Sue Beads

Appropriately, Jenny provided us with kintsugi hearts for the Art Elements February Component of the Month.


But not just any hearts - broken hearts, stitched up.  You may know that kintsugi is the japanese term for repairing broken things, in some cases pottery with gold.  That's what these hearts stand for! I chose one of the olive green hearts, mostly because that's my favorite color. And yes, as usual, I did not take a photo of mine before I started working on it!

Here's a close-up of my heart:


 I made a beaded bezel with some awesome metallic earth delicas I picked up on my trip to Houston in Fall, 2016.  Then I used some great old gold size 15s, and finally finished the bezel with bronze gold 8s and galvanized gold 15s that match the gold foil perfectly.

I used an awesome gold heart charm from Cathy Daly that I purchased in her etsy store to finish the bezel.

And here's a photo of it finished and hanging on a thin black cord.  I could also put it on a gold chain, …

This month, Jenny Davies-Reazor provided us with amulets for the Component of the Month Challenge!  Yep, forgot to take a photo of the one I got before I used it, but here's what she made!

Here's the one I received.  Notice the bottom of the amulet - so awesome!




I chose the stone Angelite to go with the amulet I received.  I've always been attracted to this stone and have a small hoard of it.  Little did I know that Angelite really speaks to me!  Here's why:

Angelite is associated with the Throat Chakra.  It so happens that I am a thyroid cancer survivor.  Angelite is also a stone for creative people!  Angelite helps the wearer raise conscious awareness and promotes peace.  You can see more about Angelite on Caryl Haxwoth's page - very interesting!

So here's what I made.  I chose to keep it simple on purpose.  I was going to try and fashion some sort of "lid" for the amulet out of a silver disc, or go to Michaels and get a cork, but chose to leave it …

This month, Jenny Davies-Reazor is the host of the January AJE Component of the Month - the theme is use your stash.  I had high hopes of getting a lot done, but between work and other life stuff, I only was able to complete one piece.  Here it is!

It's actually not completed yet because I need to make a strap for it.  But it's almost done!  I used one of  Jenny's pendant pieces and bezeled it with pretty purple delicas and red seed beads.  Then I added the czech flowers, with a stop bead, and the row of 8s with a stop bead as well.  Finally, I finished the edge with a picot edging.  I like it a lot. I wish I had time to complete more pieces, but I'm glad I at least got one done!

Please visit with everyone else and see what they made!  Thanks for stopping by!

AJE team: Lesley Watt Lindsay Starr Caroline Dewison Jennifer Cameron Jenny Davies-Reazor Susan Kennedy Niky Sayers Guests:  Terri - Terrri’s Blooming ideas Shai - Shai’s Ramblings Melissa - Bead Recipes Tammy - Paisley  Lizar…

For the January Component of the Month Challenge at Art Jewelry Elements, we decided to do a "use your stash" challenge.  Use pieces you have from other AJE Team Members.  The guests were each chosen and sent a piece from one of the AJE Team Members to make something with as well.

Here are my pieces for this month!

 I made these earrings from heart charms I had from Kristi Bowman-Gruel.  I put the copper floral charms together with gorgeous pearls and gold filled ear wires - the gold filled ear wires don't seem to bother my ears like other metals do.
 These cute pink earrings were made from Diana Ptaszynski's flower charms - I made these for my mom - her favorite color is pink.
 These earrings were made from charms by Linda Landig!  I got these at Bead Fest in August!
 And these earrings, which are my new favorites, are with silver metal clay beads by Melissa Meman.  The photo below shows the detail on the beads!

I made these with cute brass spacer beads I bought at …

Works in Progress...do you have them?  I rarely do.  I rarely make jewelry anymore, and when I do it's usually one at a time, and there are no works in progress.  But lately (and I mean since before Bead Fest) I haven't felt too creative on the bead-making front.  And now that I've had a little time over the holidays, I decided to get my creative juices flowing in a different way.  I have really become interested in all things bead weaving and seed beads, so I'm working on some little projects right now.  My CoM from December was this little spiral rope number:

I had tried to work on a Russian spiral, but with the white, it was too hard to learn.  So I did just a regular spiral rope.

I also made this spiral rope for this focal I made that I absolutely LOVE (it's really hard to photograph the colors in these seed beads, but they are awesomely rainbow):

And this one is actually for reveal later, but I'm still showing it, cuz I loves it! I learned to do a picot ed…

Over the weekend, my boyfriend and I took a little overnight break and went to the Berks Bead Bazaar in Reading, PA.  My friends Diana Ptaszynski, Staci Smith and Jenny Davies-Reazor were vending there so I really wanted to go and check it out!  We drove up Saturday, got there about 1:30, stayed at the bead show until it closed at 5, and had a fun dinner at Tokyo Hibachi.  The next morning we decided to leave about 11 because of the monster snowstorm predicted (and btw, we got about 2 inches of snow at home...).

Of course, while I was there, I had to buy some beads!  Here are some photos!

Diana Ptaszynski and her husband Colin, and the beads I got from her - notice the cab!  Can't wait to get started using these!
 Jenny Davies-Reazor and the beads I picked up from her - 2 cabs - hmmm, is there a pattern here?
 Staci Smith and the great polymer clay beads I purchased from her!  She was there with her daughter Julia, who was also selling her beads!
 An amazing lampwork bird from Pat…

It's time again for the Art Jewelry Elements monthly challenge, and this month, Jenny Davies-Reazor provided us with the component!  She made these amazing escutcheon molded polymer clay pendants, with a word saved inside with resin!  She made this one especially for me, as I am having a few health issues of late.  I always forget to take a photo before I start working on the piece!

Mine was in colors of olive green, verdigris and blue.  I love it!  As I didn't have any beads in my stash to really match well with the pendant, I had to go to Michael's to find something.  I found these blue/green glass rounds and they really went so well there was no way I couldn't purchase them!

 Then I looked down and saw the buddha head beads!  I knew I had to have that as well! 
 I used a turquoise teardrop from my stash as well as titanium hematite beads I picked up at Bead Fest and had the bottom done!
 I've also been dabbling in kumihimo lately, since I won an amazing prize p…

I'm just going to jump right in and give you the eye candy post now!  These are all beads that I traded with various creative women at Bead Fest - one of the best parts!  Click on the photos to see them bigger!

A trio of beads from Jenny Davies-Reazor.  She makes yummy ceramics and I love being her neighbor at Bead Fest! 

Gorgeous amulet from Diana Ptaszynski - these are new for her and so popular one even got stolen from her table!  

Metal and polymer lovlies from Staci Klinger Smith - can't wait to make something with that owl!  I wanted to get one of her gigantor hearts, but I didn't...


Amazing goodies from Mary at White Clover Kiln!  Her ceramics are so colorful they just make me happy looking at them!

Finally some fantastic raku from Amy Mealey of Xaz Bead Company.  She just gets the most amazing raku colors and I'm a sucker for hearts!  She is too genergous, as well!

I'm so thrilled with all of the beads, I am going to go fondle them now!  Back tomorrow wit…