She's Copying Me......

Holy jumping jelly beans!  It's been such a long time since my last post....I haven't fallen off the face of the earth.  August was a busy month preparing to do our annual inventory at the shop--can you imagine????--4 days of counting every last bag and bead.  Only with the crystals did we get antsy...we have about 600-700 containers of crystals that were counted since we sell our crystals by the piece.  Ok..maybe the jump rings were a pain too!

September saw us doing a lot of yard work--ripping out the vegetable garden and starting to cut back all of the flower beds.  The end of the month we started with the LEAVES...and we're still working on those.

This month has seen us working on making our own Pumpkins, Acorns and Candy Corns and Pumpkin Pie slices out of polymer clay.

Now on to the main feature.....  A few weeks ago Gaea had a post about copying projects.  She randomly picked 5 people to send out 3 of her lovely beads to "copy" a project she made.

This is her project which the five of us were to copy.  I have to say...that this is the 1st time that I've seen Gaea's beads in person...and photographs do not do her beads justice!  They're so luscious! 

Ok...here it is.  My version of Gaea's bracelet.  I made a necklace and wanted to make it long enough to wear with cowl-neck sweaters this winter.   I made the pendant using 24g sheet copper and ran it through the Cuddlebug.  The folder has an art nouveau swirl pattern.  I hammered out part of the design.  I then dabbed on white acrylic paint and then dabbed on alcohol inks and got the perfect color to match with Gaea's beads.  I then sanded off some of the ink to let the copper show through.  I stamped in the word "Dream" and then filled in a bit with Enamel Gel pens.  The neck strap is copper chain, Czech glass, bone beads and dyed red quartz rondelles.  These are all knotted onto an aqua cord on one side with a smattering of the red on the opposite side.  I love this triangle chain...it's light yet chunky.  The little drop on the bottom incorporates the little red rondelles and a dyed crackled quartz briolette.  All of the beads are from my personal stash while the chain is from the shop.

I loved doing this challenge since it's something that I try to teach my customers...use your imagination--you do not have to have the exact beads or components to make something that is in a magazine or a book...it is all about inspiration.

I hope that everyone had fun creating their pieces. 
Please visit Gaea's blog for the list of the other participants and their creations!

Bead Happy!
Michelle

More Goodies Please.....

I promised some more goodies!  Some of my pictures are a bit on the dark side...while I was taking pictures the puppy knocked over one of my lights and blew the bulb! It may be a bit before I can get some nice bright pics...  :-(

Here is a better pic of the pendant from a previous post.  This is really the 1st poly clay pendant/beads that I've made (except for the bazillion candy heart charms).  The necklace has Swarovski crystals in Indian Red and Violet satin, red jasper pebbles, Cape Amethyst rondelles and TierraCast antique copper bead caps. 

This is the most recent Bead Embroidered pendant that I've made.  This one was the most simple one I've made to date.  The lovely cabachon is from Earthenwood Studio.  Melanie makes a variety of ceramic links and pendants and beads.  I've used Miyuki Delicas, 11/0 and 15/0.  I've also used some faceted Czech faceted rounds in jadite and topaz ab.  The maize colored seed beads are Toho 11/0.  The dangle is a gold colored coin pearl.  This didn't take that long to make...maybe about 3-4 hours total.

This teal pendant is made from poly clay and has some silver foil applied and then run through the pasta machine.  Since I can't really sketch/draw for diddly, I used rub-ons.  I then sealed the pendant with a satin glaze.  This is just calling for the beach!

Here is a new metal book.  I used Vintaj 34mm blanks and one of the embossed circle blanks. I've become addicted to making these little books!  I've also used a gold foil pen to highlight and edge.  And...something that I found at my local scrapbook store...Enamel Gel Pens...it's what I used to line my letters.

Page 2 of the Heaven book.

Page 3 of the Heaven book

Page 4 of the Heaven book...and my little version of an angel.

Another metal book.  This time using a rectangle embossed daisy blank for the cover.  The Ranger Adirondak inks also include a silver, copper, gold and pearl...I really love the way the silver & copper look (i'm waiting for the gold).

Page 2 of the Hope book--this one I've embellished with metal stamps. 

Page 3 of the hope book

Page 4 of the Hope Book

I just thought the overall picture of the book came out great!  The oranges and pinks are just so summery!  Can you tell that I'm ready for some warmth???

I have to say that one of my most favorite things occured today....and I think that it's the 1st time that it's happend this winter.  Of course in Wisconsin, our winters are very grey and gloomy.  The last 2 days have been beautifully sunny!  I stopped off to do some shopping between the paying job and going into the shop.  I parked my car facing the sun.  When I got into my car...it was that lovely warm heat!  I have leather seats in my car and they just absorbed that heat.  So even though it was cold...that lovely warmth just radiated out of my seat and into my body.  I think I could've stayed there all day!

Do you have a small pleasure like this?  That when it happens, it is such an unexpected yet treasured joy???

Have a great one and remember to Bead Happy!

It's been way too long.....

....Since my last post.  I wasn't feeling well for most of December and January so I didn't work on a bunch of new stuff.  So now I've been working like mad, but still have to take MORE pictures.  I've been trying out some new stuff so hope you enjoy!

I made a little "book" from Vintaj Blanks, Alcohol Inks and some texturing. I came home from the shop one Saturday and did the whole book in one sitting...although I did add some copper ink and re-worked the neckstrap.

Page 2 of the Metal Book--this one is my favorite page...the colors just worked out perfectly!

Page 3--a great sentiment of what we should all try artistically

Leap into experimenting with metal...my last page of my book pendant.

Thanks to Diane Fitzgerald's book Shaped Beadwork I've been playing with dimensional peyote.  This is SOOO addictive to do.  I'm going to eventually connect the Triangle, Rectangle & the Pentagon to make a pendant. 

I had to try my hand at polymer clay.  I made the pendant and the barrel beads in the neckstrap.  This was after making some candy heart charms.  I really need to retake this photo with better lighting. The colors are a twilight purple that fades to copper.  Then, after the pendant was baked, I added copper mica powder to the glaze to give it more shimmer.

This is just a small portion of the polymer clay heart charms that Mom & I made---over a 110 of them in all (that's just the large charms!)

I've been really hooked on making wire spirals.  I called this Spiralling Out of Control---hmmm...maybe I can mix some wire spirals with the dimensional peyote.

I couldn't get this pendant to come out really clear no matter how many times I tried to photograph it!  This design is by Deborah Roberti.  The crystals are Swarovski 4mm Ruby, Black 11/0, and Cream pearlized Fire Polish.  I said that this was my Twilight inspired heart.  I have since made a lovely Aqua Satin and Light Green Pearl heart.

I guess that's all for now.  I'll take some more pictures over the weekend (hopefully during the daylight hours instead of always at night) and post a few more finished pieces. 

Bead Creative and Bead Happy!