Keychains!

I like to offer a variety, cuz, well not everyone is into jewelry.

These are fun keychains made with stone donuts with stone, crystal and glass accents.

Jasper, amethyst, amazonite and crystals


Agate with glass pearl and lampwork sugar skull! Just in time for El Dia de Muertos!

Picture jasper and coral


Rhodonite and lamp work flower and awareness beads

How to be Cool: Tip #42

I heard a really cool quip the other day - "Everyone has a gift, a special talent, they just need to be shown how to find it"

Well my friend Jana of BeJeweled by Jana sure has a gift. She has a great zest for life, a fun heart and creates beautiful crocheted items.

I love when she feels spunky and makes cute things like this! It goes great with my Snow White sunglasses :)




I saw it on her blog and had to have it. Jana has a beautiful collection of her work at her Etsy store - The Hip Grandma. Not only does she crochet with yarn, but she also creates crocheted jewelry (of which I own a piece thank you very much)

Like this -


Or this!


Stop by her blog and browse her pieces, leave her a comment and tell her which is your favorite. I am sure you will find several :)

Thanks Jana for make'n this big kid grin !!!!!

Jewelry Submission Sites

Hey kids!

Bead Trends is looking for submissions for their April 2012 edition. This is a great time to sort through your treasury of creations that you have left from last spring or summer, as you are putting out your fall and winter designs for your shoppers!

Bead Trends is a series of beautiful idea books. They feature a great variety of incredible jewelry and bead creations.

Bead Trends April 2012 Call

Bead Trends is currently looking for designs with the following themes for our April 2012 issue:

• Birthstone - Diamonds are a girls best friend! Crystals that sparkle and clear quartz can make a great statement too! Send us your favorites!

• Anything Goes - The beaded possibilities are endless and not just limited to jewelry. What about pillows, table runners, picture frames, lamps, clothing, candle collars, wine glass charms, and home decor. This category can contain jewelry and a whole lot more!

• Quick & Easy – Featuring beautiful designs that can be created in less than an hour and are perfect for designers of all levels.

• Fashion Favorites – Features designs from a variety of styles and mediums that can be a personal favorite or necessary staple in any wardrobe.

• Fabulous Focals - Focal pieces are HOT! Make a statement and show us your designs featuring great focal pieces.
• Multi-Strand Designs - Long layers, short twists, and everything in between. We want to see your multi-strand creations.
• Earrings- Simple or elaborate, elegant or casual, long or short! There is an earrings style perfect for everyone.
  
• Bead Weaving - Whether you use seed beads, pearls, crystals, or gemstones. How do you weave your beautiful masterpieces!
• Color Me Spring - Send us your designs and styles that set the stage for spring!

If you would like to submit your work to this publication, please e-mail a photograph, the name or title of your piece, and contact information to: beadsubmit@northridgepublishing.com.

If submitting multiple pieces, please send a separate e-mail and photograph for each design.

Deadline for the April 2012 issue is 11:59 p.m. MDT, October 25th, 2011. All ideas should be your original work and not previously published.

We will review all submissions, and if selected, we will contact you by November 1st with additional information. All pieces will need to be shipped to us directly for photography and arrive in our office by November 12th. Your creation will be returned to you insured, after the issue has been printed.

Beadaholique's Beading Contest - Hurry - deadline is Oct 26th!!!

Bead and Button is another great source for you to submit your pieces, or for you to contribute to the magazine!

Bead The Pattern Magazine - this is the submission form for Bead The Pattern Magazine, but I will say I am a bit perplexed on exactly how it works.....

Bead Style Magazine - The contributor guidelines for their submissions

Stampinton & Company - This site offers so many different submissions, some are ongoing some are dated, some are not even jewelry related but still something you may want to get involved with!

Canadian Beading - They pay for submissions :)

Creative Beading - in Australia, they have a competition link that is empty right now, but bookmark it, may be some fun later!

Stringing Magazine - They have several submission guidelines posted!

Oh gosh kids - good luck to any of you and your submission - please pop back in with me if you are accepted! I would love to hear about it!

Good LUCK!!!

Going Earring Crazy!!!

I can't stop making earrings! Earrings are my least favorite thing to make, yet lately I have been so inspired to make them.

I am all about long and stacked earrings right now. Good thing I guess, I have a show tomorrow.


I love the warmth of the color of this mahogany onyx with the copper.

I have seen earrings where these freshwater pearls are stacked, but I didn't have enuff that matched so I just stopped with one


These have that victorian feel

And I love these so much!!!!




What have you created lately?? I would love to see!!!

Nontraditional Gift Giving this Season

As a small business owner, some would say I am shooting myself in the foot by even bringing this up, but it is something that is so dear to my heart, I couldn't live with myself if I didn't.

I would love to sell you a beautiful pair of earrings or a custom make pendant this year as a gift for that someone special in your life, but what if I could tell you about a gift that gave hope and life to a family somewhere in the world.

Heifer.org gives families a hand-up, not just a hand-out, by empowering them to turn lives of hunger and poverty into self-reliance and hope.

With gifts of livestock and training, Heifer.org helps families improve their nutrition and generate income in sustainable ways. The animals you purchase are given as "living loans" because in exchange for their livestock and training, families agree to give one of its animal's offspring to another family in need. It's called Passing on the Gift – a cornerstone of their mission that creates an ever-expanding network of hope and peace. How awesome is that!

You can follow Heifer.org here at their blog and see what they are doing around the world.


Sure there are a lot of things we all want as gifts for the holidays, but is it something we really need?

Hump Day Funnies

Have you heard of Cake Wrecks?

This site makes me squeal with laughter - I hope it does you too ;)




or how about -

and I'll leave you with .....

Enough Time for Another Design Challenge?

Have you heard of Making Beaded Jewelry?

Is a fun site with a lot of information, not just on beading and jewelry making but so much more.

They are also having a jewelry contest, hurry it ends Oct 31st!

Prizes for the winners!

Good luck!!!!

Gifts for a Wedding

My nephew got married at the beginning of the month. It was fun to have all of my husbands side of the family together.

To celebrate, I made a set for the grooms mother, my sister in law. She is one of my favorite people in the world. I love to make jewelry for her.

Multi layer necklace - black, pink and green with tiny copper disks hanging randomly to give it more movement. I took the picture on my work table, so I blurred out all the mess, looks like brush strokes from a master painter - yeah right :)

Rainbow obsidian bracelet


Rainbow obsidian earrings.

Jean, proud mama - in sporting her new necklace.

They set us at the right table :) We were sat to the back by the door, they know us well. They teased us we are sat at the kid's table - the rest of the family was all sat at the same table across the room!!!!

Me and James tearin' up the dance floor all night long!!!! (I have on SnowWhite sunglasses - everyone had to try them on and dance in them)

My Brother in Law - Jon and his sweetie Amy - yes - photo bomb by me :)

Pearl Cuff - Work in Progress

What is my project this week? I am working a shell pearl cuff.

I had placed an order back in August to Firemountain Gems. While shopping for items for a custom piece, I ran across a Shell Pearl Mix. I am a sucker for mixes. I do love this mix. There is no color order, so I am not working with a fall palette, or a warm palette. The types of shell pearls are also random - pastels and bold colors, shiney and matte finishes. It is like a big scoop of pearl pleasure!

I let the beads fall out of the package in a random order and wire wrapped them into a copper wire frame. Then added seed beads for accent.


There are still holes in the design that will be filled with more copper wire, beads and crystals.

What have you been working on this week?

Confessions of a Hoarder - Scrapbooking Supplies

So remember the Groupon I got? $25.00 for $100.00 worth of scrapbooking stuffs from Websterspages?

It came!!!

There really is a lot of stuff in here. I am not a scrapbooker, so I don't know the value of these items, but I did think it was very generous.

1. 2 pages of stickers and 25 8x8 card stock pages - some are transparent, some have scalloped edges - I can use this in resin cups.
2. 5 pages of flowery thingies - I can make combs out of them
3. Little cardboard button punch out thingies!
4. Smaller scale of the 8x8 card stock and such
5. RIBBONS!!!!
See those circles mixed in with the flowers - I got big plans for those babies :)
Up above the ribbons are post cards, and boarder stickers.

So much fun stuff! I'll be sharing part of this later down the road - just think, you got a sneak peak at my next give away :)

And with this order, I also received a 5% off code that never expires, so I thought I would share it with you. In some states, it may just take care of the taxes :)

DBD0B825 (it is a zero or a capital oh, I can't really tell)

I thought maybe it may be good therapy :)

Bracelet Inspiration - Mom's Charm Bracelet

Growin' up one of my fond memories was of my mom's charm bracelet. I remember laying in her lap at church and busying myself looking at each of the charms, remembering where they came from, and making up stories about them. She wore it every time she stepped out the door.


I remember we would go on vacation or for christmas gifts she would get a new charm to mark the occasion. She would have to take the bracelet to a jeweler to have them attach the charm, sometimes it would be gone for a few weeks. There is one sterling charm in there amongst the gold from when we went to Arizona to visit my aunt. One of Oral Roberts University from when we went to visit my brother in Tulsa. An anchor for my dad - being in the Navy. So many more memories. Mom gave this to me a couple of years ago along with her first wedding ring. I cherish them both so much - and never wear them. I am afraid of loosing them.


This bracelet was inspired by my mom's charm bracelet. There is a hodgepodge of dangles, some with rhyme, some with reason only the wearer will know.

Do you have memories that have inspired you to create something? I would love to hear about them!

Retail Therapy

It seems like I am always at the store. On my lunch, after work, weekends...why can't I get myself on a schedule and get shit done?!?!

So, yesterday, I was at the store, of course on my lunch (I would much rather go on my lunch than after work) and while I was there, I just happened to wander thru the craft department.

*smacks forehead*

Why oh why? What did I buy?




I couldn't help myself. I don't scrapbook, but I had to have these things. I have a ton of ideas that I could do with these as I do with every scrap of everything that I save, it is just getting around to doing them.

Maybe I should change my diary name to confessions of a hoarder.

Oh, and just to add salt to the wound - on groupon, I bought a $100 scrapbooking kit for $25 from Webster's Pages - I thought it would be a good gift......

New book for the library

I picked this book up - for free :) and about to dive into it this evening.

Have you read this?
What do you recommend?

Steppin outside the box

It all started with a comment of compassion from a friend of mine on Facebook -


and snowballed into


One person reaching out to help one person turned into a rally to help a community. It cost us a few moments of our time, some effort to organize, and when we pick up and deliver - a few gallons of gas - over all it will cost me $4.00 to help a community stay warmer this winter than they would have.

Step outside of your cozy box, and think 'What can I do for my community?'

Is Cooking Weather!!!

We really had a cold snap this weekend and it has put me in the fall comfort food cooking mood. There is something about a hearty bowl of stew or chili or chicken and dumplins that makes the early evenings more welcome.

What is it about a simmering crockpot full of goodness filling the house with those delicious aromas that sets you at ease?

Here is a quick and easy recipe to start out your fall cooking line up.

Chicken Salsa

Set crock pot to low (cook about 8 hours)

3 chicken breasts raw and cubed
1 large jar of your favorite salsa
1 can of black beans
1 can of corn
1 small can green chilies
1 tsp cumin
3 Tbl chili powder
Throw it all in together - don't worry bout draining the liquids - give it a good stir, cover and walk away

what you can add - onions, garlic, chick peas


I serve it over a handful of tortilla chips, lettuce, diced tomatoes, shredded cheese and then top with a dollup of sour cream

What are your favorite recipes?

Chain, chain chain.....

Yes Yes, I sed it :)

So whilst cleaning and organizing my work room, it became clear to me I had a hording problem.
Chain.

Chain everywhere, spools of it, cards wrapped with it, baggies full of it. Way too much chain. I bought it for a reason, why haven't I been using it?

So I am going to make something with chain, lots of chain :)


I bought this aluminum chain online, was a good deal, didn't pay much attention to the size of the links - it is huge - I had no idea what to do with it, until now ;)

Jade and stone wear beads with swarovski accents. I think it needs more chain..
j
Jo fell in love with this one, and now she owns it. It is silver tone, brass, copper, plated you name it, all gobbed up in one glorious mess.

I'm a little hooked on this style right now. Is there a style that you are all about right now? Something you just love to and cannot create enough of? I'd love to hear about it and see it. Post me a link in the comments!!!