Happy Thanksgiving!



Best wishes for a happy and blessed Thanksgiving Day spent with family and friends. 



A Harvest Combination

This is a detail of a cuff bracelet I made using some of the beads from the October Beads in the Mail collection that come every month from The Beadin Path in Freeport, Maine.  I love finding my collection of beads and other coordinated goodies in the mail box the beginning of every month.  I don't always use them in one piece.  But, this collection for the Fall was too great not to use together. 

I had been wanting to make a cuff that used ruched velvet for a base with beads embroidered on it.  As it turned out, I combined bead embroidery with freeform bead weaving and I like the results.  The velvet was a small piece of hand dyed velvet I've had for a long time.  I don't remember  where it came from but I've loved the butterscotch color.  It's very rich looking and it's very soft.  It worked well for the base of the cuff.  I ruched it lightly and tacked it to stiff stuff, then I beaded it.  I backed it with brown ultra-suede and used snaps as a closure. 

I used a small copper spacer bead in the embroidery and I like how it looks very much.  I don't usually use metal beads in my bead embroidery or bead weaving.  But, this worked out so well I think I'll be using metal again. 

The color isn't very good in this picture, but that is a copper spacer.  The leaves are from The Beadin Path, but they were in my stash. 

Here's the entire cuff. 

I've decided I like combining embroidery and freeform weaving.  It provides a lot of space for improvising in a piece.  And, I love this collection of beads.  The colors are all my favorite fall shades. 

I've been  absent from the blog for a while.  This time of year is always busy, but I've managed to squeeze in some time to bead, knit and do some mixed media.  And, best of all this weekend I took two classes with the very talented and lovely Sylvie Elise Landsdowne at Bead Soup.  Sylvie is a lampwork artist who creates the most wonderfully whimsical beads and faces!  She began bead work to feature her glass and her designs are just so colorful and fun that you can't help but smile.  I'll be showing you some of what I did in the classes as I move along with the patterns. 

Well, time to get on to preparations for Thursday!  I hope to find some time to create this week, I hope you do to.  Thanks so much for stopping by!





The First Frost

I haven't done any garden pictures in a long time.  But, Tueday morning I had to take some pictures of the frost on the leaves of the shrubs in our garden.  It was such a beautiful sight!  This is the burning bush by the side of our driveway.  The entire shrub looked like it was sugar coated! 

Here is a little tour of the garden covered in the first frost of the season.

Have a wonderful day!  Take inspiration from the beautiful colors that surround us right now.



Happy Halloween!

Components, and what you can do with them

My last post was all about the project the Beading Babes worked on for their first challenge.  If you recall, Karyn, of the blog, Releases by Rufydoof, had the idea to get a group of beaders together to create designs from some of the beading magazines.  It's a great idea because working from the magazines makes finding instructions and supplies easy.  Karyn chooses three designs and we all decide which we would like to make.  The one with the most support is the design we work on. 

Our first project was a bracelet, Camelot Cross by Carol Ohls. 



Carol gave you different options for a closure and I chose the button made from the same crystals used in the bracelet.  You can see it in the photo above, but here is a closer view of it.

I loved the button and it was quick to make.  I knew I would use it again in other designs.  I just didn't know I would find a use for it so soon!  Turns out we had a dinner to attend last weekend and the bracelet went perfectly with the outfit I decided to wear.  Proof that colors you like tend to be found throughout your wardrobe and home.  Anyway, I decided I didn't have any earrings I wanted to wear.  Which is very amusing when you consider all the earrings I have!! Then I realized the button on the bracelet was perfect for earrings!  I had enough crystals left to make a pair of earrings.  All I did to make the component into earrings was to not stitch the bail that's on the back of the button.  In place of the bail I made them double sided by stitching the gold seed beads on both sides.  Then I came up through the top bead of one of the picots and added a crystal and seed bead.  I put a jump ring through the seed bead and attached an earwire.  Because I like the look of  a chain hanging from the back of the main component of an earring  (a design feature I've seen in earrings at my favorite store, Anthropologie!) I decided to hang a chain from the earwire with a crystal at the end of it.  Here's a picture of the earrings.

I loved the way these turned out.  They were quick to make and gave me an opportunity to use a component I really liked in a new design.  I was delighted to see that the new Bead and Button magazine has an article on using components from one piece of beadwork in another design.  I've done it before and I'm always pleased with the results.  Try it sometime.  It's a great way to come up with a unique piece of beadwork.

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you have a wonderful and creative Sunday.  I know some of you in the East are getting the first snow of the season today!  We had big, wet snow flakes flying yesterday.  Makes for a different, and a cold, Halloween!  Snow, not frost, on the pumpkins!  Enjoy this fun holiday.  Happy Haunting!!  





Chocolate Raspberry, a Beading Babes Creation!

Karyn, a very talented beader who writes the blog Releases by Rufydoof, started a group  called Beading Babes with the idea that we would choose a pattern from a magazine (for ease of access and materials) and have a month to create it.  No pressure, if life intervenes, no worries.  I  like groups like this because I get to create projects I wouldn't necessarily choose myself, or that I put in the "some day" pile!  It's why I like book clubs.  I read books that I might not find on my own.  At any rate, this first project was the Camelot Cross Bracelet by Carole Ohl in the February/March issue of Beadwork.  It was definitely in my some day pile and I was delighted when it was chosen as our first Beading Babes project. 

I had just gotten some new (to me, anyway) Delica colors and I already had the crystals.  As I was working on the bracelet it reminded me of chocolate covered raspberries.  I'm obviously on a food kick with my names!  But, I love the way the combination of colors worked out. 

This is a very easy bracelet to make.  The components come together quickly and constructing the bracelet is also quick and easy. 

For the clasp, I decided to make the button that was part of the pattern.  I like it a lot and it also is very easy and quick to make.  But, for a great alternative, look at Kristen's idea!  It's really great and an idea I'm going to borrow!  Thanks, Kristen! 
This was a great project and a great idea from Karyn!  Thanks, Karyn, for starting this group.





Neapolitan

It's been quite a while, even for me, since I last posted.  Life has intervened and kept me busy these last few weeks.  Things are close to settling down around here, and I'm looking forward to being able to enjoy the beauty that is Fall!  I wanted to share the latest installment of my triangle adventure.  I'm not saying my final installment because I know other ideas are waiting in the wings.  I've had a great time designing this piece, so I had to share it.

This picture isn't the greatest.  It doesn't capture the true colors of the Delicas, but I really just don't have time to work with it.  I wanted to share it with you all now.   The title of this post explains the colors.  As I worked on the different triangles it reminded me of Neapolitan ice cream.  You know, chocolate, vanilla and strawberry!  Yum!  Anyway,  here it is!  I stitched triangles using Heather Collins wonderful pattern, and also a layered triangle from the book "More Seed Bead Stitching" by Beth Stone. I really love the idea of layering the triangles and I think the idea has a lot of potential for design, and color pairing.  The funky little triangle in the middle is my second variation on Heather's triangle bezel.  I stitched the base and then started to build up an open vessel-type shape with peyote which I increased on each end.  I zipped up the two sections and put a picot on each end. 

It's a little difficult to see the picot because I used the same color as the triangle next to it.  In the center I stitched a margarite crystal.  I really love this idea and I think it also has potential for variation.  A larger triangle perhaps, which would make it more of a vessel to contain other components.  As I said, this isn't the end of the adventure!  But, I love dimensional stitching whether it's beads, fabric, or knitting.  Which is why Beth Stone's layered triangle was so appealing.  I use layers a lot, even in decorating my home.  I layer plates and bowls in my hutch, and in seasonal displays I create throughout the house.  I use layering in fabric embellishing and in knitting the Bohemian scarves. Here's a close up of the layered triangle.

Again, I see lots of possibilities.  Larger base with additional layers, a bead or margarite in the center...lots of ideas!
To stitch the necklace together I experimented with layouts and when I found one I liked I took a picture of it.  I'm happy that I did that because as I picked up the different triangles to stitch them together I would lose exactly where I wanted to place the  next one.  So, I  had my picture to refer to.  I just zipped the pieces together where they touched each other and then attached a chain with jump rings. 

I'm really happy with this piece.  I used the rivoli setting from Heather's triangle pattern, and the triangular setting that my beading group worked on, so I have some bling in there, and I got to try out another idea that came from the triangle necklace pattern I got from Heather.  Cherry Wine, in my previous post, was the first variation I tried and now the vessel type triangle is the second.  I'm sure I'll find something else to do with triangles!  I just love them.

Well, I've got to run so I can get some others things done today.  I promise I won't take so long to post this time.  In fact, there is something right around the corner.  Stay tuned for this over the weekend.

I hope you have a wonderful day.  Enjoy the loveliness that is Fall and find inspiration in it to create something fun!  Thanks for stopping by!