a fun class yesterday

I took a basic beading class yesterday and though I have been making jewelry for several years, I've never taken a basics class. It was great and I learned how to do a few things a bit better than I have been doing them, and I learned how to do a knotted strand of beads, which is something I've been wanting to do for awhile now. I made a necklace after I got home from class using my new skills and it came out really nicely. Since it was too dark to take a photo last night and tonight, I'll have to wait on the photo till later in the week. In the meantime, here's new bracelet that I just put up in my etsy shop...enjoy!

Nesting

I don't know about you, but fall brings out the nesting instincts in me. Maybe it's similar to the squirrel storing acorns for winter, but I am overcome with an urge to organize and prettify my space.

Also, I wanted to show you my little space on my blog, and when I started looking around I thought, "Oh, I need a bit of a revamp before I can show my place!"

So I've decided to show you pieces of my apartment as I get them started and done.

In that vein, I'm focusing on my large kitchen wall. I've been wanting to do something with it for quite awhile now, and I'm feeling ready to tackle it. Here's what it looks like now:

Before, I had this painting hanging next to the two you see in the first photo. Yesterday I moved her to the dining room and I like her much better in her new spot.

I would like to put up some shelving and maybe a rack for hanging coffee cups. The kitchen is very small, so some extra storage space will be great. A trip to IKEA will be in order, and then a plea to my dear friend here who has a drill and a knack for decorating. I'll keep you posted.

In the meantime, I will post some more jewelry and other crafty projects I've completed...stay tuned!

A little flea-ing

Today I took some time to visit a wonderful antiques mall here in Portland that I read about in one of the home decorating magazines and came home with a couple of treasures. I'll give you a peak today, then a little more tomorrow...

bead soup party!

Today's the day! It's time for show and tell with the beads I received from the lovely Joyce Becker. She was such a generous swapper that I was able to use her beads almost exclusively in the two pieces I made. First I'll talk about the bracelet.Here's an overview of the whole piece. The beads she gave me have a very earthy feel which I love, so I wanted to highlight their earthiness.

 Here's a closeup of the clasp. Joyce made the clasp and distressed it. She also patinaed the leaf. Aren't they beautiful?

She included this elegantly marbled blue and amber glass bead, and handstamped the word "create" on the round brass charm.

The only things I included from my stash are the brass bead caps and the gold divider beads. I LOVE my new bracelet!!

The second thing I made was a necklace. I made the pendant first using Joyce's beads (the blue oblong one and the round blue marbled one). I added a hammered silver circle, gold divider beads and brass bead caps.

For the rest of the necklace I used the dark amber beads sent by Joyce, a couple of dichroitic beads in amber tones, two more marbled beads (all sent by Joyce). 

I added brass chain to add a little interest, a lobster clasp, charm on the extender made with Joyce's beads and voila, an earthy, totally cool necklace!

Here's a link to Joyce's blog. I can't wait to see what she made with the beads I gave her!

silver and flowers

My oh my, has it been a week since I posted last? Where does the time go? I've been busy finishing up my bead soup party projects and am looking forward to posting them this weekend and seeing what other folks have been up to. Am very much looking forward to what my swap buddy has come up with!

Above are a couple of photos of a necklace that I made for myself. I love it and have been wearing it quite a bit. I used a couple of components from the Industrial Chic line from Michael's and silver beads strung into a chain. It's simple but effective I think.

I also finished another bag over the weekend, so I'll get some pics and post that soon.

my finally finished bag

I started this bag about 4 months ago and FINALLY finished it! You know how that goes; start a new project, all fired up raring to go. You get started, then some things don't go quite the way you planned, you're unsure of how to take the next step. Then another really cool project comes to mind, and the other project disappears into the UFO pile. Where it languishes.

I don't know what inspired me to pick it up again, but I did. And somehow the things I was unsure of fell into place and I love the result. I used mostly vintage fabrics and buttons, some new pompom trim, and new fabric for the lining.


Now I want to start something in fall colors; oh dear...