"What's Old is New Again" Art Beads design partners piece

Typically I complete my Art Beads pieces about three weeks after the themes are announced.  I got the initial e-mail for the spring theme at the very end of March and didn't complete my piece until this past Sunday.  The size for one of my bead sets was mislabeled on the Art Beads site.  It took a couple weeks to get a new set of something similar in the right size.  I've also been busy with custom orders (no complaints there!) and all of the moving and graduation stuff.  But I finished it and am really happy with the result.

The theme for the Art Beads design partners is "What's Old is New Again."  We were supposed to use any old or vintage inspired components with or without new components to create a brand new piece.  I didn't have any initial idea for the theme.  I started browsing the suggested site categories and came across these patina daggers in the glass beads category.  I'm sure that it's no surprise that I was immediately drawn to them.  I've been eying some similar ones in Shannon's shop for a while, but hadn't bought any yet.  This was the perfect opportunity to use them.  The whole set with orange, lime, turquoise, and purple reminded me of the 70's, which fit perfectly for this theme, so I decided to go with it.

Once I was set on the patinas, I hunted through my own bead stash for cube and seed beads in coordinating colors.  I supplied all of these myself, although three of the cube bead sets were ones that I'd purchased from Art Beads on my own.  You can see my sneak peak post about this here.  I filled in the patina daggers with orange, lime, and transparent green daggers.  I love the dagger beads on Art Beads, but as I've posted about here before, it's cheaper to buy them in bulk elsewhere.  Usually I get a few unusual designs from Art Beads and fill them in with bulk solid colors.

This is the first dagger bracelet that I've made with side fringe.  I used coordinating orange and lime pressed Czech glass beads, along with the seed beads, with the same technique that I use for my other skinny fringed/embellished bracelets.  If you want links for the specific Czech glass that I used in this piece, let me know.

Art Beads has several awesome triangle clasps in their clasp category.  I choose this one because it was vintage inspired and has the circles on it, which mirror the ones on the patinas.  Normally I would have used a button from my own collection, but we need two product categories for our pieces, so this was a perfect way to make that happen.

I decided to name the piece after That '70s Show.  I thought that this would be appropriate as I grew up in the 80's and got my inspiration for this retro color combination from my own generation's pop culture.

I love the way the colors came together in this piece.  I also love the side fringe.  I think that the size and shape of the beads that I chose worked really well as a little border.  I may experiment with similar fringe in the future.

It's available here.  I collected some new green daggers in the process of making this bracelet so I'm planning an all green dagger bracelet in the future.  That's the only dagger piece that I have in the works right now, but as always I'm open to other suggestions.

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.

winter Art Beads piece

For the winter Art Beads piece for the design partner program, we were allowed to choose any components that we wanted from the Art Beads site for a winter piece.  An idea came to mind for a winter piece about 24 hours after I got my e-mail.  I ordered my beads right away.  You can see the components that I used here.

As I mentioned in my post with the components, this piece is part of my new line.  I have to be honest: I am keeping this one.  But I am starting to list other pieces from the line in my shop.  I'll have a post about that and the pattern for the line later this week (or you can go to my shop now if you can't wait to see what's already available).  And as always, if anyone wants one with this particular color scheme, please let me know.  I'm always happy to do custom orders.

All of the beads that I selected for this piece are from the glass beads section of Art Beads.  I used Toho cube beads and Czech dagger beads.  The majority of the beads in the piece are from Art Beads with a few others from my personal collection thrown into the mix.  If you want to know any of the specific colors that I used, please let me know.  I'll be honest again: I DO order a lot of my Toho cubes from Art Beads.  I normally DON'T order my dagger beads from Art Beads.  I order them elsewhere in bulk.  But I watch for sales on Art Beads.  Throwing a few of their patterned daggers into a mix with solid color opaques and AB finishes can add a wonderful hint of detail.

I selected two "special" components for this piece.  Most of my dagger fringed bracelets won't have these, but I thought it would be a neat touch with this mix.  The first component is a button from their Swarovski collection.  As you know, I love all buttons.  The Swarovski buttons are pretty cool.  The second component is a sterling silver charm from their charm collection.  You can find that charm right here.  I normally order silver plated charms because they're considerably cheaper.  However, sometimes I like to splurge on some higher end pieces through the design program.  I'm a sucker for heart jewelry (such a cliche I know).  I don't go overboard with floral themes in my life because that would be pretty corny for obvious reasons, but I thought the rose here would be a subtle touch for this piece.

I love how the color theme came together for this piece.  I didn't make this at the same time as my winter leafy bracelet, but it has a very similar feel.  I still have a lot of the cubes left so I will most likely make something else with a similar color scheme at some point.

Here's a posed shot with the clasp showing so you can see how that comes together.

And here's a shot with it turned the way that you would normally wear it so you can see how the daggers will hang.

I am currently in the middle of writing the pattern for my dagger design with the cube base.  I'm hoping to release it around the same time that I start rolling out the new line on Etsy.

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. 

in the right season

As I'm sure a lot of you already know, I don't always make jewelry pieces that coordinate with the current season.  So I'm really proud that I'm getting all of this together in the winter!

I got my newest stash from Art Beads through their blogging design program this week.  We were allowed to pick any items that we wanted to create a winter piece.

It will be part of my new line that I blogged about earlier this month.  I'm very excited about it.  I used to maximize my number of choices for the blogging program and get lots of smaller items.  Lately I've been trying to splurge on some nicer pieces.  Thus, I chose to include the Swarovski button and sterling silver charm on the left.  I'll have more details about all of that in the near future.

I finally took pictures of my newest leafy bracelet: Beaded Bracelet - The Leafy Series - Winter.  It's available in two different sizes.  They're very similar and both awesome.  Both of these pictures are of the smaller version.

The clear blue and silver leaf beads that I used in this design are from Shannon (beadsandbabble).  I've mentioned her here before, but if you haven't checked out her shop yet, please go over there.  Also, the pattern for my leafy bracelet is available here.

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. 

Art Beads fall piece

For the fall Art Beads design partner program, we were asked to create a piece of jewelry that utilized colors from the Fall 2010 Pantone Fashion Color Report.  I'd been wanting to make a new version of my Natural Sparkle design for a while.  Some of the more neutral shades from the report fit into this design perfectly.

I used two different kinds of Swarovski beads and gorgeous tiger's eye beads from the Art Beads Gemstone section.  I normally don't spring for larger/more expensive items when it comes to beads, even when it's through the blog program because I still like to make my money go as far as possible, but I decided that it would be worth it with the tiger's eye.  It definitely was.  I have a handful left, which I'm sure will go to good use at some point.

I also used some of my free sample beads from Shannon (beadsandbabble) including a few from this lovely Czech mix and this other neat Czech mix that she offers as well as some of her seed bead strands (if you want specific information for those, let me know).  Thanks Shannon!

The drilled sea glass pieces are from Kristina (akkricket).  I'm a little embarrassed that it's taken me this long to use them, but I'm so glad that I finally did.  I have some single drilled pieces, too, that I'm planning to use for another Natural Sparkle bracelet.

I'm sure that some of you know this by now, but the ceramic button is from Lisa (LisaPetersArt).  This is the fifth bracelet that I've made with one of Lisa's buttons.  I've sold three with her buttons.  The only one that's left besides this is my Fall Autumn Explosion piece.  I'm planning to use another Lisa button for my next Natural Sparkle bracelet.  I have a few other buttons in my stash, too (not that that will stop me from buying more in the future, too, of course).

This piece is available in my Etsy shop.  You can view it by clicking here.  As always, if you're interested in something similar but in a different size or with slightly different colors, etc. please let me know.

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.

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.

the newest leafy design

I'm posting my spring Art Beads piece later than most people have been, but it's here! I've been wanting to make another spring version of my leafy design, and this was the perfect opportunity to do that. I have had a couple components for this bracelet for quite a while and pulled them together with some pressed Czech glass beads, specifically the leaf beads. It's no secret that I love Czech glass. These beads did not disappoint! Although I did not use any other Czech glass from Art Beads in this piece, in the past I have used Czech glass from their Limited Edition Glass Beads section. Some of the corner drilled cubes from the leafy series - modern that I posted yesterday are from one of the glass mixes in that section.

The other really neat thing about this piece is that I used one of Lisa Peters's ceramic leaf beads for the clasp. I still have one more leaf like this. I think it would be neat to use the other leaf as the clasp for a peyote cuff. I've been pondering what embellishment would work for a cuff like that all weekend.

I don't have my new leafy piece listed on Etsy yet, but here are the pictures of it. Enjoy! If anyone wants to reserve it now, please let me know. The original sale version of the leafy series - spring (the original not for sale version is mine) is also still available on Etsy here.




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.

couple new listings, Saturday progress

I actually put this first listing up yesterday, but it totally slipped my mind to post about it here.


I took pictures of these beads at two different times, and both times they came out really dark. They have the same purples that I used in my purple beaded leaf earrings. I know that those photographs also turned out pretty dark. However, if you look at the third photo in that listing, you'll get a better idea what the beads really look like. They would work wonderfully for earrings, a bracelet, or necklace. They also make neat jewelry toggles.

I listed this new pair of earrings just a few hours ago.

Believe it or not, this was the first time that I attempted single drop peyote stitch with delicas. I had mixed single and double and done single with larger beads like size 8 Tohos, but never done a straight single with delicas. I am really pleased with the overall look of these earrings. I may make something similar again the future, but I don't have any specific colors in mind at this point.

I got all of the beads in the earrings through the Art Beads blogging program. These are actually from my Valentine's Day stash. I still haven't gotten to a project with my spring stash! These earrings include beads from the Swarovski section and the seed beads section, specifically the Miyuki delicas.

Jake and I got a new washing machine today. (We actually bought it last weekend but waited to have it delivered until today so I wouldn't have to take off work.) I've only done one load in the last two weeks so I've been playing catch up! While that's been going on, I did some gluing work for new earring studs, magnets, and tacks before it started raining this afternoon. I also finished the second of two pendants in my color explosion scheme that are currently listed as "made to order" items in my Etsy shop. I thought it was worth restocking them. Finally, I started working with Sharla (BeadedTail) on a custom bracelet to coordinate with her raspberry filled peyote triangle earrings! It will be a skinny fringed cuff like this one. She just okayed the beads that I picked out so I'll share them here.

I'm excited to start working on that this week. :)

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.

packages

We awoke this morning to a blanket of fresh SNOW. Predicted, yes. Still upsetting.


Thankfully, as you can see in the photo, the roads were not frozen so the driving conditions were good today. Also, I took that picture a little over five hours ago, and most of it has melted since then. It's still a little depressing in mid/late March. Hopefully the weather forecast will stay true and it will warm right up again. It was 60 on Thursday!

I received several packages in the mail this week. The first was my latest set of beads from ArtBeads through their blogging program. We were allowed to pick anything from their site this time with the intention of making at least one spring piece from it. With this current order, I now have way more than enough beads to put together another leafy spring piece like my original version.


Besides the leaves, my newest stash includes delicas and Tohos. When I lined up my delicas, I realized how much I love the opaque espresso pearls with lime. The color possibilities never end!

I also got my newest selection of ceramic buttons from Lisa (LisaPetersArt) (all paid for through jewelry sales!). I purchased several from her Etsy site, and then she was kind of enough to photograph some of her smaller unlisted pieces and let me choose what I wanted.

I love all of them, but I think that the triangles are especially cool. So unique!

Finally, in unrelated jewelry topics, I got my first shipment of Proactiv.
I just started it today so nothing yet, but I'll let you know how it goes. I'm hopeful. I haven't been to a derm in over 3 years, but if this doesn't do the trick, I will look for one out here this summer.

I hope that everyone's having a good weekend! :)

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.

second earring listing

This is the last day for $1.00 shipping with no charges on additional items in my Etsy shop! Take advantage of it while you can!

My second earring listing is up and running. Check it out!
I made these earrings with trans AB lt green/pink delicas from my most recent Art Beads blogging order. I have used this color in some of my other recent green combinations for different pieces, too. I like them so much on their own, though, that I wanted them to stand alone here. These beads are part of Art Beads's transparent AB delicas category. This particular item is on sale for St. Patrick's Day! You can check it out, along with lots of other wonderful green items, in their St. Patrick's Day section.

Stay tuned tomorrow for my March deal in my Etsy shop, and stay tuned on Tuesday for a feature/giveaway that Heather (Joy De Vivre Design) will be hosting for me on her blog. :)

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.

blog feature, new listing, latest blogging goodies

Shirley (funnysky) featured me on her blog yesterday! You can still check it out by clicking here. Thanks again, Shirley, for featuring me and thank you to everyone who has already commented on it!

I listed my newest random bracelet today. I have had this idea and all of the materials for it for quite a while, but it finally came together this month.



As some of you probably already know, I really like celestial themed items. Growing up, I had a black cat named Sky (short for Night Sky), and the theme has always stuck with me.

I got my newest blogging goodies in the mail this week. These are all from the Art Beads's Valentine's Day section.




My new stash includes lots of Czech glass hearts and four different delicas, three of which I've never had before. I'm going to include all of the neutral shade items in my neutral square stitch embellished bracelet. I have plans for a few of the other items, too, but not all of them (yet anyway).

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.

pink/red rock garden bracelet and other weekend projects

As promised, here is my pink/red rock garden bracelet that I listed today. :)


Red is one of my favorite colors. I enjoy incorporating it into my pieces all year round. So I didn't plan for this to look like a Valentine's Day piece, but it works well with the holiday coming up! I really wanted to use the rose quartz chips and red coral chips together as soon as I got them. I was a little worried that the contrast would be too harsh, but other beads in contrasting pinks and reds in the bracelets pull everything together nicely. This is the first rock garden bracelets I've made that doesn't actually have any leaf beads in it. I have other Czech glass beads and cubic zirconia hearts mixed in with the rose quartz and coral.

Unfortunately that ones that I used in this bracelet are currently out of stock, but there are lots of other colors still in stock in the cubic zirconia Valentine's Day section. I just put my latest blogging order in this weekend, which also included some of the hearts from the Czech glass Valentine's Day section. I'll post more details about my full order and all of my plans for my new hearts later.

Since last night, I've taken and edited pictures of my newest leafy bracelet, completed a new celestial themed bracelet, and put together partial mixes for several new pieces. During the week when I don't have as much time to work on jewelry, I sometimes get frustrated when I spend most of a night resorting beads from an old project, then sorting beads for a new one, and not having much time for the actual assembly of a new piece. Hopefully having new project mixes already partially assembled will help this process go a little quicker during the week.

Today I also did some baking. I made bread pudding and monster cookies. I'd never heard of monster cookies before I moved to Iowa, but they're very tasty. Different people's recipes vary, but the recipe I use (which Jake got from one of his research co-workers in the summer of 2008) has oatmeal, chocolate chips, peanut butter, and M&Ms.




I start student teaching (in my own classroom) and my last master's class tomorrow. That means that things will be that much crazier than usual until the end of April, but then I have ALL of my coursework for my master's finished!

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.