Majesty Set And Simple Spiral Stitched Pieces

More simple pieces with spiral stitch, worked on August and September. I hope to finish the pendant for the Majesty Set (below) next month but no guarantee. My initial plan was to put fringes on the peyote bail but decided to work on an encrusted pendant instead. The set is made of seed beads, garnet chips and freshwater pearls.

Again, sorry for the crappy photos.

Happy New Year everybody!

Loopy Loop Necklace

Here's another necklace I managed to dig from my finishes early this year. It's such a quick project and I enjyed creating it.

Have fun, fun, fun beading!

Bracelets For Mom

These bracelets were made for Mom as part of her birthday gifts. Forgive me if I keep on mentioning that I love making jewelries for her, specially bracelets. Almost all the time, she wears one of the bracelets I made for her. I make it a point that for every occasion, I include a handmade bracelet or necklace as part of her gifts.

I know I need to improve my works, specially the color combinations! LOL At times, I get stuck with what colors to combine then ended up using monotone like the above... but there are times that I pick a mixture of bold colors when the piece is mine, like below bracelets. LOL And again, sorry for the crappy photos.

I love working with all kinds of beads, unfortunately, my bead stash is not as much as my stitching stash. Maybe time will come ha! LOL I have a long list of beading supplies I want to buy, but $$$ is tight at the moment so I have to wait. Most of my tools came from Walmart, while beads & findings from Hobby Lobby and few online stores.

On the positive note, majority of my christmas gifts this year are beading-related so imagine my happiness. I got Beading & Button magazine and Cube Bead Stitching book from MIL, box full of beads (seed, E beads, size 6, pendants, findings, etc.) and box organizers from DH, more beads and organizer from SIL... plus of course gift cards from my fave craft stores. Now if only the snow will melt asap, I can spend as mucht ime shopping beads. I can't wait for spring! LOL

Till next time everybody. Enjoy beading!

Stringing And Encrusting

These were completed around February 2009. A couple of lariats for me, in shades of gold and amethyst, both adorned with beaded beads and freshwater pearls.

I know, I know... the chain doesn't match the pendant! LOL

Below is the updated chain for the above pendant. I also made a coordinating bracelet then the set became part of MIL's christmas gifts. I didn't include the earrings though as she prefers loop silvers.

A couple of simple bracelets for me. Made them in time for spring. Both pieces has button and loop closure.

Happy beading everybody!

Updated Pearly Shell

Remember "Pearly Shell" necklace from my first post? Well, I decided to change the chain and made a matching bracelet for it. I think the pendant looks way better with this chain, which is made of beaded beads, glass pearls, crystals and gold plated pewter spacers. Both necklace and bracelet close with toggle clasp. This set will stay i my collection... matching loop earrings were already made as well!

Happy beading!

More Jewelry Sets Made This Year

I (think I) finished all these sets on last week of February and April 2009. I really enjoyed using peyote stitch then... up to now actually.

Can you tell I love this color combination? I named this set "Simply Gold" as the dominant color in it is gold. I used silver lined gold seed beads on beaded beads or peyote tube. The set is composed of necklace with encrusted pendant, bracelet, loop earrings and thumb ring.

I'm an EGA member and last April, the chapter I'm a member of hosted the Heartland Seminar. Members had the chance to display maximum 3 of their works to be displayed during the entire 4 days seminar. I submitted 2 counted thread embroidery pieces and "Simply Gold" jewellery set (minus the ring). Here it is on display at the gallery room at Marriot Hotel in Cedar Rapids.I made extra bracelets, 2 of which were given as gifts while I kept one for myself. MIL has a quilting friend who doesn't have a daughter and happened to be visiting on Mother's Day so I gave her one of the bracelets. Needless to say she's tickled to death as she never recieved a handmade jewelry before, not to mention on Mother's Day. I was so glad I had an extra piece on that time... I can still imagine how happy she was when I handed it to her.

And this set is part of Mother's Day gift this year to MIL. I love making jewelries for her coz she loves wearing them. Though I can't tell if she wore this set yet! LOL

I made a silver version of the above and gave the set to our aunt, MIL's sister. She's so dear to me and I love making handmade items for her. I usually give her small stitched pieces as she displays them, and she's also a collector of smalls items that catch her interest.

A "Spring Fling" set for me. The chain is just simple stringing so I made the pendant using peyote stitch with delica beads, while the center is a metal rose with swarovski stone at the center. I love how it turned out though I wish I could make it better.

Most of the following bracelets were given as gifts for a dear friend and her mother, while some were for me. They're both lovely people and had pampered me in other way.

I'll keep on digging photos of my previous works so keep on coming back. However, I'm terribly sorry for the crappy photos... I don't have a decent camera to take close up photos of sparkly pieces... not to mention at times I can't spend so much time taking quality photos. I'd rather stitch!

Hope everybody's having a great beading time!

My Beadworks Journey...

... began almost 2 decades ago. Though during those early years, my hands were busy on bead embroidery. It wasn't until 8 years ago that I made jewelries... and now I can't stop!

I have another blog which is mostly about my counted thread embroidery works and what nots. But since I joined few beading groups this year, I thought I'll start a new blog for my jewelries alone... as if I need a new blog really! LOL

These necklaces were my first batch of encrusted pendants this year. I made them back on January, size ranges from 2" (wide) to 4" (height). The focal point of each pendant is a recycle piece, either button or chunky retro earring from SIL. I inherited a big glass jar full or old buttons from DH's grammy, some are really neat and I love them to pieces. Then a few years back, SIL did some cleaning and gave me a bag full of her jewelries from the 80's.

Pearly Shell, my favorite piece! I love it's simplicity. I had to make a small version for daily use or when I go in town. The cabochons on both pieces are heart-shape Mother-of-Pearl buttons. The big piece was one of my entries at this year's State Fair and went home with a ribbon!

The cab for this piece is one of the retro earrings from SIL, an enamelled metal in cream and black. The chain is made of magnetic hematite beads and bicone crystals.

The cabochon I used is a red button with gold accent. This is the smallest pendant among the first 4 pieces I made.

And lastly, this is the first encrusted pendant I made. The focal point is a 2" green button from grammy's jar. I sew on a pewter dragonfly on the center to cover the holes of the button. I was thinking of "nature" while doing this piece. This is DH's favorite so I decided to enter it at this year's State Fair too... and it went home with a ribbon!

I have a lot more to share but they're mostly stringing pieces, and were done few years back. Have a great beading time everybody!