Picasso challenge piece and PDF pattern

The October EBW Challenge theme is Inspired by Picasso.  You can read more about it here.  I am familiar with Picasso's more famous works but had really not studied any of his other work before.  There is a lot of it so it was fun familiarizing myself with lots of Picasso paintings and sketches.  I'm sure that it's not a surprise that the first thing that I gravitated toward was color.  I wanted to pick a piece with a lot of color, which is how I ended up choosing Mediterranean Landscape for my inspiration.

I posted a shot of it earlier but here it is again.  I got this picture from allposters.com.

You can read about how I selected and mixed my colors here.  Overall, I'm really pleased with how that process went, especially considering that I only used colors that I had in stock.  I didn't purchase anything new for this project.  There are a couple tiny things that I could have tweaked, but I still think that the general color palette and nature of the piece is fairly reflective of the original artwork.

I've now used the same right angle weave base and second layer for four EBW challenges in a row.  I'll briefly recap here so you can see how changing the final third layer, width, and color combinations can make such a big difference.

Strawberry Fields Forever is exactly the same design but wider.  I'll be honest: I was planning to make my Picasso piece the same width but decided I couldn't quite pull it off with some of the bead quantities I had.  Four columns instead of six is just fine and also results in a less expensive piece so hopefully that will be more appealing to some people.

After some deliberation, I did decide to add house and sail boat charms to the clasp.  They are easily removable if potential buyers aren't interested in them.  I do think that they add something for the challenge, though.

I thought that keeping the correct color balance with so many colors would be tricky, but I think that the selecting and mixing process got me oriented before I even started working.  I really didn't have any problems with this and didn't even have to refer back to my mixing chart like I thought I would.

This piece is available in my Etsy shop here.

As this was a design that I have worked with a lot over the last few months, the trickiest part of the challenge is that I decided to write the pattern for this.  I'd be contemplating this idea after the success of Strawberry Fields.  Once I knew that I was going to use the design for Picasso, I knew that I had to ahead with it.  I believe in embracing the "challenge" idea with as many pieces as possible.  The pattern was a perfect way to do this.

It was also way past time for me to get another pattern in my shop.  Most of my patterns have done pretty well, but it's been nearly six months since I released my last one.  I have not had great sales for September.  I hope that a new pattern will increase sales again.  It's available here.

The pattern does work for all four of the challenge designs.  The first and second layers are exactly the same for all four pieces.  I explain the differences for the third layer in the pattern.  With the exception of Yellow Brick Road, all of the pieces have a freeform third layer so you really have the freedom to do it exactly as you like.  I just provide some suggestions to guide you on your way.

Strawberry Fields Forever

The August EBW Challenge theme is Summer's Juicy Fruit.  You can read more about it here.  When I heard that this was the theme, I immediately thought of strawberries.  Honestly they are not my favorite food, but they make me think of summer and can be very delicious in season.  When I thought of strawberries, I also thought of Strawberry Fields Forever by the Beatles.  I've been a big Beatles fan ever since I was little.

So I decided to create piece depicting strawberry fields with Strawberry Fields Forever as the title.

I enjoyed creating a wide right angle weave base for my June challenge entry so much that I decided to start with the same type of base for this piece.  The second layer is also the same, but then I did a different type of embellishment for the third layer.  It's more or less freeform again although not as involved as the beach freeform.  I love how the new color palette gives this piece a completely different look.

The less involved freeform made it easier to pose this piece for my pictures.  It was tough to keep the red from popping too much, but otherwise I'm pretty happy with the results.

I mentioned this in my preview post about this piece, but I have to mention again that I got more than half of the beads in this piece from Shannon (beadsandbabble).  All of the beads that I've bought from her thus far have been great.

I chose to use a metal clasp for this piece, which isn't what I usually use for my beadweaving.  There is a little story behind this, which I'll get into some other time.  For now, suffice it to say that I was looking for something different.  I think that it works well with this piece.

This cuff is available here.  Voting for the challenge will be the second week of August.  I'll have more information about that when the voting process starts.

new listing, back in stock, treasury feature

I listed a new pair of earrings tonight: Red/Blue Button Dangle Sterling Silver Earrings.

I sold a pair like these at the Arts Festival back in June.  I have another similar pair finished and yet another similar pair in the works.  I don't know if I'll have any luck with them on Etsy, but they were a huge hit at the Arts Festival.  I could have sold more if I'd had more available.  If I had pierced ears, I would wear earrings like these.  They're simple, fun, and very lightweight.

I restocked one of my best selling designs yesterday: Purple Shell Beaded Bracelet.  I actually gave the last version to one of my Iowa friends who helped me with the tear down process after the Arts Festival.

There will be matching earrings for it on Etsy at some point.  You can preview them here.  One of my aunts bought the first pair last week, but there is a second pair ready for someone else.  I would like to make a green version of this bracelet with matching earrings eventually, too.  I have the shell beads already.  They're a great subtle olive tone.  I just need to get around to making the bracelet.

Finally, Chris Maj (beadn4fun) included my Sunshine Gold Accented Skinny Peyote Cuff Bracelet in her Over the Rainbow treasury.  16 EBW pieces in all different colors!  I just took new pictures of this cuff this afternoon before I knew about the treasury.  Sometimes timing works out really well. :) I made sure to get a screen shot after I'd updated the listing.

You can view this treasury live by CLICKING HERE.

Art Beads summer piece

As promised, here it is, pictures ready in the morning!  Enjoy!

I am pretty proud of how quickly the final stages of this piece came together!  Nothing like a deadline to keep you moving. :) I'm also excited about how each square stitch cuff comes together more quickly than the last one.

For the Art Beads summer piece, we had three main section to choose from.  I pulled components from the glass beads section and the charms section.  I used eight different kinds of 8/0 Round Toho Seed Beads in a variety of shades and finishes for the base of the cuff.

The top embellishment includes a variety of pressed Czech glass, including glass buttons, glass pillows, glass heart beads, and glass leaf beads.  As I'm sure you already know, I love pressed Czech glass and have never been disappointed with the glass I've gotten from Art Beads.  I also incorporated a few fire polished pieces, Toho cube beads, plastic buttons, coral, rose quartz, Swarovski beads, and the charms, which are all TierraCast silver charms.  I always have so much fun with the embellishment for these cuffs (as I do with all jewelry embellishment/fringe), pulling together many more beads and buttons in a given color combination than I end up being able to use in one piece.

This cuff will be available in my Etsy shop in the near future.  If you'd like to reserve it now, please let me know!  I'm also open to other suggestions for color(s) for my next embellished square stitch cuff.  You can view all of the cuffs that are currently available here.

I will be MIA until Wednesday or Thursday next week.  Jake and I are taking a little trip during part of his week off.  Until then. :)

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.

three items to check out

I've already made a lot of progress this weekend with my jewelry pictures and inventory.  I got behind a couple weeks before the Arts Festival with editing pictures and getting descriptions ready for new items, and I'm still playing catch up.  There's still a lot of work to do, but I feel good about everything that I've accomplished.  I also made a lot of progress editing non-jewelry pictures from this school year.  I have posted everything that I want to from October through May on Facebook now and have ordered a bunch of new prints to put up at home and work.

I listed my neutral square stitch embellished cuff today.

I am really pleased with how this picture turned out.  I think that it's one of the best that I've taken in a long time.

I used a few random components left over from one of my Art Bead's blogging stashes in this cuff.  There are several Swarovskis as well as a handful of Czech glass beads, including Czech glass hearts.  As it goes with all of my embellished cuffs, I had fun pulling components from a variety of sources.  Some of the beads in here I picked out when I was making my wedding jewelry almost 4 years ago!

I lowered the cost of all of my embellished square stitch cuffs in my Etsy shop today.  From here on out, they will all be $40.00.

I made a new version of my tri-color with red border triangle pendant that I sold last summer and updated the listing with new pictures today.

Because the ribbons were such a big hit at the Arts Festival, I will include ribbons with all of my pendants from now on, both on Etsy and at craft fairs.  If you would like a different length and/or color than the one pictured in the listing, just let me know!  I current have red, white, and black and am happy to get more colors as people request them.

I sold the coordinating bracelet for this pendant at the Arts Festival and made a new one this past week as well as a matching pair of earrings.  I will list both of them sometime in the next month.

While I was taking pictures of some other new items today, I took pictures of my older turning to fall bangle whose renewal is coming up soon.

I have a handful of other older items that also desperately need new pictures.  As their renewals come up on Etsy, I'm planning to update their listings with new pictures.  I have a lot of respect for people who edit huge numbers of listings at once.  I don't have the motivation to do that!  Instead, I do my best to continue make changes a little bit at a time.

book recommendations, new listing

There are several new jewelry/bead weaving books that I've checked out lately that I haven't mentioned here yet. The first is Custom Cool Jewelry: Create 200+ Personalized Pendants, Charms, and Clasps by Melinda Barta, which I got for my birthday. This is not specifically a bead weaving book and only has a couple ideas that incorporate any bead weaving. However, I will still get a lot of inspiration from this book. I really think that anyone who makes jewelry will. Melinda combines a lot of different materials in unique ways. The pictures and directions are pretty good.

There are also a couple books that I've recently checked out from the library. The first is The Pattern Companion of Beading by Ann Benson. This book covers a wide range of projects in a number of different stitches for both loom and offloom techniques for a pretty wide range of skills. The only thing I was really disappointed about with this book was the pictures. The directions are decent but the only pictures are small and honestly of pretty poor quality. They don't reflect the genius and beauty of the bead work. The second is The Art of Beaded Beads: Exploring Design, Color, & Technique edited by Jean Campbell, which has been the most inspiring book of the three. Any of you who bead weave probably already know that Jean Campbell is awesome. This book is no exception. That's really all there is to way about that. If you are interested in bead weaving at all, you will be inspired by something in this book.

I listed another square stitch cuff today. This one is in dark blue and dark turquoise. I posted a sneak peak of it a while back. Click on the pictures to check out the listing!


I am still thoroughly enjoying these square stitch cuffs. I completed a neutral one this weekend. I'm thinking about doing a bright one next: orange, yellow, and maybe some bright red...kind of a tropical color theme. This weekend I also took pictures of my newest 3D triangle earrings, the new cuff, and a couple more vintage button studs, plus I assembled a handful of new earrings, magnets, and tacks. Yay for nice weather!

red/purple square stitch cuff

I listed the third version of my square stitch embellished cuff design tonight. As I was thinking last month, this one is in red and purple! I had a little trouble keeping the purple from hiding in the shadows in these pictures, but I'm still pretty pleased with the results. And I'm very pleased with how the cuff turned out.



I've been thinking about making a dark turquoise/dark blue one for a while, but I think that I'm going to make a neutral one next. I'm still on a neutral kick from my Natural Sparkle bracelet. :)

I had an unexpected opportunity to take some photos of my newest reworked design during the day because my meeting (not at school) this morning was much shorter than was expected, and I had a couple hours at home before I had to be back to work. I'll upload and edit them later tonight. :)

revisited design and more button magnets

Happy Christmas Eve everyone!

I have not had an opportunity to photograph in sunlight in a couple weeks now. Most of the time that I'm at home now, there isn't even any natural light. Since I'm at home more during the day now for Christmas break, I finally caved and shot in natural light sans sunlight yesterday. I was pretty pleased with the results.

I finally finished my blue embellished cuff (revisited) that I picked out the beads for back at the end of the summer. The listing on Etsy is now updated with new pictures and measurements.

The green version is still available here in my Etsy shop. I'm pretty sure that I'll be making a red/purple version next, but as always, am open to other suggestions, too.

I made two more sets of button magnets for Christmas presents. I did go with the color combinations that I previously mentioned: pink/green and black/white. I don't know if this is something that I'll be offering in my Etsy shop at some point, but I am having fun with them. Any thoughts about this would be appreciated! I would like to try some button tacks at some point, too.





Cheryl (littlestonedesign) posted a great message on the Etsy Beadweavers' message board earlier this month about her success with sending a monthly newsletter for her Etsy shop. It's no secret that I don't have a ton of Etsy sales and would like to do more with what time I have to promote my shop. Has anyone else had a lot of success with sending a newsletter? If you have, I would love to hear more details about it!