New Made to Order Rustic Roses!

Hello again and happy March! It's already feeling like Spring on the eastcoast (well, in the South!), and I'm pretty sure it's getting me in a colorful mood. I love all sorts of colors from the softest to the boldest. But I usually stick to using earthy and natural colors with the occasional burst of gem-tones. I was a little bit surprised when someone described my handmade beads as colorful! I hadn't really thought about it, but I guess they're right. Sometimes you don't see your own work in the same way. It's good to have perspective.

So, with color in mind, I recently launched five new Rustic Roses for my line of Made to Order art beads. Want to see? And yes, most of them are colorful, but I did squeeze in a couple of muted pinks and creams.

You see that soft, peachy color at the top left? I call that one alabaster cream, and it's actually my favorite. It looks so beautiful with the golden highlights...sigh.


I'm offering it with a distressed black finish, too, for anyone who needs an extra kick of rustic goodness.

Do you have a favorite amongst these, or would you like to see another color in my Made to Order collection? Let me know! I love experimenting with color.

Stacked earrings challenge round 2

Earlier this year, Malin de Koning started an earring challenge for a small group of us. We enjoyed it so much, we decided to continue the challenge and take turns sending out beads to each other. The rules remained the same: use 3 types of the beads sent to make at least one pair of earrings. This time, Claire Lockwood stepped up with this lovely selection of beads.

  

Claire sent a great selection of beads in mostly greens, cream, soft pinks and purples. Some of the first to catch my eye were the minty drops and pink daisies (top right) and those white and green plastic beads (center).

So, without further ado, here are the earrings! I made 6 pairs in total, but there were still enough beads to make a few more. First up is a pair of stumpy, stacked earrings with my handmade copper findings. I used the flowers, pink daisies, and green beads Claire sent with some lampwork beads by Fyrebirds.

I adore the minty drops Claire sent and used them with the wooden beads, clear glass rings, and faceted Czech glass. I added my own copper findings and wire spacers.

This pair is very different for me, and I think they meet the stacked criteria! I used the small and large metallic beads, and the gemstone hearts Claire sent. Added to the mix are some filigree bead caps, Czech glass beads, and rectangular headpins and earwires I made.

Another different style for me - buttons. I don't usually use buttons in my jewellery, but these lovely mother of pearl ones were hard to resist. I knotted them on linen cord with Czech glass and my bronze earwires. I cheated a little here as there are only 2 buttons on each earring, but I think they'll pass...

 

Pair #5 has a stack of green leaves and a couple of the milky spacers from the bead mix. The leaves immediately made me think of strawberries, so I added some red blossoms (I know, they should be white!) and a tassel of linen and tiny Czech glass beads.

 

Last but not least, I used the wooden discs, little glass rounds, and the larger rustic glass beads. I added some tiny coconut beads and pyrite quartz chunks and copper findings.

Here's a group shot of all the earrings again. I hope you enjoyed them! Be sure to check out what the rest of the group made. 

Malin de Koning - Beading by Malin de Koning

Claire Lockwood - something to do with your hands

Heidi Post - Ex Post Facto Jewelry

Rebecca Anderson - Songbead

Leah Curtis - Beady Eyed Bunny

More beautiful art beads...

Guess what? In my last post I shared with you that I won some of Gaea's handmade beads. Well, they've arrived! And they're gorgeous. It's a beautiful set of ceramics in earthy and pastel colors. I'll share photos soon, I promise!

But for now, I have more art beads to share. I won an absolutely stunning set of beads from Caroline of BlueberriBeads. You can see the exact set I won here. And now for some photos of what I've made so far...

In this bracelet, I used Caroline's stoneware dragonfly, copper lentil, stoneware barrel, and her beautiful silvered glass lampwork spotty barrel.

I went with a natural, beachy theme and added some faceted aqua quartz from my friend Tanya of FusionMuse. The beads are wrapped in solid brass wire and finished with a handmade clasp.


 

Here's another pic of that gorgeous dragonfly bead. This bracelet had a lot of ooohs and ahhhhs at a recent show and will be listed in my Etsy soon.





I've made another bracelet with Caroline's beads that has some scrummy larimar and heat patinated brass chain. It'll have to wait for another blog post, though.

Something that has managed to find its way into my shop, is gemstone earrings. I made two pairs of copper earrings with my handmade rosy ball end headpins. I love how the little balls of copper add that extra bit of detail to these earrings.
 

Aren't those gemstones yummy? The yellow pair has faceted yellow sapphires and smooth citrine drops. I love how the citrine sparkles.

The red pair has faceted rubies and the daintiest Turundu sapphires. All those little facets add a surprising amount of sparkle.

I love making these little rustic earrings. A bit of sparkle, a splash of color, and just the right amount of femininity mixed with rustic simplicity. What could be better? If you'd like to see more photos, you can find them here.