Charming!

I've been searching for all kinds of vintage charms to make a bracelet.  It took awhile to collect enough but here it is!

I have a few duplicates, so I might replace those if something else comes along.  There's two mustard seed charms, two pink Lucite cubes and two shoes with birthstones (different stones in them).

I can't decide if I want to continue and add more charms on the other side of the chain, too.

I love the door knocker, it moves but my favorite one is Popeye!

See the old license plate?  I want to find a ton of those to make another bracelet, so if you happen to have any laying around, please let me know!

More Finds!

This seller says this is a children's bracelet but it fits me! Pretty scarab bracelet:

This is one I'm pretty darn proud of, an owl rhinestone stick pin!

Funky green plastic earrings and pin.  Would you sell these as a set or individually?

I've been seeing these a lot lately and am getting quite the set of them, tin litho pins:

Celluloid Scottie dog pin

Rhinestone bracelet:

Rhinestone necklace:

Great poodle pin!  Moving hair, now you see it's eyes

and now you don't!

Funky plastic amber earrings:

Look how the dots are just suspended in the plastic!

Pretty cool, huh?

MeCation

Yep, you read that right, MeCation.  I'm taking a MeCation.  It's all about me.  Me, Me, Me.  No schedules, no worries, do what I want, when I want.  It's fun, I highly recommend it to everyone!

Here's a few things I've been doing while on mecation:  

I started out by cutting some covers for notepads.

Then, I cut out some more covers for notepads.

Then, I made, um, a few um, hundred tags.

Next, I cut and rolled some paper beads.

Made two more garlands.

I'm fond of the cork garland, I used old crazy lace agate!

I found this bracelet that I made about a year ago, but it was just a bit too small.

Such a simple fix, I don't know why I let it sit so long.  I love these colors!

Here's where I got a tad bit sidetracked!

Yes, I played with a sharp needle!

This is where the fun began!

I did NOT make these felted orbs, I purchased them this way.

I'm in love with that clasp!

Now I have felted orb bracelets for every color outfit!

That's it for now!  I'm only on day four of my mecation and I'm thinking about making it a month long thing!

Shop Closing

It's sad to see shops close. Lisa from http://www.beadsoul.etsy.com/ has decided to close up shop. She's having a sale to reduce inventory, so stop by and see if there's anything you can use. She's a great person and you won't be disappointed with your purchase.

I came across these Mother of Pearl (dyed yellow) bead frames in her shop and was fascinated by them! I just had to give them a try. Here's my first attempt:

I used a Mother of Pearl fish button for the center. I can't wait to find more items I can put in the center of these frames!
Okay, so I went away to try out a few more items and came up with this:Using vintage lucite cubes and gold beads.

Using the MOP frames, I put 2 orangy vintage lucite cubes with one gold ball, then put a green vintage lucite cube in the next frame.

I really like how this came out, it's fun and funky!

I finished it off with a butterfly magnetic clasp.

Where's Waldo?????

Here's the first look of another new line! My Where's Waldo line!

This one is Cavemen

And.....

Here's Waldo!

Featured Buyer!

Yep, that's right, this post is about another featured BUYER, not seller! I love it when people share what they've made from the items I make!

Today is Lisa (aka Toppogigio) who has purchased several lots of paper beads. Just look at what she's done with them!

The first items are made from legal pad paper beads! These are awesome!

These are Lisa's own words: "The Legal Paper beads are actually strung on the Fireline, and the daisy chain just seemed like a fun way to add some interest. I love the way the earrings came out with the dangles...they are fun. Later on I will probably want to get some more of the Legal Paper beads from you. They are really a lot of fun with the variety of colors, and I think they would be great for spring and summer wear. I want to do a similar necklace and earrings set only with multiple strands. I used all of those on the set I made up.That Daisy Chain is pretty easy to do once you get the hang of it, and goes pretty quickly. I can zip out a bracelet reasonably fast now that I know how to do it."

The next items are all made from Pencil paper beads! Just look at what she's done with these!

And Lisa says "The Pencil Beads were strung on light wire (I think it was 12 or 15) with black glass rounds, yellow-green bugles, white 10/seeds, and some very pale green glass "diamond"-shaped beads. I wanted to pull in the colors in the paper but not overwhelm the beads too much. The necklace is very light despite the double strands. "

Nice job, Lisa and thanks for sharing with me and allowing to share with others!

Sneak Preview - New Paper Beads for 2009

This is another new design I've been working on. Hourglass shaped beads with moving parts. I used a jump ring around the center of the bead and love how they worked out.

I used antique copper again, matched the jump ring to the bead caps and used a topaz glass cube. What do you think?

Paper Bead Bracelet

It seems such a long time since I blogged! I finally took some time to do something for myself today. I made a bracelet!! I love how it turned out.

Using two new bead designs that I'll be introducing to my shop next year, I used grey agate beads with antique copper bead caps along with my paper beads. The paper beads were made from wallpaper and are big and chunky! Plus, they have my favorite color in them, purple.

I finished off the bracelet with this wonderful box clasp with a large crystal. I am not really pleased with the clasp, I like how it looks, but it's a bit hard to get on because of a safety feature it has. As long as I take my time and show a little patience, I can get it on one handed. For that reason, I don't think I'll ever make a bracelet to sell with this clasp on it!

Featured Seller

I have a fan! It's such a great feeling! Shannon from Square Effects loves my map bracelets and beads. She advertises for me more than I do myself! She made a bracelet that just blows me away and I want to show it here.
Isn't this amazing? I can't imagine stringing all those seed beads. To top it off, she added a great lava bead! I just love this bracelet! You can see this and more at: http://www.squareeffects.etsy.com/