Pounds of Beads, Custom made items, and Giveaway winner!

My first hobby as a young gal was collecting Hard Rock Cafe t-shirts. I think I figured it was a good way to have a similar souvenir from every city that was worth having a HRC and even practical in a sense (who doesn't love t-shirts?). My collection, at current, is at about 50, though I can't remember the last time I wore one. Some times I don't recognize myself... now instead of looking up local HRC's in a hotel phone book, I instead am Google mapping local bead stores on my Blackberry! That's right -- I have officially sunk to the level where I now put the main attractions of a big city on the back burner and replace it with first finding local bead shops! This past week I visited Baltimore and Chicago to see family, friends, and, well, Bead stores! I hit up only one in Baltimore, but 5 in Chicago, and will be Yelping about it soon. But in the meantime, here are some of my fabulous finds (totaling to about 10 lbs if you include the glass and the fork/spoon set!). Needless to say, I am going to have some fun this week! I'll of course keep you posted on what I make and how certain pictures I took in BMore and Chi-town correspond to my jewelry! :) Next, I hurried home to finish two of the three items due this month. First I made Elizabeth's earrings for her Body Building show to match her bikini. I like how they turned out. She told me today that she was so inspired that she ordered, for her next show, a plain swimsuit in addition to hundreds of Swarovski crystals that she is going to glue on herself! My kind of swimsuit! Next I finished Courtney's prom ring and bracelet. I braided three strands of beads and ended the bracelet with a brushed silver clasp. The ring was a bit harder, as I have never made one before! (pardon my ugly hand modeling!) Good thing Courtney wanted chunky, cause that's what she got! I used a really thin silver wire (32 gauge) which made the process more like hand stitching than wire wrapping. Next up will be pictures of these two events - both happening this weekend :) Lastly, we have a giveaway winner! Thanks to everyone who entered and left such beautiful feedback. I took it all to heart and have saved it for a rainy day. I numbered every entry and didn't use a hat method but instead used a computerized random number generator and it came up with the number 17, which belonged to REGINA! Congrats, gal! I liked this giveaway so much that I think I am going to do another one again soon! Well, I better get back to creating new things! More to follow soon!

Tis the season!

I LOVE the month of MAY. I love it because it has always been a month of beginnings and ends -- end of spring, end of school, end of non-baseball season, etc. It may also mean the end of my sanity this month, as we have my parents coming to visit for a month in a few weeks and also a trip to Baltimore to see my brother and then Chicago to visit the husband's brother. May is also the beginning of wedding season! I LOVE WEDDINGS and especially love making jewelry for them :) I am currently working on a wedding necklace for one of my own bridesmaid's, Kelly. Though her dress is still TBA, her bridesmaids will be wearing this "cornflower blue" dress. I am thinking of making the bridesmaids some Swarovski crystal necklaces in that blue, and also add some pearls since Kelly is also using a white color in her theme. I hope to use illusion cord and beading glue to have the crystals look like they are floating on the ladies' necks. I did a similar technique for my own wedding bracelet, but didn't like how the crimp beads got in the way of the simplicity I had hoped to attain. I think I am going to start with these crystal and pearl materials and see what happens. I also plan to make Kelly a similar, yet distinct, necklace to go with her own dress. I think I might wire wrap 3 layers of pearls and crystals (maybe in the blue or another kind depending on her dress) and made a layered, yet dainty, necklace for her. Or maybe go with this sketch I drew - hand wrapping a few dozen pearls to make a 35" lanyard to have her wrap around her neck and tie softly in the front. She literally told me to go with it and do whatever I wanted, which is both liberating yet a bit nerve wracking! Thankfully Kelly is much more easy going than I am, so I have a feeling that she will like whatever I make, even if I don't like it! Meanwhile, a gal from my church is going to her senior prom and has asked me to make her a "simple yet classy and bold" bracelet and "funky chunky" ring to match her Nordstrom's dress. To be honest, I have never made a ring before. Instead of buying a ring itself, I ordered some 16 gauge wire in hopes of making my own ring and then adding some crystals on top. Courtney and I talked though what kind of materials she liked and what would go with her dress. Though details on the halter (which warrant staying away from wearing a necklace) are clear beads, Courtney wanted to accessorize with mostly blacks and reds. Together we decided on a bunch of funky and random cuts of Swarovski crystals and seed beads. I plan to make a 2-3 string bracelet, wrapping the crystals in randomly in between some black roundelle and gray/white seed beads. I will also wrap a random number of these beads around the ring and hope it comes out the way I am picturing it! (I bought all the beads from ArtBeads.com) And to add to the fun, my maid of honor is appearing in a body building show in a few weeks and asked me to make her a set of earrings to wear during the bikini portion of the competition. She is wearing this bathing suit from Victoria's Secret, which features brown shell details and a turquoise bottom (I don't know how to tactfully "zoom in" on the detail work considering its location, as just posting the image makes me feel like I support playboy or something!). She agreed to let me make her jewelry with the following supplies, mocha and copper crystals along with reconstructed turquoise beads: Apparently I love crystals as much as I love the month of May! But I think they are appropriate for these three project as they demand attention and shine in the spotlight ;) More pictures to follow, of course! What do you think? How would you approach these projects?