More Right Angle Weave

I think all of the RAW I have worked on has been squares made up of multiple beads per side, like 2 or 3 per side so 8 or 12 per circle (or square...whatever).  This morning I woke up at 2:00 and started looking for something to do.  I decided to do a RAW bracelet that uses just 4 beads per square, and man was it ever easy compared to learning with 8 or 12!  Plus it was just one row.  So easy.  I looked through my stash and found some 8mm dark blue cat's eyes, and some 4mm (I think) in two different shades of blue.  I didn't know if I would have enough of either one, so I decided to alternate them.  Then I looked for just the right beads to make the embellishment around it.  I dug up some 11/0 cobalt blue Toho's.  I just looooove these colors!!!!!

I finished it pretty quickly and I wish I had more of the right sized beads in other colors to make more and some more clasps to finish them off.  I really like how this one looks.  I found a video on how to make it here, and I just added embellishment to both sides.  I like the spiral going down both sides.  You can't tell from the pics, but it looks neat.  I guess you can say that embellishing both sides is a waste since one side will be against the wrist, but that's ok.  I like it.

Here are some pics of what I made.  Aren't the colors so pretty!?

And on non-beading things, I'm really proud of my daughter, Sara.  She certainly has a greener thumb than I do!  She is growing tomato plants.  They sprouted and we just transplanted them to bigger pots the other day.  Every morning she gets up to go check on them and to give them some water.  She also said no one is allowed to go out and say anything mean to them...we all have to be nice to her plants.  I thought that was kind of cute.  Like any of us would go insult her plants to begin with, but it's funny how she figures they have feelings too and won't grow as good if they're not happy.  Here are some pics of her little children, as I call them.

Hope everyone is having a happy week.

Practicing RAW

I know you're never going to believe this...I started something else instead of doing my current project!  lol  Or maybe you would believe it.  But I did a whole inch last night on it!  Boy, is it tedious.  I got bored quickly and so diverted my attention elsewhere.  I did try to stay with the project by beading a pendant to go with it.  Didn't work out too well.  Ripped it apart.

Here's what I did instead...little RAW bracelets I found in Bead & Button by Abby Cobb.  It's just an easy and quick bracelet, and so I made two! :)  I am definitely getting better at RAW and it's not quite as scary as it once was.  Don't get me wrong...it's still scary.  I'm going to stick with simple RAW for now.  I'll work my way up eventually.  Here are pics of my two bracelets.  I did one last night and one today.

It's kind of a raspberry pink base with metallic rosey/coppery something or others on the top.  I did the same bracelet but on the 2nd one I used cobalt blue (one of my very favoritest colors of all) and silver.  I did the embellishment a tad different on the 2nd one.  In the first one the little stacks on top are all one color.  In the 2nd one, I made the center of the stack blue so to me they look like little silver flowers on top.

There you have it...that's what's been keeping me busy.  We are having a very uneventful Father's Day.  My hubby is being very bah-humbug about the whole thing and says it's "just another day".  grump butt.  Hope you all are having a great weekend.

Weekend of Grab Bag Blog Stuff

Happy weekend everyone!  It's been a very busy weekend for me.  Our house is VERY noisy!  ick.  But it's all been for a very good cause.  Tomorrow is my son Matthew's 11th birthday!  He had a couple of his buddies from school spend the night, and he's had a great little party.  He doesn't like cake, so he requested pie.  He wanted dutch apple and cherry, but his friends like pumpkin.  Over $20 for those dang pies!!!  Would have been so much cheaper to get a Betty Crocker cake mix, but these are the things we do for our babies, right?  Of course he got the 2 new video games he wanted for his X Box, and they are playing those right now...right next to me.  ugh.  I'm sooooo happy he's having a good time, but I have to admit that I'm watching the clock waiting for the party to be over.  Happy Birthday Precious!!!!!!!  (lol.  I'm not supposed to call him that in public, but you all can keep a secret, right?  :)

Next up.  O M G ! ! !  You all need to head on over to Happy Mango Beads and see the absolutely incredible giveaway they are having!!!!  I'm only telling you this out of courtesy because those beads are MINE!!!  lol.  Actually...they are giving away FOUR sets of this bead package, so I'll share with you.

Finally, I made a few things the past few days that I thought I'd show you.  Remember the forest green RAW bracelet I made about a week ago?  Well, I made one just like it in a royal purple that I think is really pretty.  Here's a pic.

I was going to make a ring with one of these really cool 9mm gaspeite beads I got, but the dang wire wouldn't fit through the hole!  Let down.  I wondered what I would do with those beads, and then I remembered these really pretty antique copper celtic heart beads I had leftover from a previous project.  I thought they would go really well together, so I made a pair of earrings with them.

Ok, kids!  That's all I got for today.  I'll see what I can come up with next and post again soon.

I had a productive bead week!

Hi, everyone!  Hope you had a nice weekend.  I know I sure did.  I was busy busy busy with beady things, which makes me a happy lil girl.  I've got two things to show you today, and I love them both.  My March BJP project is 2nd, so stay tuned for that, k? 

The first one is, well, definitely green. lol  I like green, but this is really green.  I still think it's pretty though.  I think the bracelet turned out awesome, and I can't wait to do it in other colors.  Next up will be a deep luscious purple with gold bracelet and I'd like to do a necklace/choker to match.  I DID IT!!!  I finally got up the nerve to try RAW.  I had a few false starts, but I think I managed pretty well in the end.  I see people do RAW jewelry that is really embellished and fancied up and I just love them.  Hopefully one day I can do that, too.  For today it's just a simple embellishment.

Like I said, I can't wait to try this one in other colors.  I really love how it turned out.

Next up is my March BJP Project.  I have actually been working on this for about 2 months.  For the month of March I decided to learn the Cellini Spiral.  I chose the blues because that color really represents me.  When I first started I didn't buy anything special.  I dove into my stash and chose beads that have spoken to me in the past, and I decided to put a bunch of them together.  It's a "Lisa Whirlpool".  hahaha  Over the past two months of working on and then staring at my 7" of labor intensive Cellini Spiral, I had different things cross  my mind on how I was going to finish it.  First I was going to do the whole necklace in the spiral, but then I thought that would be overkill.  Then I thought about using a cab from my very good friend Beth over at Bellesanbeaus as a focal for the center.  I had intended to do that all the way up until this evening as a matter of fact.  I even did a trade with her to get the cab for it. 

When I realized that an entire Cellini necklace would be too much, I looked high and low for just the right beads to finish it off with.  Sure, crystals would be pretty and Swarovski pearls would have been divine.  You know what though?  I'm really happy with the mixture of Druks I got to mimic the colors in the spiral in different sizes to represent the ups and downs of it.  I guess that's really the way things are going right now...up and down...but in the end those ebbs and flows really make up a beautiful life.  So it made me stop and reflect on mine.  Working with beads is such wonderful therapy for me!!!

I decided, too, that if I put the spiral right in front it wouldn't be as interesting as if it were a little off kilter. After all, I am a little off kilter. :) And I thought that the clasp is far too beautiful to hide in the back of someone's neck.  Don't you think?  So I put it all a little skewed to the side, and it was then when I saw it that I knew it was done.  This necklace was complete and needed nothing else to speak its statement.  Here is my work for the Bead Journal Project for March:

As you can see, I also made a little bracelet using the Druks in the same pattern as the necklace.  I'm thrilled with the work I did for this month, and I can't wait to start on next month.  Don't know what I will do yet, but the idea will come.  Probably at 3:00 a.m. and wake me out of a dead sleep. lol

I will be posting both of these in one or the other of my shops in the next day or so.  Indigo's Beads on Etsy and Shophandmade.

Oh my gosh!!!  I almost forgot!!!!  I made a sale through my Shop Handmade store over the weekend!!!  How awesome is that???  I don't know if she wants me to publish her name or not, so I will just say a great big "Thank you!"  because she knows who she is.

Here's the pic of the one I sold:

I hope you love it when it comes in the mail!

And, I've still got that fantabulous cab coming from Beth, so watch for it to make its appearance soon!