Sue Beads

Heather Powers is once again hosting the Ornament Blog Hop through the Art Bead Scene Blog!  Since I love making ornaments, I participate every year she does this!  Here's what I made this year! This first one is made with my lampwork beads and a heart by Kristie Roeder of Artisan Clay.  These next three are made with my lampwork beads and wood pendants by Ashley at Summer Wind Art! Check out the post tomorrow for the links to all the participants at Art Bead Scene !

And it's time for another Component of the Month with Art Elements.  This month we had a guest contributor - Kristie Roeder of Artisan Clay.  Even though I didn't get chosen to use one of the components she gave away, I had one in my stash that I had recently reclaimed from an unsold necklace, so I decided to play along! As usual, I did not take a photo of the piece before I used it.  But really, did you expect me to? I really enjoy the zen I get from bead weaving, so I decided that's what I was going to do with this ceramic ring.  However, the hole in the middle presented a dilemma to me.  I had seen Jennifer Cameron made a piece and filled in the hole with a perfectly sized czech bead; however, I didn't have any.  I did, however, have this lucite flower bead, and I used a small czech flower in the middle, and a size 15 cobalt bead to hold it all in place!  I have these awesome black necklace blanks so I decided to make the loops to simply s...

Art Elements has a new group on FaceBook!  Art Elements Extras !  Here we will destash some of our own beads and creations, and later, other components and beads as well!  Since it's opening weekend, we have some giveaways too!  So hop on over and ask to join the group!

You may have noticed that we changed our name and look over at Art Jewelry Elements - we are now Art Elements .  Read all about it! Also it's time for the October Component of the Month - this month, Jennifer Cameron provided us with these cute sugar skulls! I managed to take a photo of mine this time, before I made my necklace! I love the colors she used, and wanted to make a colorful necklace as well! Here's what I made, using seed beads and czech flowers!  I think it's fun! I was so happy to be able to use these czech flowers, as I am currently obsessed with them. I went to Prague this summer but was not able to find any czech beads for purchase! Thanks to Jen for the sugar skull inspiration!  Check out what everyone else made! Guest Designers Staci Louise Smith Karin Grosset Grange Solange Collin Art Elements Team Caroline Dewison Susan Kennedy Laney Mead Claire Fabian Diana Ptaszynski Jenny Davies-Reazor Cathy Spivey Men...

UPDATED to add:  There's a small hitch with the eBay auction, new details will be posted as soon as available. Today is the reveal for the Beads of Courage Charm Swap and Auction, once again hosted by Jennifer Stout Cameron.  This year the theme was Fairy Tales.  This was a bit of a challenge for me.  Until I got this in the mail: I don't even think this is the one I ordered, but I wasn't going to send it back to the UK and exchange it, so I kept it.  I immediately thought "pot of gold" when I saw that one roller section. So, I looked up the leprechaun and pot of gold legend and the rest, as they say, is history. First, here are my charms: And now, the story of the leprechaun and the “Pot O’ Gold” Fairy Tale: Leprechaun The Leprechaun is a type of fairy in Irish folklore.   They are depicted as tiny, solitary, bearded men who cause mischief.   According to legend, they spend their time making and mending shoes and hav...

I really didn't have a lot of creative time this month as I had a bunch of concrete work done at my house and, I don't know about you, but I can't get a thing done when people are working at my house.  The noise and dust really precluded me from making beads as it wrecked my concentration.  So I wasn't going to have anything for this month's challenge until I remembered this morning I made a tree bead in the JC Herrell class I took two summers ago!  So here it is! I do have ideas for making more tree beads but so far, haven't done it.  I'm late to the party! Here are the other participants please take a look at what they created!  It was a fun challenge for many people! AJE Team Jennifer Stout Cameron Lesley Watt Jenny Davies-Reazor Laney Mead Niky Sayers Cooky Schock Cathy Spivey Mendola Caroline Dewison   Guests Brooke Bock Karin Grosset Grange Merja Sundström Cindy Martin Shaw Allison L Norfleet Bruenger Meli...

It's the end of August, which means it's time for another Art Jewelry Elements challenge!  This month it was a headpin design challenge, and I am ALL OVER IT!  I have a few headpin tutorials over at the Art Jewelry Elements blog: Flower Disc Bead Earrings Flower Headpin Earrings Earring Stacks with Headpins And then I made all of these other earrings with my headpins! These earrings used pretty filigree copper bead caps with czech beads and a size 8 seed bead. These earrings used a gorgeous brass bead cap with a titanium hematite rondelle and a size 8 seed bead in a complementary color. These beach inspired earrings used an ammonite headpin with titanium hematite spacers, and a gorgeous coppered aqua pumpkin bead, an indonesian bead, a wood bead, and a size 11 seed bead to capture all of the elements of the beach! And these earrings, which are also beach themed, using an ammonite headpin, titanium hematite spacer beads, czech faceted ronde...