Earrings! Earrings! Earrings!

I had about 15 minutes to myself this weekend and took advantage of the moment and made a few pairs of earrings!



Classic glass pearl dangle

Cluster of light blue beads left over from the re purpose project for my Mom

Cute blackstone earrings - perfect for everyday, and needed in any accessory collection just like that little black dress!

Did you get to create this weekend? What did you do?

More treasures!

While my daughter was here, we made a quick trip out to the flea market to see Harry and Vanessa. The weather was beautiful and it seemed a waste to stay inside.

Vanessa and Harry were full of hugs for me and Leigh, so excited to see her. They loaded her up with goodies as usual, a couple of stretchy bracelets and a pocket stone, and they gave me a few strands of chips. Blackstone, heat treated agate and quartz, looks like halloween!




Then we went for a bit of a wander and found the treasures of treasures!!! There was a booth full of junk - literally junk, door knobs, old campaign buttons, silver spoons, keys, watch parts, you name it there was a bin full of it. We had hit the mother load!!!

Leigh picked this one out, there is an inscription on it I can barely make out. Gonna research it a bit. She wants a necklace with this one.



I picked out this little beauty. I am thinking a bracelet, but I still have time to change my mind :)


These made us squeal and the vendor had a good chuckle at our expense watching us dig thru all of the bins. He is going to be back in April - I am going with my check book!!!

Fun treasures to celebrate spring!!!!

My friends Harry and Vanessa are vendors at the local flea market - Harry and Vanessa's Treasures :) They have the greatest booth, full of strands of beads, silver jewelry, tumbled stones, spheres, cathedrals you name it, if it is natural gemstone, they have it.

I blame Vanessa for enabling my natural rock hound tendencies and planting the seed to make my own jewelry.

I stop by and see them about twice a month and have a good visit. We often trade recipes or home made treats, and they always have a goodie bag for me. These goodie bags consist of broken strands of beads or chips that they have collected over time.

The last time I was there they gave me these:



Fluorite, blackstone, mother of pearl, 3 carved mother of pearl pendants, amazonite, citrine, heat treated agate, dyed quartz chips, and fancy jasper! This was a haul! I was so excited when they gave it to me.

Over at Millie's blog she is having a fun little celebration of spring. She is asking you to comment and leave your blog address and show everyone your design that celebrates spring. I have some fun things in this pile to get me motivated for something very 'Springy'

What will you make to share with Millie??

My Matisse - Revisited Redux

One of last months blog posts - My Matisse - was the ArtBeads Blogger group entry. The blogger group was given a choice of hand painted pendants. Artist Masterpiece Pendants. A glorious selection of hand painted pendants by Russian artisan reflecting such greats as Mucha, Picasso and yes, Matisse.

Browsing this selection was a tough one. They are all beautiful, no, stunning. To know the work that goes into these mini masterpieces and then to see the quality, is breathtaking.

Saying that, when I received my pendant, I wanted to do it justice as well. I wanted to include my blue lady in a necklace that was as elegant and stunning as her.

Here is a list of the components to refresh your memory -

30x40mm Rectangle Black Onyx Matisse - Blue Nude - ArtBeads
White jade roundells - Sedona Stones
Faceted black crystal roundells - Firemountain Gems
Lapis roundells - O'Mega Gems
6mm blackstone - Firemountain Gems
Silver plated Oval Link Chain - ArtBeads
Silver plated 3 Strand + 3 Link Chain - ArtBeads

And here is the original:






I was thrilled with it..........for a while. I admit, I am fickle. I wore it once and hung it up. As much as I liked it, it just wasn't me. I don't know what I was thinking. I don't know why I didn't make it for me, for how I feel, make it to reflect my interpretation of the beautiful blue lady.

I needed to make it for me, because this is a piece I am planning on keeping. This isn't something I had planned on selling. Granted the cost of the pendant was given to me, it wasn't a cost that I would have to recoup, but in the same breath, if I did sell it, and got an order for another one, I more than likely would not make my money back on it. It isn't that the pendant is too much - it is beautifully hand painted and the quality is exquisite, I just feel it is something that I would work with more as a gift than as something for my inventory.

This morning I did just that - I reconstructed the piece for me. I kept the original layer of jade and lapis, and removed the rest. I made a strand of seed beads and blackstone, and a strand of lapis chips, citrine and snowflake obsidian, braided them all, put the clasp in the front and added the Matisse.

Here is the redux, and she is a keeper












*whew* That is so much more comfortable!

My Matisse

A couple of days ago I posted about the pendant I had received as part of the blogger group outreach from ArtBeads. I had been given several jewelry supply categories to choose from, and when I saw this bead, I knew what I had to do. The bead I had chosen was the 30x40mm Rectangle Black Onyx Matisse - Blue Nude from the Artist Masterpiece Pendants - Russian Pendant collection. When I got home from work last nite I sat down and got to work.

I already had the design in my head, all I needed to do was put it together.

Here is what I used.

30x40mm Rectangle Black Onyx Matisse - Blue Nude - ArtBeads
White jade roundells - Sedona Stones
Faceted black crystal roundells - Firemountain Gems
Lapis roundells - O'Mega Gems
6mm blackstone - Firemountain Gems
Silver plated Oval Link Chain - ArtBeads
Silver plated 3 Strand + 3 Link Chain - ArtBeads

The pendant is stunning, I can't stress enough how wonderful it is.

The 3 strand +3 Link chain however beautiful it is, will work your patience. The three small strands between the triple links has a tendency to bunch up and knot. I have now dubbed it the diva chain. It is beautiful and knows it, and will make you work for it.

The oval link chain, I have to admit, I am a bit disappointed in. It doesn't have that beautiful finish like on the diva chain. It is not as smooth and shiney as I had hoped. It almost has an 'orange peel' appearance to it. Will it stop me from buying it again? I doubt it.

And here she is kids - My Matisse!

I love working with multi-strands. I love the busy look. I think I captured a fun multilayer look w/o taking away from the focal.




I changed up the 3 link + 3 strand chain a bit at the focal. I snipped out the middle link and added a triple stack of the faceted crystals on a hand wound link.







I do love her!