Gold and Silver Lace

I made this necklace in time for Thanksgiving and received a lot of compliments. It took a lot of time and plenty of crystals.  The second picture below is a closer picture to show the three rows of crystals - all of which are Jet.  Top row is regular Jet.  Second row is Jet 2AB.  Third is Jet AB.

My Mom liked the necklace and so I worked long hours to get silver necklace ready in time for Christmas.  I need a close up of the necklace to show the purple and blue crystals used.

Christmas Chains

I'm not that familiar with chain links, but I figured making a Christmas wreath would be a fun first try.

Two More Necklaces

It seems that I am beading a lot more these days.... I think it's because I know I won't have much time to do any beading after the baby is born (due March 7, 2013).

Pearl Elegance

I love working with the combination of pearls and crystals.  Unfortunately, when I find a design I like, it means that it will deplete me of my pearl supply as this is something I don't have many of.  Here are my most recent two beading projects:

Happy Halloween

I've had this cameo cab for at least 3 years and it's taken me this long to make it, but I'm thrilled, because it's just in time for tonight - Halloween!  It's a very simple embroidery piece.

Garnet Glamour

The garnet color is so dark that it appears to be black at first glance.  I needed an easy break for beading.  Being pregnant seems to have drained my ability to concentrate, so I was happy to complete this project!

Gift Necklace

When my sister-in-law first came to the States, I bought an "RN pendant.  I had faith that she would pass the arduous test and held on to the pendant for the time when she shared the good news.  

The time has come and we're very proud of her!  I made this necklace for her and hope she likes it.  I wanted it to be in neutral colors so it could go with any of her work clothes, while also having some sparkle (crystals).

New Project is going to be a while

I've been quiet on this blog, but believe me, my little fingers are just a beadin' away.

I also think I'm slowly losing my mind. I have this "plan" for something and I keep adding to it, but I've yet to actually.. do it. I'm making bits and pieces here and there.

Most likely I'm going to turn to my group of confidants who can bead me under a table and ask their thoughts. I can picture it in my mind but I'm terrified. It looks good in my head. It's getting it into real life that scares me Lol I keep telling myself, "If it doesn't work out like how I want it to, I can create a bunch of smaller necklaces." That's my escape.

Hint to the project: Ocean

RAW CUBE VIDEO

So, I guess I'm a Vlogger now. This is my first attempt at a video via blogging. The sound gets louder when the actual instruction part comes on. As I state in the intro, this is not a beginner instruction video.... and as I recently read... Raw Cub/Spiral is not for the weak at heart :)

Beading Videos

I'm considering making some beading videos.

The main reason is because I don't do some techniques repeatedly. This means that it takes me a little while to "get it" again.

Sometimes the "get it" again time is frustrating. Especially when doing a 3 dimensional activity based on instructions on paper, with the beads... well, flat. The beading videos would be more of a refresher for me, rather than a true instruction. I don't plan on creating videos for beginners. Though, who knows, maybe in the future.

I blogged about how I wanted it set up.. to see that blog, visit my home blog - click here.

Moon and Stars

The face makes me think of the moon and I added small crystals going around it with the bead embroidery to represent stars :)

Eye See You

It all started when I made the Tiger Eye LSU necklace....

Then my mother in law gave me some tiger eye stones she bought on vacation a number of years ago. She asked me if I could turn them into pendants. One had a flat back to it, so I was able to do bead embroidery. The other one was oddly shaped, so I had to try my hand at wire wrapping...

After I made my mother-in-law the two pendants... I figured.. What the heck, I had the materials out, might as well make a bead embroidery for me too, being as I remembered that I had a tiger eye cabochon.

I was on an "eye" kick... I found a glass bead that I bought years ago that reminded me of Tigger's eyes. Tigger, our Siamese cat, got out and was gone for 4 very long days... I was so happy when he returned that I took out the glass bead and did a simple design around it :)

OK, so the above one, my husband didn't like.... but the below one... OMG, Greg can't stand it! I get mixed responses from people. My Sister-in-Law, Madelyn, said, "It's pretty." Then she shivered and covered her eyes and continued, "But the eye freaks me out!" My Mom thought it was great and so did other friends and fellow beaders.. but like I said.. mixed results. I love it! And yes... it's a real prosthetic eye :)

And so ends my "eye see you" trend. From LSU tiger eye to tiger eye stones to a cat's eye and a prosthetic eye... Afterwards, I decided to let nature inspire me. When my husband and I went on a family vacation with my parents to Hawaii, Mom and I bought sunrise seashells. It's taken me a while to figure out how I wanted to bead the seashells. I considered simple stringing, but that didn't do them justice... thought about mixing them with other shells, but it took away from the sunrise colors. Coraling was the perfect option. One shell has more of a fuchsia/orange color and the other is more gold with hints of light rose, so I made the corals to match the shell coloring :)

White Coral

When I shared a picture of this necklace, I was told, "It looks like Christmas snow with red berries." I love all of the color ways I've made thus far of the coral design. I can't get enough of this type of necklace. It's light weight and shimmers.

Picasa Slideshow

Tiger Eye LSU necklace

I created this design for the LSU football team - Geaux Tigers!