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.

Gold Bling

These gorgeous gold Swarovski pearls were the inspiration for this necklace. The first piece of the set that was completed was the smaller of the two circles in the pendant. My granddaughter told me that it was too large for earrings so I decided that it would be a pendant. Then I added the larger circle of the pendant.



The Russian spiral rope contains pearly seed beads and is closed with a Swarovski button and loop. The sparkle and flash of the pendant were to be dominant so the rope needed to take a back seat to it.



Finally, the matching earrings were added. When I look at the set, I envision it worn with a full length strapless gown.



Oh and in between working this set, I managed to complete two more pairs of baby booties. They are available for sale in my Etsy Store!

Etsy BeadWeavers' Challenge

This is my entry in the EBW Challenge. The theme this time is "The Ocean" and since I live on the west coast of North America in Beautiful British Columbia, this challenge is a MUST for me. Head over to the EBW Blog and check over all of the amazing entries from so many talented beadweavers. Be sure and vote for your favourite! Voting closes at midnight February 15th.

You can get a better look at my entry (which is available for sale) and find more information about it by going HERE.

New Pearl Necklace

It's finished! I'd made this necklace before but this time I used fresh water rice pearls instead of button pearls and I love the look of them. The last one sold quickly and I'm hoping this one will do the same. One of the differences is that instead of the gold toggle fastener, this one has a square Swarovski crystal button.



I'm also enamoured of the 24K gold plated delica beads. I need to order more!

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.

Just Done & Sold

I've been working on this necklace for a while and a friend saw it while it was in progress. She said it would be a perfect birthday gift for her daughter. The necklace portion includes fresh water pearls that I picked up while on my road trip this past summer along with the gold charlotte beads. The pendant is different on both sides and can be removed from the necklace giving it lots of versatility for ways to wear it.

On A Roll!

It looks like I'm on a roll! I'd done the bezel on the glass pendant some time ago and it's been waiting for inspiration to finish it. A couple of days ago, I finally came up with a design for it and started working away at it. The rope part was pretty simple and straight forward. When I got to the time to work on the branch fringe I prepared to be at it for a while. Since the last branch fringe pendant I did took a whole day, I was expecting this one to take as long or longer. As it turned out, I discovered a technique that made the whole process a lot quicker. And I finished it last night.

Finally Finished Necklace

This necklace was originally mentioned here and I'm very happy to say that it's finally finished. Before today, I had the stone bezeled and had part of the rope done and the finishing touches done today took me all day. I now have a lot more respect for beaders that do a full fringe on their designs. It's very time consuming.





This necklace is available for sale in my Etsy Shop.

Where Does The Time Go?

it's hard to believe that it's been almost a month since I last posted here. It's been crazy busy in my life. I'm had either friends or family staying with me for the last three weeks. In the same timeframe, I purchased and investment property, coordinated the trades to get it ready for my new tennant for the first of the month. I've also been working like a slave in my garden and I'm really happy with how it's coming along.

I have been doing some beading, but nothing has been completed except for a few of earrings that I managed to squeeze in. Anyway, here is the piece I've been working on. Those are glass pearls I'm using.



The stone is captured in peyote stitch and it's the first time I've had a success at it. Though I did rip out the first version as it didn't fit the stone properly. There are two secrets to success with doing a peyote bezel...first, use a strip of paper and wrap it around the stone to find out the exact length of beads to string to start. I've been using a strip out of my shredder. Secondly, size 15 beads. The bezel needs no decreases when you start with a larger bead and decrease the bead size. I started with #11 Toho seed beads then went down to #11 Delicas and finally down to the #15 Toho seed beads.



The necklace is in progress and it's taking a lot longer than I expected it would. I'll be taking it with me when I leave for holidays on Wednesday. (Another thing to make my life hectic!)

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.

Creating for Friends

These are the last two pieces that I worked on. Both of them are for friends.

This copper and black Russian spiral necklace is for a friend who came to visit me from about 1500 miles away. While she was here, we went into a glass shop and she bought a gorgeous glass pendant in coppery tones. It should look great on this necklace.


This bracelet is made up of odds and ends of keepsakes and favourite earrings and bits and bobs which was mailed to me with the request for a charm type bracelet. This friend lives in the small town I moved from in February and I've asked her to come to pick up the bracelet and visit so that I can size it perfectly to her arm.

Bzzzzz...Not For Sale

This necklace is a gift for a friend. I know she loves the colour yellow and I just couldn't resist pairing it with black. Reminds me of bumble bees.



I delayed finishing it for a while as I couldn't decide whether it would have a beaded toggle or not.



I picture it with a nice crisp yellow shirt, top two buttons undone.

Let It Be - Turquoise

There is no denying that I'm loving the combination of the colours turquoise and copper. Not long ago I posted a necklace that I thought might be mine. When it was finished, I had yet another turquoise stone that I wanted to do something with. This is the "something" that I did. I named it Let It Be for two reasons. It's one of my favourite Beatle songs and also, I was thinking, "if I could have only one necklace - Let It Be Turquoise!" And it's quite an accomplishment for me to be completing things now as summer is here full force with temperatures up to 38C on my deck late afternoon. I just want to be out in the sunshine, working in my garden!



This necklace is available for sale in my Etsy Shop.

Not Your Granny's Purple

I just completed this necklace and listed it for sale in my Etsy Shop. The name for the necklace kept running through my head as I thought of the poem "When I'm An Old Woman, I Shall Wear Purple". And then I'd think that this necklace isn't that kind of purple!

Quartz Crystal Necklace

One of the design techniques I seem to use often is Serendipity. This necklace is a result of that technique. The quartz stone had been in my collection of quite a while. I knew that I wanted it as a pendant and prepared it for that role by stitching it into a netted bezel. Then it hit the "projects in progress" pile. The rope it is a Russian spiral and was actually an experiment using a mixed bag of pink beads. When I saw the two pieces in close proximity in my heap of partly completed projects I pulled them out and set them aside to be finished and finally got to it today. The result is even better than I imagined!







This necklace is for sale in my Etsy Shop.

Maybe My Necklace

This necklace has been in progress for a while. In the beginning I thought I wanted to put a copper closure on it. I searched around the internet and bought a few pieces of copper but just didn't find one that I felt worked with the two bead colours. Finally a light bulb came on and I made a beaded toggle closure. The last stage of the project was figuring out how I was going to handle that large turquoise stone that I wanted to use. I'm very happy with the final result and I'm thinking I should be keeping it for me.



My granddaughter was here on the weekend and she was admiring the turquoise and topaz rope. I mentioned to her that I was adding the turquoise stone and that turquoise is my birthstone. Then I remembered that she and I are both Sagittarians but that I am December and she is November. And she reminded me that her birthstone is topaz. So the necklace has some symbolic significance for us. I may need to keep it.



As I said, I'm very happy with the final result. I've been saving that gorgeous turquoise stone for a long time. Waiting for the right necklace to pair it with.

Kokopelli Howlite Necklace

This necklace got it's name after I photographed it and the following shot reminded me of Kokopelli. As the deity of agriculture, his flute playing chases away the Winter and brings about Spring. This is very appropriate for the necklace as I've been watching my garden burst into bloom as I worked on it and I'm sure I'm not alone in being ready for winter to be over.





The necklace is available for sale in my Etsy Shop.

Life, the Universe and Everything...

This is the title in the "trilogy" by Douglas Adams known as The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe. It's also a good way to describe what's going on with me. I'm moving. From a two bedroom townhouse to a three bedroom house on 1/4 acre lot. Sounds pretty simple but my move entails a 150 mile drive down a two lane highway from the town of 2500 that I'm in (on the ocean - see photos here), to a ferry landing. When I get there, I'll sail across the ocean from Vancouver Island to a somewhat larger community (15,000) on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia. The ferry trip takes 1 hour, 35 minutes. Anyway, I'll be scarce online for a few days while I wait for my phone and internet connection to be hooked up.

So these are the last pieces of beadwork I'll be showing for a while. The neck piece on both is Russian Spiral and I made them a while ago. I recently pulled them out of the store they were in, to bring them home and add pendants.

The blue triangle piece below is a version of another two necklaces I'd made previously. Unfortunately I wasn't able to photograph the sparkle of the Swarovski crystal roundells. The piece above is a first try at one way to add a bevel to a stone. I'm pleased with how it turned out and I have more ideas for ways to expand on the design.

Serendipity Necklace

Some time ago, I bought a challenge kit of beads from a store that I shop in, online. From another online store, I'd ordered some short Toho bugles to experiment with. The kit and the bugles have been sitting on my coffee table, AKA bead studio for a while. I'd seen some pictures of Russian Spiral stitch done using long bugles and though it is interesting, I thought I'd like it better with the shorter ones I had. As I worked on the beginning of the necklace, I was thinking about adding some larger beads at the center to create a sort of faux pendant stitched right in. Back to my "bead studio" I went and the kit caught my eye. So began the experiment. The necklace is made up of seed beads in several sizes and colours, bugle beads, Swarovski crystals and fresh water potato pearls. I have to say that I'm really pleased with the result.

It was for sale in my Etsy shop. Now, it's sold.

Commission Finished

When I completed the black and silver commission and delivered it to my friend, she mentioned a "beaded fairy" that her granddaughter had made that she'd like turned into a necklace. When she got the "fairy" to me, I told her I thought it is a mermaid. Anyway, based on that idea, I wanted a neckpiece for it that felt...waterish. I delivered the piece today and she told me that she may give it back to the granddaughter as a graduation gift this year. Sounds like a great idea to me.



I also made this pair of earrings that I thought she might like to have. She decided not to take them so they may end up on Etsy.