Beauty of Spring Necklace

Artbeads declared February and March as their months of ‘The Beauty of Spring‘ for their blogger community. I was asked to design my jewelry or creation with my own individual interpretation of Spring and here is the necklace I created. Leaves always make me think of spring because that is the time that they appear, signalling that summer is on it's way. I found these gorgeous copper plated ivy leaves by searching "leaves" on Artbeads. They inspired me to design this necklace. I received three leaves and each of them is unique and beautiful for a one-of-a-kind piece of jewelry. The other two leaves will be finished as earrings to match the necklace.



The small round copper "beads" in the spiral twist neck piece are actually 3mm copper Swarovski crystal faux pearls. I've been working with their pearls for a year now and I absolutely love them for their beautiful sheen, consistent size and colour. I believe that they give my jewelry a "step up" in elegance.



The necklace also features Opaque-Lustered Turquoise Toho seed beads. They were chosen for their colour and the consistency of size. The central core of the spiral is size 11/0 Triangle Toho beads. I like to work with triangle beads where I will need to pass a thread through many times. They also add interesting texture to the piece. These quality are my favourites to work with.

All of the supplies in this necklace were given to me by Artbeads.com in return for a review of the product.

Back to Beading!!

This is the piece I've been working on for quite a while. The fancy oval was what initially inspired me. I've been stalled for a while because I haven't been happy with the starts for the neckpiece. At least four times I've started and ripped it out. I'm still not sure about the one shown here. Looks like it's still going to be a while in progress.

Three Piece Dark Denim Set

The inspiration for this set was the colours of the beads themselves. When I looked at them together, I envisioned them worn with jeans, heels, a tailored wool or leather jacket and a mannish white shirt. The juxtaposition of the feminine and masculine elements feels balanced to me. You couldn't wear this set and not be feminine, no matter what you wear with it.

I've been toying with other sets of beads and thinking about another set.

The closure button is a 10mm Swarovski crystal button in a colour called Montana Sapphire that I bought online at Artbeads. The way it finishes the necklace and bracelet is exactly what I wanted.



Three types of beads make up the spiral rope; triangles, Toho hex beads and seed beads.

Swarovski Crystals

Look at this gorgeous collection of Swarovski that just arrived from Artbeads!



The largest piece is a Fancy Oval. It will be the focal point in the piece I have planned.



The other beads I have are two Triangle Rings, Teardrop Pendants and finally some Faceted Roundelles. Since I'm about to leave on vacation, it will be a while till I get to beading with them but I can hardly wait. With such a beautiful collection of crystals waiting for me, I'm going to look forward to getting home again!

Aqua and Silver Necklace

Another necklace is finished! This one has been sitting on my livingroom coffee table for quite a long time. I started it and when I got about half way through it, I decided that I wanted to include some Swarovski crystals and I kept forgetting to order them. Finally they arrived and have been waiting for me to get back to the necklace. At last, I put my mind to it and got it finished in the last few days, little by little, bit by bit.

The Russian Spiral stitch that I used is one of my favourites to play around with and see how it comes out with all different sorts of seed beads. This one is basically bugle beads (I always have trouble remembering the name of these - "trumpet" kept popping into my head!) and Toho seed beads. I love the sparkle that the silver lined beads create and it's just the thing to go with the crystals. It's for sale in my Etsy shop if you take a fancy to it. You'll also find more details about it, length and such, there. You'll see a couple of other photos of the necklace as well.





If you scroll down a couple of posts here to the batch of earrings I recently posted, there is a pair that would go perfectly with this necklace. It's in the bottom photo of the post, in the bottom left hand corner.

The necklace is for sale in my Etsy shop.

What The Heck?

Wondering what I've been up to?

I've been busy, that's for sure. The #1 thing that is keeping me busy is my garden. There is so much clean up to do. I have what is certainly the biggest cherry tree I've ever seen. So big in fact that none of the cherries can be reached. Even with a ladder, unless of course I call the fire department! The tree is now slated to be cut down and I'm planting a new one. For the amount of mess a cherry tree creates, it's just not worth it when I can't harvest the cherries. First there are the blossoms that cover my lawn, then there are all of the debris from cherries not forming as well as cherries dropping off of the tree before they are ripe. And finally, I have the leaves falling to look forward to in autumn.

The new cherry tree is standing in a pot in my front yard along with a pear tree that is a gift from friends. They are not in the ground yet as I haven't decided where they are going. Soon though...I have to get them planted!

I've been beading like crazy too, working on stock for the Studio Tour of Artists which takes place late August. You may recall seeing some of these posted here earlier. Well, this dozen is the most recently completed project.



Thought you might enjoy a closer view, though the colour isn't great.

Fun With Earrings

For quite a while now, I've been intending to play with some earring designs. Much of the designing I do is "on the fly" and this latest earring design was developed that way. I began with beads looped into a circle and just sort of winged it from there by adding a row of beads and evaluating the look and then adding another. The black and silver pair happened first with several false starts...beading and then unbeading. Ultimately, I'm satisfied with the result. So much so that the silver pair is mine. And then, of course, I wanted to work the design in some other colours so I had to put together a bead order. Which turned into two bead orders. And that's how I have "fun with earrings".



The gold pair of earrings is available for sale in my Etsy shop.

A New Batch of Beads

I just received another order of beads from Artbeads.com and I love the way the beads always come wrapped. Makes it feel even more like Christmas every time an order arrives.



And here are the Toho Seed Bead Mixes that are so much fun to play with. I think they are a great way to get a colour coordinated mix of beads when you are relatively new to beading and aren't sure how to mix beads. They are so inspirational when looking through beads and thinking about what to try next and which beads to use.





I also got an order of mainly faceted bicone Swarovski Crystal Beads that you'll start seeing in my jewelry soon. I have a plan....

Aqua Sparkle Bracelet

Looks like I'm on a roll! I just finished another bracelet and listed it in my Etsy shop. The beads that I used are what inspired me. The aqua beads are Toho size 11's and are silver lined. It's the sparkle that makes me love them. I also used silver lined transparent triangle beads. These are also Tohos and triangles are one of my favourite beads to use. To the finished bracelet, I added an antique silver toggle clasp and an AB Swarovski drop. I think this bracelet would look amazing with a little black dress.