She Smiles and It's a Rainbow

I'm still deciding on a name for the cuff that I mentioned in my previous post. Suggestions are still welcome! I was going to list that bracelet next, but since the name is still TBD, I went ahead and listed She Smiles and It's a Rainbow today. It's named for the song Kate by Ben Folds Five. I LOVE Ben Folds and could not possibly pick one favorite song of his. But Kate is definitely a good one. If you've never heard it before, you definitely need to check it out.



I won a pair of earrings from HappyCloudMoments for my Spring Garden bracelet (which I did remake over the weekend and it is more fabulous than ever now) that I entered in the A.C.E. Spring Challenge . They look like this, but with green crystals. I just got them in the mail yesterday. Gorgeous! I don't have pierced ears, but they will make a wonderful gift for someone. Thanks Joyce!

Cafe Handmade results, naming a new piece

Thank you so much to everyone who voted for me in Cafe Handmade's Friendly Competition! I just found out tonight that I won! My prize is a week of free advertising on the site. :)

I am having trouble settling on a name for one of my new pieces. I have several ideas, but am interested to see what others think when they see it before offering up my own thoughts.




Ideas? Let me know!

pastels

Yesterday was my 26th birthday. :) I went out for Japanese food for dinner and then saw I Love You Man with my husband. The movie was VERY funny. I highly recommend it. I got a check from my dad's mom in the mail yesterday, all of which will be going toward more beads, including the beads for the skinny cuff that I'm going to make for my cousin's wedding.

Here is the new square stitch bracelet that I completed with my newly reclaimed diamond beads. I just listed it this afternoon.


I completed a couple new pieces this week. I still need to photograph them. I am also planning to rework my A.C.E. spring challenge piece, as it is not holding together as nicely as I'd hoped. My students were picking up leaf beads yesterday haha. Now that I know that I am keeping it and not selling it as originally planned I can make it to fit me more snugly so hopefully the reworking will be more than worth it in the end.

remade clasps

Here are the two skinny square stitch bracelets that I switched to button clasps, after I learned that the bead clasps didn't work so well. I'm leaving the white and lime green one as is because I used different beads that I think will still work nicely. I also made a new pastel one with my newly reclaimed clear diamond beads that I will be listing later this week.

Cafe Handmade update

The voting is up now for the Friendly Competition on the Cafe Handmade blog. Please vote! :)

Cafe Handmade Friendly Competition

My Etsy shop will be in the Friendly Competition tonight on the Cafe Handmade blog. The competition will go up sometime between 5:30 and 8:00PM EST. The competitions are listed on the right hand side of the page near the bottom. I will do my best to post another reminder once it's up and running. Please vote for me if you have a chance! Thanks for your support! :)

turquoise and red

Turquoise and red is quickly becoming one of my favorite color combinations. I'm not sure why I didn't put them together more before, since they are two of my favorite colors (which is saying something because there aren't many colors that I don't like). I enjoyed making the fringe on my chocolate temptation cuff so much that I wanted to make some more fringe, but on a smaller scale (for now at least haha). This bracelet is what I ended up making from that initial idea. This is another new design for me and I would like to make more of them in the future. I'm thinking about more turquoise for the base with turquoise, dark blue, and white fringe.


I finished remaking the clasps for both of the skinny square stitch bracelets. I made a new one as well. Hopefully I will get those photographed this weekend and then relisted/listed over the next week.

new button embellished bracelet

This is the first button embellished right angle weave bracelet that I've made. I love the color combination and am generally very pleased with the result. My husband actually likes it more than the button and button charm bracelets that I generally make. I'm planning to make a purple one next. I would like to do other colors in the future, though, and possibly a multicolored one at some point, too. Feedback and thoughts about future endeavors with this design are appreciated!

sale, completed button exchange, completion of March EBW challenge, and a new listing

My in-laws visited us over the weekend. We had a great time and fully enjoyed the beautiful weather. While they were here, my mother-in-law bought two bracelets from me: hearts and stars right angle bracelet and skinny black and turquoise square stitch bracelet. The black and turquoise was the first skinny square stitch bracelet that I'd sold. It became apparent after a couple hours of wear that the bead clasp was not going to work. So later that night I redid the clasp with a simple clear button instead. It works much better. I'm going back and redoing the other two I made with the same beads. (I made one more, too, with larger oval beads that I think will still work as is.) I gave my mother-in-law the bracelet back right away and didn't photograph it first. I will take pictures of the other ones, though, and post about it at some point in the near future.

Kelly from KreatedbyKelly and I finished our trade this week. She took beautiful pictures of both sets of buttons exchanged and posted about it on her blog earlier today. You can check it out by clicking here. :) Awesomeness. Please check out her Etsy shop, too!

Thank you so much to everyone who voted for my Chocolate Temptation cuff in the March EBW Temptation Challenge. Congrats to RachelesOriginals for winning the March Challenge with her Seductress necklace! The April Challenge is Time Machine. I am not going to make a piece for this challenge, but I wish the best of luck to all of those undertaking the challenge.

I listed a new item today and will be listing a couple more this week. Check it out:

return of the blue button charm bracelet (again) and spring fun

The blue button charm bracelet is back again! I feel like I need to keep making these since I've sold three of them and given one as a gift that was very well received. Here's the new one:


My Awesome Chicks of Etsy Spring Challenge entry is listed on the Awesome Chicks blog now. You can see the entry by clicking here. You can also view a bigger shot of the bracelet on my flickr photostream. This was the bracelet that I mentioned previously that I don't think I'll be able to part with. After I finished it, I had a beautiful mix of Czech seed beads left. I added some purple beads and made this piece:


I am still open to button exchanging if anyone is interested! I sent a little bundle off to KreatedbyKelly today and am looking forward to my exchange package from her in the mail soon. Please let me know if you want a package heading your way, too.

I have a couple more new pieces finished but not photographed yet. Hopefully I will have them listed within the next week or so.

EBWC Treasury Feature

Thank you to njemacreative for featuring me in her EBWC Treasury! All of the pieces in this treasury are in the current EBW Temptation Challenge. There are still a few days left to vote if you haven't already! And you can view this treasury live by CLICKING HERE until night at 11:59PM EST.

March EBW Challenge

The voting for the Temptation challenge started today! As always, I am blown away by the talent in this group. There are so many gorgeous entries. You can vote on the blog from March 9-15. http://etsy-beadweavers.blogspot.com My Chocolate Temptation cuff is number 18. Thank you so much for your support!

random freebie

I am going to be a bridesmaid in my cousin's wedding in May. I just got my dress in the mail this past week, which was very cool. (I will have to post pictures of it at some point. If nothing else, I will post some of the wedding.) To my surprise, I received a free ring with the dress.


I apologize for the blurriness! From the best I can tell from a free online ring chart, it's a size 6.5. I have small hands and so this ring is too big for me. I am looking for a new home for it! If you're interested, please let me know. It is absolutely free, no strings attached. :)

new listing and an exchange offer

I listed a new piece today:


I have a couple other finished pieces that I'll be listing over the next few days, including a new blue button charm bracelet. I finished my Awesome Chicks of Etsy Spring Challenge piece as well. I fully intended to list it my shop when I started it, but I'm seriously thinking about keeping it now. I have an idea for something similar that I can make and list in my shop the future. The deadline for the challenge is the first day of spring. I will post pictures of the item and more about the challenge then.

Would any fellow button jewelry makers/button crafters of any sort be interested in doing a button exchange? It would be very simple: We would each send each other a bag of buttons from our own stashes so that we got new buttons to work with for our creations. If anyone is interested, please leave me a comment here or convo me on Etsy!

Chocolate Temptation

I finished my temptation cuff tonight! The challenge deadline is drawing close (March 5) so I went ahead and photographed and listed it right away. Here it is:


This is by far the most ambitious bead weaving creation that I have attempted thus far far, and I am really really pleased with the result. It was a lot more work than I realized it would be haha, but it was well worth it.

Stay tuned next week for details about voting!