A Handy Tip

RH bought me some glass beads and they came in a plastic tub. At first, I didn't think too much of them. They were made in India which you would think would have me all goo-goo eyed, but most of them were chipped and they had a funny residue on them (which smelled like oil so I suppose it was oil). But, there seemed to be a few treasures in the bunch.

I knew I had to get the residue off but wasn't sure how to go about it. We'd just bought some hand wipes and I snatched up a few and decided to give them a try. You know what? It worked like a charm. I picked through the bunch looking for beads that weren't chipped. I ended up with a beautiful batch of shiny glass beads.

It was interesting. The dark blue bead in the middle and the one off on the upper right corner seemed black at first but they're blue! And the pretty round blue bead in the lower left corner? I saw a tutorial in the latest Bead Style that would be PERFECT for that bead.

Ahh... Happiness.

7AM Blogging

I have a cold. I'm desperately trying to deny that this is true but at the moment, I am going to accept that the sniffly sniffles, sneezels, ouchy throat, runny-downness, and the fact that I just cant seem to get warm means that I am sick. ALSO, my forehead itches something fierce, but I think that's because wisps of hair are tickling my dome *scratchScratchSCRATCH*

I made earrings! Haven't named them. I have my trusty Hindi dictionary so I can name them later for who/where they're going to. Almost all handmade. I'm rather proud. The ear wires and jump rings were not made by me. Had a deadline for myself so I went with ready-made ear wires. The connector, though, is mine. I have such a great love for my wig-jig.

My brain is fuzzy. I'm so glad I got up to do this post. I don't think I'd be able to do it later. Rest, yummy warm food (maybe soup?), and a trip to the post office are at the top of my list of things to do today. Its also date night... rest is very important so I can actually have a fun date night :P

PS. I'm not sick. It's just allergies... right?

I'm pratically giving this thing away!

Pantone announced that turquoise was one of this year's spring colors. And they've also announced it being this year's color of the year! I happen to think turquoise is a beautiful color (some say teal, some say sea green). It was one of the school colors at my elementary school (GO PANTHERS!). I also believe it's perfect for spring. Its cool and fun and very pretty!

So, for my giveaway, I made the bracelet posted above (and below)!

Did I mention I'm doing a giveaway? :P

There have been over 2000 views on my blog and I feel that it is high time for a giveaway of sorts. I am also giving away a pair of earrings on my Facebook fan page.

How can you win this bracelet?
1) Just leave a comment here and you'll be entered into the giveaway. Make sure to include your email so I can contact you if you win!
2) Mention this in your blog or link it via Twitter, come back, comment again, and you'll be entered a second time!
3) Up to two comments per person, please!
4) Winner will be chosen May 1st, 2010.

A random person will be chosen and you will receive this lovely bracelet! This bracelet, by the way, was made with fire polished beads, seed beads, Czech flower beads, a pretty (HUGE) glass round, and closes with a button clasp. It fits comfortably on a 7 inch wrist.



Be sure to check out my Facebook Fan Page for the earrings!

Good Luck!!!

Button Chandelier Earrings

These are the first thing I made with the vintage buttons Tish sent me (thank you again, Tish!!!)! Also... first thing I made with my new wire jig! I had this image in my head the moment I opened the box. It was an amazing feeling to actually bring it to life. My fingertips kinda hurt from bending the wire but it was worth it.

I don't think I make enough blue jewelry. Or yellow... or button jewelry :P

EDIT- I forgot to mention that the blue beads are all glass... I like the dark blue ones because they look like stones.

I never knew...

... buttons could be so much fun!!!

I started this bracelet on a gloomy day and it made me smile. Along with the purple and yellow flower buttons are green Chinese crystals and pink glass beads. The cotton clasp and links are made with brass wire. The dark brass chain gives it a little... umph, i think. :D

Classy earrings, no? Two simple black buttons and clear Chinese crystal for sparkle.

I feel so productive :P

It's A Spring-like Bracelet

After getting up at 5:45 this morning, I couldn't go back to sleep. So, with the second season of Gilmore Girls playing in the background, I decided to play with one of my buttons from my previous post. This bracelet is made up of glass beads, a ceramic bead (the pink and brown one), and two drilled gold disks with green Magatama beads... all of which are wrapped up nicely with gold plated wire and chained together with twisted jump rings. The chain hanging off of the pretty pink button (which is the clasp) is made up of more twisted gold jump rings and features a pink glass bead with a flower cap and, to carry the green over, a piece of Chinese crystal.

The clasp is made up of a pretty pink button and a piece of an old shirt (100% cotton, thank you very much). That shirt was actually my favorite shirt but it was WORN OUT. The elastic was all stretched out and the colors weren't as vibrant as they used to be. But I still love it and just knew I had to work it into a piece of jewelry.

Soo... viola!


I like this bracelet so much I'm going to wear it today! Yay for being selfish and making something for myself :D

Romance in Brass- Bracelet

Here is the one productive thing I did yesterday on my day off (well, that's not true, but I didn't finish the second project...)- A bracelet to match the Romance in Brass necklace and earring set.

Not a terribly complicated design, but I think its very pretty. The pink and brass combination makes me want to giggle. And I love the little rose bead by the dragonfly. Why? Because it's double sided (if spheres even have sides...). If it twists, there is a rose on the opposite side as well. Very cool.

That big pink bead is a little plain but I love the bubble gum color. And how shiny it is. Ooohh... shiny. Lol.

More peach seed beads and a dragonfly to tie into the necklace.

I hope to have time to finish the other project this week sometime. It features glass pearls and purple fire-polished beads. Yummy.

No Two Pair Are Alike...

On Sunday, I made these two pairs of earrings. The first is a bit more "classic" with the big white porcelain bead and dark glass pearls. The other is a bit more "fun" with the seed bead hoops and copper flowers. One feels a bit cold and the other warm... colorwise anyway.

I'm not sure if I'm developing a "style" like a painter develops their style... but I feel more confident when I'm going into a piece. Perhaps that's what its about... confidence.

Iced Copper

Such a pretty blue!

There were full strands and half strands of these pretty icy blue glass beads at my bead store. They're bigger than the beads I usually use. And I'm not a big blue lover (reds and purples, sure... blue's pretty... just not on me...) but something about the pale blue just made me add them to my basket.

I'd been wanting to try making post earrings using these filigree pieces I bought, but my bead store didn't have any glue-back posts (is that the proper term?). I found some dark copper hypo-allergenic ball posts with loops and decided that was better than nothing. I think it looks better than ear wires would've.


I think I may be obsessed with copper...

Leaves and Flowers

This is my third post of the day. Family drama has drawn me away from blogging, but hasn't stopped me from creating (creating was one of the things that kept me sane...). Two more earrings to share.

I bought these hammered copper links a while ago from JoAnn's. It was in their clearance section and I just had to have them. I've been loving copper lately and I just itched to make something with them. But that was in December when I bought those links! Finally, I saw these copper leaves at my bead store and thought of these Czech glass flowers I had at home and how wonderfully they would go together! Hopefully I was right...

Following the nature theme, I saw these golden flower bead caps today at my bead store. I don't usually make gold jewelry. I'm not sure why. But these flowers were so delicate and sweet, I had to buy them and make something out of them. I found some blush pink, frosted glass beads and thought the color went well with the gold. Hanging them off of 18K gold plated earring hooks and voila!

Note: I've been trying a new photographing... technique? Is that the word? Sometimes the color looks great, sometimes not so great (like in the second image of the second pair of earrings). Photoshop doesn't help much. Hopefully I can get it to work better soon... it's driving me nuts!

Valentine's Day Earrings

I don't usually make holiday-specific jewelry. I own some, but I'm afraid what I make would be garish and draw laughter instead of smiles. BUT, I saw these glass hearts and thought I should try making some earrings out of them.



I chose gunmetal as the metal finish of the findings to contrast against the white hearts. Also, Czech glass beads add just a little sparkle and the filigree beads give it a bit more elegance. I wanted to add two bows to the earrings and thought of leather, but didn't think the knot would hold so I went with a cord. But the fibers frayed. Hmm... maybe I should try and re-work them...

Steampunk Princess: Mechanical Butterfly

I finished it! *dances* Last night, with 10 minutes to go before I was supposed to be getting ready for date night, I finished the necklace I started next week (and even made some earrings... because that's only the right thing to do :P ).

Like I said in one of my previous posts, this necklace was inspired by a bracelet design featured in a book called "Steampunk-Style Jewelry". Mostly, I used the idea of coiled wire helping filigree pieces look like cogs or mechanical parts, which you can see in the focal of my necklace. The book had the coiled wire a bit tighter but I couldn't get the wire to stay tight. I'll admit, I didn't read the directions... I was on lunch and just flipped through the book. But I think I like the way the coils look like springs. It works for me.

The focal is pretty much the only part I kept the same from the original design of the necklace. I originally was going to have the pretty green Magatama drop beads strung on hemp, but it proved too much of a pain to find six beads that would fit over the cord. I decided to just do four whole strands of the pretty bead and I rather like it. It think it works out better and looks prettier. Kind of liquidy with their shininess.

Another part that changed was the chain. I originally had the chains be equal length. But that looked a bit boring and unbalanced with the boldness of the green Magatama beads. Also, the necklace was a bit long... so I shortened a piece of chain on each side and then hung the other two off the shortened pieces so the chain scalloped. It gives it a sort of elegance that I think it was missing. To the chain, I also added a few of the Chinese glass beads I have on the focal. I thought it brought a bit more green to the piece.

The earrings I made from two more copper connectors and the bit of scrap chain I snipped off the necklace. Added some of the green beads (both the Chinese glass and Magatama beads) and I think it matches the necklace nicely.

I wore the necklace and earrings on date night. And they made me feel so pretty... which I think is important to a piece of jewelry. I originally thought I would sell these pieces, but I just can't bring myself to part with them. I will just have to make a sister necklace.

My boyfriend thinks I should add some of the Magatama beads to the chain or maybe the focal. I might try that. They're such pretty beads. I'd also like to try making a matching bracelet. Hmm... maybe that's how I'll spend my day off today...

Happy Friday, everyone!

WIP- Mechanical Butterfly

While my boyfriend and friends go out to watch my friend's band's first performance, I am sick in bed! I had to call out because I was feverish and now, though the fever is gone, I feel very weak.

I wanted to finish this necklace yesterday but was so busy with work. I thought, when I went to bed last night, I could finish it today, but woke up sick! How unfair. Haha.

The idea for this "mechanical butterfly" sprang from a project I read of in a book at work called "Steampunk-Style Jewelry." In it, there's a project where coiled wire, when sandwiched between two filigree pieces, look like cogs! I thought "Wow. I want to have a go at that..." And I'd seen these butterfly pieces probably the day before at my bead store. Sooo... after the project sat in my brain, growing, for about a week, I went to the bead store on Thursday and asked them for my first bit of freshly cut wire and chain just for this necklace (I'm a bit shy and barely talk to the lovely ladies who run the store and though I've wanted to try my hand at making my own ear wires, I haven't had the courage to ask them to cut me some wire. Something must be wrong with me, no? Hahaha) along with those butterflies I'd seen but didn't buy.

To me, the color that copper turns when it oxidizes is beautiful. And I thought that the two Chinese glass beads that sit atop the face of the butterfly pendant are the perfect color. I added some shiny copper chain to contrast the aged copper of the butterfly (and, in all honesty, to give something for the loops that hold the glass beads in place something to hold... :D).

The necklace is almost done. Here is a close up of the chain. Its also aged copper and hangs off of a connector that holds hemp cord with green Magatma drop beads. I felt like the cord and Magatama beads would add an organic feel to the necklace. That's the part that I need to finish- add the cord to the other connector, cord tips, and a clasp.

On a side note, I love the chain that I found at my bead store. Its hammered half-way through each link. I don't know why, but it made me feel like it was a perfect match to this necklace. It was a wonderful feeling when I saw this chain.

Hopefully I can finish this necklace soon. I don't like having something so close to being done but am just unable to finish it.

My head is spinning slightly so I think it's time to rest my eyes for a bit. Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend!

Rainy Day Beading

It has been STORMING here in southern California. I'm sure other parts of the United States are used to this kind of weather, but a "tornado warning" for Orange County? Really?

Personally, I love the rain. It's calming. And I felt ready to tackle a project that had been growing in my head for a little while. Not a complicated one, but a project nonetheless.

I can't reveal what is going to happen to this bracelet/earring pair just yet... because I have no idea who is going to be reading my blog. And I'd like to keep it as a little bit of a surprise, but I did want to share this design with whoever does happen to read my blog.

This bracelet was made using memory wire and five-holed spacers. The seed beads are from a bead soup I mixed up with purples, blues, white with a slight gold finish, and a touch of hot pink and brown. Four little metal dragonflies are worked into this bracelet. The dark blue beads are glass and look like stone. The purple beads are glass crackle beads. There are also lavender glass pearls and lavender fire polished glass beads. Its really very spring-like in my opinion.

I finished the ends with more spacers and chain on two of the three pieces of memory wire. Without the chain, the bracelet felt un-secure when I tried it on (is that a word? Un-secure?). On the middle piece of memory wire, purple Crystazzi crystal beads dangle and add just a touch more sparkle. Not really in a noticeable place but something that is waiting to be found.

Not one to waste, I used some of the scrap wire from the Crystazzi dangle beads to start a pair of earrings to match the bracelet. More seed beads and metal dragonflies. A touch of lavender fire polished beads. And a bit more Crystazzi sparkle.

Purples and silver really are my favorite colors to bead with right now. Hopefully, I can branch off and do something a bit different for next time.

Happy beading, all!

Note: I feel compelled to tell you that I watch the Lord of the Rings trilogy while I make things... drawing, painting, bookbinding, beading... all things made by me are made with Lord of the Rings playing in the background. Movie, movie with commentary, or special features. While making these, I was listening to the cast commentary of "The Return of the King." And Billy Boyd, who plays Pippin, has a fantastic Scottish accent. Well, while writing this, and even while I'm writing this little note, the words are being said in my head in his voice. Isn't that odd? It makes me giggle.