Link Happy

I am totally inspired by Dawn Estrin's work. I found her on ArtfulHome.com, and everything she creates is pure magic. I especially love these owl earrings. Feel free to buy them for me here. ;)

Tonight when I get home from work, my beautiful baby sister and her boyfriend should be arriving for a little weekend visit. I am glad that they will be spending a few days, as I haven't had much time with my sister in quite a while. Tomorrow, we'll probably head out and do a little fun antiquing (her request!) and then just relax at home. Knowing her, she'll probably try to convince me to make her something with buttons, since it's all I have heard about, is how she totally is in love with that recent button bracelet I created. ;)

Be sure to check in at the Art Bead Scene tomorrow! I am hosting for Studio Saturday, and it's my first time! Pretty excited and I know you won't want to miss it.

I am hoping to get started on my Bead Soup piece this weekend, with Maria's beads she sent me. I have a few ideas brewing but don't forget, the reveal date is coming fast, on February 10th, that is when all of the participants post on their blogs the outcome of the bead swap! Take a peek at some of the beads people have been getting at the bead soup flickr group.

Hope you all have a great weekend!!

Feels good

I am wearing this today.
It just feels good. I have the clasp in the front but not dead center.
I like it this way.
The clasp is one of my favorites, from Green Girl Studios. A shibuichi beauty.
The ceramic beads are from the ever talented, Keith O'Connor.
He's pretty elusive.
But so talented, and I cannot get enough of these beads.
Each one a work of art.

You can buy Keith's beads at BeadingPath, EEBeads, or shows such as:

March 18-21, 2010
Interweave Bead FestSanta Fe Convention Center201 W. Marcy St.Santa Fe, New Mexico

3 trunk shows At ........................
Bead Haven Hampton , VA Feb 13/14 trunk show
............................

Beads F.O.B. Sarasota , FL Feb 26/27 truck show
...........................
Bead Boutique Matthews, NC March 5,6 and 7 bead making class and trunk show.

New bracelets in a calm color palette

What can I say?
I love pink today.
and buttons,
buttons are my friend today.

A great milestone

It snuck up on me!

I am only 4 sales away from 1000 sales.

My etsy shop has been open since Feb of 2007. We are coming up on 3 years now.
I think I've come a hella long way in 3 years.

Just for fun, I looked through some of my early first sales, and it's clear to me that my jewelry has come a long way as well. And come to find out, it actually took me 5 months to make my first sale. And it wasn't until November when it really started picking up a bit more.

It's been a fun road, and I'm not even close to being done yet!

Be my 1000 sale and get a special surprise from me.

and hey, thanks a lot for being there with me on this journey. you all rock.

a new bracelet and weekly links

i love how the red creek jasper focal looks like you are looking through
tree branches at twilight.
i named this twilight's flight.
it's in my shop now.
along with a few other newbies.

Now, enjoy some weekly bead blogger links:

A Bead in Time Is there such a thing as social networking jewelry? Lisa dug through a bag of Necco valentine candy hearts to create a one of a kind "twittery" necklace.

About.com Jewelry Making Catch up on the latest jewelry related podcasts. Tammy found some excellent ones for you to listen to.

Art Bead Scene Do You Rock? Here's your chance to show others that you do!

Carmi's Art Life World Carmi has an easy idea to thank a sponsor.

Cindy Gimbrone aka The Lampwork Diva An Emily Dickinson poem describes Cindy's newest piece of jewelry.

Jean Campbell Jean reviews Kerry Bogert's wonderfully whimsical new wirework book, Totally Twisted.

Jewelry & Beading How do you feel about using inexpensive materials in your designs? Chime in and let your voice be heard!

Lorelei's Blog: Inside the Studio Lorelei won some great lampwork beads and a chance to write a tutorial on how she used them.

Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done! Want to know what rubber duckies and Autism Awareness jewelry have to do with each other? Check Jean's site out!

Strands of Beads Melissa shows off a new earring design made from beautiful cubic zirconia from Artbeads.com

The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton Andrew shares the new additions to his bead stash - goodies from Cindy Gimbrone, Diane Hawkey, and Nancy Schindler.

Cupid's Coming!

Valentine's Day is fast approaching and it's evident that I've got hearts on the brains these days. Which isn't like me really, I don't normally create holiday themed jewelry. But hearts are fun, and whimsical and get the point across, and they can be for any time of year.


During this month's ArtBeads.com blogging program, I picked out a few Valentine's themed goodies from their shop and sat down this afternoon to put them all together into some jewelry.
This first necklace was created using some silk Fairy ribbon, copper and brass chain, an enameled Heart pendant, sweet iridescent dichroic discs, burgundy pearls, faceted pink glass rounds, vintage buttons, and some brass wire.

I love the silk ribbon, it comes in many colors and the length is just right for any project you're working on. I decided to no include a clasp on this necklace and tied the silk ribbon into a bow.

The Paula Radke dichroic glass discs were such a bonus. I have admired her
work before on her website and never realized that they were available
at Artbeads.com! I picked out this very pale white with pink undertones to go with the
darker pink ribbon.

Although the pendant is small, it still makes a nice statement.
Simple, and pretty! They have a few to choose from, and a larger size too.

These copper heart charms also had to make it to my mailbox!
I paired them with dark burgundy vintage buttons and copper lever back
earring wires.
Check out more of the copper pendants available at Artbeads.com.

Artbeads.com has sent me these products, free of charge, to review on my blog and I have not been paid for my endorsement of these products as it pertains to the products received. I have given an honest review of the products sent to me.

Gardanne Glass Heart Necklace Tutorial

Last week, Anne posted a bit of a giveaway for a Free Beads/Tutorial opportunity and I put my name in the hat.
Check.it.out.

I'm the big weener.




So Anne sent the beads my way and last night, I let my fingers do the talking and came up with this unique seed bead/wire wrapped necklace design.


Difficulty level: Intermediate





1. Cut a piece of 22g brass wire, to 3 inches long. Create a simple loop at one end using round nose pliers. String the Heart focal. String 1 small 3mm wood round. Form a wrapped loop with the remaining wire.




2. Attach the focal to a large 15mm split Brass jump ring.



3. Cut 2 pieces of size .12 beading wire into 10 inch pieces. String onto one wire 120 bronze seed beads. Thread the beaded wire through the 15mm jump ring. Bring the ends together. Thread 2 7mm jump rings onto the two ends. String 1 crimp bead. String the ends onto 1 4mm jump ring. Thread the 2 ends back through the crimp bead and crimp tightly using crimping pliers.
Repeat step 3 with the other wire.


4. Cut 2 pieces of 22g brass wire into 3 inch sections. Form a wrapped loop, attaching the loop to one of the 4mm jump rings on the seed beaded section. String 1 Turquoise oval. Form a wrapped loop. Repeat this step for the other side.



5. Cut 6 pieces of 22g wire and string 4 amber colored glass beads, and 2 cream glass beads. Using small 3 link sections of brass cable chain, attach the chain to each beaded wrapped loop, creating a chain.




6. On the final link, attach a 4mm jump ring and a lobster clasp.











MATERIALS USED:

1 Lamp work Heart focal from Gardanne Glass
4 Amber lamp work beads and 3 cream and amber spacers from Gardanne Glass
240 amber color glass seed beads
2 Horse Eye shaped 19 x 12mm African Turquoise beads
1 Brass 15mm jump ring
4 Brass 7mm jump rings
3 Brass 4mm jump rings
27-28 inches of Brass 22 g wire
15 links of brass cable chain
1 Brass lobster clasp

Brass findings, chain and clasp from Vintaj Brass Co.

Brass wire from Patina Queen
Turquoise from Lima Beads
Seed Beads- Blue Moon Beads

Holy Mackerel.

A few new pieces from my beading session last night. This top bracelet is one of

my favorites. I've been holding out using this lovely teal ceramic lentil from

LeAnn, at Summers Studio. I finally thought up a design

that would showcase the bead, and highlight it.

It's the focal for sure. I paired it with Vintaj Brass, and cool

chain from Michaels. The design was inspired by the Design

Gallery at Vintaj Brass Co.

This next bracelet is one to be reckoned with as well.
It speaks its mind, with it's color, and fun shapes, and dangles.
The horse eye shaped Turquoise beads are my new favorite thing.
I added Swarovski Crystals, and glass coins. And a sweet
little Elephant charm from Jade Scott. Yep, this one
won't last long in the shop, that's my feeling.

video tour, don't laugh too hard.

what?
i know, it's a mess.
what do you want!
I spend more time beading that I do
organizing or picking up after myself...and
hey, i've seen YOUR studios,
yours aren't much better.

but someone asked me recently to show
my studio and how I keep my beads,
so I thought I'd just do a little vlog here.

don't laugh.
i like to wear my north face hat.
it keeps me warm.
and joe picks on me everytime i wear it.
i think sometimes i wear it just to hear him
laugh.

anyway, that big pile of Green Girl Studios
at the end of the video, is part of a wholesale
order I just placed.
i like to lay them out like that once in a while and
fondle them.
then i put them all back in the baggie until the next time.

i know, it's weird.
i'm weird.
and a slob.
and i like to wear a hat.

now you know a little bit more about me ...

xo
L

Blog Addict

I admit it, I am a total blog junkie. I read them all day. I am constantly checking to see updated posts on all my favorited blogs. I love being in the know. I love being caught up on everyone's lives every day. The more one posts, the more I like it. I thought I'd share a few of my new favorites so you can follow them too.

Shannon Levart writes this blog and is the founder of MissFickleMedia.

She is so very talented and I enjoy reading about her jewelry and techniques.

GBKORU is written by Gunilla Bäck
Espoo, who lives in Finland. I enjoy her photography on her blog,

it makes me want to travel to Finland someday.

I learned about Kate McKinnon through Andrew Thornton,

and have been keeping up on her daily blog since I bought some of her

cool components in one of her Soul Clearing sales. Kate is a master

at working with metal clay.

Laura writes this blog Wren Handmade.

I am totally in love with her sweet necklaces that she

crochets. I want one so baaaad. Her blog is great too, it's

so pretty!

If you haven't checked out The Noisy Plume yet, I

beg you to start today. And read it from the beginning.

I've never come across a blog more interesting, or visually appealing, and

she is such a

talented jewelry designer. This chic ROCKS!

I recently started following Fleur Fatale because

I've seen her jewelry on Etsy a lot and it's gorgeous.

Her blog is just as cool and I love her photography of her jewelry.

I found Liane's Etsy shop featured on one of the Etsy videos.

I started reading her Enhabiten blog minutes later and can't get enough.

Liane is a talented seamstress, and creates handmade goods for the home.

She also blogs several times a day which is cool for me because

I love reading stuff like this on the internet and she's always

introducing me to something "new" and "fun".

Plus she has a killer sense of humor, which I adore as well.

Attic Full of Butterflies

I am envisioning myself digging through a trunk of treasures
in the attic. The keyhole is reminiscent of traditional
East lake design, and I could see it on either the trunk itself or the attic door.
I wanted to give this piece a romantic feel and chose some of the new
Blue opal faceted nuggets that I received recently.
The colors play well with the color in the wooden butterfly.
I added a small vintage boot button and faceted Amethyst brio.
And of course anything from Vintaj adds to the unique and vintage
look of this bracelet. I could add this chain to anything and it looks like
it was unearthed from someone's heirloom collection.
This beauty is now available in my shop.

Book Winners!

AND THE WINNERS ARE.........


coolmoon said...

As an intermediate/advanced seed beader - the Bugle Bead Bonanza book would be just up my alley.
I'm wishing me luck!

Patti (Clark) said...

World beads...thats the one for me!
Many thanks to you and those who make all your great give-a-ways possible!

Congratulations Winners! Please email me your mailing addresses and I will ship your books out to you asap!

Thank you for every comment, I'm glad you liked these books! I look forward to giving away more on the ol' blog.

Pantone Color Report

Hop on over to Art Bead Scene to read
my recent post about the Spring Season's
Pantone Color Report!

Love U

Another day to BEAD

Check out the beads I got from Maria Grimes of GardenPathBeads, for the
Bead Soup Swap Party whatchamacallit.
Aren't they FUN! She made that cool silver swirly clasp too.
I love the colors and that little flower button in the center of the strand, is my favorite.
I'm not sure what they will turn into, I'm still thinking it over.
update! Hop on over to Maria's blog to see the beads I sent her!
I can't wait to see what she makes with these goodies!

I'm just excited that I have the day off and it's one more day I can bead.
These are a few of the things I made yesterday. A few of the other
pieces are now spoken for but these are in the shop and waiting for
their perfect buyer to snatch them up.
I'm wishing mail could come today as I'm waiting for some
things from Ornamentea, and Ellen Dooley, and Heather Wynn,
and Jade Scott and Beady Monkey.

Don't forget to leave a comment on this post for the book giveaway,
announcing winner on Wednesday.

Sunday Bead Blogger Round Up

I don't think I have ever shown you this necklace. I created this and submitted it to a publication but it got cut. I love this piece! It's so asymmetrical and earthy and I love the Pewter bird focal and toggle clasp, both from Green Girl Studios. I am still waiting for the publisher to send it back to me along with the other pieces that weren't accepted and the pieces that were. I will get this in my shop as soon as I get the package back.
I am so excited to see the awesome turn-out of the book giveaway, already 48 comments! woot woot! These are great books and I hope you all tell your friends about the giveaway too. The more I do this, the more they'll send me great books to give away so let's keep up the comments!!
Yesterday was a sad day. We traveled back home again to attend the funeral of my Uncle B. He is married to my Aunt C, who is my father's sister. It was a sad but beautiful day and the service was lovely and really celebrated Uncle B's life. He has been struggling with his health for the past few years of his life and we are quite relieved that he is no longer suffering. I am picturing him up in heaven with my Grandmother, playing cards, drinking a beer, and smiling proudly down at all of us, happy that he no longer has to deal with dialysis, and memory loss. We will all miss him dearly.
Today I am headed to the studio. I hope to get a bunch of new pretties made for my shop. No deadlines looming, no interuptions, nothing but good solid creativeness flowing. I better go before I lose any more steam.

Enjoy today's Bead Blogger links:

The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton
Inspired by a lampwork glass champagne-hued Basha Bead and a shibuichi mermaid pendant, Andrew creates a whimsical and sophisticated necklace.

Strands of Beads
Melissa has a fun time exchanging bead stashes with a friend to create a new bracelet.

Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done!
I really think Barb Switzer is a super person and editor! I was thrilled when she interviewed me last year for the online newsletter, Simply Beads!

Lorelei's Blog: Inside the Studio
Lorelei tests the waters with some new bead elements from Pork Chop Show.

Katie's Beading Blog
See pix of Katie's workshop offerings for the Bead & Button Show in June. Registration opened this week and classes are already filling up!

Jewelry & Beading
Cyndi wants to know, wanna be facebook friends?

Jean Campbell
Oh, geez. Jean's tooting her horn again about her new book, Steampunk Style Jewelry...

Cindy Gimbrone, the Lampwork Diva
Rewind: Cindy's Art Noveau inspired Stile Floreal bronze clay pendants.

Carmi's Art/Life World
Carmi has a special Paris post on photographing jewelry.

Barbe Saint John - New Jewelry from Forgotten Artifacts
Barbe will be tooting Jean's horn for her new book Steampunk Style at CHA.

Art Bead Scene
January's Art Bead Scene Challenge is a snowy landscape with a solitary magpie painted by Monet.

About.com Jewelry Making
Tammy has developed a quick link list to help you find the jewelry info you need.

A Bead A Day
Unraveled star beads become springy coils in Lisa's wintery white dangly earring project.

Lark Books- A giveaway

The awesome and generous Lark Books sent me a few of their newest Beading books to review and give away on my blog. The first is Beading with World Beads by Ray Hemachandra. This is an excellent source of inspiration. The photographs, which always grab me in books like this, are stunning, crisp and all of the shots are laid out so well! The instructions are nice and easy, for any level beader. A nice variety of strung projects, wire wrapped necklaces, and other non-jewelry items are included. Many of the projects aren't as "ethnic" as you may think, and I've pulled many great ideas from the inspiration amongst these pages.


The second book is Bugle Bead Bonanza, by Jamie Cloud Eakin. Since I've never really done and beadwork with seedbeads, I can't really say that I've tried the projects in this beading adventure. I would say that the photographs are beautiful and the projects seem interesting and there is something for every level, beginner to advanced. Step by step diagrams for each of the advanced projects are well organized and understandable. My favorite projects in this book are the stunning cuff style bracelets

I am giving both of these books away, to two different winners. Each copy is signed by the author! I will draw a random winner using the Random Integer Generator on Wednesday morning, January 20th.

Please leave a comment on this post to be entered into the drawing, and state which of these two books you'd prefer if you were to win!

GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE!

Lark Books has sent me these items free of charge, and I have not been paid in any way for the review of these books. I have given an honest review of each title.

I hate you Google.

Look what you made me do?

I hate you Google. (Google is in charge of the Picasaweb/Blogger snafu that just happened)


Sometimes this is all it takes to pick a girl back up though.

very very upset

this stinks.

i just ruined half of my blog.

somehow by deleting pictures from my Picasa web albums, it erased those images from my blog entirely. How the two were directly related, I have no idea. I would never have thought they were tied together.
The images were saved on my computer, then burned to discs, and it automatically saved them all to Picasa Web. Now the images are no longer on my computer, and were in picasaweb and I deleted them and now are not viewable on my blog.

that's just great.

F***
ME.

Branching out, and a new SOUP

2 things on todays agenda.

First, I want to show you one of Mom's new pieces.
She's trying out new things. Branching out.

A laptop bag.


I guarantee you've never seen a laptop bag this cute,


and this unique, at a local shop, at your local Wal-mart, at your local Staples.


It's got bears.
Applique'd bears.
Cute as can be.

and the handle- it's BRAIDED. How clever is that!

This will be listed in mom's Emee Shop today.

(and, as for jewelry, I made a coupla things last night, 2 of which are
Butterfly bracelets, also to be listed later on today in my shop.)

Okay, secondly,
The soup.
Best soup I've had in a long time.
Super easy to make and the ingredients seem a bit odd.
But dang, it's good. and I can't wait until lunch when I can
heat it up for leftovers!!

It has no name, so we'll call it : Velvet Cheese Soup

2 cans of Progresso brand Italian Wedding Soup
2 cans of Bush's CHILI beans, drained
1 can of Rotel Diced Tomatoes with green chilies
1 lb. of ground beef, browned
8 oz. of Velveeta cheese, cubed up

Brown the beef in a saute pan.
In a soup pot, add the soup, beans, tomatoes, on medium heat.
When beef is done, add the beef.
Cut up the cheese into cubes and add it.
Bring to a simmer and melt the cheese down.
I added a coupla shakes of Crushed red pepper for some heat.

You've gotta make it.
My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

have a good thursday ya'all!

Additions to my ever growing library

Have I mentioned that I looooove crafting and beading books?? I pore over them again and again and again. It's really nice to have a large selection on hand if I'm lacking in the inspiration department. I just ordered these 3 new books this week. I'm excited to get them. They are different than books I normally pick out but I am hopeful that I will be inspired to maybe try something new.
I'll let you know how they are once I get my hands on em.

Turns out I'm a morning person

I am going to share a bit of Too Much Information here for a second. After my morning coffee and web surfing, I skipped the shower and went to the studio. This necklace happened before it was even light out this morning. I find I am most motivated in the early morning hours. But come 3pm, forget it. I can barely get through the afternoon. Actually, this necklace started out as a bracelet and then I grabbed that pretty ceramic pendant from Every Heart Crafts and it transformed into a necklace. Very asymmetrical with very complimentary colors of orange and green.

What I love most about it is the butterflies. Remember I told you in my Pork Chop Show post over at ABS that I bought some of these cool wood butterflies? I brought them into work one day and drilled my own holes into the upper wing corners of each one. I have been itching to put them into something and I am quite happy that this worked out the way I had it in my head.

In other news I found out who my partner is in Lori Anderson's Bead Swap party! Maria Grimes of Garden Path Beads! I sent out my bead package to her this morning. I can't wait to see what she sends me! Be sure to keep up on the bead swap, we'll all be showing off our jewelry made with the beads we get, on February 10th!

New Totes Coming soon to Emee Shop

Coming soon to an Emee Shop near you!