Etsy Beadweaver's Challenge for November

Head on over to the Etsy Beadweaver's blog at www.etsy-beadweavers.blogspot.com/ to check out this month's amazing entries. The theme, "Beauty of the Flower" inspired some wonderful work. Great job everyone! Be sure to vote for your favorite by Nov. 15.

Etsy Beadweaver's Challenge for October

This month's challenge was entitled "Super Power Jewelry" and once again out talented Beadweavers came through. Please visit our blog page at http://www.etsy-beadweavers.blogspot.com/ to read descriptions of each entry and to vote! Voting ends October 15th .

I've been Stalked!!

I feel so honored to be one of the featured bead artists on Violet's Blog Etsy Stalker. Find it at
http://etsystalker.com/?p=2702. This blog is amazing, lots of variety and fun to read.
The article came at a great time for me. I've been in a beading slump and seeing my work among some really talented bead artists gave me the "shot in the arm" I needed. Thank you Violet!!!

Etsy Beadweaver's Challenge

This is my entry into the Etsy Beadweaver's challenge entitled " Indian Summer Dream" Voting starts on Sept 9th. Please head over to http://www.etsy-beadweavers.blogspot.com/ on or until Sept 15th to view all the gorgeous entries and to cast your vote.

The Voting has begun

The voting has begun for August's Etsy Beadweaver's Challenge. Please go to http://ebwteam.blogspot.com/ to access descriptions of each entry and to vote. The entries are gorgeous and varied. Please take a little time and treat yourself to some beautiful eyecandy.

The August Etsy Beadweaver Challenge

The theme of this month's challenge is "First Ladies of Style". I chose Coco Chanel as the inspiration for my piece. She was an icon in the fashion industry and started from very humble beginnings. I did a little research and found out she was also a real character and was very outspoken. My kind of gal!

Having grown up in the 50's and 60's, (I know..old) I remember those fantastic little quilted handbags, the great brooches with poured glass "gems" and the metal cuff bracelets. I tried to incorporate those elements in my cuff.

My first goal was to create a quilted effect with beads. I did this by brick stitching the "gems" and them quilting them unto the backing material. I used ultraseude for the lining of the brass cuff blank and quilted it to tie in the technique used on the front.

I am pleased with the end result. The cuff has the feel of a substantial metal cuff with jewel tone "gems" and the quilting gives it great texture.


See my entry into into the Challenge along with the entries of the amazing group of Artisians from the Etsy Beadweavers Team at:

http://etsy-beadweavers.blogspot.com/

Reward yourself by looking at the beautiful work and please take a little time and vote for your favorite! Voting starts today and goes through Aug 15th.

My little beady corner of the world

I recently read a fellow beader/blogger's post about reorganizing her bead studio. It's a great blog, find it at:
http://daxdesigns. blogspot. com/
I have to confess that I love to organize. If I'm having "inspiration block", I use that as an excuse to reorganize my space. My "studio" is actually one wall of my guest room. There is a large window to the left with great southern exposure.
I use different storage containers for different things. I use multi drawer hardware organizers for my beads, cabs and findings. I love repurposing so I use a metal utensil caddy to hang my delica tubes, baskets for my tubes of size 6's and a wire decorative tree to hand hanks of charlottes. I also use fishing tackle organizers for my small findings and little shells. I like things out in the open so I can see my bead options at a glance. What fun!

Here Comes the Bride Challenge

I recently had the priviledge of joining the Etsy Beadweaver Team. They just posted their latest Challenge entries. Go to

http://www.etsy-beadweavers.blogspot.com/ to read more about the challenge. Anyone can vote. I encourage everyone to take a few minutes and look at these outstanding entries.

f

The embroidered piece that I use for my Avatar is of my little dachshund, Ginja. We enjoyed her for 15 years and I still miss her. I decided to name my business Ginja Girl Designs in her honor. The embroidered picture is done in size 15 seed beads, measures about 3" square and took me over 50 hours to complete.

"Vertigo Stitch"

I've been having fun with Scarlett Lanson's "vertigo stitch" that was featured in the June/July 2009 issue of Beadwork. It's a great stitch, a variation of herringbone stitch.
I'm spending most of my time in doors right now. Ahh, summer in Florida. The heat index has been in the low 100's for the past few days. I do manage to work in an early walk in the morning and my water areobics class has been moved up to 8:15am to beat the heat. The good news is I have all day to bead!

Great Giveaway

I love reading other beader's blogs. They are full of great ideas, inspiration and every once in a while FREE BEADS. Go to http://silverparrotdesigns.blogspot.com/ to find out the rules for this fabulous Giveaway. It's a great blog too !

I made these earrings over the weekend. I love turquoise and black together. I wove these in two drop peyote over little pieces of airline tubing. I use the tubing in my aquarium and had some left over. It really helps the earring keep its shape.

Cappi

Here is one of my two dachsies. Cappi is soon to be 14 years old. He is my constant companion, never more than a few feet away. Cappi never met a morsel of food he didn't like. :-)

My adventures in beading.

I can't believe I'm actually doing this, starting my own blog. I consider myself intelligent and mostly coherent but putting my thoughts down in written form has never come terribly easy to me. OK, now that I've admitted that..here it goes.
I began beading about 8 years ago as a new hobby to fill some time during my recent retirement. I soon became hooked because beading always offers something new, new stitches, new color combinations and new inspiration from accomplished Bead artists.