August Monthly Challenge by ABS

August Monthly Challenge by ABS

Twelve Princesses on the Way to the Dance

Kay Nieslen

Published in 1923

Watercolor and ink

At Art Bead Scene this month the above picture was given as inspiration. I fell in love with it. I know the story so this scene by Kay Nieslen was awesome!

It took a while to decide what to make as the colors weren't something I normally use. But I was looking on Etsy and found some fiber beads by Eleanore at Fiber Beads.  They were just the colors I wanted.

Again, I use these challenges to step out of the box to try something new. I wanted to do a cuff bracelet using the fiber beads. 

I got the fiber beads and other beads I had chosen to go with them sewn on the shiny black backing, but ran out of time to put the whole thing together.  

So I am posting what I do have and hope to get the rest finished soon.

The rice pearls I used are reminiscent of the "leaves" in the trees, the black material is the night sky and the the fiber beads are the colors for the dresses.

I plan to encircle the outside of the bracelet with the rice pearls and the gold seed beads.  

Thanks for looking.

Til next time

Keep on Beading

V 

Autumn Earth Challenge October 2015

Hello again. It is time for the Autumn Earth Challenge put on by Lisa Lodge of A Grateful Artist - Pine Ridge Treasures.


These are the beads that I received from Lisa. All autumn colors. Though the small dark round pearls are really a maroon color.

After separating them I had a real problem coming up with a design. It is hard to think autumn when it is in the 90's... But I found some autumny glass beads in my stash that seem to want to be used. And some green that looked good with the autumn colors.
















So after playing and looking at them for several weeks, moving them around and around, this is what I came up with. Really like how it turned out.

The glass beads on the inside loop came with the black beads that I used in the outside loop and they really seemed to work great with the brown and green crystals and white seed beads. You really can't see it in the pictures but I used bright goldy orange sequins at the ends of the glass beads. The small glass beads on the inside loop between the larger gold and black beads are a smoked glass. Almost like a sea glass. And of course I made earrings to match.

A close up of the larger gold and black glass beads

and the smaller green and brown crystals with the black beads. 

And a close up of the toggle clasp I used that came with the
beads.





All in all, I am happy with how this came out. I really like it and can't decide if I want to put it on my Etsy site or not.










Next up I made a bracelet using the square brownish beads, the rice pearls and the darker smoked crystals. I did a stitch design, not sure if it has a name. I had plan to put some green around the outside, but my daughter said it didn't need it. While looking for something else in my button stash, I found the round button with a star design and the color went really well with the bracelet, so I used it to make the closure. The other end slides over it really well and it sits really nice on my wrist. Another piece I am not sure I will post..lol.

I didn't use all the beads as I came down with a cold, thanks to my daughter who brought it home from work. I do have some other designs in mind, but when you are on cold medicine, the brain doesn't work as well! I will try and post the other later. 

 Thanks for stopping by and until next time...

Keep on Beading!

Veralynne

Beach Blog Hop 2015

Once again it is time for a challenge/blog hop put on by Lisa of The Grateful Artist. I love doing her challenges and hops as it really makes me think outside the box and try new things.

First is a picture, I actually remembered to take one...of what I was sent:

Of course they sat on my desk while I mulled over what I wanted to do staring at me everyday. I knew I wanted to try making a cuff bracelet, but just couldn't quite figure out how. So since I follow her, I went to  Sally Russick blog who had just done a cuff with a cabochon. And then I went to Cyndi Lavin site Beading Arts who I also follow and have purchased her jewelry books. The most current one, Arm Candy. After looking at both of their sites and the books, I jumped into making a cuff. I discovered, they aren't that easy, but what I learned making this one, I will carry with me when I make my next one. I had the cabochon made long before I came up with the cuff pattern. The fabric is some scraps I had on hand and the light green beads mixed in with the smaller beads are from Lisa's beads. I had wanted to use the star fish and the sand dollars, but they just wouldn't lie correctly so I used them elsewhere.

And here are the sand dollars with some of the other beads. The bubble pendant I got at Hobby Lobby. The caps on the blue beads I had on hand and really liked how they worked on them. Then the orange beads I had and just put them on jump rings and made a chain from them to hang the beach charms on. Then just hung everything from the pendant. Then I hung the pendant on a chain I already had.

The star fish I made into earrings along with some orange beads that looked kinda like coral and some aqua "caps" I got at Hobby Lobby also. (I only went into look...really) I also added the rice pearls I got in the challenge kit. They are strung on silvertone eye pins. The coral I decided to try and do a bit of wrapping around them to see how it looked. I really like how they turned out and can see them being worn on the beach!

Since I still had more beads and wanted to try some more bead weaving, I found a design on All Free Jewelry Making. The bracelet was created by BeeJang from Bead Tutorial. It is called Sky Blue Tiny Treasure Bracelet. I didn't quite have the right beads, but I think it came out nicely. Though I should have used my clear thread. It is a bit big so I will put a smaller closure on it. The dark green and orange beads I had on hand, the rest were from Lisa. 

AND because I still had some beads left, I made up 5 pairs of simple earrings. 

I hope you have enjoyed reading and looking at the pieces I made, for the list of the other designers and more eye candy hop over to Lisa's blog A Grateful Artist.

And a big thank you to my daughter Sydny who modeled the bracelets for me.

Til next time,

Keep on beading.

Veralynne