Button Swap Reveal!

It's here! IT'S HERE!!! The Button Swap Blog Hop! WOO!

Let's get started.

Here's what my lovely partner, Shanti, sent me.

Such pretty buttons! I decided to play with 2 of the shank buttons. I'll admit, I was not as creative as I would have hoped, but my muse is on vacation, apparently. Or focused on drawing and painting. ANYWAY, here's what I made.

This sparkly shank button makes a lovely and elegant focal. I used teal and mint green beads in the necklace to give it a bit of playfulness. I'm not the best at making necklaces but I do adore them. I used to think I was terrible at making bracelets but I think I've gotten over that little bit of self-doubt. Hopefully, I can get over this bit as well.

Now for my next piece.

I'm so in love with sari ribbon. And I decided to use the long shank button in a bracelet.

When I saw this sparkly focal, I knew I had to have it. I knew it would work wonders in another "rustic elegance" piece.

Here's what I came up with.

I know. A button as a clasp. Not too terribly inventive but this bracelet makes my body dance with happiness. Seriously. I put it on and I can't help but shake my wrist to get the danglies moving and then my shoulders move and before I know it, I'm in a down right boogie. Lol.

I still have three buttons to play with. I'm going to do some hopping and hopefully get some inspiration as to what to do with them!

Want to hop with me?

Alice Peterson  and Kim Bender

Angie Blasingame and Billi R.S. Rothove

 Billi R.S. Rothove and Angie Blasingame

 Birgitta Lejonklou and Pam Farren

 Bonnie Coursolle and Tania Hagen

 Brenda Salzano and Hope Smitherman

 Cat Kerr and Heather Powers

 Cece Cornier and Jeannie Dukic

 Celeste Thurston and Christine Damm

 Christine Damm and Celeste Thurston

 Christine Stonefield and Dana James

 Cilla Watkins and Lori Bowring Michaud

 Cindy Wimmer and Mimi Gardner

 Cynthia Machata and Julia Johnson

 Cynthia Riggs and Lori Finney

 Dana James and Christine Stonefield

Diana Ptaszynski and Erin Prais-Hintz

 Emma Thomas and Rebecca Anderson

 Erin Prais-Hintz and Diana Ptaszynski

 Erin Siegel and Sharon Borsavage

 Heather Powers and Cat Kerr

 Holly Westfall and Sally Russick

 Hope Smitherman and Brenda Salzano

 Jayne Capps and Kim Dworak

 Jeannie Dukic and Cece Cornier

 Jenna Meyers and Kristi Harrison

 Jenna Tomalka and Karen McKillip

 Jenny Davies Reazor and Sandi Volpe

 Julia Johnson and Cynthia Machata

 Kalaya Steede and Kylie Dickman

 Karen McKillip and Jenna Tomalka

 Karen Mitchell and Renetha Stanziano

 Karla Morgen and Mary Govaars

Kay Thomerson and Shannon Chomanczuk

 Kim Ballor and Laurel Steven

 Kim Bender and Alice Peterson

 Kim Dworak and Jayne Capps

 Kim Roberts and Partner unable to participate at this time.

 Kristi Harrison and Jenna Meyers

 Kylie Dickman and Kalaya Steede

 Kym Hunter and Lynda Moseley

 Laurel Steven and Kim Ballor

 Linda Djokic and Patty Gasparino

 Line Labrecque and Teri Baskett

 Liz DeLuca and Lorelei Eurto

 Lorelei Eurto and Liz DeLuca

 Lori Anderson and Niky Sayers

 Lori Bowring Michaud and Cilla Watkins

 Lori Finney and Cynthia Riggs

 Lynda Moseley and Kym Hunter

 Marianna Boylan and Tracy Statler

 Mary Govaars and Karla Morgen

 Mary Harding and Stacie Florer 

 Maureen Baranov and Tracy Bell

 Melissa Martin and Theresa Fosdick

 Michelle Hardy and Peggy Johnson

 Mimi Gardner and Cindy Wimmer

 Nicole Valentine Rimmer and Niki Meiners

 Niki Meiners and Nicole Valentine Rimmer

 Niky Sayers and Lori Anderson

 Pam Farren and Birgitta Lejonklou

* Pam Ferarri and Stefanie Teufel (will share their reveal on a later date)

 Patty Gasparino and Linda Djokic

 Peggy Johnson and Michelle Hardy

 Rebecca Anderson and Emma Thomas

 Rebekah Payne and Sue Kennedy

 Renetha Stanziano and Karen Mitchell

 Rose Binoya (<--YOU ARE HERE) and Shanti Johnson

 Sally Russick and Holly Westfall

 Sandi Volpe and Jenny Davies Reazor

 Shannon Chomanczuk and Kay Thomerson

 Shanti Johnson and Rose Binoya

 Sharon Borsavage and Erin Siegel

 Shirley Moore and Veralynne Malone

 Stacie Florer and Mary Harding

* Stefanie Teufel and Pam Ferarri (will share their reveal on a later date)

 Sue Hamel and Terry Carter

 Sue Kennedy and Rebekah Payne

 Tania Hagen and Bonnie Coursolle

 Tania Spivey and Teresa Gagne

 Teresa Gagne and Tania Spivey

 Teri Baskett and Line Labrecque

 Terry Carter and Sue Hamel

 Theresa Fosdick and Melissa Martin

 Tracy Bell and Maureen Baranov

 Tracy Statler and Marianna Boylan

 Veralynne Malone and Shirley Moore

Thank you, Cindy, for hosting this challenge! I loved it! <3

2 Weeks

Wearing this necklace today. Dragonflies inspire me. They represent growth. Rebirth. Feminine strength. I love dragonflies.

Wow. Has it really been two weeks since I've updated the blog? Wow.

It's been longer since I've uploaded anything new to my Etsy. Changed that today. Made a new beach bracelet.

Pretty shell rounds. Shiny.

I had such a nasty cold last week. Sore throat. Aches. And then now, my cold is gone... but hey, there's allergies now! YAY! Lol.

The job hunt has slowed since I was hired by *insert big craft store name here.* I was hired as an instructor. Oh, it was lovely at first. I had some great students. Had a good 4 class run. But now, no students for 2 weeks. And no students means no work. And because I'm an instructor, the other employees tell me that I can't be trained to help on the floor. It's rather frustrating. I really miss working. So much so that when the boyfriend complains about work, I say something like, "Well, at least you HAVE a job." Or, "I wish I could work."

It's really discouraging but my Etsy sales have picked up a tiny bit. My dream is to live off of my jewelry. That would be so lovely. But I'm not there yet. Must pick up the pace.

Ugh. My right nostril is clogged. Ew, right?

Hope everyone is having a fantastic Tuesday!

And, soup's on! Dig in!

I had this post ready to go yesterday but noooo... it wasn't there when I went to look this about... oh... 15 minutes ago. Oh Blogger, you are so fickle. I am reposting this now and will have to hop tomorrow! First day of my new job today! WOOT! 

The wonderful Lori Anderson has put together this Bead Soup Party and I was one of the lucky few chosen to participate. Love you, Lori!!!

Here are the beads my partner, Kathy, sent me. Don't you just love those bronze pieces and that stone?! And the round piece on the right? From her button collection. AND Czech glass beads!? Love.

Here's what I came up with:

I've been trying to make my pieces more interesting and has presented with a lovely opportunity to play with a new material: wire mesh tubular ribbon. I love how the stones look in the ribbon.

Added some Czech glass beads and a lucite flower. I am absolutely head over heels for that moon pendant.

And of course, I couldn't get away without some wire wrapping...

I used copper wire and some seed beads to make the frame. That stone is such a wonderful shape and sits on top of the frame so beautifully.

I used some silk sari ribbon I bought many many moons ago. Knotted and used a wood bead as a clasp. Simple, but pretty. And it feels great on my wrist.

That ribbon makes me ridiculously giddy. Though, I learned that just because the scraps are sewn end to end doesn't mean it's the most secure binding. SO. When you yank, sometimes, it will come apart. Do try not to scream out obscenities in the middle of the night if this happens to you. :P

I had such big plans for my lovely beads, but was hit with a nasty cold on Sunday. I haven't done much making and creating since then. My bed and I were good friends this week. Here's what I was left with:

As you can see, I started to work on a few different pieces, but never finished. Hopefully, I'll have a second companion post with those pieces sometime next week.

I don't normally work with this color pallet. Oh, I always want to but when I go out and buy beads for myself, they usually end up being purples or pinks... copper wire... sometimes, shiny brass. Thank you, Kathy, for sending me such lovely beads and giving me the opportunity to work outside my comfort zone.

Check out Kathy's blog here.

And hop on over to Lori's blog for a list of all the bead soup players.

Odd Hours

Sometimes, I get a little crazy and get a creative jolt in the middle of the night. Last night, this is what my bead table looked like at 3:17AM.

My mind wandered while I was taking pictures with my phone and ended up playing with the camera...

Here is the final necklace. I love that pendant. I bought that shell pendant a loooong time ago. When I first started this beady adventure. I stumbled upon it while going through my stash and am so happy I've finally worked it into a project. ^_^

Color Driven Designs

Remember this post?
Which had the Pantone Spring 2012 color report? 

Well, that inspired this:

Which kinda looks like a guitar, to tell you the truth. The boyfriend pointed it out to me.. but it's supposed to be a heart key...

Then, THAT led to this:

Cabaret pink, margarita green, and gray... LOVE that color combo.

THAT led to this:

More wire wrapping and combining THREE colors- solar yellow, tangerine tango, and sodalite blue. I strung some seed beads to finish the bracelet. Using the colored waxed Irish linen cord led to THIS:

Yeah. I'm not too thrilled with this design. Blue. Bellflower. Yellow. And cabaret.

But hey, you can't win 'em all.

SIDENOTE: Listed 2 magazines into the destash section. 2 issues of Step by Step Wire Jewelry. Want? Check it out :)

Gold and Blue

I made this necklace a few weeks ago. It was inspired by an outfit my cousin wore to Christmas... And the color combination gave me three other designs.

I'm starting to love gold tones. I used to only like silver and copper but gold is really pretty too.

This color combination makes me think of Spring. The cold blue color and the warm gold tone... I know it's silly, but cold and warm for me is Spring. :P

SIDENOTE! If you look up under my blogger banner, you'll see a link to my Etsy shop where I'm selling some of my old magazines. $5 per listing... and they're good magazines too. Beadwork, Bead and Button, Beadstyle... Lovely but I need to clear out space. Check them out if you have a chance. They're listed here.

Monday Muses: Amber

Burnt Orange Amber Earrings by by TatianaG

Amber-Filigree Cuff by badkarmacreations

Antique Owl and Leaf Necklace by HandmadebyTinaB

I have been doing a lot... A LOT of purple and pink pieces. Right now, probably because it's fall, I'm loving amber. It's such a deep and beautiful color. And pairing it with copper or antiqued gold or brass is just lovely.

So over it

I'm really quite over being depressed. Really. Over. It.

This week, I'm going to be happy. Employees can bitch me out at work. Customers can complain about discounts (I'm sorry, we're already going out of business... what more do you want, people!?). And those insane demands some people are asking of me? Well, let me tell you, I can't do it. And you'll just have to deal. I'm only one person. DEAL.

*BIG SIGH*

It's been quite a while since I posted new works. Here's two of my latest.

Copper, lucite flowers, crystals, pearls, and seed beads. LOOOVE IT. Lol.

Now, I just need to find the time to post to Etsy...

Tatonka

I'm not very good at making jewelry for men. I admit, I've only tried once to make something for my boyfriend and it ended in frustration and tears. But a friend who is dear to me is moving away at the end of the week so I wanted to make something for him.

At work, a select few of us have given each other code names. His is Tatonka (which means "buffalo"). I think he chose wisely and I accepted it as soon as I heard it. It fits him rather well. The buffalo is a strong animal with a deep meaning. The buffalo has come to symbolize strength, gratitude, stability, and prosperity. I found a silver charm and strung it on a simple piece of black leather. I added two stones, black onyx and brecciated jasper.

His mother turned me on to a wonderful book describing the power of stones and those two are protection stones. More importantly, the jasper will help keep him grounded which is important because a lot of people become jaded or lose track of what is important when chasing the dream he is going after. I don't want that to happen to him.

I made this bracelet for him as well. More black onyx. I don't know if he will wear it or if it will even fit (man hands are so much bigger than women hands) but I thought I'd give it to him anyway and if he needs it to be bigger, I can change it.

I'm hoping to give him his present today. I'm hoping he will like it. I wish he wouldn't move away because he and I have such great conversations and he is such a supportive friend. He inspires me quite a bit when it comes to my art. I want him to succeed. I hope we stay friends in the future.

I'm a Wrapper...

I am having such a grand time with my seed beads and copper wire. Copper works so well with so many colors and there are soooo many beautiful seed beads out there!

I'm calling this one Rajkumari Necklace. "Rajkumari" means "princess" in Hindi. I'm really quite in love with that faceted quartz drop.

Semi-precious stones work well as well. Here, I have brecciated jasper, which is red jasper with veins of hematite running through it. Both are protective stones and more specifically, brecciated jasper also is said to help give you a positive outlook on live and ease stress. I thought it matched well with the "om" symbol. I finished the necklace with leather cording and it is claspless (sliding knots are happiness, in my opinion).

I promised in one of my previous posts that I would post a better picture of the earrings I made here. The previous picture was a bit green. Sunlight really is quite magical :) These are Phul Earrings. "Phul" means "flower."

Etsy update sometime today... I know. Shocking. Hahaha. Check the shop sometime tonight.

Velvet Love

Saturday night, I was a nervous wreck about meeting my friend's mom in the morning to show her my jewelry. I had no idea how to display the pieces, what to bring, how to dress... etc. It was an exhausting day at work and I am still battling a cold (though today it seems to have subsided quite a bit) and Saturday night, I fell asleep as soon as I got home. Before my eyes closed, RH mentioned cutting a piece of velvet for me from some he'd had saved for making a costume and I could lay it on the table for my friend's mom. I said that would be perfect and fell asleep.

Probably a few hours after, I woke up looking for him and saw him gluing something together and asked him what he was doing... I fell back asleep before he could even answer. And then a few hours after, he handed me a pillow of sorts. He had taken the time to glue some soft stuffing covered with the velvet to some cardboard so I could have a thing to drape the jewelry over! Such a sweet guy! Love love love.

Anyway, I was so nervous when my friend's mom showed up that I completely forgot about the pillow :( But now I have something else to photography jewelry on :)

The above picture is one of the newest pieces I've made. Copper and freshwater pearls for the nest. Fire polished glass linked together and finished with suede cord complete the necklace. My friend's mom purchased this from me along with a few other pieces and commissioned some as well. I'm going to be a busy girl!

Hope everyone is having a great week! 17 days til Christmas! YAY!

Oh Buttons, I Missed You

I had meant for today to be a day of Etsy posting. However, I didn't get home in time to catch the sun light. Shorter days... blast.

I did manage to finish up a pendant I'd started yesterday. Even made it a full-fledged necklace with a chain and everything. And do you see that? There's a BUTTON there! I missed my buttons. And I figured out how to work them into these pieces I've been doing. :)

Copper wire with seed beads and an amethyst chip. Smokey purple crystals and copper chain finish the necklace.

Did you have a good weekend?

Hathi Necklace

Remember the pendant from this post? I added some brass chain and two pink glass beads and VOILA! A necklace. A LONG, clasp-less necklace. YAY! "Hathi" means "elephant" in Hindi.

I've still got the sneezels. No meds yesterday because I'm stubborn... just took a Benedryl and am hoping it will fix me up in time for work.

Hope you have a FABULOUS Wednesday!

PS. Left over Chinese food for breakfast = YUM!

Didi Pendant

I was at a loss for words when I opened this window to write. Then "Are You That Somebody" by Aaliyah (which was one of my favorite songs in high school) came on Pandora... got me dancin' in Corner Bakery and ready to write!

You may recognize the above pendant from this post. However, it is not that pendant. The pendant from that post currently hangs from a simple black leather cord around my neck. The one above is an almost identical pendant. It's slightly bigger and has a better wrap job... it is, after all, the second pendant I finished (started and abandoned probably three other ones). This one is going somewhere special and I don't want to jinx anything by mentioning where it's going. Sorry, folks. I'll let you know when I can :D

I didn't want to just string it on a piece of cord so I linked some minty green glass bead with copper and added some dark purple crystals. I hammered a hook clasp special for this necklace and finished it off with some brown leather. The finished necklace is a bit asymetrical because of the clasp, but I like it. I'm hoping who I send it to likes it too.

BTW: "Didi" is sister in Hindi :)

Hey, do you guys have any special tips for photographing necklaces? I was having a bear of a time trying to get the whole thing into the picture so I ended up just photographing the main part of the necklace. Do you hang them off a wall and photograph them like that? I should have done that I think...

Flowers and Butterflies

My day off on Monday wasn't as productive as I thought but I made two beautiful things.

Must go! Going to be late for work O_O

Just Call Me Laura Ingalls Wilder

I was wandering around a bookstore and came across this book by Aimee Ray. Its called "Doodle Stitching." The cover says it makes embroidery "fresh and fun" and, I don't know about you, but I'm all for fun that is fresh. So, I picked it up.

Now that's not the only reason I picked it up. I know this is going to sound lame, but the Little House books were a favorite of mine growing up. And I always wanted to try making beautiful embroidered things like the Ingalls girls did in the books. At least, I think they did... I know they made lace but I KNOW that will just end in frustration and thread tangles around my fingers while yelling at my boyfriend "WHY DID YOU LET ME TRY THIS!?"

My poor boyfriend :P

Below is my first attempt at embroidering. I wanted to practice the stitches before I tried doodling. Now, with three years of art school under my belt and hours and hours and hours of sketching, painting, and beading, you'd think I'd be able to sew along a line... well, I don't know if you can tell by blowing up the picture but I clearly have trouble :P


And my stem stitching (the wavy line of stitches on the right) isn't as close together as I'd like it to be. But, you know what? It's fun. I already have TONS of ideas on what to do with this new skill... well, once it becomes a skill. Ha. I'm far from calling it a "skill." Teehee.

ANYHOO! Before I leave you, here is a new necklace. And yes, that's a ceramic button. The clasp closes in front.

I'm hoping to get off my butt and post on etsy, but I'm also a bit distracted by the idea of embroidering. My boyfriend has joked that I'll one day ask him if we can move to a farm and such... well... my dad DID raise pigs in the Philippines while my mother DID have her own rice farm. I don't see why *I* couldn't make it work :P

Happy Wednesday, all! *hugs*

Copper and Pearls

I started this necklace earlier this week. I finished the filigree embellished piece (embellished with fire polished glass beads in two pretty purples) on Sunday with hopes to work on it my next day off... Having been laid off yesterday, I suppose yesterday was my next day off. Hahaha. But, I was pre-occupied.

I saw a necklace similar to this in a catalog but instead of the filigree piece embellished with fire polished glass beads, it was a silver flower with (what I assumed were) diamonds. I think the copper gives it an older feel. Also, I'm assuming the pearls in the catalog were real. These are just glass Crystazzi pearls. But they sure are pretty.

I also made some earrings. But the copper is shiny. What's your opinion... does shiny mix with dark? I happen to like it, but will others?

Below is an alternate view of the necklace (without the flower) and a close up of the filigree piece. Hopefully, I will take some time and do some art before I jump back into "reality." I was always complaining how I didn't have enough time to do what I love... sooo... I'm going to try it for a while. Yay!