Fun with animal prints!

I just made this necklace for a friend. I had leftover animal print glass beads from another project, and mixed them with crystals and charms from Jolee's Jewels.



I hope animal prints don't go out of style any time soon! I love making stuff like this.

Black Friday fun.

Michaels had a sale and good coupons- so I picked up some charms.



I also bought some clear glass balls, and filled a couple with beads:

More charms!

Another charm necklace:



These are easy to do. I love charms! I keep finding good new ones.

Also, I've started using the glass hearts I picked up earlier in the year- here's a simple bracelet strung on elastic cord:

Cheap and quick.

Cute little kit from Michaels. Only 2 bucks! And it only took about ten minutes to assemble. It has blinking lights.

So very charming!

This took me about an hour to do. Most of the charms are from Blue Moon's new line, Madame Delphine's. The flowers are from Plaid, and the pendant, Eiffel Tower, and crown are a Michael's brand. The metals are slightly different, but I think the charms all work together.



Close up- I just couldn't resist the tower charm!

New projects, new charms!

This necklace was made from charms, ribbon, and findings from Petals a Plenty from Plaid.



Mom picked these beads. She loves animal prints, and wanted a necklace to match one of her animal outfits.



All from Blue Moon!

Blue Moon has a new line of beads and charms. I picked these up today:




I'm going to have fun with these!

Haven't been beading much...

Finished this one a couple of weeks ago. I may change it. The chain and little black "gems" are from Black Lace, the hearts are part of the big batch from Fire Mountain Gems. I added black Swarvoski crystals.



I think I'll do a bit of beading tonight.

A quick finish, and new beads!

I put the little chair box on a chain with some Swarovski crystals:





Michaels had a big sale- including a line from Plaid that they're not going to carry anymore:



I found these at A.C. Moore today:



They had a lot of new things.

Awwww.

Itty bitty chair. The picture is much larger than life-size!



It's just over an inch tall. From Blue Moon. I picked it up yesterday at Jo-Ann Fabric. All it needs is a chain, and I have the right kind.

Meet the Mets!

I made a bracelet to show support for my favorite baseball team!



Swavroski crystals in blue and orange, plus the charms I received the other day.

Have a heart...or 200!

Mom ordered a bunch of glass heart beads from Fire Mountain Gems. Almost 200 of them!



They're so gorgeous. I'm going to have fun with them. They range in size from 25 to 12 mm. Some have foil, some are lampwork, others have millifiore accents.



I also have some baseball charms, including a New York Mets charm. I wish they had charms for the Nationals and Rockies, too. One of the Mets charms will go to my sister, to add to her New York bracelet.



I made two necklaces with the beads I bought on Sunday:

Don't worry, be hippie!



Peace and Love!

New beads, and an attempt at wire work.

Michaels had a sale on Blue Moon's "Royal Boheme" beads and pendants.



I'm going to make a necklace with the red/purple beads and peace symbols tonight!

This is what I sacrificed my nails for last week: my first attempt at wire work using my Thing-a-ma Jig!



I probably won't actually use these for anything. They're not exactly perfect! :p I'll have to practice a lot before I have any jewelry-quality pieces.

I learned a painful lesson yesterday. :(

Working with wire after having nails done is not a smart idea. I ruined my nails yesterday! Tore one right off, the other got partially torn. Good thing I do my own nails, or that would have been an expensive disaster! *laughs* I now know that you can't keep long nails if you're going to work with wire.

Forgot to post this...

The perfectly matched beads and butterfly:



Once again, much time was saved by my bead spinner. Some of the beads were too big for it, so I had to add them by hand. It still took a while to do, because I made mistakes with the length, and it took a while to figure out how to attach the pendant.

Birthday beads, used up!

Black and red beauties with black nickel chain.





The black and tan "lentils" and rounds, with silver:



The girlfriend pendant, on a silver mesh ribbon.



I have one more set of pretty art glass to work with. I haven't decided yet what to do with them!

Birthday goodies!

My sister gave me these books. I was actually thinking about buying the "Beyond the Bead"!



I like the idea of making my own pendants and beads.

Birthday stash!

My dad took me to Beadazzled yesterday. I didn't go as nuts as I thought I would, because I was sick, but I did find some great stuff!



I picked out some fabulous art glass beads and a string of garnet chips. They had some amazing art glass...mostly way out of my price range, but fun to look at. They also have an amazing selection of handmade jewelry.

I had to get one of their funny pendants- it has two sides:



I already have plans for the tan/black glass beads and the silver...when I'm feeling better, I'll make a necklace out of them. The pendant will just be put on a chain. It doesn't need anything else.

New York, New York!

I made this for my sister. New York themed charms (from Tokens), connectors from Bead Gallery, and blue and orange crystals (the colors of the New York Mets). All that's missing are baseball charms! If I find any before my sister's birthday, I'll add them.

Lots of stuff to post!

First- I made this necklace, inspired by a project I saw in Creative Jewelry magazine:



One half is freshwater pearls (Iris Gold, 7mm, from Fire Mountain Gems), the other is fancy jasper (4mm, Bead Gallery), with a Chinese Zodiac charm from Blue Moon.

The reverse of the charm:



I gave it to my mom. She loved it!

Jo-Ann had a great sale this week- everything was 40% off. I picked up a beautiful butterfly pendant, with a set of coordinating beads.



I also bought something I needed: a Thing-a-ma-Jig for wire work. I'm going to have fun with this!

Haven't beaded much lately,..

I've been busy entertaining guests all week. But I have two projects done:

I made this bracelet with the star connectors I bought two weeks ago.



I added dangles with Swavroski crystals:



I made this one for my aunt:



I'm going to take a little trip to the Beadazzled store at Tyson's Corner for my birthday! It's a bit of a drive, but it's a great store with stuff I can't get at Michaels or Jo-Ann. I've been there before and wished I'd had more time to really shop. I only had 20 minutes that time!

Simple but lovely.

I finished this necklace last night:




It took about an hour. I had a lot of blue aventurine beads to use, and I thought they would look great with the silver Thai-type beads.

I also picked up these fun connectors at Michaels:




I know what I want to do with the stars. I saw a great idea for a bracelet in the latest issue of BeadStyle magazine. It had the same stars in silver (by Bead Gallery at Michaels).

Glass beauties!

I made these last week. Michaels had a sale on their Artistrywear pendants, so I bought a bunch. I simply made strings of seed beads to match. Once again, my bead spinner made the job a lot easier!

These are the first two I made:



I have one more to work with, and if Michaels still has the pendants on sale, I'll buy more!

Hair jewels!

I made these barrettes last week. I wired together fake jewels made by Faux Show.

Combining two favorite hobbies...

Needlework and beading!

This is a punchneedle piece. After I assembled the pin, I added a beaded border.



The punchneedle was done during a class. I need to take this in to show my teacher (the owner of the cross stitch shop in town)!