An Idea That Turned out So Lovely

I know that some of y'all have seen these... well, because I've been wearing them. LOL But, I thought I'd share this jewelry set with anyone else who wanted to see.

Originally this idea came from a bracelet I saw in a magazine. And the earrings and necklace just evolved from there. I wore this set for Thanksgiving and at our Ward RS dinner a couple weeks ago.

The full set.

The necklace

Some of the detail of the copper wire detail

The bracelet, which came first, the rest of the set followed.

And the earrings. I wound the wire with round-nose pliers and chain-nose pliers, so each set is unique.

The materials are glass crystal pearls, Swarovski Crystal bicones and copper. I'm thinking that I'm going to try at least one set in white pearls and sterling silver to see what they look like. I think if it turns out as pretty as these then it would be a great set to have in stock for brides. What do you think?

My Niece's Bracelet

If you hadn't guessed by now, I LOVE doing this. I love playing with beads and baubles and figuring out how to make it work for other people.

Not so long ago, I corralled my fifteen year old niece (fourteen at the time) into playing "Hand Model for a Day" for me. Some of my bracelets that you see in my slideshow were in fact modeled by my niece. With each one she commented on how gorgeous she thought they were. Well, her birthday was coming up and I thought it would be the perfect gift for my helper. It took me a few months to get it done, as life has a history of interrupting when it's not a paying job. But she's a sweetie and was very understanding that I was behind on her birthday present. Below is the finished product.



She is a vibrant, outdoorsy girl who LOVES vibrant colors and I felt that these just epitomized her. Blues and Greens with silver findings. A perfect balance for a beautiful vibrant girl.

An Idea and a Tribute...

Some of you following are family so you know of the loss we all endured a week and a half ago. For those of you who have no idea, we lost an amazing friend and family member to a drunk driver who lost control. Jer was running in a relay race and (from our understanding) was killed instantly. It struck quite a blow to all of us, the most of which were his wife and children.

We've all been struggling a bit trying to understand, even through our faith, why he was taken Home so soon. While it's not our place to know, we go day to day and continue the best way we know how. Matt and I have been trying to figure out a way to contribute, what little we can, to Jeremy's widow Mindy (who is my hubby's cousin) and her children now that they have lost a husband and father. Here's what I came up with:

I'll be starting a new line in my Etsy shop that will be strictly for Red Ribbon jewelry, cell phone charms, book thongs and various other things I can think of. The Red Ribbon is used by MADD as their awareness ribbon, and I'm using it to simply draw awareness to Drunk Driving and the effects it has on others. All proceeds will be donated to Min and her family. It may not be much, but every little bit helps. Here are a few of my completed projects. They just need a more professional photo shoot and they'll be up for sale in my shop.

This is one of the bracelets I put together... not the greatest of pictures right now. Like I said, needs a photo shoot. (If you click on the pictures you can get a closer look at the details.)





This is a cell phone charm I've put together, simple.




So, if you'd like to contribute by purchasing a bracelet, or bookmark, etc. Then please let me know if there is a design you'd like that you don't see. You know I love to do custom orders.

Current Project

What am I doing right now? Well, actually I'm recovering from oral surgery, lol. But, I have all sorts of ideas going on in my head. I currently have two bracelets that are "special order" ones in the works. Really they're gifts and I'm behind in getting them made and sent off. Both birthdays have come and gone, one bracelet is for my niece and one is for Bri (my sister and partner in Pixie's Pretties).

Here's what Bri's looked like as of today:




And here's how a chain maille bracelet starts:




The other project is my nieces' bracelet and that one STARTED out pretty much looking like my grape juic dangle one, but I didn't like that for her. So I took it apart from:




But, now I'm taking it apart to look ... different. LOL I'll keep you updated as to how that one turns out. :-D

Wendi's Bracelet

Nope, not for sale, but thought I would share with y'all the bracelet that I made for my dear friend Wendi.



It has the general look of my Orange Honey bracelet, but it's more delicate as the glass orange cat's eye beads I used for her bracelet are a bit smaller than the resin ones I used in the original piece that caught her eye. Also, Wendi's bracelet is made with Sterling Silver components.

Testing... Testing....

This is the place where I will be showing what I'm working on. What my shop is up to, how certain things sell and what works for me.

I love to play around with my beads and jewelry, and it makes me happy to see what I can make that just might be that one thing someone is looking for. It's something that lets me be creative when I can no longer write the words that drive me crazy. Too much writing and then I need another creative outlet.

My latest discovery is that I figured out how to do chain mailled jewelry. It's made entirely out of links and I really like how delicate it can look. Tell me what you think so far.





So this is what I"m playing with mostly. I really like the way I can use different sized links and change the way the same design can look different. Yanno?