BIG BOGO SALE

EVERYTHING in my Etsy store is buy one, get one half off.   I'm sick of looking at some of this stuff and it really needs to find a new home!!!!

HELP me clear out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My Indian Maiden Amulet bag was listed as an alternate in the Etsy Treasury by jstinson. Joni has a wonderful blog site too. Here is the link: http://www.jstinson-trailoftreasures.blogspot.com/ I hope you take a look!

Lazy Summer Daze...

It is July and Summer is half gone. I never seem to accomplish much during the Summer. The heat and the humidity seem to grab every ounce of creativity in me and toss it aside like a limp noodle. A limp piece of pasta is about what I feel like from the beginning of the heat until the Fall frost cools our little part of the world back to livable temperatures.

So - I've stayed inside except for the gardening and mowing. Mostly in front of my computer accomplishing much of nothing. I did find a cool spot this week to work on some of the many cameos I've managed to collect. I tend not to buy just one or two of anything when I can get 6 or 8. Below are 3 of the finished products.

All three are done with a combination of bead embroidery and Peyote stitch. I used 11/0 seed beads, 15/0 Miyuki beads and 3mm Czech fire polished beads in the creation of these brooches. They turned out quite nicely, if I do say so myself. Hope you like them.

Drat - Summer is here!

If you know me - you know I hate Summer. It's not just the hot weather that gets me down. It's the work, work, work that keeps me away from my beads! Mow, then trim, then plant the garden, then mow, then trim, then weed the garden, mow, then trim...... on and on until the last leaf is raked and tomato is canned in the Fall. I so love the long cold Winters of Western New York when I can just stay inside and bead to my heart's content.

I have gotten some new pieces done. I came up with a new style of earring that I really like. It doesn't take much beading, but it there is a bit of work involved in hand painting the filigree pieces. The end result is SO worth the effort though. Look:









Didn't I tell you they were great? I made up almost a dozen of them to put on Etsy and take to the market at Cross Roads this week. They are so pretty all carded up and displayed together.

I will try to keep the blog up better in between the mowing and the trimming and the weeding!

Cross Roasd is OPEN - Come see us!

Cross Roads is open for the season. This is where you will find us every Saturday from May through Christmas. Hours are 9 am til 5 pm. We are also open Memorial Day, Labor Day, and a few other special days. See the Co-op's webpage for details. Located on Rt. 21 between Westfield and Sherman, New York.

Here are some pictures of our booth and several other interesting vendors.

Fun Earrings

Dangling Hoop Earrings - Silver, Turquoise, Swarovski and Found Little Indians

How's that for a combination of materials? I had fun picking out the components of this pair of earrings. Mainly, I wanted to get away from wire wrapping for a little while. It seems that's all I've been doing lately!

Now - down to the details.....

Composed of:Silver plated posts, hoops, and beads

Turquoise chips (man made I believe)

Swarovski opaque crystalsTwo little vintage Indian Chief charms I found at a sale. I just love poking through boxes of old jewelry & beads! You never know what treasures you will find.

The finished measurements are approximately 1 1/4 x 3 inches or 30 x 75 mm.

Kool Bead Stuff

I have been getting ready for the May 3rd opening of our Co-op craft market and shamefully neglecting my internet duties. I did find this blog this morning. Her work is so beautiful I just had to share it with you! Maybe some day I can try something similar. It is on my bucket list I guess....

Doesn't this artist use yummy combinations of color? Her cuff bracelets just seem to have begged to be put together. The colors just flow together as if Mother Nature herself created them. Simply beautiful.

Don't read Russian you say? I used Bablefish to translate the blog. It is well worth the extra steps! Enjoy...

Computer Woes

I haven't been able to post anything new for a week. My brand new HP computer refused to go online! What a run around I got. Everyone blaming the other fellow. DSL company said it was the computer Best Buy said it was the DSL company. They told me to contact HP at one point. Well - you can forget getting through to them! Then I was told to return the computer since it was less than 30 days old. When I got there with it, they informed me computers have to be retruned within 14 days. They had their Geek Squad guy look it over. He fiddled with it for a while and claimed there was nothing wrong with it, but when I got it back home, low and behold - it worked! Whatever he "didn't" do to it seems to have fixed the problem. I hate dealing with big companies. They really could care less about the consumer. All I heard was "I'm sorry - but..."

There - that's off my chest. Now I can get back to creating and uploading - I HOPE!

Kid In A Candy Stire

I have been buying all of my cabochons online. Sunday I attended my first Gem & Mineral show. BIG MISTAKE!!! I was worse than a kid in a candy store. My VISA bank will be very happy with me. One seller was from Russia and had the most beautiful cut cabochons I have ever seen. They have a website, so I will give them a plug here. http://rusmineral.com/Default.aspx

My husband had to drag me out of the place kicking and screaming. Well, that's not quite true, but I could see him adding the dollar signs in his head as I scurried from one booth to another. The pictures above are two of the pieces I picked up there. I couldn't wait to get home and start wire wrapping them. Trouble is, I'm going to run out of wire!

Unfortunately, Spring has arrived here in Western New York and I am forced to put my jewelry aside to do yard work - YUCK. I also have to get ready to open our booth at Cross Roads http://www.thecrossroadsmarket.com/ .. So many projects - So little time!

New Discovery

Okay - so maybe felting isn't a new discovery, but it is to me. I have seen jewelry in shops and online made with felted beads. Curiosity got the better of me and I ordered a starter kit on Ebay. I made my first felt beads with it and now I am hooked! I just love the rhythmical, hypnotizing motion of felting with the needles. You start out with a fluff of wool, and end up with a pretty little ball. Now, I must explore this craft further. I can just see it in my husband's eyes.... "Here she goes again". You crafters out there know exactly what I mean.

The picture above is the result of my first successful attempt at making a piece of jewelry with a combination of felted beads and other beads in my stash. I had these lava like black beads and they go perfectly with the deep purple beads I made. So much so, I had to order some real lava beads. I can hardly wait for them to arrive.

Another Shell

This is another of the beautiful shells I found. This week I received an order that included a mix of Swarovski crystals. There just happened to be several in the mix that set off the colors in this shell perfectly. I couldn't resist putting them together to make another pendant. The Sterling silver wire didn't go where I wanted it to. It hardly every does. I just have to go with the flow and create what I can with it. In the end, it almost always turns out, just as this one did.

Oh Boy Did I Have Fun!

Months ago I purchased some liquid "glass" and made some faux dichroic glass. I was semi pleased with the results and stuck it all away not really knowing what to do with it. While at the craft store I found some nice new polymer clay colors and face molds. I just had to have them even though polymer clay and I haven't gotten along in the past. Over the week end I molded some faces and played with them a bit before baking. I added some pigment powders and gold or silver leafing then put them in to harden.

So, there I was with faces and again, I didn't quite know what to do with them. Then I had one of those "Ah-ha" moments (no, not the Oprah kind, the crafting kind). I put the two things together with a little glue and some yarn and Ta-Dah!!! Pins! Two of them are shown here. There may be more in the future depending on the response I get from these. They are kind of silly, and definitely one of a kind!

Deep Sea Treasure

We went on a short vacation this week and while we were gone, I found a beautiful bag of sea shells that were begging me to take them home. Today I sat down with my shells, Swarovski crystals and Gold wire to see what I could make. This was my first attempt at wrapping a shell. I was stumped at first and "burned" a good 2 feet of gold before I hit on the idea of using the same type of wrap I use for most of my beach glass. It all comes from the sea - right? I like the way it turned out. Let me know if you do too.

Beauty in Simplicity

I have spent the majority of my jewelry making days deeply involved in piles and piles of little tiny seed beads. Granted, they make for some wonderful jewelry providing you have the eyesight for them but some days I just don't feel like fighting with those darn little beads.

The 3 pieces above are the resuly of just one of those days. I couldn't face another seed bead and went in search of my bigger stash. Three easy yet beautiful bracelets evolved proving jewelry making doesn't have to be hard. I hope you like them as well as I do!

Simple Netted Seed Bead Necklaces

I found this wonderfully simple yet elegant pattern on Sandra Halpenny's web page ( see link to right) It makes up relatively quickly into a very pretty little necklace. I spent a happy week-end weaving away with my needle, thread and beads! Sandra has graciously permitted me to sell the jewelry made from her patterns for which I am very grateful. Give her web site a look when you have a chance, it is well worth the visit if you are a beader who loves seed beads!

More colors are availble in my Etsy shop.

Busy Week

No new jewelry this week. I've been busy networking and getting ready for Cross Roads new season. I realized the Winter is half over and it is time to make sure everything is priced and polished! What is Cross Roads, you may ask. It is where we have our brick and mortar store from May - December. Last year was our first year and we are excited about going back again this year. You can find out more about us, and the other 30 + vendors here: http://www.thecrossroadsmarket.com/ . If you live anywhere near Westfield, New York it is well worth the drive. Even if you don't live near us, it is a nice Saturday day trip.

Well, I'm off to polish Sterling pieces.

More Fun with Red Crow Arts Pieces!

This is another of Red Crow Arts beautiful ceramic pieces that I just had to have. To quote their description it is: "Raku Shell pendant made with raku clay and fired to bisque then glazed and raku fired. Very colorful - unique." Unique indeed. It is a dark teal and bronze mixture.
Red Crow Arts can be found at: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5087003

It took me two days and a lot of time staring at the shell before I could decide on a design. It was begging to be wrapped in copper. Silver or gold just did not work with this piece in my mind anyway. The beautiful deep bronze just yielded itself to copper alone.

The ceramic piece was wrapped in copper and has 3 fresh water pearls and small Swarovski crystals dangling from it. The dangles were another challenge. I had no copper T pins, so I made them putting swirls at the bottom. The pearls, in a mixture of cranberry and teal, continue on to make the remainder of the necklace along with a few metallic colored Czech fire polished glass beads. A hand hammered copper clasp finished this wonderful piece.

Finished necklace length is 21 inches. The pendant length is 4".

Wonderful Find Is Now A Pendant

I find all sorts of treasures when I walk through our woods. One wonderful find is this piece of old pottery. I can imagine it once was part of a kitchen crock used in the 1800's inn, Cutter’s Stand, that is now our home. Washed through our sandy soil with lots of rain, it has become smooth and beautiful with time.

As the Winter weather wears on, I decided it was time to do something with my finds. The shard has been wrapped with bright Copper wire. Two Turquoise beads were added for a bit of accent color. The front is dark brown. The back and sides are a creamy white. The piece measures 1 1/4 x 2 1/2 inches. It has been properly hardened to assure years of use. The copper is untreated and will take on an natural patina over time. It can be cleaned to maintain the shine if you prefer. It is now ready for your favorite chain.

Check out my Slide Show!

Locked Away

I have been in a creative slump lately. We will blame the weather here in cold and snowy Western New York. Have to blame something. It's certainly not my fault! Yesterday I decided enough was enough, and I had to get back into the studio and work. The 3 pieces you see above are the results.

The first picture is of a hand wrapped and hammered Copper bracelet. I've seen similar bracelets and wanted to try my hand at making one. It came out quite nicely, if I do say so myself.

The second item is a piece of blue glass that I purchased from a little boy selling beach glass. It is quite large for beach glass, but who is going to question a cute little kid? He said he combs the beaches of Lake Erie for stuff to sell. I bought quite a few of his glass pieces. This one turned into quite a nice pendant with the addition of a little Copper.

The third photo is my favorite. I know exactly where this piece came from. I picked it out of an old dumping sight on our land. Our sandy soil and years of rain have worn it down, but it is still so pretty I thought it deserved a bit more life. It is wire wrapped in Sterling Silver.

All three pieces can be purchased from our Etsy shop. The link is to the right.

The Colors of Africa

My nephew, Aaron is working in Africa. I was inspired by some of the pictures he sent. My mind when completely devoid of beading ideas the other day. I started thinking "out of the box" trying to come up with something I don't normally make. These beaded beads are what I came up with. They have a large center hole, so they can be strung on ribbon, or twine, or hair for that matter. I just loved using some of the colors in Aaron's pictures. It was like coloring with crayons again! I hope you like them. They were fun to make.

Newest Necklace

Black, Peach and Rose Gemstone Donut Wire Wrapped Pendant with Matching Necklace

This stone donut was given to me and while I do not know what stone it is, I do know it is beautiful. Deep rose and pink patches swirl amid a black background.The pendant was created using this stone, 2 Czech fire polished beads and a black square stone. All components were wire wrapped together using Sterling Silver wire. Similar Sterling wire was used to make the hand created clasp.

The necklace is a 17 inch choker made of thousands of seed beads in a modified Cellini spiral. Peach, rose and black beads were used to match the donut colors.The pendant alone measures 1 7/8 x 4 3/4 inches.

I had a lot of fun creating this piece. As usual, it took me longer to decided on the components and design than it actually took to make. Matching the colors in this beautiful stone was a challenge but I think I met it.

Reached 1000 Hearts!

We made our goal of 1000 Etsy hearts! The lucky winner will receive their choice from our birthstone bracelets.

Thanks to all of you who have added us to your favorite's list.

Nearing 1000 Etsy Hearts

Hey folks - if you want a chance to win one of my Birthstone bracelets be sure to stop by my Etsy page and try to be the 1000th heart I receive. It is getting closer!

forbesfarm.etsy.com

New Camera - New Pictures

After years and years of making do with a so-so camera, it finally bit the dust. I was therefore forced into buying a new one. Having promised myself a good camera this time, I bought a Sony Cyber-Shot. Now my problem is I have way more camera than I need! I am in the learing process, so be patient with me. I promise amazing pictures to follow soon!

884 And Counting

Wow - My Esty shop is up to 884 hearts. That means at least 884 folks have taken a peek at my jewelry!

Here is the good part - Be the 1000th heart I receive and I will send you a special gift of one of my birthstone sprial bracelets in the month of your choice. If you are the 1000th person to heart my page on Etsy AND you have left a comment here on my blog I will also send my choice of a pair of earrings. So folks - go ahead and take a peek and see if you can be the winner!

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5251518

Good Luck!!!

Majestic Seas Lampwork Glass and Beaded Choker

From the moment I saw this bead by Ann Ricketts on Etsy ( http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5081596 )I knew I just had to create a necklace around it. The beautiful colors Ann used remind me of the years I spent living on the Pacific Ocean. The waves, the sand, and the water all blended into one in this wonderful bead.

The necklace was made from multiple sizes of glass beads in a Cellini spiral in two pieces. The pieces were then strung on gold tone beading wire along with two fresh water pearls and Ann’s bead. All the pieces are independent of each other so that the necklace flows freely. The clasp is hand made using 20 gauge gold filled wire. The centerpiece measures 38 x 19 mm. The total length of the choker is 19 inches.

I loved making this necklace. I hope someone will love wearing it.

Available in my Esty shop: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=9246548

Back To Work Girl!

Well I think I am out of my pre / mid / post holiday slump I seemd to have been in. Yesterday I sat down with an absolutely beautiful ceramic donut I purchased from www.redcrowarts.etsy.com for several hours of wonderful creating.

You can see my newest piece up close at:

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=8822531

I hope you enjoy looking at it. Let me know if you do.

Back to the bead board.....