Wedding Cake Bead Earrings

Happy Friday!!! I was looking through beads wondering what I should share with you today and noticed a little tiny ziplock baggie that contained silver filligree type beads that were shaped like a round layer cake.

When I opened the baggie, I remembered I had bought these many years ago when I first started to bead. I am guessing at least 15 years ago. Wow! Anyway, what I found was not just some of these cool layer cake type beads, but one completed earring. Yes, just ONE!

I think it is very cool! I love the fact the filligree bead looks like a pristine layer of wedding cake and am thinking of all the fun possibilities for using these to represent a tall layered cake!

What do you think?

Tiny Pewter Star

Today's bead is a very TINY pewter star. This bead is just about the size of an e-bead. An adorable addition to a variety of projects, these are lots of fun to use in patriotic type jewelry or if you are celebrating someone's accomplishments. It's the next best thing to receiving a gold star for the day!

I've never seen anything made with just these beads, but now that I am thinking about it, they would be nice just strung side by side or with a variety of bright colors in between them.

Let me know if you have any suggestions for using these sweet little stars. Have a great evening!

Bright, Shiny & Red

I just came across this bead sort of by accident in my collection of beads yesterday. Even though I recently posted bugle beads, I thought these really stood out from the rest of the pack. I have no idea how they created these beads!!

They are not really twisted, but you can see from the side view they have sort of a square hole which gives it the look of having edges. It's the fact that they are red, but seem to have black layered deep down under the red...interesting!

I'm not done yet!.... In addition to all that, the brightness of the red is amazing, you almost need sunglasses to look closely at it! Honestly, there are so many project ideas coming to mind with this one.

It definitely must be used in large quantities to get the impact. Multiple strands of these beads mixed with strands of chunky primary color crystal or faceted, sparkly beads will certainly keep you awake if you are concerned about boredom. On the other hand, these could still be used in a more sophisticated way by using strands of more muted earth tones or even simply used with lots of shiny hematite or black diamond crystals.

Please feel free to throw your ideas into the ring!! Have a great evening!

Three Petal Flower

Upon close inspection of this bead you can see the "carved" details of the petals and center of this cute little flower. My first thought was daisy chain. This would be cute mixed with white rounds in between each of the black flowers. It would sort of resemble a black and white daisy chain.

I have to admit, the more I think about daisy chains, the more I want to make one. Often made of seed beads, a daisy chain can be a rather time consuming project and while the result is always adorable, does not really provide much impact in just one strand.

These beads would have a bit more impact and really stand out against white beads. Let me know what you think. Maybe daisy chains can be made with larger than seed beads. If you have any examples, please send them my way. I'd love to see them.

Diamond Dust on Beads?

Is it wrong to use glitter on glass bead jewelry? I'm not sure there is a right or wrong when it comes to making beaded jewelry...

I enjoyed making these e-bead baubles one holiday season, but thought they could use a little more sparkle. Since I happened to have the diamond dust and mod podge handy from another project, it made sense to try it.

I made dangle earrings and a pendant for a chain out of these baubles. The fun thing was the diamond dust would rub off on the chest of the person wearing it and leave them slightly dusted with glitter. Hopefully it was non-toxic and harmless!

Now that I'm looking at the ones I have left over, I am sort of anxious to come up with a new glittery beaded project for this holiday season.

Czech Glass E-Bead Mix

This E-Bead mix from Joann's is made up of size 2/0 beads. I'm not sure when beads stop being "seed" beads, but the 2/0 size is much larger than a typical seed bead. However, there are plenty of seeds that are even bigger than this such as the pumpkin seed!

I have not attempted to use these beads in a seed bead pattern, but I think it would be a lot of fun. Can you imagine using these in either a flat or tubular peyote stitch? I'm thinking it would be really cool and ultra chunky! These were part of an "aqua" mix and would look cool made into a tubular pattern for about 3 or 4 inches and then strung on a nice fabric cording or heavy faux leather cording as a necklace.

Cute Plastic Bracelet

This week's bracelet is a plastic bangle that has an irridescent quality. I found this at Ally's Beads and thought about either decopauging some graphic designs or photos to it.

I was also thinking about wire wrapping beads to it and thought you would probably need to cover the wire on the wrist side for comfort with some type of soft foam or fabric.

If you know of any interesting techniques for using these, please let me know. I was thinking of fun holiday gifts for some fellow crafters since I know they would appreciate something unique.

Thanks and have a great Saturday night!!

Sky Blue Memory Wire Tubing

Isn't this memory wire tubing great? It comes in a couple of different diameters and personally I prefer the large size for impact. These are wonderful colors representative of the gorgeous blue sky!

There are so many uses for this product which is not limited to memory wire. These are great in strung jewelry pieces and earrings.

If you get a chance, check out the various colors these come in from pastels to neon. It really gets your imagination going!

Fancy Sterling Bead Frame

I just love these sterling bead frames from Fire Mountain Gems!! I have used the swarovski tahitian pearls inside these frames in a bracelet with a black diamond swarovski bicone in between the frames. It was made as a gift and turned out to match a new pair of earrings the recipient had just purchased. Don't you just love it when things just click into place effortlessly?

If you have any other interesting ideas for these bead frames, I would love to hear them!!

A Twist on Bugle Beads

Bugle beads are so versatile and are used in projects from basic stringing to bead weaving and embroidery. These gunmetal gray "twisted" bugle beads are made of glass, but have a metal feel to them and almost sparkle.

Like liquid silver tubes, these would make a great impact just strung in multiple layers as a necklace or bracelet. I suppose you could throw in a little swarovski sparkle just for fun. Now that would make a great inexpensive gift considering tubes of these beads are just over $2 a piece!

What do you think?

Silvery Checkerboard

Today's bead from Joann Etc. is covered in a festive looking foil that creates a checkerboard pattern when linked together. I am considering some kind of square stitch with wire or some other method to connect 4 or five rows of these to make a checkerboard cuff.

There is also a sort of cityscape feel to these as though they are windows in tall buildings when lined up in rows of beads. If you have any interesting ideas on linking these into a cuff, I hope you will let me know.

Have a great evening!

Unique Flat Round Clasp

Hello! I came across this magnetic clasp recently at Michael's. I wasn't looking for this, but when you find something you just know you are going to need for something in the future, you have to buy it!!

When I get this feeling, I try so hard to trust it! It almost always turns out that even a year down the road, the bead I buy is the most perfect bead for a specific piece of jewelry. It always amazes me! "Keep the faith" and "trust yourself" are the messages this sends me.

I hope your week is off to a great start!!

Be Kind

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a fun and crafty weekend! That's what it's all about!!

I believe this is a Blue Moon bead, but I've had it for quite a while! This statement, "be kind", is something I work toward at all times. Most of the time, I don't need a reminder, however....

Yes, there are some occassions when it is nice to have a little reminder dangling from your wrist. If you are human, you likely know about those times. This tiny charm could potentially help you stay on track, be your best and help someone else who might really be in need of some kindness.

Isn't that great? The power of beads...

Previously Known As...

Rather than showcasing a new piece of jewelry today, I wanted to show you these beads from a disassembled piece of jewelry. You can easily see how they "fit together" sort of like a puzzle into a sparkly, simple piece of jewelry. The bead cap was on the oblong crystal, the small bicone was in between the bead cap and the pearl. Very nice!!

Now that it has been disassembled, I have quite a few of each piece that I would like to rework into something new and different. It will be necessary to add some additional "new" beads to the mix. I am thinking about some tan pearls and additional gold spacers. I would like to make some sections by joining several crystal beads on 3 wires in between 2 crimps. I think using long, cream colored bugle beads as another "section" would be fun as well.

Let me know if you have any ideas. Have a great evening!!

Half Full or Half Empty?

Hello! I realize the half full/half empty question is sort of a stretch. It looks like it is over half way full to me!

I thought this bead looked like a frosty mug of lemonade or actually limeade. So, since we're talking about it, what is your take on it? Half full or half empty??

I've posted lemon beads on this blog before, but I'm not sure I've seen any lime beads. Those would be cute with this bead along with maybe a couple of ice cube like beads.

What do you think? Seen any lime beads by any chance?

Cutest Little Frog Charm

When I saw this little froggy charm in a zip-lock bag of odds and ends beads, I really wanted to show it to you. I don't remember seeing it before! Since it has been a while since I showcased something really cutesy, I thought, "why not"?

I hope you agree this is adorable!! I think it would be extremely adorable to do an entire bracelet of cutesy little charms like this with just a handful of bright colorful primary colored beads in the mix.

I know I have a lady bug and turtle pewter charm, I need to go dig through some beads!!! How fun!!

Last of the Bead Mix

What I liked most about this bead mix were the diverse shapes and sizes. The last two beads in the package are a small light colored glass coin and a regal faceted drop that is very full on the bottom.

I included the irridescent rectangle in this photo so you could see how nicely these all played off each other. Individually, each of these beads would be fun in a piece of jewelry. However, mixed together, you would definitely have a fun and eclectic piece! You really can't go wrong with an unusual or interesting piece of jewelry. It is fun to wear and to use as a conversation piece!

Long Green Drop

Today's bead came in the mix package with the beads showcased on the last two posts. At first glance, while in the package, this bead appeared to be a little more bluish-green than it does here. This bead is flat on two sides and ridged on the others which gives it some depth and allows light to get into the color and change it. These long skinny beads are great for, what else, dangles!!

I'd love to have a couple strands of blue/green beads mixed on a necklace and then have these long green beads drop from various places along the neck line. Cool!

Blue Perfection

Bead perfection? This is pretty close!

These colors are so gorgeous! These beads could be used alone or with sterling silver or with blue capri crystals, etc, etc... I could go on and on!! A short necklace with these and beads with some watery looking silver hanging from it sounds awesome.

Earrings would also be great with some tiny little silver chains hanging out the bottom with 3 or 4mm crystals hanging at different lengths.

Let me know what you think!

Irridescent Aah...

Aah.... This bead gives off an aura of peacefulness... I think it is a combination of the color and sweet irridescence.

This is just one bead in a mix package from "jessejamesbeads.com". There are quite a few other interesting beads in this package so I will be posting several more of them this week.

What a cool job that would be.... digging through a store of beads to create fun and interesting mixes for bead lovers! Wow...

I hope you all had a great weekend!!

Fall Wire Twisted Bracelet

This week's bracelet is one that I made last year around this time. I had just learned how to use colorful craft wire to twist beads into interesting jewelry pieces. This is such a fun project and very simple once you get the hang of it.

The gorgeous wire colors available can complement your bead colors or blend in with them, whichever you prefer. I used a copper color with this bead mix from Joann and thought it set off the darker colors even though it also blended in with some bead colors. The pumpkin color really says fall on this one!

If you would like instructions, let me know, I'd be happy to send them along to you.

Frosted Green Cube

Cute, cute, cute! This adorable green bead has faceted edges, but the sides are all frosted. I've used these before in some fun multi-color random pattern bracelets and a couple pairs of earrings, but I think they would look great with lots of shiny silver beads. Several twisted strands would add some substantial chunkiness.

I would love to find some shiny silver cubes. If you know of where I could find them, please let me know.

Have a great evening!!

Icy Blue Water

As I was preparing to post this icy blue bead, I thought there was something very familiar about it. As I looked around the kitchen I chuckled when I realized it looked just like the water cooler! Isn't that funny? You see something every day and recognize it in some distant way, but sometimes it has to be in your line of vision to put two and two together.

Very cool bead!!! Now I think I'd like to have a bracelet made in these beads along with some other icy or watery beads. If you have any suggestions for other beads that represent water, let me know.

Swirly Metal Dangle

Today's bead is a fun little swirly dangle that appears to be made of metal. It is extremely light weight, but up close seems to be made of heavy metal material. How DO they do it?!

I have a good sized package of these, so it might be fun to make a necklace with these along with metally "weather worn" beads in dark, muted tones. Maybe a couple of strands at different heights so you can see the dangles.

Let me know what you think of these! Have a great evening!

Hammered Silver Cone

Today's bead is a beautifully hammered sterling silver cone. I found these at Fire Mountain when I was looking for bead caps. Even though I didn't have an actual "need" for them, I couldn't pass them up because they were so adorable.

These beads are quite versatile. They can be used as bead caps on the end of a bracelet or necklace. They could also be strung point to point or cone to cone which makes them look a little more architectural. Place a round bead in between the two cones and it takes on a completely different look!

These particular cones could be used with earth tone beads and materials OR they could be easily dressed up with crystals and shiny silver. The possibilities are truly endless!

What more can I say?....

Optical Illusion

Today's bead came as a real shock to me when I realized what was really going on here. This is a plastic bead that I thought had little plastic crystals in them. Well, hang on to your hat.... these are not little plastic crystals or rhinestones at all. I had to poke something into those sections just to make sure I wasn't seeing things and then looked at it through a magnifier!

What appears to be crystals are actually holes lined with foil that has bends in it or something that make it look like a faceted crystal. Isn't that something?

I hope you have a chance to pick some of these up. They really make a fun statement and I would love to have a big package of them!

Peridot Crystals

Hello! Since it is Sunday, I thought it would be nice to focus on a little bit of extra sparkle! I love these peridot swarovski crystal rounds and cubes. Do you think non-beading or jewelry people know what color peridot is? I'm not sure...

I really love peridot because it works well with either silver or gold findings. Not all colors are like that. I also like this color because it is close to pastel, but can hold its own among stronger colors as well.

I originally bought these green beads to make a one strand memory wire bracelet just to have something nice, green and simple. I'm not sure why it didn't actually get made, but now I can plan to use them in another way!

I hope you are all having a great weekend!

Telephone Cord Watch

I just knew I had to share this with all of you when I saw it!

I was very pleased to have received permission to showcase this piece of jewelry today. I discovered it on the "shop live green" website under the "jewelry" tab. Not only was it great to see these old telephone cords being recycled, it was really neat to see how cool they turned out. The red is fabulous! Talk about making a statement!

The entire website is impressive, but of course the jewelry really intrigued me. I loved the fact everything there seemed quite contemporary. What a wonderful way to reuse materials that have already been created so they don't have to find their way to a land fill! I hope you will all take a few minutes to visit this site.

Have a great Saturday night!

Black Flower Bead

There is something Hawaiian about this bead, I'm not sure what it is...

I used a couple of these in a memory wire project that incorporated a watch face and some long beads as bridges between the two strands of memory wire. It was a very cool cuff, but sadly, a couple days later I dropped it on concrete and broke the watch face. It was short lived, but oh so cool!

I'm sure I'm not the only one who has made the perfect project only to lose it or break it after a couple of days. You can make another one, but it's not the same as the original somehow. Does that make it a classic?

I hope you are all gearing up for a crafty weekend!

Swarovski Sparkle Toggle

Hi there! Today's bead is the toggle clasp that came with the swarovski component showcased yesterday. First of all, I love the fact it is square! I am a cube fanatic so it is probably no surprise this caught my eye!

I also love the open scroll work of this piece and think it would add great sparkle to a variety of jewelry styles. I'd love to use this with the gray bead that I posted back on June 1st.

Let me know what you think!

More Swarovski Sparkle!

This swarovski component is gorgeous! I found this in a package of 3 components AND a clasp at JoAnn Etc. and felt like I hit the jackpot! The clasp is an ultra cool square toggle with crystals. This could be another case of "where have I been?", but it seems like I would have noticed this nice set of pieces before. It is packaged as "Jolee's Jewels Toggle Set" (swirl/black diamond).

Okay, now I am going to need to show you the clasp so stay tuned for tomorrow's post! I hope you don't mind all these peeks into my bead shopping basket, but I just can't help myself!

I have often thought that specialty bead stores or general craft stores should place webcams on their shopping trays so the crazy bead people who come in to shop can broadcast what they are seeing and narrate to the other crazy bead people on the web who can't get out to feed their need for bead shopping.

Crazy idea or next genius marketing strategy?? You be the judge...