I'm Getting Better!

I'm starting to get the hang of this polymer clay stuff. These two necklaces are going to be listed on my Etsy shop. I also made some heart shaped earrings but I can't get the photos right and after looking more at the earrings themselves, I think I can do better all around. So maybe later for the earrings. The larger pendant has some flaws but the colors came out so pretty I decided to go for it. The beads in the rope really set off the pendant, I think.

The heart pendant was just plain fun to do and turned out rather sweet. I was going to put it on a chain, but then found the copper ribbon in my stash. I like it much better.

Hopefully, will get some more Valentiney things produced in the next few weeks. Let me know what you think!

Teaching an Old Dog New Tricks

I was on Etsy forums this morning and ran across another of those threads about being able to type symbols. I've seen them but never taken the time to learn how to do them. This particular thread had a link to a site that had tons of symbols with instructions so I thought, okay I'm going to mark this and try it on my blog. Evidently, not all symbols can be typed on certain browsers but I'm so computer illiterate I probably won't get too sophisticated with it. But here's a ♥ to http://www.bigbaer.com/reference/character_entity_reference.htm and also a big ☻ for starting my day on a bright note.

Labor of Love

My two sons blessed me with wonderful daughters-in-law and I wouldn't trade them for anything. They are both intelligent, attractive women with very good tastes. After all, they chose my sons, didn't they? lol However, their tastes are different enough from mine that sometimes, gift giving can be challenging. I get tired of just giving gift cards and cash. I grew up with the notion that gifts should be from the heart and that giving something you made to someone you love is like giving a piece of your heart. So, while I try to make my gifts to all my children something they want or something they can use, I also like to give them something of myself. So this year, I decided to make very simple beadwork for my modern, sophisticated daughters-in-law. I have one finished except for the clasp. It's the spiral in the right hand photo and will go to the one studying to become an RN. The other, I've just started and will be a herringbone chain and will go to the one who is in a pediatric fellowship. I hope when and if they wear them, they will feel the love that went into their creation.

My First Attempt!

I've been wanting to try creating with polymer clay for a long time but just haven't felt like I had the time or the money to invest in learning a new art. However, my fall craft shows were successful enough that I decided to earmark some of that money for clay equipment. And now that all my shows are finished for the year, I have time to play with something new. My birthday was the 3rd of December and my wonderful boyfriend presented me with all the tools and equipment I needed to get started working with polymer. Since he gave me the basics, I can spend my money on the frills! (And Christmas is coming, too.) So finally, last night, I got a space set up on my workbench for the craft oven and the pasta machine and I tried my luck. It was a lot of fun and the first results leave much to be desired but I definitely think I can get into this. Just after these first feeble beads, I can see the endless possibilities.

And another craft addiction is born!! Wah hahahaha!

Thanksgiving day has always been a most traditional holiday for me. The trip to Grandma's house, turkey, dressing, pumpkin pie, then falling asleep watching football after stuffing ourselves more than the turkey were all an expected part of the day. My Thanksgivings have changed quite a bit since my childhood and a lot of those early traditions have gone by the wayside due to life happenings - death, divorce, children growing up and getting married, jobs that require 24/7 commitments, etc. But in spite of all the change, one thing remains constant for me and that is that Thanksgiving is a time to reflect on all the things in my life I am thankful for. I am employed and make enough to live on comfortably, not rich by any means, but I don't have to live paycheck to paycheck anymore. I own my own home and I can decorate it the way I like. I have extended family who care about me. We're not terribly close but stay in touch and gather for holidays. I have a committed relationship with a wonderful man who values me as a person. We are each other's best friend. I have reasonably good health for my middle years and thanks to modern medicine my blood pressure stays under control and my arthritis pain is manageable. I have three beautiful, intelligent children who have given me three more wonderful children through their choice in mates. Two of them have also given me three cherished grandchildren that I absolutely adore. And last, but certainly not least, I live in the USA. Even with all the troubles and problems in this country, I cannot imagine living anywhere else. So, I hope others are counting their blessings today also and realize that, like me, they have many, many things to be thankful for.

That was fast!

Finally got my entry completed for the December Etsy Beadweavers challenge, "Snow Queen". Since it's announcement, I've known I wanted to do beaded snowflakes in some fashion so I looked up old patterns for inspiration and came up with seven different flakes. I was watching TV Wednesday evening and finished the last snowflake. So, seven snowflakes made, now what? Necklace or bracelet? I thought of doing them in a charm bracelet style, but they tend to be a bit floppy and lay best when laying against something, not dangling. The necklace won. So then, I thought, elaborate rope, RAW, what? Well, the KISS technique won (keep it simple, stupid) and I decided to go with a single strand of beads to dangle the snowflakes from to keep the focus on the flakes. By the time my show was over, I had it finished and was quite pleased with the results. Thursday evening I set up my light box and started to photograph it, but ran out of battery and it was late enough I had to wait until Friday evening to finish it. Was going to get it listed but my children and grandchildren all were coming for an early Thanksgiving on Saturday and I had more important things to do.

Saturday morning after finishing my pre-family arrival tasks, I decided I had time to get my entry listed. After I listed it on Etsy, put it up on Flickr, etc., I was just messing around on the internet reading forum posts and stuff and went back to the Etsy front page. OMG, I had a convo! I thought, I bet it's one of the EBW members telling me they like my Snowfall necklace. No! It was a buyer wanting to know if it was okay to go ahead and purchase Snowfall even tho it was a challenge entry. After a couple more convo's clarifying things, she made the purchase and the necklace is packaged and waiting to go to the post office tomorrow for a trip to New York state.

Isn't it amazing that things can sit in your shop for weeks and months on Etsy with no sales and then magically, you happen to list just the right piece at just the right moment for just the right buyer and Bingo!

Another Episode in My Craft Show Sagas

I started writing this post this morning while sitting in front of my SO's new wood burning stove. It was a cold morning and so nice to sit and watch the flames and let my thoughts drift while I sipped my Sunday morning coffee. Guess that was the problem, my thoughts were drifting and I never got around to actually writing. So now, we're back at my house and I'm on the pc in my basement with fewer distractions.

It's the day after a craft show and I'm tired and not wanting to do much in the way of physical activity. Setting up and breaking down a craft show take a lot out of me anymore. Gridwall gets heavier with age. My age, not the gridwall's. The show we did was a large one and one that has been around for 28 years. We haven't done it since their 25th and with the economy, etc. wasn't sure how it would go. The show is spread out in three buildings; a junior high school, elementary school and church basement. We were in a classroom in the elementary school at the end of a hallway, so I was also concerned about traffic. Would people come all the way to the end of the hall? The classroom set up was great though. Because it was just Steve and me assigned to the room, we could set it up as we saw fit. No 10 x 10 box to fit into. So I tried to arrange the space kind of like a gift shop and it worked very well. People were able to look in all three areas, florals, jewelry and photography without bumping into each other. Even when people stopped to visit in the middle, there was still ample room to move around them. Think we will look into this kind of arrangement again for next year. As it turned out, the show went well. We had good traffic and I exceeded my projected sales for the day. Steve sold quite a bit too and got some custom orders so I quess we'd have to rate the day a success.

It was not a day without mishaps however, but I guess that's what keeps things "interesting". With all that room you wouldn't think there would be a problem with people knocking things over, right? Wrong. Not once, but twice I had to rescue items from the floor. The first time was purely accident. A lady brushed against a shelving unit with a heavy bag and knocked over my bracelet display. She was so embarrassed, but ironically was heading to the checkout table to purchase a bracelet when the accident occurred. The second time was a bratty toddler who ran into the room and immediately made a beeline to hide behind my gridwall with my jewelry hung on it. When her mother told her to come out she started to pull a tantrum and I was afraid she was going to push the gridwall over. I rushed to hold on to the gridwall while her mother tried to pry her little fingers off it and in getting her out from behind the grid, she managed to knock down another shelving unit with earrings. I love children, but at craft shows they should not be allowed to run rampant. The mother did not even bother to apologize for the mess!

Then there were those people who you would like to give a piece of your mind but can't because, after all, the customer is always right. One woman "complimented" my work by saying that my prices were almost as good as Walmart's. And of course so many people can tell you how you could have designed something better or want you to tell them how you designed something so they can go home and do it themselves. Or they'd buy that particular item from you if only you had made it up with this color or such and such stone. But the one that really got me yesterday was a lady who was viewing my fall antler wreaths. These wreaths are very much one of a kind with deer shed antlers, pheasant or turkey feathers, silk leaves and flowers, berries, pinecones, etc. This woman informed her friend that she could make one just as well. All she had to do was go to Hobby Lobby, buy a grapevine wreath and slap some leaves on it. LOL There's always an expert in the crowd.

Another Episode in My Craft Show Saga

Emily's First Birthday

Doesn't seem possible that a year has gone by since this blonde haired, blue eyed beauty entered our lives. She's the middle one of my grandchildren, and the only girl . She is such a spirited little personality and such a girly girl already. However, she holds her own with her big brother most of the time. She liked the cake but loved the doll!

Hooray for Friday!

Can't believe I haven't blogged anything since the end of September! It's true that time flies faster the older you get. The last time I blogged I was riding high on having the best show of my life. Since then, I have had what could be the second worst show of my life. The worst one was two days, this one was only one day. It was in a large city, in a supposedly well to do neighborhood, the environment was outstanding, the promotors lovely people. But there was no crowd and no one spending money. It's discouraging to do all that work and wind up going in the hole. Oh well, when you do craft shows for any length of time, you learn that you will have bad ones. Those are the ones you think twice about doing again.

I've got two more shows to do this season, both will feature my Christmas/Holiday creations. That's what I've been busy working on since the middle of October and I only have two more weekends before the first of those shows. I love making Christmas wreaths and tried a new angle this year. I have put some on tabletop easels. We'll see how they sell.

Anway, Friday is here. The drudgery of the week almost over. It's time to get in the creative zone.

Crazy Good

Just finished up a two day craft show. Day one, we set up starting at 6:00 a.m. and the day ended at 8:00 p.m. Day two was from 9:00 to 4:00 and we were loaded up and on the way home by 5:00 p.m. I am totally exhausted, my feet are killing me, I have bruises that I have no idea how I got and I am thoroughly thrilled. This was, hands down, the best show I have ever done. In the first day I sold as much as I normally sell in two days and the second day I made half of the first day's sales. I really thought I had ample inventory made up and would probably have quite a bit left to take to my next show in 3 weeks, but boy was I wrong. I think I started with 26 wreaths and 7 tote boxes full of table arrangements, plus I had at least half a dozen arrangements too big to put into totes. I packed up 8 wreaths and 3 tote boxes to bring back home. As for jewelry, I sold what I normally do as far as necklaces and bracelets, but easily a third of my earring supply is gone, where I usually just sell a few pair to go with whatever necklace or bracelet is sold. I am still in shock from the extent of my sales and wondering how I'm going to get enough inventory built back up for the next show. I've always joked about how it would be too bad if I didn't have anything to pack up when a show was over and today I almost found out what that would be like! I know I'm going to get very little sympathy over this and that's okay cause I'm going to be crying (happy tears) all the way to the bank!!

Oh, What a Feeling!

Usually, when I start to create a piece of jewelry, I have a vague idea in my head and I gather my beads and supplies and start; thinking, what if I used these or tried this, and the piece just sort of evolves. Sometimes, I have to rip out and sometimes I go ahead with some element that may be doubtful but in the end turns out to be right. Sometimes it turns out completely different than I'd imagined when beginnning. But when I started the process of creating Tears of Joy for the September Etsy Beadweavers' Challenge, "Complimentary Contradictions", everything just kind of clicked. First the colors, then the shapes and then the stitches to tie everything together. So from its conception, I had the feeling it was going to be a good one. And a good one, it definitely turned out to be. First it sold and later I learned that the buyer is also an accomplished beadweaver. To me, it is a great compliment that another beadweaver should like my work well enough to purchase it. Then to add to my feeling of artistic accomplishment with this piece, it won the September challenge! Ironically, if it weren't for the challenges, this piece probably would not have been created nor would some of my other "good" designs. This is only the third challenge I've entered, since I've just been in EBW since May 2008, but the challenges do for me exactly what I think they were intended to do - inspire and encourage us to give our best effort. To dig deeper into our creative thinking process and to reach new levels of skill. To bead where no beader has beaded before!! LOL Anyway, it is a thrill for me to have been recognized by my peers and to have had my five minutes of glory! Now it's time to think about the next month's challenge and to try to come up with a theme for November. Thank goodness I have a bit of time yet for each. I had an idea today for "Animal Instincts" so we'll see where it goes.

Custom Blues

Well, I guess as the old saying goes, "You win some, you lose some; and some get rained out". I was so excited at the end of the week because I had a convo on Etsy to make up a custom wreath, I sold my Truely Turquoise necklace and I had been commissioned outside of Etsy to make up a necklace and earrings for a lady in Texas. Yesterday, I finished up the necklace and earrings and purchased the greenery that I needed for the wreath. Today I spent close to 2 hours working to create the wreath and was pleased with my end result. We got a break in the clouds and I photographed both jewelry and floral and emailed pictures to the prospective buyers. Hallelujah, the jewelry was a hit, buyer was thrilled, seller is thrilled, happy ending. That's my win some. Unfortuneately, wreath buyer backed out. Wasn't what she wanted after all but I still listed it to Etsy because it's a good design and someone else may grab it up. I guess that's my "some get rained out". The Truely Turquoise necklace is still sitting here, all packaged up with no where to go. I have not heard boo from the buyer since I got the Etsy email informing me of the purchase Thursday night. So I'm not sure where to go from here. I guess if I don't have confirmation of payment by Tuesday, that will be over 4 days and I will figure out how to cancel the sale. That's my lose some.

Uplifting!

It's been a while since I've posted. Been busy with life, the good and the not so good. Have two loved ones right now with health issues and naturally, that is worrisome. One will have resolution soon but the other will not, primarily due to lack of health insurance. I will help what I can, but it will be a struggle to put together the money so treatment can be obtained. My job has been very stressful for a while now and I feel I'm burning out. What keeps me sane and keeping on is my family and my art. My grandson "graduated" from Early Headstart this week at the ripe old age of 3. We had a lovely evening in our little local park and zoo, eating pizza and cupcakes and watching the kids all get their pictures taken in a little cap and gown. Ashton was not too keen on wearing the cap or gown but he had a blast looking at the animals and running with the other children. His sister's favorite part was her cupcake. Emily's 10 months and managed to get more frosting on her face than in her mouth! Of course, Grandma got pictures.

Then there's my beads and my floral work. I finally got my September challenge piece done this past week and I am very proud of it. I feel it's one of the best pieces I've ever done. Evidently, others think so too, because I have received so many compliments from people who have seen it. In fact, this evening when I logged in to Etsy (after a Very long day at work) I found two convos waiting for me. Convos are always very exciting! The first was from someone inquiring if I would make a custom wreath. Evidently, they liked my Kansas Color wreath well enough to get in touch with me. Of course, I responded in the affirmative so we'll see where that leads. Hopefully, to a sale and a satisfied customer. The second convo was from a fellow EBW'er and even though it was not about a sale, it probably lifted my spirits as much or more than a sale. She convo'd me just to tell me how much she admired my Tears of Joy and was very lavish in her compliments. I've looked at the things in her shop and she has some pretty amazing things herself, so I considered this high praise, indeed. To receive the recognition of ones peers is something I think we all strive for as designers and artists. I'm going to try to follow her example and when I see something that really moves me, I'm going to make the extra effort to let that person know. I know I'm going to be riding high for a while because someone took the time to share with me. Thanks!

Productivity!!

Wow! Talk about getting things done. This has been a great weekend, creative wise. Thought I was going to be out of town for at least half the weekend but circumstances and a lot of rain kept me home. So I decided to make the best of it. I have a show coming up the latter part of September and really need to get busy building inventory. I must say, I exceeded my expectations for productivity. I've been having so much fun with the watch faces I recently purchased. I bought a lot of ten and so far have six of them made up. Three were this weekend's creations. The one I really, really love is the all silver one I did using spiral peyote weave. It incorporates silver plated 3 mm beads with silverlined seed beads to create a very elegant watch band. I almost have a red spiral weave bracelet done also. Should finish it this evening but probably too late to photograph and post.

My other creations this weekend were floral designs. I love doing what I call "Kansas" wreaths for my fall shows. We have a lot of whitetail deer, pheasants and wild turkeys here and the antlers and feathers look terrific with the fall leaf colors, the sunflowers, grasses and fall flowers. I designed and built four yesterday, but only managed to get two photgraphed before my camera battery died. I think I will also list these two on Etsy.

I Can't Believe I Beaded the Whole Thing!

Did you ever snip that last thread or wire or close the last jump ring on a piece, then hold it up to look at it and then think, "Wow, did I do that? There must have been some bead fairy that came in and took control of my fingers or something because I can't believe I did all that beautiful work." Well, that's the way I feel about my latest piece. It turned out so perfect, just the way I had envisioned it in my head when I started the first bead in the spiral. Which is strange, because it just sort of evolved (as do most of my best pieces). I found this art glass pendant at a bead store and fell in love with the colors. It reminded me of flowers and fall. I had to laugh when I got it home and looked at the description printed on the card and it called it a star fish. Still looks flowery to me. I delved into my stash of seed beads and Czech firepolish beads to find colors to go with and came up with olive, brown and root beer (don't you love the name!) seed beads and metallic apricot, light bronze, bronze and iris brown firepolish. I used the olive for the spine in the spiral because it's the background color in the pendant and worked the other colors around it. I didn't want any silver on it, which is what I usually use for fasteners, so I made a beaded ball and loop closure. Autumn Star Flower is what I chose to name it. I had also found two smaller "star flowers" that matched so there are also Autumn Star Flower earrings. Don't you just love it when stuff just all comes together!

Busy Beading Week

Seems like since joining Etsy and EBW, I've become more active with my jewelry making. Before, I would make a piece here and there but then a month or so before a show, I'd panic and start beading like crazy. Very stressful, but somehow I'd manage to have enough inventory by the time the show rolled around even though I do the same thing with my floral designs. Etsy and EBW constantly inspire me to be more creative. Just this last week, I've finished three watches, two necklaces and started on a third. This afternoon, alone, I've designed and built four floral arrangements. Wish I could do beadweaving as fast! My first show of the fall season is Sept. 19 and 20. Oh my gosh, that's not much more than 6 weeks away. Guess I've done it again, in spite of everything! Okay, panic mode engaged. Back to beading!

Diamonds are a girl's best friend

My significant other, who happens to be countrywindows on Etsy, is a treasury fanatic. He loves putting them together and is always trying to come up with new ideas for a theme. This weekend I was whining to him that I don't get to curate treasuries as often as he does because he's retired and I still have to work full time. I really enjoy doing treasuries too and it's just not fair that he gets to do more of them than I do!

Today he called me as I was heading home for lunch and told me if I hurried I could try to get in on a treasury because it was opening in about 30 minutes. I told him thanks but I had other stuff I needed to do, thinking I'd never have time anyway. I didn't have a title or theme. I hadn't researched any items, etc. But after I'd checked my email, I decided to look at the Treasury and sure enough, there was still 20 minutes to go. So, I think, what the heck, can I make it? What can I do for a theme? I wanted to do another one with EBW people cause I like being able to promote the team. So I did a search in tags for EBW and one of the first pieces I saw was Arosebyname's harlequin bracelet and I thought, "That's it! Diamonds!" The rest is history and preserved for posterity on my computer using webCollect (Thank you, Grandma Marilyn!) and shown here for your viewing pleasure. By the way, I was late getting back to work by about 5 minutes but I wound up staying 30 minutes late tonight so more than made up for it. :)

What's New

Haven't blogged for a week. I've been trying to spend more time creating and less time on the computer. I'm afraid I've become a bit of an internet junkie. Etsy is very addictive and I love reading the blogs from other EBW members, posting in the forums and going on chat. Sometimes, I'm even moved to post a comment, although I'm still kind of shy about that.

My hard work all week paid off though. I finished a watch and a necklace, both of which I've gotten listed on Etsy. I've been wanting to try watch bands for the longest time and not too long ago I bought a lot of watch faces from BeadingUSA on Etsy. It was an assortment with some really pretty styles. My first one turned out so well, I'm really excited about working up the rest. Yesterday I finished my second. It's not as intricate as the first; a simple weave, but I'm just as happy with the result. Eight more to go! I'm having so much fun with these, I'll probably end up buying another lot.

The necklace I just listed this weekend I'm extremely pleased with. I think it's one of the prettier pieces I've done. It started out to be a bracelet, but then I realized I was going to run out of the cats eye beads I was using for the biggest bead in a cellini spiral so I thought, why not use it as a focal piece on a necklace instead. In the middle of it, I had to run to the store for needles and of course one simply cannot go into a store or aisle with beads and not browse just a little (translated: spends at least an hour looking). During my browsing, what did I find but the perfect faceted glass beads to compliment my spiral section! Gee, I'm glad I needed needles!

Change of Plan

I finished my Art Deco Challenge bracelet last night. It looks a bit different from the work in progress I posted previously. While I liked the black and white color scheme and the diamond shape brick stitch, I just wasn't happy with the curved brick stitch connecting the diamonds. So that piece is sitting in my reject pile to be reworked or torn apart and I started fresh. This time I just stuck with alternating diamonds in black and white with a 3mm firepolish crystal woven into the center of each. After several starts and stops on the edging, I wound up using the black crystals on each side with a picot at each diamond point using the clear crystal. Finished it up with a peyote ring and bar and I like it! It reminds me of a harlequin so thought that would be a good name for it. Now just need to get it listed on Etsy.

New Etsy Listings

After a fantastic Saturday celebrating my oldest son's and my oldest grandson's July birthdays, I figured I'd better get back on task with the bead and flower business. I had some pieces I've never managed to get photographed to list and since today turned out to be very sunny (the patio thermometer showed 100!), there seemed to be no time like the present. Seems like I've done so much in blues lately, too; these are both more red and pink and a nice change of scenery for my shop.

August Challenge

Had so much fun with the July challenge, I thought, what the heck, I'll give August a go too. Had to do a little research on Art Deco style and learned that geometric shapes and black and white were biggies. So far this is what I've come up with. This is the base and I want to do some embellishment, but it hasn't totally come to me yet. I haven't done anything with brick stitch for a long time, so this was enjoyable going back to an old favorite. The very first pieces I learned to do were brick stitch.

Treasuries!!

Love Treasuries! I did the one with dragons for something different and because I love all things mystical and magical. Plus I was born in the year of the dragon. The other, I discovered this morning, includes my favorite piece, Truely Turquoise. It looks really good with all those other turquoise pieces.

Old is new again

Years back, when I first became fascinated with cabochons, I made up agate slices with peyote bezels. Having an open back was a plus with the slices, so you could see thru them, but it was a royal pain trying to get the bezel to fit just right. Then I discovered netted bezels. Kind of like catching your hair in a snood. Much easier than plain peyote to fit odd sized slices and stones and very pretty. Then I found my "bible", a book called "Beading with Cabochons" by Jamie Cloud Eakin. With the techniques in this book, the possibilities were endless. The one concession I had to make was that the stones were no longer "free", but were captured by being glued to a backing. I really had to work my way past this, because I have always had the odd notion that every stone or cabochon has it's own spirit. They still speak to me though and whisper how they would like to be embellished, even caught to the backing. When I picked up this bright green jade cab to decide how I wanted to work it, it seemed to say, "Let me stay free!" I thought, why not? I haven't designed a backless bezel for a long time. I started with peyote on the back, changed to netting around the cab and went back to peyote on the top. Then I really dug deep into the old memory for something for the chain. I had met a beadweaver by the name of Peggy Sue Henry at a craft show several years ago and bought one of her books. She had done this amazing turquoise and amber necklace using a netting technique I think she called "Stacking". She taught it in the book I purchased. I asked her if she cared if I tried to make a necklace like hers to sell and she responded that I was welcome to as long as I didn't mass produce. Believe me, there is no way that necklace could be mass produced! I did make a necklace similar and sold it, but I'll never make another. However, I enjoyed the stacked netting and decided to try it for this necklace. Unfortuneateley, I can't find my instructions anymore, so I had to do it from memory. It came out pretty good. I thought I was done there, but the cab still seemed to want a bit more so I started going thru my bead stash and came up with the irridescent leaf beads. The rest just kind of fell into place. I enjoyed making this piece so much, I may have to do another backless bezel soon.

A Nice Surprise!

I spoke with a friend this evening and he was telling me that he had found himself in one of the new treasuries. He suggested that I check to see if I was in one, too. I told him I would look later when I had a chance, thinking "yeah, right, that would be some surprise." And it was! I did a doubletake when I saw that little gold star beside Sandfiber's "I have the blissful blues..." So, of course, I had to do a screen capture to post here on my blog. Was hoping to have new stuff to show by now, but the latest one's not quite there yet, so this is very exciting in the meantime! The talent of the EBW members just blows me away sometimes and it's such a pleasure to be included in their ranks.

Crystal Pink Persuasion

Just finished this piece this morning. I'm really liking it. It's kind of sweet and simple and it was just the kind of project I needed right now. I love pendants but needed a break from my cabs. I found this pretty little rose quartz piece at a bead store in Springfield, Mo, while on vacation. It was just one of several stones I purchased there. In fact, I think I bought two of the rose quartz pendants. It's so pretty on its own that I didn't want to do a lot to cover it up, just enhance it, so I did an explosion of branch fringe at the top and bottom and then just did a simple chain of RAW. I found the pink FW pearls and the pink quartz coin beads at the same shop and they worked in nicely.

A new twist

Several months ago I bought all these wonderful seed and bugle beads from a gal who had listed them on Craig's List. She bought them from a formal wear boutique that had gone out of business. I have had many pleasurable hours sorting and then working with those beads. Included were these beautiful midnight blue bugles. I wanted to use them in a special way but struggled to come up with something. Finally, I went back to my tried and true cabochons. I had one that was deep enough that I could weave the bugles into the bezel; it made sort of a crown effect which I really like. Then for the chain - spiral, I thought, using the bugles in the spiral. Again, I really liked the results. I think the whole finished piece turned out quite nice and I still have tons of those gorgeous dark blue bugles to play with! I used to be afraid of working with bugles because they always cut my thread, but since I've discovered fireline, I get much better results.