Aunt Debi's Necklace and Earrings

Here is the finished necklace and earring set that I made for my Aunt Debi last week. This necklace is similar to the one that I recently made for my Grandma T. in that it is a double strand. The beads that I used for this necklace are just gorgeous. Aunt Debi picked out most of the stones earlier this summer when we went bead shopping in Tucson. I made the beaded beads to match the colors found in the different stone. I just love beaded beads!

The big round stones are rainbow amazonite. They range in colors of yellow, orange, red, purplish blue, green and an opaque white. The smaller beads in this photo are rutilated quartz and gold button freshwater pearls. I also used vemiel beads and 22 karat delica seed beads as the spacer beads. The beaded beads were made with a variety of delica seed bead, including 22 karat gold and copper.

The white beads in the center are made from moonstone.

My Aunt Debi is the Best!

This past summer when I was in Tucson, visiting family, I made a deal with my Aunt Debi that if she made me a bag I would make her some jewelry. Well, here is the super duper cool bag that she made me. I received it in the mail about a week ago and I just love it! It is my favorite color, brown, and it is just too cool. It has three pockets and I just love the fabric! Thank you, thank you, thank you Aunt Debi!

In return I had promised her a necklace and earrings set. Well, I didn't have the jewelry made when I received the bag so last week I busted my butt and got it made. So here is a little sneak peak of what it looks like. I will post more photos of it later this week after Aunt Debi gets it in the mail. It is just lovely!

Elana's Bracelet

Here is a bracelet that I just finished for a friend of mine from New Mexico who recently came up to Kansas for a visit. While she was here she picked out the beads and colors that she wanted incorporated in the bracelet and asked me to throw something together for her. So here it is.

In making this bracelet I used triangular toho beads and myuki delica seed beads. The bracelet was made using the peyote stitch throughout. I borrowed the clasp idea from a recent issue of Bead&Button in the Aug 2007 on page 75-76. It was designed by Nancy Sathre-Vogel. Of course I shortened the circumfrance of the toggle loop and made a different toggle. It turned out pretty nice though and was fun to make. I'll have to continue to play around with the whole beaded toggle clasp thing in the future.

3 Sisters Jewelry Over the Years

Over the years my sisters and I have made a lot of jewelry. While I was in Arizona this summer I took pictures of Leora's, Angie's and my beadwork that we have given as gifts to my mom and each other in the past. Granted this is not all of the jewelry that we have made, but it is a good collection of items that we have made. I will probably be adding more items later today also as I dig up other pieces and take photos. I thought that this would be a fun way to show all of our work.

Beads 4 You Spring Challenge Results

Well, the winners are in and I am sad to say that I'm not one of them. Boo hoo. Oh well it was a lot of fun and the winners did an excellent job. Maybe next time right? Anyways here is the link to all of the wonderful entries: http://www.flickr.com/photos/beads4you/sets/72157594297832014/

There were two winners, one for using only the beads provided and the other for using the beads provided and whatever else they wanted.

The Beads Only winner is Lava Jewelry and here is a link to her peice http://www.flickr.com/photos/beads4you/501409347/in/set-72157594297832014/

The Anything Goes winner is That's Headley and her is the link to her piece http://www.flickr.com/photos/beads4you/641774343/in/set-72157594297832014/

Also here were some of my favorites that I would have chosen if I had been the judge. Hee, hee. I just love this entry by Another Country. I was actually surprised to see that she didn't win http://www.flickr.com/photos/beads4you/530521824/. I really liked this entry by Broken Teepee Designs and I was again surprised to see that it didn't win http://www.flickr.com/photos/beads4you/641774393/. I really liked the wire work on this entry too by My Friends and Me http://www.flickr.com/photos/beads4you/530538994/.

I really had a good time doing this challenge and will probably do the next one too. Congratulations to everyone that entered the contest. There are definitely a lot of talented beaders out there and it was fun to be a part of it.

Crystal Earrings

Here are some earrings that I have been making the past couple of days. I finished them today and have already sold all of them. Yippeee! So I guess I had better get some more made. I will be posting them on my Etsy site in the next few days.

Green Garnet Necklace and Earring Set

Alright I can finally post the green garnet project that I had been working on all last week. I love this piece and I really enjoyed making it as it was for my Grandma T. She received it in the mail today and was just so happy. I would have posted it earlier, but I didn't want her to see it on the blog before she saw it in person. You may remember the one that I made for Grandma B in June, if you liked that one then you will love this one. I was commissioned by my folks to do both necklaces and it was just so much fun making them. I would spend my time thinking of Grandma T as I was making this and thinking how nice it was going to look on her.

First I made all of the beaded beads and then I strung them with green garnet, freshwater pearls, potato pearls, amazonite, aquamarine, and silver bali beads. I did the first strand with the beaded beads that were longer in length and the inner strand with the beaded beads that were shorter in length. I forgot to measure the length of the necklace before I shipped it off, but I think it was about 22 inches in length. I finished the project off with the same sterling silver clasp that I did my sister Leora's necklace in. I just love this clasp it is so elegant and beautiful. It just finished the piece off perfectly.