Calla Lilies (in beads)

I just love calla lilies.  They have always been one of my favorite flowers.  I don't know why, but I just love the shape and simplicity of them.  To me they are very elegant.  Some time last year I found the prettiest frosted calla lily beads.  I'm having a hard time now remembering though if they are glass or resin.  The writing on the plastic bag rubbed off, so now I don't even remember where I bought them.  I had been looking for quite a long time to find just the right beads to go with the calla lilies.

I had in my mind what I wanted to do with them, but I needed a green bead and a yellow bead that would fit the bill.  I came across the perfect green beads at Artbeads.com...on clearance nonetheless.  Of course, not knowing exactly how many I would need I bought 2 strands of these gorgeous, sleek olivine cat's eye rectangles.  Since they were on clearance I knew if I didn't order enough, I'd never find the same ones again.  Finding yellow beads is so very difficult.  If I did find the right color, they weren't the right size or I didn't like the shape.  Then one day I wasn't even looking for them and these little yellow and white nuggets caught my eye.  Perfect color, perfect shape!  How lucky am I?

I wanted my necklace to be a little abstract, but still get the feel of the calla lilies.  I strung the beads on flexible wire, which I have never used before, and crimped the ends around the clasp.  I like the wire!  I am definitely going to use it again.  Here are pics of my simple little (20") calla lily necklace.  Each of those flower beads is 1 1/2" long and 1/2" wide...pretty substantial!  And the flowers do match up and are centered...I just had the necklace skewed on the form.  dumb me!

As always, you can click to see a larger view.

Vintage Inspired

In addition to my clay hoard I just got, I am also working on my May Bead Journal Project piece.  I've got quite a ways to go on it yet, but I've been switching gears between 3 different things so it's getting worked on a little at a time.

The third project I have been working on is a themed piece.  Artbeads.com gave the assignment, and let me tell you...it was a challenge!!!  The theme is "What's Old is New Again."  In other words, take something vintage (or vintage inspired) and recreate it into a new, modern piece.  Have you ever seen me work in vintage, steampunk or anything like that?  No.  Why?  It's not my thing and I haven't a clue how to go about it.  Now I had to do something I just wasn't comfortable with.  Talk about stretching the creative muscles!  I think I have a sprain.

Let me start by showing you the things I got.  I started with 6 different antique brass chains in 1 foot pieces.

I had the idea of taking a bunch of old chains and reconstructing them into one new piece.  I really like the look of the antique brass.  It has a very nice finish, and all the chains are a very high quality.  They will not easily break or come apart!

I got two filigree links, also in antique brass.  They are so pretty!  I also got antique brass jump rings, and I had no idea they were such a thick gauge and so strong.  I was a little panicked at first because my idea was to put crystals on the jump rings and attach them to the chains.  But these jump rings were so thick there was no way on God's green earth that those crystals would fit on that wire.  I ordered 2mm Swarovski crystals in Dark Indigo.  Holy crow are they TINY!!!  I also got 5mm bicones in Mocca and 5mm round Swarovski pearls in Night Blue.  (Soooo pretty!!!  I couldn't capture the colors very well in the photos.  Sorry.)

But none of them would fit on those jump rings!  Uh oh!  What to do now???!!!  I had to make an emergency purchase at one of my local bead stores and pick up some alternate supplies.  I took the beads with me and I had to try the wires to see what gauge would fit through the beads.  For the 2mm, I had to go with a 24 gauge...not very sturdy. :(  For the other beads I could get by with a 20 gauge, which wasn't bad.  I then invested in a set of simple jump ring makers.

What a good buy!!!  I am now a pro at making jump rings, and I will never buy another jump ring ever.  Since the jump rings I got were too big for what I had originally intended, and I didn't want to not use them I decided to make a 7th chain from them.

For the pearls I made a simple head pin by making a bend in the bottom of the wire and pinching it completely up to make a little stop.  For the bicones I made a head pin with a spiral bottom and they both just had simple loops at the top.  For the tiny crystals I just made little jumprings and put them on.

I needed to also attach the chains together and to the filigrees, but I also had a problem with the jump ring sizes on those too because the holes were pretty small.  But I did manage.  Also, my snips are not a very good quality, so they didn't make nice, smooth cuts for the jump rings.  This made the edges where they close together not very tight.  To help prevent any from coming off, a lot of the time I doubled up the jump rings.  I figure one might come loose, but maybe not both.  In the end two of the chains did not make the cut.  I used 4 chains I ordered plus the one I made with the jump rings.  This is what I came up with.  I call it...

Links In Time

You can click for a larger view

With this project I have become a master jump ring maker, and I had more than my share of opening and closing the rings!  I've also become pretty proficient at simple loops and making those little spirals.   All in all, I'm pretty happy with what I came up with considering this is not my usual style.  The necklace is 17 3/4" and drops down from the top chain to the bottom the pearl dangles about 6".

Artbeads.com rocks.  I must have said it a gazillion times.  If you haven't yet visited them, you really need to because they have the supplies to make almost anything you want.

I hope everyone is having a nice Easter weekend!

FTC disclaimer:  Artbeads.com provided me with supplies at no charge.  I am not being compensated in any way for my true and honest opinions of their products.

Girl's Day

Yesterday was a very fun day!  Except that it was extremely hot.  It's still in the 100's here in the Valley of the Sun.  Ugh!!!  I really hate hot weather.  Why do I live in Phoenix???

In the morning Sara had her first soccer game of the season.  She's a great athlete.  Sara is one of the youngest on the team and one of only two girls, but she was right in there in the thick of it, keeping pace with those older boys.  I don't know where she gets her speed and agility from!  Certainly wasn't me or her dad.  Although she didn't kick any goals herself, she was responsible for getting the ball down the field on her own a couple times in order for someone else to kick the goals.  Her team won 5-1!  G O  K N I G H T S ! ! !  Here is a pic of her before her game.

After that we came home and rested for a bit (necessity for mommy).  Sara and I have been planning a "Girl's Day" for a couple of weeks, but since I don't have any a/c in my car, I was not going to go out in the heat of the day.  So we waited until about 4:00 to continue our day.  Friday night Sara got her eyes checked.  She has been complaining about not being able to see the board at school and stuff, so it was time to take her in.  Yep.  She needs glasses.  It was a painstaking process, but she picked out a pair of frames that she liked.  So we went and picked them up the finished pair.  She was soooo excited!  The ones she picked are kind of a wine color with wider ear pieces that have swirlie-whirlies on them.  Sara says they remind her of the sun and waves.  Here she is with her new specs...

She's very happy with them.  And the whole way home she was reading all the street signs that she couldn't see before.  lol  I remember when I got glasses how exciting it was...I could actually see the leaves on the trees instead of a big green blob!  So I know where her excitement was coming from.

Then we went to the Tempe Market Place.  It's a great big outdoor mall.  We found a little place called "As You Wish" and decided that's where Sara is going to have her birthday party.  It's a place where you can buy all kinds of pottery pieces in just about any size, style, shape...animals, trinket boxes, magnets, plates, tiles, mugs...and then you sit down and paint them.  When you paint them, the paint looks very light, dull and flat.  BUT then you leave them there and they fire them.  When you go back in a few days to pick them up, they are bright and shiny and beautiful!  Doesn't that sound like a lot of fun for some 9 year old girls?  Along with her birthday party she'll get a big birthday plate that she can paint and all the girls will sign that she will be able to keep.  It is pricey, but I think it will be a lot of fun for her!

After that we went to Claire's Boutique and she was in girly heaven.  She found lots of treasures, and I had to keep reminding her of our budget.  She kept putting one thing back and picking up something else.  She finally got it all figured out, though, and it was like a mini birthday.  lol 

Then we went to Michael's.  I've been thinking that since I've been having such a hard time with my hands because of the carpal tunnel with the bead embroidery and stitching, maybe I would try something new with beading.  I've been thinking about doing work with wire.  I'm pretty clueless when it comes to that.  I did watch a few YouTube videos on some different things, and I think I can do that!  Isn't YouTube great?  Love it.  Anyways, here's what I got:

A crimper tool.  The package says that it's designed to crimp #1 and #2 crimp beads and #2 crimp tubes.  I don't know what that means. 

This set comes with:  bent nose pliers, flat nose pliers, long nose pliers, round nose pliers, side cutter, and a micrometer, whatever that is.  Oh, something about measuring beads and stones.  hmm.  I know I need the round nose pliers and the cutter, but what about everything else?  The set was on sale for like $8, so I thought it looked like a good deal.

Then I got this cute tool bag for $5.  Seemed like something I should have.  Do any of you out there do much with wire work?  What do you think about the tools I got?  Did I get what I need to get started?  Do I need something that's not here?  I think I'm going to have to find a book at the library or something, because I don't know anything about wire gauges and all that kind of thing.  Maybe I can find some info on the 'net somewhere.

After Michael's we started having a terrible dust storm and Sara was getting nervous.  She thought it best that we head home.  Ok, I said, but not before we end the trip with a chocolate shake!  mmm yum  mama loves her chocolate.  And in the car she looked up at me and said, "Mommy, this was the best day ever!"  Who could ask for more than that?