Even Smaller!

You know already that I always enjoy the challenge of making my bead designs as small as possible, so when a lovely customer asked if I could make my speckle beads any smaller, it was an instant yes!

These new speckles were so much fun to make! Perfect for earrings or for wherever a smallish bead is needed—they're each about 16-18mm across down from the 22-25mm of my larger speckle beads.

But… silly me—if you look closely you'll see that the cloudy mauve beads have reversed colors in the speckles—normally I go dark blue with the light blue on top. Actually though, I think it's a neat complement to the larger size having the colors a bit different.

What do you think? Do you like the smaller size? Should I make more?

Find them in my shop here. :-)

Having fun with leather

Remember this necklace?

I've had leather on the brain for quite sometime now and on Wednesday I spent the whole day turning those ideas into something real.

I started with a few shapes…

Cut out the suede…

And, ta-da! Feathers!

Okay, yeah, it was a bit more complicated than that and involved some detailed "drawing" with my wood burning kit—but lots of fun. I'm putting these first ones in the shop today and more will follow soon.

There are SO many things that could be done with them—they could be bead frames like I did for my necklace, beads could be stitched on, holes added for dangles and such, color added—too many ideas! What do you think? What would you do with them?

Already I have some jewelry designs I'm dreaming up. I don't usually have much time for jewelry making, but that's really something I'm working at this year. 

And, it helps when you happen upon some fun new beads…

I got these beaded lovelies from the talented Kristen Stevens. Aren't they gorgeous? You know how much I love tiny detail, so of course, I'm going to have a blast playing with them—and with leather feathers! fun!

Happy Friday everyone!

And then she was distracted…

You probably don't know it, but sleepy puppy dogs can be oh-so stubborn and difficult to photograph!

Or maybe I should blame my camera… or my photographer (me, at the moment)…

Or the fact that these little puppies are mostly white and so is my usual Etsy shop backdrop—can you see the camouflaged puppies? Not so great for a listing photo.

Yeah, I was getting kinda grouchy and frustrated—making beads is so much easier than photographing them!

And then there was this:

Sleeping…

Waking up to say hi…

Asking so sweetly…

And sleeping again (on my lap this time)…

How can I resist?

I didn't.

When a once wild (feral) kitty asks for a nap on your lap, there's no answer but yes. Seeing that total trust and love in his bright eyes and hearing his soft rumbling purr is enough. It puts a smile on your face and joy in your heart.

*and she melted*

Photographing to be continued…

Sleepy Dog Beads!

It's photo shoot day for the puppies.

A long nap is always a good idea on days like this!

They'll be available for adoption very soon!

On AJE Blog ~ make your own inside outside pressed flower beads

Today on Art Jewelry Elements blog, I'm making beads with my new wild flower molds! Join us here to learn how to make these rustically elegant inside outside polymer beads.

Or skip the bead-making part and grab a few of these for your next jewelry creations! They're in my shop here.

Happy beady Saturday!

A Walk in the Woods

It's very easy to lose track of time enjoying nature's beauty while out on a "short" walk in the woods. So many gorgeous things grow there—so many things that we may never see if we don't take the time.

Whenever I go out I can't help but stop and take a look…

Nature is art in its truest and purest form—every artist can enjoy it, but will never, I think, reach that height of absolute perfection. What inspiration!

I had actually started today's venture with a plan to find a few new back-drops to try out for bead photography. I did get just a little distracted, but what could be a happier distraction?!

I'm not sure yet if my new finds will work like I hope they will. I'll have to wait until tomorrow to test them—by the time I got home it was too dark for photography…

… and the puppies were sound asleep…

No, I never mind happy distractions at all!

Jackalopes!!

Here they are—all painted! And oh-so-cute, if I may say so myself! I decided to paint them a darkish chestnut brown—I thought they should be a little darker than their cousin, the cotton-tail bunny. After all, jackalopes are a rather mysterious and elusive little critter—very hard to find in their natural wild habitat.

They're in the shop here. I only have eight jackalopes left is this batch, so hurry and get yours!

Happy beading!

Jackalopes…

They're coming soon! :-)

Happy Friday!

Playing in the rain

What do you do when it starts raining… and keeps on raining… and raining… and raining? And all your plans to enjoy the beautiful green of nature are rained on too?

If you're me and have some polymer clay, you make beads! That's just what I did. And of course, they were rain inspired!

I do actually love the rain—the sound, the smell, beauty of it, and of course the rainbow that comes after. And I actually do like to go hiking in light rain, just not pouring rain!

I hope you enjoyed my new rainy beads. They're in my shop now.

And don't forget to enter my bead challenge giveaway here.