Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Cheryl of littlestonedesign has included my little Brown and Green Skirt earrings in her treasury 
Not NEARLY Neutral
Who Says Browns Have to be Boring?

These browns sure aren't!  Thanks Cheryl for including my earrings. :)  Be sure to check out her Etsy shop for some beautiful work.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Farewell to the Desert

It's true, I've moved away from the desert to a land flowing with - well, water.  This was the last piece I finished before taking off across the country.  It's appropriate, then, that is has something of a Southwestern flair in chevrons of desert colors.   
The inspiration for this piece was a carpet in a little restaurant just outside the Painted Desert/Petrified Forest Nat'l park in Arizona.  It was kind of a tacky carpet, but translated well to a bracelet. :)  Besides, I didn't copy the pattern - just used it as inspiration.  

I made my very first brick-stitched circle for the closure, which turns out to be a great focal piece of the cuff.  I'm having some issues uploading pictures, otherwise I would show you one of the bracelet closed!  In the meantime, you'll just have to check it out on Etsy. :)

Thursday, August 21, 2008

No Shades of Gray

I kept telling myself that I just wouldn't have time to submit an entry to this month's EBW Challenge, Complimentary Contradictions.  After all, I moved across the country mid-month (I miss New Mexico!), have a wedding dress that I need to finish for a week from Sunday (not to mention a bridesmaid dress that needs SERIOUS altering...), and will be starting grad school on Tuesday.  

However, this week I decided that I just needed to enter a piece!  While my original ideas had all been about fairly elaborate necklaces, I decided to go with the same themes and create a bracelet instead.

The theme was Complimentary Contradictions.  What, I thought, is more contradictory than opposites?  And what is more opposite than black and white?  For the sake of elegance, I decided to go with silver beads instead of white, but I think you can forgive that. ;)  My next thought was about the contrast in a very structured stitch vs. freeform.  I loved the way the freeform 'bubbles' looked on peyote cuffs (as in my 'sea and fire' and 'fire and sea' cuffs), so I knew how complimentary those contradictions can be!


Thus, 'No Shades of Gray' was born.  I debated for a time between my matte and glossy black beads, and finally decided to use both.  My initial plan was to do a checkerboard, but as I began the 3-drop peyote, the alternating lines just looked so sleek, that I ended up making alternating columns of matte and glossy instead of the checkerboard pattern.  On top of that, I made freeform 'bubbles' out of silvery beads, and finished off the cuff with a simple, classy sterling silver bar clasp.

You can go to the EBW blog starting September 9th to vote for your favorite entry in the September Challenge!  In the meantime, you can search for 'ebwc' on Etsy to get a sneak peak at the gorgeous entries.

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Peace

Paula of PFordCustomJewelry has included my 'Starshine' earrings in this great treasury entitled :

Peace
Let there be peace on earth.

She is donating all profits from her Peace bracelet (upper left hand corner) to Lutheran Peace Fellowship, plus offering you free shipping for that item!  10% of her profits storewide will be going to the same organization, so go check her out and be a part of bringing peace on earth! 

August Challenge Winner!

Congratulation to Julie of GemsbyJules on winning this month's Etsy Beadweaver's challenge!  This is her fabulous peyote cuff, entitled Search Light Art Deco Bracelet.  It is available for sale in her Etsy shop here.  You can visit the EBW blog for a more detailed run-down of the challenge.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Voting is open!

...and has been for a couple of days, but I've been on the road.  So go ahead over to the EBW blog and vote for your favorite by midnight EST on August 15!  Here's a sneak peak.

Monday, August 4, 2008

Moving sale!

I will be offering FREE shipping on all orders placed in my Etsy shop while I'm in the throes of moving.  See my store for more details!