Happy Holidays Light-O-Rama

It's a marshmallow world

We don't have any snow here, but I like to imagine what my little corgi boys would do in the snow.

Necklace Giveaway

Lori Anderson of Pretty Things is giving away a necklace she made for a swap from reworking a piece by Johanna Rhodes of Fire Phoenix Creations.

Take a look at this beauty.  You have until a bit before 2 PM on Friday, December 10th to enter.

What do you do with the ends of your thread?

3-link pointed oval chain

I have been working on a custom order piece this week, but took some time out to play with the pointed oval from Diane Fitzgerald's book Shaped Beadwork.  I made this little chain as well as an embellished link.  I used Fireline and Toho Treasures.  A thread burner is on my wish list, but in the meantime I've been playing around with various methods of achieving the same result.  I've heated a metal skewer, a toothpick, and tried using an old heated eyelash curler.  Nothing really worked.  I did not, however, melt my cord ends with a lighter as suggested in Shaped Beadwork.  Just thinking about this gave me anxiety.  What do you do with the ends of your threads after you cut them?  Should I shell out the $25 for a thread burner?  Do you have a better way?

Margie and Me Mosaic of Color Challenge

I worked on a beaded bead tutorial for my Mosaic of Color challenge piece.  For loads of details hop over to La Bella Joya.  This week's challenge was to use either the color palette or the feel of the theme inspiration:

I tried to get a little of each in my beads.  I wanted to include the cobalt and a hint of green, but everything started to get a little crazy with too many colors.  I do a bit better when I work with a limited palette.  Maybe I just like playing with shape and texture?  I really love to wear many colors, but like to work with as few as possible.

These beaded beads started on 10mm stone rounds.  The pattern tutorial is by Quimeras de Náyades and can be found at her Etsy.  If you look at the bead she shows you will wonder why my beaded beads look different.  No, it rally is the pattern I used, but I added an extra layer of beads to each vertices in the dodecahedron.  Quimeras shows this in the tutorial, but not in the pictures.

flat netting

I have been beading, but not taking pictures as often as I need to do.  The time change poses a problem for catching the light at the right time.  I'm getting too many shadows now at the usual time I wander out to take pictures.  I ran out and realized that I was about 20 minutes past the last good light.  But, oh well, I grabbed some shots anyhow.

I tried out flat netting a few weeks ago.  I made a very simple bright red cuff with large toggles.  One of the young ladies who has been in my class since last year (Spanish 1 [which I no longer teach] and Spanish 2) caught sight of it, grabbed my wrist, and declared that she liked this one the best of all she had seen.  I'm not sure I agree, but it was fun to flat net.

two colors of 11/o Czech's and some vintage pressed glass flowers

I love the texture of the fabric and the way the pearl finish beads play against the matte finish beads.

netting works up quickly - next to try some netting layered over another base to give it a bit of substance

I also tried a RAW pattern from the French designer Mu whose site I cannot find to add the link.  This one uses 6/o's and 15/o's.  I added a giant vintage button and a handmade steel hook for a closure.

bracelets mingling

the button is quite a bit more blue in person

Finally, a little bit of flower power and corgi cuteness...

The neighbors's cat

I don't remember her name.  I just call her Sombracita - little shadow - because she chases after us when we walk.

Mingus and the neighbors' cat.

The black kitty runs from her house when she sees us in the morning.  Coltrane and Mingus are always excited to see her and won't move until she crosses the street to greet them.  Then they promptly ignore her.  When we are on the walk back home she hides behind a shrub or in the shadows (we walk before 6AM), and jumps out at them.  Usually I see her hide while the boys are busy sniffing everything, but sometimes she manages to scare me too.  This was a rare weekend morning when she laid herself out on the sidewalk in Mingus's path and demanded attention.

fountains

little fountain on my street in Georgia

plaza fountain in Santiago near Monterrey, Mexico

When the ladies of the Garden Club put up the fountain on my street I could not believe my eyes.  It was a mini-me for the fountain I had seen in Mexico a few years ago.  There is another larger fountain in my tiny town right in front of the courthouse.  I think it has been dry for quite some time.  The little fountain which I walk past every day on my dog walk has just been restocked with fish.