Sue Beads

This is the day for the December reveal of Art Jewelry Elements' Component of the Month.  This month, the component was supplied by super-talented-wonderful-friendly-fun Jenny Davies-Reazor .  She sent us all a labyrinth charm to work with.  This one was mine!  At first, I was going to make a necklace.  I'm necklace challenged, and it seemed like a great idea.  But I have been sick for a month...yep, a month.  Just starting to stop coughing right now.  Ugh.  So, I made an ornament.  I have been in an ornament-making mood anyways, and I'll show you some I made in a future post (before I take my tree down!).  But I really like this one I made.  I found some czech faceted rondelles that match really well, and used a large round clear faceted bead on top, and one of my own lampwork beads as a dangle on bottom.  I would chance the jump rings connecting the top of the labyrinth, though, if I get a chance.  They are too...

The most lovely Sally Russick is hosting her second ornament swap and today is the reveal!  I had fun doing it last year, so I wanted to do it again this year!   My partner is probably one of the most positive, lovely ladies I have ever met - Kristin Stevens .  I had the pleasure of meeting her at Bead Fest Philly this year (and her daughter too) and I was very glad I ended up being her partner!  Here's what I made Kristin: I'm kind of stuck on these vintage chandellier parts I have, and wanted to use one of them.  And I really love the shimmery effects of the pixie dust on white glass, and I really love the baroque shape of the beads!  I made the hanger myself, too! And here's what Kristin made me: If you know Kristen, then you know she does wonders with beads!  Her little beaded beads so cute, and this ornament is so delicate - it has a prominent spot on my tree! Thank you Sally for hosting another fun swap!  Here's a list of...

I made this bracelet for a customer's niece - I thought it turned out really cute so I thought I would show you!  The little dangle is a jonquil swarovski butterfly - so cute!

Pantone announced their 2013 Color of the Year - Emerald!  If you're inclined to start designing with emeralds, you can find some in my SueBeads etsy store !

Over at Art Bead Scene there's an ornament blog hop happening December 4th!  Here's a sneak peek at what I'll be showing you! And here's what I made! There's an ornament blog hop going on with Art Bead Scene !  This is the ornament I gave you a sneak peek at on Saturday!  I made the green baroque bead and the hanger was made from brass wire - simple and easy to make.  The chandelier part has a funny story.  I purchased these on eBay having been given the impression they were vintage crystal.  They are neither vintage nor crystal.  I don't quite know what they are - they could be some sort of glass, but they almost feel like plastic to me.  You can see mold marks on the sides.  When I questioned the description, I was immediately given a refund no questions asked.  Hmmmm.  AND they said, don't send them back, just keep them.  Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm.  So, I had a pile of these things laying around, and decided they would m...

There's an ornament blog hop going on with Art Bead Scene !  This is the ornament I gave you a sneak peek at on Saturday!  I made the green baroque bead and the hanger was made from brass wire - simple and easy to make.  The chandelier part has a funny story.  I purchased these on eBay having been given the impression they were vintage crystal.  They are neither vintage nor crystal.  I don't quite know what they are - they could be some sort of glass, but they almost feel like plastic to me.  You can see mold marks on the sides.  When I questioned the description, I was immediately given a refund no questions asked.  Hmmmm.  AND they said, don't send them back, just keep them.  Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm.  So, I had a pile of these things laying around, and decided they would make great tree ornaments or window charms.  Now, go have fun looking at everyone else's ornaments! 

The winner of these beads from the Artisan Whimsey week of sales is: Pine Ridge Treasures! Thank you all for playing!

Erin Prais-Hintz , that wonderful woman, hosts quarterly challenges and November is the month for the Challege of Color !  I was lucky enough to be included in the hop, and I chose Algerian Abstract out of the two palettes she sent me.   The palettes came from the US Geological Service from their LandSat Project:   "Our Earth as Art: A Landsat Perspective" is a collection of spectacular satellite images acquired by the Landsat 7 satellite.  These remarkable portraits of earth were selected for their aesthetic value. The color enhanced satellite images show astonishing patterns and abstractions of vivid colors and fantastic shapes. The collection was originally developed to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Landsat program -- the United States' oldest land-surface observation satellite system that captures remotely sensed images of the earth's land surface and surrounding coastal regions. A series of satellites have been launched since 1972, with Lan...

Over at Art Jewelry Elements , we have a Component of the Month Challenge each month. The members of AJE can play along, and a few people are selected from comments!  This month, Lesley Watt   is the host of the CoM challenge!  She has the most wonderful things in her Thea Too shop, you really do need to check it out.  I have several items of hers that I have not used because, well, I'm a bead hoarder just like you! This is the focal she sent us - a beautiful bronze snowflake!  I thought long and hard about what I wanted to do with it.  Since I wanted to add a bail, and it would be permanent, I did not want to be hasty.  I used E6000 and glued the bail on!  There, that wasn't so hard, was it?  This is not exactly the color scheme I had in mind.  Nor the amount of strands I wanted to use.  I was thinking of an earth-toned color scheme, and it was going to be a six-strand necklace all with small seed beads.  However, t...

Thank you to everyone who was able to participate in the 7000 bracelets blog hop - I know it's a very busy time of year!  I didn't get to everyone's blog on Sunday because I had a migraine over the weekend!  I just finished hopping, and if I missed commenting on your blog, please let me know!  It was not intentional!  I just got new glasses (bifocals - yuck!) and am trying to get used to using the computer with the glasses on! Thanks again everyone!

Today is the day for the 7000 Bracelets Blog Hop! Back in October I posted about a call for more Blue Bracelets!  You can read that intial post here !   In essence, Lisa James of Global Genes Project was in need of some more blue bracelets to give their families who have a member with a rare genetic disease!  I decided it would be fun to do a little blog hop, to get them some exposure and donations! Here are the bracelets I made. I made the closures adjustable, with chain, because the wrist size of the recipient is not known.  I had fun making them and I hope they have fun receiving them! Here's a link to their donation page if you feel you can donate a blue bracelet for the cause! Global Genes Bracelet Donation Page! And here's a list of all the participants!  Please stop by their blogs and give them a little love and support!  And THANK YOU to all who participated!  SueBeads Jewel School Friends Silver Rose Designs ...

Shop the finest Component and Jewelry Designers For the 2012 Holiday Season Many of our artists have published work & sell their beautiful pieces nationally and internationally. Fabulous Handmade Component and Jewelry Pieces. The largest Artisan shopping event for Cyber Week...Ever!!  It starts this Friday, Nov. 23rd thru Friday Nov 30th. All participating jewelry designers will be offering a discount on their stores & will be promoting a giveaway .   Winners will be chosen individually by the blog owners. I will be offering 20% off in my SueBeads etsy store! For event wide discount code use:  AWHOLIDAY My giveaway is this gorgeous set of Cameo Beads in Plum worth $25!  Please comment on this post and I'll choose a random comment as the winner! We will be hiding Three Exciting Giveaways  throughout our participants blogs.   When you find them, follow the directions to be entered!  AND! Bookmark ArtisanW...

Check out Art Jewelry Elements blog tomorrow for all day posts, fun information and giveaways as well as a special holiday coupon code you can use in all the Art Jewelry Elements contributors' stores!  And Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Shop the finest Component and Jewelry Designers For the 2012 Holiday Season Many of our artists have published work & sell their beautiful pieces nationally and internationally. Fabulous Handmade Component and Jewelry Pieces. The largest Artisan shopping event for Cyber Week...Ever!!  It starts this Friday, Nov. 23rd thru Friday Nov 30th. All participating jewelry designers will be offering a discount on their stores & will be promoting a giveaway .   Winners will be chosen individually by the blog owners. I will be offering 20% off in my SueBeads etsy store! For event wide discount code use:  AWHOLIDAY My giveaway is this gorgeous set of Cameo Beads in Plum worth $25!   We will be hiding Three Exciting Giveaways  throughout our participants blogs.   When you find them, follow the directions to be entered!  AND! Bookmark ArtisanWhimsy.com for Future Artisan Jewelry Shopping Opportunities! ...

Sandra, from PetaloAzul , made these gorgeous earrings with my lampwork beads!  She made those ovals out of PMC, aren't they beautiful????  She is having a sale right now, too!  Check out her store, and give her some love!

Here's a cute little earring project using my white shimmer beads and some very easy to find components!  I used snowflake charms I had on hand, but you can easily use any wintery-holiday charms you have.  I used two rounded square beads, two pretty bead caps, and one of my shimmer beads for each earring - one eye pin each and you're in business!  This is a great little project to use up some beads you have on hand!  You can find shimmer beads in many colors in my SueBeads etsy store, or you can request a color as well!

Thanks to Amy of Copper Diem , I heard about the organization Ears to You !  They provide earrings to woman who are undergoing cancer treatments, to make them feel a little bit better!  I missed her blog hop, because as you know I just can't keep up with all this social media, so I decided to just show you what I donated on Saturday.  I am actually donating 93 pairs of earrings!  This collage is just a sample.  I had so many earrings from shows I used to do before I made my own beads.  Now I like to use my own beads when possible when making jewelry to sell, so I thought this would be a good place to donate them!  I hope you check out their web site, here's their donation page if you'd like to make a donation!

I've listed some new enameled leaf charms in my SueBeads etsy store, and thought I would show you what I made with a pair of them!  They are made with czech red druks, and orange lucite rounds and brass components.  This is just one idea of what you can do with these enameled leaves!  These earrings are now listed in my new SueBeadsJewelry etsy store!  Please stop by and like me!

 Jennifer Cameron, of Glass Addictions , has been putting together a charm swap for a number of years.  As with last year, this year the charm swap is going to benefit Beads of Courage .  Beads of Courage is an organization that provides, through donations, beads to children who are going through life threatening illnesses.  They string their beads on a necklace for every treatment they receive, and sadly, survive.  Sometimes a child just does not survive their illness and the parent will receive a special bead to commemorate the child's life.  I have donated beads in the past, and am working on another donation right now.  I enjoy participating in Jen's swap, and there will be an auction on ebay - all the charms you see will be auctioned in groups and all proceeds will go to Beads of Courage.  Below are photos of the charms I made.  The theme was LAUGH.  I thought some goofy charms were in order, hope they make you laugh!  T...