Margie and Me: The Modern Madrid

For those of you who've been around for a little while with me and Margie, you'll know I like the art.

Which is to say that the color palettes generated by art tend to be among my favorites.

Nature? Eh...not so much...so, of course, for the month of February I'm skipping the little hearts and tiny naked baby angels, and we're going with some more modern lines and mature color palettes.

First up is the palette from Margie. The Colors of Constructivism is #102 in her book, The Beader's Color Palette. The palette is awesome. Some deep grays and light grays with just a splash of black and a pop of teal. (I love the mix of teal with gray).

Of course, check out Margie's book for the Delica numbers, and this time around, she even has a pattern for this design in the book!

The second palette is one I chose myself...and to stick with my theme of visiting the Spanish-speaking world, we're jumping from Mexico to Madrid and specifically right onto somebody's balcony. I love this bright mustard yellow color with the punch of denim blue around the balconies.

I've also got a million ideas about shapes running through my head.

Image from JMDasso

Okay, here are the dates so you can keep up!

Jan. 31: New Palettes (see above)

Feb. 7: Sneak Peek. I'll post a sneak peek image of mine and leave some space on my post so you guys can leave links to your sneak peeks.

Feb. 19: The Reveal! I know it's a little early, but there's no way I'm gonna try to compete with the Bead Soup Blog Party! So, we'll do our reveal a little early.

Okay, here are the rules:

Create a piece of jewelry using one or both of the color palettes above as inspiration, show off your piece on your blog and come back here on Feb. 19th to show a link so we can all enjoy it! You can use any kind of technique, just as long as it's jewelry.

Thanks to everyone who played along last month and I hope you like this month's palettes!

Margie and Me - The Reveal for January

Okay, this month we had two color palettes if you'll remember....

The deep dark rainforest in earthy greens, and woodsy browns....

and this bright blue storefront in a little town in Mexico...

Which did I pick?

Well, I chose to go with the rainforest. I had recently bought these jasper pendant beads and they were just calling my name.

This necklace features a lot of wood, which is something that I'm totally not used to using, but I really like the look it creates. The little copper square is actually a box clasp that I bought a while back. I thought it was too pretty to be stuck at the back of someone's neck, so here I'm using it to hang the pendant.

I created four beaded beads just for the occasion. They use the earthy greens of the inspiration with a just a touch of the brown.

I'm calling this one, Down the Amazon and I've listed it in my shop, but if it doesn't go anywhere, I might just keep it for myself!

Okay, the second color palette was really giving me some trouble. I tried a few things earlier in the week that just didn't work out, and then I had a wonderful customer request that I make her a bobby pin. She sent me the inspiration photo and when I was done, I realized that what I had looked a lot like my Margie and Me palette! So here's the little bobby pin as my second entry!

Finally, remember when I said that I really wanted to work on my photography for my shop? Well, I worked really hard this week to take new photos and re-arrange some things. It's not perfect, and I'm still tweaking some things, but overall, I'm really happy with the way it looks.

I've also put some old items on sale for this week only, and after Sunday, I'm getting rid of them! You can see them all here.
Here are the new items for this week, and the new pictures.

This first one I call Double Bunting Necklace, and that's exactly what it is. Two rows of little bunting flags created with beads and strung together.

The result is very festive if you ask me! You can see more pictures here in my shop.

I also created a spring-inspired version of my nesting bracelet.

I call this one Berries on the Vine and as I was creating it, all I could think about were the not-quite-so-ripe blackberries that we used to have behind my house.

Last but not least, I created another chunky stone ring. I made one of these a while back but sold it to a friend, so I decided to create another. The colors are great and if you like big rings, this is your man...or woman...and it's in the shop here.

Thanks so much guys if you played along this month with Margie and Me! Don't forget to leave your link so that everyone can see what you did!

Two Day Clean Out Sale

I've been going through my shop cleaning up my photos and my listings and I'm ready to move out some things that have been in there forever.

Here are the things that will be on sale this weekend.
On Sunday, they'll  be leaving the shop 4ever if they're not picked up.

Adobe Embroidered Bobby Pins

Bollywood Bling Ring Size 6

Blue Mottled Bead Embroidered Bobby Pins

Victorian Valentine Necklace

Lavender Quatrefoil Necklace

Creative Musings: Unique...Just like everybody else...

Create your own visual style... let it be unique for yourself and yet identifiable for others.

Orson Welles

 

A few days ago, I was looking through some shops on Etsy and ran across a jewelry shop where the artist had used the tagline "unique". I got curious and started looking through the shop. What I saw was well-crafted and well-designed, but not unique.

In fact, some of what I saw were designs inspired directly from designs that I'd seen in Bead Trends or Stringing, great designs, but again, NOT unique....

 

So, I did what anyone would do...

Pendant by Maykela
(Truly unique in my opinion.)

I went directly to Etsy and typed "unique" in the search bar. I promptly laughed at the irony of getting back 185,873 hits.

I started scrolling and yes, some things were definitely unique, some in a good way, and some in a strange kind of X-files way.

But the whole exercise got me thinking...

What do we mean when we say unique? When I label a project of mine unique, what exactly am I trying to convey. Do I really know what the word I'm using means and should I be using it? Is it fair to say something is unique if it's a tweaked version of a design I've seen a dozen times before?

A living tree by colorstorydesigns

(The background is recycled magazines, I've honestly never seen this done)

 

Mr. Webster gives the definition of unique as:

"Being without a like or equal; unmatched; unequaled; unparalleled; single in kind or excellence; sole."

Now, I can look back at some of the things I've designed, and honestly say that they are unique, that they're the product of a hundred failed attempts and one good success.

Those also happen to be my favorite designs,

But, some of my designs....

Well, they're cute and creative and nice to wear, but they're not unique. So I honestly can't go that route in describing them.

Ottoman Inspired Wedding Gown by matthangori

(There are some amazing honest-to-goodness unique wedding gowns on Etsy, this is just one.)

Now, I say this to say that those designs, the ones we create that we know are just tweaked versions of someone else's original, still have merit. They can be creative, colorful, attractive, playful, well-made, inspired, cute, chunky...the list goes on. But, they don't have to be unique and that's okay. (As long as they're aren't a copy, but that's a whole other topic)

So, here's my challenge. Set it as your goal to create something truly unique. To use materials in a way that you've never seen them used. To invent a new process, or a new thread path.

The next time you're in a craft store, pick up a component or finding that you've seen a dozen times and ask yourself, how else can I use this? What other potential does it have?

Or, go to another store, one that doesn't carry jewelry components and think outside the box a little. Put all your jewelry design books on the shelf and promise yourself that you won't look at them for a week.

I believe that creativity is a well that won't run dry, but you have to experiment and play a little to do the extraordinary, but the whole point is that you can and what will come out of it will be something truly "without a like or equal; unmatched; unequaled; unparalleled; single in kind or excellence ".

Good luck, and I'll see you on Saturday for Margie and Me!

Treasury Tuesday

You can see the original here.

Inspiration Day

Margie and Me is just around the corner. So I thought I'd give you guys a little inspiration.
Now, normally, I don't advocate using other people's jewelry designs as inspiration for your own, There's just too much possibility of an overlap and a copyright infringement...it could get nasty. However, I was really inspired by these so I thought I'd share!

In the greensy greens rainforest category:

A necklace by MaiAutumn.

A leather cuff by Julishland.(I'm currently infatuated with her work)

A chunky necklace by Shannon LeVart.

In the aqua category:
(Now, I realize that the proportions might be a little off, but go with me here...."aqua-blue-with-a-shot-of-pink" doesn't bring up a lot in the search results.)

A chunky statment piece by Decidela.

A cute little crochet piece by Ottupura.

A stunner of a bib necklace by Roselanijasmin.

In other news, I realized over the weekend that I am totally bored with the way I take pictures. So...I think I'm gonna try a few different things and see what works. Just change it up a bit.

I'm also feeling a sale coming on. There's a lot of work that has been sitting in my shop FOREVER and it needs a good home, (preferably not mine), so if you're thinking about getting something for someone for Valentine's, stay tuned, I'll let you know more details probably next Monday.

Enjoy your week!

.

Studio Saturday

I know it's been two weeks since I last had a Studio Saturday, and you would expect that I might have gotten more done, but I spent a good chunk of that time working on Charlotte. If you've never made a tutorial, allow me to say it is a time sucker, but well worth it in the end.

Okay, here's what I did get done. I call this necklace Difficult Times. It's a brick stitched design encircling a tiny gear that I've turned into a clock. The hands really move, so you can set it to whatever time you'd like.

I also finished a new set of Sparkly Copper Bobby Pins. These are really delicate, but they look so good just pinned to the side. It's just enough to hold back some unruly bangs and every time that I wear a pair of these I get so many compliments on how they look.

I also listed these extra little beadies that I had left over from the necklace that I made for my mother. They are the perfect size for earrings or to dress up a bracelet or necklace design. I had intended on creating something else with them, but my idea fell through, so if you'd like them they are yours. You can find them here.

These two are for a custom order for a very special client. I've got two more to make for her before I pack 'em up and ship 'em her way.

Okay, here's what I'm most excited about. I really love these little rings. I've never actually sold one, but I really enjoy making them and I've never seen anyone else doing anything like this. (Probably because it could cause blindness trying to see the little shapes that your cutting and pasting)

I call this first one Cafe del Sol. It's not so much a real place, but the suggestion of a real place, a memory caught in resin.

And Ye Ol' Scottish Castle. I can almost imagine walking through the porcullis and seeing the stones crumbling around my feet.

A Stop in Amsterdam was inspired by a long layover and a two hour tour of this bustling city with its row houses and waterways that were wider than most of the streets.

And the last one...The Parthenon as it must have looked if you were an Athenian thinking that you lived in an empire that would last forever.

Last but not least, the Margie and Me sneak peek! My Amazon-river inspired piece is actually done! My next goal is to create something for Dolores Hidalgo. I hope you're working on yours, and I'll leave the linky tool at the end of this post. If you've got a sneak peek, we want to see it!

Thanks for stopping by! Enjoy your Saturday!

Setting Goals

First of all, thanks guys for your response to the banner tutorial from yesterday! I'm so glad that it helped so many! Did you see Ms. Emma's new banner?! If you created a banner using the tutorial, leave me a comment and let me see it!

Okay, back to business...in May, when I created my first tutorial, I was so excited. It was thrilling to see something that I had created become something that someone else would want to create.
So, I kept going, working hard to add new designs to paper and to share the creativity that was flowing from my fingers.

It really gave me a sense of joy to see what people were creating using my patterns. But, I wasn't content. If you've seen my work, you'll know it's very component oriented, meaning that I like to make smaller pieces of beadwork and connect them together to make larger pieces. (This is my current favorite.)

So, I set a goal for myself. To create an original design using a single weave, meaning I didn't want components, I wanted something that you could create with only one or two cuts of thread. The idea started to form in my brain about a month ago and after way too many sessions of trial and error, the idea finally became a reality.

I present to you Charlotte's Path.

She's delicate and feminine and each step sparkles as she moves. The best part?

My scissors only came out twice to finish her. She's deceptively simple, seriously, I think a beginner could create her without a problem.

The instructions for creating her are in the shop, and for 24 hrs. only, the price for this bracelet tutorial will be lower than all my others.

Call it a celebration of a goal finally accomplished and the satisfaction of an idea that became a reality.

Thanks, Charlotte.

Teach Me Wednesday

Today, I thought I'd take the time to teach you something useful if you have an Etsy store or are planning on opening one up.

It took me a while to figure out how to make a banner in Etsy without Photoshop. It's kinda frustrating when most of the tutorials that I read assume that I have Photoshop. Well, I do not and it's currently not in the budget, so, here's how I create my banners in a way that fits nicely into my rather slim advertising budget.

First of all, you're going to need to download the completely free photo editing software Picasa. Go do that and then come back....

back? Okay...next choose your photo from your file and open it in Picasa.

Now, to the left where it says "Crop", click on the little icon and you'll get this screen:

Now you're gonna have to make a Custom Aspect Ratio, so click on the drop down to the left that says "Add Custom Aspect Ratio". You'll get this box. Type in your specs for an Etsy Banner (100x760) and give it a name like Etsy Banner. (original, huh?) Save it.

Now, try to crop your picture using the Etsy Banner Aspect Ratio and you'll see that you get the perfect crop for an Etsy Banner. Figure out where you want your crop to be and click "crop".

Now, you'll get this:

Now, here's where the fun begins. Click on that little button to the left that says "Picnik" and you'll be taken here:

Now, using the categories at the top of the workspace (Effects, Borders, etc....) you can edit your photo to look the way you'd like. Here I've added the vignette to give the photo a little pop.

Now, I want to add some Text, so click on the Text button and you'll be taken here:

Type your text into the top left little text bar and it will magically appear in your banner.

Edit it to your liking...

Now, here's one thing that I kinda came up with...I really wanted a shadow on my letters, but that option didn't exist, so...I right-clicked on the text I currently had and clicked on "Duplicate Type".

This gave me two of what I had previously created.  

Using the editing box to the right, I made the first type black...

and lined it up directly below the second to get that shadow look without actually adding a shadow.  

Add any other text you want, and click on the yellow button in the upper right hand corner which says "Save to Picasa".

It will take you to this screen...From here, simply save your banner where you'll be able to find it when you go back to edit your store.

Head back to your shop and drop it in! Voila!
Now that you know how easy it is, you can make banners all day...

I really like making a new banner when I'm having a sale or special promotion, or when the seasons change, or I make a new piece that I'm really proud of...ya' know, whatever.

The best part? It's free.
I hope this is useful and if you've got questions, feel free to ask!

Enjoy your Wednesday!