Merry Christmas from Beaded Extravagance!

Merry Christmas to All! I hope that all the Christmas shopping is done and the presents are all wrapped and under the tree. I'm slacking... I have the gifts bought but not wrapped. Maybe I'll do that tonight...

I snapped a couple of pictures of Valerie, Maggie, Molly and Adrienne in front of the Christmas Tree. (Adrienne just didn't want her photo taken today.) Hope you enjoy!

Valerie & Maggie

I also wanted you all to know that I have posted Christmas Earrings in my Etsy Shop. I have Christmas Trees, Snowmen, Angels and Candy Canes. I know it's getting really close to Christmas- only 2 days to go- but think about next year. Besides, Snowmen can be worn all winter!

It's Friday Again!

It's hard to believe that it's Friday again... already! This week has gone by quickly. Maybe it was because I was hard at work making a new bracelet AND writing a tutorial for it. My first tutorial! It was like giving birth... well almost. Just long, slow and somewhat painful. It did give me an excuse to get to know my camera better. The bracelet itself would only have taken about 3 or 4 hours to make, but I had to make notes, rewrite the notes so that everyone else can understand them, take pictures, spend an hour prowling through the camera's instruction book to get those just right. (Who would have thought that taking a picture could be so involved?! Maybe it's just the close-up variety that demand so much?!) Anyway, I was up until after midnight last night writing the final draft on the tutorial and I'm very pleased with the end result. I have listed the bracelet in my Etsy shop, but here's a picture of it just because I want to show it off!

I will be listing the tutorial in my Etsy shop as well. I'm just trying to work out some last minute details on some issues, so hopefully it will be up early next week.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions, comments or (I hope not) complaints.

louisameece@cinci.rr.com

Well, the weather outside is frightful...

Well, the weather has finally turned very cold and we've had snow, so I suppose it's officially winter. All these gray and gloomy days make me want to hibernate. Being from a conuntry where winter rarely hit temperatures below about 40 degrees Fahrenheit, these cold days where the temperature gets to about 20 degrees with a windchill of 11 degrees are downright painful! I know, I know, I should be used to it after living here for over 20 years, but well, I'm not. I have dreams of moving south to North or South Carolina or Georgia where it's warmer but.... Oh well.... One can dream right?

Anyway, this week I finished two commissions. One was for two sets of purple scarved Crystal Snowmen earrings and the other was for an Owl Pin. The Owl Pin came out very differently than I had originally planned, but that's sometimes the way it is with art. The customer is happy with the final piece, so I'm happy too. The owl cab was another of Kristie-Lou Brigham of Sculpted Windows Jewelry beautiful creations. I added a Red Jasper Cabachon, a freshwater pearl, seed beads, bugle beads, Swarovski crystals and tiny Charlottes and the Owl Pin was complete.

I do take commissions, so if there is a special piece that you would like to have made for a special someone in your life, let me know and I'm sure that we can come up with something fantastic!

Please also remember to check in on my store (the link is on this page) for items that are available for sale.

The Latest....

Well, I finally did it! My Etsy store is up and running and I have a necklace for sale! I spent all, (yes ALL) day Saturday to get it set up. I'm not like my 10 year old daughter who was wired with the knowledge of how to work a computer from birth. No, I had to wade through all those instructions, read them, re-read them, process them and then finally I was able to understand them well enough to set up shop. But it's done and I'm proud to say I'm open for business.

Last week I also finished two commissioned pieces. They were both similar to pieces that I had made for myself. Black Gecko #2 is made of a glass Blackstone pendant, wire wrapped with Sterling Silver wire, diamond cut Sterling Silver beads and a Sterling Silver articulated gecko with Swarovski Crystals. The fact that the gecko was articulated made wiring him to the bezel a bit of a challenge- he kept slithering away! But I finally talked him into staying put. The necklace itself is made of strung Black Onyx beads, faceted black glass beads, silver Bali beads and round silver beads. I did a bit of bead weaving in the center of the necklace with Black Onyx chips and diamond cut Sterling Silver beads.

The second piece was for the same customer. She wanted a bangle with the same weaving I did with the Red Coral & Gold Bangle except with Lapis and Silver beads. I love the way it turned out- especially since I got to work with the Lapis beads which are my favorite color.



So all in all, a fairly productive week. Now, I just need to get on the ball and get some more items in my store and bead, bead, bead... So please check out my store at: http://www.beadedextravagance.etsy.com/

Something New from Beaded Extravagance!

I finally finished a couple of new pieces! These pieces have been in the works for over a month and I am happy to finally have completed them. Why would it take me so long to finish of such simple looking pieces? Only a few hours into working on the Simply Carnelian & Red Coral Necklace I seriously injured my thumb on my right hand. That's not a good thing if you're right handed and bead. I wasn't able to hold my needle much less open a tube to get to my beads. My doctor had me on light duty at work and at home for 3 weeks! That's an eternity when you have so many ideas and you can't bead! But, 4 weeks have now passed and my thumb is healing well- it still hurts at the end of the day but I can hold a needle and open my bead tubes all by myself!

Simply Carnelian and Red Coral Necklace and bracelet were created with bead embroidery, peyote stitch and a tubular netted technique that I must credit to bead artist Marla Gulotta. This tubular netted technique was showcased in the October, 2008 Bead & Button Magazine with her beautiful bracelets. I just love this technique because of it is simple to execute and yet so rich in texture. I did modify her technique a little for my own designs.

I have also made some Christmas earrings. They are not my original designs but just fun, sparkly earrings to help spread some Christmas cheer. I have Snowman Earrings and Christmas Tree Earrings to offer. They are made with Swarovski Crystals and silver or gold plated findings. I can change the Rhinestone Rhondelle scarf on the snowmen to Ruby Red, Emerald Green, Peridot Green and Rosy Pink.

These pieces are available for purchase. Should you be interested please email me at louisameece@cinci.rr.com

In The Beginning....

Well, here it is, my first blog... so please excuse any fumbling I might do along the way but we all have to start somewhere... I know that things will go smoother as I become more familiar with this format.

I'll start this blog with some pictures of some of my past work. I have been attempting to work on some new items to pad my depleted inventory for a jewelery party that a student of my Mom's has requested. I had participated in the Hyde Park Square Art Show in the beginning of October and sold over half of what I made. I say attempting because three weeks ago I injured my thumb on my right hand which made beading quite difficult but according to my doctor it is healing very well and I should be pain free in about a month. I can't wait that long to bead again! So... I've been cheating and beading here and there as I can.

But, enough of that, here are a few of my creations. Please feel free to email me about my work. I am hoping to have an Etsy Shop up and running by next weekend... hopefully...

This is Tiger Eye & Turquoise Necklace & Bracelet. They were made as a set but the bracelet was sold at the Art Show last month. I still have the necklace. It was one of my first more extravagant creations. I sometimes sketch my work but on this piece I let the beads tell me where they wanted to lay and it worked out pretty well I think.

This necklace is called Ice Princess Collar. It was the piece that I entered into this years FireMountain Gems Annual Beading contest and won First Place in the Cabochon Category. Some people may find that working in a monochromatic color scheme is easy, but I found it quite a challenge. It forced me to be more creative with the patterns that the beads took.

This last piece that I'll squeeze into tonight's blog is called The Owl Cuff. I sold it at the Art Show last month. The owl cabochon was sculpted from scratch by Kristie-Lou Brigham of Sculpted Windows. I have always loved owls and this one called to me. I added Green Aventurene cabs along with some Red Carnelian cabs too.