Desert Raindrops -- BFAC Project

Here's my project for next year's Layne's Legacy -- Beading for a Cure auctions. I didn't add any beads to the kit this year, just a Muscovite cabochon that someone had sent to me as part of a birthday package, some coppery chain, and the supplies necessary for bead embroidery.

It's hard to tell in this picture, but included in the kit was a tube of those new-ish peanut beads. They were a challenge to figure out how to use, but I actually really like how they look laid out in a line for embroidery, so I might have to buy more for further experimentation.

Get your bids in!

My 2012 Layne's Legacy -- Beading For A Cure necklace "Orientale" is finally up for bids! Click here to visit the listing and possibly place a bid. As of the time that I'm writing the post, the current bid doesn't even really cover the cost of the LL-BFAC kit, Sandy Spivey cab, extra crystals and Green Girl shibiuchi clasp, not to mention the hours of time I spent embroidering and weaving beads. I'd really love for this necklace to raise a substantial donation for LL-BFAC. Remember, all of our proceeds go to the National Colorectal Cancer Research Association, in memory of my late friend Layne Shilling.

If Orientale isn't your thing, or it's out of your budget by the time you click the link, or even better, you'd like to buy multiple items, make sure to check out the rest of this week's auctions!

It's done, it's done!

 I finally finished "Orientale" -- my 2012 Layne's Legacy -- Beading For A Cure necklace -- yesterday! Hooray! It's so good to have it done. It sat unfinished on my desk for too long, as I struggled to find inspiration on how to use every single type of bead included in the kit. I have to admit that while I think it is a beautiful, wonderful necklace and I wish I could keep it, it's probably not as grand as it should be due to the fact that beader's block made me simplify things in order to get it done in time. I have no doubt that whoever wins it will be very happy with it, but I also know that I will not even be in the running for the contest portion of LL-BFAC.

This is the kit I started with! To that, I added the cabochon with a vintage belly dancer and peacock image, some size 15 Charlottes, and Swarovski sequins in Sapphire and Lime to compliment the Colorado Topaz ones already included in the kit, plus a shibiuchi clasp. The sequins around the cab are my favorite part of the necklace, and an element that I will be incorporating into more work in the future.

If you would like to own this necklace, it will be up for auction in Spring next year!

Is it Autumn yet?

I guess I really am done with Summer, because I made another dark, moody, Autumn-y treasury yesterday. I really, really like this one, in fact. It's got some attitude!

Anyway, I am hard at work trying to finish my LL-BFAC necklace. I'm feeling rushed because I wasted the entirety of last week being SICK. I'm still not 100%, but I am well enough to bead, so I've been spending my mornings and afternoons this week stitching away. I'm pretty close, but I still have a few steps to do and then I have to get good photos and mail it off. Once that's done, however, it will be back to normal life in Erthe Fae Land, which means new jewelry and hopefully some new destash lots of beads, and regularly scheduled blog posts.

LL-BFAC Kit for 2012 Auctions

How pretty is this color palette? It's the latest Layne's Legacy -- Beading For A Cure kit, to be used to create items to be auctioned off in 2012. Betcey at Beyond Beadery provided this year's beautiful and generous kit, with lots of Japanese seed beads and Swarovski crystals. There are even some of those new-ish long Magatama drops that I haven't tried out yet.

I'll probably do some bead embroidery, but I haven't decided yet what I want to add. I was looking at some nice cabochons on Etsy last night, but my taste was running towards the expensive!

Go forth and bid!

The time has come, my friends! Salome's Dance is up for auction this week! This stunning crystal and seed bead necklace (with a few pearls) was lovingly woven by yours truly for Layne's Legacy -- Beading For A Cure. If I were to sell this necklace in my Etsy shop, I'd have to ask at least $200 for it. The starting bid is only $35, so I expect you to bid it up closer to what its worth ;) And remember, there are many more beautiful beaded objects up for auction this week, so have a look at all of the BFAC Auctions and bid on as many as you love and can afford! The proceeds go to the NCCRA, in memory of my late friend Layne, who was a wonderful friend to me during some tough times in my life. Even when she was battling her own cancer, she was also there for me. Making and auctioning off jewelry is the least I can do to honor her.

LL-BFAC, Week Two!

Don't forget to check out this week's Layne's Legacy -- Beading For A Cure charity auctions. There's plenty of unique jewelry, a beaded lamp, beaded windchimes and more! Something for everyone, and all proceeds go to the NCCRA to fund colorectal cancer research. Beautiful beadwork for a good cause -- what more could you want?

My necklace will be up the week after next, so make sure to save some money if you want a chance at Salome's Dance. Otherwise, bid til your wallet BLEEDS!!!!

LL-BFAC Auctions Have Begun!

My friend Deborah Gray-Wurz's "Regal Moon" necklace is just one of the beautiful hand-beaded objects up for bids in the first week of Layne's Legacy -- Beading For a Cure auctions! If you're not already familiar with LL-BFAC, please visit the official website. I've been involved with this charity in one way or another since day 1, and while I'm no longer serving on the committee it remains close to my heart! I do hope you'll take a look at the auctions and bid if you see something you like. I'll post every Monday that the auctions are running to give you a reminder!

Sparkly and complete

At last, it's done! I finished my 2011 Layne's Legacy -- Beading For A Cure necklace in the nick of time. I put the finishing touches on Sunday night, and it needed to be photographed and postmarked by today. Wow, was that cutting it close!

I decided to finish it out with a spiral rope, broken up by a few simple strung sections to use more of the larger beads (I actually hadn't used any of the pearls yet, after all). And I found the perfect button to use as a clasp, a pretty Czech glass one that almost matches the Crystal Golden Shadow rivolis.

As I neared completion of this necklace, I realized it didn't have a name. The wavy lines of the rivoli section reminded me of all the undulations we've been doing in belly dance class lately, so I felt it needed a dance-inspired name. Undulation doesn't sound very pretty, and naming it after one of my favorite Tribal Fusion dancers wouldn't work, since it is definitely not tribal. So instead I took my inspiration from a book I was reading with lots of vintage belly dance photographs, and named it Salome's Dance. Not that I think the original Salome wore anything like this, and not that I'm certain that she performed something akin to belly dance -- but a lot of early 20th century belly dancers and actresses portrayed Salome draped in gorgeous beads and pearls and chiffon, and this certainly fits that image. So there you have it.

Now to bead something GREEN!

More Progress

Don't they look so much prettier when they're all together, instead of spread out across my work surface? The two smallest rivolis aren't actually attached to the main piece yet, but they should be sometime tomorrow... then it's time to figure out the neck strap. No rush, it only has to be finished, photographed, packaged up and mailed by MONDAY! Oh yes, I've procrastinated quite a bit this year!

It's not quite as grand as I first envisioned, but I'm still pretty happy with this lovely grouping of rivolis.

Super sparkly progress shot

Here's a progress picture of my 2011 LL-BFAC project. I took it yesterday, so there's actually been more progress since then. I've finished the fringe on the big center crystal, which is the only one that will get fringe (I guess the little crystal picots could count as fringe, but I don't think of them as such because they don't have movement like long fringe). The next step is connecting them all!

My additions to the kit are the 7 Swarovski rivolis in Crystal Golden Shadow and Ultra Purple AB, as well as the Honey Opal Silver Lined Delicas that I used to bezel the crystals... Not that you can really see those, under the layer of bronze teardrops!

I love this year's kit, as I find the purple and bronze color scheme to be very elegant. All of the finished products that I've seen on-line so far have looked very rich and sumptuous. I hope they raise tons of money in the auctions next year!

Working on my BFAC

I know this post isn't much without pictures, so I'll try to have some in-progress shots soon. I finally started my 2011 Layne's Legacy -- Beading For A Cure project about a week ago. It's due at the start of August. It's been years since I procrastinated this much on starting one. Kind of odd, because I love the bead kit and I decided exactly what I wanted to do and what components to add soon after receiving the kit. I've just been so busy with dancing and the gym and such that I haven't wanted to tackle a large-scale beading project. Now with a looming deadline, I really have no choice.

Bezeled rivolis will form the focal point. Since almost every weaving project I've done this year has involved at least one peyote-stitched bezel (around a rivoli or a button), I'm really quite bored of them. Once I'm done with this it's time for some bead embroidery!

She Lives!

How's that for an appropriately dramatic blog post title?

It would appear that I took two weeks off from blogging. There was no particular reason for this, just a combination of being busy, the office being the hottest room in the house, and not feeling like I had anything exceptionally compelling to say. And what happened while I was gone? Spammy blog comments! What did they hope to accomplish by commenting on posts that were two weeks old? Who knows?

I haven't been beading much lately, but that's about to change. My dear friend Helen is getting married to a great guy later this month, and I'm very excited to be making a necklace to go with her gorgeous dress. I'll be starting that in a couple of days, I'm just waiting for the rest of the beads to arrive in the mail. On top of that, the BFAC deadline is just two months away and I haven't even started on my necklace. Plus I've got these ideas swirling in my head for various lampwork beads that are sitting on my desk.

I'd love to chat more about my dance life, and FAE Team, and all that good stuff, but I have about 8 hours worth of stuff and 3 hours to do it in, so I'd better wrap this up. I'll be back tomorrow!

My BFAC necklace is finally up!

If you've been waiting anxiously to get your hands on Psychedelic Jellyfish, now is your chance! You can also check out the other auctions, because there are some very nice items waiting for your bids. Don't forget that there's only one week of Layne's Legacy -- Beading For A Cure auctions left after this one! You don't want to miss your chance to win a nice piece of beadwork and help a good cause all at the same time (for those who are new to my blog and the whole BFAC thing, we are raising money for the National Colorectal Cancer Research Association).

Of course, you're probably sitting there saying "But AJ, what about the new car? What about your recital?" Well, in the interest of not writing novel-length blog posts, I'm trying to stick to one subject at the time. The short version is that the car is awesome, I had a safe drive up to my friend's birthday party, and the recital was chaotic but fun. More details as time allows this week.

Check out the BFAC auctions!

It's been a while since I've reminded you all to check out the wonderful Layne's Legacy -- Beading For A Cure auctions! We have some great items this week, including Dot Lewallen's hippo doll, Gertrude's New Hat (shown above), which is bringing in some high bids already. The other items could use a little love, though, so if Gertrude is already out of your budget, don't despair! Everything else is just as lovely.

My necklace goes up on Sunday, though, so make sure you save a little money for that :)

Feeling Healthy

Once again, my immune system has triumphed over the evil tyranny of germs, and I'm back to feeling more-or-less normal. This means dancing, going to the gym, and yeah, working on the game room. It also means more jewelry making. The Grass Moon necklace is already in progress, and I have a pretty clear vision of what I'm doing with it, so it should probably get finished this week, if I'm not too busy.

My BFAC project has been delayed, which is why I'm able to work on FAE Team projects without guilt. My crystal supplier lives in Colorado, a strange place that gets SNOW in the SPRING. I hope to have my rivolis in hand by the end of the week, but I don't know if I'll start the necklace right away, or make my Egg Moon necklace, too, to make sure I don't miss April's deadline.

Sarcasm dog sums up my day

This picture of Maggie rolling her eyes pretty much sums up how I feel about today.

It's just been one of those annoying days. My brother-in-law flew back to NY early this morning, and I figured I'd spend the day like any normal, houseguest-free Monday... Go to the gym, go grocery shopping, catch up on some chores, bead, dance, and maybe, just maybe, have a bit of a belated anniversary celebration with Chris. Instead, I woke up feeling sick. Then I had to deal with some internet drama, then my husband's boss decided that he should take a business trip to Phoenix. Tomorrow. Bah.

So Monday, I say nuts to you. I roll my eyes at you, a la Sarcasm Dog.

On a completely unrelated note, don't forget to check out this week's Layne's Legacy -- Beading For A Cure auctions!

This week in auctions!

Grace Danel's stunning beaded bag is just one of this week's beautiful auctions! Be sure to look at them all, choose your favorite(s) and bid as much as you can! You know you'll kick yourself if you let something that you love pass you by. And don't forget that your bid will help Layne's Legacy -- Beading For A Cure make a generous donation to the NCCRA later this year.

Tomorrow I'll blog about the wonderful time that I had at the Renaissance Festival!

Auctions end tomorrow!

Don't forget that the first round of Layne's Legacy -- Beading For A Cure auctions end Sunday afternoon! A new round of beautiful auctions will also start, but I'll be at Ren Faire all day, so I won't post about them until Monday. If you're the impatient sort, like me, you can visit the Auction Preview page on the official LL-BFAC site, which will show you what will be auctioned when. It's also a nice way to see all of the items together!

The above necklace is by Dulcey Heller, and like all of our items this week, it currently has a criminally low bid, so you should consider making it your own. Dulcey always wows me with her imaginative designs. She made one of my all-time favorite LL-BFAC necklaces.

It's Auction Time! Get your bids in!

The 2010 Layne's Legacy -- Beading For A Cure auctions are up! Click Here to view this week's auction offerings. Please remember that as per eBay's draconian shill bidding rules, neither LL-BFAC board members nor their family members are allowed to bid on these auctions. However, their blog readers are, so if you don't fall into either of those two categories, you should be free to bid as often and as generously as you like.

The above necklace is by my friend Deb from Bead Indulgences. I have got to make one of these multi-strand woven necklaces some day. They have so much presence!

Once again, I've written all of the auction descriptions, though this is the last year that I will be providing that service.