Famous Jewelry Collections: November 2011

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

THE BEADING GEM'S JOURNAL

Posted: 30 Nov 2011 04:00 AM PST

Nothing declares the house owner as a jewelry maker or crafter than a bead wreath! Perfect for any of the holidays or seasons - just use the appropriate colors!

Brittany of the Sew in Love blog has a spectacular bead wreath tutorial made out of Mardi Gras beads! The beads were leftover from Mardi Gras parades in Louisiana. Shown here are some of the common colors for these really inexpensive beads.

Those who love simpler styles though should check out Steph's Wooden Bead Summer Wreath tutorial on her blog with the delightful title, The Silly Pearl. Via

You could also hot glue beads around a styrofoam wreath base for a really easy decoration. Scale down to a bead and wire crystal beads like this tutorial, and you've got quick and easy Christmas tree deocrations.

If you're a little more adept with wire, try out Rockfront's twisted wire and bead wreath tutorial.

Not a wire work fan? Then check out Bead Jewelry Making's lovely beaded Christmas Wreath Charm tutorial.

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Tuesday, November 29, 2011

THE BEADING GEM'S JOURNAL

Landscape Inspired Jewelry by Sarah Hood

Posted: 29 Nov 2011 04:00 AM PST

Seattle based Sarah Hood is a sculptural artist whose one of a kind jewelry pieces speak volumes about her "exploration of the natural world, both its forms and its materials."

Her keen eye for profiles enables her to translate visions of bare trees in winter, foliage and shapes of leaves into her distinctive design style. That she is a gardening and botany enthusiast is also evident.

Shown here are her Landscape collection and the Arbor collection which later "branched" off. The twigs and branches have considerable aesthetic appeal.

Although she is trained metal smith, Sarah does not dismiss unusual and nontraditional materials. Indeed , what first caught my eye were her pieces which mixed sterling silver with model railway tree and landscape materials as shown below. Her work has been featured in many magazines and jewelry art exhibitions.

Sarah also has an Etsy store and writes a blog.

Via

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Sparkle Spot's $25 Gift Certificate Winner

Posted: 28 Nov 2011 03:23 PM PST

Ruth24's comment on last week's giveaway and feature on colored FireLine pretty much summed up most people's sentiments - "Where have you been all my beading life?"

Kelley of Sparkle Spot's innovative adaptation of plain FireLine for beaders certainly set Parudy's heart a-fluttering with excitement!

I also suspect the sporting goods guy at Donna Morris' local store will be heaving a sigh of relief as she won't be bugging him any more about whether new colors of FireLine are available. But unlike Connie, I cannot imagine fishermen wanting the vibrant colored versions so there will be more for us!

The lucky winner of this giveaway will also NOT have to use colored markers on regular FireLine like some of you do. No more accidentally colored fingers either!

I numbered all the entries and hopped over to random.org. The random number generator pulled out the number assigned to Maguito! Congratulations! I do not have your email so please contact me asap. If I don't hear from you by next Monday, I will re-draw.

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