Oaks, acorns and leaves

"The oak sleeps in the acorn, the bird waits in the egg, and in the highest vision of the soul a waking angel stirs. Dreams are the seedlings of realities.” - James Allen

 "The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

"Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower." - Albert Camus

Trees are the best monuments that a man can erect to his own memory.
They speak his praises without flattery, and they are

blessings to children yet unborn.

- Lord Orrery, 1749

It's been an autumn inspired week as I whipped up some new creations.

I would love to walk in a forest,

Feel a crisp chill in the air,

listen as leaves crunch beneath my feat...

You can find these lovely bits in my Etsy shop.

I mentioned a contest - I'm still working out the details - check back on Monday.

Happy Creating!

Fall Colors

I've been enjoying studying the Pantone Fall Color Forecast. I love pouring over it when it first comes out and as the season approaches I turn to it again for inspiration. I wrote an article with tips, samples and a printable worksheet. You can find it here, on my website.

A Humblebead Palette:

endive - green nest pendant

woodbine - acorn beads

golden glow - golden branch bead

lagoon - teal willow branch disks

living coral - pink dogwood pendants

purple orchid - mulberry wildflower pendant

lipstick red - mushroom bead

chocolate truffle - harvest dandelion bead

rose dust - barn owl bead

oyster gray - sparrow's egg bead

Here are some color combinations I worked up using the printable worksheet.

Join me tomorrow for the launch of a new contest and color challenge!

Growing

So I had to do something with that silk cord, it was just begging to go into a design!  I wasn't quite sure how to piece things together, until I saw Shannon's tutorial on the Art Bead Scene showing how to use cord and an art bead button to create a textural closure.  The focal beads are brass leaves, a Green Girl Studio owl, a vintaj key and a word bead by the lovely Diane Hawkey.

The accent beads include ceramics by Earthenwood (first purple), Diane Hawkey's faceted ceramic beads, an Elaine Ray round bead, an acorn and disk beads by me and the glass lampwork bead is from Melissa at Sea of Glass.

I didn't have one of Shannon's buttons on hand, something I must remedy - but I did have a Mamacita Beadworks button.  I don't feel like I've even touched my Bead & Button stash yet.  I need to work on making more jewelry.  I should look into selling at a few artist's markets this fall.  I wish there were some really good ones here in SA.  I'm sure there are, I haven't had good luck finding them.

Okay, so here is the deal with my Etsy shop.  I don't want to sell my regular line items on Etsy any longer, I want my website to be the 'go-to-place' for Humblebeads with my Etsy shop offering new items, very limited editions (as in test market) and jewelry.  I had almost 100 listings in my shop when I went on vacation and I can't just let them sit in 'inactive status' until they expire.  That just seems like a shame.  So I'm having a sale to clear out the old items in my Etsy shop.  I have a category in the shop called "Leaving Etsy" and these are the beads that once they sell, they will not be relisted.  Instead you can find them at anytime on my website.

Buy two, get one 1/2 off.  

The 1/2 off item will be the lowest priced one. 

Complete your purchase but wait for an updated invoice before you pay.

Sale ends Monday and includes everything in my Etsy shop.

A few fall finds...

A few new things today:

Above is a pendant from my Bead & Button inventory, it's been sitting in a box and now it would like to travel!

There was a bead show here in SA. I'm think I'm ruined for local shows. After going to Bead & Button and seeing what is really out there one can only scoff at $3.00 dyed strands of stones and Chinese crystals. Doesn't mean I won't pick up a few, (cough, cough) but it's not as exciting or inspiring as the big guns. Cool eggs, eh?

And they would look so pretty with these: Harvest Treats Bead Set or...

This Pumpkin Spice Latte Bead Set.

(It was a 102 degrees today - you better believe I'm over here dreaming about fall!)

Oh and isn't this pretty? Silk dupioni cord that my friend Angela gifted to me. We were brainstorming Etsy ideas for her and selling silk cord could be one of them. It's luscious, earthy and elegant.

My muse knows no seasons

One direction I'm working on is creating beads that compliment items already in my line, so thinking along those lines I wanted to create a mushroom to go with my little gnome.  I had a few ideas sketched out and decided to try the mushrooms in a several different ways.  Above are tiny charms.

This one is hand-sculpted and painted, much like my acorns and would actually look pretty cute on a charm bracelet with them!

A larger bead with the mushroom motif.

The other pendants I created to match my egg beads.  So in the same color schemes of the eggs, I revisited my nest design. 

Looks like Spring around here! 

(Of course in Texas it will be summer until October.)