vintage buttons, Angel, leaf earrings

As promised, here are the vintage buttons that I got in Chicago earlier this week at Vogue.

I got all of the large white buttons because I'm planning to make a fall tree at some point.  They'll be great for part of the base layer of buttons.  Do you remember my Christmas button tree?  It will be similar to that.  I'd like to make another version of my Button Charm Bracelet - Two-Hole Button Explosion with some of the colorful smaller buttons.  I know it doesn't look like there are too many, but there are a lot of different colors buried in there.

I took a random picture of Angel today so of course I'm going to share it here.  When we got our new sofa last fall, I moved some of the pillows into the bedroom that didn't coordinate with it and made a little set up for Angel.  Lately she prefers her kitty bed, but she still hangs out in this area, too, sometimes.

I listed my newest leafy earrings tonight: Beadwoven Dangle Earrings - Sterling Silver - Indian Summer Leaves.

I created these to coordinate with my Indian Summer leafy design after I created the custom Indian Summer necklace in July.

I'll go ahead and share my other new leaf earring design tonight, too.  I created this as a custom order this summer to coordinate with my fall gold design.  I beaded two pairs of the earrings at the time so I'd have another one to list here but then ended up selling it in person, too!  I will most likely make another one at some point and list it on Etsy.  If you'd like to request one sooner, let me know. :)

Busy Friday!

Lots going on!  The biggest thing this weekend is that the EtsyBloggers are having a team wide sale for our 3rd anniversary as a team.  You can view all of the sales here.  Approximately 50 shops are participating.  I'm offering FREE SHIPPING in my entire Etsy shop, include sale and custom items, today through Sunday.  I will do a few single day free shipping offers before the holidays, but this will be the longest free shipping sale for randomcreative for 2010.  So take advantage of it while you can!

I published my second beading PDF pattern yesterday.  This one is for my Button Embellished Beadwoven Bracelet design.  Check it out here.

You can view all of the button embellished beadwoven bracelets that are currently available for sale here.

As promised, I have a couple new leafy developments.  I reworked my Indian Summer design and updated the listing yesterday.

I want to mention that I normally use Aleene's Jewelry and Metal Glue for the knots on my leafy designs.  I don't normally glue my knots, but because this design is fairly weighty, I like to give it a little extra security.  The glue itself works pretty well, but the bottle is a bad design.  I always end up getting glue everywhere, and it's about as strong as super glue so it doesn't create a good situation.  Jake always keeps super glue around for his models so I tried Loctite super glue for this bracelet instead, which was much better.  Their bottle designs are amazing.  If any of you who bead weave need a glue for your weightier designers, I highly recommend it.

I'm working on a couple purple/pink leafy designs next.  Here's a sneak peak at the first one.

I haven't mentioned any non fiction books that I've been reading in quite a while.  I recently checked out Camera Creative: Professional Photography Techniques for Innovative Images by Chris Gatcum from the library.  For those of you who use a light box and/or enjoy experimenting with photo editing/lens/etc., this is a great resource.  I have gotten some excellent advice from it about my light box, as well as confirmation that some of the things that I'm already doing are good.

Finally, I found out that my pieces are featured in two new treasuries yesterday.  jessypatterson included my new Tortoiseshell Cat Button Charm Bracelet in her Steeped Tea treasury.

Fellow EtsyBlogger DevineDesignsJewelry included my Beaded Bracelet - Double Linked - Chocolate and Cream in her Etsy Bloggers 3rd Anniversary treasury.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Indian Summer

I finished my Indian Summer custom order necklace today.

I'm very pleased with the results.  Hopefully the recipient will be, too.  Personally I prefer lightweight necklaces, but the large cluster of leaves for a necklace is a very neat look.  If anyone is interested in a leafy necklace, you're welcome to put in a custom request like Jennie did.  I can base it off an existing leafy design or work with any color combination that suits you.

I also designed a coordinating pair of Indian Summer earrings today.  More details on those soon. :)

new listing, goodies from the weekend, custom order

As promised, I listed a new pair of earrings tonight: fall striped peyote triangle earrings.

These are my largest peyote triangle earrings thus far.  They're designed to coordinate with my Autumn Explosion peyote cuff.  I used the same color delicas for the base of the cuff and for the earrings.  The smaller size has done really well so far, but I may make a few more in this larger size as well.  Let me know what you think!

Also, as promised here are my new goodies from this weekend.

I put all of the loose buttons into the little ziplocks that had held one or two buttons from a particular garment.

There were a number of buttons, mostly neutral shades, on cards as well.

I can use a few of the smaller buttons on cards for earring studs.  A lot of the new neutral buttons will be great for a neutral button charm bracelet.  As you can see in the corner of the last shot, I also got some bells and large gold shank buttons.  One of my friends has an idea for a crazy button/general charm bracelet for one of her grandmas for Christmas that the buttons and shanks will be perfect for.  I am going to remake my original Christmas button charm bracelet while the Christmas in July sale is still going on, but I wasn't planning to include any bells in it (unless there's interest...).

I cannot resist buying Czech leaf beads when they are in bulk like this because they are SO much cheaper than when they're priced individually.  Briolette had tons of green leaves this weekend.  I already had a decent stash at home and wondered why I thought I needed just a few more.  It turns out that it's good that I did, though, because I got a custom order for the leafy series - Indian Summer as a necklace when I got back to Iowa.  Needless to say, I will need a lot of them!  I will post progress/final result pictures of how that goes.  This will definitely be a new endeavor for me.

at last - remake photos uploaded, green leafy sale completed

I finally upload the photos of my remade versions of the purple diamonds right angle bangle and double stranded purple ice right angle bracelet. I've been really into purple lately, but as many of you know, it's not the easiest color to photograph. I'm pretty pleased with the purple quality of both of these photos. I know that the background is overexposed on the first photo. I'm still learning how to create a nice light balance with my new camera. I am pleased with the clarity of the bangle in the photo, though.



I also completed my green leafy bracelet sale today. It was a custom order from one of my co-workers for her niece. Hopefully it will be well received. Here are a couple shots of it. The exposure is a little better in these shots. I may list it as a made to order piece on Etsy at some point.



It is not too late to vote for my Indian Summer piece! Thank you so much to those of you have already voted. If you haven't, please go over to the EBW blog and check out the challenge. http://etsy-beadweavers.blogspot.com. Voting is on the right side of the page. I'm #14. :)

September EBW Challenge

The voting is up and running for the September EBW Challenge. Please vote for my Indian Summer piece if you get a chance. Voting is on the right side of the blog between now and Sept. 15. http://etsy-beadweavers.blogspot.com/ I'm #14. Thank you!

Indian Summer challenge entry

I finished and photographed my September challenge piece last weekend. I listed it on Monday.


I was skeptical about these colors when I first started creating my bead mix, but I am very happy with the final result. The bead weaving process went very smoothly, which is not always the case with my leafy series. Once I set my mind to starting it, the process went quickly.

I finished the green leafy bracelet custom order this weekend. I may still try to photograph it this afternoon. My husband and I are going to a wedding tomorrow so I won't get much beading done then, but I still have lots of time tonight and Monday.