working with metallics and wrapping up May custom orders

I don't work with metallic beads very often.  However, I got inspired to make this piece after I made my winter Art Beads piece, which had metallic cube beads as part of the base.

It's available here.  The small embellishment beads were a freebie from Shannon (beadsandbabble) a while back.  A couple of them are still available here. This was definitely a break from my usual colorful palette.  It's good to mix it up with these neutrals sometimes.

This week I finally wrapped up my last two May custom orders.  I finished the second of two leafy bracelets for a new customer.

The customer wanted the purple in the design and less brown the original.  I never would have though to put purple with this palette, but the result is neat!  I had plenty of beads to make another one so there will be one similar to this in the shop soon.  The new one will have touches of purple and green with lots of gold.  I'm super excited about it.  I  used more focal beads from alishawhite for this piece.

I also finished the earrings to match my periwinkle and black leafy design, a slightly different version of my original leafy design.  Remember my sneak peak?  I had to rework this design a couple times, but the final result was worth it.

I'm not making a lot of earrings right now because there are plenty in my shop as it is and my interests are elsewhere.  But I'm always happy to make custom requests like this.

This week I also got a lovely picture of the recipient of another recent custom order.

I love seeing people wearing my work!

May custom orders are officially wrapped up.  Bring it on June!

metallic bangle and some treasury love

I listed a new bangle this week.

It's available here.  I'm not making a lot of bangles these days, but this has been a popular design so I made another version.  I love this kind of jewelry because it's simple and classic.  You can wear it for just about any occasion.

I was very fortunate to be included in several new treasuries this week.  Check them out!

(Is anyone else frustrated by how the treasury format keeps getting bigger and bigger?  I think Etsy's trying to discourage these screen shots or something.)

Kelly (MadeWithButtons) included my Beaded Cuff Bracelet - Skinny - Sunshine Gold Accented in her Gimme Some Sunshine Baby treasury.  Kelly just opened up her new button shop this month.  I'm so glad that she's creating again!

CatchSomeRaes included my Button Charm Bracelet - Yellow in her think Happy thoughts treasury.

Christina (AnnasAdornments) included my Beaded Bracelet - Button Embellished - Rainbow (which now has 17 hearts!) in her Button-Crazy! treasury.  Thank you, Christina, for another fabulous collection.  And thank you, Lisa (Alterity) for the comments on my blog and on the treasury page about how we're in this awesome collection together!  Lisa also has amazing button jewelry.

Stay tuned tomorrow for my monthly Top Droppers and commenters appreciation post as well as my May sale information!

in the works and other creative endeavors

I was very excited to get my Art Beads blogging package at the end of the week and start of my new piece this weekend.  Unfortunately, even though all of the daggers that I selected are supposed to be the same size, they're not.

I should have realized this when I looked at the picture for the green daggers.  Going back to it when I e-mailed the Art Beads coordinator, I could see it.  But the listing clearly states 15x6, and I believed that.  I might have enough daggers to complete the piece without those.  It doesn't change the fact that I was planning on using them, though, or that the listing is wrong.  I'm still waiting to hear back from Art Beads.

But the patina daggers are just as awesome, if not more so, than they look on the web site.  I'm still very excited for my piece.

Instead I've been working on my new neutral skinny fringed cuff.  I love this neutral partially metallic palette.  It's coming together even better than I'd hoped.  And I've picked out a metal button for the clasp.

Finally, I joined HubPages this weekend.  I'm planning to do a lot more with this once we've moved to Milwaukee and I'm not working full time.  But while we have a little uneventful time here before the graduation and moving craziness, I'm getting it started.  I'll mostly be writing about education/special education stuff as well as some DIY craft projects (most of which I've posted here before), recipes, travel, music, books, and anything else that inspires me.  I took new pictures of my process for making spinach calzones this weekend (Jake and I did photograph this a few years ago).

The calzone hub is up here.  Also, check out my first two hubs that I wrote yesterday: 10 Beadweaving Books to Check Out and Beaded Peyote Triangle Step by Step Instructions.

sneak peaks

While I was on my metallic kick recently, I put together this mix for another skinny fringed cuff.

I may take out a couple of the finishes when I start to bead it if they make the piece too dark or just don't really fit right.  It's hard to tell at this point.  But it should be a neat color palette for me.  As I'm sure you know, generally I don't work exclusively with neutrals.

And while I'm waiting for my new Art Beads blogging package, I've also been working on this piece again.

I really don't have the patience to work on one delica cuff with no breaks for other projects right now, but it's nice to have one to pick up when I have a few minutes.  It's much easier to do this than get out my cross-stitch or try to squeeze in one small section of a right angle weave piece.  So slowly but surely, I am getting this piece finished.

In other creative endeavors, I made chocolate chip cookie bars this week for one of the conference nights at school.  My floor is cooking the meal for all of us teachers, and of course, I signed up for dessert because I still love baking over all other kinds of cooking.  You can get this recipe here.  I left out the nuts this time.

I also had my ever present little helper to assist with my most recent photo taking sessions.

organization and a sneak peak

As part of our effort to clean and organize our condo before we will most likely move in June, I have been organizing my beads.  We have a lot of random things stored in shoe boxes.  I'm trying to get rid of those.  I used several large craft organizers in my classroom the first couple years I had my current position.  I don't anymore so I took them home.  My goal is to get all of my beads, buttons, and findings into proper craft organizers and throw my remaining current craft supplies (E-6000, extra pliers, etc.) into a couple small storage bins.

Needless to say, this is easier said than done, especially because I would rather be crafting than organizing.  I'm planning to organize most beads as I go, filing them into their new homes after I finish projects instead of throwing them back into shoe boxes.  I organized my findings first because they were honestly the easiest part of the task to accomplish.

The Czech glass and more specialized components (handmade ceramic buttons, etc.) will be pretty easy to organize, too.  I'm going to keep working at it slowly.  The buttons won't be too bad either once I get a color system going.  I'm not positive how I'm going to sort my seed beads.  I figure I'll save that for last and see how my storage space looks when I get there.

I organized my living room work space last weekend before my in-laws came for a last minute visit.  This way some people can believe that this is how I normally have my current/next in line projects organized on that table.  (Anyone who does any sort of crafting knows what a funny idea that is.)

You'll notice that we still have the castle walls on that same table.  When we gave our second TV to my little sister-in-law this winter, I was able to relocate most of our smaller plaster pieces to the mantle, but I don't know where we're going to put the walls when it's time to sell our place.

Finally, here's a sneak peak of one of my current projects.  I have so much finished, not yet listed inventory right now that I haven't taken too many "in progress" pictures lately, but the process pictures can be just as fascinating as the finished pictures.  This is an idea that I've had for literally almost a year (although the metal shank button clasp was a more recent addition to the overall idea) and I'm finally using some of the beads that I bought almost that long ago to make it happen.

I'm also planning to remake this bangle design when I've finished, which has an almost identical color palette.

earring cards, metallic bangle redone

I started asking around for general advice about earring cards on both the EBW message board and the EtsyBloggers forum thread a couple weeks ago. I got a lot of great tips about them from both groups. Thank you to everyone who did respond! Sharla (BeadedTail) suggested that maybe Edi (memoriesforlifesb) could make something for me. Edi very generously offered not only to make some for me but to create a custom design. We worked together to figure out what background/lettering/etc. and sizes I wanted. You can see Edi's sweet blog post about it by clicking here.

The cards came today, and I had to take a picture of them, too.
Thank you again Edi! :) I am so excited about how they turned out! Thank you to all who left wonderful comments about them on Edi's blog. I hope that others who view them here like them as well. I ordered rubber earwire backs from Art Beads today to secure my dangles on their cards (and for anyone who might want some when they purchase their earrings).

I completed the last couple items that needed to be reworked for my old custom order last night. Here's the new metallic bangle that will be on its way tomorrow.
This means that the original, smaller version is available again (although as always, I'm happy to create something in a different size for you). I took new pictures of it this weekend for my Etsy shop. Click on the picture to check out the listing.