the making of a rainbow

During the last few weeks I've shown a couple pictures of the process behind my latest button embellished bracelet.  I'm pulling it all together for you now.

When I've made this design in the past, I have not sorted my beads like this.  It made a huge difference.

I took some special in progress shots of this piece for a 2012 craft show application.  I won't find out if I get into this show until sometime in late spring or early summer, but I'll keep you updated.

Here it is completed.

It's available right here.  I have a longer version available as well.

Since I got the listing up and running again, it's gotten tons of views and hearts.  I also recently sold a custom version of my all green version of this piece, which has inspired me to pull out buttons to remake a couple older button embellished designs.  Look for purple and orange/yellow later this spring.

What have you been working on lately?

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I included this post in Michelle's Delicately Constructed Friday 3/16/12 and Erika's It's a Wrap Link Party 3/19/2012.

another edition of why I love my customers

I've had a couple custom orders this month.  Almost all of my custom jewelry orders thus far have been really positive.  I love working with customers to design exactly what they want.  These pieces often get me to try color combinations that I would not have tried on my own.  These recent orders were no exception.

The first order was from a return customer who had ordered a custom set for herself back in April.  She wanted custom sets of bracelets, pendants, and earrings of this design for her four granddaughters.  It took us a few days to finalize the designs and specifications.  Each set is tailored specifically to the recipient with custom lengths.

Here are the four bracelets.  You can click on any of the pictures in this post to see the larger versions.

 

I'd never made earrings or pendants for this design before.  I'm pretty pleased with the result.  Here are the earrings.  One of the girls can't wear pierced earrings so I designed a clip on pair for her.  I also rigged up a way to attach them to my earring cards.

 

Finally, here are the pendants.

 

I included a pair of my Christmas button post earrings for each of the girls.  Again, since one of the girls, can't wear pierced earrings, I designed a pair of clip on Christmas earrings for her.

Many of you probably don't know that I actually don't have pierced ears.  This was the first time that I've designed clip on earrings, and it was pretty fun.  Maybe I'll design some for myself sometime.

The other custom order that I got this month was at the craft fair that I did.  She wanted a button embellished design in a specific length with purple and blue buttons.

Blue and purple are two of my favorite colors.  I can't believe that I never thought of pairing them for this design.  I found enough buttons to make a second version as well.  I don't know if I'm going to list it before my last show so if you're interested, let me know.

I included this post in Michelle's Delicately Constructed Friday 11/25.

two remakes and a sunny treasury

I rolled out a couple remakes over the weekend.

I picked out the buttons for this ages ago.  But I was kind of reluctant to put it together.  I love the original version of this and the original pictures of it.  They were some of the first really good outdoor pictures that I ever took.  So I didn't want to take them off Etsy.  But that was a long time ago, and while this new version doesn't have the cool square buttons the original did, it's still great.  And the new pictures are better.  It's available here.

This version of my own fringed skinny cuff design has been pretty popular.  So I keep making new ones.  This is the first time that I've used bright red in it.  It's tough to keep bright red from popping too much in pictures, but I like this slightly brighter look.  This one is available here.

Also, Ana (nanouke) included my Beaded Cuff Bracelet - Fringed - Champagne Party in her Sunny Days! treasury.  Thanks Ana!

custom button order

Over the weekend, I completed a couple of custom pieces for a lovely Etsy buyer.  She saw a couple designs in my shop and wanted longer versions of them.  Here they are.

She was very pleased with the pictures.  Hopefully she'll be just as pleased (if not more so) with the results in person.  I'm very happy with them, too.  The original versions as well as the other pieces in my button embellished line (along with the pattern for it) are available in my Etsy shop here.

Also, these are some of the first pictures that I've taken with my light box since I set it up again, which involved changing the lighting angle slightly.  I think that it's working out really well.

Bead Trends February 2011

One of my designs is in the February 2011 edition of Bead Trends magazine!  I submitted this back in the summer, got accepted early in the fall, and just got the magazines and other goodies in the mail this past week.

Here are the magazines.  I got two free copies.

I also got a $20 gift certificate to Fire Mountain Gems as well as my returned bracelet.

Here's a close up of the spread.  If any of you get Bead Trends, it's pages 108-109.

I took a close up of the spread for the Etsy item listing, too.

Now that the issue is out, I'm allowed to list the bracelet so it's available on Etsy here.

This is the first version that I've done with this design using metal buttons.  My mom found a whole bunch of these vintage buttons for me at Vogue a while back. I made one other bracelet like this back in the summer, which I almost immediately sold to a family friend. I don't have any more buttons exactly like this, which is too bad, because they're amazing.  I also love the clasp button.  I used one other one like it on this piece.  I might have one or two more left, but that's it.  So I'll have to keep hunting for small metal buttons.

For those of you who are beaders and who are not interested in subscribing to the magazine or buying this issue off the stand, the pattern is available here.  Personally I think that patterns are a lot easier to work through with pictures, which obviously the magazine doesn't really provide.  And if you don't already subscribe, buying the single pattern is a lot cheaper.  Thus ends my little plug for it. :)

Also, for those of you who are beaders, Bead Trends is always accepting submissions for future issues here.  I'd like to get a couple more designs in for the summer issues that they're accepting for now.  I'm really amazed that they took one of my first submissions and hope that they're take others in the future, too.

great Etsy day, treasury feature

Do you remember how I finished my custom cuff last week?  The woman who bought it is actually the bride.  She got the cuff today and loved it so much that she decided to order the jewelry for all of her bridesmaids and flower girls (6 girls/women total) from me!  I came back from work to find the order completed.  Two of the bracelets are made to order which works out perfectly because I can custom fit them for the flower girls.

That's the surprise coordinated piece that I created for the bride.  Now that she's seen it, you can all see it, too. :) I'll post more details about that order as I finish the made to order items and get everything ready.  I am even more pysched about her color scheme than I was before.

Also, thanks to Edi's post a while back about Alchemy, I've been bidding on items here and there over the last month.  I won two of my bids from this past week and committed to them today!  I think I've worked out most of the details for both of them now.  I'm waiting for their payments to go through before I do anything else.  Those of you who are bead weavers, if you haven't already seen my posts about pearls in the EBW forums and have any experience with them in relation to bead weaving (particularly RAW), please let me know.  I can complete the bead weaving without any problem.  I just want some advice about my materials before I get started because this is a little bit of a new territory for me.  Thanks!  I'll post more details on those projects, too, as they continue to develop.

Finally, my fellow EBW member Jane-Michael (JaneMichel) included my Beadwoven Bracelet - Button Embellished - Rainbow in her Rainbows treasury.

What an amazing start to the week!  I hope that everyone's week has started off well, too. :)

sneak peaks, back in stock

As promised, I have a couple sneak peaks of new projects.

Now that I have a few more yellow leaf beads, I'm ready to make my next Indian Summer leafy bracelet.  I'll probably start working on it tonight or tomorrow.

This is my newest Bargello Ribbon cuff from Carol Dean's pattern (SandFibers).  The embellishment was my own idea, though.  This cuff will be for sale at some point.

I also restocked a couple pieces on Etsy tonight.  I made a new version of my green button embellished right angle bracelet, which is the bracelet that I used for my newest PDF pattern pictures.  I still have a lot of work to do before I finish the pattern, but the step by step pictures are done (not edited but taken at least) which is a huge component.

I'm going to retake pictures of a couple other button embellished cuffs this week for the final page of the pattern so I'll be updated some of those other listings soon, too.

Finally, I made a new version of my blue striped peyote triangle earrings.  They have had a huge following on Flickr already.  Hopefully I'll sell another pair in person or on Etsy at some point.  I'm still working on the propped pictures in my light box, but I think that the flat pictures of these earrings turned out pretty well.

October EBW Challenge, new listing, Etsy purchase

The October EBW Challenge Super Power Jewelry voting is up and running! You can vote on the EBW blog from today through October 15. http://etsy-beadweavers.blogspot.com/ The entries are wonderful as always.

I listed another button embellished right angle bracelet tonight. I'd like to do a remake of my red and purple button embellished design next.

I got the first of several recent Etsy purchases in the mail today. It is this wonderful wristlet from Janine King Designs. I prefer to carry a small purse and was in need of a new one. I have had a hard time finding something small, but this one is perfect. Yes, I really will be able to fit everything that I need into this bag. It is VERY well constructed. The padding is amazing, and the zipper is very securely attached. I am confident that it will have a long life span.

I finished my bright red and orange leafy bracelet that I posted the sneak peak of earlier this week. Hopefully I will get some good lighting this weekend to take pictures of it.

new listings

I have a couple new listings up. The first is my final (for now) new rainbow creation. I made two different versions of it.

A shorter one which I photographed in about the best lighting ever.

A longer one that I photographed in less than desirable lighting but is still an equally neat piece of jewelry. I'm still getting used to the fact that the large amount of sunlight that worked really well with my old camera now creates overexposure very easily with the new camera.

While I still had part of my rainbow mix in my bowl, I created this simple double stranded right angle weave bracelet.


I have had considerably more time for beading this week than I did the week before and will have a couple more pieces to list by the weekend, assuming that I can get some good natural light photographs by then.

more new listings, personal collection jewelry

I've been on a roll with new listings lately. I want to get everything that I've made so far this summer listed before I head out of town in a couple weeks. Once I get back into town, I'll be starting the new school year (less than 4 weeks away *sigh*). The more I can do now, the better!


As you can see, I gave into my weakness for stripes.

Twice!

The last bracelet is one of two pieces that I made for myself recently. I decided to list it as a made to order item. Here is a picture of both personal pieces.

Making jewelry has really expanded the color palette that I enjoy wearing on a regular basis. I never would have picked the pinks in the striped bracelet a couple years ago, but now I love it. :)

a new button embellished bracelet

I've been having more fun making new pieces and sharing them with people in person so I haven't posted many new items lately even though I have some ready to go. However, I did put this new button embellished bracelet up today.


This is another item that fulfilled part of my recent purple and red fixation. The square red buttons that I used are from my mom's button collection (which she kindly let me raid back at Thanksgiving). I honestly don't know how old they are. They could be from either my mom's mom or one of my dad's grandmas. I think that they're really neat, though.