Busy, busy, Beader!

Hello friends!

Do you ever have trouble transitioning from one thing to the next? I do. I switch from bead making to jewelry making. So this week I had some glass testing and some designing to do. I have already been busily creating some AMAZING jewelry for Staci and my limited addition collab sets! I am SOOOOO excited about how well my designs turned out. Unfortunately you will have to wait to see those particular designs, BUT I do have some wonderful designs to share!

I was asked to assemble some of Sue Stewart's silver glass test beads on the different Creation is Messy blacks. Here is a link to the beads I received to assemble. The beads I used are 3-6 on the right hand side of the tuxedo black page.

Here was my first design. Originally somehow I thought I was going to get all of these beads onto one necklace! Lol. Well that didn't quite work, so I did 3 different designs. For this one I imaged a nice LONG necklace, which generally isn't my style. These beads were so wonderfully long they were just perfect for this style :)

The second necklace is the one I was most enamored with. I pulled out these wonderful metallic leathers I bought and go to work. The cool thing about this design is that I had no idea what I was going to do with it. I just sat down and worked it up. Do you ever impress yourself when you sit down to design? This one really did that for me. As I knotted these wonderful loops around the flattened barrel lampwork beads I just loved the look. At the ends where I finished off the knotting I macramed. Wow, I was surprised at how well the leather not only macramed, but looked! I got JUST the right finishing touches to not only complete the design, but end the work without it looking like you could see the exact spot where I stopped knotting. When I got to the end of the leather I wondered what I was going to do with the ends. 

I dug through my stash and found some sweet little deep blue glittery spacer beads and tied them on!

Um... isn't this AMAZING?! I just LOVE it! It has a fantastic weight to it as well! I, of course, LOVE the negative space! 

Here is the last necklace. There were a lot of really gorgeous blues in these beads so I put them with some Sari silk. I am into these double drop necklaces lately. Not sure what that is all about, but they really intrigue me :D

Designs I can share...

While I was working on our collab designs these beads just screamed at me from my bead box. I excitedly dug out some beads of Staci's I had been sitting on for a long while that I loved. These beads were just PERFECT together along with some of Karen's patinated rings and new textured heat patinated donuts! 

Here is a close up of Staci's "Man on the Moon" focal bead. He has a sweet moon face and the back is stamped with stars and swirls. I just love him! You can also see some of Karen's clay discs and one of Staci's Spiral "S" clasps that I am totally in LOVE with! I have been using her clasps in EVERYTHING and they are the perfect size for these designs.

Here is a better shot of Karen's donuts and my weeny dings :D

BACK IN THE SHOP...

So with everything going on this week with designing I didn't have much time to think up some new things so I did re-stock some favorites that were out. 

Bright Earth Wing Dings

These sweet little babies also FLEW out of the shop! You all are so amazing! I think you will love them just as much as I do! Lagoon Weeny Dings.

So since I can't show you the collab designs for the limited addition sets just yet, how about I show you my KILLER earrings?

I just ADORE them! I used Karen's incredible patinated hoops, and star beads along with my weeny dings, enameled "hair pin" wires and teensy 3mm 2x ab crystals! They are just perfect with the tiny size of the weeny dings. I am also quite in love with all of this wonderful chain from Rings & Things I received from Staci.

Here is what the earrings look like worn. They are surprisingly weightless for the amount of beads on them. It's all of that wonderful negative space that gives them that fullness in their design :D

What are you creating with your weeny dings?? I would LOVE to see some photos! Please send them to me via facebook so that I can add them to the gallery! 

On the subject of mini.....

I just ordered some mini cards from the Etsy+ Moo mini card offer. These cards are FREE with only the cost of shipping. It was $5 for shipping to the US. This is my first time ordering them, but I have seen how wonderful these cards are from ones I have received.

Here is screen shot of my beadies in the shape of the mini cards while I was designing them. Thanks so much to Karen for her help getting these started and to Holly and Brandon for being my moral support when I F*ed up the borders and forgot to go to the Etsy link when I started creating these cards!

Thanks for checking in! 

See you soon!

xo Genea