February 7, 2010

Romantic Enamel and Copper Jewelry Set

Valentine Set_2"Romance and Copper" 

My newest jewelry set, "Romance & Copper", is one of my favorites so far!  Combining enameled pieces with vintage cotton pearls, vintage glass beads, lovely copper beads and sweet Czech baby bell flower beads, this set brings together all of my favorite materials.

Valentine Set_1

You can find this set for sale right now in my Etsy store.

Happy Valentine's Day!

February 3, 2010

On the Ground In Haiti


Earlier this week, Palm Valley Church sent down a group of our pastors to Haiti to survey the damage and to meet with, encourage and help our ministry partners, their famlies and congregations, as well as to pass out food and supplies. 

They landed safely in the Dominican Republic and drove about 12 hours to Port Au Prince.  Please check out Pastor Greg's blog post at http://www.gregrholinger.com/ for more information and for pictures of their trip so far.

February 2, 2010

A Simply Sweet Heart Necklace For Valentine’s Day

"Simply Sweet Heart"

 For another Valentine’s Day necklace I just finished, I wanted to create a simple and casual piece, and the Large Copper Art Deco Heart Pendant from Artbeads.com fit the bill. 



With its beautiful craftsmanship and significant size (height 46mm, width 45mm), it definitely needed to be the center of attention in this piece, without distraction from a complicated chain.

 

With 'simple' being the operative word, I made this chain from small, handmade coiled copper wire links and green and brown glass beads that set off the rustic copper tones in the focal heart, closing with a handmade copper clasp.

For more beautiful Valentine's Day inspiration, check out Artbeads.com's Valentine's Day beads & findings, and if you would like to see more of my Valentine’s Day jewelry, I am selling this piece and others in my Etsy shop




Necessary Legal Stuff: I have received the following product(s) free of charge from Artbeads and I am honestly reviewing it/them. I have not been paid for my endorsement as it pertains to the product(s) received: Copper Large Art Deco Heart Pendant.

January 28, 2010

A Valentine’s Day Twist

Lately I have felt compelled to push myself to improve my wire working skills, with inspiration coming from the beautiful artwork of artists like Cindy Wimmer and Connie Fox.  When my hubby & I were up in Prescott, AZ over New Year’s, I saw a “Coiling Gizmo”, and picked it up.

As I was laying out the design for one of my Valentine’s Day necklaces for Artbeads.com’s Blog for Beaders blogging team, I decided to pull out my new gizmo & incorporate coiled links into one of the pieces.   So without further ado, here is my newest piece featuring beautiful beads from Artbeads.com:


Valentine_6
The Black, White, and Pink Kalera Bead focal is a stunning piece of art on its own, and it set the color palate for the rest of the necklace.

Valentine_5

Valentine_8
To compliment the pink, black and white in the focal bead, I incorporated vintage Pink and Black Striped Round Beads, vintage Jet Four-Sided Oval Beads, Pink Czech Glass Fire-Polished Roundelles, pink Porphyr Czech Fire Polished Beads, and some black and white scrolled beads with some black, white and pink lampwork beads I had in my own bead stash (you can find similar styles in Artbeads.com’s Lampwork Bead section).  I also added some handmade charms made from Metallite 5mm Antique Silver Heart with Granulations and Czech pressed glass tiny bell flowers randomly hanging on the chain.

The overall design is whimsical and very feminine, and this piece of jewelry can be worn all year long.
I am working on more Valentine designs, so check back soon!

Necessary Legal Stuff: I have received the following products free of charge from Artbeads and I am honestly reviewing them. I have not been paid for my endorsement as it pertains to the products received: Metallite 5mm Antique Silver Heart with Granulations, Vintage Pink and Black Striped Round Beads, Vintage Jet Four-Sided Oval Beads, Black, White, and Pink Kalera Bead.

January 25, 2010

New Artbeads Goodies…

With Valentine’s Day fast approaching, I received a fun goody package from Artbeads.com with some new beads to play with, incorporating a Valentine’s Day theme.  Here’s a sneak peek of the beads they sent:
 P1190007


In addition to these beautiful beads, I purchased some others on my own, and I can’t wait to post pictures of the finished pieces - stay tuned!  :-)

In the meantime, take a look around the Artbeads.com site for fantastic deals on Valentine’s Day beads, Swarovski beads and elements, beautiful silver beads and findings, and an awesome vintage bead section – you’ll be hooked! 

To make it even more tempting, all of Artbeads.com’s Valentine’s Day items are currently 15% off!

Happy Shopping!

Necessary Legal Stuff: I have received the following products free of charge from Artbeads and I am honestly reviewing them. I have not been paid for my endorsement as it pertains to the products received: Metallite 5mm Antique Silver Heart with Granulations, Vintage Pink and Black Striped Round Beads, Vintage Jet Four-Sided Oval Beads, Vintage White Barrel Beads, 6mm Fire Polish Mix Pink Tones (50 pack), Copper Large Art Deco Heart Pendant, Black, White, and Pink Kalera Bead

January 23, 2010

Helping In Haiti…

It has been a while since I posted, but I wanted to share with you the involvement our church, Palm Valley Church in Goodyear, AZ, has with the people of Haiti and how you can help.  Our church has been partnering with ministries in Haiti for the past 3 years, and we, as a congregation, have built 2 churches, help with one of the local orphanages, and work with a local ministry training center.  I wanted to give you an update of how all of our ministry partners are doing and to put some faces with the ministries (most of what I am including below comes directly from our pastor’s blog, http://www.gregrohlinger.com/.  You can go out to his blog for updates.):
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** Photos of Palm Valley staff in Haiti are from a trip in November 2009 **

…here’s a rundown of the ministry partnerships Palm Valley has in Haiti…

Missions Door- the mission organization that we work with to partner with Guillo and his team in Haiti. http://www.missionsdoor.org/

Joaquin Vargas- Vice President of Missions Door and heads up Latino and Caribbean Ministries. Joaquin works with each of our ministry partners in Haiti and Dominican Republic.

greg-and-guillo-front-of-VBC_effects
Our pastor, Greg Rohlinger, with Guillo, the national Ministry Director (Pastor), in front of Vallue Baptist Church (one of the churches Palm Valley built)

Herode Guillomenttre (Guillo)- Church Planting
Personal Profile- Wife Edline and 2 young girls Deinlee and Leissa.
Ministry Profile- Herode Guillomenttre also known as “Guillo” established the Christian Center for Integrated Development, which trains and equips many Pastors and leaders through seminars and conferences.
Guillo is the National Ministry Coordinator in Haiti for Missions Door. Some of Guillo’s responsibilities include equipping pastors from across Haiti (over 750) this includes Vallue Baptist Church and Pastor Emmanuel. Guillo also works directly with the Haitian Baptist Association (network of pastors) and is the director of a the Community Hospital Center of Lilavois.

Alexis Francklin- Children’s Ministry
Personal Profile: Recently graduated, and would like to continue his studies.  Ministry Profile: Francklin is a children’s Pastor and works directly with 8 different churches and their children’s ministries over 800 children total. Francklin also works runs a facility in Petit Goave, that just recently opened as a location for ministry groups to stay at, as well as a location for further equipping for Pastor’s. This was demolished in the earthquake.

team-with-franklin_effects
Palm Valley Ministry Team with Francklin

Jonathan Joseph- Leadership Development
Personal Profile: Married to Alexandra in 1999.
Ministry Profile: Working with

Pastor Emmanuel- Pastor of Vallue Baptist Church
Personal Profile: Engaged and will be married November of 2010.
Ministry Profile: Works directly with Guillo and Missions Door. In 2007 Palm Valley Church was able to send the finances to the church in Vallue so they could build a facility to meet in. This facility was damaged in the earthquake.

greg-and-Emmanuel_effects
Palm Valley Pastor Greg Rohlinger with Pastor Emmanuel

Community of Joulien- funds where also sent from PVC to help build a facility in the community of Joulien. The pastor has continued his education at HaitiArise Ministries. This community is also where we are having a Well drilled.
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HOW YOU CAN HELP:

HaitiArise- Marc and Lisa Honorat are the directors of HaitiArise Ministries. They are located in Grand Goave which is located 30 miles west of Port Au Prince. HaitiArise is a Bible school and technical school. They also have started a church at HaitiArise that has over 400 adults and 300 children weekly. http://www.haitiarise.org/

Maison Des Anges- House of Angels orphan home is located in Port Au Prince. http://lamaisondesanges.e-monsite.com/accueil.html
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The earthquakes in Haiti have brought the world’s attention to a much-neglected country that may finally get the help it sorely needs.  The people are filled with such amazing strength and resolve, and I wanted to share some pictures that really spoke to me about the faith that is getting them through:

Woman in prayer“He gives beauty for ashes…

Praising Woman
…strength for fear…

People attend Sunday catholic mass outside the destroyed National Cathedral in Port-au-Prince, 5 days after a powerful earthquake measuring 7.0 on the Richter Scale devastated the city.
…gladness for mourning…

Praying Haitians
…and peace for despair.”

Join me in praying for Haiti and its healing.  The road to recovery is a long one, and will not end with the immediate needs.  There will be a need for help for many months to come, and my prayer is that the needs of the people continue to be met long after the rescue stage is over and the reporters are gone.

January 8, 2010

3 More For Sale At Etsy

So…I just got back from picking up my pieces from the Tubac Artisan Holiday Market, and have listed them in my Etsy store.  The sets that are for sale are:
“Spring”
Spring Set_10

“Summer”
Summer Set_3

“Autumn”
Autumn Set_12
Check them out!

January 4, 2010

Fun New Stuff For The New Year

Hi everyone!

I have a New Year’s post I’m writing, but want to mull it over a bit more…

In the meantime, let me share some fun things I’ve been working on.  First, I’ve absolutely fallen in love with Barbara Lewis’ enameled beads and jewelry (check them out in the Winter Belle Armoire Jewelry – fantastic!), and I asked for money or Christmas so I could invest a bit in trying it out myself.  I ordered the Bead Pulling Station from her Etsy shop, Painting With Fire, and I purchased Thompson Enamels in 12 colors.  With the Bead Pulling Station, Barbara sent detailed instructions on her process, which are awesome and very easy to understand!  I’ve gotta confess:  I’m absolutely addicted!  Here’s some pictures to show you the results:

Enameled Pieces

I am excited to use my new enameled creations in some new jewelry pieces!  Thanks Barbara!

Secondly, I’m listing some new items on Etsy, and here’s a preview:

2010_01_04

In addition to these copper pieces, I’ve made another necklace using ICE Resin (yet another addiction, I’m afraid!):

P1040009

The necklace is 36” long and is made from copper, picasso finish glass beads and labradorite, and can be worn long:

P1040002

or short (18”):

P1040006

P1040005  

I love how it turned out, and am in the process of making even more pieces using the ICE resin.

That’s it for now – more to come soon!

December 24, 2009

Merry Christmas To All!

2009 Christmas Picture

December 22, 2009

And the Final Secret Santa Reveals are Here!

Ta-Da!  I would like to share the final Secret Santa jewelry pictures with you, so here we go!.


First, Here is the beautiful and unusual necklace that Deryn Mentock of Something Sublime made for Sally Turlington from Imagine This:

6a00d8341cd2ac53ef0128766baaa4970c-800wi “The Monkey’s Paw”

6a00d8341cd2ac53ef0120a7689e7c970b-800wi

6a00d8341cd2ac53ef0120a768a302970b-800wi

6a00d8341cd2ac53ef0128766bb1af970c-800wi

Second, here is the gorgeous necklace that Jeanette Blix-Ryan of Jeanette Blix Metal & Wire Jewelry made for Deryn Mentock of Something Sublime:
6a00d8341cd2ac53ef0120a76895bc970b-800wi

6a00d8341cd2ac53ef0120a76896c2970b-800wi

6a00d8341cd2ac53ef0128766ba679970c-800wi

Jeanette for deryn

And finally, the beautiful and original brooch that Crystal Neubauer of Other People’s Flowers made for Jeanette Blix-Ryan of Jeanette Blix Metal and Wire Jewelry:

3 003

3 005

Wow – what a wonderful experience this has been!  thank you so much, ladies, for your willingness to participate and for the obvious care and attention to detail you each put into your pieces.  I can’t wait until next year!
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