Belated Valentine's Day Necklace

Yes, I realize that I was supposed to update this necklace almost a week ago, but with being sick I really had no energy or motivation to work on it....stupid flu!  But after getting caught up with all my homework and everything I am prepared to debut this very sparkly, red glass bead necklace!  If you remember, I sketched about this necklace with the post from Saturday February 12.




 Here is the original sketch:

And here is the final outcome!  Enjoy!  The pictures do not do the red beads justice, they are so clear and firey in real life!

Saturday Sketches

Today I wanted to share with you a sketch I had for a necklace that came to me almost in a dream.  I woke up extra early one morning recently, and I couldn't seem to fall back to sleep.  As I lay there in bed trying to force myself to go back to bed for a couple hours the necklace image just almost appeared to me.  I knew I had to make it.  It is a necklace inspired by morning, with the sun rising to brighten the sky.  The colors fade from night blues and violets to sunny oranges and yellows.  This necklace will take me some time, but will definitely be a lot of fun once created.

Enjoy!

Saturday Sketches

Today's sketch is an idea for a Valentine's Day necklace that came to me recently.  Valentine's Day, as you know, is Monday, and normally my boyfriend and I don't do much for Valentine's Day really but I still like the idea of the holiday itself:  to show people that you love them.  My necklace idea came from red beads that I bought on clearance for $1.  There are so many of them that I had no idea what to do with them, that is, until Snow.  I really want to create an almost bib-like necklace out of the beads, held together in the middle by a heart.  I plan on making this necklace for V-day, so look forward to Monday's post and I plan on posting the finished result for you to see then.  Until then, have a great Saturday!

Sorry about the sideways view, I can't get the image to flip after being scanned for some reason....

Orange you glad I made a pendant?

Lame, I know....but I just couldn't resist!  Today's pendant was made from a vintage orange piece that my aunt gave to me, along with beads I purchased from Fire Mountain.  I used a flat round feldspar bead, as well as peach glass beads and brown goldstone  chips.  I love the glittery sparkle that goldstone has.  I can never get enough of it.  It's sad that those beads are so expensive, or I would buy them all the time!  Maybe that's a good thing, though.  This necklace is so bright and sunny for spring!....Anyway, here's the necklace, hope you enjoy!

Wire Wrapped Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Ahh, Wednesday yet again.....One step closer to Friday!

For today's wire-wrapped post, I have created a wire wrapped piece from a stone bead that I got in a random miscellaneous bead bag from Fire Mountain Gems.  I have no idea what type of stone it is, but I really thought the dark gray tones meshed well with the tortoise shell patterning on these vintage beads.  These tortoise shell beads are from yet another necklace that my aunt gave me in my bag of vintage goodies.  I have yet to run out of interesting pieces to use in jewelry I make, and it seems like I use pieces from her almost everyday!  I still have much more to come, too!  I am saving some very special beads and pieces for later!  I really liked the way the copper wire looked bright against the dark gray of the stone, and the copper created more of a connection between the stone and the tortoise-patterned beads, bringing the whole necklace together.

Monday Rocks....

Well, not really....hehe.  But today's necklace is made of rocks, Jungle Jasper to be exact, that I bought from Fire Mountain.  I really like the different patterning in the stones, and how even though they are roughly the same size, each individual stone is carved in a unique way.  I love the simplicity of this necklace, and it would be great to wear with a blazer for a business casual look, or at the same time with a fun bohemian print dress.  The colors are, well, gray and black, so they go with a lot of things and make this necklace very versatile!  Hope you all have had a great Monday, more to come tomorrow....Wait until you see the re-vamped vintage top coming up!

Saturday Sketches

Today's sketch is brought to you by my art history professor....well, her necklace inspired the piece because I need to own her necklace!  It is made of gigantic transparent, faceted, lozenge-shaped beads that were navy in color.  Probably plastic.  But I'm serious, each bead was like 2 inches wide...they were so shiny!  I wanted to ask her where she got it and I never got a chance.  If she ever wears it again, I definitely will, because I need to own one like it!  If I ever find beads that big and shiny, I will make it myself.  But until then, all I have is this sketch to inspire me:

My Monday Challenge

Today, while making jewelry, I challenged myself to a little game, and the result was a pretty awesome longgggg necklace.   While going through my jewelry I decided to use some beads that I have had forever and have never found a use for.  I had a whole little bead box of them, in all different little shapes and bright colors.  The challenge lay in not only using beads I had never seemed to find a use for before, but I also made it interesting by cutting an extremely lengthy piece of clear plastic thread and telling myself I either had to bead until the string was full or until I ran out of beads, whichever came first.  I didn't think it would take as long as it did to complete this necklace, strictly because that little container held a whole heck of a lot more beads than I ever thought it could...and it actually ended up that I ran out of string before I ran out of beads!  I love the look of these beads because the soft opacity of the glass and the bright colors make them feel like they are made out of little tiny pieces of sea glass.  The colors and the "sea glass" appearance make these beads reminiscent of warmer weather, something definitely nice to think about as a giant ice and snow storm approaches....

 

bead box when I just started...

 

bead box when I ran out of string!

 

In progress necklace strand....

 

Finished!!!

Vintage and Blue Magnesite Necklace

This necklace for today was created with a big, white vintage medallion pendant that my Aunt Penny gave me, along with other pieces of broken bits of vintage jewelry that she had gotten from Estate Sales....I know she has a ton more, I want to go raid her stashes again!  It is so exciting to see the amazing things she really probably was going to throw away anyway, since most of the things I take from her other people would consider junk since they are just broken pieces or parts, but that's all I need to create my own design!  The chain is also a vintage piece pulled from her pile of 'junk jewelry'...hey, all the better for me, right?  The bead that I attached to the bottom of the medallion piece is blue-green magnesite, which looks similar to turquoise.  I also bought a string of these beads at the $1 sale from Fire Mountain Gems.  This piece, along with the earrings from yesterday, really gives me the feeling that spring is near...and I guess you could say I am getting a little case of Cabin Fever with all this snow and cloudy weather lately!  I need some sunshine, and temperatures in the upper 70's-lower 80's..... :)

Marble Monday

Happy Monday readers!  I know, most people would not use "happy" and "Monday" in the same sentence, but I tend not to mind Mondays as much now that I am back in school again, I don't really mind going to class as much as I minded going to work....hahaha.  (although I do still need a job....I do have bills...)  Anyway, I created this great piece from marble beads I bought at Fire Mountain Gems during their dollar bead sale.  The coolest part about these beads in my opinion is that they are made from marble!  The beads themselves are pretty heavy, but I really like the look and feel of them.  The color of the marble in these particular beads will make them versatile to wear in almost any season, and with a variety of outfits.  I can't wait to wear my new necklace to school tomorrow!!

Vintage Inspiration

I created this necklace from pieces of Vintage jewelry that my aunt purchased from estate sales.  I love the bird motif on the pendant piece, and the vintage faceted glass bead is beautiful as well as surprisingly heavy!  The purple beads are more beads that I purchased from Fire Mountain Gems during their dollar sale last fall.  This is a casual necklace that would look great with jeans and a tunic top, or would be a cute necklace to wear out with a casual dress and tights.  The colors in the necklace are more neutral, and would look good with many other colors, making this necklace very versatile.

Jade Necklace

I was so excited when I was able to purchase beads from the Fire Mountain Gems one dollar bead sale a couple months ago....I got so many awesome beads for a dollar or less each!  And the great part was that all of the beads I bought were either real gemstones, marble, or a type of rock or stone bead, so it was a really great deal!  Today I used my Jade beads that I bought at the bead sale to create a statement necklace.  In my post from yesterday, I discussed that statement pieces are going to continue to be huge for Spring 2011, and the color of the jade beads I used in this piece will complement the bright spring colors.