What have I been up to?

It seems I've taken a bit of a break from my blog.  I guess it's one of those things.  Life gets in the way, pictures seem like a bit of a chore instead of something fun.

It's been about a year and a year and a half since I was posting regularly.  Let's see if I can get myself back into the game, so to speak.

I've still been beading .. a bit.  I love Kate McKinnon's Contemporary Geometric Beadwork.  The techniques are amazing and the pieces I've seen are wonderful.

I started a fortune teller bangle early last year, but got only so far.

I hadn't sized the bangle properly and a bit of it split off.  I ended up taking a several rows out and also removing a bit from the inside.  I haven't gotten back to this, however, because my attention wandered to a few other projects.

You see, my wonderful husband somehow procured tickets to the San Diego Comic Convention last summer.  Of course, I needed something awesome to wear.

I finished these next two bracelets about a week before we left for San Diego.

This Harley Quinn bracelet is an example of what can happen if the wings are left unchecked.

Granted, this bracelet is not an "every day" sort of thing, but I love how it turned out.  I am somewhat proud of the snap cover I came up with.

The little warped squares have snaps on the bottom and attach to both sides of the cuff.  I love how it blends in to the rest of the cuff.

I've worn this a few times and I'm surprised at how many people don't realize it's beaded.

The next cuff I made is a rick rack bracelet and not quite as wild as the Harley cuff.  I styled it with Wonder Woman in mind

It also uses snaps for a closure.  You can see the little snaps on the left of the picture below.  The other half of the snap is on the underside of the bracelet.

I really love the techniques in Contemporary Geometric Beadwork.  I'd like to do a bit more with it, but, I seem to have trouble coming up with an idea.  My daughter suggested a Madeline Hatter cuff (Ever After High is a favorite of hers), so I may look into that.

Aside from last year's ornament swap, I'm pretty sure this is all the beading I've done.  Instead, I've been working on chain maille.  I have quite a few pictures to show you in my next post.

Handmade Ornament Swap

Wow, I can't believe it's been a year since I last posted.  I've been busy and have been making things, but I guess photos and posting really got away from me.

Hopefully, I'll get the energy over Christmas to break out the camera again and show you what I've been up to.

But that's not what this post is about.

I joined a handmade ornament swap hosted by Karen Williams and was partnered with Judy Jacobs.  After I looked at Judy's website, I was a bit intimidated, to say the least.  Look at all her gorgeous paintings.  Seriously, they are fabulous.  And she's a glass artist also?

Luckily, Judy is very sweet and insisted she would love anything beady I might send.

I ended up making two ornaments for Judy, but before I show you what I sent, I would like to show you the wonderful ornament Judy gifted to me.

How gorgeous is that?  Judy made the beads dangling and the rest, she said, is fused.

The colors are gorgeous and so bright and cheery.  Here's a close up of Judy's beads.

My daughter helped me open the package.  Before I could do or say anything, the ornament was on the tree, very high up, where all her favorite ornaments hang.

We'll keep it in the office after Christmas, so we can enjoy it all year round.

Judy also sent a mini painting of a seascape that will reside on my desk so I can watch the waves every day.  :)

Now, on to what I sent Judy.

I knew I wanted to make a beaded ornament, but couldn't decide on a design.  After a a bit of back and forth, I decided on this pattern by threadabead.  I liked the simplicity of the design and I loved that it was double sided.

The front:

and the back:

This was fun to make and I loved how it came together.

I also sent this chain maille ornament, the maillers choice for December from Blue Buddha Boutique. :

I really like the rubber rings in this.  (I liked it so much, I made a ton of ornaments and a pair of earrings that the kiddo immediately claimed as her own.)

Please check Judy's blog to see her entry.

If you want to see what the others made, check out Karen's blog.  She will have links to those participants with blogs and entries for those participants who don't have blogs.

Karen, thank you for hosting.  It's such a wonderful idea!

Judy, the ornament is beautiful!  Thank you so much!  It was so nice getting to know you!

Sunburst pendants

A few months ago, Paula from Flutterby Kisses created a chain maille pendant that mimics wirework.

After much begging (and not just from me), she created a tutorial for her Sunburst Pendant and it has gone viral.

Every day, it seems, someone posts a rendition of Paula's design.  Both Blue Buddha and C and T Designs have created kits for a smaller version of Paula's pendant.

My in-laws were kind enough to give me Blue Buddha's copper and brown sunburst kit for my birthday.  I love Blue Buddha's kits because there always seem to be extra rings.  Instead of the three pendants promised, I made five!

I played around with the pendants and liked the way they looked linked together.

I added two herringbone ropes and a necklace was born.

I wanted to use a sunburst for a clasp, but it just didn't work.  Instead, I tried a little wire wrapping.

If you want to make a sunburst of your own, you can find Paula's tutorial here.  You do need the tutorial if you buy the kits from Blue Buddha or C and T designs.

Starbust Pendant in Bead Me Magazine

Last year, Allison from Bead Me Magazine asked if I would be part of their Bead Soup feature.  I never have to be asked twice and said "yes."

I made this pendant using a bead soup from Fusion Beads that featured superduo beads, crystal bicones, pearls and seed beads.

Allison liked the pendant and asked me to write up instructions.

I am please to say that my pendant was published in issue 6 of Bead Me Magazine.

It's even inset on the cover.  :)

I was bowled over to see the page featuring my pendants.  They look so yummy!

Right now, issue 6 is free from Apples's app store.  There are several great projects in it.  Definitely check it out.

3rd Annual Challenge of Music

For my She Made/She Made entry, click here.

Miss Erin gleans inspiration from many different places: her hometown, music, hunks of rust, literature, and, of course, color.

Many times, she invites her readers to join her on an inspiration blog hop challenge. Some of my favorites creations have stemmed from Erin's challenges.

For this year's challenge of music, Erin asked us to pick a seminal year in our lives or a year that impacted our lives in some way, then pick a song from that year to inspire us.

This year marks my grandparents' 70th anniversary. They were married in February of 1944. I decided to pick a song from 1944 in honor of them.

"My Heart Tells Me," sung by Glen Gray, was top of the charts in February, 1944, but that song didn't seem to capture 70 years of marriage. I opted instead for "Swinging on a Star," sung by Bing Crosby. It was top of the charts in August and September, 1944.

I liked the playfulness of the lyrics:

Would you like to swing on a star

Carry moonbeams home in a jar

And be better off than you are

Or would you rather be a mule?

The part that really struck me was "be better off than you are." The right person makes you be better than you are. My grandparents spent a lifetime making each other -- and all of us -- better every day.

This is one of my favorite photos of my grandparents, taken by Mae-Belle Photography.

To celebrate their 70th, my mom and her brothers and sisters threw a party. I may have mentioned before, but my mom has 12 siblings. There are 32 grandchildren and over 30 great grandchildren.

Not everyone was there, but it was quite a party.

Words can't express how lucky we all are to have my grandparents still in our lives.

But, back to my song.

I wanted to capture the playfulness of the song and, at one point, wanted to bead a swing to hang from a star. Well, you can probably guess how that turned out.

After a few ... several ... too many tries to mention, I settled on this bead from Genea. I love the star on the front and the moon on the back. It was meant to be.

Speaking of Genea, she creates jewelry with a playful style. How she combines colors, textures and her beautiful beads in such a fabulous way is beyond me, but I decided to give it a shot.

I started with a celini spiral.

I added a few copper swirls and mixed some of Genea's wingdings with clay beads from Staci Louise and a glass bead from Sue Beads.

I am pretty enamored with how it came out.

If you haven't already visited these ladies' shops, please do so. You can find Genea here, Staci here and Sue here.

While I was fiddling with the necklace, looking at this focal or that bead, I also made earrings.

I paired small lengths of chain maille with these cute charms from Miss Erin herself.

Copper didn't work so well with Erin's charms, so I used a bit of patina and gilder's paste to give the rings a (hopefully) celestial look.

As a side note, I finally got the hang of the violet patina from Miss Fickle Media. The color is just swoon worthy, though too purple for my earrings. Hence the gilder's paste.

I love the movement of these earrings.

You can find more of Erin's creations here.

Erin, thank you for another wonderful challenge. I love that these challenges push me out of my comfort zone.

Please take some time to visit Erin's blog to see what songs the other participants chose what how those songs inspired them.

Or, you can click the links below.

An InLinkz Link-up

She Made/She Made - February 2014

For the past year or so, Therese Frank and Christine Altmiller have participated in a monthly She Made/She Made, using beads they exchanged when they met.  It's been fun to watch and to read about what each of them made with the same beads.

A few months ago, Therese found these awesome clay faces at the Kentuck Festival of the Arts.

They were made by Susan Clayton and are just amazing to see.

Therese bought a few extra and asked six of us to join them for this month's She Made/She Made.  I am honored to be in that group.

When I received the face, I couldn't stop looking at it.  There is so much character in that little face.

I immediately envisioned a wise woman or elder and wanted to create something that did justice to Susan's beautiful work.

It was the perfect time to try working with shibori ribbon.  I love the texture created by the folds of the ribbon.  With a bit of practice, I was able to shape the ribbon around the face.

A bit of embroidery and I was done.

Of course, after I cut the oval shape out, I noticed the face was a bit off center.  I guess she's looking at something.  :)

I wanted to keep the rest of the necklace simple, so I layered strands of chain and ribbon.

Therese and Christine, thank you so much for letting me play along with you this month.  I really enjoyed working with the face.

Please take some time to see what the other ladies did with their faces.  You won't be disappointed.

Therese Frank - our hostess

Christine Altmiller - our hostess

Bobbie

Hope
Shirley

Tanya - you are here
Cynthia
Alicia

Fun with polymer clay beads and pendants

Recently, I met my friend Sharyl, from Sharyl's Jewelry for lunch and she was kind enough to invite me to her home to see her work space.

Sharyl is a multi media artist/designer who creates gorgeous jewelry and beautiful metal components. Lately, Sharyl was bitten by the polymer clay bug and she has been creating fabulous clay components.

While I was visiting Sharyl, I picked up a few things and she gifted me a pendant.

I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it, which is unusual for me.

I made a cellini spiral and started a few lengths of chain maille and started them in an ammonia patina.

Unfortunately, the blue color from the ammonia wasn't quite what I wanted. It's gorgeous though, and I have other ideas for it.

I went back to the drawing board and dug out ribbons, chain, leather, and anything else I could find.

After several backs and forths, I settled on leather.

Sharyl does an amazing job with color on all her components and I love how the color and texture play off of each other and the leather.

You can find a similar pendant (with a Kansas wheat coloring) here. (But only if you hurry, this one is on my wish list.) :)

While I was contemplating how to finish the necklace, I started browsing though my (not so small) collection of Sharyl's components.

I found that her metal components worked well with her clay pieces and made a pair of earrings.

 

The large rings are from Miss Fickle Media and were the perfect size.

I loved how these looked and went to town!

 

 

Sharyl mentioned that the products she uses on the metal components are different than the ones she uses to color the clay. I would not have imagined that, as the colors compliment each other so well.

Right now, I've got my eye on these links and these charms. I think they would look so cute together.

When I ran out of metal links, I tried something else.

 

I love how these look like little flowers. I couldn't decide whether I should hang little drops from the bottom or not, so for now, they are plain. I might go back and add something later.

You can find Sharyl's creations in her artfire store.

Check out the polymer clay section of her store for more clay components.

You can find Sharyl's altered metal components here and her handmade metal components here.

Beaded lace and swags

For my Challenge of Color entry, click here.

I've mentioned Gwen Fisher several times before.  Gwen and Florence Turnour have created some amazing patterns for beaded beads and pendants.  Most are for sale on their website, Bead Infinitum.

Gwen also sews and crochets.  Lately, she has taken an interest in producing beadwork inspired by Irish crochet and tatting.  She embarked on a beaded lace adventure and invited her readers to do the same.

I was eager to jump on the band wagon.  I was able to combine two of Gwen's beaded swags into one necklace using two hole daggers.

I love the way it drapes.

I finished the necklace with a beaded toggle.

This is my first project using Gwen's beaded lace techniques, but it won't be my last.  I have ideas for other projects ... just wait until you see Gwen's beaded lace flowers and medallions.

If you want to make your own, Gwen now has five beaded lace patterns in her etsy shop.

The first is her Athena's Acanthus bracelet.

I haven't purchased this pattern (yet), but it is an awesome cuff and is on my list of things to do.

The second is Beaded Lace Flowers.

These babies are easy to do and bead up very quickly.  Gwen gives instructions for several different flowers.  The pattern is also very easy to alter and create even more versions.  (This is next on my list.)

The third pattern is Beaded Lace Swags.

Gwen gives instructions for nine different swags, ranging from small to large, embellished or non embellished.   These work up more quickly than you would think and produce a gorgeous result.  I combined two of these for my necklace.

The fouth pattern is Beaded Lace Medallions.

Again, I can't wait to try this one.  I see so many possibilities.  The last photo in this listing shows many of these components combined into one amazing necklace.

The fifth pattern in the series is the "Eucalyptus Leaves" bracelet.

This one is brand new and I can't wait to try it.

I highly recommend these patterns.  The middle three don't give instructions for a specific necklace or bracelet and you are free to let your imagination run wild.  All of these components work well together and have the makings for some gorgeous jewelry.

2nd Annual Challenge of Travel

The wonderful Miss Erin is at it again.  Last year's Challenge of Travel was wonderful and we were all able to visit other places from the comfort of our own computers.  (You can see my entry here.)

This year, Erin changed it up on us.  She asked us to vacation at home.  Instead of researching a new city or country, we were to find new and exciting things in our own back yards.

Now, I live in the midwest -- in Kansas.  I have yet to meet someone who likes Kansas enough to vacation there.

I do, however, live in a suburb of Kansas City, which is a much bigger and more interesting town.

Most people think of barbecue when they think of Kansas City.  It's true -- visitors have their choice of amazing barbecue here.  You can sample Gates, Arthur Bryant's, Oklahoma Joe's or Jack Stack and debate with the locals about which is better.

(For the record, my husband prefers Jack Stack while I am an Oklahoma Joe's girl.)

People don't know about the theater in Kansas City.  You can find the Lyric Opera, the Music Hall, the Unicorn Theater, the Starlight Theater, the American Heartland Theater, and the Kansas City Rep (that shows a great version of A Christmas Carol every year).

My favorite, though, is the Quality Hill Playhouse.  Quality Hill is a small theater.  The shows are musicals, generally featuring a wide variety of well known and little known music fitting a specific theme.  The host, J. Kent Barnhart is a wonderful talent in his own right and his one man biographical show is still one of the best I've seen.

Now that we have the kiddo, we have been attending the children's Coterie Theater a bit more.  :)

After the kiddo was born, we took advantage of the kid friendly sites of Kansas city.  We visited the Kansas City Zoo several times a month.

We walked around the Overland Park Arboretum and Powell Gardens.  (Most of the non-jewelry photos on this blog are taken on one of these two places.)

During the winter, we visited Science City in Union Station.

For this challenge, I tried to find a new aspect of Kansas City.

Did you know that Kansas City was the City of Fountains?  I kind of did, but had no idea the scope.  There are fountains all over the city and in many of the surrounding area.  I couldn't visit all of them, but decided to take a walking tour around the Plaza.

When I first moved here, I spent a great deal of time on the Plaza, but I never noticed the architecture or the abundance of fountains.  It was fun to spend time "getting to know" the Plaza a little better.

The first fountain you will see upon entering the Plaza is the JC Nichols Memorial fountain.

It is even more impressive at night.

Here is a close up of one of the horses and his rider.

Neptune is my favorite.

This organ grinder is not a fountain, but I still thought the statue was cute.

After my walking tour, I decided to create something inspired by fountains.

I started with this pendant from Nancy Schindler of Round Rabbit. It looked so much like the scrolling detail on a fountain that I just "had" to use it.

I wanted to create a weathered chain.  Using the Persian Variations instructions from Blue Buddha, I created two chains of a rippled half persian 4-in-1.  Then, I left the the chains in an ammonia patina for a few days.

Perfect!

(If you are interested in chain maille, Blue Buddha is a great place to start.  I loved the Persian Variations instructions and would recommend it.  You do need to know how to do the basic Persian and half Persian weaves, though, before starting these.)

I then created a peyote spiral piece to link the chins together.

I used larger jumprings to join the pieces together and decorated them with stray seed beads.

Here is the finished product.  I really like it, but after completing it, I wondered if the pendant was too much.

Here it is without the pendant.  What do you think?

While the chains were soaking in their ammonia bath, I decided to create a bracelet.  I bounced between a few patterns and then remembered this pattern by Heather Collin.

Heather's "Crossing Over" bracelet was perfect because the strands of beads were moving in and out and over and under, like water in a fountain.

To mirror the stone base of a fountain, I used tan and off white beads for the base of the bracelet.  The blue beads shoot out from the base like water moving up from the fountain.

Heather's designs are a joy to bead and always produce something beautiful.  You can find more of Heather's designs in her etsy shop.

I was really pleased with the final product -- it looks so lush and opulent.

Erin, thank you for another wonderful challenge.  It was fun and I loved trying a few new things.

Please take a few minutes (or hours) to visit Erin's blog and learn about the home towns of the other participants.  You may even get the hankerin' to visit some of them.  :)