treasury feature, Linda B's top Etsy finds

Irene (HouseofGlamourHK) included my Valentine's Day button charm bracelet in her High contrast treasury. Thanks Irene!


You can view this treasury by CLICKING HERE.

And on the subject of button charm bracelets, Linda B (lindab142) picked my two-hole button explosion charm bracelet for her Top 5 Etsy finds for 4.29.10! Thanks Linda. :) You can vote on her blog by clicking here.

I haven't made much progress on any creative endeavors since I finished Sharla's cuff this week. Jake and I have a family thing this weekend, but I will check in when I can over the next few days. :)

treasury feature

I started this month with a treasury feature and now I'm ending it with another one. My fellow EtsyBlogger member Elizabeth (ebogie) included my warmth right angle bangle (in its second treasury appearance) in her Orange Makes Me Smile! treasury. Thank you!

You can view this treasury live by CLICKING HERE until Saturday May 1st 8:03AM EST.

raspberry filled fringed peyote cuff

Since I sold the most recent version of the leafy series - autumn, I've been searching for new copper/bronze/gold leaves for a new version. Both of the larger leaves in the one pictured in that listing are no longer available. The best thing that I've found so far are these gold Czech pressed leaves from Fusion Beads. I know that this wouldn't be the same, but do you think it would still work well for this design? I love my vibrant autumn version, but I'd like to continue the original autumn design, too.

I completed my custom order for Sharla (BeadedTail) this week. She wanted a bracelet/cuff that would coordinate with her raspberry filled peyote triangle earrings that she won from me in a blog giveaway. This is what we worked together to design. It will be on its way to her tomorrow or Thursday!




She has already enjoyed the photos. Hopefully she will enjoy the cuff even more in person. :)

more green for spring

I did not do any more gluing work or take any pictures today because it was colder again (by which I mean 50's), cloudy, and off and on rainy all day. Next weekend is looking the same, but hopefully there will be at least one or two days this week that will allow for either activity. I had to redo the original the leafy series - modern bracelet for the person who bought it, and while I had the beads out this weekend, I went ahead and worked up another one. I haven't worked on any leafy designs since I did the original modern one back in the winter, but this got me excited about the design again. I need to redo my own purple/pink one (which is my fault for twisting the beads). I'd like to make another version of that to sell as well as new versions in turquoise, pink/green, and autumn.

I also finished another pair of earrings, made progress on a cuff that I've been working up sloooowly for a couple months now haha, and got everything ready to start Sharla's bracelet!

I put together another collection of green, not specifically leafy items for spring. Enjoy!

Cards Park Trail watercolor landscape Mill by lauriesdesigns

Black Peyote on Pear Silk String Bracelet or Choker by SandFibers

Set of SIX TUMBLERS made from Recycled Wine Bottles by bottlehood

Landen Road Kiln Fired Clay 2 inch Button Set by LandenRoadDesigns

Continuing with the buttons...
Blades of grass on a spring morning Handmade Pottery by Mudcakes

Tree Silhouette Wrap LEATHER Cuff Brown Chartreuse by hollyhawk

And other cuff...
Triple strand fabric cuff in fresh green sprout by PonderandStitch

couple new listings, Saturday progress

I actually put this first listing up yesterday, but it totally slipped my mind to post about it here.


I took pictures of these beads at two different times, and both times they came out really dark. They have the same purples that I used in my purple beaded leaf earrings. I know that those photographs also turned out pretty dark. However, if you look at the third photo in that listing, you'll get a better idea what the beads really look like. They would work wonderfully for earrings, a bracelet, or necklace. They also make neat jewelry toggles.

I listed this new pair of earrings just a few hours ago.

Believe it or not, this was the first time that I attempted single drop peyote stitch with delicas. I had mixed single and double and done single with larger beads like size 8 Tohos, but never done a straight single with delicas. I am really pleased with the overall look of these earrings. I may make something similar again the future, but I don't have any specific colors in mind at this point.

I got all of the beads in the earrings through the Art Beads blogging program. These are actually from my Valentine's Day stash. I still haven't gotten to a project with my spring stash! These earrings include beads from the Swarovski section and the seed beads section, specifically the Miyuki delicas.

Jake and I got a new washing machine today. (We actually bought it last weekend but waited to have it delivered until today so I wouldn't have to take off work.) I've only done one load in the last two weeks so I've been playing catch up! While that's been going on, I did some gluing work for new earring studs, magnets, and tacks before it started raining this afternoon. I also finished the second of two pendants in my color explosion scheme that are currently listed as "made to order" items in my Etsy shop. I thought it was worth restocking them. Finally, I started working with Sharla (BeadedTail) on a custom bracelet to coordinate with her raspberry filled peyote triangle earrings! It will be a skinny fringed cuff like this one. She just okayed the beads that I picked out so I'll share them here.

I'm excited to start working on that this week. :)

Disclosure - I received my ArtBead's products free of charge through their blogging program. I am honestly reviewing their products and have not been paid for my endorsement as it pertains to the products I received.

book recommendation, other hobby, redone listings

I have another bead weaving book from the library that I've been reading this week: Seed Bead Fusion: 18 Projects to Stitch, Wire, & String by Rachel Nelson-Smith. There really are only 18 projects in this book, and the bead weaving projects are all based off of 2 basic designs. While it is not one of the more diverse beading books I've ever seen, it does have some of the best instructions. The book includes directions in writing, drawings, and photographs for EVERY project. I've never seen anything quite like it. The photographs are all excellent quality. The other unique strength of this book is that there are pictures for each finished project of exactly what is explained in the directions and nothing else. I don't know if anyone else gets frustrated by this sort of thing in most books, but I think that it can be annoying to read directions for a basic peyote cuff and not understand what to do because every picture uses a different sort of bead or has a much more complicated clasp. This book is not like that! It is also not for a beginner, but it allows someone with a little knowledge of basic bead weaving techniques to take on some more advanced projects because all of the directions and pictures are so good.

In other creative endeavors, I finally tracked down a free transcription for Golden by Fall Out Boy, which has been one of my favorite songs for over a year. No, I don't just keep Chopin books around for photographing jewelry, I really do play the piano. :P I haven't in a while, and it's been fun to work on a new piece again.

I finally edited and upload the pictures that I took of some of my older items last week. Take a look if you get a chance!

monochromatic retro charm fringed peyote cuff

double stranded raspberry right angle bracelet (2 versions currently available)

turquoise right angle bangle
double stranded blue and purple right angle bracelet

cherries for Mary Engelbreit

I will post again soon about my own creative endeavors, but I wanted to do another feature tonight. I was a huge fan of Mary Engelbreit growing up.


I still have some Mary Engelbreit cards/stationery and a couple other things like one of her stuffed animals and a couple of her books. As you may or may not know, she uses cherries in a number of her illustrations. I thought it would be fun to do a cherry feature in honor of her. Enjoy!

Cherries - hand cast resin filled silver dot bezel pendant - hangs on 18 inch silver plated snake chain by bethtastic

Red cherry earrings with green leaves by SunshineDaydreamz

Vintage Cherry Red Faceted Glass Ball Earrings Free Shipping by PattycakesPlunder

This piece actually sold today, but I wanted to include it anyway because it was the winner of the April 2010 EBW Challenge! Congrats Isabella!
OOAK Sakura Japanese flowering cherry Blossom Beadwork Necklace by bead4me

Under The Cherry Tree (handmade buttons set of 4) by TessaAnn

Large Fabulous Glass Cherry Charms x2 by dimestoreemporium

Fabric Covered Red Cherries Buttons 1 1/8 inch by ShastaCreations

continued turquoise

I put together a random turquoise feature while I was in one of the chat rooms on Etsy a couple weeks ago. Since the turquoise and red was so well received yesterday, I figured that this would be a good a time as ever to post it. Enjoy!

Father Blank Fathers Day Greeting Card Paisley by auntiescardshop

Summer waves - earrings by pardalote

10-LT BLUE MAGNESITE-Smooth Rondelles-approx 12X5mm-PRICE REDUCTION by okbuyer

Small Camera Strap by DesignsbyBnV

FELT CAMERA CASE by plushism

Turquoise Trio Lampwork by silverfaeriedesigns

Checkbook Cover Apples and Pears Alexander Henry by meghandesigns

Blue Moon Luxe Bobby Pin Set by ChelseaVanTol

turquoise and red part III

I'm still very much enjoying this color combination. I hope that you are, too!

Colorful Interlock Peyote Cuff (2467) by SandFibers

Red, White, and Turquoise Decoupaged Trinket Box by Hermosa84

Retro Blue Bird (set of 6 handmade buttons) by TessaAnn

BOLERO beaded lanyard badge holder aqua red black by LANYARDLADY

Garden Gnome by AKeepersJackpot

TURQUOISE LOVES RED...Free US Shipping by blueseraphim

Mod Series 'Four' Fused Glass Pendant Necklace by blupoppystudio

newest two-hole button jewelry, other recent fun with buttons

As promised, I listed a couple new items tonight. The first is the newest version of my two-hole button explosion charm bracelet.

I also have coordinating two-hole button explosion earrings now!

You can view both of these lovely items together.
Take 10% off BOTH items if you purchase them together! Refunds will be issues via PayPal.

I also created a set for my old preschool's annual silent auction. I went there myself way back in the day, and I also worked there during the summers around college. You can still see the announcement about the event on their web site. An old family friend ended up placing the winning bid, which was neat and unexpected.

I took one of our old plastic tables out to the porch to work on my newest button projects this weekend. It worked pretty well so I took it out there again today. It's kind of ghetto, but it's better than sitting on the porch floor. (You can also see that I finally took down our Christmas lights haha. No, I did not turn them on after mid-January, but I left them up quite a while after that.)
I had fun laying out a handful of different projects last night.
I'm sure that it will take me at least a few months to finish everything there. I still have a lot of bead weaving projects planned, and I'm sure that I will think up more ideas along the way.

EtsyBloggers: Green on Treasury East

I had so much fun with my turquoise treasury that I decided to give in to my green obsession and put together this lovely collection. Enjoy!


You can view this treasury live by CLICKING HERE. :)