Thickets & Thistles Jewelry Collection

What a deliciously chilly fall day here at the humblebeads studio. I have my window opened just a bit to make sure I don't miss any of the first cool day of the season. I can't wait to get out the sweaters and scarves! Don't you just feel so much more productive when the weather turns cooler? Maybe my brain starts to churn with thoughts of winter and the holidays and that just makes me want to get to work!

Speaking of work, I have been busy over here and would like to announce my first "line" of jewelry officially launched today on etsy!

These pendants and earrings have branches and blossoms in my favorite designs accented by sterling silver chain, semi-precious stones and pearls.

Still Here

I've been buried in my studio trying to stay on top of the heap of orders and obligations.

The special earring issue from BeadStyle comes out November 15, so I have new kits and new limited edition beads. More on those later.

I have been a whirlwind of a jewelry designer lately. I have more items than I can get up in my shop. Thickets and Thistles is my fall collection, leaves and autumn inspired flowers. But now I have my holiday line ready to be launched.

Yikes, I need a computer guru to list new items for me. That would be nice. Hmm, can I fashion a robot out of polymer clay and spare computer parts?

I've applied to one show for the season and still waiting to hear if I got in, which you never know. And after an ornament making session this weekend it will be time to call the gallery to show off my latest wares.

So this has been the business over here in the buzzing little humblebeads studio. The air is getting drier and cooler each day. I've started dreaming about the holidays and with that always comes a little turning inward as I contemplate ideas like peace, love, joy and spending more time with loved ones than working. Not always an easy task for this workaholic.

100 beads before breakfast

October marks the start of the holiday season for me. I frantically get ready for shows, fill orders and this year selling from my Etsy shop will be added to that list.

So what does that mean? Every spare moment I get is spent making beads and stocking up on inventory. I create larger canes and batches of colors to save to use throughout the season. I make 10-15 of something at a time instead of 2 or 3. I do assembly line production, doing one step of a project on a group of pieces rather than creating something one at a time. It's a fun challenge, but I'm always glad when it slows down again and I can get back to stretching creatively.

In the studio this week I'm working on:
snowmen pendants
candy cane earrings
thickets and thistle pendants
Byzantine lantern earrings
disk beads for wheel earring project/bead society meeting
microscope slide ornaments

Exploration Collaboration

This month I teamed up with beadmaker Melanie Brooks Lukacs and designer Melissa Lee for a fun project. Melanie and I created a series of beads to send to each of us. Our mission was to create jewelry using beads from both artists and to see what the three of us would come up using the same basic elements.

I just took a peek at Melanie and Melissa's blog and I have to say I am so amazed by this process! They've created work that is completely their own style and each of us has something so different.


I created this necklace using my focal bead with a brass chain tassel and a Green Girl bird bead. The necklace incorporates Melanie's linky things and my beads with a few amazonite stones thrown in and finished off with a gunmetal brass chain.


The second necklace features another tassel. I made these for myself, so of course they have to have some dangling elements. The tassel uses a button from Mamacita Beadworks in her beehive design and Melanie's fairy in her summer color combination. The two strand necklace has pearls, boro glass, amazonite and African turquoise along with my art beads.


Not the best photo, I'll have to try again tomorrow. But two little fairies sit on top of my disk beads with brass flowers and crystal accents.

When we started this project Melanie suggested we use the color scheme from her summer fairies. I have to say I was a bit nervous when I created my series of beads, I just didn't know if I could make beads bright enough. I'm so please with the results. Visit the links above to view Melissa and Melanie's designs.

The beads created for this series were a limited edition and a few will make their way to my etsy shop.

Juicy Beads

The trunk sale is in full swing over at my Etsy shop. There are a few free bead listings, don't miss those! Here is a rare set of round beads. I just don't make many in this shape.


Disk beads in some earthy fall colors.

Oh, what's this? It's a little felted leaf pendant. I'm so ready for fall. Bring on the scarves, hot cocoa, chilly breezes. I'll take any of it. Instead, I'll turn down the AC to 74 degrees and dream of crisp October days.