I am also the crazy mosaic lady!

For the past month, between jewelry projects, I have been working on a large mosaic lazy susan for my home. I just finished grouting it last night at my weekly mom's craft group. I came up with the idea for this project while I was sleeping one night. I woke up after midnight one night with a crystal clear picture in my head of exactly how I was going to do it and how it would look when I was done. The finished product didn't turn out exactly the way I envisioned, but I still think it turned out pretty good.

Completing the set from last week

I am so happy! I finally finished this necklace I have been working on for the past two weeks. I really hope my mom doesn't read this blog, because this necklace was made to accompany the earrings and bracelet from the last blog. I gave her that set for her birthday this weekend, so if she is here, I think she knows now what she is getting next.

For $2.99 at the Wye River Design Studio, I purchased last week a bead kit that contained the large circular polka dotted disk. My original intent was to use a jump ring to turn the disk into a pendant for a necklace. The kit, sadly, did not contain enough beads to make a necklace, so the apple shaped beads included inspired the earrings from last week. The earrings inspired the bracelet, which sadly I have to redesign as a stretchy piece. The clasp on the bracelet does not seem to be substantial enough to hold it on. Instead of trying my luck with another clasp, I will just redesign it to be clasp-less.

As I was aimlessly pawing my way through the beads today, I found the little cylinder red and white beads that seemed to go perfect with my pendant. Add some silver spacers and the rest of the beads from the kit, and I think it goes perfect with last weeks set.

Looks Kinda Like Apples. . .

So, last night I went to my favorite destination in the whole world, the Wye River Design Studio, intent on making a gift for someone. I knew I wanted to make earrings and either a bracelet or a necklace. Imagine my surprise when I walked in and found almost everyone I am friends with there. Apparently, my discussion group from Kent Island MOPS decided to meet there last night for an impromptu mom's night out. We had a lot of fun laughing, telling stories, and basically enjoying a night of crafting without our kids or husbands.

The picture here is what I made last night. This is going to be a gift for someone, and I really hope she likes it. The beads for this project came in a kit. This Saturday, I am taking my 6 year old daughter down to the studio to make a complimentary necklace for this set. I can curious to see what she creates. She has a way with beads. She almost picks beads out at random, using her own brand of "the force" and strings them in a way that I think will never work out. When she is done, the result is usually gorgeous. Sometimes I think we all need to create that way, just pick up what we like and put it together. I used to think the beads she picked had nothing in common, but of course that isn't true. Every bead she selects has HER in common, so how can they not work?

Next week, I will display what she comes up with.

Jewelry Wire and and a Clasp

This is my first attempt at creating jewelry using wire and a clasp. Last Wednesday I took a jewelry class at the Wye River Studio and this is the fruits of my labors.

My first step was to peruse the materials and find beads or spacers that inspired me. As I looked through the silver spacer beads, I quickly came upon these small butterflies. Because we have had such a nasty, rainy, snowy winter here in Maryland, the butterflies made me think of spring and better things to come.

Once I had my inspiration, I needed to find a color scheme. My favorite color combination has always been purple and green, so it was pretty easy to go from there.

The earrings were made using silver head pins strung with silver butterfly spacers, silver flower spacers and green and purple beads. The necklace came together pretty quickly once I had the earring done. I used a silver toggle clasp as the closure.

If I can get my webcam to work tomorrow night, I will be debuting my earrings and necklace on Inspired at Homes Web Pajama party. If you are not already a party guest, you should really check it out. It is a lot of fun, and full of great crafting ideas.

The Beginning of a Bead-utiful adventure

Last year, I was lucky enough to move to within walking distance of the Wye River Design Studio, in downtown Grasonville, MD. The owner and operator of the studio, recognizing that I needed a distraction from the rewarding, but tedious life of a stay at home mom, quickly took me under her wing and indulged my love of all things crafty.

I tried most of the crafts in the shop. I quickly discovered that I most enjoyed making mosaics and creating beaded jewelry.

The pictures accompanying this blog were some of my first beading creations. I debuted my collection at the Kent Island Federation of Art's Artoberfest, held in late October of last year. My collection was mostly stretchy bracelets and necklaces, which I marketed toward the child and elderly demographic. I did fairly well, selling 4 bracelets and 1 necklace, making 5$ profit over my table fee. Last week, I started learning about working with jewelry wire and clasps. As my skill set grows, I hope to be debuting more pieces in craft shows and eventually launching my own website selling my jewelry.


Until then, enjoy. The pieces shown were made with stretchy string and plastic beads.