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.

How to make a cuff bracelet part 2

So I finished doing all the stitching on the front of the bracelet and I think it looks cute so far now it's time to put it all together.
I sandwiched the front ,brass cuff form and suede backing together then I stitched them all together with a picot edging stitch.

So here is a top view of finished cuff

side view

close up side view

and here is the glamor shot of the finished bracelet cuff. It measures 2 inches wide and is about 7 1/4 inches long it can be adjusted to fit most wrist sizes even my fat little wrist.
The center cabochon is polymer clay,the butterflies are enameled with Swarovski crystals. The rest of the beads are Japanese seed beads and Swarovski crystals. the sparkle is awesome to bad that doesn't show up well in photos.

Over all I am happy with the end result of course like any other "artist" I see lots of thing I would do differently.

So there ya go this is my entry for The Polymer Clay Smooshers flight theme challenge........What do you think?

Keep on trying

I really like making hollow lentil beads I think they make great pendants and earrings except for one thing...no matter how carefully I trim and sand the beads the seam in the side still shows a little and it bothers me. So I have been working on different ways to design aroud the seam to make it less noticable.

I have made polymer clay bezels they work nicely but still not exactly what I wanted.
I have wire wrapped them that works great because of the channel the joint creates and the wire covers that really well but still not exactly what I wanted.

So last night I was messing with some of my seed beads and I created after much trial and error this bead net bezel in the photo and lo and behold it does everything I want it to do.....no visible seam in bead showing and I think the beads really enhance the pretty polymer bead. The pendant is reversible because the bead and bezel are just as pretty on the other side. I will be using the bezel a lot now for my lentils. I can leave it basic and conservative like this one but it also has a lot of possibility for further embellishment for those times when I feel like going overboard.

I am so glad I didn't give up and kept trying because I met the challenge and am happy with the outcome.

Sometimes life gets in the way.........

Well things have been busy at the Casa De Gonzalez the last month some good things and some bad. It has gotten in the way of keeping up my blog but I'm back......

So her is some of the new things I have been doing....................

This week I opened a new shop http://Gingerbells.ArtFire.com
ArtFire is a new site that features handcrafts. I have found a lot of new talented crafters browsing the Studio Shops; I also see a lot of Etsy shopkeepers there too. It looks like a promising up and coming site.

I have booked some of my Spring shows here are the dates...........
Brockton Big red Barn Market April 3-4
Brockton, Illinois

Wabash Valley Herb Festival May 9
Fairbanks Park, Terre Haute, Indiana

Rosedale Strawberry Festival June 5-6-7
Rosedale ,Indiana

I am gonna try to book a couple more maybe it will help make up for the slow down on Etsy. If not I will still have fun I really enjoy doing craft shows.

I have pulled out my bead loom and am really enjoying working on it again, I am working on a amulet bag right now. I think it might be cute to hold my cell phone.
It's working up nicely and I am surprised it's been a long time since I have drawn up a beading chart. I like drawing up the charts and playing with my colored pencils. If we ever get some sunshine I'll takes some photos of the work in progress.....I am so ready for spring!

When Polymer clay meets glass.........

I have been experimenting with new styles and techniques. Here are some examples of my twist on the glass tile pendant.

Glass tile pendants are a trend on Etsy and I love the clean look of them. The original versions use beautiful papers and original art work as the subject of the tile.

Instead of paper I have been using my favorite medium polymer clay. I think the glass tile and polymer clay are a perfect match. Click on the photos to get a closer look and I think you will agree the it's a fun combination.

I enjoyed making these and now that I know where I want to take these; I will be making some beautiful floral tiles for the spring. I have a lot of new things I have been working on and now that the busy holiday season is over I will be posting a lot more regularly.

on my crafting table today........Valentines candles, and a floral bead woven bracelet.

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.