What Inspires You?

Voting for ArtBeads What Inspires You? opened at midnight last night.  This fun little competition shows what designers are inspired by and the beautiful creation that comes from that inspiration.

I entered my bead embroidered Summer Time cuff.  This was one of the most fun project I've ever worked on for ArtBeads.  And only my 3rd bead embroidered project (I think this was the one that got me hooked). 

My inspiration came from my love of summer and the beach.  I wanted to capture a wonderfully warm summer day, where the sand is hot, but the water is cool.  I wanted someone to look at this cuff and be transported back to their childhood; building sand castles on the beach and chasing the waves.   

I also looked to old vintage postcards for inspiration.  I love how they depict everyone having such a fun time at the beach.  These old postcards are bright and fun and real works of art.

My cuff was all hand embroidered using product from ArtBeads.  It was then sewn onto super soft dark brown leather and finished with snaps.

To vote for my cuff, click HERE.  To check out all the other entries (there is a necklace category and a general category) click HERE.  You can vote for your five favorite entries in each category.  Voting ends December 8, 2010, so get your vote in today.

This is not a paid post.

My Finished Fall Collar!

So I'm a little embarrassed about how long this took me to get done, but I have finally finished my ArtBeads blog partnership fall project.  I got up at about 4:00 today and couldn't get back to sleep, so I decided that I might as well take a whack at taking pictures again.  And I think I might have done okay this time.  I'm not sure If I'm going to get the desired look I'm going for, so I'm settling with acceptable.  And here we go.

Here is my finished bead embroidered collar.  It took a lot longer then I had originally anticipated, but I'm pretty happy with the results.  And keep in mind this was my very first attempt at a beaded collar, so there will be things that I change the next time I attempt one.

I used wonderful TOHO bead mixes (my favorites) for the base of the necklace; the sky and land.  I love these mixes.  The color combos are fantastic and so inspiring.

I also used TOHO seed beads for the beaded tree.  I also used the TOHO marbled seed beads for the trim, fringe, and beaded rope.

The bead embroidered part of the necklace is backed with tan leather.  It goes so well with the fall palette.    

The fringe is finshed off with a beautiful pressed glass beads.  I used a combination of dagger and leaf beads in a fall color palette.   Some of the glass leaves are also on the beaded tree.  I also used silver lined square beads and a collection of vintage beads I already had lying around.  The vintage beads really catch the light and make everything sparkle. 

The beaded rope was made using the marbled seed beads, some hex cut beads I already had, and some fun size 11/0 silver lined red triangle beads.  I threw in a few vintage beads to pull everything together.

The collar is then finished with a fantastic sterling silver clasp.  As always, I am in love with the clasp.  It's a falling leaf clasp; which I thought would go great with the whole fall theme.  It's so pretty and delicate.  I'm adding it to my list of favorite clasps.  I just think if fits the necklace so well.

So for my first try, I am pleased with my results.  Like I said earlier, I do plan on changing a few things the next time I take a stab at a bead embroidered collar.  But I assure you, that won't be until after we move and are settled in a bit.

Thanks to everyone for being patient with me and hopefully there were a few of you who are still interested in how this project turned out, even if I started it over two months ago.  Hopefully it was worth the wait. :-)     

Disclosure - I have received these products from ArtBeads free of charge to honestly review. I have not been paid for this post.               

Christmas Time!

**Ornament Sale!!!  To help reduce the amount of things I need to move, all ornaments are on sale!  They are all $5.00 off!  This is the perfect time to pick up a few for gifts and a few for yourself.  Please stop by the Christmas section in my etsy store to check out the selection.  I'll be adding more everyday.**  

Okay, so I know I promised to have finished pictures of my collar today, but last night did not go as planned.  I had a huge allergy attack and was pretty much out of commission for the whole night.  So maybe tonight I'll get some pictures, maybe not.  See today we got the official word that our loan has been approved and we will own our first home in less then one month.  So we might decide to go celebrate tonight, but if we don't, I'll make sure to get pictures.

 But on a side note, it is almost Christmas, so I've started listing my large assortment of beaded Christmas ornaments.  They are nothing super fancy, but they do look pretty nice on the tree if you ask me.  They also make great gifts.  Almost everyone in the family has at least one beaded ornament, if not more.  They like to receive them and they like to give them.   

Check out my Etsy store for the selection.  I have a whole bunch of them, so I will be adding a few everyday this week.

I'm finished (almost)

So over the weekend I finished up my first every bead embroidered collar for the ArtBeads blog partnership.  I have been working on this project since September, so I was pretty happy to finish up.

Unfortunately my photo taking skills did not seem to be up to par over the weekend.  I tried getting a decent picture of the collar, but I failed miserably.  So you'll have to just do with a few close up shots that did turn out okay, kinda the last sneak peak of this project.

Hopefully my photography skills will be a little bit more in tune tonight and my pictures won't turn out crappy.  Let's just hope.

The first picture is a close up of the bead embroidery part.  I'm really happy with how that turned out.  I wasn't sure how it would work, but I think it looks pretty good.

The second picture is a close up of the fringe that caused me oh so many problems.  I'm pretty sure I've mentioned this before, but just in case I haven't, I HATE WORKING ON FRINGE!!!!!  I just don't think I have the patience for it and it always causes me way more frustration then it's worth.  But I do have to admit, it adds a nice touch to this collar.  And I love the glass leaves and daggers at the ends.  They're pretty.

So these two little (last) sneak peaks are all I have for today.  Hopefully I'll have my whole write up on the project and great pictures for you tomorrow.  Lets just keep all of our fingers crossed that I can manage to snap a few good pics tonight.

If you would like to see my sad attempt at photography you can stop by my facebook page.  I have them posted there for now.   

Almost Done!

I finally got some time to sit down and work on my beaded collar for the ArtBeads blog partnership.  I'm so close to being done I can taste it. 

I finished up the spiral rope and got that attached (using some more of those vintage beads I had laying around) and I got a bunch of the trim done.  I wasn't sure if the trim was going to work, but I'm liking it so far.  It frames the piece nicely and gives it a wonderful finished feeling. 

So now I just need to finish up the trim and attach the great sterling silver leaf toggle clasp and I'll be done with it.  I know that's awesome.  It seems like I've been working in this piece forever.  I'm ready to be done and see the finished piece.  I'm happy with it thus far, lets just hope I'm as happy with it when I finish.

I don't think we have anything planned for this weekend, so maybe I'll have plenty of beading time.  That would be nice.  

The Global Genes Project

The other day I was contacted by a mother of a child with a rare genetic disorder.  She wanted to know if I would donate a bracelet to the Global Genes Project for their 7000 bracelets of hope.  This is a fantastic project that is helping to raise awareness for rare diseases and disorders seen in children.

Here is some more information about the project from the Global Genes Project website.  

Rare Disease affects over 250 million people worldwide, and the largest percentage are children. There are over 7,000 rare diseases that have been identified all with very unique needs, but many with little to no support. In order to really help this community they need to be viewed as one, one community of millions, impacted by disease. Rare disease is not so rare, and the community is much more likely to garner the support, attention, and resources it needs if it is viewed as one.

Our Mission and Promise

The Global Genes Project™ exists to unify, support, build awareness and raise much needed funds for those affected by rare disease. The Global Genes Project™ campaign will broadly promote the needs of the rare disease community as a whole, engaging the general public, garnering corporate support under the unifying symbol of hope ~ the blue denim ribbon.

Most of us do not know the struggles and hardships that families with children with rare diseases/disorders go through on a daily basis, but everyone can help.  My day job is working in research at the university.  We study osteosarcoma, which is an aggressive cancer found mainly in children.  Osteosarcoma is the most common bone cancer seen in children, but you don't hear about it that often because it's not the most prevalent childhood cancer.  Therefore research dollars are harder to come by.  It makes me think of the labs that are researching conditions that are even more rare and are having even more trouble finding reseach money.      

This wonderful project is trying to raise awareness and educate people by representing rare diseases as one.  I am very happy that I was contacted to help support this cause.  Now it is time for all of you to help.  They are looking for designers and crafters to help donate bracelets.  As their website says "anyone can make a bracelet."  Please stop by their website today to learn more about how you can help millions of children just by donate one simple bracelet.  I'm donating, are you?

Time to Vote!

Don't forget to vote for your favorite entry in this month's Etsy Beadweavers Challenge; Holiday Treasure.  There are 36 beautiful entries this month.  Just stop by the Etsy Beadweavers Blog today to vote.  Hurry voting ends November 15th.   

So this has been a pretty boring blog as of late.  One, maybe two, blog posts a week if I'm lucky.  What has gotten into me?  Why does it seem like I've forgotten about this blog?  The truth is, I've been busy.  Yes, just like all the rest of us life has taken over and blogging gets put on the back burner.  As you know, me and J are buying our first home.  Read more here.  It's an exciting time, but it's also an exhausting time.  And since we currently live about 45 min away from where we work and where we are buying the house, the commute really gets to us.  By the time we get done with work, do any house buying related things that need to be done, drive home, and eat dinner, I'm ready for bed.  Most nights I don't even want to get the beads out, that's how you know I'm tired.

But I did get some work done on my beaded collar this weekend.  I had to order some more beads from ArtBeads to finish, but it's coming along nicely now.  I'm hoping to have it done by this weekend.  If that's going to happen, I don't know, but that's my goal for now.

I have half of the spiral rope done and all of the fringe done (finally).  Now I just have to finish up some edging (the idea came to me yesterday while I was working on it, hopefully it works out nice) and I'll be done.

I really picked a bad time to try making my first bead embroidered collar, but the whole buying a house thing was only a thought and a dream when I started.  We really didn't think we would find a house we liked until spring since it is so late in the year and people are pulling their houses off the market already.  But we did find a house that we loved and now is a great time to buy, so we decided to go for it.  Unfortunately, my first time diving into an endeavor like this has suffered, but I won't let it deter me.  I plan on making another collar after we get settled into our new place.

I also come up with a fun project that I can't wait to work on.  But that one I'm waiting until we move to start.  I also have been considering inviting all the artist out there to join me in my next project, maybe a challenge type project because I love seeing what other people come up.  But stay tuned and let me know if any of you out there would be interested in joining me in a challenge.  It's based on one of my favorite shows, but you don't have to like the show or even know what it is to join.  I'll post some more info on it next month.  And I promise to try to post a little bit more on this blog until then.  Just to keep everyone updated. :-)