Today I am showing the Christmas ornament that I made for an on-line ornament exchange. My partner said that she liked blue, green, and red in that order so I used those colors to make the ornament. I started with Deb Roberti of http://www.aroundthebeadingtable.com/ Starlight pattern. I reduced the sizes of all of the beads I used . Instead of superduos I used miniduos. I stitched 6 stars and joined them together. Then I stitched two rows attaching each star to the top. The bottom has twisted fringe finished with green and red drop beads. I truly enjoyed designing this ornament. I hope that my partner Candi of www.spunsugarbeadworks.com likes what I made for her. Thank you Lori Anderson of http://www.prettythingsblog.com/ for organizing this ornament exchange. Christmas is my favorite time of the year. I take great pride in decorating my tree. It is a tradition in our family to make ornaments. We started it back in the early 1980's. I have made ornaments out of turned wood, buttons, seashells, embroidery, rocks,beads, and many other items. This year I am making several ornaments from fused glass.  I also collect ornaments and I have several from the 1930's.

I have two challenges to post today. The first is A Time To Stitch 8- What's your bag? Therese Frank and Christine Altmiller host this fun hop. I have admired beaded purses for many years. When I saw this hop I could not resist making myself a beaded clutch purse. I used black backing stitched to black ultra-suede. Since turquoise is my favorite color I used turquoise marquise shaped glass to stitch the focal. Next I used twisted bugles and size 11 seed beads in black to net the entire purse. I chose a hidden magnetic closure. I lined the purse with black ultra-suede too. I am really pleased with how this turned out. Thank you for including me in this fun challenge. To see what the rest of the ladies made here is the link to Christine's blog http://onekisscreations.blogspot.com/ I am including an in progress pic below.

My second challenge today is called contrast. It is hosted my Lisa Lodge of Pine Ridge Treasures. I received my kit which contained black sea glass squares, black quadra-tiles, black crescents, black two hole daggers, white sea glass drops, and red size 6 seed beads. I am thrilled with all of the new multi-hole beads and the black, white, and red contrasting color combination is one I really enjoy. I decided to bezel a vintage red  Swarovski rectangular crystal with the quadra-tiles. They worked well to surround the crystal. Next I stitched black seed beads through the quadra-tiles to enclose the crystal on both sides. I stitched through the outer holes and used white rubber o-rings and the red seed beads as accents. I used two rows of the daggers on the bottom The edge of the focal is finished with white and red seed beads. The straps are made with more of the quadra-tiles, seed beads and crescents. A vintage black button serves as the clasp with a loop of seed beads. Thank you Lisa for this fun challenge.

It is time to post for Jeannie Dukic's Do Over Challenge 9. The pic above is what I received from her. It contains 5 of her wonderful polymer clay beads.

Here is what I made. I liked her design but I wanted Jeannie's colorful polymer beads to stand out more. I selected a neutral brown color  which was used in the marbling on the beads and stitched peyote tubes for between the beads to replace the silver. Then I stitched netted tubes for the straps to replace the chain. I chose copper beads caps to finish the netted tubes and a copper clasp to finish off my design.  The changes that I made are subtle but I am very pleased with the outcome. The colors in the clay beads now really shine.

Jeannie Dukic of jkd studio is having another do over challenge. This is a fun challenge where for just shipping cost you get a piece of jewelry from her early days and remake it into something new. I  participated a couple of times and I can tell you that this is really fun. Please join us for this challenge.

Lisa Lodge of Pine Ridge Treasures is again hosting a challenge. This time it is themed seed bead explosion. Since I love working with seed beads I jumped at the chance. I am really enjoying working with the new two hole beads. I chose kit B which turned out to be blue and clear.

The only things I added from my stash were the large blue faceted glass bead in the focal and the silver plated toggle. I used the clear two hole tiles, size 11 matte AB, and light blue size 6 beads to bezel the royal blue faceted bead. Then I stitched 3 bead picots around the edge. I added fringe on the bottom of the focal. The straps are made with the same beads as the focal. I wanted to keep it simple and let the beads be the stars and I tried to only use the beads that were in my kit. I hope that you like my design. Thanx Lisa for another fun challenge. To see what the other participants made please click the link below https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=oa.1629113500663457&type=1

Hi, I have not posted in a while so I am doing that now. The necklace in the pic above is featured in the online magazine "Creative Spark" summer 2015 issue.  Here is a link so you can see all of the wonderful designs in the magazine http://joom.ag/kB1p It is a magazine showing the work of the http://znetshows.com/ designers. The section I am in is called upcycled. This necklace is made with a vintage teal coat button as the start of the focal. A Czech button is glue on top of it and then I bezeled them with seed beads. The straps of the necklace are made with cultured sea glass from znetshows that have white seed beads between them. A seaglass teardrop finishes the bottom and a gold plated toggle is the closure. I also made earrings to go with the necklace. I used concave coins in two sizes for these. If you would like to see the cultured sea glass that znetshows has for sale here is the link http://www.znetshows.com/gemshow/retail/sea_glass_beads.asp

This is the second necklace that is featured in "Creative Spark" summer 2015. I started with one of my forks that had the silver plating worn away from some of the tines. I cut it off and drilled holes in the handle to make this focal. With the help of some lovely olive cultured sea glass squares, wavy silver disc beads, black O beads, and ball end headpins I was in business. I hung a sea glass teardrop from the bottom. One of znet's two hole silver beads became the bail. The straps are made with round sea glass, black square sea glass spacers and silver bicones, all from znetshows. A silver toggle completes this necklace. I made earrings to go with it. I enjoy this kind of upcycling.

My third necklace started as a vintage copper wall sculpture. A friend gave it to me and said that the leaves were too large to use. I simply cut the leaves into three pieces and they were the perfect size to use as the frame for my soft green sea glass leaf form znetshows. I made  three kinds of links for this necklace. The first uses 8mm olive jade cubes and 4mm adventurine cubes from znetshows. The second is  made with tree agate tubes and small crystal rondelles. Link number three is coiled 20 gauge magnetic copper wire. A pair of copper jump rings hold all of the links together.  If you would like to know more about magnetic copper wire you can read what I wrote about it in "Creative Spark." I really enjoy working with the beautiful sea glass and other components that http://znetshows.com/
has to offer. If you would like to try your hand at working with some of the sea glass please click any of the links in this post. They really are very reasonably priced and fun to work with.

 

A pair of bracelets is what's up for today. I am again participating in a Lisa Lodge challenge. The theme this time is beaches. I have had this pair of bracelets in my head for a while. Only one got put together though. I decided to show the layout of the second one as well. I used the freeform flat sea glass pieces from znetshows.com that were in the kit. I also used a green sea glass sand dollar and a pair of fish from them that were in my stash to help with the beaches look. Shell shaped beads and a pearl dangle were all that it took to complete the first bracelet. The focal of the second bracelet is a real shell and I added some teal colored pearls to represent the water. Thanx for looking. To see what the other participants created please go to  http://www.gratefulartist.blogspot.com/

The set of jewelry that I am posting today was created from a kit by Lisa Lodge. The challenge is called Summer Waters. The sea glass is sold by www.znetshows.com/ I chose a green sand dollar as the focal on the necklace. It is accented with an aqua teardrop, which reminded me of water, from my stash and a teal pearl that I reclaimed from a garage sale necklace. The bail is a two hole silver metal piece from the kit. I used green sea glass 6mm rounds and puffed coins from the kit, as well as aqua barrel nuggets and pacific blue shells. The opaque blue opal button heishi are from my stash. The necklace is finished with silver chain and a simple silver toggle clasp. The matching bracelet uses the same beads as the necklace but the color on the shells is teal. The end links were made from more of the garage sale pearls with aqua colored stone chips and fire polished faceted round beads. The bracelet clasp is from the kit. There are also a pair of earrings from the green sand dollars and aqua teardrops. To me this set definitely says summer waters. The starfish that I used as a prop came from my husband's Grandma. In  1948 she took a trip around the country and this came home with her. Here is a link to the other participants with blog posts http://www.gratefulartist.blogspot.com/2015/06/summer-waters-blog-hop-link-list.html

There are also people who are posting to Lisa's facebook page. You can see those at https://www.facebook.com/events/638019132993272/

Thank you Lisa for another fun challenge.

I have been wanting to try shibori ribbon bead embroidery for  a long time. When Therese announced that bead embroidery was the technique for the A Time To Stitch 7 Challenge I signed up right away. Bead embroidery is my favorite technique to use. This necklace is the result of my effort. I started out to make a cuff bracelet but I found that it was too narrow to show the shibori silk  to best effect. The aqua teal turquoise family are my favorite colors so I found silk in that colorway. I thoroughly enjoyed this challenge. I bezeled the stone with size 11's and 15's. I used purple 15's to accent the silk. I used pearls in purple and aqua to edge the focal. I had some vintage nailheads in purple from a friend who has passed away so they were used for the next row on the purple side. The beads that were used on the aqua side came from a garage sale as well as the two tone bead at the bottom of the piece. I made wire links in aqua and purple for the straps. I am pleased with how this necklace turned out and I hope that you like it too. To see what everyone else made for this challenge please click on this link  http://theresestreasures59.blogspot.com/    I want to thank Therese and Christine for hosting this fun challenge.

The challenge I am posting for today is seed beads and glass. Lisa Lodge of Pine Ridge Treasures who hosts really fun challenges sends us kits and we make something from them. My first jewelry set is made with the blue glass beads from my kit. I used the size 6 cobalt blue seed beads to right angle weave a triangular base. Then I embellished it with the white cubes and finished the edge with the transparent light blue daggers. The straps use the transparent light blue ovals in sets of three spaced with more of the size six cobalt seed beads and white cubes. I put gold chin and a toggle clasp on the ends to finish it. I also made earrings.

I have been wanting to try the new quadra tile beads so when Lisa said that they were in  the kits I jumped at the chance to play with them.  Before this challenge came up I was able to take a class with Diane Fitzgerald working with the quadra tile beads but I did not want to use the technique that she taught for this challenge. I wanted to see what I could come up with and here it is. I put the cream picasso quadra tiles on edge in a circle. The inner row has a pair of the transparent green O beads from my kit between the quadra's and the outer row has a larger transparent green fire polished bead. Then I used size 15 cream colored triangular seed beads to egde the fire polished beads and the compenent looks like a flower. I made three flowers and stitched them together. The straps I made with the trandsparent green two hole beads spaced with two of the 15 triangles between each. It is a fairly simple design but I am proud of it.  Lisa labeled the beads transparent green but they look more gray to me. This is a nice neutral color scheme that could be worn with lots of colthes.

My third piece is a bracelet. I started this piece before the necklace above. I had the center row of  matte red metallic quadra  tiles from my stash stitched to the cream picasso quadra tiles from the kit  with the transparent green O beads and cream size 15 triangles on top. I could not decide how I wanted to finish the bracelet so I set it aside and made the flower necklace. When I came back to the bracelet I though about all of the popular wrap bracelets being made right now and this idea developed. I knew that if I stitched the outer row of the quadra tiles together it would be too inflexible to use so I stitched loops of the cream triangles around gray seude leather lace. I used a wood bead and loop for the closure. I am happy with how this came out. I think it is a unique design. The ladies in my bead group like it too. I hope you like what I am showing today. Here is the link to see what others made with their challenge kits https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=oa.1600218440219630&type=1

Twilight is the name Lisa Lodge chose for this challenge kit. The beads are in shades of black, gray, purple,white and clear. The moment I saw the black rounds I associate them with this lovely lampworked bead that I got from a friend of mine.  I have admired this style for a long time so I was anxious to use it. I hung the focal from three strands of black seed beads and used a flower bead cap on a headpin to complete the focal. The straps are the black rounds from my kit with tan fire polished beads and red size 6 seed beads. This necklace came together easily.

Necklace number two is made in a similar style. The focal on this one is an old single earring. I stitched purple seed beads to it to give it more color and make it match the design I had in mind. I clipped the clip-on back off above the hinge then I curled the piece that was left to make an attachment point. I strung seed beads on wire and attached them to the curl to form the bail. The straps are made from the dark gray pearls, smaller purple pearls, and clear faceted crystal rondelles from my kit. My designs have been simple lately as I have been studying for my final test at school. I graduated yesterday so now I will have more time to bead. Yeah!

This is what I have left from my kit so I have lots more to design with. I have more ideas and I plan to make them soon. To see more of the pieces that other beaders designed from their twilight kits please click on https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=oa.1594161557491985&type=1

Flora Hues is the challenge I am posting today. The hostess is Lisa Lodge of http://gratefulartist.blogspot.com  
Lisa sells us kits and we create something from the kits that we get.
I still had my treasures from the Bead Peeps challenge on my bead board and the pink stone from that challenge matched the delicate pink of these pearls so well that this necklace set was born. I added triangle size 11 seed beads between the pearls and faceted black coin beads to make the straps. The focal is the beautiful stone with black discs on either side that I wire wrapped with a faceted black drop below. It is a simple piece but I like it.

Since the hop is called flora hues I wanted to make something with a flower. I dug through my filigree and found this silver flower. I used it as the back layer of my focal. I stitched purple flower petals  to the backing. The center is a round white pearl from my kit. The bail is simply coiled silver wire. The straps are made with the purple rice shaped pearls and round white pearls from my kit. I have a third necklace in progress. I will post it when it is done. To see what others made go to https://www.facebook.com/groups/PRTbeadsandmore/
I just figured out that I have this marked on my calendar for the wrong date. Sorry I am late posting. 
 

Welcome to my Bead Peeps 2015 post. First let me say thank you to Linda Anderson for hosting this fun event. My partner for this hop is Kathleen Breeding. She was really generous with what she sent. I got a priority mail box stuffed full. This is the first piece that I made. The pink filigree, large Lucite flowers, chain, bugle beads , and clasp were all from my goodies. Did you notice the pink earwires? I think they are really fun.

My second necklace used the lovely purple polymer clay beads that Kat sent. The peanut beads were also in my box from Kat. I added bead caps, Glass discs, titanium coated hematite squares and drop, and the chain, which I got in New York at CJS Sales last Thanksgiving.

Necklace number three started with the white shell. I used some of the gold aluminum wire to bezel it. Then I used some of the round gold wire from my goodies to attach the stitched focal from Kat. I made a spiral rope to hang the pendant from and finished it with 2 wavy pearls from A Grain Of Sand and more of the chain I used in the purple necklace. 

I told Kat that I liked to work with unusual items so she sent me the wine cork. I could not pass up the chance to find a way to use something so unique. I wire wrapped seed beads around it for more color. Next I wired pearls from my box to the gears which were part of my loot. I made links from the sea glass shapes and the two shell pieces also from my goodies. The rondelle link  was from Kat too. Then I went to my stash for more aqua colored items to complete this mixed media piece. I made a link with rubber O-rings and another with a ceramic tube.Then 2 links with sea glass drops and an acrylic tube one too. The silver faceted beads  that I used in several of the links were from Kat . It's kind of funky and asymmetrical but I like it. I also made three pair of simple earrings but I seem to have deleted that pic so I will retake and post it tomorrow when it is light. Now I will show you all of the beads that she sent.

Didn't I tell you that she packed the box? Wow what a haul I got. I have plans for lots more item but since I am back in school my bead time has been drastically reduced so they will have to wait for another day.  The large brass clasp will be used in a necklace I am making in a Diane Fitzgerald class on Sunday. I will be passing on some of this to several of my bead friends. Please check out Kathleen's blog at http://99bobotw.blogspot.com/ then go to Bead Peeps on facebook to see what others made.

I am participating in this years Bead Peeps challenge. My partner is Kathleen Breeding. She was Extremely generous with what she sent me to play with for this challenge. This pic shows aluminum wire,  pink chain, focal and gears, acrylic beads, pearls, sea glass, flowers, stickers, seed beads, cloisonne, hearts, butterfly, brass clasp, wishbone, earwires, and frames. This is just the start. She pack a priority mail box.

Next came seed beads galore including two hole duos, piggy beads, peanuts, and bugles.

Aren't those polymer clay beads yummy? Just look at those peocock beads, they spoke to me right out of the package.The yoyo beads are interesting as well as the faceted brass squares. I am intregued by the cork and I know I need to find something interesting to do with it. The jump ring opener was a nice inclusion.

There are several focals in this pic that I can choose from including the black and coral heart, seed bead bezeled polymer piece, and the wire wrapped focal.

Several more seed bead tubes to choose from.

Stones galore in this pic including magnasite, calcite and rose quartz. Shell rounds and mother of pearl too. Several types of flowers to play with also. Didn't I tell you she was extremely generous? I have so many ideas floating in my head. Now I just need to get busy. I will be sure to pass on lots of my extras to other beaders.

Last year I got to go to the Bead & Button Show for the first time. I was lucky enough to get a kit from Toho beads  and became a member of Team Toho. I was asked to create something with my kit. I wanted to do something different than the usual necklace, earrings, or bracelet. I came up with the idea of a fascinator and that is what I created. I sent for a buckram form but it got lost in the mail so I made a wire frame to support the beadwork. I made flowers from the petal shapes, triangles and seed beads as embellishments and stitched flower trim around the edge too. I made wire and seed bead accents and added two feathers from my friends cockatoo. The inside is finished with pink ultrasuede. I am pleased with how this turned out. If you would like to see what the others made with their kits here is the link http://teamtoho.net/challenges-and-contests/2014-toho-challenge/  Most others focused more on the blue beads but I was drawn to the metallic pink. Our bead group was well represented as 5 other members also participated in this challenge.

I am participating in  the Bead Peeps Blog Hop. This is what I sent my partner Kathleen Breeding. I bead embroidered the pendant. My friend Cindy gave me the stones. I believe that they are goldstone. They are copper colored with black, navy blue, and sparkles. I also made the clasp and  links. I used magnetic copper wire for these. Magnetic copper wire is used inside electric motors. It has a coating on it that makes it darker and richer looking than regular copper. The coating also makes it not turn green like regular copper. I included some of the 20 gauge magnetic wire for Kathleen to use in my package. The black nuggets are stone that I got at Dakota Stone and I believe the marquise shapes are carnelian. The rounds above the black nuggets are red jasper. I am not sure what the strand of rounds in the upper right is but the color seemed right for this mix. Under the carnelian is shell discs and a pair of cabs I got in a mixed bags of goodies. All of the items to the left of the pendant are vintage. The tan two hole discs I got in New York City at CJS Sales. The other beads in the box with them had tags that said made in Czechoslovakia In 1989 the tags started saying made in Czech Republic so they are older than that. The large orange pearls, faceted cabs, and orange luster pieces all came out of the Bead Hoard boxes I got from A Grain of Sand. I includes size 11 copper seed beads and the two colors of size 15 seed beads that I used in making the pendant so she has something matching to play with. She said that she preferred copper and orange was her favorite color. I hope that she likes what I send.

A Hint of Mint is the challenge for today. I found this theme very inspiring and I created a whole collection. Above is the first set. I used the brass leaf as the focal. The green nugget barrels and white rounds were in the kit. I added the brass tubes, chain, and clasp from my stash. Then I made earrings to go with the necklace.

The second set I used the sea glass tubes, white rondelles, and rice shaped pearls from the kit. I added sea glass rounds and made the focal from my stash. The earrings were made with bicones, discs, and seed beads to match the focal.

This set is my favorite. I used the mint barrel nuggets and large white pearls from the kit for the straps. There are brass spacers next to the barrels. The focal started with a thrift store earrings. I bead embroidered around it using the white rounds from the kit and beads I had. Then I added fringe to finish it. The earrings where made with brass squares and crystal rondelles from my stash and the barrels and large pearls from the kit.

The large frosted rondelles from the kit were so yummy that I needed to use them and so this bracelet was created. It pairs well with any of the necklace and earrings sets.

A chacha bracelet came next. I used brass chain the same as first necklace and made dangles to suspend from it. I used beads from the kit and also from a bag of mixed green beads I had bought. It too could be worn with any of the necklaces.

One last pair of earrings to finish off. I used the last two frosted rondelles and brass connecters. Then I made dangles with spring green pearls, to finish them.

This is the kit that I started with. I used almost everything in it except the clear rounds and the brass wings. I had such fun creating this collection. Thank you to Lisa Lodge for including me in this challenge. To see what the other participants made please go to https://www.facebook.com/events/451621684975514