Special Delivery

This is a necklace I created for my teenage daughter.  Inside the envelope a little letter reads "C'est la via."   She wants to go to Paris one day, so I thought she'd like the pendant.  If you like it, you can find them at Ornamentea.

The ribbon is nice, right?  It's metallic ribbon from Martha Stewart.  I picked it up at Michael's last week.  It's got a heft to it.  I think it has some metal in it.  It feels like it.  I'm seriously lovin' this stuff.

In case you wanted to see how the ends were done.

Well that's it for me until Monday.

Everyone, have the most amazing holiday with people you love, good food, lots of laughs.  Play games, watch cheesy holiday movies, drink hot cocoa.  Listen to music while you sit in the dark with only the tree lights on.  Savor each moment, don't rush or stress.  Just live and love and be thankful for the next few days, everything else will take care of itself.  Have a Merry Christmas. 

Beady Christmas Tree

I wish I could take a better photo of the tree, this will have to do for now.  I went with a copper, teal, white and silver theme this year.  It's rather lovely.  Many beaded and beady items can be found on my tree.

Along with the mica items I posted a while ago, I have polymer clay birds in teal and a few other ornaments made with my snowflake/dandelion beads and lucite skeleton keys.  (I'll try to take a photo of those.) I also made these super simple decorations with large copper filigree and copper hooks. 

I need to read up on some tips for taking family photos.  I'm determined to get some good holiday shots this year.  I seem to take one photo each Christmas morning and that's it.  I start having fun and the camera gets put away.  And while I can take photos of jewelry, getting good candid family shots are not one of my skills. 

Hope you are having a fun and crafty holiday season.  I'm working tonight on sewing scarves for some special folks on my list.

Last Chance!

I'm having a sale in my Etsy shop on jewelry and ornaments.  Items are marked down 10-20%. Everything is in stock and ready to ship. If you want items before Christmas I have priority and express mail upgrades.  Ho! Ho! Ho!

Doesn't that gnome look like he has his hand in his pocket?  Maybe he is fishing for his little gnome car keys.

So are you ready for Christmas?  Are the halls decked?  Gifts wrapped?  I'm getting there!

Rings & Things Blog Partner Project: Holiday Charms

Here is a fun and easy project to whip up for last minute gifts like stocking stuffers, secret santa, student gift exchanges and teacher's gifts.  It's also a great way to use up any left over beads you have on your table!

Rings & Things sent us these Chinese lampwork glass beads.  They may not have the longest lifespan because they are not kiln annealed, so be aware of that when buying factory made lampwork beads. 

The "snowflake" charms are bead caps that have been flattened with my ball hammer. 

1. Penguin Zipper Charm: these little charms can be used on coats, purses or backpacks.  Add a lobster claw clasp to your charm with a jumpring.

2. Snowman Pendant: Add your charm to a cable chain for a cute necklace for a young one on your gift list.

3. Coal Cell Phone Charm: Add your charm to a cell phone lanyard to add a little holiday bling to your phone. 

These are also a perfect project to keep the kids busy and offers them a chance to make some fun gifts for their friends and family.

Mica Magic!

Mica, mica, mica!  What is a mica?  It's a mineral that has been laminated into tiles for the altered arts, crafts, scrapbooking market.  I ordered some from Ornamentea to create Christmas ornaments for my tree this year.  The small sheets are the size above, I simply stamped them with my favorite rubber stamps and Stayzon ink.  I used my 2-hole metal punch to make a hole and created a hanger with some 'brass' craft wire.

And that got my brain jumping and I thought, uh mica icicles!  For these pieces I cut the medium size mica tiles into long strips.  I used a pair of scissors for the cutting.  I used my metal punch for the holes and made a hanger with a copper eyepin.  I madea  dozen or so of these to add a little shimmer to those tree branches.

And those sparked the idea for these Frosty Window Pane Earrings that are featured on the Art Bead Scene today as one of our 12 Days of Christmas free projects! 

Sparkle Away

The 'shiny' reference was a nod to my favorite TV series/movie - Firefly and Serenity.  Come on, space cowboys, Nathan Fillion and Joss Whedon's witty banter, what's not to love?  Tina Lamasney was the only one to guess right, obliviously a fellow Browncoat.  Tina please email me your mailing address.

Here is a fast and easy earring for the holidays.

2 brass kidney wire earrings

2 brass 2" headpins

2 crystal ball beads

2 copper spacers

2 branch disk beads

1. String on a crystal beads, trim headpin and make a loop.

2. With the wire left from the headpin, form a loop and string on the spacer, disk bead, spacer.  Trim wire and form a loop.

3. Connect to the crystal dangle.  String on the earwire,  Use pliers to close the loop on the earwire.

Supplies: Branch Disks, Humblebeads. Crystal ball beads, Ornamentea.  Brass findings, Bello Modo.

Shiny!

Yep, a shiny gold star for me!  It kills me to not be able to spill the beans for months, but finally I can say I'm a Bead Star once again!

This little gem is 3rd place in the stone category.  I like to think of it as winning the bronze, go team Humblebeads!  

And now let me give some props:
Focal bead is from Heather Wynn
Pewter coral is Green Girl Studio
Little seaside pewter charm is Mamacita Beadworks
The other shell is mine.  Should I make some for my Etsy shop?  Seems so out of season.  Hmm, what do you think? 
And all those gorgeous stones, why hello Rings & Things trunk show!

Congrats to all the winners, there work is amazing!  I think the magazine will be on newsstands on the 8th, so keep an eye out for that one. 

(And the first person who can tell me what movie/tv series my title is from, I'll send them a signed copy of Bead Star. Leave the answer in the comments.  And no, it's not the Shining!  Hint: It's a little catch phrase, not a title.)

What Genius!

Check out this amazing ring RosyRevolver.  I've never seen anything so beautiful with my beads!  I'm blown away.

I just listed this grab bag in my Etsy shop.  It's three beads for the price of two!