Sea Glass

I have a always loved looking for sea glass. I love the colors and the feel of it. I love walking the beach and searching for these colorful pieces of glass.

About a year ago, my friend Heather and I were talking and we realized, we both collect beach glass. Having it, looking at it, hunting for it. So this past weekend we decided to take the short trip north to Lake Erie to find some treasure.

We started out early with a stop at Dunkin Donuts for an ice tea. Need to stay hydrated. The weather man said it was a fifty percent chance of rain but what does he know! They are never right anyway, right?

We drove the 45 minutes to the Rocky River area of Lake Erie and it was grey but so far the weather was holding. And when you are looking for sea glass it is easier to see it when the sun is not shining. We stopped at a couple different spots and found some nice pieces. By the forth stop or beach, it was just starting to rain. We got out of the car and walked down the steps to the beach and....they had cleaned the beach!!! Plowed it, leveled it, whatever they call it, it was awful!!! Well to us sea glass searchers. But we did find some really good spots that they couldn't clean up. And by the time we left, which was at least an hour later,  we were soaked...we looked like drowned rats! But we had so much fun. Here is most of the glass I found. So many pretty colors. Even a piece of red, which is a weird piece because it is clear on one side and red on the other.

Oh and while we were out we stopped at a garage sale. Look at the really neat shelf I picked up.  Only $5. I love the lines or shape of it. I don't think I have seen one like this before. I have been looking  at Pinterest and all the painted furniture. I think I am going to paint this(although the wood is really nice and may end up just staining it). I will post a picture of it after I decide.

Today is the BSBH Reveal!!

So today is the day! Well it is the first reveal day. This hop has gotten so big (399 participants!) that Lori Anderson of Pretty Little things, the organizer and fearless leader of this whole thing had to separate it into three different reveal dates!! So today we get to hop around to about 130 different blogs and see what everyone has created.

Here is a picture of the soup that my partner Linda Landig sent me. Lots of pretty stuff! And look at the colors, don't they look great together. I just love the dragonfly pendant, which is by Shaterra Clay Studio.

And this is what I did with all of that. I added some of my own lampwork beads and just a couple enamel beads and a few other little things and came up with three different pieces.

The first is a bracelet. I made the square lampwork beads first, I just couldn't find the right color yellowy orange that is in the pendant, so I was trying some the different yellowy oranges in my glass stash. So I had them all together in a pile on my bead table and I really liked how they all together.

 

I used the clasp that Linda sent in this piece and some of the small purple glass beads. Added in the lampwork, some enamel beads, some brass chain and spacers and there you have it. I really love how this came out! It will be a great fall bracelet.

I knew in my next piece I would need to use the dragonfly pendant. Linda also sent some yellow leopard skin jasper beads. I wasn't sure if they would look good with the lampwork beads I made, but when I put them together I liked how it looked. I stayed with the brass for the metal. This necklace is simple, but I like how it turned out.

And just for good measure....I wanted to use these really cute purple beads that I got from Linda. I had the little metal bead caps and thought they would look so cute dangling below.

Make sure you check out all the other blogs this week and come on back for the other reveal days August 11 and August 25. But for now you can check out all of these. Thanks for looking!!

 Hostess, Lori Anderson, PrettyThingsBlog.com

Alice Craddick,  Alice's Beads and Baubles

Alicia Marinache,  All The Pretty Things

Amanda Tibbetts,  Amanda Made

Amber Dawn Goldish, Inventive Soul

Annita Wilson,  AW Jewelry

Beti Horvath, Stringing Fool

Birgitta Lejonklou,  Create With Spirit   

Candida Castleberry,    Spinning Spun Sugar

Carolyn Lawson, Carolyn's Creations

Cassie Donlen, Glass Beadle

Cheri Reed,  Creative Designs by Cheri

Cheryl McCloud,  One Thing Leads to Another

Cheryl Roe, BeadRoe

Christina Hickman, Vintage Treasures Jewelry

Christine Hendrickson,  Clamworks

Cilla Watkins, Tell Your Girlfriends

Cindy Wilson, Mommy's Dream

Cindy Wimmer, Sweet Bead Studio

Cory Celaya, Art With Moxie

Cory Tompkins, Tealwater Designs

Cris Peacock, Cris' Page

Cynthia Deis, Shiny Little Things

Cynthia Machata, Antiquity Travelers

Cynthia Wainscott, Exotic Peru

Dana Hickey, Magpie Approved

Dana James, Dana's Jewelry Designs

Dana Lang, Tumblestone Handmakery

Debbie Price, Green Shoot Jewellery Designs

Denielle Hagerman, Some Beads and Other Things

Diane Valasek, Dragonfly Close

Doris Stumpf, Glaszwerg

Dyanne Everett-Cantrell, Dee-Liteful Jewelry Creations

Elaine Robitaille, Too Aquarius

Eleanor Burian-Mohr, The Charmed Life

Enikö Fabian, Perl-eni

Erin Prais-Hintz, Treasures Found

Heather Davis, Blissful Garden Beads

Heidi Post, Ex Post Facto Jewelry

Hilary Frye, FryeStyle

Ilenia Ruzza, Ilenia's Unique Beaded and Painted Jewelry

Inge von Roos, Inge's Blog

Jami Shipp, Celebrating Life

Jayne Capps, Mama's Got to Doodle

Jean A. Well, Jean A. Wells Handcrafted Artisan Jewelry

Jean Yates, Snap Out of It Jean! There's Beading to Do!

Jennifer Cameron, Glass Addictions

Jennifer Pottner, Rock Candy Beads

Jennifer VanBenschoten,  Jewelry, Art and Life

Jenny Davies-Reazor, Jenny Davies-Reazor

Jenny Vidberg, Shyme Design

Jessica Dickens, My Jewelry, My Life, Me

Jessica Klaaren, Beadful-Things by Jessica

JJ Jacobs, Coming Abstractions

Joan Williams, Lilruby Jewelry

Judith Johnston, Judith Johnston

Judy Riggs, Rigglettes

Judy Turner, Silver Rains

Julie Anne Leggett, The Peaceful Bead

K Hutchinson, Jumbled Hutch

Karen Meador, Dreamcatcher Ranch

Karyn Bonfiglio, Plus Size Bangles

Katherine Gale, Terra Beadworks
Kathleen Lange Klik, Modern Nature Studio

Katja Benevol Gabrijelcic, Slovonske Technobe

Kelli Jacobson, Creative Moon

Kelly Ramstack, Adventures with Kelly

Keri Lee Sereika, Pink Lemonade

Kim Ballor, Vitamin C... A Daily Dose of Creativity

Kim Bender-Hora, KimmyKat

Kirsi Luostarinen, Kirsi Luo Korut

Kitty Bozzini, Kitty Lampwork

Laura Demoya, The Bead Therapist

Laurie Hanna, Laurie's Jewelbox

Leah Curtis, Beady Eyed Bunny

Lesley Watt, The Gossiping Goddess

Linda Inhelder, Must-Haves Jewelry

Linda Landig, Linda's Bead Blog & Meanderings

Lisa Liddy, Metal Me This

Lori Dorrington, Lori's Adventures in Etsy Land

Lori Poppe, Adventures in Creativity with Lorillijean

Mallory Hoffman, For the Love of Beads

Marge Beebe, Rock Creek Creations

Marianna Boylan, Pretty Shiny Things

Marion Simmons, Shade Tree Studio

Marla Gibson, Spice Box Design

Marta Weaver, Marta Weaver Jewelry

Marti Conrad, Marti C's Clay Blog

Maryse Fritzsch-Thillens, GlassBeadArt, Lampwork Beads

Melanie Brooks, Earthenwood Studio

Michelle Hardy, Firefly Visions

Mikala Coates, Maybe Just Perhaps

Mowse Doyle, HoCArt

Nan Emmett, Spirit Rattles - Spirited Earth

Nancy Boylan, Snazzy Doodle Designs

Nancy Peterson, Beading From the Heart

Nicole Rennell, Nicole Rennell Designs

Niki Meiners, 365 Days of Craft

Niky Sayers, Silver Nik Nats

Norma Turvey, Moonlit Fantaseas
Paige Maxim, Paige Maxim Designs
Pamela Gangler, She Always Loved Pink

Patricia Johnson, Patricia L. Johnson Glass Art

Patti Vanderbloemen, My Addictions ... Handcrafted Jewelry by Patti

Perri Jackson, Shaktipaj Designs

Raida Disbrow, Havana Beads

Renetha Stanziano, Lamplight Crafts

Shannon Hicks, Falling Into the Sky

Shannon LeVart, Miss Fickle Media

Sharon Driscoll, Right Turn Art Werks

Shelby Foxwell, Sundown Bead Designs Rhetoric

Shelley Graham Turner, Fabric of My Life

Sherri Stokey, Knot Just Macrame

Shirley Moore, Beads and Bread

Skylar Bre'z, Brising Beads

Stacie Florer, Soul to Substance

Stacie Stamper, Park Avenue

Stacy Alderson, Iridal's Attic

Stephanie Haussler, Pixybug Designs

Stephanie Stamper, Rainy Day Designs

Sue Hamel, The Bottle Cork and Crystal

Suzette Bentley, Ellie's Bijoux

Szarka, Magpie Gemstones

Tammy Jones, Jewelry Making Daily

Tania Tebbit, Glass, Craft, & Artful Goodness

Tanty Sri Hartanti, TJewellicious by Tanti

Terry Matuszyk, Pink Chapeau

Tina Bosh, Every Good and Perfect Gift

Tracy Bell, Copper, Glass and Recycled Trash

Vonna Maslanka, Just Vonna

Stacked Bracelets

A while back I ran across the blog of Tracy Statler Make Bracelets. She was hosting the blog challenge Wrapped, Stacked and Layered. Although I didn't participate in this challenge, it really got me thinking that I wanted to do this! I loved the idea of all the different bracelets all layered together.

So this is what I have come up with so far. All in copper. I hammered out the copper bangles first and connected them with a brass rivet. I had gone to a local shop that had a class on making the bangle with the coiled rose. The bracelet with the cream beads uses waxed linen and copper chain that I attached a bunch of cream flower beads to. The light turquoise wrap bracelet is made of larger seed beads and copper split rings. I found a tutorial to make this bracelet on The Gossiping Goddess blog. This bracelet is so easy and really has a nice feel to it. The last bracelet is the bracelet I made last month that has some of my lampwork beads and the names of my husband and both of my kids on it. I love how they all jangle on my wrist. I think I will keep making bracelets to add to this stack, maybe I can make it go up to my elbow!! The next stack I am going to make is going to be in black and silver....I can't wait to get started!

What I Sent in My Bead Soup

Just wanted to post a quick picture of  the soup I sent to my Bead Soup partner Linda.

I sent her just a mix of different things. Of course it is in blues and greens...cause these are the colors I love.(Next time I should do reds or oranges, something just totally out of my comfort zone!)A strand of my lampwork beads. And I also made a flat tab shaped focal, which I have never done before. I sent two different handmade clasps both in copper. I also made some glass head pins, which I have just been playing around with. There are a few enamel beads that could be used as a focal. There are some smaller beads of glass, bone and kiwi jasper. Oh, and I also threw in some suede lacing.

Can't wait to see what she comes up with. The reveal is this Saturday July 28th. That's only a few days away!!!!....I have to get back to work on my Soup!!

Bead Soup Has Arrived!!

My partner Linda Landig sent me a great soup! Linda lives in Olympia, WA. And sells her colorful pieces on Etsy and Artfire.  I have no idea how she knew I liked dragonflies! I actually have a wall in my hallway full of different dragonfly art. Anyway she sent a great soup!

 Lots of really nice beads. The dragonfly pendant is made by Shaterra Clay Studio. And I just love it. The clap is made up of two brass leaves, it is really cute. A lot of different glass beads in purple and different shades of yellow or amber. And some yellow leopard skin jasper beads. Oh and a cute little button!


 This is not a great picture(couldn't get the right angle) but just wanted to give you an idea what that wall looked like. These are things I have either made in a past life or found in my travels.

Our Visit to Costa Rica!

We had such a great time in Costa Rica!

Here we are after just getting off the plane and getting thru customs.  This is my kids and I, my brother and his family and my parents(well except my Mom she was taking the picture). Don't we look like the typical tourists?  It was very warm! So we had already been traveling for about nine hours and still had another hour and a half van ride. But it was totally worth it!

We stayed in the area of Tamarindo. And we saw so many incredible sights! From the greens of the meadows and jungles to the blues and turquoises of the ocean. In the water were large formations of black rock. We believe it was lava that was cooled by the ocean a long time ago.  We went to one beach that just went forever! The tide was out and there were so many different things to look at. We all love to look for different shells and sea glass. So, we spent quite a bit of time looking around. Lots of white shells, not so much glass. But as we were looking we started to find living sand dollars! And when we looked closer there were hundreds of them! Just under the surface of the sand. It was really and awesome sight! Here is one that is just starting to hide under the sand.

 
And when they get completely under the sand it looks like this. And when you looked back at the beach you could see all these little groupings of holes. They were all sand dollars! It was really crazy!

 
 
 We stayed at a wonderful house and the owner, Tatiana was just great she put up with a lot from our crew. But her house is really nice with a beautiful pool and a view of the golf course that the cows roam around all day and night.

There were so many interesting things to do in Costa Rica, it was really hard for us to narrow it down to what we ALL wanted to do.  In the end we did the mud baths, hot springs, zip lining(which was really so much fun!!), horseback riding, a sunset cruise and hanging out at the beach and pool.

 
 This was at the hot springs and the water was so hot! I wasn't sure were actually going to make it all the way in. But we all did and it was nice once you were in. Well for a minute or two.
 
We went on a sunset cruise and got to do some snorkeling and saw a very pretty sunset.

 
One of the things we were all looking forward to was seeing the monkeys, they were supposed to everywhere!  Well it took us a couple days, but we finally found them! And they were so loud! Hanging in the trees with their legs just hanging down from the branches. They were very funny.

 
So all in all we really had a great trip, a wonderful adventure that I know we will all remember for the rest of our lives. It really is nice to be able to go on these trips with your family and just enjoy having everyone together.

 
Oh and the necklaces I made for all the girls.....they loved them!!

Costa Rica

My family is planning a really big trip! And we are all so excited. My daughter Kate and I decided it would be fun if we made necklaces...or at least pendants for each of the girls. And even though we have never been there, we picked out colors that we felt were Costa Rican colors...is there such a thing?!

Well, this is what we came up with. Lots of flowers and leaves in coral, turquoise, blues, yellow and green.  I even made a little copper and sterling flower..well, just because I thought it would be fun!

So what do you think?

Mother's Day...sort of

Wow! I can't believe I haven't posted in two months! Time flies...I guess.

So I have had an idea for a bracelet for my Mom for awhile. She has grandchildren that range in ages from 23 to 8!! When each of the grandchildren were born, my Dad would get my Mom a charm with each kids name on it and she wears these on a necklace. I wanted to do kind of the same thing on a bracelet. I also wanted to incorporate my lampwork beads, because she loves them! (Although not as much as her grandchildren...lol)

I thought I would make it in sterling but got a little nervous that I might ruin a lot of silver when stamping the names, because I haven't stamped with letters that much. I thought I would practice on the copper first. Eight grand children names are a lot to fit on one bracelet, but it is nice that it is an even number. So it works  really well as two of the chains. I added the string of seed beads with some copper spacers. I actually really love how the copper turned out!

 I loved it so much I decided to make one for all the Moms in my family! (These projects always grew bigger and bigger!) This one is for my sister Sue.

This is for my sister-in-law Dana

And this one is mine

I am so happy with all of them! And since it is a few weeks after Mother's Day, I think they will all be surprised!!

You Gotta Love Frit

 So, Kate and I decided to play with making some frit again(this stuff is addicting). I was running low on two of the combinations I had originally made, so I had to replenish. And then we came up with four more! These are only for me to use, but for some reason we think we need to name them.

This is By the Beach.....because we love the beach of course!

 We are calling this one Costa Rica because my family is planning a trip there later this year and even though we have never been, these are the colors we think of.

 This one is Lily Pond...lots of blue and green and purple.

And I just love this one! But we haven't come up with a name yet. Turquoise, bright green and grey...Kate says I should name it My Closet, since these are the colors I always wear. Funny girl.

Spring

My daffodils  and trees are blooming!

Spring Break 2012

 This past week was spring break for my daughter, so we decided to take a road trip and visit my parents. They live just a short PATH ride from NYC, so we always try to make a trip into the city. This time we wanted to see the 911 Memorial. It was both sad and wonderful. It is a very moving tribute. The whole design is amazing with all of the names inscribed into the bronze, the waterfalls, and just the size of it. There is even a tree that they have nursed back from the day of the attacks.

 Here we are standing in front of the Survivor Tree. It was such a warm day for March!

 Of course we had to make a few stops at some bead stores. (My son hates this part.) These are some of the czech glass beads we saw at one of the stores. We also spent sometime at Metalliferous. They have moved in the past year, up a floor and the space is even smaller!! But they do fit a lot of cool stuff into that tiny store!

I just loved all the colors on this building!

March Snow

 It has been a very mild winter for Ohio, but this is what it looks like outside today. We got maybe three inches of snow overnight. It's really not that much, but it is March and I am ready for the warm weather! All the birds are out there singing like crazy! Probably saying what is all this? But, like I said this is Ohio, and the weather changes quite a bit from day to day. THEY say it is supposed to be 56 degrees on Wednesday, so Spring is coming!

Bead Soup Reveal

 

My partner, is Suzette Bentley and these are the beads she sent me. Don't they all look so pretty together? Lots of blues and browns. The clasp is brass and is two circles that link together. It is very cool! The focal is really organic looking and it is from Humblebeads.

 

In this necklace I used the brown and blue beads she sent me.  I then added a couple of my lampwork beads that I had in the blue that matched the clay focal perfectly!  I used all different kinds of brass chain, even one I made myself!  This is the first time I've ever made a chain from scratch.  Some of the brass is darkened and some of it is not.  I think it gives the necklace some nice highlights. This necklace used both the clasp and the focal Suzette sent me.

 

 Suzette also sent me some small round pink beads and I knew I wanted to use them in something.

 

I couldn't really figure out how to use them in my main piece.  So, I made a quick wrap bracelet in pinks and greys.  I added in some rose quartz, grey Swarovski crystals, opalite rondelles, and one of my lampwork beads for the closure.  I can't wait to see what Suzette and everyone else has created with their bead soup!

Etched Necklaces

I finally got a couple necklaces done using some of my etched pieces. For the first one, I had these really fun coffee bean beads and was never sure what to do with them. So I etched this little cup onto a piece of copper and then stamped the word java above it, added a couple bean beads...and tah-daaa!  A necklace! This necklace is so simple, but it really looks nice on. Would be perfect for a coffee addict.

In this next one, I wanted to use some of my lampwork beads. I originally made these beads in a few colors. I really like how they look all together. There are stripes and dots, some are encased, some are not, and some dots are raised and the others are melted in. Anyway, I thought the green ones would look great with the etched owl square and some copper. These are both going up on Etsy very soon.

Barbara Lewis-Painting with Fire eCourse

I really like using enamel beads in some of my jewelry. I have learned how to do this in the last year or so from Barbara Lewis. She is very generous with her knowledge either through her website or The painting with fire ning site. Barbara is (in my opinion)the Queen of torch fire enameling. She wrote a wonderful book called Torch Fired Enamel Jewelry. This book contains many wonderful projects. It also gives you all the basic tools to learn the techniques of this really fun process.  But now you can learn directly from her, without even leaving your home. She has just announced that she is offering an E-course so that you can learn right along with her. If you are interested in taking this course just click here.