Sue Beads

My friend and fellow Art Jewelry Elements member, Diana Ptaszynski, is hosting today's Waxed Linen Cord Blog Hop!  A big thank you to Diana, as this is a really big job!  I was excited to join in, I have been making some new chicklet beads recently and wanted to show off some ways you can use them!

 I used a pretty spicy orange color of waxed linen cord, and a great button I got from someone on etsy who I will have to find again because I love his buttons!  I used indonesian glass in between my flower chicklet beads.  And finally, some silver accent beads I picked up at a bead show here last year! 
To finish the bracelet off, I used two indonesian glass triangle beads!

And then, to be annoying and over-achieverish, I made these earrings.  I used salmon cord, copper accent beads, my chicklet beads in a different orientation, and mustard colored seed beads!  I also used the new shape feature on Picmonkey!

Please check out what everyone else made in the blog hop by visiting the link…

Yet another month has passed us by, it's time for the April Component of the Month Reveal over at Art Jewelry Elements!  Lesley Watt provided components for us for April - buttons, or clasps, however you wanted to use them!  The one I chose was right in the middle!

 As usual, I did not take a photo of the button before I actually used it, so here is a closeup! 

 I had a few idea in my head none of which really worked out.  I didn't have the right color beads, I couldn't find the right color glass to make beads, I didn't have the right color waxed linen...on and on.  Finally, I went to Michael's for a little visual stimulation.  While I was there, I picked up the citrine (???) chips and the bronze colored beads.
 I strung three strands of beads (I already had the seed beads at home, woo hoo!) and then braided them before I attached to the bronze clasp with the crimp beads.  The bronze clasp is kind of urchin-ey, so I felt it worked really well.  Plus, I'm really…

I just wanted to show you what I have been working on for Bead Fest Philly (Aug. 23-25 SHOP - I'm in Booth 463)!!!!!  I only have 4 button mandrels at the moment, so each bead session I can only make four buttons, but I really like them!  I'll make as many as I can before Bead Fest, and if you want any, let me know! 

I made buttons yesterday - to be specific,small shank buttons. Whenever I try something new, for some reason, I am thinking small and that's how they come out! I think it's because the creative process is somewhat hard for me at times - to go outside the safety of what I usually do, and do something different. I think they are probably too small to actually use on a bracelet, I'm not sure. That's why I am showing you and asking your advice! They measure approximately 12mm. Maybe they aren't too small? I think the shank part is too thick, and I think the button part needs to be larger, to be able to be caught by whatever you would loop it with. Most likely it would be strung seed beads, I guess, or maybe silk cord or leather or something like that. And who knows why the first photo turned out and the second one is somewhat blurry - and why I can't seem to edit my photos unless the engineer is standing right next to me...

Some are made on a 1/16" man…