Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Art Jewelry Elements October Component Blog Hop

Hi Y'all,

Back on September 27th, Kristen Stevens of My Bead Journey announced the October Component on the Art Jewelry Elements blog with a giveaway of two extra sets.  I was not one of the lucky winners, but I was able to purchase a set so I could participate in the blog hop.  Unlike the other participates I was able to choose the set I wanted. I chose the mustard colored set the forth set on the top row.


It took me a little while to know how I was going to use these cute little components in a piece.  Kim Hora of  kimmykats blog told me about Monomint in Etsy, so of course I had to go and check it out.  I found a lot of nice tutorials and I purchased the beaded bead tutorial that I used in my piece.


I made the beaded beads with 6 mm green bicone crystals, 6 mm Quartzite and copper bead caps strung on 18 gauge copper wire.  I also strung the beaded beads in the set from Kristen on the 18 gauge copper wire with the 6 mm green crystals. I then pieced them all on a copper chain.


The pendant I made with a copper filigree square and I put the beaded leaf with a dangle made with 2 3 mm Lt. Topaz crystals and 1 6 mm green crystal.  I connected the pendant to the copper chain with the same combo as the dangle. 



I call this piece Aspen Trails, because the color of the beaded components remind me of the golden yellows of the Aspen trees in the fall.

Thank you for stopping by and taking a look at my piece, now please go and visit the Art Jewelry Elements blog to see what the others created with their October components.

Happy beading Y'all,
Therese




Sunday, October 28, 2012

She Made/She Made October 2012


Hi Y'all

It is time for another installment of She made/She made between Christine Altmiller and myself.  The one on one challenge came about when Christine and I met back in July of this year when we gifted each other items that we kept the other half, so we both have the same or similar items.  We decided that it would be fun to pick two items a month and make something and blog about it.  Christine chose for September and October, I will choose in November and December.  Here is what Christine chose for us to create with this month.

 I forgot to take a picture of mine before I created my pieces for this challenge, so I manipulated a picture I already had.
My oak leave and drops are not exactly the same as Christine's here is a picture of her's.

I made two different pieces with mine both are necklaces.  The first necklace will be with the enameled oak leaf.  I can not remember where I got this leaf, but if someone recognizes it please let me know.  Being that it is fall I went for a fall theme with this necklace.


I made two mini Cellini spirals and added 4 mm Aventurine, 10 x 8 mm Jasper roundels,  6 x 4 mm orange Czech glass roundels, and  green 6 mm bicone crystals.  I used copper bead caps, toggle clasp, and I made the bail out of 20 gauge copper wire.


I flatten two of the copper bead caps and strung them on each side of the bail for the leaf.  I named this necklace Fall's Splendor.

Next I did a necklace using the red Czech glass drops.  I used a stitch that Christine gave me the instructions for, we name the stitch the Zig Zag stitch, which it is really the triangle stitch. 


I used size 8 hematite seed beads to make the Zig Zag then around the top I used garnet 3 mm round Czech glass beads and along the bottom I used garnet 4 mm round Czech glass beads up to the drops and between each drop then around to the clasp.


I named this piece Red Sky At Night.

Thank you for stopping by and taking a look at what I created for the She made/ She made.  We were going to post this on October 30th, but being that Christine lives in the Northeast and Frankinstorm is looming, we decided to go ahead and post today.  Please go by Christine's blog to see what she has created with her pieces.  Come back the first week in November to find out what we will be creating with in November.

To all my friends and family in the Northeast please be prepared for the worst and be safe.  My thoughts and prayers are with you all.

Happy beading Y'all,
Therese
  





Thursday, October 25, 2012

A Time To Stitch 2 - Right Angle Weave and St Petersburg Stitches


Hi Y'all,

Welcome to A Time To Stitch 2 featuring Right Angle Weave and St. Petersburg stitches.  Hosted by Christine Altmiller of One Kiss Creations and me Therese Frank.

The rules for this challenge are pretty simple.  All we asked is to make something using these stitches, either one or both of the stitches.  If it was the first time for someone to stitch these stitches, then all we asked is that you try and if you only get an inch or two, then blog about the experience you had trying the stitch.

First up for me is Right Angle Weave (RAW).  RAW was a stitch that used to give me fits.  It took me a long time before the light turned on for this stitch.  I can not tell you how many times I would start this stitch, then get all confused on the needle path and through it across the room.  I was determine to learn this stitch, so I did not give up.  It finally clicked and everything fell into place and now I am making my own RAW designs such as this one...


I used 4 mm brown glass pearls, 4 mm topaz bicone crystals, 4 mm topaz roundels crystals, size 11 copper seed beads and 8x6 mm Tiger's eye briolettes. The clasp is a PM bronze clay toggle by Lesley Watts.

 Since I used all 4 mm size beads my piece has a wavy effect that makes it look like ruffled lace.  I rather like the effect.

This piece is my first Cubic Right Angle Weave (CRAW) piece.  Some of you may remember this necklace form Lisa Lodge's Bead Table Blog Hop earlier this month.  CRAW was another one that I just could not grasp until I watched a video that KJ of KJ's Beadacious Beads sent to me after I commented on how I just could not wrap my brain around CRAW, thank you KJ.

Second up St. Petersburg stitch.  This stitch to me was a simple one I got this stitch right off when I first tried it a couple of years ago.  I made a simple little bracelet, that I did not take a picture of, and gave it to a little girl as a gift.  For this challenge I made a neck strap for an bead embroidered piece I did a few years ago and just could not make up my mind if I wanted to make a neck strap for it or make it into a pin.

I did a double St Petersburg neck strap using turquoise size 11 seed beads, black size 8 seed beads, and red size 6 seed beads.  The clasp is a silver tone base metal toggle clasp.

The cabochon in this pieces is Chrysocolla from Arizona. 


I hope you have enjoyed viewing what I made for this round of A Time To Stitch challenge.  Now please come and join me in visiting all of the other participates.

Shannon Hicks was a participate, but she had to drop out of the challenge for reasons beyond her control. Please click on her name and go visit her blog anyway; read her past blog post and see all the beautiful pieces she has created.


Therese Frank and Christine Altmiller

Nikki Byers

Kristen Stevens

Shirley Moore
Happy beading Y'all,
Therese

Saturday, October 13, 2012

Bead Table Blog Hop - hosted by Lisa Lodge




Hi Y'all,

It is the reveal day for Bead Table Blog Hop hosted by Lisa Lodge Grateful Artist blog.  The rules were to purchase a bead soup site unseen from Lisa's bead table, make as many items as you could using the bead soup and items from your own stash.  You did not have to use all of the beads, but you were not to go and buy new to go with the beads in the bead soup.

Here is the bead soup I received from Lisa...


Here is what I made...


When I saw the ceramic pieces in the soup I knew I wanted to incorporate them in to a bead woven piece.  The challenge in this piece was what stitch and how was I going to make it look like all the pieces just flowed with the design.  I recently learned Cubic Right Angle Weave (CRAW) and I decided that I would use CRAW for the piece with the ceramic beads.  Lisa also included a few size 6 seed beads that were the perfect color to go with the ceramic beads.  From my stash I used black size 8 seed beads, silver tone base metal daisy spacers, and hypo allergenic earring hooks.  The design was moving along smoothly until I got to the point where I added the first ceramic bead, then I had problems.  Let me just tell you it is not easy to rip out CRAW, so I put the project down and went to bed.   I have heard people say that an idea came to them in a dream.  I was sort of skeptical until now, because the solution to my problem came to me in a dream.  I woke up knowing exactly what I had to do to fix the problem and it worked like a charm. By the time I got to the end of the CRAW rope I had ten of the size 6 seed beads left, so I put eight of them in rectangle part of the clasp and the other two on the ends of the toggle part of the clasp.  Ta dah  my first CRAW piece.  I took two of my silver tone base metal head pins and made earrings with the last two remaining ceramic beads.


In the bead soup there were fifteen 10 mm teal Czech glass beads, some gold tone base metal bicone beads, ten 8 mm jet Czech glass bead, and four 2 x 4 mm teal AB Czech glass beads.  From my stash I added 12 mm teal Fire Agate gem stones, 6 mm round jet glass beads, lobster claw, crimp beads and wire guards to make this Princess length necklace, bracelet, and two pairs of earrings.


Last, but not least I made two pairs of earrings.  The first pair I used the Reindeer charms, clear AB 6 mm Czech glass beads, and red, white, and green lamp work beads, from my stash I used gold tone wire and earring hooks. The second pair I used the pretty green 12 mm bumpy beads and the 16 mm white bumpy beads two of my head pins and earring hooks.  These are fun festive earrings for the up coming holiday season.  

I have lots more beads to play with, but if I weren't such a procrastinator I would have been able to create more pieces, so I would not have ran out of time!   

I want to thank Lisa for thinking up this fun challenge and it was a challenge believe me.  Look for more challenges to come hosted by Lisa in the near future.  I have sign up for one more of her challenges to be revealed in February.

Now go and check out all of these other participants and see what wonderful creations they made with their  Bead Soup from Lisa's Bead Table.


Your Host: Lisa Lodge 
  
Molly Alexander, Beautifully Broken Me
Audrey Belanger, Dreams of an Absolution
Ginger Bishop, lilmummy likes...
Tanya Boden, Fusion Muse
Lisa Boucher, Lisa’s Clay Happenings
Michelle Buettner, Mishel Designs
Eleanor Burian-Mohr, The Charmed Life
Mikala Coates, Maybe Just Perhaps
Marlene Cupo, Amazing Designs
Kathleen Douglas, Washoe Kat's
Mary Anne Klinglesmith Flesch, Hand Crafted Serenity
Therese Frank, Therese's Treasures (you are here)
Mary Govaars, MLH Jewelry Designs
Tanya Goodwin, A Work in Progress
Mary Hicks, Falling Into the Sky
Tina Holden, Polymer Clay Bytes!
Shelly Joyce, Au jour le jour
Carolyn Lawson, Carolyn's Creations
Kathy Lindemer, Bay Moon Design
Susan Lloyd, Designs by Susan
Cynthia Machata, Antiquity Travelers
Inge von Roos, Inge's Blog
Kristen Stevens, My Bead Journey
Sonya Stille, Dreamin' of Beads
Christine Stonefield, Sweet Girl Design
Toltec Jewels, Jewel School Friends
Norma Turvey, Moonlit Fantaseas
Sandra Wollberg, City of Brass Stories

Happy hopping Y'all,
Therese

Saturday, October 6, 2012

Holiday Bling Blog Hop hosted by Shelley Graham Turner and Marlene Cupo

Hi Y'all,

Welcome to the Holiday Bling Blog Hop hosted by Shelley Graham Turner and Marlene Cupo.  The rules for this hop were simple, just sign up and Shelly and Marlene picked you a partner.  Once you knew who your partner was, you were to contact your partner and find out a little bit about their likes and dislikes, and whether or not you wanted to swap ornaments or jewelry or both.  

My partner is Alicia Marinache of All Pretty Things blog.  Alicia and I contacted each other and found out what our favorite colors were and what types of things we liked.  We decided that we would do an ornament and a small piece of jewelry.  I was so excited not only for what I was going to receive from Alicia, but what Alicia was going to think of what I sent her.

I searched for and found just what ornament I wanted to make for Alicia.  Then I looked through my stash and found what I wanted to use for her piece of jewelry and got busy, so I could have both pieces done by September 15th which was the shipping deadline. I made the deadline packed it all up and shipped it off to Alicia.  It arrived to Alicia a week later then I was told it would arrive, but I was thrilled when Alicia told me that it arrived and everything was still in one piece.

I received Alicia's package on October 4th and this time I remembered to take picture of the unopened package, the wrapped gift, and then the items inside the gift box.  So here is what I received from Alicia.


Alicia made this Bling Bling necklace out of metal mesh cloth, Bling balls in 12 mm and 4 mm sizes and a Sterling Silver chain with a Sterling Silver "S" hook clasp.  I will love wearing this this holiday season.

This is my favorite piece I love copper and I already had this copper chain that I can hang this very pretty copper and teal crystal pendant from.  I will wear this one often.

I love this ornament it is very unique and I love unique.  Alicia and I are both non traditional in our like of ornaments, and this one in certainly not traditional. I love the teal color with the copper. Thank you Alicia for my beautiful gifts!

Thank you Shelley and Marlene for coming up with this great idea for a blog hop.  I had a lot of fun getting to know Alicia better and creating her gifts.  I hope that y'all do more interesting and fun hops similar to this one.

This is a hop, like it says in the title, so please hop on over to the other participants and see what they have received.

Michelle Fanucchihttp://micheladasmusings.blogspot.com
 Monique Urquharthttp://ahalfbakednotion.blogspot.com
Therese Frankhttp://theresestreasures59.blogspot.com (me)
Heather Ottohttp://www.thecrafthopper.com
Jo-Ann Woolverton http://itsabeadifulcreation.blogspot.com
Linda Florianhttp://lilysofthevalleyjewelry.blogspot.com
Debbie Rasmussenhttp://kepirasmussen.blogspot.com
Alicia Marinachehttp://www.allprettythings.ca (my partner)
Ginger Bishophttp://lilmummylikes.blogspot.com
Lo/  Lynn Jobber http://thecreativeklutz.blogspot.com
Leanne Loftushttp://firstimpressiondesign.blogspot.com
Rita/Toltec Jewelshttp://www.toltecjewels.blogspot.com
Shelly Joycehttp://www.aujourlejour-shelly.blogspot.com
Shai Williamshttp://shaihasramblings.blogspot.com
Lori Bowring Michaudhttp://artfullyornamental.blogspot.com
Lennis Carrierhttp://www.windbent.net
Marla Gibsonhttp://spiceboxdesigns.blogspot.com
Mary Howell Govaarshttp://mlhjewelrydesigns.com
Linda Younkmannwww.lindysdesigns.blogspot.com
Shirley Jones Moorehttp://​www.beadsandbread.blo​gspot.com
Melinda Orrhttp://www.orrtec.blogspot.com
Marlene Cupohttp://amazingdesigns-marlene.blogspot.com
Shelley Graham Turnerhttp://shelleygrahamturner.blogspot.com
Sonya Stille http://dreaminofbeads.blogspot.com
Dyanne Cantrellhttp://deelitefuljewelrycreations.blogspot.com
Anindita Basuhttp://www.alankarshilpa.blogspot.com
Dee Elgie http://cherryobsidia.blogspot.com
Gina Hocketthttp://freestyleelements.blogspot.com
Lori Jean Poppehttp://lorillijeanscreativecorner.blogspot.com
Charlie Jackahttp://clay-space.com/blog
Stephanie Stamper (Woods)http://skwds.blogspot.com
Mary Hicks, Shannon Hickshttp://uptwnsh-fallingintothesky.blogspot.com


Happy hopping Y'all,
Therese




Monday, October 1, 2012

She Made/She Made

Hi Y'all,

Welcome to the first month of She Made/She Made between Christine Altmiller of One Kiss Creations blog and myself.


Okay let me tell y'all how all this come about.  Once upon a time back in July 2012 I went to Pennsylvania where I met wonderfully sweet and caring beady chic by the name of Christine Altmiller.  We got along like as if we had known each other for years.  The first thing Christine and I did was hop in her car and made a bee line right to the only bead store in Carsile, PA by the name of "The Rolling Bead" (awesome store if you are ever in Carsile, PA ya need to go by there).  After we shopped we went to The Cracker Barrel where we met up with my Mom and we all had a wonderful lunch.  Christine and I opened our gifts to each other and since we both kept half of what we gave to each other (minus a couple of items) we decided that it would be fun to do a She made/She made each month.  We decided that she would make the fist pick of what we would use to create with and Christine chose the Blue Amazonite. 

  
(this picture is from Christine's blog I did not think to take a picture before I made my pieces Duh!) 
Don't you just love the icy blue color of these little beauties.

I bet you are wanting to see what I made aren't you?  Well okay since you have been so kind to have read through all of my rambling I will show you.

I apologize for this picture I was in a hurry to take pictures of my pieces for the fair that when I got to this one my camera battery died and since it is still at the fair I was not able to get a better photo before this reveal.

I had ordered this Mystic Blue Feldspar from Lima Beads before Christine made her pick.  When I knew that we were going to be using the Blue Amazonite I knew that the feldspar would go perfect with them.
Then the question was what was I going to use to highlight these beautiful blue stones.  My local bead store High Strung Beads was having a trunk show and I stopped by to see what she had and I spotted the silver tone hearts and knew these would be perfect with the blue stones. I also picked up some gunmetal daisy spacers. I had the small silver tone metal beads in my stash along with the clasp.  After I made the necklace I still had two of the feldspar, five of the amazonite, and four of the silver tone metal hearts so I made a bracelet and earrings.


Thank you for stopping by to see what I created for the September She made/She made. Christine will be making the choice for October and November is my pick, so in a couple of weeks come back and find out what we will be creating with in November. November is also my birthday month too and the She made/She made will be more of a We made/We made, because I am inviting a few others (they know who they are) to join in.   Now please go by Christine's blog and see what she created.

Happy beading Y'all,
Therese