Featured Designer: Uniques - Handcrafted Jewelry by Lori

The weekend has arrived and not a moment too soon!

I came across this victorian inspired bracelet recently and was envious of the level of perfection on the weave as well as the finishing. I went through a period of using weaving techniques and loved working on the project itself, but when it came to finishing it off I lost interest.

The pearls in this bracelet give it a classic appeal and the woven sparkles with contrasting seed beads elevate it to a lovely conversation piece. The designer's artfire studio, "Uniques: Handcrafted jewelry by Lori", includes several other unique woven pieces which I've added below.

Thanks to Lori for allowing me to share her designs! Have a great weekend!!

More Blue Beads Please!

The sky this afternoon was such a gorgeous, deep blue with just the right amount of swirly white clouds. It was a joy to drive home on the freeway with so much blue to see.

As I was looking through containers of beads, I came across a nice deep blue bead and thought it would be fun to make a bead mix with blues the color of this afternoon's sky.

Well, much to my dismay and disbelief, I found that most of the blue beads in my collection are some variation of aqua blue! What a shock, considering blue has been my favorite color since childhood. At some point my favorite shade took a turn toward the caribbean! I guess I shouldn't be surprised considering how much I have enjoyed our tropical vacations.

It is clear that I need to do something about this shortage!

In the mean time, I will enjoy the blue beads I do have. Have a great evening!

Super-Sized Swarovski Rivoli

Please join me in saying, WOW! This swarovski rivoli in Jet is a whopping 27mm!!

This large and lovely bead/button is from Artbeads.com. It appears this larger size is more rare and difficult to find. If you aren't familiar with swarovski rivoli's, they are a sort of button with the hole going through the back. If you look at them from the side, you can see that they are pointed on the front and the back.

It's not noticeable in the Jet version, but in the crystal or crystal AB version, you can see the depth that these points provide for a wonderfully sparkly effect. I have used a smaller crystal AB version before and posted them here a while back. I didn't realize they came in many of the popular swarovski colors! (even aqua)!!

In the Jet version, the front facets are much more noticeable. There are 16 of them which make this rivoli sparkle every time it is moved in the light...gorgeous!!I have some ideas for using these and the best part is, I have a handful of them to work with. Once again, I find that my little drawings are on scrap pieces of paper which I'm getting ready to dig back out of my bag to see if I can successfully take one of them from paper to real life.

Please stay tuned!!

Skeleton Key for a Collaborative Art Project

Hello! I received my materials today for the Artiscape event in mid April where I will be taking Tonia Davenport’s plexiglass choker class. How exciting!! I received a gorgeous name tag that was actually a packet of beautiful cardstock with a wired organza neck ribbon running through it. Inside is the ticket for my class as well as an agenda for the 4 day event and pages for autographs. VERY nice!

Today’s bead is actually a small skeleton key that came with the Artiscape packet as part of a collaborative art project. It came in a cellophane packet that included this card explaining the art project which includes a charity auction on the last day:

A collaborative Art Project: “unlocking inspiration”
Take part in this collaborative art project by creating a work of art with a skeleton key! Anything goes here, from jewelry to canvas work to handbound books, as long as a skeleton key is somehow included (use of actual key is optional). Pieces are collected at event and displayed en masse, a wonderful display unveiled at Saturday’s “Age of Innocence” party. A silent auction follows (ends Sunday noon). Proceeds benefit the women’s fund of central Ohio. Have fun, be creative, it’s all for a good cause.

I’m excited to work this key into a jewelry project since I’ve never worked with something like this before. I’m open to ideas if you want to throw any out there! Thanks a bunch!!

Silver and Gold: The Perfect Combo

Guess what I received in the mail today???!! Here's a hint....It has a silver band, gold face, sparkly crystals and I will be making earrings to match out of today's beads in silver and gold.

It's the coolest flash drive bracelet!! Very exciting!

I mentioned some flash drive jewelry pieces on twitter and facebook recently after reading about them on the Beading Gem's Journal. My first thought was, "Gee, why didn't I think of that?" My second thought was, "I'm going to have to have one of those!"

It came today and as I mentioned before, I need a pair of earrings to go with it. I like the idea of using some gold chain, but I won't know for sure until I sit down to make them. If you have any suggestions, by all means, please let me know!!!

Thanks to the Beading Gem for always sharing interesting information and tips!!

Hope your Monday is going well!! Take care!

Jewelry Making w/ Scrapbooking Supplies

Hello! I couldn't resist these scrapbooking brads knowing that I still had a silver bracelet blank from Rings and Things that I hadn't used. I picked these up at Michael's and used my 40% off coupon from Joann, Etc. What a great deal!

I clipped the little metal pieces off the back of the scrapbooking disks so they could easily be glued flat to the bracelet's disks. I was surprised that they were just slightly too big to use one on each of the bracelet disks. Luckily, I had a row of clear sticky backed gems left over that I had found while working on another project. I LOVE it when things work out that way! They fit perfectly on the bracelet disks in between each of the scrapbooking disks.

This is a simple project, the most difficult part was waiting for the glue to dry!!! It's still not quite dry, but I'm wearing it anyway. Is patience really that important in life or crafts??? : )

To answer that question myself, YES, it's pretty important in relation to glue... One of the little gems slid a tad bit causing a tiny stream of glue to find its way to the side of the gem... Ask and you receive an answer!

I removed 3 of the bracelet disks before gluing on the embellishments so it would fit my wrist and will be making earrings out of them with a couple of the remaining black and white brads. There were two in the package with the same design, but I guess they wouldn't really have to match.

I hope you all had a great weekend!!! Best wishes for a wonderful new week!

Interchangeable Bead Ring

I visited a local bead store in a large shopping mall today because I had generously been given a gift certificate from a friend around the holidays. I have never been to a bead store in a giant, state of the art, shopping mall before and was surprised to see such a thing!

It's an adorable shop and the crowd of shoppers was amazing! People were funneling in and out at a pretty consistent pace. I noticed a list of classes and events and wanted to learn more, so of course, I searched out a website and found The Busy Beaders! I noticed something very cool on their site called the "Bead Swap". Here are the details:

"Let someone else's old beads become your new treasures! Place $5 worth of beads and/or findings in a clear, resealable bag. Bring as many bags as you want. You will leave with the same number of bags that you came with. The number of bags you bring will also be the number of chances you have to win a variety of door prizes. Meet and mingle with other beaders for inspiration and fun. Refreshments provided." Very NICE! I just wanted to share, especially for anyone in the central Ohio area.

Now, to the extremely cool interchangeable "Tension" Bead ring that I purchased with my gift certificate!! True to form, I got a little carried away with interchanging beads to show you!! I'm thrilled with this purchase and so glad I checked it out! I purchased the black and silver bead at the shop and used several beads from my collection to show below.