Watermelon Plaid

Here is another new piece. This one is a new pattern as well and I really love the way it turned out. Apparently someone else did too, because it's in a treasury entitled "Buffy, Mitsy and Muffy"! The entire treasury is pink and green! It will be up until Wednesday 8/29 4:20pm if you want to look at the whole grouping...it's adorable! http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=7393

Here's a New One

Here's a new one with more to follow in the next couple of days. I have to recharge the camera batteries and get more pics taken, but I have two more items to post. This one I've called "Rolling Waves" because the tube-like beaded-beads roll. The bracelet has a nice weight and feel to it, too. I really like the look of it.

Harder Than I Thought

Yup, we moved daughter #1 into her dorm this week and attended orientation with her on Wednesday. I was fine. It was hot and miserable weather, but otherwise I was OK with it all. It hit me yesterday that she doesn't live at home anymore and I am terribly sad about that! So, I'm adjusting to having one child at home, though she has made herself scarce the last couple of days because she and her friends (all cheerleaders) are preparing for their first games tonight and tomorrow. We will be attending the first football game tonight and it will be both a new experience in having a cheerleader performing and also bittersweet in not having a child in the band. Life changes and moves on and it is harder than I thought...

I'm Still Here!

Just wanted to let anyone who stops by know that I am still here. I have been working on two new projects, working in the "real world" and trying to get my oldest ready to leave for college next week! Needless to say, it's been crazy! So, once I get the camera back, I will have several new pieces to photograph. I'm really happy with all the new pieces and find it very difficult not to start yet another because so many new ideas keep popping into my head!

OROC Fundraiser Bracelets

Well, I finally came up with a design for the OROC (OutRun Ovarian Cancer) bracelets that I will sell at my daughter's cheer competition in January. I tried several different patterns and styles, but my daughter felt they were too fussy or too dressy for the girls who will be competing. So these are what I came up with and not only does my daughter like the simplicity and daintiness, but the coaches do as well and they are all three wearing them now. (Kind of a "pre-advertisement" for the competition.) They have 15 "blue zircon" Swarovski crystals in 4mm, 5mm and 6mm, silver (metal finish) Delica beads, a sterling silver "awareness" ribbon charm and sterling silver findings. $5 from each bracelet sale will go to OROC.

A Scattering of Stars

Here's the finished second embellished bracelet. My oldest daughter said it reminded her of the ceiling at Hogwart's! I thought that about described it, too.

A Mermaid's Tale

Here's the finished cuff bracelet. I had a lot of input from my daughters on this one. They are helping me to break away from the safer, simply patterned designs.

Embellishments

Well, I still don't have the camera, but I did find shell beads to add to the "Mermaid's Tale" bracelet and it's looking really nice. Both my girls like it! The "Scattering of Stars" has gotten embellished, too, with Czech pressed glass stars with an Aurora Borealis finish. I think I'm liking this embellishing of the flat peyote cuff bracelets. It's making them more my own. I'm looking forward to getting the camera back so I can take some pictures of them!

More New Pieces

No pictures yet, but I've completed another cuff-style bracelet and working on the next one. The first one is in shades of teal, aqua and turquoise. My youngest daughter liked the three shades together. At first I finished it off with a metal button, but then changed it to a shell button as she thought it looked like a mermaid. So, the name is "A Mermaid's Tale". I'd like to find a few small shell beads to give it more of that seashore feeling.

The second one, which I'm just working on now, is very simple. Two shades of very deep blue. One is called purplish-blue and the other is bright blue-violet and has the aurora borealis wash on it. I'm only using a few of the bright blue-violet ones and scattering them throughout the darker blue. This one is going to be called "A Scattering of Stars" because it looks like a starry night sky. I love the purplish blue because when you hold it up to the light, it's a deep glowing cobalt blue. It's the same color that I used for the night sky in my "Blue Moon" tealight candle holder. I love it, it's probably one of my favorite colors!

I'll get pictures up as soon as I can get the camera back again. Husband needed it for work and since it is his camera... :)

New Cuff Bracelets

I really, really like these new bracelets I made.

The first one I call "When the Deep Purple Falls" because as I was working on it, the burgundy and purple iris on the black made me think of the song from the Big Band era and how when night begins to fall and the evening comes in, the shadows seem deep and purple and mysterious.

"When the deep purple falls over sleepy garden walls
And the stars begin to twinkle in the sky—
In the mist of a memory you wander back to me
Breathing my name with a sigh... "

This other one I call "Diamonds in the Sky". Fairly straightforward since the background is the color of the summer sky and then decorated with the diamond pattern. I love the cleaness of this one.