Update: This Blog is Still Alive! Also, Some Bracelets…

Hey blog readers — ‘member me?  Life has been really busy lately and I’ve got a bunch of stuff happening behind the scenes.  Details will be forthcoming, I promise, but for now I’ll just leave it at that and show you a couple of bracelets I’ve made lately.

These two bracelets were done in nearly identical styles, with just a few changes here and there.  Maybe you’re looking at them now, saying, what’s the difference, now?  And I wouldn’t blame you, so I will explain!   There are a few details here and there that I changed, and since they were both gifts, the changes suited the recipients.  But they both share a charm – a winged heart made of pewter that I love.

This first bracelet was for my dear friend Beth’s birthday.  Some reading this may know Beth, of StampInsanity fame.  For those who do not, I can tell you that Beth simply rocks.  She is a true rocker girl in spirit, so no soft, pastel colors for her!  So I broke out the Swarovski crystals in fuchsia and jet black and went to town – see below for a close-up view…

And a full view of the bracelet.  Click the image if you wish to enlarge.

And here is another gift bracelet that has a little bit of a softer edge.  No jet black on this one, and the fuchsia was swapped with rose Swarovski crystal beads.   The main beads of the bracelet differ as well – Beth’s bracelet featured crystal and this one was made with white cats’ eye beads.  Just a little bit of a different look.

The close-up view…

And a view of the entire bracelet. Click to enlarge!

If I still have some readers out there, I truly appreciate your hanging in with me while I do my thing behind the scenes.  I will have some news about that stuff soon;  in the meantime, thank you SO much for visiting and reading!  I hope you are all having a lovely summer!

Sparkly Crystal Bracelet: Sex and the City-Style

Happy Friday, everyone!  And what a gorgeous day it is! 

The project that I have to share today was inspired by the gorgeous ladies of Sex and the City! 

I was just floored by the colors that they are wearing in this issue of Entertainment Weekly.  And I literally started designing this bracelet in my head as soon as I saw this photo of them.  I mean, just look at those colors!  Icy, silvery blues – GORGEOUS! 

And to make it all more timely, this week’s challenge at Friends Having Fun is all about Sex and the City!  And of course, the movie has just opened, too — all sorts of SATC-related excitement happening now.  (And yes, I have heard that the movie reviews are not good, and I do not care at all.  The first SATC movie is one of my fave movies ever.  So, I’m still in.)

So here is my bracelet, inspired by those icy blue and silvery shades.  Here’s a look at the entire bracelet – click to enlarge!

And a closer look at the front of the bracelet – again, click to see this larger.  Lots of Swarovski crystals went into this one – white Swarovski pearls, a crystal in a color called Silver Shade, and also Aquamarine crystals.  The colors reminded me SO much of the dresses that the women wore on the EW cover.

Here is a closer look at the dangle piece of the bracelet that hangs from a little charm loop on the side.  I love the way this swings!  The “love” charm just felt totally appropriate for Carrie, Charlotte, Miranda, and Samantha.  After all, that is what it’s all about!

Oops – almost forgot!  For a laugh, I took the “Which Sex and the City Character Are You” quiz that was linked on Friends Having Fun.  Here’s my result – sounds about right, I think. 

I hope that everyone has a great long weekend!  Thanks so much for visiting – see you again soon!

Apollo Gold and Blue Crystal Bracelet

Hey everyone!  I’ve been absent from my blog for a bit.  Life’s been so busy lately and a certain little girl had a big birthday.  By “big” I mean that we celebrated the occasion four times.   LOL – she’ll only be young once! 

I’ve still been making lots of stuff and have a bracelet to share today.  I LOVE the name of the beads I used on this bracelet so much – Apollo Gold!  How cool and mythological does that sound?  I’ve been reading Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Dark-Hunter series lately, with its mentions of Apollo, his sister Artemis, and the Apollites (did I lose anyone yet? lol), so using these beads felt like really good timing.  Maybe even a little divine intervention at work!

I designed this stretch bracelet around this blue and gold-ish glass heart bead that I had.  The only problem is that I had only one of them!   And that IS a problem for me – I have a little hoarding thing going on with my supplies.  I feel so uneasy if I don’t have access to more than one of an item, especially when I’m using the last one I have.  Is anyone else like this with their supplies?  C’mon, I can’t be the only one!

And here’s a shocker – I actually got my act together enough to list this bracelet on Etsy today!  I’ve shocked myself!  So for the low, low price of….oh, who I am kidding – I am so not a natural salesperson.  I’ll just say in a quiet voice…click here to see the item in my Etsy store. 

Thanks so much for visiting – see you again soon!

Showing Off Some Presents Today…

Hello and Happy Monday! 

I posted a few days ago about things I’ve made lately that I’ve kept for myself – today is about the things that I’ve made for and given to others – always a lot of fun.  So let’s check ‘em out!

Here is a bookmark that I made for Tonya – made with her fave colors!  The full view of the bookmark is below and a super-close-up of the dangling section of beads on the bookmark is above.  I loooovvvvvvvee the way the beads look all clumped together like that – they look just like candy to me!

And…here is a bracelet that I made as a birthday gift.  (Close-up first, then the full view of the bracelet follows.)  Making this bracelet marked one of the first times I’ve ever actually put a clasp on a bracelet, which is  a momentous occasion for a new jewelry-maker like me!  One more milestone down – whoohoo! 

I’ll be back again soon with more to share – thanks so much for visiting and reading!

Some Jewelry I Just Have to Keep for Myself…

…like these two bracelets I’m posting today. 

Since I’ve started making jewelry, I’ve been giving lots of stuff to my family and friends, but these two I made just for me.  Want to see?

This one is a stretch bracelet – really easy to put on and take off, which I seem to do several times a day.  And I added the fleur de lis charm since that is one my favorite shapes.

This next bracelet has a clasp, and the sterling silver tube beads on this make it nice and light to wear.  Since it has fewer beads, it weighs so little! 

I have been making a LOT of stuff lately, so I expect to be posting a lot in the coming days.  I am planning to get more jewelry listed my Etsy store really soon too (there are a just few bracelets in the store right now).  I’ve been feeling really fussy about learning, and practicing, and practicing, and practicing some more before I start to sell the stuff – that is just my way – but soon, I will start putting some things up for sale.  Should be pretty fun!

Thanks so much for visiting – see you again soon!

A Bunch of Bracelets

HELLO world!!! 

I decided I would let the photo introduce the post this time to show you where I’ve been lately — making BUNCHES of bracelets! 

Before I discuss the bracelets a bit – a word about my lack of posting here lately.  I actually have an explanation for that!  I have realized lately that I do not even consider doing blog posts while I am in the midst of learning something new.  And I seem to be learning something new constantly lately, especially since I started getting into beading – so that is why I have such gaps between posts recently.  I am just not the type to post things that are in progress, or practice runs, I guess.  I just sort of put my nose to the grindstone and work on stuff during those times. 

But today, I do have some things to show you – a bunch of my stretchy bracelets!  Since I’ve started this beading adventure, I have wanted to make stuff that I would actually like to wear.  And I am the type that will take off any bracelets the minute I start cooking, cleaning, getting hands wet, etc.  And since that basically describes my day-to-day life as a stay-at-home-mom, stretch bracelets suit me REALLY WELL.    So I took some time to find a really good, strong, clear elastic cording that I was happy with and these bracelets were born!  They pull on and off in a second and are nice and comfy to wear.  And once I made one of these bracelets, I just kept on going since I like the look of the clear beads with the colored crystals so much. 

(Ignore the fact that there is no heart charm on the bracelet on the far left.  There is one on there now – who knows why I photographed it without the charm….)   Click the pic below to enlarge…

The clear beads are a crackled glass and I love ‘em – they look like little crystal balls to me – and the colored beads are Swarovski crystals in various colors.  This is another way I’ve been spending my spare time – collecting every single Swarovski crystal bead I can get my hot little hands on.  I am totally obsessed with them.  It is like collecting Stampin’ Up! colors – once you start, you feel that you need EVERY SINGLE COLOR imaginable.  You start seeing all sorts of possibilities – and possibilities are SO exciting and must be encouraged, right?  

I will have LOTS more to share in the coming days – I have been making a lot of stuff lately! 

Thanks so much for visiting – see you again soon!

The Very First Friends Having Fun Color Challenge!

Hello everyone!  Today is the day that Friends Having Fun debuts its challenges! 

The very first challenge is today’s Color Challenge brought to you by the Kaleidoscope Krew.  And I’m writing today as a member of the “Krew,” which is the Design Team for the color challenges and is led by the lovely and talented Alison.  

The first Monday of every month, the Kaleidoscope Krew will bring you a Color Challenge.  Your mission is to then create a project using those colors!   As Alison says, anything goes!  You can make a card, scrapbook page, jewelry, altered item…anything you want!  And here is the first set of colors for this week’s challenge – get all the challenge details here and play along with us!

And here is my project for the challenge — another beaded bookmark.   I was totally going for a paper project until Alison encouraged me to stick with the beading for this challenge.  I wish I got photos that really showed the color of this heart-shaped crystal!  It’s very golden – you can see that only a tiny bit in this photo, but much more in person.  Something I’m learning lately – it’s very tricky to photograph crystals!  Light flashes everywhere, which is what you want crystals to do…but getting the right pics is proving to be tough!  So I have just this one pic to post of this bookmark, but I hope it gives you a good look at it.

So, please go and check out the members of the Design Team, the Kaleidoscope Krew, to see what they have in store for today!

Alison ~ Alex ~ Alyssa ~ Julie (you are here!) ~ Laura

Back Again – With a New Bookmark to Share

Hello hello!  Has it been a while?  How is everyone?  I feel like I’ve been gone for ages!  My computer issues have me so confused lately.  I’m alternating between two different laptops, with the occasional log-on to our old desktop computer, and I am so confused about which projects I’ve photographed and where they are!  That has made posting here tricky.  I spent some time today trying to get my pics sorted out, so today, I have a couple to post!

I have been working on tons of stuff, and continuing to make beaded bookmarks, which I am loving.  There is something so satisfying about getting that finished product.  Today I’m just posting one bookmark, since I didn’t get my photos organized all the way just yet.

This is one of my favorites – I absolutely LOVE these shades of pinky-peach!  I have to quote my sister, who said (about the beads used here), “why don’t they make clothes in these colors?!”  I sort of want to eat these beads ‘cause they just look like candy. 

I will be back again soon – thanks so much for visiting!

Beaded Bookmarks

I have some new beading projects to show today – BOOKMARKS!  Please forgive my loud, shouting caps, but I am so excited about these!  While I enjoy making charms for my journals (which is how I got my start with beading), I am seriously excited to start making these bookmarks.  They are so much more useful.  So I am HAPPY about these! 

Here is a bookmark that I sent to Beth.  Last week, I had mentioned how kind she was to lend me the Black Dagger Brotherhood books, so she HAD to have a reading-related prezzie in return. And here is Beth’s bookmark in action, in a J.R. Ward book, of course.

Here’s another one in my fave blues — I LOVE those periwinkle crackled-glass beads so much.  This all reminds me of being a kid with marbles – I just want to PLAY with them. 

I have a BUNCH more bookmarks to show, so I will be posting those soon.  Thank you so much for visiting – see you again soon!

The Key to My Heart

Hello!   Want to see my latest adventure in beading?

I am not totally sure exactly where I might be going with all of this, but one thing I know now is that I want to make stuff that I, and others, might actually use on a regular basis.  I don’t actually wear a lot of jewelry.  I do enjoy it a lot but I just find it gets in my way too often.  So while I might move on and make jewelry, I also want to make things that you can use everyday, but just happen to be all beaded up!   So I’ve got beaded charms hanging from my journals and my daughter’s backpack, and basically hanging from every surface around the house.  (My daughter’s been beading right along with me, so yeah, there are beads EVERYWHERE around here now!) 

And that is the long story of how this keychain was born. And you can tell it’s for me since I am obsessed with the color blue. I’ve got a little something  hanging from each of the three strands – a fleur de lis charm from one (a shape that I LOVE), a large round bead from another, and a large blue glass heart bead from another.  There are a bunch of Swarovski crystals here, clear ones and dark blue/sapphire colored, and they shoot off the most beautiful sparkles of light in the car!   I love seeing that!

Here are a couple of photos — one of the whole keychain, and one that is a little more close-up —

Thanks so much for visiting — see you again soon!