New Cuffs

So I've been a little lazy with the blog lately. Ugh, this always happens this time of year. I'm busy with all sorts of life things, that I forget to keep everyone else up to speed. I'm sorry.

So how about a few photos of some new cuffs. I've been going through all my old patterns and I'm finding a bunch of things that I've never beaded up. So my goal for the summer is to work up as many patterns as I can and get both the cuffs and the patterns up in my etsy shop.

So the first one is a butterfly cuff.  Obviously.

I had a client a few years back that wanted a butterfly bracelet, so we worked on a few different ideas. This was one of the rejected ides, but I still really liked it. So I worked it up and now it's up in the shop.

The second one, I really like.

This simple plaid pattern was made for a client that wanted just a little bit of plaid (about an inch on each side) on the edges of a bookmark. I liked the plain so much, I extended the pattern and made it into a full cuff and put it up in the shop. And look at that great button I pulled out of my button collection, perfect match. I'm in love with this and I think I might make myself one. I also think it would look great is other colors.

So that's what I've been up to. The patterns for both of these cuffs will (okay, should) be up by next week. And I'm hoping the share the photos of my awesome bead storage system with everyone by next week. Yay!

Weekend Wrap Up

Another weekend has passed and another Monday is here.  This past weekend was nice, nothing too exciting happening here.  J and I did some shopping.  J got a new coffee maker, which made him quite a happy boy.  We went to a friends house to watch the playoff games (the game did not end very well) an then celebrated their son's 5th birthday.  It was nice.

I have been working on a new beady project.  I've been working on my first beaded tin.  It's been pretty fun.  I decided to start with a small tin and then I would work my way up to a larger one.  Hey, we got a ton of tins laying around the house after Christmas, I had to find something to do with them.

 
Here was my first attempt.  I liked the beads towards the inside, but just wasn't feeling the rest of it.  Sometimes that's how it works.  So I ripped out most of it and started over.

I'm much happier with the second attempt.  The little glass flowers add some dept and are also pretty fun. 

This is where I am right now.  I've started beading around the sides.  I'm pretty excited to get this done.  I should be able to finish this little guy up soon and then it's one to a bigger project.  I've already started thinking about what to do next. 

But before I start on another tin I should really finish up this guy.  I'm working on it, I promise.

So what did everyone else do this past weekend?  I'd love to hear about it. 

A Blog Giveaway

So I haven't done a blog giveaway in a long, long, long time.  I think it's been about a year, yup like I said, a long time.  So I think it's time for a little giveaway.  Next week will mark three years with etsy and I'd like to thank everyone that has made it a wonderful experience.  So time for the giveaway.   

So what exactly is up for grabs here?  Well let take a look, shall we.

First up is a pair of blue dangle earrings.  These are fun bright blue earrings made with tiny little silver lined beads and then accented with glass bicones.  I have a pair of gunmetal ones like this, and I get complements everywhere I go.  But these earrings are not for the weak of heart, they measure in at 3 inches in length.

I'm also going to be giving some lucky person a beaded cuff.  Yup a really cute blue butterfly cuff.  It's fun and playful with two light blue butterflies dancing around your wrist.  It measures about 2 inches wide and has an adjustable wrist size.  


So what do you have to do?  There are a few simple ways you can enter.  

First you can leave a comment on this blog post.  It can be anything; you can tell me what you would do if you won or just say hi.  Any comment will equal one entry.

You can tweet about this giveaway, don't forget to add #threefates to the tweet so I can find it.  Then come back here and let me know you tweeted the giveaway.

You could blog about this giveaway.  Just write a short blog post describing the giveaway and link back to my blog.  Then don't forget to come back here and leave a comment to let me know.

And finally you could make a post about it on Facebook.  It can be a post on your personal page or your business page, it doesn't matter.  And like before, just come back here and leave a comment letting me know you did it. 

**I've also decided to add a 5th way to enter my giveaway.  If you are not already a fan of the Three Fates Design Facebook page, become a fan and leave a comment here letting me know you did.  That will give you a 5th chance at winning one of the fantastic prizes.**

Each one of the things above will count as one entry, so you could have your name entered in the drawing up to five times. 

I'll leave this giveaway up until the end of August.  That will give everyone plenty of time to enter and it will give me plenty of time for art shows and everything else that's crazy here.

I will randomly choose two lucky winners on September 1, 2010.  So don't forget to stop back here and see if you won (please leave a way for me to contact you in one of your comments).

Comments must be in by midnight (central time) on August 31, 2010.  Sorry no choice on which item you win (one person will win the earrings and one will win the cuff).

EBW Challenge Piece

My EBW challenge piece

I know I've shown pictures of this cuff before, but I finally got it listed on etsy, one day before this month's deadline.  I didn't want to miss out on this challenge since I had missed last month's deadline (I forgot that the deadline was the 5th).

This month's challenge is Gold and Silver.  I love this idea.  Just that perfect combination of two extremely classy colors.  I also love seeing all the beadwork made with these two colors, all those little tiny silver and gold beads just shimmer in the light.  Beautiful.  I know voting is going to be difficult this month, there are already so many beautiful entries.  You can search EBWC on etsy to find all the entries and don't forget to visit the EBW blog between August 9th and 15th to vote for your favorite piece. 

Here are a couple of my favorite entries (even though it's hard to pick).

This beautiful cuff, Silver Remake Beaded Cuff,  was created by Beads and Blooms and is just to die for.  I absolutelty love the silver mesh piece in the center of the cuff.  Just beautiful. 

Then I love this necklace, The Sunshine After the Rain, from The Crimson Moon.  It's has a simple yet spectacular feel to it. 

Both pieces are just a taste of some of the beauties that you can vote for this month.  Like I said before, it's going to be a tough decision this month. 

*****

And I've already started thinking about next month's challenge; BollyWood.  I have a clay cab I made that will just work perfectly, now to decide what I'm going to do and start working on that one.  :-) 

Finished!

Here it is, my first ever beaded vessel.  It's not much, only a few inches high, but I'm pretty excited about how it looks.  I didn't follow a pattern I just picked up some beads and an idea, and went.

And though I did have a lot of fun working on this.  I'm going in a little bit of a different direction with the beaded vessel idea.  I'm currently working beading around a little bottle I have.  I'm about 5 hours into it, and only about half done, so this new project is taking a tad longer then the little vessel above did, but oh well.

******

On  a side note, J's show was great on Saturday.  It was a wonderfully fun outside show with a little humid weather, but still pretty fun.  I'm so proud of him and all the rest of the guys.  Great job guys!

And on another side note, are internet is down at home since the last big storm, so I won't be able to post as much as I would like too.  I have my phone, but it's almost impossible to upload pictures on that thing and we don't get 3G coverage at our house, so the internets are pretty slow.  Hopefully J will have everything up and running soon. 

Day Three Preview

Day Three

Well I've been working on my little beaded vessel and here is my day three preview.

It's actually starting to look like something.  It's a couple of inches tall, yes he's a little guy.

So far I have been able to make it flare out a little bit and then bring it back in.  I'm pretty proud of myself with this.  I really wasn't sure how it was going to look.

I have a little bit more to do before I can call it done.  I would like to bring it in a little bit more at the top and then flare out once more, but in a different way.  I'm not going to try to attempt to explain what's rolling around in my head right now, no one would understand my crazy rambling, so I'll wait until I try it to show you. 

The herringbone stitch is really pretty easy to work with, so I will be taking that in consideration for future vessel projects.  I think I might try peyote stitch next and then RAW.  But I guess I better finish this one before I start with my next project.

Silver and Gold Freeform Cuff - Finished

Well I was going to post new pictures of day three of my beaded vessel. I know what happened to day two, I just didn't get pictures taken.  I was excited to get more work done on it, you can't blame me.  So I packed up everything so I could go outside at lunch and snap a few pics of my progress.  But that plan came to a screeching halt when I got to work only to realize the point and shoot's battery was dead and I didn't have a charger.  Booo, but wait, I did have the computer cord, I'll just charge it through my computer.  It will take a little longer, but should work.  No, no, my computer isn't even recognizing that the camera is plugged in, so I guess a progress report is out of the question.  But I promise to get some pictures tonight before I start working on it a bit more.

Finished Free Form Cuff

But I don't want to not post any pretty pictures.

Here is the final outcome of my free form cuff.  As you may remember I wasn't sure if wanted to embelish this cuff or leave it as it was.  Now I got a lot of feed back both on the blog and on Facebook, so I decided to leave it be, sort of.

I changed out the button.  Not that I didn't like the button before, I just wanted something a little different.  I took the center part out of the button and created my own button.  I used a dark blue swarvoski bicone to hold the button in place and then created a little bead garden around it with the silver and gold seed beads and those great vintage beads.

Old Button

Here's a crappy phone picture of the old button.  It was nice, but just not what I had in mind.

I'm pretty happy with this outcome.  I like how the new button toggle really finishes the piece.  It brings everything together and it's kinda fun.

This is my entry in the August EBW challenge Silver and Gold.  I wasn't missing out on this challenge.  So I got my challenge piece done early and got the pictures done as soon as I stitched the last bead.  No more lazy me.  I'll post something as soon as I get it listed (see I still might miss the deadline) and I'll post a link when voting starts.  I know I'll be up against some stiff competition with my simple free form cuff.  But I'm happy with my entry.

*****

And just because I wouldn't be a very good GF if I didn't say anything.  J and the guys have a gig this Saturday in Madison.  They will be at Legends Sports Bar & Grill on the west side.  It's free cover and $1 beer and brats.  Check out their facebook page for more info.  If you like ska and live in Madison, you better be there.

Also they have T-shirt preorder going on right now.  If you want a shirt get me or one of them the info by Thursday. 

Beauty of the Sea

I just finished one of my favorite bracelets to date.  I started this one probably about a year ago and ran out of the silver pearls when I was almost finished.  I only needed about three to five pearls to finish :-(  And so I put it aside and forgot about it.  But I finally got around to ordering new pearls and finishing it up.  And boy am I happy I did.

I'm in love with this bracelet.  It has a base of silver lined red seed beads and then is just covered with silver and white freshwater pearls.  And it's finished with a fun little button clasp.  It's fantastic.  So decedent and regal.  I love it, have I said that before, oh well.

The pearls give it a wonderful weight, but it's not too heavy to cause problems when wearing it. It's perfect, but I may be a little bias. 
 

I really should make some more of these since a year ago I went on a pearl kick and bought hundreds of pearls.  I'm serious, I bought hundreds of them in every color you could imagine.  I like pearls, I just don't normally use them in my work.  Now I have no excuses to not use them. 

So be on the lookout for more like this one. 

Red Fire Necklace

Here is one of my newest necklaces.  It's based on an old necklace I made for myself years ago.  It's pretty much the same design (I changed a few things), but I used silver lined red for that fiery look and added sterling silver beads.   I'm loving this one.

The necklace is a small herringbone beaded rope with a collection of beaded fringe as the focal point.  Each small fringe has a tiny silver bead at the end, adding a wonderful sparkle.

I made two small silver lined beaded rings to pull the whole necklace together. 

I also used a really great sterling silver star clasp.  It adds a little bit of fun to the necklace.

The silver lined beads really add a nice sparkle and elegance to the necklace.

The original necklace I made was also in red, but I'm thinking this could look great in a variety of colors.  Oh, I bet it would look extremely elegant in black.  Now I'm off to think of new color combos to work with next time. 

A New Pattern

I listed this new pattern in my Etsy Store this morning.

This cuff was designed for my little sister for her last birthday. She is a dancer and performer, so I wanted to make her something special.

This cuff would be great for the dancer in your life.

It measures 1.80 inches by 7.03 inches (4.57 cm by 17.86 cm).

You can find it HERE in my Three Fates Design store.

I really like this cuff. I think it's so elegant but still simple. I love it in the black and white with silver accents, but I bet it would be lovely in many other color combination.

It's Tuesday!

My Eternal Daydream cuff was featured in this lovely treasury; 7 Colors of the Rainbow. Please stop by and check out all the other beautiful beadwoven items in this treasury.

My little sister turned 17 today. I don't get to see her that often, so I wanted to make her something special.

She's a dancer and a performer, taking part in musicals and plays. So I designed a simple cuff with the silhouette of a ballet dancer in the spotlight. I really love how this turned out.

She got it in the mail today and loves it. Yay!!!

Finally!!!

I have so many projects on my bead board right now, I question if I'll ever get through them. And on top of things, I've just not been supper happy with my work lately, guess it's just a winter creative slump. Spring will be here soon, right?!?

Well I have finally finished my ArtBeads project. This month's project had a valentine theme to it (go figure). I chose this great Venetian glass heart as my focal piece. This glass bead is quite the bead. It measures 35mm (0r about 1.4 inches). It's very colorful and makes a great attention getter.

I used some beautiful red and clear 6mm Swarvoski crystals to accent the heart bead. The red is Light Siam and the clear is crystal AB.

Necklace itself is a multi-strand with 6 beaded strands. The ends are finished off with beaded end caps. The center of the necklace is a short beaded tube. This is where the lovely heart bead hangs from. It's simple and pretty.

I then used a cute little sterling silver heart toggle clasp to finish this guy off. I love this clasp so much. I thought it was cute when I ordered it, but when it arrived, I was in love. It's adorable and adds such a fun accent to the necklace. I'll say it again, I'm in love with this clasp.

ArtBeads has a great selection of Valentine's day themed beads. Stop by their website today to check some of them out. Definitely check out their Valentine's Day toggle clasps, you'll love all they have to offer. Also check out their selection of Venetian glass beads. They have so many to lovely beads to choose from. And it doesn't have to be Valentine's day to create with hearts.


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

Under The Sea!

I finally have some new stuff to show off. I got the ol' camera out and forced myself to take new pictures (it's not really that bad, but I'd much rather be creating).

I made this necklace for a challenge last month, but decided I didn't like how it looked, so I never entered it.

This necklace has been one rocky road for me. I think I've taken it apart 1000 times. I've made two beaded ropes and numerous flowers.

I've added and subtracted, and just wasn't in love with it.

I finally got a flower I liked, but then thought it overpowered the whole necklace.

Ugggg, I just wasn't happy.

But I finally decided to listen to everyone around me and just keep it as is. J thinks it looks great and K (the grad student that works in the lab) says the flower reminds her of a sea anemone, so it fits perfectly.

I've worn this necklace to work and it lays really nice. So I've come around and I'm really starting to like this necklace a lot. I used some great vintage coral that a family friend sent me years ago (and I'm very happy to find something to use this beautiful coral for).

I'm particularly proud of the flower. I have never ever tried anything like this. I've always wanted to, but I've never been brave enough.

I tried a number of different stitches. I kept asking J if they looked like flower petals, and he would try his gentlest to let me know that they weren't quite flower like.

I had three different peyote stitch and 2 different brick stitch petals. They all turned out "ok". Then I gave up. I just didn't want to deal with it anymore.

But then while I was looking through a bead book that had beautiful sculptural bead work, it hit me. Try RAW. So I sketched something out and rushed home (I was at the book store killing time). And low and behold, I created a pretty decent flower petal on the first try.

Now I'll admit, it probably isn't the best flower (there are a number of unbelievably talented bead artists that can do so much better) and I'm definitely not the first person to think of using RAW for flower petals, but I'm pretty happy with it. I would like to try something else with a flower to see if I can perfect them a little bit more. Lets see what else I can put a flower on.

This isn't on etsy yet, but I'll have it up soon and I'll make sure to update this blog with the link when I do.

Black Tie

One of my New Years resolutions was to go through all those half finished projects I have laying in my bead room. I wanted to divide them into two groups; take apart and finish.

I have accomplished the first part of this resolution, I've gone through all of them and taken apart the ones I didn't like or knew I would never finish. And I've started finishing the second group of projects.

This was the first project on my list. I started this necklace a long time ago. Probably about this time last year. I wanted to make a thin beaded lariat necklace. I always love the way these look, but have never tried on. Well, then I slowly started to loose interest in this necklace and it got set aside.

But then came the new year. I want to be more on top of things this year. So I started back up on this necklace. It was going well until I noticed I was going to run out of silver lined seed beads if I tried to work the full length. I knew I would loose interest with this necklace again if I had to wait for a bead order, so I decided to change the design.

I shortened up the necklace so it's only about half as long as the original design and I added a bunch of branched fringe on the ends. I had no idea how

I was going to finish off this necklace. I tried to think of as many different ways and I came up with the beaded ring. I used this design before on my Rising Sun Necklace. I used it to add a little bit of visual interest.

In this black and silver necklace it adds a visual interest, but it also finishes up the necklace and allows the wearer to adjust the length a little.

I'm pretty happy with how this one turned out. I really like the way it looks on . It adds a touch of class to any outfit.

This necklace is in my etsy store, so for more info click HERE.

Matching Bracelet!

I have really been enjoying working with the St. Petersburg stitch. I really like the way it looks. It's very pretty.

So after working on my necklace with my ArtBeads items, I decided to make a cuff that went with my Antheia's Bounty Necklace (I finally came up with a name).

It's just a simple blue and black cuff using the St. Petersburg stitch. I think it looks really pretty.

I finished off the cuff with two metal flower beads I have been hoarding for the perfect project.

It really compliments the necklace well. It brings all the beautiful blues out in the necklace and because it's simple, it doesn't overpower the necklace.

I'm happy with this one, I can't wait to make more with this wonderful stitch.

This one is available in my etsy store, HERE.

❆❆❆❆❆❆❆❆❆❆

I've started applying for art shows for this year. I've already applied for my first one that will be held in Madison on February 13th. I'll know by next Tuesday if I was excepted or not. I have my fingers crossed because I really think this will be a good show (and it's in a bar, a fancy one, so J will be happy he can get a cold one if the show is too boring for him). So hopefully I'll have good news early next week. And then I'll keep everyone posted on other art shows.

Green Triangles

Just a quick post for me today.

I listed these great little beaded triangle earring this morning. I made them last spring and I just forgot to ever list them, I can't believe it. I love these little guys. They are so much fun. The beads are this great super bright green color. They really pop.

If you'd like to learn more click HERE to go to my etsy store.

☃☃☃☃☃☃☃☃☃☃

I hope everyone had a safe and happy new year.

We had a quiet celebration with just the two of us. We went to one of my favorite Italian restaurants for dinner (it's in an old church) and then just spent the night at home celebrating with some wine J brought back from his last trip to Canada (we forgot to get champagne). It was very nice.

Now with only a few days left of my vacation I'm trying to get everything done that I promised myself I would get done over these last two weeks. I do this every year. The only real thing we accomplished was spoiling the dog into thinking she doesn't need to be in the kennel any more. Now she just sits in there and whines, bad owners!

My New Creation!

I am pleased to introduce my newest creation. I haven't thought of a name for it yet, but I'm working on it (you know the holidays and all).

I received these lovely beads from ArtBeads.com a few weeks ago and couldn't wait to get started. I have decided that this blogger program is a fantastic way for me to push myself and try something new each time. This is the perfect opportunity for me to leave my comfort zone and explore new techniques and ideas.

I'm not a huge fan of fringe; I love the way fringe looks, but hate working it up. It's time consuming and well just seems to give me trouble every time I try. But this time I was determined to make it work; the beautiful Czech glass leaves I received were definitely inspiration. They were absolutely lovely. It was very difficult to pick just a few from ArtBeads large collection of glass beads.

I also decided to try a new bead stitch; St. Petersburg. I've always loved how it looks, but just never tried it. So I used black and blue seed beads to create a delicate beaded necklace that compliments the fringe and flower pendents. I think this stitch looks like vines growing on a stone wall. Very natural and organic. I'm really happy with how it turned out and have a few more ideas on how to use it in the future.

I am also in love with these fabulous Hill Tribe Silver Flower Pendents. I've always wanted to order some of these flower pendents, but just never have. They are absolute stunners. ArtBeads has a fantastic selection of Hill Tribe Silver Beads and Pendants. Each silver item made individually by the Karen Hill Tribe in northern Thailand. Just beautiful.

I finished this necklace off with beaded end caps and a wonderful Bali Sterling Silver "S" clasp. I am really happy with how this necklace turned out. It looks so pretty on, it's definitely on my list of favorites.


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

Christmas Gifts!

I just finished up a couple of necklaces I made for my mom and my MIL.

I really love these beaded rings. I was practicing my beading around objects, and I completely misjudged the size of the steel washer I was beading around, so I just finished them off as rings. I've always loved seeing beaded rings and other shapes, so I'm glad I've (accidentally) learned how.

I received these great bead mixes the other day and couldn't wait to get something made with them. I really think my mom and MIL will like these. They are simple yet really pretty.

I made myself one that was using a green and gold seed bead mix, I love it. (J says it looks like a wreath).
I also got new backgrounds for my pictures (new scrapbook paper). Ok, so maybe it was a gift to myself while I was out Christmas shopping. I was super excited to use it on some new pictures. I love the way the first picture looks.

My New Necklace!

So if you remember I was sent a nice collection of Swarovski crystals to work with and review. Thank you ArtBeads.

For the last week or so I've been hard at work beading around these fantastic rivoli. I chose the Crystal Vitrail Medium color and I think I might be in love. The color on these are just fantastic.

I used silver lined Czech seed beads in silver and purple for all the beading. With all the different colors in the rivoli, these seed beads work great.

I then accented each little beaded rivoli with 4mm Dark Indigo Bicones, 6mm Dark Indigo Bicones, and 6mm Indian Pink 2xAB Bicones. The dark indigo is such a wonderful dark blue color and the pink, well what can I say about the pink; it's beautiful.

So here is the completed necklace. I tried a few new things for me.

First was the rivoli, never tried beaded around those before.

Second was the necklace. I made a thin flat beaded rope and looped it around the beaded rivoli so it's double. I really like how this looks. I think it gives it added detail.

I finished it off with a beaded toggle clasp in the silver beads.

The beadwork measure about 5 inches across at the widest part of the necklace and are about 3 inches. Each rivoli measure about 1 1/2 inches.

I'm really happy with this necklace. I don't do a lot of work with Swarovski crystal, mostly just accents here and there, but I think I might do a lot more in the future. And there are so many different options for me to work with, there are beads, and rhinestones, and pendents, and other components (including crystal yarn and buttons).

So thank you ArtBeads for the opportunity to play around with these stunning beads. They even gave me a coupon for 10% off at ArtBeads. It's good for till the end of the year and doesn't require any minimum purchase. The code is SCF10P-ARTBEADS-0424.