednesday.

I don't have a lot of time to blog today, so real quickly, here are 2 bracelets that are being listed in the shop this morning.

In other news, I booked our bed and breakfast this morning for a little Anniversary getaway, in Durham New Hampshire. Joe found the cutest B & B online and I fell in love with it right away. We got married the day after Independence Day, and that weekend of course is a hard weekend to get a room, so we decided to go the following weekend. Problem is, they were booked that weekend so we are going up Sunday and coming back Tuesday. Bummer, but at this point, doesn't matter. I'm just glad we are getting away, for a few days at least. I was surprised that the DH agreed to it since yesterday we got some bad news and had to fix one of our cars, and it wasn't inexpensive.



Here are some pictures of the place we are staying.






Looks dreamy huh??

i can't wait!

How does YOUR garden Grow?

2009 is the first year that Joe and I have ever attempted growing veggies. So far so good, knock on wood! I thought I'd share some pics.

This is in the back of the house, behind the garage, against our

neigbors fence. We wanted to start small,

so we have many many pepper plants for my

addict husband who can't get enough of them.

2 rows of Broccoli, 2 tomato plants, and

a small row of cucumbers.

Here's another closer look.

On the patio we have 2 potted tomato plants, cherry tomatoes. And

I was excited to see the start of a 'mater growing already!

Some other plants I'm proud of are the two rose bushes we put in this year. One in a deep red, and the other is a yellow/coral, knock-your-socks-off Rose!

They both have COUNTLESS buds, and blooming flowers.
The pictures don't do it justice!

Thanks for allowing me to show off our plants.

Update- Erin Prais-Hintz received the bracelets from the Bracelet swap, and blogged about them today, go read her post here.

Kristin's Creative Challenge

I read Kristin's blog daily. Waking Beauty Designs. I read her post on Friday and was completely intrigued by this idea of a creative venture- something we think we cannot do.

She posed this creative challenge for the weekend. I figured, that
sounds so cool- I'll commit and then figure it out later! We had nothing
but rain all weekend so what better weekend to sit inside and play with
paper.

Okay so I didn't really follow the rules. Instead I worked on
a creative project, that wasn't what I normally do, which is jewelry.
I created something that is:

1. essential for my business
2. something that will save me money
3. It can be fun- they're pretty and functional!

Gift boxes! After I huffed and puffed my way through 16 boxes, that's 8 lids and 8 bottoms, I was beat! I finished and was sitting there looking at a whole lot of scrap paper. The scrapbook paper I use is originally 12 x 12", but then I cut them down to 8 x 8. I know I know.
They do have scrapbook papers that are already 8 x 8, but I didn't find any patterns that I particularly loved, so I cut them down. So, each page gives you a top/or bottom. And there are 2 pieces left over. a longer piece, and a shorter piece.

I love the paper so much, I didn't want to waste it so I came up with a couple of ideas of what to use the shorter scraps of paper for. I grabbed my rounded punch, and curved all the corners, folding the paper in half. Then I took some plain white paper, cut it a bit smaller, rounded the corners and glued it inside, making a nice little note card! These would make great inclusions with my jewelry packages, just a little note to say thanks. And I'm always looking for small sized note cards, for any occasion.
Another great idea to use the cards for, is make them into earring cards. I used my little hole punch and punched some holes on the inside right panel. See the pics above!
They look so pretty wrapped up in ribbon!

Want the directions on making your own boxes? Here's the link:
http://www.etsy.com/storque/how-to/how-to-make-a-box-out-of-paper-scraps-243/

Now I have to come up with a good way to use the longer strips of scraps. Any ideas?

Fill me Up Little Cup!

I was perusing the ads in the back of Stringing magazine (the summer issue) and found a coloful and fun add for Little Cup, Ceramic beads by Sabine Brunner. I was immediately smitten, and looked up Sabine's website. Favorited her blog. Started stalking her Etsy shop. Sent her an email. She's so friendly and nice, she wrote me back immediately. I ordered the beads in the photo above. I love em! They are fun, colorful, happy- perfect for summer. Look how cute that little sugar skull charm is!

Yesterday I put together a steel wire-wrapped bracelet using Sabine's blue heart bead. Another cool thing about her beads, they have designs on both sides, which is great for bracelets if the beads flip. I paired her bead with a really cool one of a kind lampwork glass bead from The Orange Bell, a regular ceramic round, and one of Diane Hawkey's LOVE beads. The red round, is sponge coral.



Check out my little heart clasp! I had fun testing out a different
wire shape for this piece. I like how it turned out.




Read Sabine's blog here.
Shop for her beads here.
Favorite her Etsy shop here.

A new Neighbor!

This raccoon has set up house in a neighbors shed. Today was our first sighting, but the neighbors have been seeing it for a few weeks now. I shot these pics from across the street. I didn't want to alert him/her. I've never seen a raccoon other than on TV so I was fascinated!

My additions to the Bracelet Swap

Now that the bracelets are in Erin's hands, I figured it was safe to show the additions that I made to the bracelets in the swap!

This one is my bracelet beginnings. I didn't add to this one since I already started it. I can't wait to see what this baby ends up as. So far, it's so cool. Heather couldn't have found better beads to add, the lampwork glass is perfect, and her little Humblebead adds so much pizazz!








Here is Erin's (Tesori Trovati) bracelet.
I love the color palette on this one. I added a brass ball locket on one end. On the other, I wire wrapped a couple of purple Sugalite rondelles, and wire wrapped faceted pearl dangles. I know it doesn't seem like much, but I really had to hold back since it's got 3 more people to go to for additions!












I adore Erin's (Every Heart Crafts) bracelet. It's delicate and feminine and completely a piece I would wear! I wire wrapped a couple of milk glass rounds to the chain, and put a wire wrapped faceted purple glass dangle by the leaf with a sweet silver bead cap. And then on the linen cord, I hand-knotted a few teal glass petals, and an Orange Bell lampwork glass square.








I didn't realize, until reading Heather's blog post, that Christine had only sent in the bead, leaving the interpretation totally up to us. So the faux red jade bead was the starting point to what is slowly becoming quite a show stopper! I added some wire wrapped dangles to the chain, of lime glass flowers, faceted lime glass rondelles, burgundy coin pearls, and some deep red square ceramic Mykonos beads.I then created a clasp from this cool brass button.






On Heather's bracelet, I knew I wanted to add in another pop of color to her Cherry blossom focal bead. It took some time, but I Finally settled on some faceted Garnet beads. I also added a 3 hold porcelain link from Nancy at Round Rabbit Extra, and a small silver dragonfly charm, with a wire wrapped vintage carved shell button.





What a super fun project this has been. I really have enjoyed this process and am thinking up ways to get another bracelet swap started soon. I received a lot of positive feedback in regards to people being interested in participating.
Erin has the bracelets now, she'll be blogging about them soon, and then making her additions and she'll blog about those, once Christine receives them.

Thanks for following us on this journey!

I puffy heart Nora Burian

I met Nora on Facebook.

She's a talented seamstress.

She bought some jewelry from me.

and then...

she sent me this!

Couldn't have come at a better time, since I just ordered some new business cards!

THANKS Nora!

Visit Nora's Etsy shop here.

And join her Facebook group here.

And she's blogging too, click here.

After the Rain Necklace hits ETSY!

See this necklace tutorial in the current issue

of Step By Step Beads, on stands now!

OR

Just buy the original on Etsy NOW!

Click here to purchase.

Kandinsky

I should not be struggling with this month's Art Bead Scene challenge as much as I am. I mean, I am really familiar with Kandinsky's work. We actually have a really cool Kandinsky painting in the collection at the Museum where I work. I like bright colors in jewelry, so this painting doesn't pose a color challenge. I have to admit. I really had a hard time coming up with this design to submit for the challenge. So although it looks simple in design, it really took some time to put it together. I tried to bring in the colors from the painting without them looking really gawdy. Thank God I found this cool lampwork bead from the Orange Bell with orange and white circles in the center. It's perfect for this piece. I used other lampwork glass from The Orange Bell on the other side as well. The fringe chain in the front mimics the circles from the painting. The Green Girl Studios tube bead was kind of funky and I've been wanting to use it for a while so I created a hook clasp out of it with some galvanized steel wire. The hand-made fused silver links on the left are from Lynn Davis.

I am looking forward to seeing what painting will be the theme for July's challenge!

Read more about how you can submit your designs for the Art Bead Scene here.

Summer to Winter

Summer jewelry is really effortless to make, isn't it? I can make summer and sea themed jewelry any day of the year. But now it's time to start thinking about Winter designs for the Beading magazine publishers. It's hard. I'm stuck here, now. I don't want to think about Winter. In fact, I Can't think about winter right now. I don't even know what Winter jewelry looks like. Can't one wear this in the winter? I bet they could.

available on etsy

Markdowns

ALERT!

The following items are now on sale in my Etsy Shop. Click the links below each picture to take to you each listing.

Framed!

A History Lesson

Extravaganza!

Sometimes you Feel like a Nut

Under the Sea

Chakra Too



This will probably be the only sale I'll be having before my small trunk show at the Museum on July 6th. Keep that in mind if you're holding out for a particular piece. I'll be removing all items from Etsy and Artfire, to take to the show. Whatever doesn't sell, will come back and be re-listed.