Bead & Button Plans Hatched!

So Friday I had this little hatchling of an idea that maybe I could go to Bead & Button. I searched around and found a great deal on the flight. A roommate was next on the list and my buddy Erin came to the rescue. So I'm am freakin' going to Bead & Button! I would not have guessed last week that this would be the plan, but that's life. Sometimes you just have to grab a hold of a wing and prayer and see what happens.

Bello Modo will be selling my work at booth #957 and I will be there throughout the show visiting with customers and helping in their booth. I do hope you'll stop by to say hello and see what they have. I'll be at the show Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

And what does Bello Modo have? Well I sent an order last week that was a sampling of my most popular beads. Since then I've found that Lorelei Eurto has an urchin necklace project in the new issue of BeadStyle, so I've been making tons of urchins and summery beads to add to Bello Modo's inventory.

New things that will be there: Van Gogh beads in long tubes and lentils, branch beads in new summer colors: raspberry, periwinkle, antique gold & navy. Limited edition colors of knobby urchins, urchin connectors, starfish charms and pendants. And finally just to amuse my muse I've created some eggs. Very painterly, precious eggs. We'll have to see how they go. I won't be able to photograph them until I get back.

Now I need to pack, sand beads and map out my plan of attack for shopping at the show!!!

And speaking of shopping, it's always nicer to have extra money when bead shopping is involved so I'm having a sale for my blog readers. Everything in my etsy shop, except the grab bags, are 20% off. I will send a revised invoice after your purchase. Add B & B sale to the notes when you checkout for your discount! Sale ends Monday at midnight. All orders will ship out on Tuesday before I leave.

Letting a Bead Breathe

When I saw this chain last week I immediately envisioned it paired with one my urchins for a simple, no-fuss summer design. I have to say I really like it's understated and quite nature. I hammered the links for a little more strength and the clasp is made with half-hard wire and hammered to hold it's shape.

I posted a few more urchin designs on the Art Bead Scene today. You can win a free urchin if you leave a comment over there. So head on over!

Opps, I almost forgot to mention I have a few new grab bags in my Etsy shop, they are all beach-themed with urchins, starfish and more!

Oh Nuts!

I've been sneaking in some late night jewelry making sessions over the last month. These designs were created a few weeks ago and I'm just now finding a few spare minutes to share them. Lorelei had sent me a strand of very funky nuts, I'm not sure what they are called, and challenged me to do something creative.

I started by assembling a collection of larger beads: a shell and wood bead, ceramic, turquoise-daggers-of-awesomeness, and a buttery yellow urchin I made before the Bead Cruise. I sprinkled in some copper spacers, brass chain and a fish pendant/clasp thing from Vintaj. (I get all my Vintaj from my good buddies at Bello Modo.) And I had to add in a little brown lava bead from Rings & Things. They are popping everywhere in my designs, they are just so much fun and so very versatile.

The finished piece reminds me of my recent trip to Costa Maya, a beachy tribal design. This will be in my etsy shop soon along with a whole slew of summer inspired jewelry.

A detail of the clasp
a matching bracelet

Bead Sale!

This sale is a like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get!

So my mom was talking to a friend and said friend wanted to know where she got a certain bead since she had never seen it in my shop. Ah, those were beads found on the bead table. You see, I make many beads that never see the light of day. One-of-kinds, ones that were maybe just a bit off in color or size from my regular line or an experiment. They end up in a big ceramic dish on my bead table. So I've decided to package up a few grab bags of these unique beads. They aren't seconds or flawed in any way, I'm just too lazy and too busy to take photographs of all of them. They are really beautiful collections. There is a least 5 beads in each grab bag. I have 8 of them made. (Click on the link to go to the listing.)

Earth Angel

A few weeks ago I was playing with the brown lava beads that Rings & Things sent to their blog partners. I had picked up a strand at their show a few weeks before and was happy to have more. I have a free project on the Art Bead Scene featuring lava beads, you might want to check it out.

For this design I had a two-hole focal bead with an orchid. I thought the lava would pair nicely with unexpected texture and light color palette of muscovite and pinky/peach pearls.

The wing is Zoa Art, isn't it just amazing! Okay back to my marathon beadmaking.

Color Combos

Friday on the Art Bead Scene I shared some possible wedding designs using art beads. I had a customer inquire which color urchin would go well with raspberry keishi pearls, since she had those on hand. Well, that was just too tempting. I had to pull out my stylus and sketch in a few possible choices, here are the results. Yes, color is my BFF.

If the pearls lean more towards a warm raspberry, you could pair them up with an antique gold urchin and mix them with Colorado topaz crystals. (Crystals from TheBeadBoxWebsite, pearls from Ubbbusiness.)
Borrowing a color combo from nature, you could play with complimentary colors and pair pink with a yellow green. Wouldn't vessonite briolettes add just the perfect touch with the both color and their shape. (Briolettes from aaarealgem, pearls from Ystudio.)

And finally, you could go a little bolder and mix together pink and teal for an island feel, more of a fantasy urchin and pearl necklace. Small amazonite rounds would play nicely with the color of my teal urchin. (Amazonite rounds from OllieandJo, pearls from my own collection.)

For these designs I would add in 2mm round metal spacers on both sides of the accent beads. I also would go for a random mix of the accent beads rather than a pattern.

The links go directly to the items for sale on Etsy. You can find my urchins in my Etsy shop or website.

She Sells Seashells by the Seashore

I've been working on a collection of new jewelry for my etsy shop. Beachy things are on my mind and what I feel the need to create. But all the magazines are working on Fall/Winter issues right now, so these will just have to find homes adorning my fellow mermaids-at-heart. I hope to have these listed by Monday, but I have a few big orders taking top priority, so we'll see. If you spot something you might like, email me and I'll give you the details.

(Photo by Mighty Boy Brian)

The inspiration for all my beachy creations, Lake Michigan. I love this photo from MightyBoyBrian on flickr, it's just perfect. I'm counting down the weeks until I'm walking on these shores again. Nothing calls to my heart like home.

Bead Star!

Hot dog! I made it into the Bead Star finalists! I've been so anxious to show the entries that I submitted. The first one if titled Fragile Love. It features a pendant from Heather Wynn, a coral pendant from Green Girl Studios, a charm from Mamacita Beadworks and a polymer clay shell from moi. I mixed them together with some awesome smoky quartz, amazonite faceted rounds, apatite nuggets and faceted chalcedony tabs, all the stones happen to come from the recent Rings & Things show here in San Antonio. This entry is in the stones category.
My next entry, Ginkgo Gardens is in the pearl category. I have a strand of purple stick pearls, green keishi pearls and top drilled purple pearls. Strung in there are a few of my purple disks and two Elaine Ray ceramic beads. Those wonderful ceramic ginkgo leaves came from Tasha McKelvey. The silver ginkgo came from Shipwreck Beads and was one of the many treasures I picked out from my Bead Star prize last year. Funny, huh?

Notice a theme? I love to work with other artist's beads!

Go vote for your favorites right now! Voting ends May 30th.

This isn't my design, but I have to mention it. Erin from Tesorit Trovati has a few pieces in the competition too, this one features my Golden Kiss bead. Sweet! It's in the seed bead category.

I noticed a few of my buddies, including Lorelei Eurto who has a design in plastic's category. Did you enter this year?

Daughters & Mothers

My daughter, me and my mother
(thanks Rosanne for the photo)

Sending out lots of love to my mom today, wishing we were together.
Sending out a prayer for my daughter, that I will know how to love and guide her.
Thankful for my mom's patience, friendship and heart.
Thankful for my daughter's laughter, curiosity and independence.
And me in the middle, forever changed by both.

Random Weekend Notes

Well let's start off with the good stuff. Here is a little peek of one of my Bead Star entries. I sent in 3 of them. Fingers crossed! The pendant is from Heather Wynn. The polymer shell is one of mine, although it looks different in real life. Not quite as much depth. But that will be our little secret.

Last week at the King Williams Fair I spotted Jennifer Judd at her lovely booth. I didn't know she was going to be there so it was a nice surprise. I love meeting online buddies in the real world.

Jen showed me some of her pieces with Humblebeads. They were so beautiful. You can see more of her work on her blog.

Jess took some photos of me last weekend, of course only one turned out semi-okay. Nice Star Wars hair there Heath. I was going for some Swedish housewife look with the crazy buns. Channelling my inner Ulla Popken.

And last, but not least...it's official the big guy in red vacations in San Antonio during the off-season. He had on a Santa-inspired baseball cap, complete with fur trim. The back said, "Yah, I'm him." This was at Tip Top, a famous little diner a few blocks from my house.

Well, that's about as random as I can possible get. Enjoy your weekend!

We have winners!

(Ceramic Mixed Tape Necklace by CharityElise)

Hola Beady Friends! I just finished drawing the winners for my Mixed Tape Challenge, thanks to everyone who played along! I enjoyed the high school photos, ah the big hair of the 80's! Fun times. My two favorite song choices would have to be Brass Monkey by the Beastie Boys, thanks Gaea and Parents Just Don't Understand by DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, sweet pick Cindy L.! Those two had me chuckling all day. All the entries were thrown into a basket and after some vigorous shaking two winners were drawn at random:

Mary McGraw - $50 gift certificate to Humblebeads.com or Humblebeads.etsy.com

Valerie $25 gift certificate to Humblebeads.etsy.com

But don't feel sad, I have a little surprise for everyone! You can take advantage of free shipping this weekend in my etsy shop or website. Use discount code m2008. And I have a tiny polymer clay starfish charm for anyone who places an order this weekend.

The playlist that I'm working to today:
Love: Lost & Found Playlist