New Wirework

Even though I still love my beads and fiber, I've fallen in love with wire and metal jewelry.  I've been learning on my own, and I've been taking classes with Dia Daniels at Bead Soup.  Dia is a great teacher and we have the same taste in design.  Every time I see Dia I fall in love with the jewelry she's wearing that day!  In the fall I took her "Brangles" class.  It's her version of a Conni Fox design.  It's called a "Brangle" because it's a bracelet that has elements of a bangle.  I completed the first one and then decided I wanted to make two more to coordinate with the first and then wear them together.  So, since the holidays were looming I put it aside until January.  Then I got to work!  And, here is a picture of the results.

I just love these braceles and they were great practice in making wrapped loops and clasps.  They are actually a series of links with several beads on each link.  The clasp is created in the last link so it's integral to that link.  The most difficult part of making the bracelets is sizing.  I had to do a lot of playing around to get the correct size.  But I'm so pleased with the way they've turned out!  Here's a close up of one of the links.

Not long after I finished the brangles Dia taught a brooch class that she calls "Chaos Theory".  As she explained it, she was cleaning up her workspace and had all these sample charms and links and decided to make them into something.  And, so Chaos Theory was born!  Naturally, I loved it but I don't wear brooches very often.  So, I made mine into a pendant.  Oh, my, how I love it!!! 

The entire piece, except for the bead caps, is made of wire.  There are some beads and two copper charms, but the remaider is hammered wire.  I learned so much from this class.  Once I finished the pendant I decided, rather than hang it from a chain, I would make a Viking Knit chain for it and have the hook in the front, using one of the loops as part of the closure.  I just love the results and I get so many compliments when I wear it.  But, it was the learning that resulted from making this project that is the most rewarding.  It opened up new avenues for using wire.  And, my skills are improving greatly.  I have several other wire projects that I want to work on, and now I have more confidence to tackle them.  It's been a great adventure for me. 

I'll end this post with a few closeups of the pendant the the chain.

Thanks for stopping by today!  I hope you have a great day!













Time to Think of Hearts

This time of year, late January, when everything outside is wearing it's subtle winter colors, I start to think of Valentine's Day with it's bright happy red hearts and flowers!  I've loved Valentine's Day since I was a child because it injected a bright spot just when I thought the sun was gone forever!  My mom always made my cousin and me heart shaped cakes and gave us little gifts with hearts on them!  I've continued that tradition with my family. 

This year Michelle Mach has a challenge going on her blog.  She has been embossing cards and offered 25 people the oportunity to receive one of them and then alter it for Valentine's Day.  She'll post pictures of all the cards on her blog on Valentine's Day.  Since I've decided to finally act on my love of paper arts I decided to ask Michelle for one of the cards.  Everyone had a choice of 3 different cards and I chose the one with the embossed leaves. 

It's so pretty and I had an idea for what I wanted to do with it as soon as I saw it.  This just a tease.  The card will be revealed on Valentine's Day.  So, stay tuned.  I've got some other Valentine projects in the works as well.

Not much bead jewelry going on right now.  I've been doing some wirework and I'll post my latest pendant in a few days, once I have it completed.  I've also been working on a knitted birthday present for a friend.  So, can't post that until after she gets it!  Just in case she decides to check out the blog!  But, I have to get started on the Beading Babes project soon.  So, lots to come. 

Thanks for stopping by today.  I hope you have a wonderful day and that you get to create something you love.



Outside our winter window

This wonderful little woodpecker was in the tree right outside our kitchen window the other day.  My husband got this picture of him.  The black and white with that bright red spot on the back of his head is so spectacular! 

I haven't been around much because I've been cleaning up from the holidays and organizing a few things in the studio so that I can have some room to play!  I have a few things that I'm going to be working on in the next few days, so stay tuned!

Hope you have a wonderful day.  Thanks for stopping by.



Happy New Year!

I want to wish you all a Happy New Year and thank you for reading the blog.  I really appreciate you stopping by to see my newest creation or something I love from my garden. I have made new friends because of this blog and I love that!  This year has been an interesting year for my family.  We had serious health issues and a large project that was ultimately a huge success but caused a lot of stress.  But, all that was overcome and overshadowed by our lovely daughter's wedding in May!  It was a glorious event celebrated with family and close friends.  So, I can look back on this year and not be sorry to see it end but to still feel tremendously blessed. 

I hope you all have a wonderful 2012.  See you next year!



Little Colonial Christmas House

One of several paper art projects I managed to work on and finish in the weeks before Christmas.  It was part of a competiton Patty at The Queen's Ink in Savage Mill thought up.  The houses are on display in the store until January 15, 2012.  

This little house was a challenge for me to start because paper art is something I love, but I don't do as much of it as I would like.  Once I started, with some prompting from my husband and daughter, I really got into it and thoroughly enjoyed the time spent creating it. It didn't start out to be a little colonial building, but since that's the architecture I'm drawn to the most that's what it became!  

Here's a front view: 

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas.  We did at our house, family and dear friends, what more can you ask!

Thanks for stopping by.  Enjoy the remainder of the the holiday season!





The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!



All my best wishes to everyone for a wonderful Christmas with family and loved ones!  Thank you for stopping by to read my blog and share my creative adventure. 

Beading Babes~Part Two

Today is the reveal for the second installment of the Beading Babes challenge created by Karyn of Releases by Rufydoof.  We could have created two different patterns, but I chose to do just the one.  I had some other obligations that I had to complete, so I decided I would do the Sleek in Silver necklace that was in a recent issue of Beadwork.  I'm so happy that I chose that pattern.  I had really liked it when I first saw it and I was happy that it was one of the two designs agreed upon.  It's a very easy and quick design to make and it uses the gorgeous Tila beads!  Here is my version of the necklace:

Unfortunately, the picture is very dark and I couldn't get a better shot of the majority of the necklace.  I really need to learn to use Photoshop Elements after the holidays!  At any rate, I used a wonderful cranberry iris Tila, along with bronze 11 seed beads and cranberry red size 8  hex beads. The pattern used size 8 seed beads, but the hex beads were a good color match to the Tilas and I love the way the hex beads catch the light.  In place of the briolettes used in the original design I used these wonderful two toned spotted daggers that I found at a bead show.  The colors in the daggers was perfect with the other bead colors.

This close-up definitely shows the color better than the larger photograph.  And, you can really see the daggers which are so wonderfully random.  Some of them are cranberry on one side and ivory on the other, some are split down the middle, as you can see, and some have a less symetrical division of the colors.  I love daggers and these have to be some of my all time favorites.  I think they really add to the overall effect of this necklace.

I love the way this necklace turned out and the colors are great for the season.  I know I'll be wearing it to a yearly dinner we attend with good friends. 

Thanks again to Karyn for organizing this challenge.  It's great fun and it gives me the opportunity to bead some projects I really like. 

Enjoy your day.  I'll be spending the rest of my day getting ready for the holidays to really begin!