Sue Beads

Once again, it's time for the Art Jewelry Elements Component of the Month challenge!  This month, Kristen Stevens provided us with woven beaded rings!  I had some black ones that I wanted to work with.  I had a few ideas - I was going to make earrings with my glass headpins; I was going to use one of my black metallic steampunk hearts and make a necklace.  But life really got in the way this month for me.  I had a water disaster in my house while gutting and redoing a bathroom, and am dealing with lots of work in the house at this point!  I had purchased these awesome fox pendants from Summer Wind on etsy to make something for my boyfriend, and so I decided to make him some ornaments (they were going to be a secret, but probably not anymore!).  Sadly, as I was trying to ream out the hole a little to fit a jump ring in, I broke this one.  It's so cute too.  Luckily she has more for sale so I have ordered one and I'll make him the s...

Don't forget I'm having my biggest sale of the year in my SueBeads etsy store right now through Cyber Monday, December 1!  Get 25% off your order with coupon code TURKEY14 ! 

Each year for several years, Jennifer Cameron has hosted a Beads of Courage benefit - a charm swap and then an auction on eBay.  All proceeds from donated charms go to Beads of Courage.  Today is the reveal and blog hop, and I will give you a link so you can go bid on the wonderful charms on eBay!  Each participant made 11 charms with the theme SOAR - 10 were swapped (we receive one of our own) and one was provided for the auction.  These are my charms!  Lampwork birdies!   I made two colors for the swap, turquoise and red, and I made three for the auction in different colors with heart dangles.  And these are the charms that I received! 1st row - Cassi Paslick , Caroline Dewison , Jenny Davies-Reazor 2nd row - WindBent, Alicia Marinache , Mallory Hoffman 3rd row - Michele McCarthy , Terri DelSignore , Rita Avila Please visit everyone to see what they made and received.  And please visit THIS LINK to bid early and of...

From Thanksgiving Day, November 27 through Cyber Monday, December 1, please use coupon code TURKEY14 to take 25% OFF in my SueBeads etsy store !!!!!  And thank you for being a wonderful customer and reader!

In preparation for my big Black Friday/Small Business Saturday/Cyber Monday sale I thought I'd show you what you can do with some of my beads!  Today, I'm showing necklaces!  This first one was made with 35 of my new round beads made with enamel powders and raku frit!  There are little silver spacers in between each bead!  You can always request large numbers of beads from me to make something like this!  The necklace above was made with one of my new free-formed focal beads, also with enamel powders and raku frit, with the addition of a swirl imprint, murrini and black dots on both sides.  I used a sandstone colored fossil bead and blue seed beads and bronze faceted beads and a gorgeous saki silver bronze clasp.  This necklace uses one of my heart focals.  I pulled the green and purple colors of the bead and wire wrapped pretty faceted rondelles and rounds.  This bead is one of my favorites right now, a long hand-shaped heart wi...

I've been working on some new beads using a black metallic glass that I really love.  First I made the hearts with the swirl imprint.  I loved the colors I got from the glass. Then had the inspiration to add gold leaf to the bead, to make it really awesome!  Hope you enjoy - you can get these in the SueBeads etsy store right now!  And I made a few large (1 1/4") lentil shaped beads as well! 

I am participating again this year in Jen Cameron's Beads of Courage Charm Swap and Auction!  Many of us signed up to create charms not only to swap with one another, but also to donate for an auction to be held on eBay, all to benefit Beads of Courage.  The auction will begin on November 24th, and we will have a fun reveal of the charm swap on November 25th!  For now, I leave you with a sneak peek at my charms, and please come back to find out where and how to bid on some great charms!

I've been having fun making heart beads - hand-shaped, long, primitive looking!  You can find them in my etsy store ! Some have pure gold leaf on them, as well!

This month, it was Karen Totten's turn to provide the component of the month to the AJE Bloggers and their guests.  She makes amazingly meaningful ceramic components - you can find her shop here!   Here's what Karen made for us to enjoy. As usual, I did not photograph the component I chose. It's the yellow and brown one in the lower left/center of the photo. I knew what I wanted to make right when I got it.  So I asked team member Jenny Davies-Reazor if she had any face cabs left, and she did! I used a tutorial I had purchased on etsy by Beverly Herman for "Queen Wanna Bead" .  This challenge proved to be a little bit difficult for me. I think that, for this pattern, you really have to use what Beverly tells you to use for the base - I used ultrasuede because that's the only thing I've ever used when I bezel a cab.  But you really need stiffer material because this is a larger, busy piece.  I am going to try it again, and use the right materials,...