2010...creatively speaking

I was flicking through the hundreds of photos I have saved on my laptop thinking it was time I burn them to a CD and save them on our other computer. 

In doing this I decided it might be a good idea to organise my beading photos into years so I can look back and see what pieces I made for each year.

So here is a recap of what I got up to in 2010.

~~~

2010 started with teaching my beautiful nieces to bead in the first few days of January

Resulting in these beautiful earrings

I adore St Petersburg so I decided to make a few bracelets

Of course beading wouldn't be beading (at least for me) without a few beaded cabochons

and because I love working with cabs I made a few glass fused ones in my microwave kiln!

I excitedly took part in my very first Bead Soup Blog Party hosted by Lori of Pretty Things

I was jumping up and down with excitement and pride when I became an Artbeads Design Partner as part of their Blogging Program...the only Australian to be taking part at that time!

Designing pieces for  

Spring

Summer

and Fall

I took part in the "Margie and Me" challenge hosted by the wonderfully talented Marcie of LaBellaJoya

I discovered a wonderful group of beaders who have called themselves the Bead Mavens and entered their "Ice Queen Challenge"

as well as the Fashion Colorworks Beading Contest hosted by Zoya 

I took part in Erin's Challenge of Color blog hop with our colour palettes chosen from paint chips!

I won the Most Unusual Category for my entry into the Beaded Passion contest for my piece, Fingal Frolics, below

and I was honored to be interviewed by Beads Perles

...if you missed the interview please click HERE.

But the biggest highlight of 2010 for me from a beading perspective was to win the 

Wonderfully Whimsical category 

in the Use the Muse competition

with my Treasures of the North Sea piece

Sometimes I feel I'm not being as creative as I could, spending time worrying about what I am not achieving rather than focusing on what I have achieved. You might recall me speaking about this in a previous post, "I think that switch has just been flicked".

So it has been wonderful looking back on the pieces I created in 2010.

Here's to another year full of beads, creativity, inspiration, colour and challenges!

♥

Marcie, Margie and Me - Weis Church Fresco #80

It's hard to believe another 2 weeks has passed since the most recent Margie and Me challenge was set by Marcie at La Bella Joya.

The colour palette for this challenge was 

Colour Palette #80

~~

"Weis Church Fresco"

I used the masterpiece, that is the ceiling as pictured above, as my inspiration. 

I decided not to go with the colour palette created in the colour generator but focused on the pinks, blues and golds that make up this incredibly amazing ceiling.

The focal piece is a glass fused cabochon I made especially for the challenge in my microwave kiln.

After a little trial and error I managed to create a mix of colours  I felt reflected those found in the church's ceiling.

The cabochon was very difficult to photograph due to the glass being extremely shiny and no matter how hard I tried I continued to have a lot of reflection on the glass...until I took a shot of the piece on it's side!

It's hard to tell from the images but the picot edge is so pretty and shimmery. 

The seed beads are a mixture of size 15/0  gavlanised gold seed beads as well as Rainbow Cream Soda beads in size 11/0, producing some really pretty colours in the light.

Delica beads were used in the peyote bezel and the piece was backed with ultrasuede.

 I have to admit that again the color palette isn't something I'd normally go for. 

I don't consider myself the most "girliest of girls" so when I chose the church's ceiling for my inspiration I was a little concerned with the very ''pretty" colours.

  

But yet again this challenge has resulted in me not only using colours together that I normally would not...

....but yet I have again created a piece that I love!

Thanks again Marcie for yet another great palette choice 

and encouraging me to create out of my comfort zone!

♥

Marcie, Margie & Me - Portrait of a Lady with an Ermine #63

This week marks the first week I have taken part in the "Margie and Me" challenge. 

As I previously mentioned Marcie from La Bella Joya chooses a colour palette each week from Margie Deeb's book, The Beader's Color Palette, then creates a piece using those colours.

This week the palette chosen was 

 ~ #63 - Portrait of a Lady with an Ermine ~

And here is the piece that I created.

The cabochons are lapis (10mm) as well as a teeny tiny glassed fused cab I made. 

The piece has been stitched with size 15/0 and 11/0 seed beads as well as 3 x 3mm Swarovski bicones under the black cab.

The pendant is relatively small measuring 50mm (1.9in or 5cm) across.

I ended up changing the size of the jump ring to a larger one as it wasn't fitting on any of my necklaces so here is the piece with the larger ring on one of my right angle weave (RAW) necklaces which matches perfectly as it has been stitched with the same matte black seed beads!

I have thoroughly enjoyed this challenge. 

Whilst choosing the beads I knew these were not colours that I would normally put together in one piece but I have to admit I am really loving how it all came together!

I guess that is what this challenge is all about...letting us step outside our comfort zone and partake in an adventure in colour!

Thanks Marcie!

♥

Summertime blogging

As you know I am an Artbeads Design Partner and the next theme for their blogging program is "Summertime".

I have just ordered my beads but thought I'd give you a bit of sneak peak of what I will creating.

I will be using one of the glass fused cabs below which I made back in January of this year.

My order from Artbeads includes seed beads, lots of delicious czech glass beads, some stunning Swarovski components as well as a funky sterling silver clasp!

It's hard to get motivated to create something along the lines of Summer when we are into our second week of Winter here and it is starting to get rather chilly but looking at my seaside cabs is starting to get me in the mood...

...shall I order a Pina Colada now or later?

Watch this space!

A perfect partnership

I've been making glass fused cabochons for only a short while now, since May 2009 to be precise. I love working with any kind of cabochon and I have to say there is something very rewarding about being able to make my own cabochons, custom made to my own desires, likes and needs! Even more rewarding is actually using these cabochons in my own designs.

Earlier this year I gifted some of my cabs to a dear friend of mine who is a very talented beader, Chanel Oldfield. Chanel creates gorgeous bead embroidered pieces, some of which have won her ribbons at the Royal Easter Show in Sydney. Much to my dismay she sells many of her gorgeous pieces on her website, some of which I am proud to say are now in my collection and frequently adorn my neck!

Chanel recently used some of my cabochons in a few pieces she created which she had listed on her site. Well to my excitement I found out they recently sold! I know the beadwork is all hers but there is something very exciting about knowing my cabs were a part of these gorgeous creations. Be sure to visit her site, Jiha, by clicking this link http://jiha.com.au/

So here they are:

The first piece is a gorgeous cuff/bracelet using one of my raku cabochons.

The second piece is a stunning necklace which features a gorgeous berry coloured cabochon and Chanel named "Berrylicious".

I will be supplying Chanel with some more cabs in the new year so I can't wait to see what she creates with them... and fingers crossed these pieces will sell too!