Today we had lovely weather, warm and sunny, and not a cloud in the sky. My friend and I took our kids out to a couple of garage sales, and I hit the amber jackpot and also found some seed bead and wood beads. Seriously, I can’t believe all the amber this one woman was selling. Well, see for yourself. Here’s a few of things I picked up today. Including the bamboo mat I photographed these on.

I should have gotten a better close up shot of these pretty filigree vintage beads, which I think are brass? And there are chunky nuggets in that necklace as well.

Look at those weathered wood beads… I’m itching to tear these necklaces up and use those wooden lovelies in earrings, and as spacers. I think there is plastic and some shell in there as well.

I love that old Indian made bell. I couldn’t pass it up! And those chunky wooden rounds. Fab!

I wasn’t going to get these clip on earrings, but changed my mind at the last minute. The beads are too cool, and I could totally repurpose them, and if I use them separately, I think the beads would have more impact. Right now you miss the cool texture on each one, and the nice mellow color would be a great accent in something else.

Garage sale season is just starting! I can’t wait to see what else I find!

new blog hop challenge

Recently, Kristi Bowman offered a fun giveaway, where she picked nine designers to receive her awesome, handmade Copper Paisley End Caps. The lucky recipients would then show off her little beauties in a blog hop on May 19th. Happily, I was one of the winners! Please check back here on Saturday to see what I made with my end caps, and to check out the rest of the blog hop.

Happy Mother’s Day! I hope everyone is enjoying the day with their family.

I love flowers, but I’m terribly allergic to anything with pollen. Someday, I hope to get my house in shape enough to actually decorate. This dream includes flowers. I hope you enjoy this treasury list I made over on Etsy, which features gorgeous, sneeze-proof silk arrangements.

‘Bringing the garden indoors‘ by plussizebangles

Treasury tool by StylishHome.

Got a chance to photograph the earrings I’ve been working on with my antique fair wood beads. The Greek ceramic beads came from Linden Avenue Designs on etsy. How did I live without these beads for so long? I’m smitten! And the brass wire I bought from Patina Queen on etsy.

And here are the three printer trays I picked up at Antiques on the Bluff on Sunday. They will be perfect for displaying beads.

Do you love the Greek beads too? Let me know what you think.

looking for inspiration

It’s been a while since I’ve been able to participate in the Art Bead Scene monthly blog challenge, and this month I’m going to try and give it a go. The inspiration painting is “Italian’s House at Monmarte” by Maurice Utrillo, pictured below. The swatches were the colors I picked out with =Photoshop from the painting to try and create around, but as you can see, there are many more hues, shades and tones of green, white, gold, orange and brown to choose from.

In other news, I finally applied for the annual local show that is held here in my area every August. I’ve had a booth the past two years, and hope to participate again this summer. Hoping that I will be chosen, I went antiquing yesterday and found 3 printers trays that will be perfect for my booth tables for holding earrings, beads, and bracelets. Plus some funky wood beads that have already found their way into new earrings that I will hopefully photograph and post in the next couple of days.

What’s on your bead table?

Another Wednesday has arrived. Most Wednesdays I try to participate in Bead Table Wednesday, and like to show beads or jewelry in progress. This week, since things are in a state of chaos over here due to an allergy-induced sinus infection and taxes, I thought I’d do a quickie post and just show you two of my recent Etsy listings (technically they’re still on my bead table *wink*). Please drop by the Bead Table Wednesday Flickr group to see what other bead lovers are up to today.

Rose Button & Linen Bracelet, with stone, wood, bone and brass bracelet

Plus Size Earthy Stone Bead and Waxed Linen Bracelet

Rustic, Earthy Purple and Forest Green Polymer Clay Beads

Rustic, Earthy Aqua-Green Polymer Clay Beads

This afternoon I got a couple of hours to myself because my husband took our son to the Easter festivities downtown. Bless him! I’d been wanting to try out a new bangle design I’ve been thinking about that uses heavy gauge copper wire and my hammer. Here’s the prototype. If I make any more of these, I’ll need a riveting hammer, a small anvil, and a nice sturdy, metal bracelet mandrel.

What do you think? Should I make more and invest in proper tools? I am in LOVE with bone beads, and really like this rustic look. I also think this would look great with a turquoise and silver. Of course, I’d love to make some polymer clay discs of my own to mix and match as well.

more experiments

I’ve been playing with hemp cord and more polymer clay. What’s on your bead table?

* Coconut button and blue Czech seed beads from Jo-Ann Fabrics (they were having a sale!), hemp cord from Hobby Lobby.

This morning I spent an hour or so making this pretty floral button bracelet with multiple strands, stone beads and waxed linen cord. Unfortuneatly, I didn’t give myself enough length, and ran short to finish it off the way I wanted to, so I had to MacGuyver it, with less than ideal results (Note to self: to leave enough fiber to work with, cut 36 or 40 or more inch lengths, NOT the 30 inch lengths you used on this one).

I’ll wear this today, and maybe snip off all the knots later and try again. Sigh. I do have another matching button and more of the same beads, so I can try again without tearing this one apart. The goal is the make a braided loop closure to go around the button next time.