Favorites For Friday

As I was watching the news yesterday and today, the local weatherman was telling us here in Las Vegas that we were going to be in the 80's but that in the North East of the US .... not so good. We don't get a lot of flowers here in the desert but at least the weather is a bit better right now. For those of you who are not getting any good weather at the moment, just think of this - April Showers bring May Flowers. Until then, here are a few lovely flower items I found over on Etsy. Hopefully if you are having some bad weather they will brighten up your day a bit.

Hand-painted shot glass - Tanya ZC

Handmade Paper Flowers - More Paper Than Shoes

Daisy Head Maisy Lampwork Ring - Auntie Di's De-Lites

Organic Hat - Heart Smiles

Parrot Tulip 8x10 Fine Art Photograph - Sharon Welton Photography

I do have to add that the one bad thing about this time of year in Las Vegas is the awful pollen and as I'm writing this post I have the door open but I'm sneezing like you would not believe! Ahhh the price you pay, I'd still rather have this weather and the sneezing.

ENJOY!

Favorites For Friday

I don't know if I have ever mentioned it before, but my favorite color is pink. Preferably hot pink. Funny thing is, when I was real young my favorite color was purple as I was a fan of Donny Osmond and if you are old enough to remember the Donny & Marie Show, his favorite color was purple. Okay so I'm talking about when I was like 6 or something like that. When I was a teenager I was a punk so it was basic black with a bit of plaid thrown in for good measure. As I got older I rediscovered pink and now I'm a bit obsessed with it. Not that I have no other colors in my wardrobe but it is mostly pink and neon green. I always have to stop myself in the bead shop when I start to reach for pink beads. Maybe I need an intervention. On that note, here are my picks from Etsy that were found using the search terms "hot pink". Man, there was a LOT too. Guess I'm not the only one.

Hot Pink Gerbera Daisy with White Crochet - Fanciful Designs

Diva Baby Tutu Dress - Diva Baby Designs

Hot Pink Chalcedony Briolette Earrings - Glitz Glitter

Large Curvy Clutch Hot Pink Buzz - Lena Lime Studio

Crochet Newsboy Hat - Natalya's Studio

Funny thing is about this last item, when I picked it and went to Natalya's shop I realized she is a Handmade In Vegas member. Might have to see if she will be at our next meeting. She had some cute crocheted moccasins in hot pink too...lol. Enjoy and have a great weekend!

Who Wants Spring??

Since it seems this winter is lasting a little longer and is a little more rough than usual for most, I thought I'd do some lovely items to cheer us all up. My search on Etsy used the word "Spring" and these are some beauties I came up with.


Summer Garden Beaded Necklace - Kim Smith
Ok so I got ahead of myself with this necklace from Kim Smith with it being a Summer necklace but it is so beautiful I couldn't resist including it.


Little Spring Tulip Cookies - Lori's Place

Rainbow Flower Headbands - And Jane

Mango Papaya 3oz Votives - Classy Chic Boutique

Raspberry Sorbet Flower with Beanie - Ooh La La Baby

Enjoy!

New Things and an Update

Yes, I'm still here, just on a SUPER sllloooooww dial-up connection. Ever noticed that not only is dial-up slow but you ALWAYS get kicked off. . . and it is usually right when you are doing something important! So, we are all moved out and in between I managed to snap a few shots of a few new things I have done lately. I have a few more pairs of these beautiful lucite flowers in other colors but this is the next pair that I made. Same as the red ones I posted previously but the ear wire I made a bit different. I really like just making these very simple since I want the flower to be the focal point. Much as I love the earrings that have a flower with beads, crystals and maybe a leaf or two, these just cry out to be on their own (IMHO).


This next piece is something I have actually been working on for a few months a little at a time. I believe the beads are Fancy Jasper but if you know they are not then please let me know. I was just going by pictures on Fire Mountain Gems site and so I could be totally off base. I did the copper wire spiral caps and then separated the beads with Byzantine chainmaille sections. Then added more Byzantine to the "back" part of the necklace. I'll have to get a shot of me modeling it so you can see how it lays. It's meant to sit at the base of the neck. The beads are actually really big, probably 10 or 12mm or for reference, the size of marbles. Chunky but not over the top.

I haven't been able to do many Entrecard drops or stop by any blogs but I noticed that there is a library that my husband passes during the day. I'm hoping to go there one day and use the wi-fi. Might actually be able to achieve a few things. I did get to the LV Gem & Mineral Society shop on Tuesday to finish up some cabochons I needed to shine up. I have some copper and brass wire and plan on wrapping them soon. Of course, I'll share photos when I'm done. Hope all is well for everyone out there in Blogland and I'll attempt to stop by soon.

A Few New (and old) Designs

Currently, I have an abundance of square copper wire that I bought to use for wire wrapping the cabochons that I had been making. The first photo is of a pair of earrings I made with a few lampworked beads I bought at a bead show in June. This wasn't the design I had envisioned for the beads but it was how they ended up. Always the way, I start off with good intentions and they never work out...lol. Though I am happy with the end result. I think those will be listed in my Etsy shop by the end of the week.


This is one of the cabochons I made and the design will include (once I'm finished) a chain linked to the two loops at the top. I've been on the hunt for some steel wool to get rid of some of my tool marks which aren't too bad considering how frustrated I was getting with this piece. The chain will be chainmaille and not ready made chain, I just haven't decided on which weave I'd like to use since I want to keep it simple since the pendant is the focal point. Plus, I have to look in my stash and see if I have enough rings to make a chain for it.


This is supposed to be the Golden Gate Bridge and since I had to hand-draw out the graph for it I think it came out pretty good. I thought I had shared this previously but when I was going through all my photos I realized I hadn't even taken one of it, it was done a few months back. This one was woven in peyote stitch using black and orange seed beads, size 11. If I had that beading software then I would insert a real photo and do one. One day I hope to do that as well as do one of the Tyne Bridge in Newcastle, England where my husband is from. That would be a cool series to do actually....beaded bracelets of bridges all around the world. Or a series of landmarks from major cities around the world.


This last bracelet was another of those projects that started out as one idea then got ripped apart and ended up as this. I seem to have quite a few of those lately. I had been wanting to play with those lucite flowers for ages and finally found some that I liked over on Etsy. The initial design was using the green seed beads (size 8) which I had bought ages ago at a bead shop here in Las Vegas which, sadly, is no longer open. It was called Lov-R-Beads and they had a fantastic assortment of seed beads. My first attempt was with a peyote weave band and then I was going to add the flowers. It did NOT work at all. So, after ripping it apart I decided on a tubular herringbone weave which wasn't as stiff as I wanted it so after putting the flowers on it still wasn't "right". Then it hit me, I had some 16 gauge craft wire which I inserted through the tube and added a few big spacers at the ends, made a few loops and added a clasp. Much better than the first attempt but still not exactly how I would have liked it. There are still a fair amount of the flowers left over and I have a few cool ideas for earrings with them so keep your eyes peeled as I'm hoping to get those done soon and get them listed somewhere.