spring treasury and a remake of a girly design

Michele (idahobeadweaver) included my Beaded Pendant - Peyote Triangle - Spring Green in her Etsy Bead Weavers are Ready for Spring Green and Blue Skies! treasury yesterday.  Thanks Michele!

Also, here's one of my recent remakes.  This listing was badly in need of some new pictures.  The OT that I work with at my school bought the original one over the summer so I still get to see it, which is neat.  I'm going to make a turquoise/red version of this design next.  I have some other remakes done (just not photographed) so I'll have some more updated listings over the next couple weeks.

Beaded Bracelet - Silver Links - Girly

challenge title revealed

I finally decided on a name for my 80's bangle for the March EBW Challenge Fashion Through the Ages and listed it on Etsy.  Thank you so much to everyone who gave me suggestions!  Some of the ideas that I got included the following:

I almost called it Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, but I wanted something a little more original.  So it's now known as Beaded Bangle Bracelet - A Material Girl's True Colors for Madonna's Material Girl and Cyndi Lauper's True Colors.

I used the same right angle weave base for this bangle that I do for all of my right angle bangles, but I used so much embellishment that you really can't tell.  The mix and vividness of colors was my main focus was I put beads together.  I didn't find quite as many neon shades as I wanted, but I'm still pleased with the overall brightness.  Of course I also wanted to include some daggers so there are three different colors of small daggers in the mix.  The tear drop shapes are from Shannon (beadsandbabble).  My fellow EtsyBlogger Deb suggested that I make a turquoise bangle like this sometime, which would be awesome, too!

Voting for this challenge will take place on the EBW blog in a couple weeks.  I'll have more information about it then.

Also, Theresa (TiLTcreations) included my Beaded Bracelet - Button Embellished - Green in her Green Etsybloggers treasury this week.  Thanks Theresa!

leafy feature: the dotted edition

After posting some polka dot note cards a couple weeks ago, I decided that I really had to include some more dots in one of my features.  On a whim, I searched for "leaves dots" on Etsy and found a TON of great items!  Some of my themes are hard to put together, but not this one.  I may have to do a second edition sometime.  For now, enjoy the first one!

Mini Cards n Envelopes - Set of 8 - Leaf Vines by MiniHaus

Baby Booties Leaves and Dots Mary Jane's for Baby Girl by TillyWhistle

The Butter Brickle Touch of Minky Blanket in Tropical Foliage with Lime Green Minky Dot by ButterBrickleBaby

Carnation Pink Polka-Dot Layered Satin Flower with Soft Pattern Leaves on Stretchy Elastic Silver Gray Headband...Baby Girl, Toddler, Childrens All sizes, Made to Match Matilda Jane by poppyrow

Fabric Leaf Wreath - St. Patrick's Day by janejoss

FREE SHIPPING / Nursing Covers by JOANNA DESIGN (POLKA DOT LEAVES PINK) by JoannaDesign

Mod olive green and chartreuse polka dot dress with leaves applique by allthenumbers

daggers are popping up again

I listed another dagger piece this week: Beaded Cuff Bracelet - Dagger Fringed Neutral.

A few of these beads are samples that I got from Shannon (beadsandbabble).  She doesn't have any like them listed now, but they have amazing leopard-ish (but darker colors) detail.  Most of the other daggers are from Art Beads that I've been slowly collecting with a few others pieces thrown into the mix.

I know that I usually stick to lots of colors but neutral pieces can be amazing, too.  I'll be listing two more dagger pieces in the next couple weeks.  Then I need people to start buying from this lovely new line so I can keep purchasing more daggers!

Also on the subject of daggers, Glenda and April (rougeriverbeads) included my Beaded Cuff Bracelet - Dagger Fringed - Fall in their Natural Beauty treasury this week.

new light box set up and a St. Patrick's Day treasury

As promised, here are some pictures of my new light box set up.

The new desk is in exactly the same spot in our condo as our old desk.  The room has a west facing window so it gets a decent amount of light during the day.  Obviously one of the reasons for having the light box is so that I can shoot in less than ideal lighting conditions, but it's nice to use the natural lighting when I can.

I wasn't happy with the light angles when the lights sat flat on the desk so I put some books under them.  It's almost exactly the same angle as before now (when the lights were positioned above, pointing down at the box).  I've been happy with it thus far.

Jake had a whole bunch of his Warhammer stuff stored on the desk, but he hadn't painted there in over two years.  So I'm using this desk now for my business cards, small stash of jewelry boxes (which I can add to as needed whenever from the box of them in the closet), finished jewelry (in the Tupperware), and some other supplies in the basket on the right back side.  The fake drawer in the front slides out for more storage which will be great for stashing "in progress" stuff away when we have company.  The two drawers under the desk are now much more organized with Warhammer stuff.  I got some more drawers for some of the other "not currently in use" Warhammer items, too, so they won't have to sit on top of the drawers like they are now.  The bigger stuff like scenery supplies will fit into some crates that we recently cleared out.

This desk is smaller than the old one so we have room next it for some other things like the shredder and garbage can.  And of course, Angel still has her little kitty bed under it, which works well because I don't sit at this desk nearly as much as I sit at my computer desk (which I'll also have to post pictures of sometime because I've put a lot of work into organizing it recently, too).  Like the little angel she is, she's already adapted to the change perfectly.

You can see some other areas of progress in this last picture, too: namely one of the bookcases and our luggage (with my tripod leaning against it...I do have a storage spot in the closet for it).  You don't want to know how all of that has looked for the better part of the last three years.

This room is still a work in progress, but the new furniture additions have been a HUGE improvement.  I'll have more pictures over the next month as the rest of the room comes together and continues to look more like a room that we actually use than like a storage closet haha.

And finally, the newest treasury that I'm in is a St. Patrick's Day treasury called Wearin' O' The Green from Mary (MaryTDesigns) with my Beaded Bracelet - Petite Garden.  Thanks Mary!

custom button order

Over the weekend, I completed a couple of custom pieces for a lovely Etsy buyer.  She saw a couple designs in my shop and wanted longer versions of them.  Here they are.

She was very pleased with the pictures.  Hopefully she'll be just as pleased (if not more so) with the results in person.  I'm very happy with them, too.  The original versions as well as the other pieces in my button embellished line (along with the pattern for it) are available in my Etsy shop here.

Also, these are some of the first pictures that I've taken with my light box since I set it up again, which involved changing the lighting angle slightly.  I think that it's working out really well.

naming a new challenge piece

As I mentioned last week, the March EBW Challenge theme is Fashion Through the Ages.  I decided to make an 80's bangle because I thought it would be fun to work with bright colors.  I also wanted to experiment with a fully fringed bangle.  I didn't find quite as many neon shades as I hoped I would, but I'm still very pleased with the result.

The only downside is that this lovely (crazy?) piece doesn't have a name yet.  I would like to include an 80's movie or song title/quote or something along those lines, but I'm open to other suggestions, too.  Let me know what you think and if you have any ideas!

weekend happenings

As promised, I did take a picture of my bead organizers in their new home.

I've added some more stuffed animals to the top since then.  You get a little glimpse at some of our dorky/nerdy books, too.  Half of Jake's fantasy and sci-fi books are on the top.  All of the classics books that I'm keeping (for now anyway) are on the bottom along with a few random medical books/materials.

I got a custom order on Friday for a couple of my button embellished designs.

You can see the original versions that are still available in my shop as well as the buttons that I'm going to use for her longer versions.  I've been planning to make another rainbow version at some point anyway so this is the perfect excuse to use some of those tiny buttons that I've been hording.

I'm also in another treasury.  Jillian (CreativeLily) included my Beaded Bracelet - Jade Elegance in her Etsy Bloggers Team: Spring is on Its Way (I had to correct the grammatical error there.  Hopefully you can forgive Jillian, too, because this is a beautiful collection.)

leafy feature: February random edition

Here are my random leafy picks for February.  Enjoy!

Polymer Clay Floral Brooch (Blue) by ktracton

Leaf Bowl - Hand Thrown Pottery - Display Bowl by Angelalngram

Wisconsin Copper Map Art by CopperLeafStudios

Lucy in the Sky... by Seavbeach

Salt Cellar with Bird and Spoon by LennyMud

Autumn Flower Fiber Ring in Burgundy by SewSweetStitches

Linen-Pillow cover by sukanart

contrast

My newest listing is neutral, but all of the treasuries that I've been in the last few days are brightly colored.  So you get a little bit of everything in this post.

I know that I'd said in my turquoise/red post earlier this week that I didn't have any more button charm bracelets in the works.  That is true.  However, I still had one more finished button charm bracelet to list: Button Charm Bracelet - Two-Hole Explosion - The Neutral Version.

I absolutely adore these little two-hole buttons.  The color version of this design is still available here.  These particular buttons (both the neutral and colored shades) were all vintage finds in a button bin so there won't be any more bracelets exactly like them.  But I'm sure that the two-hole design will continue to live on in other variations.

Also, I didn't use any beads for this button charm bracelet, but I doubled the number of buttons so there are two buttons on every link, which I think creates a neat look, too.

I was very fortunate to be included in several more treasuries since Monday.  Megan (megansbeadeddesigns) included my Beaded Bracelet - The Leafy Series - Vibrant Fall Autumn in her Got Orange Juice? treasury.

Megan also included my Beaded Bracelet - Simple Birthday Cake in her Sunny Days and Bright Ideas treasury.

Eileen (CookalasHouseOfCards) included my Beaded Cuff Bracelet - Dagger Fringed - Pink Garden in her OVER THE RAINBOW treasury.  I am not normally a huge fan of pastels, but I absolutely love this pastel rainbow color palette that she put together.

bead organization finale

As you know, I've been organizing my beads, buttons, and findings the last few weeks.  You can read about the first couple steps of this project here and here.  This is the final installment.

This is most of my Czech glass as well as my small collection of Swarovski beads and buttons.  I know that this just looks like an ad for Art Beads.  A lot of my Czech glass is from Art Beads, but I've purchased some locally as well.  I have components that I have a lot of grouped together like leaves, daggers, and hearts.  I sorted the rest by color (except for the Swarovskis which all fit into one compartment).

I've been using these containers for a while.  I pretty much left what was already in them where it was, so there is some other Czech glass in here.  I grouped my shell beads and filled in the other spaces with random components like lamp worked beads and handmade ceramic beads and buttons.  I'm keeping the plastic letter beads but de-stashing the rest of my plastic beads.  I haven't worked with them in years.  I'm de-stashing on eBay.  If anyone's interested, let me know.

I know that some people would have a heart attack or, at the very least, would scream if they saw my seed bead organization.  But this is really all that I need at this point.  I've only been doing beadweaving and button jewelry work for three years.  My collection of beads isn't that big.  If I need delicas for a new flower garden cuff, I don't have to sort through 40 different greens to find the shades that I want.  I can simply sort through the 40 or so total shades that I have.  I have my Tohos and delicas on the left, my cube beads on the top, and my size 6/0 Czech seed beads on the right.

I have more size 11/0 Czech seed beads than anything else for seed beads.  Not all of them fit into the container so I left the ones that are in the little screw top plastic containers as is in that storage box.  As I use up other beads that I've stored in the screw tops, I'll continue to sort more 11/0's into them.

We just got a new bookcase over the weekend.  All of the boxes, along with a bunch of books, now have a new home.  I'll have at a picture up of that at some point in the near future.

newest turquoise and red design

I listed a new button charm bracelet in turquoise and red this week.

You can go to the Etsy listing here.  I'm sure that you know by now that I love turquoise and red.  Turquoise is one of my all-time favorite colors (which is saying a lot because you know that I love lots of colors).  Turquoise paired with red is about as perfect as it gets.    I sold a turquoise and red button charm bracelet a while back.  It was way past time to make another one.  My button charm bracelets with beads have done well so I'm continuing do add them for a lot of my new designs.

I don't have any more button charm bracelets in the works yet, but if there's anything you'd like to see, let me know.

I also have one more Valentine's Day treasury for this year.  Yesterday Marta (martacreazioni) included my Beaded Bracelet - Red in her Happy Valentine's Day! treasury.

treasury love on Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!  Michelle (Iwalani79) included my Beaded Bracelet - The Leafy Series - Winter in her Ice Ice Baby BLUE! treasury.

Sonja (veryverdant) included my Beaded Bracelet - Olive Green Shell in her Olive Blue treasury with lots of EtsyBlogger goodies.

Jessica (ecofriendlyfreckles) included my Beaded Dangle Earrings - Pink Leaves in her Mademoiselle Stops to Smell the Roses treasury.

Sydney (sydneyalfano) included my Beaded Cuff Bracelet - Dagger Fringed - Pink Garden in her EBW Valentines Special treasury.

Sydney has a beautiful Etsy shop.  She makes lots of beaded flowers like this Tahitian Vanilla  and Berry - ivory and red-violet - handmade beaded hair flower.

(Is anyone else annoyed by how the treasury format keeps getting larger?  I couldn't fit the titles into my screen captures for these treasuries!)