It's Give Away Time!!!!

Whew Kids - I have been so busy, I let May slip by without a give away! Never fear, I will make up for it. So I am having both May and Junes give away at the same time! That's right you heard me - TWO GIVE AWAYS!!!

It is my Crafty and Trendy Give Away. One package is for all my 'crafty' followers and another is for all of my 'trendy' followers.

For the crafty's I have



This kicking tote* so graciously given by Heather at Beadin Path. A tote is not fun if it is empty, so I have added Create Your Style color wheel*, also by Beadin Path, from my inventory, a ladle full of bead soup (including vintage lucite beads* from Beadin Path) the Jun/Jul issue of BeadWork magazine, June issue of Bead Trends magazine (I have a piece on page 29), vintage buttons, floral ribbon, a Just A Tish bumper sticker and bezel cups* and bottles* from Rings & Things!!!!!



Holy cow and if that is not enuff - for my Trendy fashionistas who love to accessorize



Copper wire wrapped pendant with turquoise, dyed howlite, red seed beads and a Czech crystal, a coordinating ring, and a Just A Tish bumper sticker!!!



Ring pictured is size 7 - If this is not your size, no worries. I will make one to fit you!





I want it all!!! I hear you say. Great, so here's how you play - You have 3 ways to enter:

1. Leave a comment and tell me are you crafty or are you trendy?
2. Tweet about it (let me know you did)
3. Blog about it (let me know you did)

I am opening this up to my FaceBook fans, my email list, and to my customers at the flea market.

I will be drawing a winner on Tuesday, June 1, 2010!!!!!

Good Luck!!!

*FTC compliance disclosure: the '*' items mentioned in this post credited to Rings & Things were provided as a promotional gift as part of the Blog Partner Program. These items are for review or design purposes. Find out more about the Rings & Things Blog Partner Program More items marked with '*' mentioned in this post credited to Beadin Path were provided as a promotional gift as part of the Beadin Path Design Partners. These items are for review or design purposes.

Free form free for all - wire wrap bracelet

I am so excited about this, I nearly wet my pants!

Heather at Beadin Path posted a link on twitter a while back about some fun classes they are going to be doing. One of them was for this awesome wire wrapped cuff. I wanted to go sooooo bad....ROAD TRIP!


I covet this bracelet and the mad skills to be able to create it and the wondrous vision that inspired this piece.

I had previously purchased some wire from Rings & Things, and didn't know exactly what I was going to make with it. Some great 14 ga red brass wire, and several spools of copper wire, varying in gauge. Now I knew :) I wasn't for sure how to begin this project. I don't have a bracelet mandrel, wasn't sure how to shape it, but I dove in anyway. I dug thru my beads and picked a color scheme and laid out a pattern on the table. I wanted to work with the blues but I wanted to add a bit of something, something that would 'pop'. I still had one of the criss cross lampwork hearts* from Rings & Things' blogger challenge and it fit perfectly!

Made a simple curl on the ends of the wire and wrapped the two pieces together with 22 ga copper wire. Ran the wrap up the wire and began to incorporate beads. The brass wire is easy to coax around beads to give it a more free form, oh lets say "organic" look.


Wrapping the copper wire around brass wire gives stability to the cuff, a contrast in color, and allows you to weave several different shapes and sizes of beads into the design. The copper wire almost had a mind of it's own while I was wrapping it. I let the wire go where it wanted to, and added beads accordingly.



I am really happy with this wire. It is stout enuff to hold a design, and malleable enuff where it doesn't hurt my hands to work with it. I eye balled the lengths of wire to make the cuff, based on my own wrist size. Not good in hind sight, there has to be a way to measure it better. Will work on it.



It's not perfect yet, it is a bit short and doesn't sit on my wrist like I want it to, but it was so much fun to make, I can't wait to start another one!


*FTC compliance disclosure: the '*' items mentioned in this post credited to Rings & Things were provided as a promotional gift as part of the Blog Partner Program. These items are for review or design purposes. Find out more about the Rings & Things Blog Partner Program