AJE Firefly Challenge

Earlier this month the Art Jewelry Elements posted a challenge for summer inspired by Fireflies. I had to jump on it. I love these night time dancers that entertain us during hot and humid summer nights. The fields around my house light up with their display and I have fond memories of chasing fireflies as a kid growing up in the country. 

My first pendant is a simple design with one of my firefly charms, Czech glass, a feathery Humblebead disk and a brass colored dyed hematite. I worked the chain up with a series of large jump rings juxtaposed by a copper flower clasp.

My next piece is a bracelet that uses similar beads to match my pendant.

My final pendant I pulled out a bead I had been hording for years, years I tell you! Isn't that funny how you can fall in love with a bead but you have to wait until it really speaks to you before you take it out of the bead box. 

This pewter pendant is Mamacita Beadworks. I stacked a series of art beads on top of the pendant to suggest a summer night - a golden disk bead with tree branches wrapped around it. A lampwork bead from Sea of Glass that looks like a starry night. A ceramic bead from Earthenwood Studio that reminds of wood and the forests, along with a little wooden bead. And finally a tiny disk bead with wings wrapped around it. 

The best part of the firefly pendant - those squirmy little legs underneath! It reminds me of a character straight out of Tim Burton's James and Giant Peach.

Visit the other participants and see their firefly inspirations!

Guest Designers:
Melissa Trudinger - https://beadrecipes.wordpress.com/2015/06/30/aje-firefly-challenge-reveal/
Mary Detray - http://www.brassrabbitstudio.com/blog
Keren Panthaki - https://vasdea.wordpress.com
Tammy Adams - http://www.paisleylizard.com/
Veralynne Malone - www.veradesigns.blogspot.com
Terri Del Signore - http://artisticaos.blogspot.com/
Heather Powers - http://www.humblebeads.blogspot.com (you're here!)
Susan Delphine Delaney - https://susandolphindelaney.wordpress.com

AJE Team:
Jenny Davies-Reazor - http://www.jdaviesreazor.com/blog
Lesley Watt - http://www.thegossipinggoddess.blogspot.com
Niky Sayers - http://silverniknats.blogspot.co.uk
Caroline Dewison - http://blueberribeads.co.uk
Jen Cameron - http://www.glassaddictions.com/blog

Humblebeads + Stinky Dog Beads

My Mission: Create something with the owl beads and Czech glass provided by Stinky Dog Beads

Current Obsession: Tassels

Little Touches: Tiny faceted copper beads and fun magnetic clasp (from my trip to Puerto Rico)

Realization: Of all the beads I make, I'm still smitten with my disk beads above all others. 

You can find the directions to make the tassels here.

For these tiny ones I used 4 strands of floss, wrapped 3 times around on a 1" x 1" piece of cardboard with 10mm jump rings. 

Ceramic bead: White Clover Kiln. 

Stinky Dog Beads has an awesome shiny new website that causes drooling and bank accounts to dwindle! The owls are available in several colors. Be sure to sign up for their mailing list for a great discount to use on your first order. 

Designing Dilemma

So without any grand plan last night I sat down to make some new memory wire bracelets. I threw some colors into the bead spinner and away I spun in some zen-like beading trance. I needed a mental distraction for the evening. I think it's called procraftinating (that's procrastinating crafting). 

40+ bracelets later and my peanut seed bead stash almost depleted I started to formulate what to do with these awesome stacks of bracelet-y goodness. 

At first I thought I would make some tiny willow headpins to coordinate with them, but as I looked at my mountain of bracelets I realized they were the colors of the butterfly wings I had been creating last week. And so I whipped up some headpins to go with them.

And doing some further contemplation on what to do with 40 bracelets had me thinking of where I would sell them which led to a momentary dilemma. I would like to take some of them to our local Center for Arts where I have a collection of jewelry. 

I live in a small, conservative farming community that enjoys a crazy summer tourist season thanks to the beautiful shores of Lake Michigan. I've struggled with finding the right local venue and of course I could adjust what I make and throw on some tiny bead charms like the bracelet above, which would give me a lower price point and make them more sell-able. And it's a cute bracelet and all, but, meh...

It's hard to settle when I know adding these beauties to the bracelet will do some serious magic.

Wowzer, note to self: don't settle as a designer. Just don't!

Look at what I could have missed out on making if I had settled to make something just to sell them quickly. These are little works of art, these stand out, these are unique. These make my heart sing.

I will take some down to the local art center and work on marketing them there. But I will also sell them on my website where I can connect to those who are looking for something beyond the ordinary.  I just can't make things to fit the local market. I need to make things I love and then go out and find my market. My time is too limited to make things that are ho-hum.

Art Bead Scene Monthly Challenge

So this week for the Jewelry Making Mojo Challenge I asked participants to pick a challenge or contest to play along with and create a piece of jewelry.  I'm right in the trenches with you and the challenge that I picked was to create something for the Art Bead Scene's February Blog Hop. If you are are new the Art Bead Scene, we challenge readers to create a piece of jewelry each month inspired by a work of art.  This month it's Paul Klee's The Rose Garden - shown below.

 

In the painting I love the layered look of the buildings with the tiny windows and that was what I wanted to capture in my set here. I cut out the pieces from copper and textured them with an awesome texturing hammer - so much fun! I should have cut out house shapes - of course, I just now thought of that.  (I'm also really good at coming up with witty come backs - hours laters.) 

I paired the copper with some of my disk beads in the color palette of the painting.  

This is Paul Klee's The Rose Garden.

There is still time to play along with the Art Bead Scene's challenge - you have until the 28th.  And if you use Humblebeads in your creation - enter here for a chance to win a $50 Humblebeads gift certificate.

In case you wondering what all this Mojo talk is about - read more here and the first challenge here.

Sample Sale

I am making way for spring designs and new plans for 2014.

I have a collection of amazing artisan jewelry featuring beautiful handmade beads, each with a story to tell.  These designs are timeless but my creative energy is boundless, I need to make space for what lies ahead!

My gift today: 35% off all orders from my Etsy jewelry shop which features my one-of-a-kind designs and some of the most popular pieces from my jewelry line. 

Use discount code WINTER for 35% off your order this weekend.

I've been considering for a while that 4 shops is just too many, so after this sale I will be closing out my Etsy jewelry shop.  You'll still be able to find my jewelry on my website.

Thoughtful Gifts for Mother's Days

 

I love this quote!  Your mom is one-of-kind.  Everyone has a mom, but you only have one! 

Have you started thinking about what you'd like to do to honor her this Mother's Day? 

Secret Garden Pendant Necklace - a one-of-kind design that captures the spirit of the poem perfectly.

My mom lives across the country, so I am working on a surprise for her this week to make sure it arrives in plenty of time this year!

Here are 5 simple gift ideas to honor your mom on May 12th:

1. Nothing beats a Hallmark moment - write your mom a letter sharing your fondest childhood memories or lessons you've learned from her.  (As a mom, nothing makes me happier than knowing my kids listened to my sage words of advice!)
2. I love using my apps to create photo gifts! Using Instragram, Typic or BubbleFrame and Printicular apps - you can take a photo, add in a quote and print them at your local Walgreen's in a cute 4 x 4 format!  You could create a banner by attaching them to twine with little clips.
3. Create a "Me Moment" kit - include a soothing tea, decadent chocolates and a small journal.
4. Make your mom a container garden with flowers that symbolize the birth months of you and your siblings. 
5. Repay your mom for all those homemade cookies from back in day with something sweet from your kitchen.  These Merinque Nests with Strawberries looks quite lovely!

No matter what you do to cherish your mom, she will just be happy to hear from you or spend time with you on Mother's Day - because after all, she is an amazing mom, isn't she?

Does your mom love jewelry?  Why not add in an original Humblebeads design to your Mother's Day gift?  Check out my collection of one-of-kind jewelry designs that I just added to my website today.

Originally posted on my jewelry blog:
Thoughtful Gifts for Mother's Day

Disk Bead Design Ideas

Per request from a sweet customer here are some design ideas using disk beads as the focal.

I would say the trick to getting those disks to take center stage is to cluster them together with metal spacers. Pairing them with chain is another easy trick.

Nina Designs Blog Partner

I'm so excited to share my pieces with you as a Nina Designs Blog Partner.  They sent me a yummy assortment of natural bronze components, leather and ribbon.

First up are the these peacock inspired earrings. I used the Three Teardrop Links in this pair of earrings. I wanted to create a unifying element with the hammered metal pieces in a gunmetal black finish.  The bronze with the black metal create a sexy contrast that I'm digging!  I tapered the texture to mimic the design of the teardrops and combined them with my disk beads in a peacock feather pattern. I used the bronze ear wires from Nina Designs, they are handmade in Bali.  Love, love, love them!

This pendant used the same design elements from the earrings with an Infinity Link from Nina Designs as the a touch of shimmer to the necklace.  

This pendant explores those same design elements and features the softest leather I've ever seen.  It's smooth and supple, thin and completely uniform.  The color is wonderful!  I went with simple adjustable knots for this pendant.  The wearer can sport it long or short.  I also braided some of this leather and it looked great, I just didn't have a chance to work into something yet.  I would use this leather in my regular line of jewelry - be sure to check out all the great colors carried by Nina Designs.

Mixing the black and bronze this minimalist design offers some striking results.  A toggle clasp in a leaf design is tied together with tiny faceted brass nugget beads.  Again I can't get over the fine quality of the findings, there are no seems on the design and the detail is just lovely!

Now we move on to the garden!  These leaf charms and tiny lotus petal charms work beautifully as earrings. paired up with Czech glass, brass rings and my polymer clay beads in a purple floral design.

Love the color of this sheer silk ribbon!  The texture is soft and delicate.  I mixed gunmetal, brass and elements of the raw brass finish to create this pendant. 

I was quite smitten with these delicate and fine branch coral charms.  How perfect are they with my starfish charms?  They make me long to go snorkeling off the shores of Cozumel! 

And this doesn't have anything to do with Nina Designs, I just couldn't have a pair of earrings hanging around without a partner! 

Now as if I wasn't impressed enough with Nina Designs I would be remiss if I didn't mention what a good karma kind of company they are too!  From fair trade practices with Bali and Thialand, to green efforts like planting trees, to mircoloans and philanthropy - this is a company that you can support knowing they are working hard to create beautiful products with earthy-friendly and people-friendly business practices.  I like that!

The other thing about Nina Designs that has my beady fingers twitching?  All their sweet nature inspired designs - how Humblebead-y perfect are the leaves, branches, birds and sea-inspired charms and pendants from Nina's?  I can hardly stand it and plan to use some of them in my summer line of jewelry.

Head on over to Nina's and when you place an order, tell them that Heather Powers' sent you.  That will get you $5.00 off your first order if you are a new customer! 

The materials above were provided as part of the Nina Designs blogging program. The author of this blog has not received any payment from above-mentioned company. The post above represents only personal opinion of the blog author.

New Jewelry

I've added a few new pieces of jewelry to my shop.  Inspired by the woods, home, taking care of your hopes and dreams and summer memories. We are busy this week but still shipping orders until Friday morning.  If you find something you like, use discount code HOMEFREE for free shipping through the weekend.

Humblebeads Jewelry 

& 

Humblebeads Etsy Shop

Jewelry Collection

I'm taking the Flourish & Thrive Academy classes this month while I'm preparing to debut my wholesale line.  We had to put together two sample sheets with our collection for an evaluation, so I thought I'd share what I sent in here.  The class is amazing!  I feel like my head is going to burst from all the great information and lessons we are going through.  I'm working on a website for my jewelry, I need some place for stores to order from - so that is a slow going process that I have been whittling away at in the evenings. 

Some days I am bursting with thankfulness that this in my job.  How amazing and wonderful. 

New Jewelry

So loving every day of fall.  Beautiful - BEA-U-TI-FUL!  I'm all about the leaves, pumpkins and apples.  Loving the jewel colored Indian corn and mums displayed in all the grocery stores.  So wish I could not kill a live plant - my history tells me to enjoy their beauty from afar! I'm going to the farmer's market on Saturday for sure to pick up some autumn harvest goodies.  Do you have a favorite fall veggie recipe? If so, share it with me. I've been pinning some that I would like to try.  Shocking - I do cook more than beads, although my family has forgotten the fact!

If you like these bead pods, I shared how to make them on my latest newsletter - you can find it here.  They are super easy to make.

Jess made some molds for Indian corn inspired pendants - can't wait to to paint those today.  Just hope they don't turn out corny.  Tee hee - couldn't help it.  He has been quite inspired by the transparent clay and has a few designs that will be showing up in the shop soon.

I added a few new items to my jewelry shop yesterday.  I have a craft show show next weekend, my inventory is overstocked at the moment - so no need to prep.  Wow right!

I'm working on a website for my wholesale line of jewelry.  Not an easy task and me and my camera - we have not been friends for the last few weeks.  I don't know what it is, but the light has changed and it's so hard to find that sweet spot where your images sing in natural light.  I need to figure that out asap.  Or maybe it's time to upgrade to a new camera. What? No, I'm not just looking for an excuse to buy a new camera. 

I've been working on taking photos on white backgrounds too for wholesale line sheets.  Just not feeling great about the results. I need to go back to photography 101!  You never stop learning or relearning!

Off to play with my clay instead of fight with my camera...