Simple and Cool

Tags

Anne Potter, Bead Table Wednesday, Heather Powers, Humblebeads, Jewelry Stringing Magazine, Swoondimples, Travelogue Magazine

The hot temperatures in my area, my own aesthetic and the inspiration of a new (to me) jewelry magazine has resulted in today’s necklace. Right now it is 91 and only getting hotter. I am lucky to be able to be inside with air conditioning, but I like having jewelry that I could wear outside even in the heat and still stay cool.

In addition, I’ve recently learned about an electronic jewelry magazine by Anne Potter called Travelogue. She was a frequent contributor to the late, lamented Jewelry Stringing magazine. Travelogue offers great photos of travel-related inspiration and then projects based on that inspiration. The projects are very doable but can be customized to your own skill level. Not based on any specific piece but just the feeling of simplicity, I took some beads I really liked and made this effortless piece.

The owl focal is by swoondimples. His name is Stewart. I got it in 2016 when the Pantone color of the year was a duo – rose quartz and serenity blue. The pink Czech glass I got in a destash. I just really like pink. It was my favorite color as a little girl, and although sometimes I like to think that has changed, it really hasn’t. I believe that is why I was more intrigued with the Pantone color that year than some other people. I had something else in mind for those little pink beads, but this project asserted itself. I was actually going to use some other spacers in the front for an accent, including some more rustic metal to give the piece a little bit of a harder look. But I decided on these simple eye beads I’ve had since the beginning of my beading days. Since I’ve kept them this long, they deserved to be used.

This sweety tweety little necklace will be fun to wear with my sundresses this summer.

One other thing about this post: the picture. It’s very sunny here, and usually I would have to wait until dusk or perhaps early tomorrow morning to get a picture. This picture was made possible in real time right after I made this necklace by Heather Powers of Humblebeads. I love her beads and other artwork as well as the free projects she shares on her Bead Table Wednesday videos. A couple of weeks ago, she made one about taking better photos with your cell phone. Oh my goodness, she gave a few easy tips that really helped my photo game. It was fun to put them into action after watching the video this morning. Thanks, Heather!

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More Jewelry I Bought

Tags

Diana Ptaszynski, Heather Millican, Jennifer Heynen, Jennifer Jangles, Luciana Lavin, Nunn Design, Staci Louise Originals, Staci Louise Smith, Swoondimples

I wrote a post a while ago about jewelry I bought. If I didn’t make jewelry, I would buy a lot more. But making so much, I don’t have extra money or space (or reason) to buy much. However, I still love it, and every once in a while there is a piece I just really want. Here are a few I’ve purchased recently(ish).

I had my eye on this bracelet by Heather Millican of swoondimples for quite a while. I think the fact that it didn’t sell out from under me means it was meant to be mine.

I just can’t get a grip on sizing when it comes to bangles, and I worried this might be too small. Then she had a sale, so I decided to take a chance. So glad I did because the fit is great and I love everything about this bracelet.

The part I love the most is the rustic polymer piece that is stamped “as is”. What a great sentiment. I also appreciate the little touches like the tiny charms wire wrapped with beads to provide a little movement. One of the charms is stamped with Heather’s initials.

Next up is a necklace by Staci Louise Smith. It is simple and just shines with the beauty of the materials. I also made a necklace with one of Staci’s soldered hoops. I wish I had a whole drawerful of those!

I really admire great seed bead and color work, and Luciana Lavin exemplifies this. I bought this great seed bead necklace.

This comes in more than one colorway, but this one is so me. The lighting was not good for pictures today, but I wanted a full picture so you could see the shape and length. Here is a close up of the work.

It has great little details like how there are bits of color mixed in with the black and white strand and the little metallic beads in there as well. Below is the cute box it came in. There was also a card with some beads strung on it, including a tiny seed beaded charm I can use in a project! 

Back to bracelets, Diana Ptaszynski rebranded herself from Suburban Girl Studio to Diana Ptaszynski Whimsical Ceramic Art. She makes a lot of wonderful creatures. Here I bought a bangle with a little cat charm. It has become a favorite to wear. 

One more bracelet I bought is a Nunn Design square bangle. I actually bought it to alter in a project idea I had. However, I love it so much just by itself that I decided to wear it as is.

One more thing to show you is these great little dishes I got from Jennifer “Jangles” Heynen. They are so cute. They will be good for holding different beads when doing projects, holding up items for photos and just looking darn cute. They are size graduated and nest!

Thanks for visiting.

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Look What I Made

Tags

Swoondimples

I couldn’t think of a title for this post, so I just called it what it is.  I had in mind a post called “In the Pink” because I made the pink necklace first and was in the process of making another one that had a fair amount of pink, but I got distracted and made something else.  The pinkish necklace is going to have to wait because next I’m going to work on something for a blog hop.

Anyway, I got this strand of pink striped vintage glass lentils at the same time I got some gorgeous large rose quartz simple cut beads. I really love the simple cut.  When I was putting things away, I saw them together and thought, “Bingo!” I decided to put some little crystals between the quartz for added sparkle and some yellow seed beads in the strand for a pop of another color. I’ve always loved beads that looks like candy, and I think the striped beads do, and next to them the rose quartz is very rock candy.

Then I was trolling Pinterest and saw that I’ve pinned many long bohemian beaded necklaces with tassels.  I quickly sketched a design of one with a turquoise connector and a little tassel by swoondimples with a metal band stamped “Lucky”.

I added some rustic metal, African glass, vinyl disc beads and what have you for some interest in the front and then finished it with this gorgeous strand of blue glass.  I wish I knew where I got it.  I love it!

Thanks for visiting!

Evolution of a Necklace

Tags

Andrew Thornton, Green Girl Studios, Mary Harding, Purple Haze II, Re-Art Swap, Sarah Moran, Swoondimples, Z-Beads

I am the slowest jewelry maker ever.  It can take me hours to make a necklace. But this is a wonderful time for me when I don’t think about anything else and am completely immersed in just the making of the piece.

I thought it might be interesting to see how a piece starts and then how it ends. I had some Czech glass baroque pearls I really loved.  I had been planning for a while to knot them on linen in a simple, romantic necklace with a Green Girl Studios pendant.  I had laid out the pearls with some other beads before and a Green Girl heart for the necklace, but then I ended up using the other beads for something else.  When I got the pearls and heart out again today, I thought for a minute of including a pink bean bead by Heather Wynn Millican of swoondimples that said “xoxo” but it didn’t quite work. I surveyed what else was on my table.

At first I put together the large rose colored bead with the lucite flowers. I have loved those flowers since I got them in a challenge kit, and I loved how this little piece looked.  I realized I couldn’t use the heart to dangle below it. I’ve found that putting a flat piece under a bulkier piece can make the flat piece sort of dangle in mid-air.  So then I started looking for something more appropriately sized and decided on this Andrew Thornton eye heart.  It actually looked pretty good, and I had one half of the knotting done when I decided I wanted that eye heart to be in a necklace with a harder edge.  This flower piece I’d made reminded me of a sweet little ballerina, and it needed something different.  But I still wanted to include an art bead.

In thinking what I had that would match the color scheme, I thought of a strand of Z-Beads by Sarah Moran. But the ballerina and the Z-bead didn’t really do each other justice.  I knew I had some beads in this color family by Annica of Zesty Frog.  Once I got into that box, instead of the beads I had been thinking of (which were too small) I saw this pendant.

It had nothing to do with the little ballerina thing or the other beads, but was it ever perfect for the primrose champagne Czech glass pearls!  I had tried several necklaces with this pendant in the past, so when I finally found the perfect beads for it, I wasn’t going to give them up.  I tried several things with this necklace as well.  There was a lovely flower by Mary Harding that was very pretty with the pendant, but didn’t sit right.  So in the end I went simple.

So, this necklace isn’t complicated and would not take me long to make if I had it as my original idea. But making for me includes a lot of playing and experimenting with elements until I find something that feels right.

The Art of Awareness Reveal

Tags

Art of Awareness Blog Hop, bean beads, Christine Miserandino, chronic migraine, chronic pain, Heather Millican, Lori Anderson, spoon theory, Swoondimples, Woman Shops World

Lori Anderson and Heather Millican have collaborated to create this Art of Awareness Blog Hop featuring Heather’s bean beads!  Each participant chose the color and word for a custom bead from swoondimples to bring awareness to something.  Heather then made each bead and stamped them with a ribbon on the side opposite the word.  Here is a picture of the ribbon side (along with a little friend, also made by Heather.)

My word is “accept”.  Most people would not realize I experience chronic pain in the form of frequent migraines.  I don’t talk about it a lot outside my family. People are used to those who are sick getting better. Chronic pain generally doesn’t get a lot better.  No one wants to hear that often I am so exhausted and/or in pain that I have to tell myself to keep putting one foot in front of the other until I can go home. They don’t know what to do with that.  Honestly, it’s easier to lie.

I started having frequent migraines in my 20s (I’m 49 now.)  I took a proactive approach to treatment and learned everything I could.  I tried every treatment, most of which did not work or worked for a limited time.  If you are thinking now, “But I wonder if she tried this?” YES, I’ve tried it.  While I realize they are trying to be helpful, it can be insulting that people with only a casual knowledge of [name the condition] think they know something you, who are living with it, do not.

I average 3 to 4 migraines a week between 4 and 7 on the pain scale. This is half what it used to be, so it seems pretty good to me.  Some weeks are better, some are worse.  I almost never feel “normal” as in having no pain, fatigue or other symptoms.  Most of my migraines start during the night when I’m sleeping, therefore I wake up feeling as tired as I was when I went to bed.  Of the ones that start during the day about half come on suddenly and with full force due to a trigger like a smell (perfume, smoke, cleansers.)  Rescue meds (pain killers and migraine specific like triptans) don’t work well for me, so I focus on preventatives (several daily prescriptions, lifestyle choices, avoiding triggers.)

Here is the initial sketch for my piece.

I wrote the name at the top of the sheet to remind me to share with you the Spoon Theory.  My life changed fairly dramatically with chronic pain because I no longer had the energy to do whatever I wanted.  I only read this most excellent description of what it is like to have a chronic illness/chronic pain last year thanks to a post on Lori’s blog.  I get that people don’t understand chronic pain. Intellectually I understand why I have to take two naps on a Saturday instead of getting things done, but I still sometimes have to remind myself that I’m not lazy.

This is my reality.

I chose “accept” as the word for my awareness bean bead because that is the best thing I ever did for myself related to chronic pain.  I could have spent my life mourning what I had lost, wishing for the life I’d had.  But I didn’t want to pine, so I focused on what my life could be now.  Because you can’t do what you can’t do, and I want my life to be the best it can be based on my reality.  I continue to accept whatever changes come related to migraine as the condition ebbs and flows.  I’ve been having a bad spring (weather changes are always difficult) but I know this won’t last forever.  Or if it does, I’ll adjust.

This is all people see.

My design did not change a lot from my initial sketch; I chose a similar design using different beads and tassel (from Woman Shops World) sort of merging it with a separate necklace idea I had in mind using a very colorful, bohemian style I am fond of lately.  I like that because it is integrating this special bead (migraines) into a regular design (the rest of my life) instead of using energy keeping it off to the side.  That’s sort of my philosophy behind acceptance.

I want to thank Lori and Heather for this hop.  I know I will enjoy becoming aware of more people’s experiences and seeing the art they are inspired to make.  I hope learning each other’s stories makes us more generous and understanding with each other and also with ourselves.

Please hop around to visit the other participants and give them some love.  See the list by clicking here or visiting the links below:

Lori Heather	Anderson Millican	www.PrettyThingsBlog.com (hostess) www.facebook.com/swoondimples (bead artist)
Candida	Castleberry	www.spunsugarbeadworks.blogspot.com
mischelle	andrade	https://micheladasmusings.blogspot.com
Paige	Maxim	http://delightfullittlegems.blogspot.com/
Laurie	Vyselaar	www.lefthandjewelry.wordpress.com
Marybeth	Rich	http://forestofjewels.blogspot.com/
Alice	Peterson	www.alice-dreaming.blogspot.com
Kim	Dworak	http://www.cianciblue.blogspot.com/
Audrey	Bélanger	http://esperianterra.blogspot.ca/
Karen	mitchell	www.overthemoon-design.com
Joan	Williams	www.lilrubyjewelry.com
Jean	Wells	jeanawells.blogspot.com
Ann	Schroeder	www.beadlove.wordpress.com – That’s me!
Gail	Accinelli	facebook.com/oregonmadejewelry
Tania	Spivey	www.moobiegracedesigns.blogspot.com
Mallory	Hoffman	http://rosebud101-fortheloveofbeads.blogspot.com/
Mary K	McGraw	mkaymac.blogspot.com
Shai	Williams	www.shaihasramblings.com/
Beth	Emery	storiesbyindigoheart.blogspot.com
Catie	Doman	http://drcatie.blogspot.com
Lorelei	Eurto	Http://lorelei1141.blogspot.com
Lee	Koopman	www.stregajewellry.wordpress.com
Tammy	Adams	www.paisleylizard.com/blog/
Katie	Nelson	https://www.facebook.com/katiebead
Patty	Miller	http://pattymillerbeads.blogspot.com
Chris	Eisenberg	www.wanderware.blogspot.com
Cassi	Paslick	http://badatbeingmom.blogspot.com/
Charlee	Griffith	https://www.facebook.com/charlee.griffith
Kelli	Nelson	www.afamilyaffarekelli.blogspot.com
Catherine	King	http://catherines-musings.blogspot.com
Melissa	Trudinger	beadrecipes.wordpress.com
susan	Bowie	https://susanbowie.wordpress.com
Jennifer	Justman	www.soulsfiredesigns.blogspot.com/
Cassi	Paslick	http://badatbeingmom.blogspot.com/
K	Hutchinson	http://jumbledhutch.wordpress.com
Veralynne	Malone	www.veradesigns.blogspot.com
Evie and Beth	McCord	http://ebbeadandmetalworks.blogspot.com/
Mihaela	Georgescu	http://michellemaya2005.wordpress.com
Rebecca	Anderso	Www.songbeads.blogspot.com
Charlene	jacka	www.clay-space.com
Kim	Stevens	www.pickingpoppies.blogspot.com
Susan	McClelland	Mistheword12.wordpress.com
Sally	Russick	www.sallyrussick.blogspot.com
Gina	Hockett	www.freestyleelements.blogspot.com
Mona	Arnott	bijouxgemsjoy.blogspot.ca
Sandi	Volpe	www.sandivolpe.com
Andrea	Glick	http://zenithjade.blogspot.com/
Janine	Lucas	http://www.esfera.me/travel/blog/travel-stories
Lori	Bowring Michaud	www.artfullyornamental.blogspot.com
Christie	Murrow	Www.charisdesignsjewelry.blogspot.com
B.R.	Kuhlman	www.mixedmayhemstudios.com
Lupe	Meter	www.gesmpccorner.blogspot.com
Lucy	Bejarano	www.lucybejaranojewelry.blogspot.com/
Stephanie	Perry	www.mustardbeadbystephanieperry.blogspot.com
Elisabeth	Auld	www.beadsforbusygals.com
Carolyn	Lawson	www.carolynscreationswa.blogspot.com
Heather	Powers	www.humblebeads.blogspot.com
Katie	Hacker	www.katiehacker.blogspot.com
Kepi	Rasmussen	www.kepirasmussen.blogspot.ca
Gail	Vanderster-Zwang	www.angelmoose.blogspot.com
Elizabeth	Hodges	http://thewhisperingseas.blogspot.com/

 

 

Foldio Portable Photo Studio

Tags

Fanciful Devices, Foldio, Halcraft USA, Heather Millican, Heather Powers, Humblebeads, Janel Goolsby, Jera Luna Designs, Karen Totten, Marina Rios, Nancy Adams, Round Rabbit, Starry Road Studio, Swoondimples

Many of my photos are dreadful.  Sometimes I don’t even want to share my work because I can’t get a decent photo of it.  I live in Wisconsin, and we are not known for our good light.  I’m using my iPhone for a camera and don’t anticipate changing that. I’ve been thinking of getting or making a light box for a while, but which one?

Recently I saw a Facebook post by Heather Powers of Humblebeads praising the Foldio.  I figure she has taken plenty of good jewelry photos!  Plus, in checking it out, it was affordable, ultra easy to set up and use (I’m extremely impatient) and very portable.

All of the photos in this post were taken shortly after I opened the foldio and set it up without even really reading the few sentences of instructions.  It was extremely easy to use, and already these pictures, such as the one of the bean beads above by Heather Millican of swoondimples, are better than most of the photos I’ve ever taken.  And these were taken at night.  I just had to post right away because I’m so excited to have this tool!

I’ll still need to practice to get good at avoiding shadows and keeping my hand steady. Above is a gorgeous pendant by Marina Rios of Fanciful Devices.  The photo could use some improvement, but I think I wouldn’t have gotten one this good without the Foldio  because the image is covered with mica and difficult to photograph.

I’ll also need to experiment with the different background colors.  These beads by Janel Goolsby of Jera Luna Designs look great on this white background (although it looks a little grey).  All but the heart were totally washed out when I tried them on black.

This is a bead kit I won from Halcraft USA. When I got it yesterday, I posted a photo of it on Facebook.  I took it at night in my kitchen (the best light in the house until the Foldio came along) and it didn’t show true to color at all.  It came out very green.  Here I took a picture at around the same time at night in the Foldio, and it is a much better representation of what the beads really look like.

Here are a few tests on the black background.

Black and white pendant by Nancy Adams of Round Rabbit.

Connector by Karen Totten of Starry Road Studio.

Coin someone anonymously put on my desk at work. I don’t know if they intended for me to use it in jewelry, but that’s where it’s probably headed.

I think the black background will be the hardest to use.  I also seem to end up taking pictures that are closer and I’m not used to adjusting them yet.  But I’m excited about how I will be able to improve my pictures and take photos when I have time rather than always trying to find light and take pictures only when I happen to be home during the day.

 

 

 

 

Thicker Waxed Linen

Tags

Irish waxed linen, Jewelry Accord, Keith O'Connor, Swoondimples

I love using Irish waxed linen in my projects, but sometimes the standard 4-ply is just a little too thin.  I’ve used 2-ply in some projects that needed something smaller, but I had never tried some of the heartier sizes.  When I made a recent leather and ribbon order from Jewelry Accord I noticed there was some 6-ply waxed linen.  I bought some because I knew there were larger sizes, but I had never tried them.  I often like to use chunkier beads but prefer the more pliable waxed linen to thicker fibers like hemp.

In addition to the sand colored 6-ply waxed linen, I used some green and orange raku beads by Keith O’Connor and a Lucky button by Swoondimples as the clasp.  I enjoyed trying a different ply of waxed linen and will definitely be buying more of the larger sizes in the future.

New Beads and Free Art Friday

Tags

Free Art Friday, Heather Wynn Millican, Nancy Schindler Adams, Round Rabbit, Swoondimples

I have been ordering quite a few beads lately; some fun packages are coming my way.  I think a bead holiday might be in order while I use some of what I have!  But that will have to be after the first of the year.  Nancy Schindler Adams of Round Rabbit is having her last update of the year on December 27th. I’m not going to be able to resist that!

One package I already received was from Heather Wynn Millican of Swoondimples. She has been on my rather long list of bead artists I want to order from since I first saw her stuff. She recently had a very nice sale.  I happened to find out about it before everything was gone, so I could order just a couple of things.  I love that serendipity.

These beads are beautiful, and I also love the message because I am both lucky and grateful.

I made a pair of earrings with pearls and moonstone for a Free Art Friday drop while I am visiting family.  It is always fun to drop in another town.

Thanks for reading and have a wonderful day!