Happy Bead Soup Folks! (and a sneaky peek!)

Yup--I'm joining in on this go-round of the Bead Soup Blog Party, and I met (virtually, at least) my partner a few days ago.

Her name is Mary Govaars, and her blog is here.  We've had a few conversations, and we seem to have a lot in common, working with a lot of the same materials.  Mary makes pretty pretty things, and I'm excited to be working with her.  She has an Etsy shop, and I'm TOTALLY coveting her Dot to Dot earrings. 

Aren't these gorgeous?  Click the pic, and it should take you to her website! :) 

I've just put the finishing touches on the bead soup I'm sending to Mary, and thought it might be fun to share a little sneak peek:

hee hee!!! :p

I'm shipping my package out to Mary today, and I can't wait for her to get it and then see what she creates!  Of course, we have the last reveal date (August 25th), so I'll have a bit of a wait.  lol! 


You can see all the participants and their blogs here.  And a big whopping THANK YOU to Lori for organizing all this for us!  

Talk to you soon!

My First Jewelry Class ~ The Aftermath... :)

So, I'm LOVING this new skill--finally figuring out how to make cuff bracelets!  And of course, that means I've been playing!

I made a pair of earrings to match the first bracelet I made:

Is pretty!!! :) 

And then I made a gorgeous bracelet with a focal bead that the awesomest Linda of Lampwork Beads by Linda sent me:

Pretty in Pink (the second...)

And (the best part) I sold this today!  I love that!  Never even had to list it! lol!

And finally, here's what's currently on my bead board:

Lampie elephant by Flamekeeper! 

More pics later!  I have a lot more designs in mind! :)

My First Jewelry Class!

Woot!  Yes, I just took my first beading class, at the awesome Sparkle Spot Bead Shop, in St. Pete, FL (Kelly's got colored Fireline, ya'll!!!!! oh yeah!!!)

Okay, so yeah, anyways, I just took my first ever jewelry class (eh, I learned a lot from YouTube videos...) since I've been trying (and mostly failing) to make nifty wired cuffs.  So, Kelly's instructor, Heidi, offered a class to make this cuff.  And since I love Sparkle Spot, and I love jewelry, and I've discovered wire is, like, THE BOMB... :) ... I figured why not?  

First, I gotta tell ya, Heidi is fabulous.  Her instructions are clear, she's attentive without hovering, and is always ready to help you out.  We weren't able to finish the project during the class (lots of wrapping, you know) but I had no doubt I'd be able to finish it on my own, and even make another (in fact, I've already bent the wire into submission for Take 2! lol!)

I had a blast in this class, met some great new people--my classmate could have been my twin!  We were so alike, it was eerie but cool!  Hi Holly! :) lol!

Here's some pics of my finished cuff:

Promises...

So, as I enjoyed my Dove Promises chocolate last night, I, of course, HAD to read the little affirmation thingie...  This particular one said "Keep the promises you make to yourself."

Of course, the English teacher in me read that TOTALLY differently than intended, but that's another post on a different blog.  lol! Okay, so promises to yourself.  Have you ever made promises to yourself?  I know I have...  But what about keeping them?  See, that's where things kinda start to break down for me...  I mean, I can keep the little ones...  I'm gonna buy that, I'm gonna see this, etc...  but the big, major scary ones? (You know, the seriously LIFE CHANGING ones?) Yeah, I have some troubles with those...

So, I think that's going to have to be my next project.  Making (and more importantly KEEPING) the promises I make myself.  

More to come on this topic!  (Maybe part of those "big changes I mentioned 2 posts ago...)

(oh, and just because, here's an awesome blog post I found using Dove Chocolate wrappers in jewelry!  I like!)

RLW

Why jewelry?

So, I signed up for the Bead Soup Blog Party this past weekend, and Lori Anderson, the awesome lady who is organizing that blog party, gave us a blog prompt a few days ago that got me thinking...

She asked us to tell the story of why we became jewelry designers and what we like best about it... So, I got to thinking about it.... A few years ago, I bought a little jewelry design kit from Michael's in anticipation of summer boredom.  See, as an adjunct, I work really REALLY hard during Fall and Spring (usually 7 classes each, which is a LOT!!), and then in Summer, I only have 3 or 4 classes.  It's a nice reprieve from the work load, but sometimes I get a little bored.  And as a long time crafter, I'm always looking for new things to do.  So, I decided to try my hand at jewelry making.  I made a few things with the beads in the kit, but, since it was just a little cheapy thing, I quickly decided I wanted better supplies.  Thus began a love affair with Swarovski and czech glass, which quickly evolved into a passionate (and occasionally expensive) interlude with seed beads, lampwork beadies (LOVE!!), wire, and all things sparkly and awesome.  I can already see, this will be a lifelong relationship. :)

So, for part 2 of the question, what I like best about it...  hmmm....  what don't I like?  lol!  I mean, seriously, I get to play with GORGEOUS beads, learn all sorts of new techniques (wire wrapping has been the latest), and make pretties!  And if I'm very, very lucky, awesome people like my pretties and give me money for them!  lol!  Okay, yes, that last bit might seem a bit crass, but hey!  Adjunct on a VERY low salary here! lol!

Check out some of the pretties I get to play with:

This is part of my pretties stash (yes, I have a stash...) Beads by Flamekeeper, LampworkBeadsbyLinda, Bastille Bleu, NLCBeads, Maybeads, and Javabead.  Swarkies from FusionBeads. :)

And here's some pretties I made! :)

Wire, stringing, beadweaving, hammering, painting... FUN! 

So there you have it!  Why I make jewelry--because I can! lol!

(oh, and photo editing courtesy Picmonkey.com. Very easy to use!)

I'm Back! :)

Okay, yes, I've been MIA for quite a while, but I was working.  Finally finished up Spring session, got Summer session going, and I've been making stuff, too! :)

Anywho, I just signed up for the Bead Soup Blog Party, and I'm really looking forward to it!  You can look forward to more blog posts soon about that.

And, you can look forward to blog posts about my new projects (I discovered wire, ya'll!!!!! lol!) and, hopefully sooner rather than later, about a few BIG changes coming my way!  :)  Keep your fingers crossed!

See you soon!

Rana