My Addictions...Handcrafted Jewelry by Patti

Friday, March 30, 2012

Color of Spring Blog Hop, with Sally Russick - enhanced by Donna Millard and Summers Studio!

Sally Russick, of The Studio Sublime, is an extremely multi-talented artist...she not only creates fabulous jewelry, but is also a mighty fine photographer! She created these fantastic enameled bisque beads, and offered up a blog hop. I purchased some of these beads last year and fell in love with them - they acquire a cool crackle finish during the enameling process. She used the Pantone Colors of the Year for her color inspiration - I chose purple (Bell Flower) because it is my Mom's favorite color! These are the beads I chose:

I recently purchased the most beautiful lamp work beads from Donna Millard - her work is fabulous! I mean, look at the swirls of color in these beads!

So, after much pondering, I retrieved my wire and everything sat on my table for a week. I vacillated between silver and Vintaj....Vintaj won, though the effect is much darker than I wanted....not very spring like in my eyes! I also wanted to use the purple, enameled lentil bead as a focal in a necklace....and finally the design came to me. Without further ado, here is what I created!

I chose some beautiful, bronze star bead caps from Summers Studio to further enhance the focal bead.

Thank you for hosting this blog hop Sally! And, I love my beads!!!

Please visit the other blog hop participants, listed below. Thanks for stopping by!

Host: Sally Russick
Margarita
Therese Frank
Kim Bender
Cabaret
JLynn Jewels
Christine Altmiller
Sweet Lilac
Cherrie Fick
Jenny Vidberg
Driftwood
Sabine Dittrich
Hope Smitherman
Solar Power
Nicole Rennell
Erin Fickert-Rowland
Bell Flower
Patti Vanderbloemen (You are Here!!)
Kristi Bowman
Starfish
Shannon Chomanczuk
Elisabeth Auld
Cockatoo
Alice Peterson
Donna Bradley
Sodalite Blue
Kristi Harrison
Cilla Watkins
Tangerine Tango
Lesley Watt
Maryanne Gross
Susan Kennedy
Courtney White Breul

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Creative Bead Chat on Facebook - Giveaway!

I belong to a awesome group - Creative Bead Chat - on Facebook, comprised of creative component and jewelery designers to share new creations, tool tips and help build our creativity and sales. There is a fantastic giveaway going on right now with 15 lucky winners - total retail value of giveaway is over $400! Winners to be chosen next Tuesday, March 27th!

As one of the prizes, I am offering these earrings!

This gorgeous pair of earrings features a pair of polka dot copper discs, handcrafted by the talented Kristi Bowman (http://www.etsy.com/shop/KristiBowmanDesign). The discs measure 3/4" and have been topped by a fabulous pair of glass lampwork crystal/diamond shaped beads, made by Daniel Janelle (http://www.etsy.com/radiantmind). These handmade beads, aptly named "Paprika" blend apricot with cobalt, teal, and powder blue, fine silver blended in ivory, and dazzling goldstone aventurine sparkles. The earrings have been wrapped with copper wire and tiny copper beads, and hang from handmade, solid copper ear wires with a 3 ball focal, made by Melinda Orr (http://www.etsy.com/shop/ORRTEC). These one-of-a-kind earrings measure 3" from the top of the ear wire to the bottom of the earring and have a retail value of $55.00.

Please follow the link below to visit Melinda Orr's blog for more details on how to enter the giveaway!

http://orrtec.blogspot.com/2012/03/invitation-to-creative-bead-chat-group.html

Thanks for stopping by!

Monday, March 19, 2012

New work!

Sam...on the mend!

In between taking care of Sam - who had knee surgery on Feb 7 - I managed to make a few new things...

These gorgeous ivory and black polka dots lamp work beads are made by Davinia Design.

Raku starfish pendant by Suburban Girl Beads and lamp work beads by Blue Seraphim.

Bracelet, Earrings and Necklace - The starfish pendant (necklace) and awesome shell connector also by Suburban Girl Beads and sea foam green lamp work and starfish lamp work beads by Lyndas Lampwork - both on Etsy.

Gorgeous violet flower lamp work beads by Susan Kennedy.

Enameled beads by Susan Kennedy (sold!) I changed out the ear wires to antique brass, at the customer's request.

I LOVE these red stripe and black lamp work beads by Sue Kennedy!

The last item is a custom bracelet - it's for a 12 year old girl for her birthday.

That's it for now....thanks so much for stopping by!

Friday, March 9, 2012

Mom's New Sewing Room!

I know this is not jewelry or bead related, but, exciting to me just the same! My mom - my mentor and the creative genius of the family - FINALLY decided it was time to upgrade her sewing room furniture. She is an EXCELLENT seamstress, and I am not just saying this because she is my mother!

Mom has been sewing FOREVER....she used to make matching outfits for my sister and I, though at Catholic school, uniforms were the norm during the week. No...my sister is not my twin, but Mom did it anyway. In fact, she used to have our hair cut the same way, too...ugh! Anyway, I digress. Her favorite form of sewing is decorative...quilts, curtains, valences, re-upholstery...you get the drift. She had been using this TINY LITTLE SEWING CABINET. I'm not quite sure how she did it all these years. It was decided that a larger sewing cabinet was in order, especially for quilting. I bought a sewing machine and serger years ago, from Sew Vac Direct, and we started our search. Due to the fact that her sewing room is located on the second floor of my home, it was necessary to buy the cabinet un-assembled, so that I could carry it up the stairs! No such thing as "White Glove" delivery for pre-assembled units. She settled on the Kangaroo Aussie Suite! I assured her that I could assemble it. 10 LARGE BOXES AND 3 DAYS LATER, I did! And without further ado, here it is! (Pics were taken at night....probably should have waited for daylight, but I was so excited it was done and could not wait)!

This cabinet is awesome! There is an additional leaf on the back of the cabinet that opens up to hold the fabric (i.e., quilt) while sewing, providing TONS OF ROOM to hold heavy quilts, etc., instead of the fabric spilling on the floor! The machine itself easily retracts into the cabinet...it just happens to be sitting in its uppermost position right now. Lots of cool nooks and crannies to hold the essentials! Her serger is located on the bottom of the left hand side of the cabinet. She can pull it out to use it anytime. Even her quilting rulers are located in the back of the cabinet...right under her chair, providing easy access!

My uber-sweet niece's boyfriend was kind enough to re-locate shelves for her - I can put anything together but I CANNOT HANG THINGS ON THE WALL!! Thank you, Kevin!

This awesome cabinet has nine drawers inside - the back leaf also folds up to become a cutting table, as seen in this picture. The whole thing is on wheels and easily slides out from the wall to have it in "cutting mode".

Nine drawers! She has an additional chest, not pictured and not part of this cool set, also filled with notions, interfacing, etc.

The coolest thing we did was move her little corner computer desk and file cabinet from my guest room into the sewing room. Now, all of her "stuff" is in one place! She loves it!

I have to tell you...the customer service departments at SewVacDirect, and the manufacturer, Kangaroo/Arrow Cabinets, are awesome! Out of the gazillion pieces received, one of the tops was damaged - I called and received a replacement piece in 2 DAYS!!! I am very pleased with their service!

A HUGE thank you to my sister - the Queen of Organization! She helped me arrange the room last Saturday, which was a feat! Thank, Lori! I could NOT have done this without your help!

Well, thank you so much for stopping by my little world! Have a great day!

Friday, March 2, 2012

It's Finally Here! Bead Soup Blog Party Time!

First of all, I can't believe it is March already...I mean, what happened to January and February? Anyway, the moon and stars must have aligned when Lori Anderson's randomizer picked me as one of the lucky participants in her Bead Soup Blog Party - her fifth and largest party to date! This is my first time participating, and I was matched with the talented Natasha Lutes of N's Whims. Here is a recap of what Natasha sent me:

Gorgeous semi-precious gemstones, including turquoise (my personal all-time favorite!)

A beautiful dichroic glass focal, which is quite large, with gorgeous hues of blues, yellows, and brown. The mix also included a few extra glass beads that coordinated with the colors of the focal.

Pearls and glass rondelles.

And last....but not least...a huge mix of Vintaj components! Look at that star! Focal perhaps?

The Vintaj mix also included 2 clasp choices.

I have never used Vintaj components, or dichroic glass. This is not to say that I don't have any Vintaj in my stash....I just have never used it before! This was a challenge ... the whole point of this soup! I was so excited to receive this very generous soup from Natasha....thank you!

I mulled over my design for days. I was stumped on how to use the dichroic glass. I had other brass filigrees and tried to wrap it, making the focal into a pendant. That failed (in my mind). I happened to have a large filigree that I thought would make a good back drop for the focal. So, I combined the two...

Instead of just joining the chain to the focal, which just was not interesting to me, I wire wrapped the vintaj star component, some of the beads, and the vintaj filigree bead to the chain. The toggle clasps on the side....not the back of the necklace.

I was happy with this design, as the eye travels around the necklace - instead of just focusing on the pendant. I used extra beads and the small, vintaj star charm and made a dangle that sits on top of the dichroic and filigree focal.

Since I don't like soup leftovers, I also made a bracelet and two pair of earrings.