"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.

April EBW Challenge piece and a new pattern

This post is also for the EtsyBloggers blog carnival about spring.  One of the first signs of spring for me is always when little plants just start poking out of the ground.  That was the look that I wanted to capture with this piece for the April EBW Challenge Spring Around the corner.  It's available on Etsy here.

There were two "challenges" for me.  This is a design that I've been using for over two years now so I needed something to make this a true challenge piece.  The first challenge is that I used a metal clasp instead of a button or bead closure.

This looks very easy, and in theory, it is.  There is nothing complicated about the beadwork for this clasp.  However, it's tricky to leave enough slack so that the toggle can move freely into the loop without adding a lot of extra length to the bracelet.

The second challenge was that I finally wrote the pattern for this design.  As I've said before, I've been making this design for over two years and had attempted but failed to write the pattern once before.  I was determined to get it this time, and I did.  It's available here.

The pattern includes directions for a button clasp as well.  This pattern is amazingly versatile.  Changing the color palette and fringe bead size/amount can completely change the look.  Using lots of chunky colorful beads can create a fun, casual look while using a smaller, simpler selection of neutral or more coordinated colors can create a more sophisticated look.

another garden dagger piece

I keep saying that I'm almost done listing my dagger pieces.  But this really is the last one for now.  It's available here.  Someone has to buy one before I invest in any more dagger beads!

I started over with the fringe three times before I finally got a color balance that I liked.  Too much green and red made the purple disappear almost entirely.  I realized that I hadn't created another dagger piece that had the same finish for all of the daggers, and it's tough.  I still wish that the purple were a little more vivid, but overall, I'm happy with it.  It's darker than my other garden dagger piece.  Hopefully it will be just as popular.

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!

challenge title revealed

I finally decided on a name for my 80's bangle for the March EBW Challenge Fashion Through the Ages and listed it on Etsy.  Thank you so much to everyone who gave me suggestions!  Some of the ideas that I got included the following:

I almost called it Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, but I wanted something a little more original.  So it's now known as Beaded Bangle Bracelet - A Material Girl's True Colors for Madonna's Material Girl and Cyndi Lauper's True Colors.

I used the same right angle weave base for this bangle that I do for all of my right angle bangles, but I used so much embellishment that you really can't tell.  The mix and vividness of colors was my main focus was I put beads together.  I didn't find quite as many neon shades as I wanted, but I'm still pleased with the overall brightness.  Of course I also wanted to include some daggers so there are three different colors of small daggers in the mix.  The tear drop shapes are from Shannon (beadsandbabble).  My fellow EtsyBlogger Deb suggested that I make a turquoise bangle like this sometime, which would be awesome, too!

Voting for this challenge will take place on the EBW blog in a couple weeks.  I'll have more information about it then.

Also, Theresa (TiLTcreations) included my Beaded Bracelet - Button Embellished - Green in her Green Etsybloggers treasury this week.  Thanks Theresa!

daggers are popping up again

I listed another dagger piece this week: Beaded Cuff Bracelet - Dagger Fringed Neutral.

A few of these beads are samples that I got from Shannon (beadsandbabble).  She doesn't have any like them listed now, but they have amazing leopard-ish (but darker colors) detail.  Most of the other daggers are from Art Beads that I've been slowly collecting with a few others pieces thrown into the mix.

I know that I usually stick to lots of colors but neutral pieces can be amazing, too.  I'll be listing two more dagger pieces in the next couple weeks.  Then I need people to start buying from this lovely new line so I can keep purchasing more daggers!

Also on the subject of daggers, Glenda and April (rougeriverbeads) included my Beaded Cuff Bracelet - Dagger Fringed - Fall in their Natural Beauty treasury this week.

new line (with the pattern) is up and running

My new dagger fringed line is officially up and running!  You got a sneak peak of it during my Art Beads winter piece post, but now they're up for sale.  I actually listed (and sold) the first one at the end of 2010.  I'd had those blue daggers sitting around FOREVER because they were awesome, but I had no idea exactly how I wanted to create a full fringed cuff.  When I finally did put it together, I completely fell in love with it.  This may be like another version of my leaf obsession.

So I got a bunch of new daggers and have been creating new dagger pieces since Christmas.  I decided to list the one that I made for the pattern since I listed the pattern at the same time I listed this first piece.  Here it is: Beaded Cuff Bracelet - Fringed - Fall.  (Wrong time of year I know, but these colors are so gorgeous that they'll carry you through any season.)

The majority of the Czech dagger beads in this bracelet are from Etsy's own TheDespinaCollection.  She does not have a huge selection of dagger beads, but the ones that she does have are amazing.  There are a couple sets I haven't ordered yet, but I most likely will at some point in the future.

I have blue (similar to the original), a couple garden that are garden themed, and neutrals ready to go that'll be up throughout February.  That's all I have planned at this point, but as always, I'm open to other suggestions.  And for now, here is the pattern. :)

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. 

coming soon

I've been working on a brand new line...

I actually made a blue version earlier this year, which was more of an experiment than anything else.  Now I'm fully developing this as a little line for my shop.  As you can see above, I have three finished.  I have three more planned as well.  So stay tuned.  They will be available in the near future.  I would love to write a pattern for this at some point, too.  I have seen other dagger fringed bracelets before, but not with a peyote cube base like I've used with my design.

Also, Jennifer (JuljuBoutique) included my Beaded Bracelet - Pineapple Upside Down Cake in her Pineapple Pineapple Pineapple treasury this week.  So refreshing in the winter!

new listing, new treasury

I listed my Peyote Cuff Bracelet - Fringed - Blue Peacock this afternoon.  I still have a handful of older items to list, but I've been so excited about this piece that I didn't want to wait any longer to list it.  So here it is.

I had SO much fun with the dagger beads.  I have done a couple smaller fringed pieces with dagger beads before but never one that's covered like this.  I have a few blue ones left over from this project and a handful of black and white ones, but that's it.  I've thought about doing a smaller black and white one for a while, but now that I've done my full blown blue one, I'd really like to do a full blown neutral one.  There are a few supply sellers on Etsy that have daggers (namely beadsandbabble).  The best supplier that I've found so far for bulk quantities is BEADINPATH.  They have a nice variety, like this gorgeous red set (I know that's not a neutral but they're still awesome).  I haven't bought anything...yet.  We'll see how long I hold out.  I'm still working through all of my planned leafy projects, which will keep me preoccupied for a while longer.

On a different subject, I curated a new treasury last night.  Normally I theme treasuries around specific colors and I include as many team members from EBW and/or EtsyBloggers as possible.  I went for something completely different this time.  Let me know what you think.

Fall Plaid

Farmer's Market wrap up, new listing

The Iowa City Farmer's Market went pretty well today.  I didn't have nearly the kind of sales that I did at the Arts Festival, but I did have enough sales to make it worth my time.

Among other sales, I sold these earrings that I hadn't even listed yet on Etsy.

I did remember to take a few pictures while I was there.

I broke up my two card tables for the Farmer's Market, which did help bring people into my booth and look at all of the items more than at the Arts Festival.  People really didn't look at many of items that were in the middle back portion of my table during the Arts Festival.  So it was good to see that this helped.  Ideally I think I would like to have a longer table with one or two shorter side tables to create more visual interest, but this works pretty well for now.  I can only make so many upgrades to my display for each show.  You can see the cinder blocks in the back, which Jake helped me tie up this morning.  They worked very well.  As you can also see from this picture, the weather was gorgeous.  It got a little hot toward the end of the morning, but I can't complain otherwise.

Here's the stash of buttons magnet that I brought, minus a few from the first button magnet sale.  The easel was on of my few additions to this show.  It worked wonderfully for drawing people to the magnets and inviting them to pick them up.  Unfortunately it kept tipping over, even after I taped it down so I eventually put it down.  The easel will still be great for indoor shows.  The star and heart magnets were very popular again.  I'm planning to make more of them as well as more Christmas magnets (you can see a few in there now) for my fall shows.

Here are the button earring studs that I had out for the show (this is about half of them).  The water damage on a couple of the cards is from all of the rain at the Arts Festival.  I was surprised that NONE of these sold today.  They still got a lot of compliments.  Hopefully they'll continue to sell in the future.

There will almost definitely be openings for the Farmer's Market again this summer.  I may do it again at least once.  I don't think it's worth the effort more often than that because I'm not going to have repeat customers the way the food vendors are.

I listed another new item today: black and pink fringed peyote cuff.

As I'm sure you already know, I love the pink/black color combination.  I set the beads for it together in a bag quite a while ago.  I finally got inspired to complete it after I made Sharla's raspberry cuff back in March.  I love how it turned out!

I hope that everyone has a wonderful Fourth of July!  Jake and I are spending it with some extended family, but I'll still be checking in at random over the next couple days.

raspberry filled fringed peyote cuff

Since I sold the most recent version of the leafy series - autumn, I've been searching for new copper/bronze/gold leaves for a new version. Both of the larger leaves in the one pictured in that listing are no longer available. The best thing that I've found so far are these gold Czech pressed leaves from Fusion Beads. I know that this wouldn't be the same, but do you think it would still work well for this design? I love my vibrant autumn version, but I'd like to continue the original autumn design, too.

I completed my custom order for Sharla (BeadedTail) this week. She wanted a bracelet/cuff that would coordinate with her raspberry filled peyote triangle earrings that she won from me in a blog giveaway. This is what we worked together to design. It will be on its way to her tomorrow or Thursday!




She has already enjoyed the photos. Hopefully she will enjoy the cuff even more in person. :)