ECHO Creative Club December Reveal

  Merry Christmas everyone!! I was honored to be gifted some of Jeannie's beautiful peeled paint polymer clay beads to create something with for the Echo creative club December group. The beads are just beautiful - smooth and round with a peeled paint effect of copper with gold flashes on black. Here are what the beads looked like when I received them. There were more than 4, but I'd already used some in the design when I remembered I needed to get a before photo of the beads! (my bad, promise it won't happen again!)

I first decided to do a bracelet with them, and I paired them with a copper toggle clasp, a couple of lampwork glass beads in black, ivory, & amber, black obsidian, and Swarovski crystals in topaz and crystal golden shadow. I wire wrapped the beads together in a continuous beaded chain with 22 gauge wire. I then made a pair of earrings since I had a few beads leftover. I paired the beads in the earrings with crystal copper Swarovski crystals and an arte metal butterfly that is lightly dusted with a coppery shimmer.  

Here is the Bracelet

It looks great on the wrist, the copper and neutral color scheme works with many colors and outfits.  It is boho enough to be casual while still being nice enough to be dressed up. I'm very happy with it and keeping it all for myself...Merry Christmas to me, thanks Jeannie!!

Here are the Earrings

I think they are fun and the butterflies make them different from the norm, and I like the shape and length it gives the earrings.

You can visit Jeannie's store and get some awesome PMC beads for yourself HERE  

Please visit the other participants' blogs using the links below!! 

Cindy Cima Edwards http://www.cindycima.com/

Donna Martin Bradley http://strandedbeads.blogspot.com/

Jeannie K Dukic http://site.jkdjewelry.com/blog

You are Here:   Jessica Klaaren http://www.cellardoorjewelry.blogspot.com/

Karen Williams http://baublicious.blogspot.com/

Kashmira Patel http://sadafulee.blogspot.com/

Kristen Stevens http://kristen-beadjourney.blogspot.com/

Lisa Lodge  http://pineridgetreasures.blogspot.com/

Lola Surwillo http://www.beadlolabead.blogspot.com/

Shannon Chomanczuk http://www.formysweetdaughter.blogspot.com/

November Echo Creative Club Reveal

I was delighted to see the handmade pendant by Jeannie K Dukic for the November Echo Creative Club. It was this adorable heart with wire in gold and black. I made a necklace that I really loved and photographed nicely, but when I put it on, the thickness of the pendant is so much larger than the rest of the necklace that it causes it to lie funny. I only discovered this a few days ago, so in all honesty, I'm probably going to fashion it into a longer necklace design and replace it with another pendant on this one, but I'll update my blog with the results after I edit. In the meantime, here is the original pendant:

 And Here is the necklace design:

I first patina'd the small arte metal leaves to a gold color on both sides and glazed. I used black obsidian beads with pretty patina'd gold bead caps and Swarovski crystals. I patina'd a keyhole and added it to a arte metal connector blank. I used an arte metal filigree as well as 2 types of chain and jump rings. 

Thanks for checking out my design! Please visit the other participants as well. 

Alicia Marinache http://www.allprettythings.ca/

Charlie Jacka http://clay-space.com/

Cindy Cima Edwards http://www.cindycima.com/

Dagi http://kokopellidesign.blogspot.com/

Donna Martin Bradley http://strandedbeads.blogspot.com/

Jeannie K Dukic http://site.jkdjewelry.com/blog

Jessica Klaaren http://www.cellardoorjewelry.blogspot.com/

Karen Williams http://baublicious.blogspot.com/

Kashmira Patel http://sadafulee.blogspot.com/

Kristen Stevens http://kristen-beadjourney.blogspot.com/

Michelle Buettner http://www.misheldesigns.blogspot.com/

Shannon Chomanczuk http://www.formysweetdaughter.blogspot.com/

Sonya Ingersoll-Stille http://dreaminofbeads.blogspot.com/

Change is Good

When I first opened my etsy store and decided to make a go of my business, I couldn't decide on a name for the business that wasn't already used by a thousand designers already that wasn't completely generic, but after 2 years I finally came up with a name that suits me. Its Cellar Door Jewelry. If you think this is a strange name and don't understand it, Cellar Door is thought by many Lit and English scholars and important folks to be the most beautiful combination of words in the English language. You can read about it on wikipedia. It is also mentioned in the movie, Donnie Darko, which is one of my personal favorites, and since I do love steampunk and play with space and time travel inspired designs from time to time, I found that to also be very compatible. What do you think of it? I am developing a new facebook page, website, business cards, and have changed the name of my etsy store to CellarDoorJewels.  Stay tuned for more updates and links to the new and improved pages! Also - coming up soon will by my first giveaway contest called Three for Free, where I'm giving away 3 different prizes to 3 different winners!!

Time to Reveal...

The 1st reveal date for the 6th Bead Soup Blog Hop has finally arrived!!  Before I show you what I created, let me remind you of the soup I received from my awesome partner, Cynthia Wainscott. She made that center focal herself with polymer clay, isn't it amazing?

On the first day of playing with beads, I broke one of the connectors off of the awesome copper piece seen on the left.  It was completely my fault for testing the limits of bending the link too far, and now it will have to become a pendant instead of a bracelet connector as I had initially hoped, and I haven't gotten around to using it quite yet. 

The first piece that I ended up making features the polymer clay focal, brass branch, and 1 of the pretty turquoise like disc beads. I didn't want to overcomplicate it because the focal alone was so detailed and beautiful, but I loved all of the colors in it and really wanted to draw those out, so I chose a few beads from my own stash to do a sort of boho, mixed up beaded chain. 

The next piece used only the clasp and a look alike bird I had in my stash. I used it because it was already beat up and also didn't have the third hole connector, and I wanted to use the brass bird from the soup as a centerpiece of a different necklace...another thing I didn't get finished in time. I might just have to post an additional reveal on another day in a few more weeks, but I digress.  I made a crazy fun necklace using a lot of brass blanks I had embossed and patina'd, mostly birds, owls, dragonflies, nature etc. so the fly away clasp was the perfect combo. I changed the toggle bar because the other one kept wanting to slide out, so this one was a little longer and more secure since the necklace isn't the lightest. Now this might seem like an easy design, but I actually had a hard time with this one. The color combination, choosing the pieces and colors ended up being quite the challenge for me. I ended up riveting the largest bird to a ring and having all of that together in order to get that center section to fall just right, and luckily the rest seems to fall into place. 

Here is an another look at the full necklace:

Lastly, I used one of the Genova beads in one of my dragonfly focal bracelets. I just loved the greens and had to pair it with more of the stone flower carved beads I had, and also used one of the adorable flower bead caps from my soup in this one as well just as a little charm. 

Ultimately I still have quite a few beads and pieces left from the soup I got, and if it weren't for unexpected events (tree falling on house and taking out power line to name one) causing additional time restraints, I probably would have more to show...oh well, that's life for you. ; )  Now, please go check out Cynthia's Blog if you haven't already, and you can find the list of the rest of the participants by clicking here: 6th BSBH Participants.  Thanks for reading and if you feel like commenting, go right ahead, no captcha required.  I will be very busy this next week visiting others and can't wait to see what you have made!  : ) 

Fabulous Giveaway

So one of my favorite bloggers, Ms. Lori Anderson, is having a fantastic giveaway over on her blog. You can read all about the giveaway, which has 5 different prizes and chances to win, here: LORI ANDERSON'S ALL THE PRETTY THINGS BLOG


Here is the first giveaway in the group:

Isn't that silk cord so cool? And those car links - must have those!! Also, I've been wanting both a golem studio pendant as well as a green girls studio pendant for awhile, and this price has both, so hello, you were meant for me!!  I really hope I can win this. The odds really aren't in my favor, but hey, a girl can dream, right? : )  Check out her blog, follow it, and do what you must to enter this fantastic giveaway! 

Soup's On - Meet Cynthia Wainscott

So I told you in my last blog post that I was gearing up for the Bead Soup Blog Hop, and last week I received my bead soup from my partner, Cynthia Wainscott. Isn't she gorgeous?! I know that isn't a requirement for beautiful jewelry, but exotic Peru seems to describe her as well as her jewelry. I just love her booth set ups too...but anyway, I digress.

 I was thrilled to learn all about Cynthia through our emails to each other and truly felt like I'd won the Bead Soup lottery in a way, as the partnership seemed like it was just perfection. Not only is she very similar to me in our personal aesthetic and style, but we are close in age, both design from home, are self taught jewelry designers, love brass and vintage, eclectic, and creative designs, and are moms of little boys. We definitely get each other. And while it may have its perks to being teamed with someone completely different, it is definitely nice to be paired with someone you feel like you understand. Here are a few of her designs that caught my eye:

I just love that Lucille Ball bracelet. My little sister used to collect I love Lucy items, so I can appreciate the fondness for the infamous Lucille Ball. The middle necklace is so delicate and romantic but still creative and unique, and the last one is just AHH-MAH-ZING. I would love to make jewelry this fabulous, but I don't think I'm quite at this level yet! What a talented designer, and how lucky am I to have her as my partner?!

 I was utterly over the moon when I saw the soup she had sent me. Not only had she included some gorgeous beads she hand picked from her native country, Peru, but she had also made me a polymer clay focal that is simply beautiful, and I believe she will also be offering a variety of these for sale in a new shop soon: 

In addition to the focal, she sent me some beautiful brass components (some of my favorites) from B'Sue Boutiques, as well as a variety of lovely quartz beads, Genova stones, Brazilian turquoise, Czech glass flowers, and pink glass beads, WOW. As if that weren't enough, she also sent me an adorable toggle clasp that she stamped the words fly away into. How perfect!

Needless to say I was super worried about what to send her, as her jewelry absolutely blew my mind, and it took me a few days of going through everything to figure it out. She had mentioned she really loved pearls, so I knew I wanted to include some, and since pearls remind me of the ocean, I chose a lovely beach themed pendant from Clayworks that I had purchased last year, along with a variety of beads including 3 different colors of pearls in 2 different styles, jasper, and 2 handmade glass beads from Lisa Anderson. The clasp was a vintaj toggle clasp, and I also included a little silk cord and some handmade "porthole" components.  Here is a photo of the soup I sent her:

Are you excited to see what she makes with it? I know I am! Wish me luck that I can do her fabulous components justice! In the meantime you can also help me out (warning, shameless plug following)  and vote for my bracelet design in this month's vintaj challenge, road trip is the theme! 

Click this link to vote: Vintaj Challenge   My bracelet is entry # 4.  Thanks for reading all about Cynthia and stay tuned for our design reveals on July 28th!   

Save Money; Adorn Your Ears

Well long time no read...or write...I have been a major slacker when it comes to blogging. I have a blogger friend that insists I should feel more confident in my work and ability to write a blog, although I am severely in need of some classes when it comes to both if you ask me...but I'm going to give it a shot, and I figured the best way to start was to just show everyone what I've been working on, offer a sale to move some of my jewelry, and involve myself in some things that will force me to blog, like Lori Anderson's bead soup blog hop.  I am signed up for the current bsbh again, but as of yet don't know who I've been paired with, so stay tuned for more details on who my partner is, what I'm sending her, and what I get and create with the soup she sends me.

In the meantime...here are some new earrings I've been working on:

I used embossed blanks on the 1st, 3rd, and 4th pairs, and then added color with patinas and used relief to make the embossed patterns pop. The last 2 pairs feature vintaj large tags which I first hammered, then dapped and worked into horseshoe shapes. I used fine ornate vintaj chain to attach them to the earring lever backs. They all feature gorgeous Swarovski crystal faceted briolette drops and other Swarovski crystal beads as well. The green and crystal copper pair also have handmade spacer beads from Lisa Anderson.

If you have made it this far in my blog post, well thanks for reading!!!   I am having a big sale on my etsy shop - 20% off anything in the store. Sale ends July 6th at 11:59 est. Use code SALE20 to redeem your discount. As always my shipping is very low, only 2$ for domestic US addresses. I have a massive amount of inventory and am not going to be doing many shows this summer, so in order to get rid of the old to make way for the new, I have to unload some jewelry!

www.etsy.com/shop/beadfulthingsjewelry
Or just click this link:   MY ETSY SHOP

A Great Giveaway

I was excited to see this post on Lori Anderson's blog today. She is giving away a fantastic prize for jewelry designers - a set of impress art letter stamps and a new, specialty hammer made just for stamping letters.  I entered and you can as well by clicking this link and following the directions on her blog post. 
http://www.prettythingsblog.com/2012/04/win-set-of-impress-art-letter-stamps.html




Just a quick update while I'm on my blog - I have been busy with sending out some goody bags for a bead swap as well as trying to get my house cleaned over the last few weeks.  I have a new post coming up about my most recent bead swap, as well as a giveaway of my own, my first ever, actually! I also am happy to say that in the first week of my diet I lost 9 lbs and am well on my way to reaching my big goal! Gotta love that dance central. : ) Stay tuned next week for all the fun stuff mentioned above. Until then, I have to keep getting my house under control before summer arrives, and I'm also gearing up for a paranormal investigation with my ghost hunting team at the historic Hales Bar Dam on Friday night. (Friday the 13th to be exact!) Should be an exciting and eventful weekend!

Making Changes

Anyone who knows me personally, knows that I tend to wear the same thing every day. I have a wardrobe that consists of black yoga pants and various solid t-shirts, mostly v-neck t shirts. Its really pretty sad and pathetic, honestly. I used to dress up on occasion and at the very least mixed it up with jeans and fun shoes, but something has happened to me...I turned 30 last May. I think the change probably came about around 29 honestly, but it was probably only because I knew what was coming around the corner. I have also been churning out jewelry like crazy, which means a lot of sitting in my house. Not a lot of calorie burning. That is why I've gained about 40 pounds in the last 1.5 years or so. I also quit smoking about 1.5 years ago...go figure. Anyway, I am officially the heaviest I've ever been sans being 9 months preggo, so I've reached the point where I absolutely cannot allow this to continue. So the last 3 days in a row, I have tried to maintain a reasonable diet, nothing strict or really that different, I just didn't gorge out on sweets...I did still have dessert. But I also worked out with the Dance Central 2 game on the kinect for over an hour each day, and I was delighted to see this morning that I had lost 5 pounds! That gave me a boost of motivation, since summer arrived in February, I definitely need to get a move on in being in control of my weight and my body and my eating habits. No more allowing jewelry to overtake every aspect of my life. I still have to make time for me.  I will keep you posted on my progress, but consider this my official pledge to make it happen! 

The Huge Difference of Small Details

I think I have made it pretty well known that I've been on a bracelet kick lately. I have also been experimenting with using silver, a territory I wasn't that comfortable with since my creative roots lie with brass products, but that didn't stop me from trying it out. My first attempt was with lapis lazuli beads and crystal dangles using silver findings and wire. After my last purple butterfly bracelet that I posted on a recent blog, I wanted to do a similar bracelet only with beads alone and no focal butterfly, just to make the design more generalized to appeal to more people who were looking for basic or classic jewelry and not necessarily hand painted butterflies. I loved the design so much that I did the EXACT same bracelet, only I used silver wire, jump rings, and bead caps. Here are photos of both bracelets to show the difference that the findings make in the design. Which do you prefer or are drawn to? I am almost always drawn to the brass as it feels less complicated, more laid back, more down to earth, if you will. But here lately, I feel the silver pulling me ever so closer in...will there be a change in my designing future? Perhaps...it would be easier to go there if the cost of silver went down! Until then, the artistic wire will have to do.
Here is the brass version:

And here is the silver version:

My last post was about the blog hop, and I made 2 pairs of earrings that also used some of the beads she sent. One pair included only beads she sent as well as chain, and the others just had one little glass bead left over from my bead soup. Here they are!

My First Bead Soup Revealed!

I first learned of this event called the bead soup blog hop day last fall, and I had a wonderful time looking at many different artists creations, yet was eager to participate in such an event myself. I was a bit too late to join in the main 200 person group that started its pairings this January, but I was very fortunate to find a partner on my own and we quickly mailed each other our mystery bead soups. A bead soup, if you have never heard of the term, is an assortment of beads with a focal and clasp, typically in a color palette or theme.  My partner is the wonderful Denise Peterson, and you can visit her blog by clicking the link. She has also posted her soup from me and her finished creation. I was so lucky that my partner sent me such beautiful items and beads to work with. She sent me so much to choose from! I ended up using these beautiful glass blue metallic beads that she sent me a strand of, and I combined them with the antiqued silver chain she sent as well as her butterfly focal. I added my own Petrol colored Swarovski crystal pearls to complete the look and finish it off with a real sense of romance. I am completely in love with the necklace. It is extremely long and the glass metallic beaded fringe catches the light and has lovely movement. I made a simple bracelet and pair of earrings to match it I loved it so much, and I almost never do that! There were some other beads she sent, and I did make some more earrings with them, but due to the stormy weather I haven't been able to photograph them yet. I will show them off on my next blog though.  Here is my finished set!

View all of the blog hop participants' creations!! Visit the main page to see all of the entries!

 BLOG HOP!

The Makings of the Moment

Lately I've been making a lot of free jewelry for donations to charities. I have made earrings for a local fundraiser for a girl who has cerebral palsy and is need of surgery. I have given 2 necklaces, including a replica of my first published design and a pair of earrings, to my local Arts council for their annual gala fundraiser silent auction, and I have made a lovely bracelet for the 7000 Bracelets for Hope Campaign. I enjoy helping others, and although I have little to offer financially, at least I can make a few things and donate my time, which amounts to a lot more than the money I have invested in the pieces. I just hope they appreciate the work and love that I put into every piece of jewelry I create. People tend to undervalue anything handmade. My father, a custom wood worker, knows this all too well!  Here is my 7000 bracelets for hope design.

  I've also been toying with some new designs incorporating layers and multi-strands. This is a new venture for me as I've really never worked with cloth textiles before in jewelry, nor have I really done many multi strand pieces, other than my first Vintaj design challenge win with the starry night necklace. I think that's actually one of the reasons I haven't gone there, because it was such a pain to get all the strands at the perfect length.  
Meanwhile in the midst of all these charity designs, I also have made a necklace for the bead soup swap that I am just sooo proud of. Its actually not a complex necklace, very simple design, but its still just so perfectly fabulous that I can't stop wearing it! The reveal day is March 3rd, so stay tuned for photos of the finished piece!! I still have quite a few beads left though that I haven't used, nor have I figured out what to do with the silk, so I'm a bit at a loss for the rest...here's hoping I can figure it out by the 3rd!  Until then, here is my bead soup that I received from my partner, Denise Peterson.

Unfortunately, as much as I'd love to spend my days beading and designing, I do have a day job as a Realtor, and it has come to that oh so fun 2 year mark when I have to renew my license. Since I've been so distracted my turning my hobby into a business the last few years, I haven't completed the first hour of continuing education, so the next week I have to complete over 16 hours of CE classes in order to meet the requirements for renewing my license, and I'm totally dreading it!!  I always say I am not going to procrastinate my CE and get it done in advance, and it NEVER happens!!  Oh well, I work better under pressure anyway! ; )   

Something Pretty On My Wrist

                       I wanted to do a quick blog on my latest design and what I was thinking during the design of it. I often dream of writing blogs that break down the design concept in an interesting way, but the truth is, it's really more of an organic, unplanned process most of the time for me.  This bracelet was a bit different though, because I did have a bit of a broad concept and picture in my mind when I set out to make it. It's a shame my arms are so hairy, because I'd love to be able to get photos of it as well as others on my wrist, because they just look so amazing. Unfortunately all I see is my arm hair when I try to get a picture, so I won't be sharing any of those photos with you today.  I'll try to search for a hairless model in the future, but in the meantime, the normal laid out photo will have to do.

                       This bracelet is a fun one that is basically inspired by my young teen years, back when I was obsessed with Drew Barrymore and similar movie stars of her up and coming time. She did that one movie where she played a rebellious and spirited yet troubled girl who was obsessed with butterflies...in a way, her character was kind of my muse when designing this bracelet. It is all about purples and has a vibrant purple altered arte metal butterfly as a unique focal point, although its got enough curvature you could wear it on the side or even back/bottom of wrist if you prefer another side showing more or need comfort. For example, I'm typing so I've swished the bracelet around so the butterfly is on the bottom side, because it is more comfortable to have my wrist rest on it than the larger beads. Making the focal is actually fairly simple. First paint the arte metal white to provide a base. If you use the ink just over the metal, it doesn't really show up very bright. After paint dries, use the ranger ink tools to apply your choice of ink colors to the piece. Try to dab as little as possible, because it will wipe the paint away, even after it dries if you are rubbing on it too much. Let ink dry and add a few more layers, mix up the colors if you like. After it all dries spray with acrylic sealant, then curve the tabs to make connectors or remove them and punch holes. The beads are g-g-gorgeous with lots of sparkle. My grandmother had made this incredibly huge cocktail ring that I dismantled and used some of the very gorgeous, retro, ab crystals in the dangles, as well as assorted crystal and glass beads in multiple shades of purple. I used 24mm wire to make fun little wire wrapped links to hang the sparkly beads from because these always remind me of either a spiraling flight or swim, so I often incorporate wire links and drops into nautical and or nature/bug/butterfly/dragonfly themed jewelry. Since I had this spiral idea in mind, I used a spiral clasp to complete the design. I'm pretty happy with this one, so much so that I may have to do a few more in different colors. I pretty much stick to green, blue, and purple in most of my designs, so I just might get crazy and go with a different color...at least one of these days!

Injured Foot, Injured Spirit, Still Nice Jewelry

             My last post feels like a century ago, and I apologize for my inability to post timely blogs. My only excuse is that I fell on Christmas Eve and fractured my foot and ankle in 2 different places, as well as severely spraining it. It was a major injury that has me, 35 days later, still in pain with less than 50% mobility, stuck at home with a boot on my right foot, leaving me unable to drive. This means I have been having extreme bead store withdraw symptoms, this being the reason I finally satiated my urges with a $80 beadaholique purchase (hey I got 20% off!) and a $30 handmade lampwork glass bead purchase (hey.... they are handmade and I had the money in paypal from an etsy sale of my jewelry!)  I was accustomed to making the 30 minute drive into Cleveland at least once a week to hit up either Michaels craft store or Hobby Lobby, whichever was having the better sale for the supplies I was craving that week, but alas, I have been stricken to the woes of internet shopping, where I am constantly buying things I do not need and end up needing more things to finish projects. Oh and I also am anxiously awaiting my tax documents to be able to file my taxes and get my return, because there's at least a $500 order for vintaj that must be placed. Yikes! This means I really need to sell some jewelry stat, which means I need to get some shows booked asap! I also have to get something made to donate to two different charities, one for auction and the other for The Global Genes Project, 7000 bracelets for hope campaign. That's a lot of stuff I need to get on top of... the problem is, I'm kind of a gimp right now. Oh and also I've been kind of depressed and not feeling very creative. Part of this is due to the fact that I feel like I've hit this sort of plateau in my goals, and I am not sure I can get to the place I want to, ever. That's a depressing thought. To work so hard, make so little, and pour every ounce of your heart into something that doesn't pan out...its scary. Then on top of that I've been stuck here, in the house, half mobile and feeling pretty worthless, so its all compounding to just a heap of yuck and more yuck. I somehow managed to design a few things lately I like and am proud of, but I need to do a lot more than I feel like I have the energy for, and I'm not sure how I'm going to find it. I still have my "day job," which is also a working from home job, and I am reaching a point where I really wish I could just choose one or the other. The past year I've thought that the path I'd ultimately choose would be jewelry, but its so uncertain in terms of profit, because you just never know. My etsy sales have averaged to 2 a month. That isn't a lot, considering how often I relist. I basically don't profit much of anything on there at this point. I honestly don't know what the issue is. Is it my tags? My designs? My prices? My photos? Then as far as local shows go, most have been successful, but then again, a few were not so much, so I'm not sure of which ones I should devote my time and energy to. Ultimately I have a lot to figure out, because if I don't start getting sales soon, then all of the praise, the attention, the magazines...it just doesn't amount to much. Its incredible, but its not enough to keep a business running. If the business can't run, then why keep pouring my money, my heart, and my energy into it? We have even been talking about turning the screen porch into a studio for me, but why on earth would we do that if I can't sell more jewelry than my expense to make it? I honestly have a lot of decisions to make. It breaks my heart to even consider not designing jewelry, but I don't want to be naive and hurt my family financially in order to make something happen that just may not be possible for me. If I do continue trying to make a go of the business, I am definitely going to have to get ahold of my beading addiction, and be more selective in my supply purchases. In the meantime, I will keep you posted on my ankle. I should find out a week from Monday if I need surgery on it, and hopefully that is a NO and I will be in normal shoes within another few weeks.
To send you off here are a few photos, taken with my new background, the tile we used for our kitchen floors!

                                 A vintaj bracelet I made. I've made 3 of these in the last few weeks.

                The necklace I made myself for Christmas, inspired by a necklace by Jess Italia Lincon.

                               The necklace I designed for the vintaj design challenge, which is mixed metals. I had to use all 3 of their metals. I hand painted the patina look on the pendant, which is arte metal (black) originally.

                      The necklace I made with the beautiful glass cab made by a local artist.

A not so great photo of my computer screen of my first magazine publication in Feb 2012 Bead Trends. I haven't received the hard copies in the mail yet, but I'm super excited!! I'll get my necklace back too, yay!