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/