Featured Designer: Pretty Mades All in A Row

This week's featured designer is Chrissy of the etsy site, "Pretty Mades All in A Row".

What a great name for a shop and these vintage and botanical inspired jewelry pieces fit the name perfectly!!

I was so taken by these metal pieces that form to the wrist with just the right amount of beads in perfectly complementary shades, seriously made me "mmmm" right out loud!! :)

I was so happy when I received a message back from Chrissy giving me permission to share these with you today.

She describes her pieces as having a funky edge and I agree, there is something unexpected about them.

The sweet beads and accessories with the harder metal edge is a great combo.

Enjoy!!

Airy Drop Bead & Offer to be Featured!

Today's bead was a gift that I received recently for teaching a new beader how to make the beaded "bauble". (The 12 bicone, right angle bauble with the magic trick at the end).

It is always so much fun to show people because of the magical part when you pull the two wires and it forms a ball.

When she offered me several of these beads, I didn't want to take them because I have SO MANY beads already, but she really wanted me to have at least one of them.

So, here it is!

She has since made herself a pair of earrings and a simple dangle necklace out of them. They are so CUTE!

I would like to use my drop bead in a necklace too, I'm thinking of using one or more of the softflex colors and adding LOTS of colorful sparkle too!

Why can't it be Saturday morning?!! That's such a great time for me to bead! I can't wait!


Offer to be featured:
I also wanted to take a minute here and will do this again over the next week or so, to let you all know that during the summer months, I would like to partner with you and open up the Friday Featured Designer post to 12 bead and jewelry designers who would like to be featured.

Just send me an email at abeadaday@sbcglobal.net with links to each of your sites and any info you want to make sure that I mention.

This is a new approach for me, but I was just thinking how easy it is to miss out on some wonderful artists. I will post them beginning in June in the order that I receive the emails.

Yay! So exciting!

Emotional Bead Shopping

Have you ever just picked up a bead and been unable to put it down? I mean really been filled with emotions about letting go of it?

I've picked up LOTS of beads and put them right down, but I have finally learned how important it is to trust your instincts on what FEELS right when you handle beads. I tried to put this bead down several times, but couldn't!!

I just wanted to pick up one of the others in the same container that was just as cute in color, but had a less interesting shape. For some reason, I just couldn't part with this!

I can't explain it, but I can recognize it!! At some point, I will have the perfect need for this bead and it will be there for me. I can't wait!!

I'd love to hear your experiences with this interesting phenomenon!

Owl Carving

I discovered today's bead last Friday during our treasure hunting trip and couldn't put it down!

It's adorable and the first thought I had was the wise old owl on the tootsie pop commercial, when the little kid asks something like, "Mr. Owl, how many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie roll pop?" and the owl takes three licks and then bites right into it! :)

Yes, I admit I suffer from a bit of the Peter Pan Syndrome, but hey, I figure there are worse things than never wanting to grow up!

So, back to the sweet little owl...I know this seems made to be a necklace pendant, but I can't help but want to put every cute bead into a bracelet so I can see it all the time when I wear it!

Maybe a very long necklace would be fun so I could still see the little guy...hmm..

What do you think? I'm definitely seeing some crystals sparkling alongside the owl like a glittery tree!

Sweet Little Birdies

I know there is some "awwww"-ing going on!! These birds are ADORABLE! They are mother of pearl and very small. The stringing hole runs through the body vertically just behind the head.

TOO CUTE!

I went on another treasure hunting trip with a co-worker, actually now a retired former co-worker (boo hoo)!

Last week was her first week as a retiree and I talked her into coming by to pick me up a few hours early on Friday. Our plan was to visit some gift shops in a nearby historic district which we had heard carried beads and jewelry.

Sure enough, the first shop we visited was very eclectic with lots of fun, artsy jewelry AND beads! I couldn't resist these birdie beads! I found a couple other interesting beads on our trip which I will share this week.

We were thinking we ought to make our treasure hunting excursions a monthly event and maybe, if I get a digital video camera, share our experiences!

This sounds like so much fun and I really need to check out you-tube more because I would bet there are many people who share their bead shopping experiences!

If you know of any videos out there that I can put some links up to, let me know!!

Peace, Love & Bead Bloggers!

Wow, it's hard to believe the weekend is coming to a close already!! I hope you all had a great one!! For all of the mothers out there, Happy Mother's Day!

There were lots of exciting and fun things going on last week as you can see in the list of links below.

I wish you all a wonderful new week!!

missficklemedia.com Should I patina or leave the metal bare naked?

The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton Andrew starts the month of May off with another giveaway by Lillypilly Designs! Find out how you can win a set of tribal-inspired wooden beads!
Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done! Jean brags! Yes, she really brags! It's worth a look because it's cool!
Strands of Beads Melissa shows off a new version of her Cabinet of Curiosity pendant.
About.com Jewelry Making Tammy has some fun in the sun summer time jewelry tutorials for you, including a cute turtle charm necklace.

Art Bead Scene Free Project Alert! ABS has a new necklace project for free on their website!

Beading Arts Cyndi has launched the first installment of her brand new e-book on bead embroidery...and it's free! Hurry over for your copy!

Carmi's Art/Life World Carmi finds a way to incorporate vintage turtle beads into a necklace.

Cindy Gimbrone aka The Lampwork Diva Cindy works through her to-do list and lists a new set of glass birdhouse beads.

Earthenwood Studio Chronicles A song about hammers, nails, labor, and social involvement inspire Melanie to create some new woodlike components

Jean Campbell Jean's been at the grindstone, but also at the gardens...check out these beautiful images from the MoBG!

Lorelei's Blog: Inside the Studio Lorelei is back on track this week and is giving away coordinating beads with Sab's help, from BeadBead.biz!

What I Made for My Summer Vacation

In several of last week's posts I mentioned some beads that I selected from Artbeads.com. Today I wanted to share my "final" project. This could actually be the "semi-final" project because, as usual, I need to wear it for a little while to make sure it's a keeper.

Artbeads wanted to celebrate the things people do for summer time fun for this challenge, which is what led me to this design. For our summer vacation, which leads into the 4th of July, we are renting an RV!

We have never camped before, but have been wanting to RV since we haven't been able to take an away from home vacation for a couple of years. One of our senior citizen dogs was diagnosed as a diabetic and needs two shots of insulin per day. I must admit that I haven't trusted anyone else to take care of him.

An RV sounded like a great idea and now I'm getting excited! We will be joining my husband's family for their annual state lodge vacation that we had missed the last two years and are hopeful this is a good solution to continue participating...not in the lodge, but at the campgrounds!!

So, the thought behind the rectangular CZ's is that they represent the RV's at the campground and the red, blue and crystal stars represent the American past time of RV'ing and celebrating the 4th of July. Yes, it does make sense in my head! :)

It is certainly a unique conversation piece more than anything else and I'm excited to wear it so I can explain about the RV and get even more excited about our vacation. I added a few dangles on either side to represent the fireworks we are likely to see! Once I wear this for vacation, it will always remind me of our very first RV trip!

I hope you are all having a great weekend! We're heading to the drive-in later for Iron Man 2! It's like fall in our area today, I believe it's hovering around 50 degrees with high winds, but that makes it even more fun. We get to snuggle up!

FTC compliance disclosure: the items in this post from Artbeads.com were provided as a promotional gift as part of their bead blogger program for review or design purposes.