Double Happiness Giveaway

Tags

Allegory Gallery, Andrew Thornton, Artybecca, Daisy Chain Extra, Gaea, Joanne Tinley, Kim Snider, Mandrel Beads

When I was thinking about the name for this blog post, I thought of “double happiness” which I’ve seen on Chinese food menus. I don’t even know what food that refers to.  As a vegetarian, I always get mixed Chinese greens or mixed vegetables, but the name stuck with me. I’ve been a bit down lately, and what better way to cheer me up than a giveaway?  That’s where the double happiness comes in.  The giveaway makes me happy and makes the winner happy! Apparently double happiness is a Chinese calligraphy symbol meaning joy and is especially popular for weddings.

Anyway, let’s get on to the goods!  I just kind of randomly picked boxes out of my stash and went through them and thought, “Oh, people would like this!” and added it to the group.  First up, a lovely lampwork butterfly wing by Kim Snider.

Kim’s wares are super popular.  I have gotten all of mine on her Mandrel Beads Facebook page sales. There is hot competition, and the wings (in pairs or sets) can go pretty high.  However, Kim is very generous and during each show offers not only giveaways but BIN rounds where she offers some wings for a set price. Everyone who comments BIN (buy it now) is entered into a drawing to buy the wings for that set price.  That is how I have gotten some wings, and I’m really grateful to her for that opportunity.  So now here is your opportunity to get a wing as well.  Here is a necklace I made with one of her wings.

Next up is a beautiful starfish pendant by Andrew Thornton for those of us dreaming of summer!

I’m not going to lie; I have quite a collection of Andrew’s art.  I just love it!  If you don’t know him, Andrew is one of the owners of Allegory Gallery as well as an artist in multiple media and just a really good guy.  I’m going to come clean that I’m not good at telling materials apart (or knowing kinds of beads).  I just know what I like.  So I’m not sure if this is polymer clay or porcelain – even after touching it to try to determine.  Andrew works in both, but whatever, it’s beautiful!

Next up is a Gaea bundle.  That tube bead makes my heart go pitter-pat!

Gaea also sells on Facebook.  I tend to like buying that way for some reason.  In addition to loving her beads, I love her original paintings that she has started to sell (I have one!).  She has also started to incorporate her prints into jewelry components by offering copper and art resin pendants and beads.  These gorgeous works of art are popular!

Next up is a polymer bead by Artybecca.  I just love everything she makes. She’s always trying something new.  Here are two sides of this bead so you can see all the colors. It feels just as smooth and silky as it looks.

Next we have a clasp from Daisy Chain Extra, which is no longer in business. Joanne Tinley stopped selling components but still makes jewelry and teaches. I found her not long before she stopped selling components, so I only have a few of her things.  Here is your chance to own this super cute little flower clasp.

My poor little dry hands.  I’m not going to pretend I will take better care of them.  I hate the way lotion feels, so I use lotion and then end up washing it off! But I wanted you to be able to see how cute and functional this is.

Now on to some non-art beads. These came out of my metallic box.  We have black squares with a gold AB coating on one side and some tiny flat square spacers.  

Next is a strand of white agate beads. There was a time when I didn’t like white beads, but now I really love them. I love pops of color and high contrast, and white can really pop in a design!

Last but not least I’ve included some Czech glass.  I must have hit some function on my phone’s camera because this is all vignette-y, but it still shows this lovely selection of English cut Czech beads.  I like the pretty chunkiness of this shape, and you get these three beautiful colors because they happened to be in a bag together in my Czech glass box.

This is kind of a long post, but since part of the point was to cheer me up that’s ok.  I love to talk about beads and post on my blog, so writing this post was excellent for both of these things.

How do you enter to win?  Easy!  Just tell/show me something good.  It can be something good that has happened in your life recently, something good someone else told you, a good tip about how to organize your work space, your favorite bead shop or artist, a good recipe, a cute picture of your sweet pet…you get the idea.  Leave your comment by Friday, 3/17/17 (St. Patrick’s Day!) at 6:00 PM Central Time.  If you are in the US, don’t forget that tomorrow (Sunday 3/12/17) is the day most of us set our clocks forward one hour.

I will announce the winner on this blog later on that Friday or on Saturday morning.  Please include a way to get in contact with you to make my life easy. Thank you and good luck!

Monochromatic in Color

Tags

Allegory Gallery, Andrew Thornton, Bead & Button, Diane Hawkey, Gaea

Diane Hawkey is one of my favorite artists.  One of the things she makes is beads.  Other than her famous word beads, it’s not easy to get her things outside of bead shows. I got a little stash at the 2013  Bead & Button, and a few things various other places.  But recently, she had a show on a Facebook page. I had my finger poised to pounce, and I was amazed at how many things I was able to get.  Amazed and thrilled.

So, I’ve used my first bead from this group, the neighborhood pendant in the upper left corner.  I bought a variety of Czech glass rondelles from William and Andrew of Allegory Gallery and thought right away that they’d go well with the neighborhood. I often have quick thoughts like that – these beads would go well with this. But I know it is partly inspiration from things floating in my brain.  I think this necklace was inspired in part by this necklace I made with melon beads and a Gaea pendant and this necklace by Andrew Thornton.

I call this monochromatic in color because although this necklace isn’t just different shades of the same hue, the colors of the Czech glass echo the colors in the pendant, so it is kind of blendy that way. I love high contrast and pops of color, but I find this look very comforting and happy. I finished it up with a beautiful copper clasp by Gaea.

Humblebeads Stacked Fall Necklace

Tags

Allegory Gallery, Andrew Thornton, Gaea, Heather Powers, Helen Backhouse, Helen's Bat Cave, Humblebeads, Karen Totten, Majoyoal, Mari Carmen Rodriguez Martinez, Starry Road Studio, Supply Your Soul, Vintaj

Heather Powers of Humblebeads makes great polymer clay beads. She also makes beautiful jewelry, and recently shared some tips and design ideas on a Work Table Wednesday video on her Humblebeads VIP Party Facebook page. She has made a colorful innovation to her classic bird beads.  In the video, she shows that she has also used the technique to make owls and offers some cute ideas to use each in pretty necklaces. I was inspired to use the bird I have.

I had so many ideas; this shows just a few of the beads I considered using. Heather showed a variety of leaves and birds together.  I thought about using this beautiful black round by Karen Totten of Starry Road Studio because I love the black with the grey bird.  But I couldn’t resist using a leaf. I don’t actually have a lot of leaves in my stash, but this one by Helen Backhouse of Helen’s Bat Cave went so well with the gold in the bird.  I loved the idea of using a Vintaj acorn bead cap. I also loved this mottled brown ceramic bead by Mari Carmen Rodriguez Martinez of Majoyoal. But I decided I wanted a pop of the pink/purple in the bird.  Some choices included dark and light purple ceramic beads by Gaea and a plastic bead. In the end, I used a polymer clay nugget by Andrew Thornton of Allegory Gallery. I used some beautiful patina ball chain in the Steampunk color from Supply Your Soul.

I couldn’t resist also using Heather’s idea to put a flower bead in a bead cap to make a little “crown” on top of the bird. This project was a lot of fun. It’s simple and easily customized to the beads you have available.

Lovely Beads

Tags

Andrew Thornton, Gaea

This post is to highlight a couple of things I’ve made recently with certain favorite types of beads.  One longtime favorite – melon shape – and a new favorite – set stones.

First up the new favorite. I got a vintage Cuba stone pendant from an Andrew Thornton destash that I just fell in love with.  I decided to make a necklace that kept it simple so the focus would stay on the pendant. That’s a little difficult for me because I love lots of color.

It was difficult to get the color and sparkle in that pendant, but those of you who know beads can see it enough to imagine the rest.  I love the texture too.

Second, I have loved melon shape beads lo these many years.  I recently got a Gaea pendant with a cat face on one side and an owl face on the other.  I had a variety of melon beads from Sarah Willey’s Bead Destash. There is something about the melon shape that makes me ridiculously happy. Especially in a variety of colors.  I decided they would be the perfect happy complement to the Gaea pendant.  I added in some slightly larger light green melons I’ve had for probably a good 15 years or more.  Here is the cat side.

Here is the owl side.

The Cuba stone pendant has given me a new interest in set stones.  I have another even more gorgeous Cuba stone pendant from Andrew’s destash as well as some other set stones in a vintage style that I got from a great shop I just came upon. I’m not even sure how I found it; I wasn’t looking for these specific things, but they charmed me (no pun intended) once I saw them.  One set of drops even has melon shape glass – a twofer!  Score!

Beads are a stress reliever for me. I just love looking at them, thinking about how to use them and working with them. I’m lucky to have something like that.

Pine Ridge Treasures Ceramic Blog Hop

Tags

Gaea, Lisa Lodge, Pine Ridge Treasures, Pine Ridge Treasures' Ceramic Blog Hop

Today is the reveal for Pine Ridge Treasures Ceramic Blog Hop!  Lisa Lodge hosts fun challenges and hops with kits she sells through her Pine Ridge Treasures Beads and More Facebook page.  The kit for this hop included a ceramic art bead along with some coordinating beads.  Here is (most of) my kit:

I had already poured my materials on my bead table and started working before I remembered to take a photo, so I scooped it up for this picture.  So there are really a few more beads, and those two red jump rings don’t belong!  I was thrilled to get this swirly twirly heart pendant by Gaea in chocolate clay!  Love!

I really wanted to focus on the colors in the heart glaze.  I knew I had some dyed jade in that shade of blue, and Lisa had included those fabulous green beads!  I find myself enjoying simple designs more and more, so I decided to include brown with waxed linen instead of any of the brown beads.  A little knotting and I have a lovely necklace!

Thank you, Lisa, for another fun blog hop!  To see what other people made, please visit the blogs below.

Your hostess:  Lisa Lodge, A Grateful Artist

Carolyn Lawson, Carolyn’s Creations

Kim Dworak, Cianci Blue

Shaiha Williams, Shaiha’s Ramblings

Veralynne Malone, Designed by Vera

Kari Asbury, Hippie Chick Design

Chris Eisenberg, Wanderware

Gloria Allen, Gloria Allen Designs

Saundra Farren, Something by Saundra

Ann Schroeder, Bead Love

Christine Stonefield, Sweet Girl Design

Melissa Trudinger, Bead Recipes

Spring Meadow Challenge Reveal

Tags

Allegory Gallery, Andrew Thornton, Gaea, Meadow Song Challenge

Allegory Gallery hosts fun challenges with kits created by artist Andrew Thornton.  Today is the reveal for the Meadow Song Challenge.

Here is a picture of the kit from the Allegory Gallery blog:

Andrew also makes a Mystery Component (or more) to go with each kit.

The Mystery Components this time are a beautiful floral pendant that looks like an oil painting and two lovely green enameled beads.

I really loved the colors in this kit and the Mystery Components that Andrew made, but I have been feeling under the weather, so I only ended up making one piece.

I really love this necklace. It feels a bit art deco to me, and I love that style.  I used the strand of jade rectangles along with other beads from the kit to make a dangly, swingy pendant hanging from a rhinestone connector.  Above it I used a beaded component my mother made, an off white Gaea bead and that fabulous yellow coin from the kit.  The rest of the necklace is a mix of beads from the kit and my stash.

I wanted to include another picture that showed the vintage rhinestone connector and my mom’s component at their sparkly best.  I really love the dangly, tile-like pendant and the fabulous yellow.  It’s such a happy color.

I have so many great beads left over; I will have great fun using them in the future.  Thanks to Andrew and William of Allegory Gallery for this wonderful challenge.  To see what other people created with their kits, visit the Allegory Gallery Design Challenge Facebook page.

Flora Tones Challenge Reveal

Tags

Bead Style magazine, Denise Yezbak Moore, Design Seeds, Flora Tones Challenge, Gaea, Halcraft, Lisa Lodge, Lorelei Eurto, Pine Ridge Treasures

Lisa Lodge is hosting the Flora Tones Challenge, and the reveal is today.  The actual reveal is on Lisa’s Facebook page Pine Ridge Treasures: Beads and More. But I always like to have my creations do double duty and get a blog post out of it!

Pink and green is one of my favorite color combinations, so I could not pass up a challenge based on the Design Seeds palette above.  I got a great variety of beads in my kit.

The first thing I made is a bracelet in a style popularized by Lorelei Eurto. She had a tutorial for it in the May 2014 issue of Bead Style magazine.

I used the pink flowers, the purple teardrop shaped beads, green bicones and pink seeds beads from the kit.  I strung it on waxed linen and used a few bigger beads and a link from my stash along with four Hamilton gold spacers and three pink anodized jump rings.

Next I wanted to make a necklace.  The bead selection gave me lots of ideas.  In the end, this is what I made.

I used the large pink faceted beads from the kit and added in some rose and green English cut Czech glass, and made a pendant from three Gaea beads.  I really like how it turned out; it’s chunky, yet delicate.

I wanted to make one more thing, and as I was reading my regular blogs, I figured out what.  I get a lot of ideas from Halcraft, and I had been wanting to make a necklace like these featured in Denise Yezbak Moore’s recent post.

I used some of the purple teardrops at the bottom and some of the pink seed beads.  I didn’t get as much of an ombre look as I was going for, but I think it’s quite pretty.  I love the gentle swishy feeling of it on.

I quite enjoyed the Flora Tones challenge and still have lots of beads leftover to make more treasures.  Thank you, Lisa!

 

Good Stuff This Weekend

Tags

Bead Gallery, Erin Prais-Hintz, Gaea, Halcraft, Michael's

A while ago, I gave my mom a Gaea face bead and asked her to bead around it. I didn’t give her any instructions, color suggestions or anything.  I knew she would come up with something wonderful.

Meet the Gaea Medusa bead!  I love it.  The colors are great too.  My mom also made some matching beaded components that I can use with this or something else.

I think I must have plied my dad with tales of people who have used rusted metal to good effect in making jewelry.  One day on a walk, he found this and saved it for me.

You can see it’s a really good specimen.  It’s a little dangerous.  It’s got a couple of nails rusted into it that I need to cut off.  I hope someday I can transform it into something wonderful.

After a couple of days of very relaxing swimming, taking walks, and sitting on the porch in near perfect weather (a rarity) we took a trip to Michael’s.  My mom was looking for a frame, and I needed to restock my smaller sizes of plastic bead baggies.  Of course we had to look at the beads as well.  The Bead Gallery green label beads were on sale.  I picked a couple of different wooden beads I can use as spacers and saw the silver metal connectors Erin Prais-Hintz used in her Halcraft June Pretty Palettes reveal.  Lovely!  My mom got a strand as well.  I added a couple lengths of some fun multicolor lampwork beaded chain.

A fun weekend was had by all!

 

 

 

 

 

Beads, Glorious Beads

Tags

Eclectic Prairie, Gaea, Jenny Gohlson-Morris, Metapolies, Sharyl's Jewelry

Here is just a quick post with some new beads.

First are some beads from Sharyl McMillian-Nelson‘s (of Sharyl’s Jewelry) new shop Metapolies.  Some of the first metal art components I ever bought were from Sharyl’s Artfire shop.  Now she has opened a new shop on etsy.  She had grand opening festivities for Metapolies as well as sales in both shops.  As part of the grand opening, she had a drawing for some goodies, and I was one of the winners.  At the same time, I took advantage of the sale to buy some autumn color beads I kept going to look at in her store.  (When you keep going back, it’s time to make the purchase.)  She also generously included a beautiful purple/wine floral pendant that I am currently in love with.

The packaging was beautiful also, but I got home late last night when it was dark. There was no way I was going to be able to preserve the package to take a picture when it was light.  I wanted to see the beads!  I wanted to include a piece of the tissue and her card, though.  She has a wonderful polkadot branding that I just love.  It’s very happy and distinctive.  Follow the dots all the way to her stores!

Next up we have Eclectic Prairie.  Jenny Gohlson-Morris’ store has a motto that kind of describes my purchasing philosophy.  “Life is short.  Buy the beads!”  I will just admit right now that when people post pretty pictures of their beads on Facebook, I am apt to follow the link to their store and purchase them. Especially during a sale.  (It’s even easier to convince myself then.)  She also included some very generous extras in my package.

The rustic bead set on the left was posted on Facebook, and I knew I had to have it.  I love the different shapes, the browns, the designs.  I love that little frame (I’m thinking toggle).  And then while I was there I had to get some classic pastels.  I mean really.  I’m so thrilled with these beads.

Finally we have an old favorite – Gaea – and I’m noticing a theme.  I also got some of these on sale.  She had some destash sets.  Of course while I was there I fell in love with that diamond raspberry button.  Isn’t it delicious? And again a few extras.  I love extras because it means more beads!

I can’t spend my whole day ogling pretties.  I actually have to get going.  But I love reading posts seeing new beads other people get (read a couple just this morning) so I wanted to share as well.  Have a wonderful day!

AJE December Component of the Month Reveal

Tags

Art Jewelry Elements, Gaea, Keith O'Connor, Miss Fickle Media, Rebekah Payne, Second Surf, Staci Smith, Sweet Olive Supplies, Tree Wrings Studio, Yuki Designs

If you have never visited the Art Jewelry Elements blog, you should do so immediately (but come back here after!)  There are multiple contributors writing “for jewelry designers using handmade and high quality components in their art jewelry” to quote from the blog.

Each month one of the contributors makes a component that is sent to the AJE team as well as several lucky winners chosen at random.  For December, Rebekah Payne of Tree Wings Studio was offering one of her speckle beads to each participant.  I was thrilled when my name was picked!  We were given a color choice, and I chose a lovely brown with white and orange dots.  Of course I got it and started trying designs right away and did not get a good picture of it alone, but here is a close up of it in action.

The original design I had in mind did not work out. But no worries because when you have a beautiful bead, you can use it so many ways.  I sketched a necklace and a bracelet and thought I would probably make the necklace. However, when I got to the beading table, as often happens, all that went out the window.  I still believe each sketch would have resulted in a nice piece of jewelry, but I was inspired by this ribbon.

The ribbon was tied on a package of beads I got from Staci Smith.  I get a thrill any time I can incorporate pieces of ribbon, extra beads or charms used in the packaging of something I have purchased.  The ribbon color was so perfect for Rebekah’s bead and the more bohemian feeling I am working towards in my jewelry making.  I spent a little time deciding which other beads I wanted to use with it and their exact placement.  I’m very happy with how the necklace came out.

Thank you so much to Art Jewelry Elements and Rebekah Payne for letting me join in the fun this month!  I always appreciate it when people list their art bead and other sources.  It has allowed me to find many wonderful artists and shops.  Here are the artists/sources for the other materials I used in addition to the speckle bead:

red aventurine nuggets: Sweet Olive Supplies
off white faceted ceramic bead: Gaea
orange raku bead: Keith O’Connor
faceted glass bead: Miss Fickle Media
copper clasp: Second Surf

Make sure to visit the other people who have done something wonderful with their speckle bead at the blogs below:

Guest Designers:

Stephanie – Confessions of a Bead Hoarder

Ann – Bead Love – You are here!

Karin – Ginkgo et Coquelicot

Melissa – Bead Recipes

AJE Team:

Karen – Starry Road Studio

Diana – Suburban Girl Studio

Kristen – My Bead Journey

Lesley – The Gossiping Goddess

Jenny – Jenny Davies-Reazor

Linda – Linda’s Bead Blog & Meanderings

Melissa – Melissa Meman… Art, Life, Love

Susan – Sue Beads

Rebekah – Tree Wings Studio

Caroline – BlueberriBeads