Crystal Christmas Tree Earrings

Crystal Christmass Tree Earrings

I made a few pair of gorgeous crystal christmas tree earrings to show at a talk I gave recently and the ladies just had to purchase these Swarovski Crystal Christmas Tree Earrings on sterling silver earwires. What beauties! Purchase them at CEN Studios for only $20.00 including shipping.

 

Beading Wire

I have been beading for most of a year and I’ve been using Beadalon 7-strand .015 beading wire for most of my projects. Recently, though, I thought I should look into a better quality wire and I tried a few different ones. I found a Beadalon wire that I really like: it’s the 19-strand .018 beading wire. It feels so good in the hand. It’s hard to describe that a wire could feel so special. If you’ve ever used Swarovski crystals, I think you know what I mean. The Swarovski crystals are so smooth as you insert the wire into the hole and the wire feels so smooth in your hand as well.

This wire works well with all of the types of beads that I use. It even goes once through my vintage rice pearls, but it’s won’t go through them a second time. That’s OK with me. I’ll just have to remember not to use pearls at the end of the wire near the crimps.

Fall 2007 Fashion Forecast

It’s July 2007 and I looking today for the fall color trends so that I can starting designing jewelry for the fall season.

Colors this season for clothing include black, gray, black with gray and/or red touches, mustard, dark dusty blue, and purple, as well as coffee or “carafe”. The lightest colors were non colors such as light gray, very pale yellow, and “dirty” white.

As for jewelry, hammered metals are in, narrow chandeliers will be popular, and chunky styles are still important. I’ve also noticed that suppliers are stocking up on copper components.

So, what type of jewelry should I design for the fall/winter season?

 I definitely will design a few narrow chandeliers. I think the narrow look will make wider faces look more narrow (that’s good for me). I really like the copper look in metals and will be doing a few things in copper. Doesn’t copper have some beneficial effects on the body?

Now, to complement the colors I’ve mentioned above, purple stones, crystals, and glass beads will be my first designs. Purple and mustard are a mighty duo.

For black, gray, and “dirty” white, I’ll use sparkling gray, clear, and black Swarovski crystals with hints of dark, bright red. I’ll look for crystals and fiber optic glass in mustard, perhaps that will be topaz and light topaz in crystals.

Instead of necklaces, I’ll design more bracelet and earring sets. But of course, there are always some who want necklaces too.

Well, it looks like I have my work cut out for me for the rest of the summer, designing jewelry for the fall sales season. 

Link:  CEN Studios – Handcrafted Bead Jewelry

Ya-Ya Designs

I started designing with beads last November after I took a class with Michele Isennock at Ya-Ya Designs near Bel Air where I live. The instructors were so nice and gave the students so much good information about beading and also about selling your work. Since then I realized I really enjoy handling the beads, looking at the beads regarding their colors and designs, learning about beads, and learning how to use them.

I am inveterate catalog shopper as I know from the many garden plant catalogs that I subscribe to and purchase from. That’s the way I am with beads. I have scoured the internet looking for good buys on beads, finding out what beads are available to me, and I have subscribed to several email newsletters from internet bead vendors.

Even though I purchase from several internet vendors, I still shop at Ya-Ya Designs. Michele gives me good advice on bead styling and she still has good prices. I’ve learned that I’d better buy from her unless the internet vendors have a sale on what I need; otherwise, I will probably pay more than Michele’s prices.

On top of great prices, Ya-Ya Designs has a great variety of usable material. This past week I shopped at her shop and found all kinds of beautiful pendants which seem to be the rage with necklaces. I’m definitely going to stock up on pendants as soon as I can.

It’s a great life!

Hello world!

Hi, I am a designer. I’ve been a designer since I’ve been a little girl. I always find ways to design stuff. First I designed house layouts when I was 10 years old or so. I would look through books and magazines that had house layouts and then I would transfer them to my own paper to a scale that would fit on the paper and then I would find ways to “improve” them or make them different. I never knew what this was called that I was doing and that maybe this was something I should have been thinking about doing on a professional level when I grew up. But, anyway, I had fun designing the house plans.

Once I grew up, after I was working for a while, my job was designing group health and group life insurance policies. This included designing their words as well as their physical layout and helping to design the brochures and other material that went with them. I also had to be aware of the laws that governed insurance policies and I had to adapt the wording to make sure the insurance forms were approved by the state insurance department where the group was headquartered. That was fun too. But that was in my “other life” way back in the dark ages of time.

About 17 years ago, after more schooling I designed landscapes and gardens and was a garden consultant. I still do this but on a much smaller scale. One day while on a job I slipped and did a somersault. That was it. I had enough. I didn’t want to break another leg, or worse.

I’ve always enjoyed glittery stuff and this is where this blog comes in. I remember enjoying looking and trying on my Grandmother’s old-fashioned jewelry. I wish I had that jewelry now but it is long gone and I don’t know what happened to it.

“Fine Jewelry” is too expensive to purchase but I enjoy the glittery stuff so how can I still have my glittery stuff. Last November my husband and I had lunch across from a store in Glen Arm called “Ya-Ya Designs”. I went in and signed up for a beading class and that was it. I love handling the beads and looking at the beautiful colors, shine, shape, and style of the beads. I love taking a handful of beads and putting them together into a cohesive whole — a necklace, a bracelet, or a pair of earrings. That’s what “Design” is all about.

Well, that’s enough for today. I think I’ll design a new necklace and then I’ll go outside and work in the garden.

It’s a great life!