Beads and Bread: white

Sunday, September 7, 2014

Anchors Aweigh Reveal!!

Today's the day!! I'm so very excited to show you what I've created!!!
I'm thrilled to not only participate in this blog hop by the wonderful Rita (Toltec Jewels), but to get to play with Diana Ptaszynski's beads!!! I just adore Diana's beads, and this is one of my most worn bracelets. That girl knows her stuff!

Here's a pic of the beads I received for this challenge. And you can go here to pick up some of your own!

Stormy Seas Anchor Charm Pair

I love the soft color of these babies. I could have gone in a green direction, or blue, or grey.
I knew what style I wanted for them, I just wasn't sure how to accomplish my idea. So off I went to Pinterest. I love heading over there for ideas and inspiration. I just typed anchors and sea in the search box, and got lots of ideas!!!

I chose to go with a 'rope' theme. I kept it very simple, because I wanted the rope idea to lead the way.

Sigh, I seriously need to learn some image skills. You really can't see the different colors in the images, but I used a soft grey accented with tiny silver 15's. The other side is a soft, matte white lined in silver.

A soft and simple interlocking knot.

Perfectly accented with that gorgeous anchor bead!

The colors glow in the sunlight!

I'm so pleased with this piece, thank you Rita for the challenge, and Diana for the wonderful inspiration!

Please go check out all the challenge participants.

Featured & Honored Artist: Diana Ptaszynski

Diana's Shop: Suburban Girl Beads

Diana's Blogs: Suburban Girl Studio

Art Jewelry Elements

Hostess: TJ Jewel School Friends

Bobbie Rafferty Beadsong Jewelry

Chris Eisenberg Wanderware

Heather Richter Desert Jewelry Designs

Michelle McCarthy Firefly Design Studio

Kathy Lindemer Bay Moon Design

Dini Bruinsma Angaza by Changes

Cynthia Machata Antiquity Travelers

Kathleen Breeding 99 Bottles of Beads on the Wall

Linda Younkman Lindy's Designs

Robin Reed Artistry HCBD

Marla Gibson Spice Box Designs

Gina Hockett Freestyle Elements

Renetha Stanziano Lamplight Crafts

Marianne Baxter Simply Seablime Jewelry

Christina Miles Wings N Scales

Marybeth Rich A Few Words from Within the Pines

Shai Williams Shaiha's Ramblings

Cheri Reed Creative Designs by Cheri

Monique Urquhart A Half-Baked Notion

Jennifer Reno Musings of a Crafty Jenny

Shirley Moore Beads and Bread

Tammy Adams Paisley Lizard

Melissa Trudinger Bead Recipes

Jill Bradley JillyBeads

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

It's 'Time to Stitch' again!!!

This is one of my very favorite challenges! Hosted by the awesome Therese Frank, and Christine Altmiller, this challenge explores beadweaving stitches. Sparks your creativity, and helps you work on some stitches that maybe....you've avoided in the past?? Yep.
This challenge was just a bit different, in that we were asked to create something from a flat stitch, and a spiral stitch.
So, for flat stitch, we could choose brick, ladder, or square. Oh joy. None of these guys are on my top list of faves....
Ok, so what about the spiral? Those were Russian, Cellini, or African. Better, much better. I've made Russian and Cellini, and haven't tried African yet, so....cool. Now, back to that flat stitch...
I have done some flat brick, specifically the leaves in Kerrie Slade's English Rose pattern. Loved them!!! So let's just go see what we can find, cause of course, I needed to try something new, right?
I found this tute, and decided to try it. A friend had asked me to make a bracelet for her daughter, using some bicones that her daughter had been gifted. I thought this would make a perfect teen bracelet.

I love the color combo, and it is an eye-catching pattern.

However, my tiny bit of OCD kicks in, and that uneven edge really bothers me. :)

But it was totally fun to make, and I think if I made it with an even edge, I'd really love it, so I'm going to try that. I'll post pics and you can help me decide.

What I enjoyed was the opportunity to search out patterns that I may have otherwise overlooked.

I really thought I was going to try the African helix for my spiral stitch. I have Carol Cypher's book, Mastering Beadwork, and she explains that stitch very clearly. But I ran just a bit short on time, so I went with a stitch I knew I could do quickly....the Cellini spiral. I really love this stitch, and it's endless variations. However, I usually make a short tube of it, as I've found I don't love how it becomes stiff in a bangle or necklace. Now, I'm really not the best at decreasing smoothly, or transitioning from one stitch to another, so I was pleasantly surprised at how well I did this time.

The color combo started with the beautiful, soft yellow Twin beads by Preciosa. In the Cellini, you are building from smallest bead to largest. My smalls were size 15 Hyacinth AB, moving to an orange-red size 11, then to the lime size 8's, and finally the yellow twins, then back down again.

I love the vibrant color palette, perfect for summer. I transitioned the cellini to CRAW. I made one side of the CRAW, measured it to fit my wrist, and embellished it. That's when my daughter spied it. She's almost 13, and a tiny thing. These are some of her favorite colors, so she immediately asked if it was for her. Hmmm, now I had a dilemma. I had to make the other side the same length as the first...but that would be too big for her wrist, after adding the toggle.

Well, we discovered that using a small magnetic clasp would make the size work for her. It's just a bit loose, but she loves it. And I love that I get to see how well that clasp worked. Again, I would not have ever thought to use it, until circumstances pushed me there. Thanks Therese and Christine, for another great challenge!