Spiral Bracelets!

 I am working to rebuild my stock of spiral rope bracelets. Midnight Meandering is a great black-on-black bracelet that will work well with a variety of Gothic styles. I really like the black-lined clear seed beads in the core, they give it a lot of depth.

Purple Overload also features lined clear beads, but in this case it's a shimmering purple at the core. This was a really tricky bracelet to photograph, those pearly outer beads tend to really reflect the light and turn into a blur in pictures. I don't think I'll be designing with them again any time soon.

But hey, enough about that! It's New Years Eve! I hope you all have a fun and safe evening. Thank you to everyone who has made 2012 a really successful year for me. I hope you'll stick with me in 2013, because I have plans. Oh yes. Plans! Bwahahahah.

Purple Crystals

 I finally managed to photograph and list the last two crystal bracelets. These two shades of purple were being especially camera-shy, always showing up too dark, or too fuzzy in pictures. But I captured them at last! Above is Grape Sorbet and below is Velvet Queen.

Both crystal bracelets have sweet vintage button clasps because I have such a button addiction! I love how they make each bracelet even more unique. I think they add a lot of personality, too. The pink striped button on Grape Sorbet is really playful, while the one on Velvet Queen is super glamorous.

A gift

After my friend Marilee bought the Orchid Rose bracelet, I decided I should make her a crystal bracelet to match. I had these new purple iris seed beads that I'd purchased at the gem show -- they look kind of blue in this photo, but they're actually a very dark purple. They're a great compliment to the Cyclamen Opal crystals, which are the same color as the ones I used as an accent in Orchid Rose. I topped it off with a hexagon-shaped pewter button.

In the meantime, I discovered a secret stash of crystal bracelets that has never been listed on my Etsy shop, so I should be photographing those on Monday.

Orchid Rose

The other night I felt like making a new spiral rope bracelet. I decided to go for purple so I could use more of those gorgeous matte iridescent purple seed beads (which I previously used in the purple beetle for MZ). I also added some Cyclamen Opal Swarovski crystals, but most of them are hidden in this picture. Note to self: more crystals next time! I call it Orchid Rose, because the colors remind me of orchids, but the clasp is a rose carved from a shell. It's quite lovely and feminine!

Purple!

Here's a treasury for all of you purple lovers out there :)

My Gothy roots

Did you know that when I started out making jewelry, most of my designs were Gothic? There were ankhs and elaborate crosses and so much hematite and amethyst! My style has changed quite a bit since then but I still love elegant Gothic designs, like this necklace, The Darkest Rose. Black, purple and silver is one of my favorite color combinations, and was in fact my very favorite before I fell in love with green.

I actually made this one a few years ago and only now got around to taking nice, Etsy-worthy photos to get it listed. It's always interesting to look over something I made a while ago and think about the ideas that were in my head and wonder why I never revisited them. This Nepal chain with crystals hanging off some of the flowers is really cool! Why didn't I ever do that again? Maybe I should come up with another design using it.

Treasuries on Thursday!

Yesterday my husband took the day off and we enjoyed the rare chance to be completely lazy, which meant I didn't update my blog and as a consequence, you get this week's treasury round-up on Thursday instead of Wednesday. Above, you can see my latest Halloween-themed FAETeam collection, this time focused on spooky critters.

Three features for me this week. Of course Phoenix Feathers found its way into yet another treasury: gold colors. It was also wildly popular at the Desert Shakedown, so I'm pretty sure it's only a matter of time before someone makes this beautiful necklace their own. Admire it while you still can ;)

A pair of purple earrings found themselves in The Color of Royalty, which is a delightfully luxurious collection.

 Into the Pumpkin Patch we go... is a great Autumn/Harvest/Halloween-themed treasury with my "Hungriest Pixie Ever" pomegranate faerie necklace included.

Thank you to all of the artists who included me in their Treasuries this week!

Only one this week!

Just one lonely treasury, curated by me. I didn't even feel like making a treasury, so I didn't put a lot of work into it, but people seem to like it, so yay.

Keeping this short, I have to run errands, practice dancing, and work on new stock for Handmade Jewelry by Erthe Fae Designs.

Treasury Superstar!

White Salamander is a superstar today! This gorgeous orange and white spiral bracelet is not only one of the items I chose to highlight in the new animated ad I made today, but it's also featured in THREE FAETeam treasuries! Our theme was the Pantone Spring/Summer 2011 color forecast, and White Salamander is a shoe-in for Coral Rose. You can see it alongside many other beautiful items in Color Me FAE, Dreaming of a FAE Spring and Spring's Fresh FAETeam, where two more of my items represent Regatta and Russet!

But that's not all! Yesterday I found Beneath an October Moon in The Color of the Wind's Song, a beautifully curated treasury.

And of course I took my turn at curating. My Pantone-themed offering focused on just one color. A Magical Lavender Daydream shows just how varied FAETeam is, with items ranging from stationary to costuming to jewelry.

Is your appetite for treasuries still not sated? You can view all FAETeam treasuries, or check out the linky on Aquariann's blog. You can even post a treasury of your own, but be sure to follow the rules by clicking and commenting on others as well.

By the way, I've decided to keep the loveandsparkles coupon code active until I get up on Saturday, so you still have a chance to save 15% at Handmade Jewelry by Erthe Fae Designs. Please help feed my belly dance costume fund! ;)

I'm wearing purple

I'm wearing purple today, in observance of GLAAD's Spirit Day. Unfortunately, I'm a cynic. I don't think that my purple fishnets and t-shirt are going to stop anyone from bullying anyone else. I don't think that it will make anyone who is being bullied say "Well, at least that person supports me." But I do think it's just one little way that I can show that I do care, and I want the world to know that I care.

Because I'm straight, I've never been bullied because of my sexuality. But I have been bullied for stupid physical characteristics beyond my control. I've been picked on because I couldn't afford the nice clothes that the cool kids wore. I've been teased because of things my brother did. I know all too well the pain of being ostracized for stupid things that don't matter, and that you can't change. All of those stupid, hurtful left me with little sense of self-worth for most of my teenage years. Even when you know, intellectually, that the opinions of small-minded people don't mean anything, they leave nagging doubts in the back of your mind.

The prevailing message right now for bullied gay teens (and I think ALL bullied children and teens should take it to heart) is that it gets better. It does. Honestly. It's never perfect. You'll still run into prejudiced adults who can't keep their mean thoughts to themselves. But you'll grow into your own wonderful person, you'll get past the teenage awkwardness and angst, and you'll be surrounded by people who love and care for you, and you'll find that you care less and less what the stupid jerks think. You might even find that some of the things that people teased you about become your greatest strengths -- I still wear cheap clothes, but I get compliments on my outfits all the time. You can't buy style, you can't buy taste, and you sure as hell can't buy tact.

So I'm wearing a very stylish purple outfit, culled from the clearance racks of Target. And I feel good about it. And my wish for all of you out there, who are being bullied, or who are still carrying the scars from the wounding words of your youth, is that you will take this moment to think about your strengths, and all you have to offer the world, and know that there are people out there who see the best in you and want the best for you. Hang in there.

Sparkly and complete

At last, it's done! I finished my 2011 Layne's Legacy -- Beading For A Cure necklace in the nick of time. I put the finishing touches on Sunday night, and it needed to be photographed and postmarked by today. Wow, was that cutting it close!

I decided to finish it out with a spiral rope, broken up by a few simple strung sections to use more of the larger beads (I actually hadn't used any of the pearls yet, after all). And I found the perfect button to use as a clasp, a pretty Czech glass one that almost matches the Crystal Golden Shadow rivolis.

As I neared completion of this necklace, I realized it didn't have a name. The wavy lines of the rivoli section reminded me of all the undulations we've been doing in belly dance class lately, so I felt it needed a dance-inspired name. Undulation doesn't sound very pretty, and naming it after one of my favorite Tribal Fusion dancers wouldn't work, since it is definitely not tribal. So instead I took my inspiration from a book I was reading with lots of vintage belly dance photographs, and named it Salome's Dance. Not that I think the original Salome wore anything like this, and not that I'm certain that she performed something akin to belly dance -- but a lot of early 20th century belly dancers and actresses portrayed Salome draped in gorgeous beads and pearls and chiffon, and this certainly fits that image. So there you have it.

Now to bead something GREEN!

More Progress

Don't they look so much prettier when they're all together, instead of spread out across my work surface? The two smallest rivolis aren't actually attached to the main piece yet, but they should be sometime tomorrow... then it's time to figure out the neck strap. No rush, it only has to be finished, photographed, packaged up and mailed by MONDAY! Oh yes, I've procrastinated quite a bit this year!

It's not quite as grand as I first envisioned, but I'm still pretty happy with this lovely grouping of rivolis.

Super sparkly progress shot

Here's a progress picture of my 2011 LL-BFAC project. I took it yesterday, so there's actually been more progress since then. I've finished the fringe on the big center crystal, which is the only one that will get fringe (I guess the little crystal picots could count as fringe, but I don't think of them as such because they don't have movement like long fringe). The next step is connecting them all!

My additions to the kit are the 7 Swarovski rivolis in Crystal Golden Shadow and Ultra Purple AB, as well as the Honey Opal Silver Lined Delicas that I used to bezel the crystals... Not that you can really see those, under the layer of bronze teardrops!

I love this year's kit, as I find the purple and bronze color scheme to be very elegant. All of the finished products that I've seen on-line so far have looked very rich and sumptuous. I hope they raise tons of money in the auctions next year!

Pretty Stone

My last couple of posts have been really long and rambling, so here's one that's short and sweet! The above picture is the cabochon that I bought when we took my MIL to the gem show. It's opalized flourite, aka Tiffany stone aka Tiffany Opal. The site that I linked to is hideously unattractive and hard to read, but it does contain lots of information about the composition and origin of this pretty stone. I picked this particular cab because I liked the near-symmetry of the shape and the high concentration of purple. Once I got it out of the dim tent and looked at it in better light, I found that I also liked the pattern, which is almost like a lightning bolt shooting down to a shadowed landscape.