Blue Christmas

A few weeks ago, I made some jewelry to go with my dress for my company's annual Haolday Gala. The dress was navy blue with an asymetrical neckline and a beaded accent on one shoulder. So I made a necklace that followed the neckline shape and a bracelet to continue the look. All in all, the bead work took about 10 hours to complete and it was the first time I had attempted something like this, although it has been on my "to-do" list for a few years:

I Wish You A Blingy Christmas

Last weekend I went to an open house craft show. I wanted to bring something a little different. While browsing through the craft aisles, it hit me: BLING. Yup. Bling. So rhinestones, sequins and beads galore resulted in a very blingy group.

So fab!

Ornamented

It's that time of year again. Deck the halls and decorate the trees!

Twisted (but in a good way)

My larger tube beads arrived and I am pretty pleased with the results! There was a little bit of a reaction between the yellow and the blue on the multicolored bead, but otherwise, they are bright and fairly uniform. Yay!



All Fired Up!

I am so excited!

Two years ago, my boyfriend bought me an amazing gift- a glass bead kit. I gave him a list of things I would like for Christmas and where they could be found, etc. and that was one of the items. I was SUPER excited when I opened it. He is a little craft oblivious, so he was a little surprised to find out it had a blow torch in it. Yes. You read that right. I was pregnant at the time, so I didn't dig right in. Come the following Spring after my son was born, I decided I wanted a little guidance before I tried it. So I added classes to my wish list the following year. My mom found a great class for me to take where I could learn safety and technique. Here we are, almost a year later and I found the time to take the class. Thanks to two very generous gifts from two people I love, I have a new favorite art form!

My teacher, Diane http://www.dkdesigns.biz was so helpful and informative. She has a lot of experience and it showed. Under her tutelage, I was able to make some really great beads:



 The first few were a little tricky, but in the end, I had some nice matched pairs that I was happy with. We also made some larger beads that I will post another day. They needed to anneal (see how I used my fancy glass art term there?) for strength.

Since I have my own torch and supplies, I hope to have more examples to show you soon!