Beading Frenzy

Something new...

2012-01-22T15:18:00.000-08:00

My first attempt at lattice weaving, with crystals and glass pearls. It came out pretty well:

Unfortunately, the thread on one side broke, and I have no way of attaching a clasp. Oops. I may just pull it apart and start over!

Bottle cap beads!

2011-12-01T14:46:00.000-08:00

I bought these beads from Goody Beads. They're recycled bottle caps hammered into shape and soldered together. I'd love to learn how to do this! I made a bottle opener for my dad and a pendant for me:

I made two more Christmas charms:

It's been a while...

2011-11-19T09:55:00.000-08:00

I just lost the creative bug this year, I guess. But I'm starting to make jewelry again. Here is a bottle cap pendant with a Christmas theme:

These are easy, so I'll make a few more.

Barbie shoes!

2011-07-29T20:41:00.000-07:00

I made a cute necklace for my mom with a bunch of shoes. She loves it! I'll have to make another one for me, but I'll add small Barbie purses to mine.

Easy project.

It's not quite like the project from Bead Unique- that was a bracelet, and Mom doesn't really like bracelets that much. I also didn't add any beads. I thought the shoes were enough.

New necklace!

2011-07-19T18:49:00.000-07:00

I made this beaded necklace with a pendant I bought at the Glassworks in Louisville.

The pendant was lampworked by Mark Payton, one of the resident artists. I watched him "flamework" a different piece in his studio while I was there. It was so cool to watch!

http://www.louisvilleglassworks.com/flaming.html

New project!

2011-06-23T20:21:00.000-07:00

This is one of Tim Holtz's "pocketwatch" pendants:

I filled it with his scrapbook paper as a background, then found some other charms to add to the "time flies" theme. Finally, I added a TH word charm outside the watch.

More TH goodies, not sure yet what I'll do with them!

In a Barbie World...

2011-06-14T16:14:00.000-07:00

I saw a great project in Bead Unique magazine this month- a bracelet made with Barbie shoes! I bought a stash of shoes and purses:

I'll probably mix the plastic with some metal shoe and purse charms. I have enough of both types to make two necklaces and two bracelets, and maybe a pair of earrings, too!

I also just bought a bunch of Tim Holtz Idea-ology things- a pocketwatch, little bottles, and his great scrapbooking papers and "salavage" stickers. I'm going to have fun coming up with jewelry ideas for those!

Simple and sweet.

2011-04-08T19:54:00.000-07:00

Michaels has a new exclusive Bead Landing line- C'est la Vie. Obviously, French inspired! I threw together this little set in less than half an hour: Fleur-de-lis earrings and necklace.

I used a velvet cord, also from Bead Landing. It looks elegant and more expensive than it actually was. ;) Perfect for a cocktail party I'm going to in May! Stage two of my Doctor Who bracelet:

I may omit some of the less-than-perfect charms, and add beads in their place.

More Doctor Who fun!

2011-04-02T17:49:00.001-07:00

I made a bunch of Scrabble tile charms using images from Series 5: I'll use the best looking of these to make a bracelet! They've already been drilled.

The Doctor is in.

2011-03-29T07:06:00.000-07:00

I made these last night: They will be earrings. I found television-shaped bezels, and since my favorite current show is Doctor Who, I found some images and resized them to fit. I'll have to do a Star Trek set, too. Geek jewelry!

More resin madness!

2011-03-16T19:57:00.001-07:00

Three charms, two are double-sided.

Queen Bee!

Paris goodies!

One side on this one- and the colors ran a bit. :( No idea why. The seal might not have been completely dry before I added the resin.

Same technique as always, but I'm experimenting with different types of resin (no two-part mixes yet). Mostly I've been using Mod Podge Dimensional Magic, but I tried JudiKins Diamond Glaze. Diamond dries harder and faster, but Mod Podge is easier to pour. Takes 24 hours to harden, though. Aileen's Paper Glaze works well, too. I've had fewer bubbles with Aileen's.

I'm not going to attempt a two-part resin like ICE until my technique is very, very good.

Laughing out loud!

2011-03-05T18:45:00.000-08:00

Just made this last night:

I love working with Scrabble letters! I just got this batch in:

I've already used up all the F's, G's, M's, and L's. I need more. :(

For Mets fans...

2011-03-01T20:12:00.000-08:00

The season hasn't even started yet, but based on past seasons, this is good advice to follow:

I made the memory frame pendant with an image I found on metsblog.com. Too bad there isn't a "Now Panic and Freak Out" to put on the other side. Knowing the Mets, it might be needed...

I plan to add baseball and bat charms later.

Lots of stuff today!

2011-02-24T20:09:00.001-08:00

Found even more clip art to use for jewelry from http://www.etsy.com/shop/UniqueBanners?ga_ref=auto&ga_search_query=1+inch+collage+sheets+inchies&ga_search_type=handmade&ga_facet=handmade .
I made three pendants:

Also put together some Scrabble letters in internet slang:

I wanted to make more, but I broke a few letters while drilling. I'd like to do "LOL", "BFF", and others.

More "charming" Paris pieces!

2011-02-21T17:45:00.001-08:00

I may re-do these because of the bubbles- but this is what I have so far:

I probably need to use a better resin.

Scrabble tiles!

2011-02-16T17:41:00.000-08:00

I put these together last night.

The images are from http://cloud9kreations.com/shop/. I re-sized and stretched them a bit so they would fit the tiles, then glued them to a tile and covered them with ModPodge Dimensional Magic.

These are so easy to do!

More charming stuff!

2011-02-09T17:55:00.000-08:00

Another addition to my New York/London/Paris necklace plan: New York!

I found a little Brooklyn Bridge charm, and the picture came from an old American Airlines travel poster. Now I need to figure out how I'm going to assemble the final piece!

Girls in a toy car:

Another fabulous old photo found at http://www.graphicsfairy.blogspot.com/ . I sponged a bit of copper ink on the photo for some color, then glued a little old fashioned car charm to the frame. I may cut off the top ring and make this into a pin instead of putting it on a chain.

Mucha Bling!

2011-01-26T20:26:00.000-08:00

My soldering still isn't perfect, so I decorated the front with rhinestones.

My main problem is that I wasn't cleaning the tip properly. I bought a tip cleaner/tinner and used it for the first time tonight. It's awful stuff, but it works. The solder flowed better, but my tape is still a bit bumpy. It just won't stick!

I made another memory glass pendant- a naughty flapper (image from the Graphics Fairy):

This just needed a little extra sparkle, so I put a few rhinestones on the corners, and added a copper crown.

Memory glass work...

2011-01-22T19:11:00.000-08:00

More charms for my travel-themed necklace- London and Paris.

I may take apart one of them and re-do it as New York, so my final necklace would be NY-London-Paris. :)

Navy girl pendant- based on a classic WWI recruitment poster.

I glued small charms to each frame. The Navy poster image came from LunaGirl Images.

These came in the mail yesterday- mini shadow boxes. I can put any kind of tiny item in them! I'll probably cover the insides with clip art, then choose a theme.

I suck at soldering. I tried to do the Mucha pendant again, and failed miserably. I just can't get the solder to flow well. :( I hope I figure out what I'm doing wrong- I don't want to waste any more solder or tape!

More charm work.

2011-01-18T17:30:00.000-08:00

One success, one work in progress, one mess. :(

The success- a memory frame charm. I glued the little charms (from B'Sue Boutiques) to the frame. It's 1x1 inch, much smaller than the picture!

This will be part of a bigger project- a travel themed necklace. The next memory frame will be London themed.

Work in progress- three little charms with vintage photos from LunaGirl images:

They need more resin. I have three more blanks to work with! These are so tiny- 8mm.

More from LunaGirl, and this was the mess. :( A Mucha poster with a rhinestone border. This was supposed to be under glass and soldered, but on my first try, the glass cracked, and on the second, the solder just didn't flow and made a HUGE mess. So I pulled the glass off and will try again...

I love the images from LunaGirl!

New stuff to post, at last!

2011-01-08T20:45:00.000-08:00

Getting back into charms, plus I made pendants with resin.

"Keep Calm", a double-sided bezel:

London themed charms surround the pendant:

A Paris pendant. I'm not really happy with it- I think it's a bit cloudy.

Also, I made a quickie necklace with a pendant from Vintage Groove:

Bottlecap jewelry!

2010-12-01T16:46:00.001-08:00

A neckclace and earring set for my sister:

All I had to do was drill holes in the sides/tops of the caps, and add crystals to complete the look. I hope she likes it...she loves anything Mets!

Black Friday loot!

2010-11-26T20:08:00.000-08:00

Jo-Ann Fabric had a big sale on their beads and supplies, plus I had a 20% off total purchase coupon. I went a little nuts:

The bottlecaps on top were ordered online. They arrived in the mail just as I got home from Jo-Ann! :) They're going to be made into a necklace.

Put this together last night...

2010-11-03T08:32:00.001-07:00

After yesterday's midterm elections, this is a sentiment I'm going to have to follow. :p

My town just got a Hobby Lobby (that's where the pendant came from). Just what I needed, another craft store!

Another charming piece!

2010-09-27T17:42:00.001-07:00

I made a bracelet for myself using Scrabble letters. :)

The J cracked a bit, so I'll have to replace it. I'll have to wait, because there was only one J in the set of letters I bought.

The daisy charms are from Jolee's Jewels.

Back to charms...

2010-09-23T20:08:00.000-07:00

I found some great Christmas charms at Jo-Ann Fabric and made necklaces:

The charms and chain are from Plaid's holiday line.

Three new pieces...

2010-09-10T19:22:00.001-07:00

My new soldering iron arrived today, so I did some more work.

This is my first attempt at a round charm:

Two larger pendants:

All images from lunagirl.com, all papers from Michaels.

Collage attack!

2010-09-06T17:07:00.000-07:00

Instead of working on jewelry, I've been making collage covers for scrapbooks!

The photos and part of the backgrounds are from Vintage Stack by DCWV, the pink stripe background is from K and Company, both paper stacks were purchased from Michaels.

This is so much fun! The cupcake book is where I'll put favorite recipes. It was originally a plain craft photo book from Borders.

I'll get back to beading soon. I just like to try new things, and doing the tiny collage pieces for soldered charms was inspiring!

A Royal Mess!

2010-08-30T20:07:00.001-07:00

I made a huge mess, but I redid the princess charm. This time, I remembered to seal the picture before putting it under glass!

Soldering is fun but messy. And the flux smells. Ugh. Collage work is pretty messy, too. I had to clean up a lot of glitter and ModPodge that got all over my workspace!

I made another princess charm- I found a book of scrapbook paper with a fairy tale theme, including crowns, and cut the photo of the girl to fit. Then I added glitter to the roses in her hands, and gold ink around the edges. It gives it an even more vintage look!

This one is pretty big, 2x2 inches.

I put dried flowers on the back of both pieces:

I'm going to put away the soldering iron for a while, and work on plain old beads and charms. I need to get a new tip for the iron before I can do more soldering, anyway!

Oooooops!

2010-08-22T17:32:00.000-07:00

I'm still trying to master the art of soldering! My charms are starting to look better, but I keep forgetting to do one important thing- Seal the pictures with decoupage gel. This is what happended to one project:

This is a definite do-over- I love the little girl's expression! The flux leaked through the tape and discolored the photo badly. The reverse of the charm turned out all right:

More examples of what happens when paper or other items aren't sealed:

The daisy is supposed to be white!

Again, the other sides of these charms turned out okay:

Somehow these next two pendants didn't get flux under the glass.

#1, front and back:

#2, front and back:

At least I'm not burning the papers now.

All of the images are from lunagirl.com. Some of them needed some cleverly placed flowers and glitter. ;) I love old photos.

I'm trying to get the hang of soldering jump rings...I'm not doing it very well.

Just what I needed. :p

2010-08-15T16:56:00.000-07:00

Yet another place on the web for me to spend money on my hobby. Lunagirl Images- awesome vintage photos and clip art at reasonable prices, most of them copyright free.

http://lunagirl.com/

I've already downloaded four collage sheets. I'm working on some pieces with them right now.

There are a lot of nudes and otherwise risque images...I'll use them, but I'll have to do some editing (i.e., strategically placed stickers and glitter) to make them family friendly! I'm no prude, but I like to keep my jewelry at least PG-13!

A finished necklace and some shopping finds!

2010-08-01T17:56:00.000-07:00

I finally got around to making a necklace out of some of my old coins. This one uses French coins, and an Industrial Chic pendant.

I couldn't use all the coins- they would have been way too much! I like the mix of metals.

The dangles are from a new Michaels line, Luna Nuova. I bought a few sets of them, plus some large "watch gears" made for scrapbooking.

Getting the hang of it!

2010-07-21T17:32:00.000-07:00

Another soldered charm made with scrapbook papers, clip art, and a cloth flower.

Front and back:

I used the 1/2 inch foil tape. It gave better coverage. This time, the flux didn't leak under the glass, and I didn't burn the paper! The piece needs to be filed and buffed, then I'll put it on a chain or cord.

Yay for amazon.com!

2010-07-20T13:24:00.000-07:00

I never thought I'd be so excited to get tape in the mail! 1/2 inch wide copper foil tape, for soldering projects. The 1/4 inch tape was a little too small. My projects will look so much better. I'm going to work on something tonight.

Also, my mom gave me an old pocketwatch of hers. I dismantled it, saving the gears, watch face and hands, and the casing. The watch case will make a nice locket for collage pieces!

Third attempt at soldering!

2010-07-19T17:58:00.000-07:00

I'm just playing with ideas.

The bottom one is pretty good, but may need an extra coating of solder. It will become a pin to wear at Christmas! The paper in the top two pieces burned a bit. I still need to practice!

Soldering, attempt number two.

2010-07-11T20:19:00.000-07:00

Still not perfect, but much better than my first attempt! I realized what I did wrong the first time- I had too much stuff under the glass. My piece was too thick to tape properly (copper foil tape is wrapped around the glass first). I may break it and save the watch pieces for a future project. I don't like to waste materials on unwearable pieces.

Here's the new piece, front and back:

The clip art and quotes came from the Simple Soldered book. I adapted one of the author's designs. I also used some "girly" scrapbooking papers for the background. All it needed for finishing was a silk ribbon! It's still not perfect. I got a little bit of the liquid flux under the glass. It discolored the paper a bit, but otherwise didn't damage the piece. I also burned myself with my soldering iron. *rolls eyes* Ouch.

I also made a necklace with the Paris charm I bought from Goody Beads:

I added an old French coin. I have several more coins drilled, but this one matched the charm and the chain best.

I love that book, and I love soldering! There are so many projects I want to do.

New goodies and a new technique!

2010-07-09T19:49:00.000-07:00

I picked up two new pendants from Blue Moon this week, from their collections Sea Life and Bella Artiste.

The T.V. is so cute!

From Goody Beads, a soldered charm, two sides:

Finally, I'm learning to solder pieces of my own. My mom got me the book Simple Soldered Jewelry and Accessories. I had the materials and tools needed, and I've wanted to try it for a long time. This book gave me the inspiration to start! My first, somewhat sloppy attempt:

I made it with scrapbooking paper and stickers, and old watch parts. It has a bit of a "steampunk" look. I need to file the metal a bit, but I think this is pretty good for a first attempt!

Yay for sales!

2010-06-23T17:31:00.000-07:00

Michaels had a sale last week on Industrial Chic items. I bought a bunch. I added a few charms to my neckclace:

I made a new pendant with the rest:

I can put that on any chain or cord.

I'm starting to look for old watch parts to use in collage charms and pendants. I love the pieces I've seen in some of my books. Assortments of old watch parts are starting to appear on sites like Fire Mountain- I'll have to buy a few!

Two new goodies!

2010-06-13T14:49:00.000-07:00

A beaded wine stopper, and a charm watch.

The stopper and its beads and the watch face came from Goody Beads, the assorted charms all came from Michaels or AC Moore.

Industrial Chic!

2010-06-04T10:13:00.000-07:00

All but two of the charms are from that line. The chain is from Orient Express.

It's so different! It took an hour to assemble.

Cute finishes!

2010-05-27T08:51:00.000-07:00

The beaded gift set from Goody Beads:

This was a fun project!

A work in progress, and some "goodys".

2010-05-21T18:40:00.000-07:00

Yeah, the misspelling was on purpose- my Goody Beads order arrived today- I only placed it on Tuesday!

Salad server, canape knife, appetizer fork, and the beads to go on them. This will make a nice gift for someone. :)

I caved in and bought some of the new Industrial Chic charms at Michaels yesterday:

These sets are expensive- $5.99 each.

I'm using most of them in this project- this isn't final, I haven't decided if this chain really works.

The pendant is going to be the focal point of a necklace I'm making for my sister. She's been to France, and I thought it would be nice to make a necklace with Paris-themed charms for her. Here I've added an old coin to the pendant:

I'm going to be very, very busy in the coming weeks!

I also picked up a fabulous new book for my beading library- Custom Cool Jewelry.

http://www.amazon.com/Custom-Cool-Jewelry-Personalized-Pendants/dp/1596680741/ref=pd_sim_b_4

New necklace!

2010-05-19T20:06:00.000-07:00

Most of the charms and the chain are from Pearls and Pumps.

Close up- I glued the cameos/crystal to the bezels.

And more new goodies...

2010-05-15T18:43:00.001-07:00

Michaels has a new line- Industrial Chic. It's very interesting...

http://www.michaels.com/art/online/static?page=Industrial-Chic

I like the idea of turning found objects into jewelry! I'll have to pick up a few pieces.

Uh-oh!

2010-05-13T20:04:00.000-07:00

Goody Beads. I've never visited the site before, and now I can't stop looking!

http://www.goodybeads.com/

I especially like the bead pen kits.

I have a nice coupon to use that doesn't expire for a month...I have some serious shopping to do!

New goodies and a finish!

2010-05-10T20:26:00.000-07:00

I've been too busy to do much recently- but today I went shopping and found some great new stuff! A.C. Moore had some things I'd never seen before:

I like the Vintage Groove stuff! And Blue Moon's Bella Artiste line is a winner. I combined one of their pendant and one of the Vintage charms:

Blue Moon's Design Studio line will be fun to work with. I've been looking for "blank" pendants to make my own designs with.

New stuff at Michaels...

2010-04-17T12:15:00.000-07:00

I like the new "Bella Boho" line from Bead Landing. I picked up these charms the other day, and just put them on a chain:

A very quick project that I'll get to wear often. I love the colors.

More quick finishes!

2010-04-10T13:00:00.000-07:00

I started this one a while ago, but couldn't decide what to finish it with. I finally just attached some extra charms!

I bought two sets of several charms when Michaels had stuff on clearance- I made two pairs of earrings with the pearls.

It's nice to have easy projects to finish in a hurry!

Two quickies!

2010-04-05T19:34:00.000-07:00

Both made with charms from Blue Moon:

I love the peacock. It's one of the new pieces from Orient Express.

Haven't been doing much...

2010-04-04T19:04:00.000-07:00

For some reason, all I've recently felt like doing bead-wise is sort out my stash. I just haven't been feeling very creative lately.

I did put together one little thing last month- I found this sweet Jolee's Jewels birdcage charm at Jo-Ann Fabric. All it needed was a chain to match.

I picked up some beautiful new beads at Michaels the other day- they've added to their Bead Gallery collection. I have some dyed and faceted jade beads that look like little candies. I'm not sure yet what I'll do with them, but whatever that project is, it will be "sweet". :)

Wow, I have five followers! I'd better get back to work so I can post more.

Oh, boy...

2010-02-23T19:14:00.000-08:00

A new line from Plaid- Pearls and Pumps. Nice retro style charms, pearls, and chains. I love the flowers!

http://www.michaels.com/art/online/displayproductlist?categoryid=190226

Blue Moon also has a new line- Orient Express:

http://www.michaels.com/art/online/displayproductlist?categoryid=190225

I'm headed to Michaels tomorrow- so glad I have coupons. :p

Hitting the bead sales again...

2010-02-14T18:15:00.000-08:00

Picked up even more charms at Michaels this week. I can't believe they're dropping this line:

The "pearls" remind me of the 1928 jewelry label. I have projects in mind for them...

I love this little frog. I have no idea what to do with it, but I'm sure I'll think of something.

More charming work.

2010-02-08T16:38:00.000-08:00

Pretty pendant from Blue Moon.

A work in progress- a pretty dragonfly connector. I'm not sure yet what I'll add to the chain, but I don't want anything that will overpower the dragonfly!

Michaels had yet another big clearance sale. Once again, they are dumping a line that I really liked- Nouveau Colour. :( So I scooped up as much as I could!

Drill, baby, drill!

2010-01-19T18:27:00.000-08:00

I found a great idea for a necklace in the book Hip Handmade Memory Jewelry- making small pendants out of coins! I have a bunch of coins from a trip to Austria 20 years ago- and I drilled holes in each:

It didn't take too long to drill them. Later, I'm going to mix them with beads on a chain.

Also, I made another memory glass pendant- this time with a Monet sticker:

The book:

http://www.amazon.com/Handmade-Memory-Jewelry-Cathy-Jakicic/dp/0871162741

Beading break is over!

2010-01-06T19:26:00.000-08:00

It's been a while. I really haven't done much beading since mid-December.

Christmas was very busy for me this year. Once my presents were finished, I didn't have time for any new projects!

I have a few new beading books- some projects in them call for "memory glass". I've been searching for them for a while, and finally found them at Michaels. I picked up two sizes with matching frames, and I've already made one pendant:

I put a sticker in between two glass slides and then snapped on the frame. Then I added a few bead dangles and a chain, and presto! Art jewelry. The glass and frames are made by Ranger. The cat sticker came from a Dover sticker book- Cats in Art.

Another work in progress- a detail from my favorite Renoir painting, Dance at Bougival:

Another sticker between the glass, with mini rhinestones glued to the frame. Later I'll put it on a chain, perhaps with some more beads and charms.

I look forward to making more of these- using stickers, scrapbooking papers, anything paper that will fit between the slides!

Fun with animal prints!

2009-12-14T19:55:00.000-08:00

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.

2009-11-28T18:57:00.000-08:00

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!

2009-11-22T17:39:00.000-08:00

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.

2009-11-10T18:26:00.001-08:00

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

So very charming!

2009-11-05T16:39:00.001-08:00

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!

2009-10-19T17:12:00.001-07:00

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...

2009-10-16T09:50:00.001-07:00

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!

2009-10-01T17:19:00.001-07:00

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.

2009-09-21T16:49:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-09-05T19:03:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-09-03T10:50:00.000-07:00

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.

2009-08-30T17:07:00.001-07:00

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. :(

2009-08-24T14:42:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-08-19T10:51:00.001-07:00

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!

2009-08-09T18:39:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-08-02T17:04:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-07-30T16:47:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-07-26T12:35:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-07-23T17:11:00.000-07:00

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,..

2009-07-19T14:54:00.000-07:00

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.

2009-07-07T19:04:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-06-27T10:36:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-06-22T18:07:00.000-07:00

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

Combining two favorite hobbies...

2009-06-18T20:18:00.000-07:00

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)!

Another bracelet! And new beads!

2009-06-14T14:06:00.000-07:00

Made this cute bracelet with charms by Tokens:

Michaels had some stuff on clearance, and some a new line from Blue Moon: Poétique.

I love the little fake gems from Faux Show. Not sure what to do with them yet.

A new bracelet!

2009-06-10T06:49:00.000-07:00

I quickly found a use for some more of the lovely beads I recently bought:

Took 20 minutes to assemble.

Something old...

2009-06-07T18:19:00.000-07:00

These sweet charms came from a necklace I had in high school. I bought it at the Esprit store in Boulder, Colorado. It was the only one they had...and I had to have it! I wore it all the time. It was my favorite piece of jewelry. The chain broke a decade ago, but I saved the charms. I'll try to work them into a future project.

Finally figured out how to use the chair.

2009-06-06T10:07:00.000-07:00

I found a chain and some dangles that somewhat matched it!

Everything is from Blue Moon- the dangles are Lost and Found, the chair and chain are Noir, the clasp from Manor House. Didn't take too long to assemble the necklace, but I had a hard time attaching the chair to a jump ring.

Another finish, thanks to my bead spinner!

2009-06-02T08:27:00.000-07:00

This is a lariat inspired by a design from the book Glamorous Beaded Jewelry:

I mixed silver glass seed beads, Swavroski crystals, and foil hearts together. The bead spinner saved me about an hour's work! The necklace took about two hours to do. I made the necklace too long at first! I had to cut off about five inches.

A very quick project!

2009-05-31T16:17:00.000-07:00

Two pretty foil hearts, some gold beads and wire, and voila! Earrings!

I need to tighten the wires a bit, and might have to use a little glue to keep the little beads from slipping. But this only took 15 minutes!

New beauties to work with!

2009-05-28T17:13:00.000-07:00

Foil hearts and lampwork floral beads, and two large blown glass beads. I have an idea for the flowers, and the hearts will become earrings. They were very expensive, so I decided to only get a pair.

My mom gave me a new book- Wire Jewelry Workshop. I've never really done any wirework before- but this book has good step by step instructions. I'll give it a go!

Finished pearls and peridots!

2009-05-21T18:04:00.000-07:00

This took about three hours- and would have taken longer if I didn't have the bead spinner!

The peridots aren't the highest quality, but the imperfections add a bit of charm, in my opinion!

Feeling a bit green...

2009-05-19T17:39:00.000-07:00

I've started work on a necklace with pearls and peridots. I've done the first strand- peridot colored glass seed beads with a few loose pearls.

I found a gold mesh ribbon (made in Italy) that will look good with the necklace. I'm working on the second strand, which will mix freshwater pearls, peridots, and tiny 14K gold beads. I should finish it tonight or tomorrow night.

A new project!

2009-05-15T18:26:00.000-07:00

I did this in less than two hours last night- that bead spinner really saved me some time. All of the beads are from Blue Moon.

I'm going to get a lot of use out of that new toy!

My new toy!

2009-05-11T19:42:00.001-07:00

Cool and fun to use!

A bead spinner, which really cuts down on time spent stringing seed beads. I'm having fun with it.

The bead grab bag, May edition!

2009-05-10T18:06:00.000-07:00

The large assortment of interesting beads from Fire Mountain that Mom chose for me:

The peridots- and an idea I have for them.

Damage repaired!

2009-05-05T19:47:00.000-07:00

I fixed my necklace. I used a double wire to make it stronger. Hopefully this time it won't fall apart! I'll post a picture later.

My big box of beads arrived today! Mom ordered a lot of extra fun stuff- some crackle glass beads, pearls in funky colors, and small millefiori beads. The peridots are lovely, but they're so tiny! I can't wait to work with them.

Disaster!

2009-05-03T17:56:00.000-07:00

The beautiful necklace I made in January broke suddenly while I was at dinner last night!

I think I picked up all of the beads- I do have some extra in case I did lose some. I'll have to re-do it with stronger wire...

I made this quick bracelet for someone's birthday:

Most of the beads came from Beyond Beautiful.

Two pieces!

2009-04-30T19:40:00.000-07:00

A fun necklace:

I used organza ribbon on the pendant. Easiest thing ever!

And an amethyst bracelet to match the necklace I made earlier:

This one gave me a bit of trouble. I used elastic cord, and had a terrible time covering up the knot.

Crabby re-do and new beads!

2009-04-24T17:51:00.000-07:00

I decided to make a different necklace with the crab pendant. I used blown glass beads and silver seed beads.

Bead shopping- Michaels is discontinuing the blown glass beads, so I bought three different designs, two each.

And I'm ordering these beautiful peridot teardrops from firemountain.com:

I'm going to design a necklace with freshwater pearls and smaller peridots around these drops, with earrings to match.

Bookmarks!

2009-04-21T13:24:00.000-07:00

Small charms and beads on hemp cords. Easy as pie.

This is cute, but what do I do with it?

2009-04-15T17:04:00.000-07:00

It's from the newest line from Blue Moon Beads, Noir. It's a pendant, but it doesn't really have a place for a bail or jump ring! I'll probably just thread it on a ribbon.

I finished a bracelet last night:

I made it to go with the pink necklace from this post:

http://kirabeads.blogspot.com/2009/03/two-more-new-pieces.html

Same beads, except for the silver spacer I used to cover the elastic cord's knot. That was from Blue Moon. I have a bunch more of those, and I can't wait to use them!

Beading inspirations...

2009-04-10T05:20:00.000-07:00

I have been going through different bead magazines over the past few months, and I have some favorites.

Stringing is only published four times a year, but it's full of great projects with easy to follow directions.

Beadwork is published six times a year, and is for very serious beaders. There are a lot of beautiful projects, but most are out of my reach! They make me want to go out and learn new things. I doubt I'll ever reach the skill levels required, though.

Just playing around...

2009-04-04T19:32:00.001-07:00

Not quite sure what I'm going to do, but here are a couple of things I'm messing around with.

Chinese style ceramic beads and clear flourite stones:

Amethyst and seed beads, with a heart charm that can be threaded with a bead.

Beading Frenzy

Something new...

Bottle cap beads!

It's been a while...

Barbie shoes!

New necklace!

New project!

In a Barbie World...

Simple and sweet.

More Doctor Who fun!

The Doctor is in.

More French poster art...

More resin madness!

Laughing out loud!

For Mets fans...

Lots of stuff today!

More "charming" Paris pieces!

Scrabble tiles!

More charming stuff!

Mucha Bling!

Memory glass work...

More charm work.

New stuff to post, at last!

Bottlecap jewelry!

Black Friday loot!

Put this together last night...

Another charming piece!

Back to charms...

Three new pieces...

Collage attack!

A Royal Mess!

Oooooops!

Just what I needed. :p

A finished necklace and some shopping finds!

Getting the hang of it!

Yay for amazon.com!

Third attempt at soldering!

Soldering, attempt number two.

New goodies and a new technique!

Yay for sales!

Two new goodies!

Industrial Chic!

Cute finishes!

A work in progress, and some "goodys".

New necklace!

And more new goodies...

Uh-oh!

New goodies and a finish!

New stuff at Michaels...

More quick finishes!

Two quickies!

Haven't been doing much...

Oh, boy...

Hitting the bead sales again...

More charming work.

Drill, baby, drill!

Beading break is over!

Fun with animal prints!

Black Friday fun.

More charms!

Cheap and quick.

So very charming!

New projects, new charms!

Haven't been beading much...

A quick finish, and new beads!

Awwww.

Meet the Mets!

Have a heart...or 200!

New beads, and an attempt at wire work.

I learned a painful lesson yesterday. :(

Forgot to post this...

Birthday beads, used up!

Birthday goodies!

Birthday stash!

New York, New York!

Lots of stuff to post!

Haven't beaded much lately,..

Simple but lovely.

Glass beauties!

Hair jewels!