Do you want to see how I made it?

Don't you just love these colors together? I do.
I had this beautiful Dicro cabochon in my stash for a couple of years waiting for the right design to use it.

I thought it would be fun to do kind of a step by step of how I made these beads into the pretty necklace at the end of this post.

I mounted the cab onto a square of stiff interfacing and stitched a peyote bezel around it with Dark blue size 10 Delica beads. I like using delicas because of their uniform size and large holes.

After I stitched the bezel I trimmed the interfacing and glued the unit to some soft ultra suede to hide the ulgly stitches and make a nice finished back for the pendant.

The next step is to join the front and back together and finish the edge with pretty picots.

When I finished the edgings and embellishments I added a Swarovski crystal link and used it for the pendant bail.

Here is the necklace being made. This stitch makes the necklace look like a spiral staircase of pretty bugle beads

This is how the back looks totally finished. See how neat and tidy it looks.

Here is the front finished, isn't it pretty.

This is a close up of the finished necklace. I named it Tranquil Waters because I think the glass cab looks like a pool of water with gentle ripples.

Tada here is the finished necklace I wish the camera could capture how pretty the pendant is but trust me it is lovely in real life.
I hope you enjoyed seeing how this necklace was made and maybe you are a little inspired to try a little beading yourself.

What I made with my handmade beads...

I wanted to show what I made with the beads I showed in the previous post.......I like how the lavender highlights the pretty flowers and the cute little hummingbird on the pendant.

I love the way polymer clay works so well in beaded designs. It makes every piece a one of a kind piece of wearable art.

I wanted to show that I also work with gemstones on occasion. So I am showing the blue pendant and necklace I made the other night. I LOVE the pendant it is one of my all time favorites. I love how the colors work together. I also am glad I was able to work the black and blue ceramic beads into the design.

If I were honest I would say I am obsessed with beads........

Wooden purses.

When I go to the craft store I always hit the clearance isle to see what treasures I can find. I found some nice wooden purse blanks a year or so ago at a good price so I bought several.



I use to love to do decoupage and collage projects when I was younger and making decorative boxes was always one of my favorite subjects. These purses are pretty much the same idea. So I spent this weekend painting decoupaging a couple of the blanks.

I really like the "Butterflies in the night sky" themed one best.

The paint finish is my favorite part, the colors are a pretty combination of pearl,teal,turquoise and purple. I used several painting techniques to give the painted surface lots of great texture.

To the surface I decoupaged really pretty water colored butterflies, moths and flowers along with 2 pretty B monograms. There is just the slightest touch of fairy dust on the cut outs to catch the light for a gentle sparkle.


The other purse is "I will always be a dreamer" themed purse. I love hot air balloons and I think the are a good way to symbolize my dreams.

The front side has the sun and it is for day dreams. The back has stars and the moon and it is about night dreams. I blinged it all up with 64 crystals.

These were fun projects that I enjoyed doing. Now what next? I think maybe some cabochons for some broaches I got the other day or maybe some candles; maybe both.

I have been neglecting my blog......

I have been neglecting my blog because I have been making some new things and because I have been burning to much computer time on Facebook.

Here are some photos of a few new necklaces I made over the week end.

I really love the way the blue and pink Kaleidoscope and pillow bead necklace turned out. I also really like the orange and blue butterfly patterned necklace. I just love what can be done with polymer clay.


So facebook is my new computer hang out. I really like it so much that I am dropping a few of my other social networking sites. Twitter has become one big promotion add spot for Etsy sellers, very little social interaction going on when every one is yelling "Hey LOOK at My Shop". So I'll be there a lot less. MySpace isn't for me it's mostly for kids not my cup of tea. So I will be closing that account.

What I like about Facebook is there is plenty of social interaction with my peer group. Lots of polymer clay addicts to share with and very easy to use, I enjoy the games too. I enjoy talking with people I admire from my favorite forum Polymer Clay Central; it's like hanging out with old friends.

on my work table.......
portable soap and body butters, they smell good and feel good too.

I want to kick my cat's butt!

I have a long haired orange cat named Rupert and I love him dearly but this morning I really wanted to kick his furry little butt.....Why?

Last night I was working on a beaded project when I got tired and decided to finish it this morning. I had 2 large organizer boxes filled with crystals and gemstones that I had been picking beads from for my project on my worktable. I figured they would be fine as they were closed . Welllll that's not exactly right.

I got up this morning went to kitchen to make coffee and all of the sudden I heard a huge CRASH! Apparently Mr. Rupert launched himself off my desk and on too my worktable sending the 2 boxes of beads flying onto the floor where they opened up emptying and mixing 36 different compartments of beads and gemstones....OMG! What a pretty mess!!!
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Above I posted some photos of another one of my polymer clay and glass tile pendants. I strung this one with some nice spring time beads. I think I'll post it in my Etsy shop later.....

Blue Gray Garden Necklace

Here is my newest necklace. I made the beads and the cabochon with polymer clay. I love polymer clay it allows me to make things that are all mine.

I usually make the focal and accent beads and then design a necklace around them. I like these beads even tho they turned out a little more gray then I had planned. I think the gray looks nice with the oxidized silver pendant frame.

It is a nice long necklace it measures 22 inches. I think that's a great length to wear with a turtle neck or a tunic. I am full figured and I really like my necklaces this long it is more flattering.

I'll probably add this to my shop tonight or tomorrow and if I still have it in April I will take it to my show with me. Necklaces are always a good seller for me at shows.

My first show of the spring is April 3-4 at the Brocton Big Red Barn Market Festival in Brocton Illinois. It is on of my favorite shows of the year.


On my work table 2 more pendants waiting to be finished and turned into necklaces.............

Crazy for crystals

I really like the sparkle of things made with crystal beads.

The watch is made with peacock and silver crystals they are very lively in the sunlight.

The black and white bracelet is made with jet and aurora clear crystals. This is a very bold elegant bracelet.

The last bracelet is a pairing of round amethyst gemstone beads and green/silver crystals . I think the purple and light greed beads goes well together.


I made a couple of pairs of crystal earrings yesterday. It was a sparkling day on my worktable.


I have been making a lot of new things because I am getting prepared for my first show of the season.

I will be at
The Rosedale Indiana Civic Center
October 10-20 2008
For the 51st annual
Parke County Covered Bridge Festival

So if you plan on being in Central Indiana come and see me......

This is a great 10 day festival that covers the whole county and is a great time with lots to see.

Ho Ho Ho More Christmas Ornaments!

So While the Grandson was napping this week I made these cool ornaments. He sleeps for about 2 hours so I was able to gets some work done.

I made the red and green one with Fimo Soft Effects clay. I like using it when making holiday items because the subtle glitter effect is very pretty with several coats of finish.

The others are made with Premo Pearl and Fimo Effects. I used my most favorite texture sheet to make these ornaments. I love snowflakes and I will be bummed when I finally wear it out.

I accented the snowflakes in the pearl ornaments with Swarovski Crystals. Each ornament has at least 21 crystals adorning it. I love the curve on each of the 6 panels on them.

My favorite is the blue and pearl one. I love blue and white pearl for the holidays it reminds me of winter.

I am going to post these over the next week or so in my Etsy shop. I am also going to be opening a second DaWanda shop and I will be adding these to it.

I am planning a busy week end. Jose went camping with our Son, our nephew and my Brother in Law. It will be a real testosterone weekend in the woods. So I am going to take advantage of the time by myself to get some creating done and I make take a break and do a little housework [probably not].

Making Christmas ornaments when it's 90 degrees outside..

It can be hard to get in the mood for making Holiday items when it hot and humid outside; unless you live in Australia or any other country where it's summer during the holidays. So I have been cranking up the A.C. and watching Christmas movies while I work it's been fun.

These photos are some of the pieces I made Friday. They are boxes that are great for giving a special gift in and also make a great decoration. I made some last year that sold like crazy so I thought I would make some more this year; each one is different. I used glitter clay for the embellishment but unfortunately it doesn't photograph well.

Yesterday I worked on a new ornament design I am really happy with I am waiting for the finish to dry so I can take some photos of it. I am sure I will be making more today and I will post them when I am done.

I really enjoy making Christmas themed things. I buy ornaments all year around. When we go on vacations we always try to find a new ornament to remind us of our trip. Other then the ornaments we buy on vacation all of the others on my tree are hand made.

Well it's time to pop the White Christmas DVD in and get back to making some more holiday bling.

Love/Hate relationship

Have you ever made something that was so challenging that you had a love /hate relationship with it? Well that's the case with this necklace. I am glad I finished it because I like how it turned out.

The reason this was difficult is that I am a design as I go kind of creator instead of a pattern follower. Usually that works well for me but not this time. I redid the beading several times before I got it to a point where I could put it down.

The diamond shaped focal I made with polymer clay using one of the awesome canes I got in trade with Nat from Belgium and the seed beads I got at the Chicago bead show a couple of months ago.

I am working on some earrings to go will them and I have one done and it worked up so much quicker and easier the the pendant thank God.