keeping it simple

My listing schedule and posts are still a little off because the closing date for our new house got pushed back.  So I'm including pictures here of a couple new listings from this past week, both of which are simple every day pieces that can be dressed up or down for any occasion.

This first one is available here.  I created this with the seed bead mix that I had left over after I've completed this cuff.  I don't think that I need to give a whole lot of explanation for why this is a great color combination here.  This is a pretty classic combination of colors.  I love the way that the periwinkle pops.  I made one of these for myself as well.  I love these skinny bracelets.  They're so versatile.  Because they are so skinny and light weight, it's easy to layer several of them next to each other.

Remember my custom order this spring that included this piece?  After I'd completed the order, I put together a similar bracelet to sell.  This was a design that took a long time to create because I really wasn't sure what I was doing when I started.  I re-did large portions of the original three or four times to get it the way I wanted.  The second one that I made earlier this year took almost as long because by then it had been a while since I'd worked the pattern.  I was surprised at how quickly the third one went and even more so, this fourth final (for now anyway) one, went.  This new one is available here.  I can make more pendants and/or earrings on request as well.

As I mentioned in my custom order post, I like the idea of making a set in turquoise.  That hasn't happened yet, but we'll see!

why I love my customers

Happy Easter!  I've been working on a custom order this week.  The woman loved my Beaded Bracelet - Double Linked - Chocolate and Cream and wanted coordinating earrings and pendant to go with it.  She had a pretty clear idea what she wanted.  Together we finalized the details.  The bracelet was made to order so she got a brand new version of it in a custom length.

The customer also wanted me to take a picture of the whole set together.

I love my customers because I never would have conceptualized the earrings and pendant on my own.  I have made lots of shell earrings, but I wouldn't have thought to use two shell beads and to use the beads that I used in the bracelet.  And I've never made a shell pendant before.  I love the final result, though!

The design for this bracelet is something that came about with a little idea that I had to rework several times to create this final result.  It drove me up the wall the first and the second time that I made it.  This third time went so much more smoothly.  Third time's the charm, right?  I felt like I finally got into the rhythm of this pattern and didn't have to spend much time going back and adding or redoing anything.

So...I might make a couple more sets of these in other colors.  I love having the earrings and pendant that coordinate now.  I love the idea of doing a set in turquoise.  I haven't thought much past that yet.  Any thoughts, let me know.

new work in progress and other recent happenings

I have a decent amount of inventory built up so I'm working on a few more time consuming cuffs, which are ideas that I've been sitting on for quite a while.  Here's a picture of one of them in progress.

Some of you may recognize this as one of Carol's patterns (SandFibers).  A project like this is exactly why I designed this beading board.  It's wonderful to keep all of these delicas separated!  On a side note, this cuff will coordinate with these earrings.  I still haven't figured out what sort of clasp I want to make for the cuff and am open to suggestions.

And because I haven't posted any pictures of Angel here in a while, here are a couple of new ones.

Jake and I are still laughing about this first one.  I took the bedding out of her bed this week because it needed to be cleaned very badly.  She climbed in anyway while it was still in the wash.

I took this one yesterday after I shot my in progress shot from above.

And the treasuries keep rolling in!  I've been very fortunate to be included in three more treasuries in the last couple days.  Olga (thebeadloomgallery) included my PDF Beading Pattern - Skinny Wrapped Peyote Cuff Bracelet  - For Personal Use in her Be Creative with adorable Etsy Beadweavers tutorials! treasury.

Rita (RitasCreationsOnEtsy) included my Beaded Bracelet - Purple Rock Garden in her Plum Pickins treasury.

Jen (Walrustusk) included my Beaded Cuff Bracelet - Fringed - Champagne Party in her I Would Love to Meet You...Comment treasury.

another one of my favorite subjects

Natalie (humblebea) included my Beaded Cuff Bracelet - Chocolate Temptation in her Death by Chocolate treasury.  I love her wide mix of chocolate themed items.  And this color is amazing.  Dark chocolate brown is definitely another underrated color.

I usually don't feature items from treasury curators, but Natalie's shop is really cute.  Here are just a couple of her neat little items.

My Home of Love

Cozy Candle Holder

Mason Jar Lids

And because when it rains, it pours, silcha also included my Beaded Cuff Bracelet - Chocolate Temptation in her new treasury: milk and chocolate this week.

new listing, finally doing justice to an old challenge piece, blog voting

I listed a new pair of earrings tonight: color explosion tetrahedron earrings.

As I'm sure you already know, I love this color combination.  I've used it in my original color explosion peyote cuff and in two pendants: this one and this one.  I got the tetrahedron pattern from The Art of Beaded Beads: Exploring Design, Color, & Technique​ edited by Jean Campbell.  It was fun, but I'm not in a huge hurry to use it again.  If I do make tetrahedrons in the future, they will be bigger!  This size is awesome for small, light weight earrings, but needless to say, it is not too easy to work with.  The bottom of the triangles only measures 1/2" across.  I think that even 3/4" or 1" would be much more manageable.

In my photo retakes today, I took new pictures of my Chocolate Temptation peyote cuff, which was my entry for the March 2009 EBW Challenge Temptation.  Anything that is getting a retake deserves more justice than its current pictures give, but these pictures were particularly lacking.  I have some wonderful new ones now, including these closeups.

Finally, my blue striped peyote triangle earrings are one of Linda B's Top 5 Etsy Finds for 7.1.10!  You can vote for them on her blog by clicking here. :) The winner gets a feature on her blog!

triangles - a new listing and a treasury feature

Yes, finally a new item for sale! layers of cream, caramel, and chocolate peyote triangle earrings :)


I love this color combination! I am planning to make a bargello cuff with these four delicas at some point.

And on the subject of triangles, Kandice (KandiceInWonderland) included my red striped peyote triangle pendant in her Trendy Triangles treasury (try saying that quickly haha). I seriously LOVE this collection. Such a fun mix of items. Please check it out!
You can view this treasury live by CLICKING HERE until Saturday April 10 11:30PM 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!

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!

thank yous

Thank you very much to Alterity Art and SandFibers for featuring me on their blogs in response to my spring bracelets treasury. I do my best to thank those who feature me in their treasuries and appreciate it greatly when others do the same!

Also, I owe a thank you to ripperarts who made me a new banner totally out of the kindness of her heart. She's a fellow Awesome Chicks of Etsy member who decided that I could benefit from one of her awesome banners and made NINE of them for me to choose from! It was really tough picking just one, as they are all really great. I settled on the one that I did because it shows off several different types of bracelets that I make. I also like the multicolored letters. :) The banner is now here on blogspot as well. I decided to change the journal layout, too, to coordinate with it a little better. Taliana's currently working on an avatar to match. Very exciting!

I am in the middle of my tempatation bracelet now and am very pleased with the results this far. Are any other EBW's working on temptation pieces yet?

100 listings, the next two Hawkeye bracelets, and the EBW challenges

I am now at 100 listings on Etsy! These two Hawkeye bracelets are the last two I needed to get me into the triple digits.


I was hoping to hit 100 hearts at about the same time as 100 listings. I'm not quite there yet, but I just hit 90 yesterday, which is still very cool.

Also, thank you to everyone who voted for my Dreaming of Hawaii bangle in the Jan./Feb. Etsy Beadweavers Challenge! Congratulations to BeadCatcher who won with her Tropical Treasures necklace. Gorgeous!

The March challenge is Temptation. I already started working on my piece. Think: chocolate. :)