Challenge of Music Reveal

Unfortunately, I'm one of those who should have probably been taken off the list for this reveal, but to be fair I didn't realize that until late last night.

My chosen song is this one by Josh Garrels:

My favorite part is this:

Though they may surround me like lions

and crush me on all sides.

I may fall, but I will rise.

Not by my might or my power, or by the strength of souls,

only through your love, my Lord

All that's lost will be restored.

This song has been speaking to me a lot lately, especially in the face of odds that seem overwhelming and unsurmountable.

My idea was to carefully saw a lion's face out of a sheet of 26 gauge brass and I did.

Then my second plan was to solder it to a sheet of copper, but when I went to heat the brass, I heated it too hard and melted the lion's ear off.

Of course, none of this happened until yesterday, so I didn't know until last night that it wasn't going to work. So, I'm here sharing my song and my inspiration, but not my creation.

Maybe one day I'll finish it and you'll get to see it.

I hope you'll enjoy seeing everyone else's creations.

Please hop around and visit (and sing if you feel inclined!)

Enjoy the extra day that you've been given this year!

I think we've all earned it!

Erin Prais-Hintz

Marcie Abney

Christine Altmiller

Elisabeth Auld

LJ B

Lori Bowring Michaud

Shannon Chomanczuk

Cece Cormier

Jenny Davies-Reazor

Malin de Koning

Beth Emery

Michelle Escano-Caballero

Erin Fickert-Rowland

Therese Frank

Amy Freeland

Tanya Goodwin

Stephani Gorman

Amy Grass

Beth Hemmila

Kristina Johansson

Jennifer Justman

Tari Kahrs

Susan Kennedy

Ema Kilroy

Kathleen Lange Klik

Kirsi Luostarinen

Paige Maxim

Beth McCord

Natalie McKenna

Alice Peterson

Cat Pruitt

Bobbie Rafferty

Johanna Rhodes

Cynthia Riggs

Sally Russick

Sarah Sequins

Amy Severino

Staci Smith

Kristen Stevens

Lola Surwillo

Stefanie Teufel

Sandi Volpe

Holly Westfall

Shaiha Williams

A Feather in your Cap

First off, I'd like to thank you for your sweet comments on my last post. I wanted to thank each and every one of you individually, but every time I sit down to type, I find myself distracted by other things, but just so you know, it is very, very encouraging.

 (It's also nice to know I'm not the only one with a full plate!)

I did however, find make time this weekend to play around with some ideas that have been floating around in my head for a while now.

The first was an idea for a feather headband with bead embroidery accents.

I got the idea from something similar that I saw at Target, the beadwork was a lot cheaper of course (and cheaply done)

I created this one with a few guinea feathers that I purchased already bundled with this shock of orange which I can only imagine must have come from a rooster of some sort.

The headband itself is made of aluminum, so it won't snap like the plastic ones will, and I've wrapped it with black grosgrain ribbon for comfort.

I haven't made a headband in quite some time but we have a small stash here at the house that my sisters rotate through.

I haven't decided if I will put this one in the shop. (well, I haven't gotten sisterly permission yet, though she did mention how she doesn't wear much orange....hmm...)

If I decide to, I'll let you know.

I also created this very earthy piece with a large marquis cut bead of silver-leaf jasper.

I had never heard of it before, but I love the depth of the stone.

It has these deep little pools of transparency and veins of deep green and mustard.

I paired it with four pressed czech leaves of the softest lavender.

It is lined with super soft suede and hung from a double strand of delicate brass chain.

This one will definitely be going into the shop sometime later this afternoon, but if you're interested in reserving it, please drop by my shop and leave me a convo!

I hope you had a wonderful weekend.

Enjoy your Monday!



Artisan Clay: Biting off more than I can chew.

I got my piece done for Kristie's monthly component challenge!

(Okay, well, almost done)

She sent us these cute little charms and I created a little pendant out of mine.

I haven't gotten the chain added yet.

The plan is to add two jump rings through the size 8 beads at the top and add some long thin chain (probably gunmetal).

I created the top part of the pendant in brick stitch with faceted czech glass and some aqua to accent the colors in the little charm.

Thanks Kristie for the opportunity to work with such great pieces!

In other news, I definitely feel like I've bitten off more than I can chew!

I signed up for Erin's Challenge of Music blog hop and then I haven't even started bead soupin', and then I did a swap with another artist and I've got a special order looming as I wait for the supplies to get here to make it.

To top it off, I haven't been falling asleep until late and so I've been sleeping later in the morning to compensate (which means morning creative time has been sacrificed) and I've found a couple of good books and I'm really enjoying reading again when I have any extra time, and this week has been more doctor visits than normal....

it's just been busy what can I say?

The weather has been great the past couple of days though, so I can't complain whenever I have to be pulled out of the house.

I hope you'll check out the other artists that Kristie has in her swap.

Visit her blog here to catch all their creations.

Have a great weekend!

It's in the shop!!

I put it in the shop late last night!!

Thank you for all your wonderful comments, I'm glad you like it!

The link is here if you'd like to see more.

Oh, and also, I thought this was pretty funny on the front page of Etsy this morning...

obviously the seller of the "RESERVED" item in the column on the far left did not expect to hit the front page!

Lesson: If someone reserves an item, just put "RESERVED" in the title and don't change your first photo!!

Reserved items show up on the front page all the time and also in the Etsy newsletters and even if that item is spoken for, you've got a whole shop of goodies for potential customers to pick from.

Have a great day all!

Button, button, who's got the button?

Apparently I do.

I picked up this fabric button at Joann's and just started working with it.

I wanted to do this really crazy complicated mandala-looking embroidery around it and I'd say it turned out pretty good!

Yes, it's embroidered, not beadwoven, although the outer rim of 3mm lime Czech beads was technically woven on after the edging of the bead embroidery was in place.

The piece was inspired by the work of Caroline Fung.

If you read my little snippet in Beadwork Dec/Jan, you'll notice that I mentioned her as the person that I would most like to take bead classes from.

 

In case you're wondering why, I'll refer you to this:

See what I mean?

Her work is stunning and like I said in my little snippet, she is in my mind one of the few people to successfully mix bead embroidery with beadweaving and other mixed media and create flawless pieces.

She's got a list of awards a mile long, all well deserved.

I hope you'll check out her blog here.

Oh, and guess what I found out yesterday?

We have the same birthday!!!!

So, Happy Birthday to Ms. Caroline and many more!

P.S. I'll be putting this beauty in the shop later, but if you'd like to reserve it, please contact me!

Awesome Birthday Present!

This morning I was reading through my weekly Craftsy Newsletter and came upon an article highlighting the top 20 downloaded patterns.

Guess who was #10?!

Very, very excited to see my pattern in the top 20!

If you haven't had a chance to check out Craftsy Patterns yet, I suggest you do.

I've got a few of my patterns up for sale on Craftsy and it's actually done really well since I uploaded them. The bonuses to Craftsy pattern stores:

For the Buyer:

- Instant Download. As soon as your payment (through Pay Pal) goes through, you can download your pattern directly off of Craftsy's server, no waiting for an e-mail from the designer.

For the Seller:

-Craftsy does not take a comission of your sale nor do they charge you a dime to list your patterns! Wow! That drew me instantly!

Plus, I don't have to worry about e-mailing my patterns to my customers.

(Sometimes I miss the customer contact, but I've added my contact info in my patterns in case my customers need to get a hold of me.)

Also, check out Craftsy in general, there are tons of free projects and even online classes if you want to pick up a new skill.

It's a great online resource.

Well, it is my birthday! ;)

So, I'm off to enjoy my day with my sister shopping and eating.

I hope you all enjoy the rest of your week!

Bead Soup - Procrastination Central

I should have posted this a looong time ago, but I'm just now getting around to it.

Here are the shots of the soups I got from my paht-nuh, Ms. Lori "Queen of the Soup" Anderson.

She sent me two different color combos of beady goodness.

The first is right up my alley, aqua blues and emerald greens with aventurine rounds and a clasp from Melinda Orr. Gorgeous!

The second soup has me stumped.

Why?

One word.

Pink.

In case you're new around here, pink isn't exactly my cup o' tea and I'm completely stumped as to what to do with it.

This combo has some ceramic goodness from Earthenwood Studios and Marsha Neal.

This will be interesting to say the least. Though it should make a great gift, my mom is constantly asking for pink, but it's so hard to just start working in a color combo that you're not comfortable with, but we shall try....

If you're not participating in the soup, I hope you'll still stop by to see everyone's creations.

Lori is hosting it, and you can visit her blog here for the link to all the participants this round!

Enjoy your weekend!

Lemon and Ginger and Echinacea

Remember that stomach bug?

Well, it's gone....and moved into my cabeza (head...in case you were wondering).

So, I've taken up the habit of afternoon herbal tea,

the most recent mixes with lots of echinacea for the immune system.

I'll have to remember to thank my little nephew for sharing...EVERYTHING.

I hope you're feeling healthy

and thank you for your sweet comments on my little pendant, very encouraging.

It's going to be cold here today and if that's the case where you are, bundle up and stay warm!

Enjoy your day!

Sliver of Silver

This one is small, way smaller than what I'm used to.

We'll call it dainty.

I wanted the silver to look like it was blooming and growing up from the center stones and this was my first time setting a faceted stone.

The design was hand-drawn (you'll excuse the imperfections) and hand-cut (practice makes perfect).

It was a bit of a challenge knowing how high to cut the bezel to show off the facets.

I was also stumped by the back of a stone that didn't lay flat.

My solution was to make a little cradle to sit the stone in while I burnished the bezel.

The pendant itself only measures just under an 1 1/2", strung on dainty oxidized silver chain.

 A mix between Art Nouveau/Art Deco and Victoriana, it's definitely so far my favorite.

More silver coming soon...

Moving Mountains

When this little piece of Crazy Lace landed on my doorstep it reminded of a mountain.

I set it on a piece of tracing paper, long side down and drew a tiny moon, a little cloud and a drop of a star cresting over the edge, peeking out behind a plume of Agate ripples.

But when I'm out in my little work shed alone I let my mind meditate and wander and just hover over the things that I've faced in the past month, the past year, personal mountains that I've overcome and some that seem impossible to scale and I couldn't stop thinking....

"Truly, I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt...you can say to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea' and it will be done." 

So, I set the mountain sideways.

Forced over by faith and fire. I've seen mountains move before and I know that I'll see them move again. 

It's not perfect, but then I don't think the first ring should ever be perfect.

I'm still getting used to the color of silver on fire and how much pressure is needed to shape and form the edges, and the impatience of a pickle pot.

And always in the back of my mind a price tag knowing that it's a precious metal and even so a few little strips will have to be sacrificed to give way to the whole.

But that will all come in time.

In the meantime. I'm moving mountains. 

New Tutorial! Beaded Beads!

One of my goals for a while now has been to create a beaded bead. I love the challenge of beading in 3D. It really is a lot of work to figure out a way to weave shape into a piece and keep it from being too flat like bracelets can often be.

This bead uses rondelles and faceted czech glass as a base and then the bugle beads and seeds are woven off of the ends to create a diamond shape. 

It is hollow and you can run an eye pin right through the center to string them.

I've just listed it in my shop so you can pick up the instructions yourself!

The listing is here if you'd like to see more!

Enjoy the last bit of your weekend!



Some Good News and Bad News

First, the good news...

I'm gonna be in a book!

(Well, not me really, the beads)

Three of my pieces were chosen for the Lark series Showcase 500 Beaded Jewelry. 

This was a photo only submission and I'm so excited to be a part!

I remember back in April of last year when I submitted, it was not the easiest submission process. They didn't accept online submissions which have become so easy to do, so I had to actually take the photos, save them on CD, fill out a form for each photo and the whole time I'm working on this I'm thinking...wow, this is a long shot.

Well, it was worth it! I'm so excited and can't wait till the book comes out in August.

My three pieces are The Queen's Crown Bracelet which is

made with lots of faceted czech glass and bugle beads.

Tumbling Tiles which has really been a pretty popular bangle and a good way to get your feet wet if you've never worked with Tila beads.

Also, La Catedral which has been extremely popular and also happens to be my favorite design of all my bracelet designs. 

I hope you'll keep an eye out for the book come August, it promises to be a great collection of some of the world's best beadweavers!

Okay, for the bad news...

I'm sure you've already guessed but I've decided not to try to continue with the fashion blog hop this year. Getting sick really sucked the energy out of me and I realized that I don't want to take on any kind of deadlines whether I set them for myself or not.

I'm trying to limit my limits on my creative time (did that make sense?).

Thanks to everyone who expressed interest and who knows, maybe, maybe down the road we might do a special something.

So, enjoy your weekend, I hope it's relaxing and creative and also fun!

-Marcie