My First Tutorial is in the Newest Issue of Creative Spark EMagazine!

Last month the Creative Spark designer group (for ZnetShows, wholesale bead company) was contacted by Hope Smitherman, (our group leader and editor of Creative Spark) to create designs for the new issue and a few simple earring tutorials would also be needed.  I decided to try my hand at the tutorial since Chris and Mina had done some last year for Soda Lime Times.  These are the earrings I created.

I used small rolo chain with the globe beads and crystal cupchain to create the porcelain butterfly earrings.  You can find my tutorials in the newest copy of Creative Spark!

Creative Spark Winter 2015

New Jewelry Designs - Hugs & Kisses

It has been a long while since I have designed an original design.  With my Dad's passing in November, the grief and day to day demands have sucked hard at my creative stream.  Do you ever experience this?  I often feel as if there is nothing but the demands and dealing with them.  But with the new year it is time to get back in to the creative mode, shows are coming!  I designed this piece last night.  I started with an art pendant created by Melanie Brooks, Earthenwood Studios.  When I held it in my hand, I knew what the finished design would look like!  Does that happen in your world?  It rarely happens that way for my designs.  I added bunches of wire wraps with Chinese crystals and Czech glass beads.  There are also X and O letter tags added for a bit of whimsy, going for the hugs and kisses feel.  Those are from the scrapbooking embellishment aisle, made by The Paper Studio, Spare Parts.  I love hunting for the bits to add to a design to make it unique.  The letter tags match the matte antique silver finish on the chain also.

My Muse also urge me to create a couple pair of earrings.  When I did my end of the year inventory, I realized how many earrings I have in stock, yikes!  However, I get tired of looking at the same earrings, and they are so fun to make, I couldn't resist the siren's song!  The black pair are a matte finish Czech glass bead with peacock coating on the tiny triangle design.  I added odds and ends beads to pick up the colors in the peacock finish for the dangles.  The pretty hearts were made with Clay River Designs hearts and the dangles are Czech glass hearts and Chinese crystals.  Mina said she thought these look like Sweet Tarts candy, and would actually wear them!!!  I just about handed them over to her then and there!  It is a VERY RARE thing for my beautiful but low maintenance daughter to want anything to do with my jewelry!  I felt like she hugged me without even touching me!

Chris's Newest Creations

How adorable is this?!  Chris recently decided to make a sculpture to enter in the Nebraska State Fair.  This is what he came up with!  The flowers and leaves are created on black steel wire and then annealed in the kiln.  The flower pot is also glass created on the end of a large hole mandrel so it has a bottom but is also open to be able to insert the flowers.  Once all of the components are created, Chris uses 2 part epoxy to set the flowers into place and to attach the aluminum disc to the bottom of the pot.  Chris also made the aluminum discs from recycled blanks and used a machine to add the engraved grooves to the disc.  So creative and cute!  We plan to make quite a few to have at Graham Gallery during the Holidays. 

Here are a couple others Chris made that are available for sale:

I love the free-form blue daisy and the stone-look flower pot.

This is probably my favorite flower!  The outside edge is a pretty, soft peach and the inside a darker coral.  The flower pot looks like a well weathered terracotta pot!

As for me, I have been beading, beading, beading to get ready for all of our shows next month.  Lots of new designs being churned out!
Earrings:

Left to right: free-form nugget turquoise with Vintaj brass leaves, abalone, and fire agate with carnelian dangles.

Bracelets:

 Lots of Czech glass, crystal, stone, Clay River focal (top), and FanceeThat focal (bottom).  This batch was focused in the antique brass color for the findings.  My favorites are the second from the top and the second from the bottom.  The matte finish on the agate on the bracelet near the bottom adds a wonderful texture to the piece and the leaf charm adds movement.  On the second from the top, I used pieces of chain as dangling charms to add movement to the piece.  It also has a small chicklet style bead from Clay River designs.

This group of bracelets focuses on antique copper.  There are lots of fun goodies in this batch, recycled glass ring from Trinket Foundry, natural stones, Czech glass, copper filigree butterfly, double hole drilled bone bead from Wild Things Beads, Clay River Designs, and chain.  Chris's favorite is the top one, and I also liked it.  My favorites are probably the bottom two, one of which sold last weekend. 

So that is a bit of an update on the jewelry and glass front!  Sorry for the long silence!  It may be a bit quiet here for a couple weeks while we prepare for the shows!

Bare Branches Blog Hop

Heather Powers, artist and owner of Humblebeads, put together a blog hop featuring her gorgeous beads and a mix of other beads, sari silk ribbon, and brass charms.

The day I received my kit, I put together my bracelet!  It really was easy to find inspiration with Heather's beads and bead mix.  I used the focal bead and wire wrapped it to the brass branch focal sent in my kit.  On one side of the bracelet, I used a large link chain and wove the sari silk ribbon back and forth and knotted large hole pearls from the kit on the ends of the ribbon.  I added bead dangles from the bead mix and Heather's lovely polymer round beads.  I thought I would add a bit of whimsy with a  bird and a pair binocular brass charms.  Who doesn't look at nature during a hike in the woods! 

On the other side of the bracelet I used a smaller link rollo chain and designed it more like a charm bracelet.  Using the beads and brass pieces from my soup mix, I created several charm dangles.

I liked the bracelet design so much, I created a pair of earrings from my bead mix.  At that point the group deserved to be finished out with a pendant.  I ordered another from Heather a couple days later for the pendant.  I used the left over Czech glass from the bead soup, added a wood slice bead, a brass acorn charm, a willowy Vintaj leaf from my stash and a couple natural stone and crystal beads to finish out the dangle.  On the earrings, I used Heather's polymer beads, brass bead caps, and Czech glass from the mix.  The bead caps stuck out away from the beads so I used my pliers and molded them around the bead so they were more tight fitting.  Don't want earrings to be tangled in hair or clothing!

Here is another creative photo of the pendant and earrings.  Dusk was approaching and the natural light was dying so the rush was on to get a good picture for my blog post!

The orange pumpkin sets off the teal of Heather's beads nicely!  This picture also shows the wooden bead slice and the natural stones and crystals I used from my bead stash.  I may still tie a piece of the leftover ribbon on the pendant, and since time was short I need to actually finish the chain on the necklace with a clasp. I just draped it for the photo!
Be sure to stop by the other Blog Hop participants to see what they have created with Heather's Bare Branches Bead Soup Mix!