MissFickleMedia Mania

It's Friday and my MissFickleMedia challenge is over and here's what I've created this week using Shannon's beautiful components.

The first piece features her saffron yellow oval links.

For this pendant, I embroidered rows of seed beads around an african turquoise teardrop and then suspended her oval pendant from the base of the embroidery.

I created a complimentary chain using soldered links in an oval shape that mimics the pendant and included bright little seed beads to compliment the colors.

This piece is in the shop here.

My second piece features another of her hammered and colored pendant pieces. This one was a large chunky circle in rusty red and bright copper.

To compliment the colors of the pendant I created this little beadwoven bauble with leopardskin jasper rounds and seed beads.

The little center bauble is a 3D piece for a little extra texture. The pendant hangs from a chunky tribal chain that I assembled from soldered copper links and a handful of beaded links that I created myself.

If you'd like to see more, this one is also in the shop here.

The third piece features no beadweaving or bead embroidery (I know...strange, huh?)

I took Shannon's copper pendant and used it as a backplate for Nancy's art deco connector.

I had to drill a couple of extra holes for the clay connector, but the result has a very earthy feel to it.

And because I couldn't leave the seed beads out entirely, they've shown up in the little dangles at the bottom of the pendant and also in the chain that I created with aventurine rounds.

This piece is available here.

My last piece is very special for me. It represents a change, a shift in my work to include the things I'm learning and the new skills I'm adding to my abilities.

To compliment the large leaf that I received from Shannon, I coaxed a smaller leaf from a blank copper sheet.

With the tiniest of blades, I sawed out the little copper charm and pierced the center to create spidery veins.

It's the tiniest of charms and may seem insignificant, but every vein represents the grip of my hands on the hilt of a jeweler's saw, coaxing curves and lines from a blank canvas of copper.

I've antiqued it and polished it to hightlight the flaws and perfections.

Little beadwoven leaves serve as a backdrop, a reminder of where my work has come from and where it is going.

My first metal piece is also in the shop here.

I so enjoyed working with Shannon's pieces and I'm not done.

Tomorrow is Margie and Me and you'll see Shannon's work again.

Have a great Friday!

See ya' tomorrow!

Sunday Update

 I know I promised you an update yesterday, but I just didn't have the time, so I'm bringing it all to you today....

First up is a new bead embroidered bracelet which I created to trade with a friend of mine who does knitting. She made me the most gorgeous scarf in the brightest purple colors and this is her bracelet for all her hard work.

Okay, the next thing is technically my Margie and Me challenge piece, but I am in love with it. I just finished it yesterday, and now I want to wear it everywhere.
I've wanted to create a brooch for a while, but I like things that multi-task, so it's also a pendant.

As a pendant it hangs vertically....

but, if you remove the cord, you can pin it on vertically or....

...horizontally. I love options, and Rusty Autumn Brooch Pendant is in my shop. I really like this design, and I can see more of these coming.

I also listed some new bobby pins. These are called Aqua Blue Stars...

 and I also put my Bird's Egg Bobby Pins in the shop.

I also put Heather's Ring in the shop. I've been wearing it all week to test it for durability and just plain gorgeousness, and she's held up nicely.

 I also added one of my long-chain medallion necklace that I'm calling Golden Fall. It's just a tad smaller than...

my Mosaic Turquoise Medallion necklace which has been in the shop for a while, but I updated the length of the chain to give it a more modern feel.

Last two things...it's time to vote on the Etsy Beadweaver's challenge for the month, and if you haven't, you need to read this, it will make you smile. It made me very proud to be American.

Margie and Me - Winged Lions of the Ishtar Gate Part #2

I've had this ring in my mind for a long time. I've wanted to do this really epic ring stretching from knuckle to knuckle with some really sharp angles and arresting colors.
So this week's Margie and Me was perfect, this is the Ishtar Ring and it's epic.

The colors from the gate were perfect, and I enjoyed layering them to create the look that I wanted. The version you see here was actually my 2nd attempt, the first didn't have enough color variety, so I added some blue here and there and edited a little bit of the creamy white. I really wanted it to reflect the painting.

I've put it in my store as custom order, so it can be made to fit the buyer.

Okay, I know I promised the big reveal of my Fall Collection, but it's not done yet....it's just not ready, but I'm really not sweating it, it just means you'll have to wait a little longer. :)
In the meantime, I thought I'd give you a sneek peek, just so you know I've not been slackin'.
The first is a necklace I call Nesting Necklace. It reminds me of three little birds' nests all lined up in a row.

It's made with picasso jasper and seed beads, and has such a gorgeous drape.

The next is a bracelet made with the same little beaded components. I call it the Nesting Bracelet. It's also made with Picasso Jasper rounds and seed beads.

This time I've used copper to highlight the intense reds and bright purples in the stones with a monochromatic nest so that the stones really pop out. I'ma lovin' the picasso jasper and this design really shows off the beauty of the stone.

Okay, last but not least, is a Carnaval Pendant in some really intense fall colors. This would look gorgeous with a black V-neck sweater. Just a punch of color on your neck.

I'm gonna keep working with the bird's nests this week and see what I can come up with. Weaving them together in different shapes and at different angles.
Meanwhile I've put the Nesting Necklace and Carnaval Pendant in the shop along with the Ishtar Ring.

Thanks for your time this morning and if you played along, drop me a note and I'll update this post with your link!
Enjoy your Saturday!

UPDATE!

This week Elisabeth of Beads for Busy Gals challenged herself with Margie's color palette that I picked out! She's lucky enough to have actually spent time in the part of the world where the challenge palette came from. Check out her blog and her necklace, it's perfect for the challenge. Thanks Elisabeth!

I'll pick a new challenge palette tomorrow...ya' know, in case anybody else wants to play along....

Guessing Game and a little something new...

I haven't had much time to be creative this week, mostly because I've been busy every morning. I have, however, been cranking out Carnaval Pendants for my sisses. I've just got to get some chain to suspend them from.
I'm seeing a trend in my sales...affordable. In the past couple weeks, I've sold a ton of rings and pendants, all within the $20 - $30 range. So, I'm taking this concept and running with it. I know it's because of the economy, and I'm approaching it with a challenge to myself. Can I make something affordable yet beautiful? With beadweaving this translates into small which is even a greater challenge. I have to capture color, texture, and depth into something that's only about as big as a half dollar!

This is my newest creation, I call it El Mar which means "The Sea" in Spanish. It's a beaded bead suspended from black waxed cotton cord at choker length.

I've worn it twice already and gotten some great compliments on it. I don't normally wear chokers, but this one is great and it's so light around your neck.

Okay, finally...the guessing game! I'm having so much fun putting these together!

I realized that I totally forgot to tell you what last week's was...Rear Window! Only the best Alfred Hitchcock movie ever!

Here's this week, and if you can't get this...I mean, come on! Leave me a comment with your guess. (If you absolutely must know what it is, you can click on the picture for a link, otherwise you'll get no help from me!)

Enjoy your Wednesday!

Margie and Me - La Boca Part #2

Okay, I totally cheated this week. I really took a lot of liberty with Margie's color scheme, but the point is inspiration, right? :)
This is the result of my inspiration from La Boca. I call it Carnaval Pendant. It's a much lighter version of the green/blue/pink color scheme. The colors are brighter, as if they were holding a Carnaval celebration in La Boca. Hey, Margie said to add lemony green!

It's simple, but really makes a statement. I used turquoise rounds, czech faceted glass beads and seed beads (of course). It looks great on a simple silver chain.

I loved it enough to make a second version in purple!
Carnaval Pendant in Purple

I also made a new version of Esmeralda's Ring. I sold out of the Peacock version this week, and I won't be able to make another Peacock version unless I can find some more of the orange center beads that I need.

I've also been working on some bead embroidered pendants. I call this one Jane's Pendant.

And this one is called Sea Star.

All these have been added to my Etsy shop, and I've also taken a few things out of my shop. My style has slowly been evolving, and I hope that that's reflected in my newer pieces.

Enjoy your weekend!

Margie and Me - Lady of the Lake - Part 2

This week I decided to go with Margie's Lady of the Lake color palette. It was just this absolutely gorgeous mix of greens with a little silver thrown in. So, when I started the project I knew I wanted to incorporate this beautiful fairy charm that I had received from Green Girl Studios and I decided to use some of the millions of beaded beads that I had lying around, so here's the result: Lady of the Lake

In this shot, you can really see the gorgeous little charm. Each bead is hand beaded and strung with little hematite rounds to match the pewter charm. I also added some gemstones for a little more color. You can find Lady of the Lake in my shop, and until Monday, she's also part of my big Thank You Sale.

I've also got a couple of new things in the shop. I've listed a new Tidepool Ring that I call Red Wine. It's a very arresting combination of burgundy and maroon in different finishes and kind of heady with fruity aftertones. (okay, maybe not)

I'm also listing Phoenix Rising in my shop. It was my creation for the Bead Soup Party and I would definitely categorize it as a "statement" necklace.


Last is my Persian Rug Bracelet in this cool minty/ivory color combo. It's the second that I created for my tutorial and it's very light and airy, perfect for summer.

Don't forget! Everything in my store is currently %20 off for this weekend as a big Thank You to you guys. I've already had a couple of sales since I started the sale and I'm one away from 50, so I'm pretty sure that whoever makes the 50th sale is gonna get a little surprise!!
Enjoy your 4th of July weekend!

Margie and Me - Woven is Me

Sorry I didn't post my Margie and Me challenge yesterday, but it was Memorial Day and I didn't really do much of anything, and boy was it nice!

Alright, before I tell you what this week's challenge is, I have to show you this necklace that I finished and listed on Saturday.

I call it Vintage Shimmer. It's made of tiny little beadwoven rosettes that hang from tiny little antique brass birds, with layered chains for a little glam. It's elegant enough to wear to a wedding or IN a wedding, but would look so feminine with a frilly tank top and jeans.
Okay, anyway, the challenge for this week is #130, Woven is Me. I chose this one because it's composed of mustard yellow, olive green, coral, taupe, and just a shot of blue. The colors reflect the colors of Persian rugs created in Iran.

I was lucky enough to visit a couple shops in Abu Dhabi that carried these handwoven rugs. They really are beautiful and the colors are so rich with such intricate designs. It's amazing to think that someone can create such intricate patterns on these rugs. I wonder if they follow a pattern??

This photo better illustrates the color palette that Margie is talking about in #130.

Okay, since I didn't post the challenge until today, I'm gonna give myself until Sunday to create something. Let me know if you wanna play along!

Enjoy your TUESDAY!

Margie and Me - The Nautilus Part 2

In case you missed Monday's post, this week's inspiration was the Nautilus color palette from Margie's book. I really had a great time playing around with these colors this week. I realized that I would never have thought to put these colors together if it hadn't been for this week's challenge, but I must say, I do like the results.

I call this necklace The Nautilus (duh), and I took a little hint from the nautilus itself and stuck with the beautiful swirl. It really turned out to be quite an amazing group of colors, and the pendant looks great. I hung it from some simple gunmetal chain, I didn't want to overwhelm the pendant.

I hope you like it! If you played along this week, leave me a comment with your creation and I'll update this blog post with a link to your blog.

I also listed a Chunky Turquoise Ring in my shop. This was my entry for Bead Star in the stones category, and it didn't quite make the cut, so I'm sharing it with you! These are a lot of fun to wear and if you're a person that talks with your hands (like me) they tend to distract whoever is listening to you.
Have a great weekend!

ABS and I still hate orange...

I didn't enter the ABS Challenge last month so... come what may, I was determined to get my entry in this month, and for the first time, I made my own art bead, um, pendant. Here's the necklace. It features my pendant made with resin and then I created some wireworked flowers for the chain.

Here's an up-close of the flowers. They are a modified version of the ones that Maggie Ruggiero created for Bead Star. I used her basic idea, but had to do some modifications because the wire in front of the stones completely hid their good-lookin'ness.

Okay, now for my arch-nemesis. I got to thinkin' about the color orange, and I thought...ya' know, I really do hate it, but I'm going to do my best to find something to inspire me in this color. So, I took a camera and a la Project Runway, took pictures of everything orange in my house. Shall we begin??
First up, laundry...um...nope, not inspiring.

Books. These are the only bright orange books in my house. Funny they're in Spanish. Still not inspired. At least, not by the books, I'm sure a trip to Mexico would get the creativity flowing...any takers?

Scissors. Useful...but not inspiring.

Honey Nut Cheerios box, extremely delicious but not inspiring.

Sweet Potato Fries, even more delicious than Cheerios, but still uninspiring.

There, I rest my case, I am totally and completely uninspired by the color orange. Now, you might ask..."Marcie, why didn't you go looking for jewelry with orange?" Simple, because they don't let them look at other designer's work on Project Runway. Now, someone prove me wrong about orange......or, just tell me what color you love to hate.