June Bead Trends

Just a quick post about this month’s Bead Trends magazine.  But first, if you haven’t had a chance yet, go out and check out May’s issue featuring the enormously talented Cindy Wimmer of Sweet Bead Studio as their monthly highlighted designer.  In addition to her trademark wire work, Cindy features some beautiful vintage-inspired designs that are definitely worth your time!

June’s issue is also stunning, full of beautiful designs and featuring Judith Glende of Judith B. Designs.  She includes unique jewelry full of etched metals, cold connections and wire work in varied styles.

I also have a set included in this month’s magazine called “Summer Skies”:

I used beautiful drawn copper cable and stunning dumortierite from Rings and Things and a lovely glass copper disc from Blueseraphim.

As always, thanks go out to Bead Trends for including me in their gorgeous magazine!

Collaboration…

When I received an e-mail last October from my amazingly talented friend, Diane Cook, asking if I wanted to participate in a collaboration with her and five other women, I sent her an immediate resounding “YES!”  So the seven of us started a journey called “With One Finding” that I’d like to share with you:

Diane’s idea was to give each of us the same starting point:  the ‘Marianne’ focal piece from Brass Bouquet:

Using this beautiful focal, Diane unleashed our creativity, and it was remarkable to see the unique designs that each of us came up with that really showcased the personality of each designer.

Here is a picture of my design:

In addition to the ‘Marianne’ focal, I also purchased three different brass chains from the Brass Bouquet.  After I decided on the structure of the necklace, I started adding (and adding, and adding, and adding) many different sizes and colors of glass pearls to the main chain, finishing the focal with another length of chain and pearls.

This design process pushed me a lot.  I have to admit that I was a bit intimidated by the caliber of the other women participating, and I wanted to make sure my design could stand up with theirs.  What I discovered was that, instead of worrying about what they were going to do and instead trusting my instincts, I was able to create a necklace that was uniquely my own.

The complete article is featured in the Summer 2011 issue of Belle Armoire Jewelry, and I highly recommend you pick it up!  In it you will also see the stunning designs of all of the talented women:  Diane Cook, Marie Dodd, Diana Frey, Julie Pishny, Riki Schumacher and Cindy Wimmer.  Diane also has more pictures posted on her Flickr site.

Thanks so much, Diane, for including me in this fantastic collaboration!

More Secret Santa Gift Reveals…

Hello!

I want to share some more Secret Santa gifts with you:

The first one is a frame made by Riki Schumacher of Riki Jewelry for Diane Cook of Rosa & Josie’s:

“Sisters”

This second set of pictures are of the necklace that Cindy Wimmer of Sweet Bead Studio made for Carolyn Mallin of Fanciful Expressions:

Ladies, you continue to astound me with your unbelievable artistic talent!   Stay tuned for updates from more Secret Santas!

And The First Secret Santas Reveal Themselves...

OK...I was going to try to wait until tomorrow to post the first Secret Santa pictures, but I’m just not that patient!  Boy is this a group of talented women!  

So, without further ado, I will post a few pictures of the pieces I know have made it to their ‘giftees’.  I am going to give you the links to the artist and the recipient with each picture, so you can go to their respective blogs and read more about each piece:

This first picture is of the necklace that Tami Roth of Cat Tales Etc. made for Beth Bricker of Vintage Sweets:

“A Kind Heart”

This second picture is of the necklace and earrings set that Beth Bricker of Vintage Sweets made for Cindy Wimmer of Sweet Bead Studio:

“Sweet”

Didn’t they do beautiful work?  Stay tuned for more  pictures over the next week!