Get It Together With Tangerine Orange

I'm sharing my latest EBW Challenge piece in a slightly different format than usual.  I'm participating in Janet's Get It Together link up and sharing some other accessories and fashion picks that coordinate with my new piece.

The July EBW Challenge is Tangerine Tango for the 2012 Pantone Color of the Year.  This is such an inspired choice!  You can read more about it here.  I'm sure that many of you know how much I love orange.  I put together a bangle design similar to my 80's inspired A Material Girl's True Colors bangle that I created last year.

The sandals pick up on the orange without creating too much of a "matchy" look.  I love the deep red and the unique style.  You can dress these up or down for anything.

I picked a more casual skirt for summer that you can throw on without even thinking about it.  Isn't the little bird cute?

I try to branch out in my features and not pick the same sellers over and over again.  But I had to return to Madelynn's shop and select a set of stacking rings.  The orange bangle is so vivid that you don't need to overwhelm everyone with more orange jewelry.  Instead pair it with some other bright colors.

You have to click through to the listing to see all of the ways that you can style this versatile black wrap.

I continued to mix up the colors for this outfit with a purple necklace from one of my newest favorite shops.


The skirt and wrap will match so many different types of summer tops.  I have a hard time finding tank tops on Etsy that aren't really skimpy so I opted for a simple blue tree t-shirt instead.

I finished this outfit off with a rich green leather messenger bag.  Isn't that a unique piece?

My tangerine bangle is available on Etsy right here.  As always, if you'd like something similar in a different size or color palette, don't hesitate to ask.  Voting for the July EBW challenge starts on July 9.  Check back here then for more details.

Have you ever worked with tangerine materials?  What have you been creating lately?

I included this post in Michelle's Delicately Constructed Friday 6/29/12.

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.

Picasso challenge piece and PDF pattern

The October EBW Challenge theme is Inspired by Picasso.  You can read more about it here.  I am familiar with Picasso's more famous works but had really not studied any of his other work before.  There is a lot of it so it was fun familiarizing myself with lots of Picasso paintings and sketches.  I'm sure that it's not a surprise that the first thing that I gravitated toward was color.  I wanted to pick a piece with a lot of color, which is how I ended up choosing Mediterranean Landscape for my inspiration.

I posted a shot of it earlier but here it is again.  I got this picture from allposters.com.

You can read about how I selected and mixed my colors here.  Overall, I'm really pleased with how that process went, especially considering that I only used colors that I had in stock.  I didn't purchase anything new for this project.  There are a couple tiny things that I could have tweaked, but I still think that the general color palette and nature of the piece is fairly reflective of the original artwork.

I've now used the same right angle weave base and second layer for four EBW challenges in a row.  I'll briefly recap here so you can see how changing the final third layer, width, and color combinations can make such a big difference.

Strawberry Fields Forever is exactly the same design but wider.  I'll be honest: I was planning to make my Picasso piece the same width but decided I couldn't quite pull it off with some of the bead quantities I had.  Four columns instead of six is just fine and also results in a less expensive piece so hopefully that will be more appealing to some people.

After some deliberation, I did decide to add house and sail boat charms to the clasp.  They are easily removable if potential buyers aren't interested in them.  I do think that they add something for the challenge, though.

I thought that keeping the correct color balance with so many colors would be tricky, but I think that the selecting and mixing process got me oriented before I even started working.  I really didn't have any problems with this and didn't even have to refer back to my mixing chart like I thought I would.

This piece is available in my Etsy shop here.

As this was a design that I have worked with a lot over the last few months, the trickiest part of the challenge is that I decided to write the pattern for this.  I'd be contemplating this idea after the success of Strawberry Fields.  Once I knew that I was going to use the design for Picasso, I knew that I had to ahead with it.  I believe in embracing the "challenge" idea with as many pieces as possible.  The pattern was a perfect way to do this.

It was also way past time for me to get another pattern in my shop.  Most of my patterns have done pretty well, but it's been nearly six months since I released my last one.  I have not had great sales for September.  I hope that a new pattern will increase sales again.  It's available here.

The pattern does work for all four of the challenge designs.  The first and second layers are exactly the same for all four pieces.  I explain the differences for the third layer in the pattern.  With the exception of Yellow Brick Road, all of the pieces have a freeform third layer so you really have the freedom to do it exactly as you like.  I just provide some suggestions to guide you on your way.

September EBW Challenge Piece

The September EBW Challenge them is Lions, Tigers, and Bears, Oh My.  You can read more about it here.  I've already discussed this challenge a little bit in a couple previous posts so I'll try not to repeat too much information.  For this theme, we can take any element of the lions, tigers, and bears theme and pair it with any other element from The Wizard of Oz.  I'm not sure how I came up with this so quickly, but I decided to create a yellow brick road surrounded by emerald green with a lion just starting up the path.

I'm still on a right angle weave kick so I used the same base that I did for my last two challenge pieces.  You'd think that after making three right angle weave embellished pieces so close together, I would be ready to move on, but I'm not sure that I am.  I think that it would be neat to make another one and write a pattern for it.  I may wait a bit to do that, though.  Anyway, it was still fun making another right angle weave base and embellishing it.

As I said in my first post about the beads, I was originally thinking of using Swarovskis, but when I went to Michael's, these other beads sets caught my eye.  I would go with something smaller for embellishment in the future because the beadwork got pretty tight at the end.  It was difficult getting the clasp done.  It was still worth it, though, because I love these beads.  I think that the bright colorful look completely fits with the Wizard of Oz.

As a result of the beadweaving getting tighter than my previous two embellished right angle pieces, this piece curved a little, which made it tough to photograph.  When it started curving, I was worried that it would end up like this piece, but it didn't.  This curving is much less severe, and as a result, the cuff is much more comfortable.  If this weren't for a challenge, which requires that we list our pieces on Etsy, I might be tempted to keep it.

Thanks again to Sharla for the paw print charm!  It's the perfect touch for this piece.

I think that for my pattern right angle cuff, I'll go back to some of my stand by colors such as turquoise and purple.  If anyone wants to see anything in particular, let me know.

My Wizard of Oz cuff is available here.  I'll have more information about voting next month.

Strawberry Fields Forever

The August EBW Challenge theme is Summer's Juicy Fruit.  You can read more about it here.  When I heard that this was the theme, I immediately thought of strawberries.  Honestly they are not my favorite food, but they make me think of summer and can be very delicious in season.  When I thought of strawberries, I also thought of Strawberry Fields Forever by the Beatles.  I've been a big Beatles fan ever since I was little.

So I decided to create piece depicting strawberry fields with Strawberry Fields Forever as the title.

I enjoyed creating a wide right angle weave base for my June challenge entry so much that I decided to start with the same type of base for this piece.  The second layer is also the same, but then I did a different type of embellishment for the third layer.  It's more or less freeform again although not as involved as the beach freeform.  I love how the new color palette gives this piece a completely different look.

The less involved freeform made it easier to pose this piece for my pictures.  It was tough to keep the red from popping too much, but otherwise I'm pretty happy with the results.

I mentioned this in my preview post about this piece, but I have to mention again that I got more than half of the beads in this piece from Shannon (beadsandbabble).  All of the beads that I've bought from her thus far have been great.

I chose to use a metal clasp for this piece, which isn't what I usually use for my beadweaving.  There is a little story behind this, which I'll get into some other time.  For now, suffice it to say that I was looking for something different.  I think that it works well with this piece.

This cuff is available here.  Voting for the challenge will be the second week of August.  I'll have more information about that when the voting process starts.

July EBW Challenge Entry

Even though this was a crazy month to create, photograph, and list a challenge entry, I didn't want to pass up the Sizzling Sunshine and Soothing Water theme.  One of the aspects of this challenge was that we had to base our entry off of a specific photo.  I really wanted to use one of my own photos, and I really wanted it to include sand as well.  I'm a huge fan of the Indiana and Michigan Dunes and was disappointed that I didn't have a photo that really fit this theme.  The last time I was there, it was pretty overcast, and I don't have any other digital dunes photos.  But I found another one that worked perfectly.  This is me in Honduras in early January 2008 on a cruise excursion.  I love how you can see the sand right through the water.

I was also inspired by this photo from our honeymoon in Hawaii Dec 06/Jan 07.

Some of you may remember this post with a lot of the beads that I used for this piece.  I also used the new cream and yellow seed beads that I posted about here and some seed beads from my regular stash.

I created a right angle weave base.  I haven't done a lot of multi-row right angle weave pieces, but it's pretty straight forward.  I added a second later of right angle weave embellishment, which is when I added the shells.  The third and final layer was the real challenge for me because I'd really never attempted anything freeform with beadweaving.  I'm pretty pleased with the result.

I have to mention that I got inspiration for this shot from Cheryl of littlestonedesign (see this example).  The weight and general structure of this cuff made it tough for me to use some of my regular poses.

I know that there weren't any shells in either of my pictures, but I felt like the piece needed something besides seed beads.  The color of these shells fit perfectly with the sunshine component of this theme.  The metal sun button also fit well.

I'm not planning to make more cuffs like this any time soon.  If I do, they'll be simpler embellished right angle weave cuffs.  This was still a lot of fun, though.  Some of you may know that I often think of myself as creative but don't think of myself as an artist.  I feel like I actually created a little piece of art for this challenge.

You can purchase my challenge piece here.  Voting will be the beginning of July.  I'll have more details about it when it gets closer.

keeping it simple

My listing schedule and posts are still a little off because the closing date for our new house got pushed back.  So I'm including pictures here of a couple new listings from this past week, both of which are simple every day pieces that can be dressed up or down for any occasion.

This first one is available here.  I created this with the seed bead mix that I had left over after I've completed this cuff.  I don't think that I need to give a whole lot of explanation for why this is a great color combination here.  This is a pretty classic combination of colors.  I love the way that the periwinkle pops.  I made one of these for myself as well.  I love these skinny bracelets.  They're so versatile.  Because they are so skinny and light weight, it's easy to layer several of them next to each other.

Remember my custom order this spring that included this piece?  After I'd completed the order, I put together a similar bracelet to sell.  This was a design that took a long time to create because I really wasn't sure what I was doing when I started.  I re-did large portions of the original three or four times to get it the way I wanted.  The second one that I made earlier this year took almost as long because by then it had been a while since I'd worked the pattern.  I was surprised at how quickly the third one went and even more so, this fourth final (for now anyway) one, went.  This new one is available here.  I can make more pendants and/or earrings on request as well.

As I mentioned in my custom order post, I like the idea of making a set in turquoise.  That hasn't happened yet, but we'll see!

a great set of buttons

I listed my newest button embellished bracelet this week.

It's available here.  I absolutely love this set of buttons.  I've had them for a couple years.  I knew that I wanted to make a button embellished bracelet like this.  But it took me a long time to decide what color or color combination I wanted to use for the base.  I kept leaning toward white or cream to contrast with the colored buttons.  I wanted to include the white buttons, though, which would have disappeared against a light background.  I'm not sure when it struck me that I should try black.  It worked perfectly!  I love the contrast.

I'm planning to make a Fourth of July/patriotic themed button embellished bracelet next.  As always, if you have other suggestions, let me know.  I have a wide variety of colors already currently available in my shop here, but new color combination suggestions are always welcome.

This was supposed to be my last new listing from Iowa.  However, the closing date for our new place got pushed back to sometime next week so I will probably get at least one more up here early next week.  Stay tuned.

June EBW Challenge piece: Building Together

When I read that the June EBW Challenge was going to be Heal the World and should center around a world problem of some sort, the first thing I thought of was house building.  I'm sure that seems a little random.  I didn't have any immediate inspiration for any in the small handful of causes that I am truly passionate about that would carry over into an art piece.  But I had the opportunity to participate in three mission trips during high school to rural Kentucky to build houses.  Those experiences have  stuck with me.  It made me truly appreciate the construction process as well as what one person's effort in a project like that can make.  The organization we worked with is no longer around, but it was something like Habitat for Humanity, only much more localized.  My dad now works for Habitat and I had an idea for a piece so I went with it.

Like a few of my other challenge pieces, the final result is not what I originally intended.  I got the idea early on for the three separate beadwoven components with the same single color running through each one.  My thought process behind this was that each person who plays a part in the building process has a different role, but they are all there for the same purpose.  I was going to have the three strands lined up next to each other, but that didn't work well.  I thought about twisting them, but the closure method I had in mind didn't allow for that very well either.  On a whim, I braided them and it worked wonderfully, both mechanically and with the idea behind this piece.

The house charms are something that I had left over from Angels in the Architecture.  It seemed only fitting to include a couple of them.  There isn't any significance to the color theme, at least none that ties directly to this particular piece.  I'm always struggling to stock a sufficient supply of size 6 Czech beads.  They aren't easy to come by, and I use a fair number of them in my work.  It shouldn't be surprising that when I do stock up, I end up with a lot of green, blue, and purple.  I played around with a bunch of different color combinations for each strand until I found exactly what I wanted.

Unlike many of beadwoven pieces which are not adjustable, the closure on this piece allows for this bracelet to be adjusted up or down for just about any wrist size.  I added enough links so that I could fasten it on myself easily , but it can go down for a tighter fit on a small wrist or up as high as you like.

I'm not planning to make more of these braids in the near future, mostly because of the final cost of the piece.  I have plenty of higher end inventory in my shop and am mostly adding $20-$30 pieces, which are what sell the best.  It really doesn't have anything to do with not enjoying the process of this piece because I did.  I'm sure that most of you already know how much I love right angle weave.  Putting together each section was fun, and it was neat to see how it all came together.

I think that you have to see how it looks on to really appreciate the full effect of the braid.  This bracelet is available here.  I'm donating 15% of the proceeds from it to Habitat.  As always, if you'd like a different length braid or different color combination, let me know.  Voting will be on the EBW blog June 9-15.  I'll post more details about that when it gets closer.

sneak peak of Working Together

I had no intention of entering the June EBW Challenge, but an idea came to me within the week after it was announced so I'm going for it.  I absolutely have to get it done during this lull while I wait for my beads for custom orders or it won't happen.  So I put a lot of work in this weekend.

It'll have three strands like this, each with the dark blue running through it.  Originally I was going to have them lay next to each other, but now I think that I'll end up twisting them.

I also got the second strand done over the weekend.  Here are some of the beads for it before I started.

The last strand will be light blue.  That's all I'm leaving you with for now.  I'll have more details about the theme for the piece and why I choose it when I finish.

I published a new crafty hub this weekend: Craft Fairs: What to Bring and Display Considerations.  Please check it out if you haven't already.  As always, if you've missed any past crafty hubs, they're all linked on the side of my blog.

periwinkle and black is back and other recent happenings

I sold the longer version of this design earlier this month.  I still have the shorter version so I took photos and listed it.

It's available here.  This bracelet has lamp work glass rounds from Jen (blueseraphim), leaf beads from Shannon (beadsandbabble), and a ceramic button from Kristie (artisanclay).  I love combining components from different artists to make my own pieces.  And I absolutely love the periwinkle color in this piece.  It took me a long time to gather different components in the same shade that coordinated for a single bracelet, but it was worth it.  I love the Czech glass in the middle, too.  It reminds me of the vintage blue/white china plates.  These were also components that I'd had for quite a while because they were awesome, but I didn't figure out what to do with them until I got serious about putting this design together.

I'm not planning to make any more bracelets with this particular leafy variations any time soon, but I do have two made to order leafy series bracelets in the works right now.  I'm waiting to hear back from one of the sellers that I bought some red leaf beads from because she sent a different set of red beads instead.  But I have all of my new blue leaf beads so I'm going ahead with that bracelet.

Angela (AngelaDesign) included another one of my bracelets in a new treasury this week.  Beaded Cuff Bracelet - Embellished Square Stitch - Red/Purple is in her Purple and Red treasury.  Thanks Angela!

jade returns

As soon as I thought of that title, I kept thinking Return of the Jedi.  Moving on from my dorkiness...last night I listed the jade piece that I first posted in my gemstone blog carnival post last month.

It's available here.  It was really tough to find a good coordinating background color for the jade chips.  They look all right against the white and music backgrounds, but they're better against the gray.  The tan seed beads still look harsh next to them.  You'll have to trust me that the beads and chips coordinate perfectly in person.  I won't go into much more detail about this piece since I talked about it in the gemstone post.  But it's a great little piece.  It's very light weight and versatile. You can dress this up or down for any occasion.  I don't have any more specific plans for jade right now, but I'm sure that I will return to it at some point.  For now, you can also check out the other jade piece that I have currently available here.

I linked this post to Erika's Creative Friday Features and Link Party post.

working with periwinkle again

Thank you much for all of the birthday wishes yesterday!  I had a bad cold all weekend but otherwise it was a very nice birthday.

I listed a new periwinkle and black piece last night.  It's available here.

 

I bought the periwinkle/black lamp worked beads from Jen (blueseraphim) back in 2009 simply because they were awesome.  I had no idea what I was going to make with them.  I got the ceramic button from Kristie (artisanclay) as part of a giveaway and bought the leaves (mostly from Shannon of beadsandbabble) back in June.  Then I had to find periwinkle seed beads and figure out what else I wanted to use in the piece.  I'd been holding onto some of the other glass components that I included for quite a while, too.  It was way past time to use them!  And I finally put it all together this winter.  I know that this is a very winter-y piece.  I WILL list some of my lovely new green spring pieces soon.  But the colors in this piece can work for other seasons as well.

I actually made two versions.  As you can see, this second slightly shorter version is nearly identical to the one above.

I'm not planning to make any more like this, but it was neat using the leaf beads in a slightly different way than I usually do my leafy and rock garden series.