Bead Journal Project - January 2011

I'm only one day late in finishing my very first Bead Journal Project!  Yay!  I thought I was being so smart to limit my size to 3x3".  Believe me, that is huge when it comes to doing bead embroidery.  Next year, I will think even smaller! 

I am hoping to put all of my monthly projects together into an art picture, so I am leaving the edges unfinished until I know how I'm going to put them all together.  I will be using one of my own dichroic glass cabochons for each month of the year. This cab has always reminded me of a winter blizzard, so I thought it was appropriate for January. You can see just a bit of the trees, buildings and ground through the swirling snow.

This was very difficult to photograph, so it looks a bit blue in this picture.  All of the beads (except for the green ones) are crystal, silver or white and many have an AB finish.

I'm very happy with my first Bead Journal Project and excited that I finished my January project before leaving for the Tucson bead shows tomorrow. 

Bead Mavens Ice Queen Challenge

The Bead Mavens recently held an Ice Queen Challenge and the winners have been announced.  You can view all three winners on the Bead Mavens website and also on their blog. 

I was one of the donors to the prize pool and so I got to "meet" the 2nd place winner, Cindy Holsclaw of Bead Origami.. Cindy gave me permission to display her beautiful winning necklace.  The necklace contains 17 individual Pagoda Beaded Charms in a beautiful Icycle blue color.

You can read more about the necklace on Cindy's blog.  She also has her own website and Etsy shop where she sells her beadwork as well as tutorials - one of which is for the pagoda bead used in this necklace.

My donation was a gift certificate for something in my Etsy shop.  Cindy chose one of my dichroic glass cabochons which I called "Symphony."

It's a bold piece and I'm really looking forward to seeing how Cindy might use it.  Congratulations to all the winners of the Bead Maven's Ice Queen Challenge.  Every entry was outstanding.

And the Winner is...

In honor of reaching 200 sales in my Etsy shop, 43 people commented on my blog and/or let me know that they tried but couldn't due to technical difficulties.  All 43 names went into the hat and my husband pulled out the name "Cali."  Cali won one of my Walk on the Wild Side dichroic glass cabochons I called Midnight Mystery. 

Congrats, Cali!  I left a comment on your facebook page!

Thanks to everyone who commented (or tried) and to all those who have been such an encouragement to me over the past year!

Can You Guess What These Are? Plus A Little Giveaway

Here are three pictures of items I just received in the mail.  Let's see how good you are at guessing what they are.   Whoever attempts to guess what all three items are and what purpose they are for (even if they are wrong) will have their name put into a hat for a drawing to win a dichroic glass cabochon of their choice from my Etsy shop.

Just post your answers here on my blog and be sure to let me know how to contact you.  The guessing will end Monday, May 17, at midnight.  The winner of the drawing plus the correct answers will be announced on Tuesday, May 18.

 

I haven't decided yet what I'm going to make with these interesting pieces, but I have a pretty good idea.  You'll have to check back to see what develops and find out the answers.  Good Luck!

My First Cab Used in Silver Working

A proud moment here! One of the cabs I sent to a friend in Germany was given to her friend, Elvira, who is learning silverworking. She created this beauty!



You can visit Elvira's blog called Maybe-Beads and if you read German, you can read more about it there. She calls it Abyss. I love it!

It brings me such joy when other artists use one of my dichroic glass cabochons to bring more beauty into the world!

Thank you, Elvira!

A Beautiful Work of Beadweaving

Recently Lorraine Hickman of Trinity Designer Jewellery on Etsy purchased some of my dichroic glass cabochons. This one is the first one she used in a beautiful necklace she calls "High Tide."

She used my "Ocean Depths" dichroic glass cabochon to create her beautiful entry into the Etsy Beadweavers Jan/Feb Challenge with an "Ocean" theme.

Here is her beautiful High Tide necklace which is available for purchase in her Etsy shop.


If you are interested in my dichroic glass cabochons, you can find them in my BeadsForever shop on Etsy.