The most wonderful cameo ever

 One night while I was visiting my in-laws in New York last month, my mother-in-law said to me "You like cameos, right?" and she gave me this beautiful convertible brooch pendant. There are a few things that are very special about this piece of jewelry -- the most important is that it belonged to her mother, who sadly passed away when my husband Chris was very young. The other is that it's actually carved from shell, not molded from glass. The last is that unlike most cameos, it has a very raised, straight-on view of the woman's face instead of the usual slightly raised profile image. It's so unusual!

 (Don't mind the bit of red, I used a handy six-sided die to prop it up). Look how much the image is raised from the background. And how pretty it is!

 My mother-in-law had no idea how old it was or where her mother got it. I'm tempted to take it to an antique or jewelry store for an appraisal, not so much for the value (because the sentimental value is all that matters to me), but just to get an idea of its origins. The geek in me hates unanswered questions.

Oh, I forgot to mention the other cool part... the hanging loop is a tiny hinge that folds under to stay out of the way when it's worn as a brooch. How clever is that? The little flat part says "14K" and is the only mark I could find.

I probably won't work this into a piece of beaded jewelry, although I might make something to coordinate with it... maybe a choker, and I could wear the cameo on a chain below it or pinned on my blouse. In fact, with Autumn just around the corner, it seems like the perfect time to go out shopping for an outfit that begs for a vintage cameo accent.

PS: Thank you Marlyn, for the cameo, for the wonderful man I married, and for everything you do for the both of us and all of your family. You're the best! <3

Sudden influx of treasuries!

Yes, it's true, the Treasury that I made yesterday has the same name as my LL-BFAC necklace, because I was struggling with names. It's also full of beautiful items!

In the meantime, I found myself in a surprising amount of really beautiful treasuries this week. I'm feeling the love! Check them out:
Falling into Faerie
In the vast ocean a storm brews...
The Blue Woods
Fall Fantasy
Fading Light

It's done, it's done!

 I finally finished "Orientale" -- my 2012 Layne's Legacy -- Beading For A Cure necklace -- yesterday! Hooray! It's so good to have it done. It sat unfinished on my desk for too long, as I struggled to find inspiration on how to use every single type of bead included in the kit. I have to admit that while I think it is a beautiful, wonderful necklace and I wish I could keep it, it's probably not as grand as it should be due to the fact that beader's block made me simplify things in order to get it done in time. I have no doubt that whoever wins it will be very happy with it, but I also know that I will not even be in the running for the contest portion of LL-BFAC.

This is the kit I started with! To that, I added the cabochon with a vintage belly dancer and peacock image, some size 15 Charlottes, and Swarovski sequins in Sapphire and Lime to compliment the Colorado Topaz ones already included in the kit, plus a shibiuchi clasp. The sequins around the cab are my favorite part of the necklace, and an element that I will be incorporating into more work in the future.

If you would like to own this necklace, it will be up for auction in Spring next year!

Is it Autumn yet?

I guess I really am done with Summer, because I made another dark, moody, Autumn-y treasury yesterday. I really, really like this one, in fact. It's got some attitude!

Anyway, I am hard at work trying to finish my LL-BFAC necklace. I'm feeling rushed because I wasted the entirety of last week being SICK. I'm still not 100%, but I am well enough to bead, so I've been spending my mornings and afternoons this week stitching away. I'm pretty close, but I still have a few steps to do and then I have to get good photos and mail it off. Once that's done, however, it will be back to normal life in Erthe Fae Land, which means new jewelry and hopefully some new destash lots of beads, and regularly scheduled blog posts.

Good News!

I am pleased and excited to announce that I am one of 12 designers chosen to be part of the brand-new Allegory Gallery Design Team! Allegory Gallery is the brick-and-mortar shop that Andrew Thornton and his partner are opening, and while I live just a little too far away to be there in person, I will be designing things to be featured on the blog and newsletter. It's going to be awesome!

Please check out my eleven talented teammates!

Peggy Li
Sally Russick
Penny Neville
Cindy Cima Edwards
Amy Cousin
Genea Crivello-Knable
Brenda Salzano
Shannon Chomanczuk
Charlene Sevier
Jess Prill
Rebecca Anderson

Come out to dance and shop!

Will you be in Tucson on Saturday? If so, you should stop by Fluxx Productions at 414 E 9th St, where we'll be having an awesome, dancey day! There's workshops, performances, and vending... including my jewelry! If you just want to shop, come by during the lunch break from 12-1:45pm. If you'd also like to see some great local dancers and my teachers from Anaya Tribal busting some moves, show up at 7:30 for the hafla, which only costs $5, is expected to run until 10pm, and will also have vending! I'll be there, but at some point I'll have to leave the booth to take my turn on stage :)

I haven't tested my booth set-up yet, but I expect that I will have an assortment of tribal necklaces and all of my earrings, bracelets and anklets with me. I hope I'll see you there!

Spooky, angry treasuries

Must be something in the air. I made this Halloween-themed treasury (in July!), and Mermie made an angry treasury called Grrrrrrr... (I'm not actually going to count and make sure I got the number of 'r's right). No sweet, pretty, airy-fairy treasuries here!

By the way, I suspect it will be a while until I'm back to a normal blogging schedule here. I'm currently a little over-committed, due to a bunch of things converging at once and my own inability to say "no" to most requests that involve my talents and sound like fun.

Treasureful

I'm back on my Treasury Tuesday game! Last week was weird, as you may have noticed from the lack of posts, but yesterday I was back to normal and I curated this collection of dance-themed art and adornments from FAETeam!

I also had the pleasure to be included in one of Mermaiden's beautiful treasuries. Turning Away from Summer is a wistful collection, dreaming of crisp Autumn days. Ahhhh.

Tribal Earrings

Whoops! I was unexpectedly away from the computer almost all day today. Please enjoy this photo of the earrings that I made for myself as part of the Muffin Tin Challenge! If only they weren't too heavy for my wussy ears.

So many exciting things!

I have finally added hairsticks to my jewelry line! There's just one catch... For now, my new line of hair accessories is only available at Plaza de Anaya in Tempe, Arizona. They'll be a Plaza exclusive until at least mid-August, when I'll evaluate how well they're selling and such. I'm really excited about them. I do also have some earrings at Plaza and I'm hoping to add a necklace or two when I get the chance to make some.

So if you've been wondering why I haven't been listing much on Etsy, it's because I was busy making things for Plaza and then making tags for them. I've also been working on my LL-BFAC project, so I'll be posting some progress pictures next week. I'm doing bead embroidery again this year, which makes me very happy.

In other fun and exciting news, I wrote a guest post about The Nuckelavee for my friend Janine's blog, Athena's Armory & Apothecary. It was so fun to step out of my normal business mode and write about one of my favorite subjects, faerie lore! By the way, when you're done reading the blog, make sure you also visit Janine's store, she does great work. I bought an awesome set of chainmaille juggling balls from her as a gift for my Dad!

Time for Treasuries

I'm so glad that Mermaiden is back from vacation, because she makes the best treasuries! My purple earrings feel a little unworthy of being in such a stunning collection. But I did try my hand at making something almost as beautiful. I call it Stop and Stare because the items and photos of items are just spellbinding.

Hello and Good-Bye!

Whatever Faeries Think About sold before I could link to it in this blog! The Greenman earrings also sold, to the same person. It feels like some things are flying off of my virtual shelves almost as fast as I make them! I have to say, that's a nice feeling :)

Greenman Earrings

I'm always looking to add to the variety of faeries, creatures, and mythological figures in my jewelry. I bought these Greenman charms from Earthenwood Studios some time ago and finally got around to turning them into a pair of earrings, and thus this leafy guardian spirit joins my cast of characters! The Greenman Earrings are available in my Etsy shop.

Are there any fantasy creatures that you'd like to see available in my shop that aren't already there? I do plan to make a new Medusa necklace, since I sold the two I already had. I'd love to get my hands on a Naga focal, too, maybe a centaur, maybe another weird Garuda/tengu (I'm wearing mine right now!). How about a Kitsune? Or maybe a Griffin, I can't believe I've never done that before. And since the Sphinx bracelet sold, I should probably make something with the vintage glass Sphinx cab that I have hidden in my stash. Hmmm...

Where to find me: Desert Shakedown!

Yesterday I signed up to vend my jewelry at the Desert Shakedown! I set up at this event last year (when it was called the Fall Festival) and I didn't really do well, but this year the event will be at a nicer venue and I have ideas to add some lower-priced items to my selection in recognition of the fact that Arizona's economy is still depressed and most of us do not have an extra $50 to drop on an awesome tribal necklace.

One thing that I'm very happy about is that this year, the vendors will be in the same area as the stage, so I'll be able to watch belly dance ALL DAY while I sell jewelry! Last year my booth was facing the street, and there was a building between the vendors and the dance stage. It was fun to see a small parade of classic cars drive by, but it was annoying to only get to see a few people dance, and then only because I kept asking my booth neighbors to keep an eye on my things.

Anyway, I think it's going to be a really good event, so if you're in the Phoenix area on October 8th, you should stop in to see some dancing and do some shopping.

Treasury Tuesday Makes Me Dance!

Ok, so I felt like making a belly dance treasury. I decided to step out of the FAETeam box again and just make a treasury full of whoever I felt like featuring. I did put fellow FAE Mermaiden in there, because every dancer needs at least one of her chiffon roses. I have two and they are LOVELY. I will have to get more, to match my other costumes. The two I have are, big surprise, green, but I do occasionally wear other colors when I dance.

This particular treasury was inspired when I saw the silver hair pin and silver bindi in my suggested items feed on Etsy. They just went perfectly together, and I knew there were plenty of items in my favorite belly dance shops that would go with them. I played "Monochrome" by Collide to help inspire me.

I was also included in a Treasury, which was made before Tuesday, but I'm going to include it in this post because it's so pretty:

Operation: Buried in Beads III -- Code Name Muffin Tin

 I'm starting to imagine Operation: Buried in Beads as a series of really bad 1980s-style action movies. For those who are new to my blog, Operation: Buried in Beads is what I call my ongoing project to use up my ridiculous stash of beads. My efforts are thwarted by my own bad habit of buying more beads even when I haven't used or put away the results of the last few shopping trips.

The Muffin Tin Challenge was a really good way for me to use up a lot of those extra beads. For instance, the necklace above (called Whatever Faeries Think About, but not yet listed) used up an entire strand of black lava beads, and a polymer focal that I bought years ago.

 Catch of the Day, which I just listed on Etsy today, allowed me to not only use a really cute octopus clasp from Green Girl Studios, but also the rest of the black lava strand that I used most of the other week, and the last of some tiny green glass beads that I've had forever.

This necklace is neither named nor listed yet, but it allowed me to use up two partial strands of glass beads, the last of the chartreuse luster ovals, and the last of the golden bronze pearls that I've been nursing along for almost as long as I've been in business. Well, not quite. There was an odd number of the glass beads and pearls, so there's one of each left, but don't worry, I'm going to hang them from a hair pin, so they'll be used up soon. Oh yes, and the pretty olive and gold polymer dragon was also purchased years ago. I probably intended to keep it for myself, but let's face it, I have WAY too many necklaces and the other green-loving dragon-lovers of the world deserve some one of a kind jewelry, too.

I actually used up a lot of other stuff that has been around for way too long, but I ran out of time to edit pics today, so I'll get to those later this week.

Muffin Tin Challenge -- Completed!

Despite being too busy to bead this weekend, I completed the Muffin Tin Challenge today! My project tally: 5 necklaces, 4 pairs of earrings, 2 hair sticks, and a bracelet. And by the way, do you know how hard it is to fit a dozen pieces of jewelry (some of them quite large) into one photo?

I didn't quite stick perfectly to what I put in my muffin tin. For the big pair of earrings, I had picked out some malachite tear drops, but they didn't fit on the copper headpins! For the olive dragon necklace, I didn't have quite enough beads to make it long enough, so I added some bronze pearls to what I had picked out, and I also changed my mind on what style of clasp to use. And for the big dzi bead necklace, the focal was more red than I thought when I looked more closely, so in addition to the tiger's eye I had planned to use, I also used some red tiger's eye, which was actually in my tin because I used it for the key hairstick.

This was a great challenge. Picking out the beads for a dozen projects in one afternoon allowed me to sit down and create lots of jewelry at once without constantly interrupting myself to dig around in my collection for just the right beads. And it also took a way a lot of wasted time on decision making. Instead of wondering what I should make, I knew that I had to make something that was already in the tin, so I just sat down and did it. I'm pretty sure I'll do this again, even without a contest to urge me on. Thank you Art Bead Scene for turning me on to this idea.

Happy Fairy Day!

Did you know that today is Fairy Day? Well, you do now! It's also Pollinator Week, which seems fitting because I'm sure that if faeries were real, a lot of them would spread pollen about. 

Is that a muffin tin full of beads?

Why yes, it is in fact a muffin tin full of beads. If that doesn't make any sense at all to you (because it certainly wouldn't, under normal circumstances), then you should check out the Muffin Tin Jewelry Challenge over at Art Bead Scene. I decided to give it a shot since I do need to get some fresh new stock in my shop Handmade Jewelry by Erthe Fae Designs, and it is way too hot to use this pan to actually, you know, bake muffins.

(Also, yes, that is Lira's tiny kitty paw in the top corner of the image)

Not all of this will actually end up in my Etsy shop, though. One necklace is a custom order for a friend, there's a necklace and a pair of earrings for me, and a few things for my secret new retail location.

I like how a lot of my projects are overflowing from their muffin cups! The beads refuse to be confined.

Stripey Beads!

Yesterday I mentioned that I had used the last of those striped beads to make a pair of earrings. Here they are! Stripey ovals, Swarovski crystals, and brass keys come together to create The Key to My Armoire Full of Striped Bloomers. Steampunk jewelry just lends itself well to ridiculous names, don't you think?

I really do have way too many different key charms and pendants right now. Pretty much any time I find a new one that I don't already have, I have to buy it. And I'll usually buy it in silver, gold, and maybe even copper if available. These particular keys came from Ace Handicrafts, the one bead shop that I always visit every time I go to NY. I like how ornate they are, and that unlike some brass stampings, they have a design on the back as well.

New Things

 I've had so many fun and exciting things going on lately that I haven't quite kept up with blogging about new jewelry! I listed the Smug Hipster Owl necklace and earrings set on Etsy last week. Between the set and a pair of not-yet-listed earrings, I managed to use the entire strand of brown and grey oval beads, which I just bought at the Rings & Things show last week.

These hamsa earrings, called Thrice because they have three different elements believed to ward off the evil eye, are brand new today, although I made them at the same time as the owl set. Since the first set of hamsa earrings sold before I could list them, I figured I needed to make another pair.

By the way, I'm not ready to make any announcements yet, but I'm working on various business opportunities. Although Handmade Jewelry by Erthe Fae Designs will remain the primary source for my one-of-a-kind jewelry, I'm looking into some vending and some consignment, to get my work out there and connect with new customers.

Return to Renaissance

Have you seen the latest FAETeam Exhibition yet? It's called Return to Renaissance and there are many elegant items included! As usual, Aquariann has done a wonderful job of tastefully arranging the selections, treasury-style. If you're planning a trip to the Renaissance Faire this summer, you should go take a look and see what you'd like to ad to your garb.

Just for fun

 It seems like I don't do a lot of beading just for the fun of it anymore. Everything that I make is either to sell, to use my beads from Artbeads, or to fill a spot in my wardrobe. But this ring was created just because I saw the pattern and I wanted to try to make a ring. I used five colors of Delicas, and by colors I of course mean "shades of olivine." The sad thing is this is probably not even close to all the shades of olivine I have. I added some 2mm Swarovski crystals in olivine to the edges and the center, because I felt like the design needed some embellishment and if I'm going to wear a giant cocktail ring, it should have some sparkles.

The pattern was posted on Facebook to promote Geometrics by Dustin Wedekind and Kate McKinnon. I'm pretty excited about the book, I think it will probably be just about everything that a bead book should be, and it's being written right here in Tucson!

Speaking of things made in Tucson, on the lefthand side of my blog you will now find a Kickstarter link for Autopsy Bears. This morbidly adorable (adorably morbid?) project is the brainchild of my dance teacher Fonda and one of her friends. I've already made my pledge and I really want my bear, so if you'd like to support some crazy Tucson artists, please consider singing up to be a backer.

Tribal Magic

My husband actually found this cool pendant on a shopping trip. I just had to have it! It looks sort of like a pentagram, but the lines don't actually form a star. Still very strange and occult looking. I used some black lava, fired agate, and faceted glass beads to make it into a nice Gothic Tribal necklace. I call it Black Magic and it's currently available in my Etsy shop.

I'm having so much fun designing tribal necklaces, it's giving me a chance to use a lot more stone beads. When I was primarily doing beadwoven pieces, I had to use stones sparingly, and only small ones, or run the risk of them damaging the thread. The stones in this piece came from a couple different Rings & Things bead shows. I used almost all the lava in this one, but there's plenty more fired agate waiting to be used in other designs.

Mermaids and Octopuses

I made this for Treasury Tuesday! No features for me this week, again. Most of FAETeam has been too busy to make treasuries, it seems.

On a completely unrelated note, today is the last day to enter the giveaway for my leaf anklet, hosted at Aquariann's blog. Click this link, or the handy button on the right. I'd like to thank all of you who have come to this blog via the giveaway! Good luck :)

It's Steampunk Day!

 According to the Internet, today is Steampunk Day. And apparently July 10th is "Strut Your Steampunk Stuff Day" so I suspect we will be seeing a lot of unofficial steampunk holidays as various groups decide to announce their own day. Regardless of the validity of the day, it seems like a really good time to finally introduce the new offshoot of my line of crystal bracelets! They're still created with Swarovski crystals and tiny seed beads, but this series uses metal seed beads instead of glass, and I'm finishing them with steampunk clasps, too!

Shown above is Green Energy, a name that amuses me because there's really nothing green about coal-fed steam engines.

And this is Rusty Gear. The clasp is enamel over brass and I think it looks pretty awesome.

Of course there's plenty more steampunk jewelry to be found at Handmade Jewelry by Erthe Fae Designs. Feel free to go have a look.

What's Old is New Again

 The most recent Artbeads.com challenge is titled "What's Old is New Again" and the idea was to use vintage components (from your own collection or purchased from Artbeads) to create something new. I love designing with vintage beads, cabochons and whatever other old things I can get my hands on (keys, chandelier crystals, pendants...), so this theme really grabbed me! The hard part was deciding on just one idea so I could figure out what to order.

 Then I saw this beautiful LillyPilly lotus in the Pendants section, and I just knew that the black lip shell would be perfect with the vintage glass (or possibly crystal?) beads that I had received from a family friend in New York. Her mother had passed away and left her a lot of costume jewelry. After it has sat for a while, unsorted and unloved, she thought "Oh, AJ makes jewelry! Maybe she would like some of this" and brought bags of it over to my mother-in-law's home for me to sort through. These crystals were definitely the very best thing in there. I salvaged them from a two-strand necklace strung on the weirdest super-fine chain, which was so old and fragile that it disintegrated in my hands as I pulled beads off of it. There's even a vintage two-strand clasp with a crystal set into it, which I will have to save to use with the rest of the beads.

Searching around the site, I also found some beautiful brass links in the Base Metal section, which I felt nicely echoed the lotus design but also gave it a Victorian feel. Then to pull in the pure gold color of the lotus, I picked out some pearls from the Swarovski Beads section. I also got a few Findings to finish everything up.

When I came up with the necklace, I was torn as to whether I should sell it or keep it for myself... but then I realized that it was *perfect* to go with the costume for my solo this weekend, so that settled it! Here's a little close-up of how nicely it fits with my halter top. What you can't see is that the top has teal and brown beaded trim, and my pants have a teal and brown and black swirly print, and that I was wearing a ridiculous brown feather headpiece. I felt so pretty!

FTC disclaimer: Certain beads used in this project where provided for free by Artbeads.com in return for promotional consideration.

Make a statement

So. Usually I make small jewelry. But not this time. This is a big, crazy statement necklace! The statement is "RARH! I HAVE CLAWS!" Or maybe fangs. Anyway. I think it's pretty awesome :) It's called Shield of the Sunset Warrior and if you click the link, you can see it on Etsy. Maybe you'll even decide to buy it.

The cool crackled-looking orange beads are part of my purchase from the Rings & Things show late last month. I also got some in green and in black. I think they're absolutely perfect for tribal jewelry, they have such an old, earthy feel to them.

More new jewelry coming on Monday, I've got it all photographed but I need to take the time to get them edited and then list them on Etsy. At least they rolled out the new, more streamlined listing page so it goes much more quickly now.

On a creative roll

Wow, big creative day! I finished a beadwoven ring I'd been working on (for me), strung a black tribal necklace (for the shop), made something with my latest Artbeads blog beads (for me), and strung a orange tribal necklace (for the shop). The only reason I'm not making more things is that I really should get some housework done before I go to dance class tonight.

Tomorrow I'll photograph the new stuff and maybe list a couple of pieces in my shop, Handmade Jewelry by Erthe Fae Designs. In addition to what I made today, I also have another pair of Hamsa earrings ready, and the two crystal bracelets.

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.

Good bye, Tribal Orchid!

Sometimes, I'm actually a little sad to sell a piece of jewelry. I love my Tribal Orchid necklace and I don't want it to leave me! But it sold last week, so off it goes in the mail! And it's going to my mother-in-law, so I know it will have a good home and I can visit it when I go to NY this Summer. Mainly I'm just sad because Thai silver is SO expensive now that it's unlikely I'll be able to make something like this again!


Handmade Jewelry by Erthe Fae Designs is actually looking a little picked-over right now. I only have one spiral bracelet left. One! I need to do some serious beading this week, in between all my dance stuff and errands and housework. If there's any section that's too skimpy for your liking, let me know and I'll brainstorm new designs to fill it back up. I already made a pair of hamsa earrings today and picked out beads for a couple of new tribal necklaces.

Treasuries!

I've got rings on my mind. I'm working on one based on a preview tutorial posted to promote Dustin and Kate's Geometrics book, and trying to dream up my own designs that I could make and sell. Rings are all over the beadosphere right now, but my treasury is mostly full of chainmaille and wirework. And of course, they're all from FAETeam!

Last week, I also made Look, I just really like green! A few FAETeam pieces are included, but the main theme is green things from my favorite items and favorite shops.

One of my tribal necklaces is included in Peacock Tales by Mermie. Apparently peacocks are in, of course, in belly dance land they're always in. We love decadence!

Do you want to win an anklet? Of course you do.

I'm so excited that I can finally announce this! The wonderful Aquariann is hosting a giveaway of the above anklet at her blog, The Art & Tree Chatter of Aquariann. Just in time for Summer weather, too! I actually wasn't sure what I wanted to offer for the give-away (I was thinking maybe a gift certificate), but when Aquariann suggested this anklet would be perfect, I knew she was right. Not only does it go well with the theme of her blog, but it helps to promote a line that I'd like to draw more attention to. And it's very representative of what to do, which is to say that it is 1: green 2: leafy and 3: something you could wear to belly dance.

And would you believe that there's more exciting news coming down the pipeline for me and Handmade Jewelry by Erthe Fae Designs? I have been a busy little gal behind the scenes lately! Oh sure, it seems like I spend all my time hanging out on Facebook, going to belly dance classes, and reading China Mieville novels, but I really do get some work done sometimes.

By the way, I've decided to continue my weekend sale all through the week! I really want some spending cash for the belly dance workshop I'm taking this weekend, which is probably the last big workshop I'll do until November (probably). So remember that if you want to buy something, you should use code DISCOUNTME for 20% off!

I'm having a sale!

Wow, it feels like I've barely been home at all this week! So to make up for the lack of new jewelry listings, and to celebrate the three day weekend, I'm having a sale! Use coupon code DISCOUNTME to get 20% off your entire purchase at Handmade Jewelry by Erthe Fae Designs. The beautiful beaded anklet shown above is just one of the over 90 items currently in stock right now!

I hope everyone has a fun weekend, whatever they do. I'm looking forward to being home, as my next three weekends in a row will be spent up in Phoenix for dance events!

Treasuries on Tuesday!

I saw some pretty blue items and decided to do an all-blue FAETeam treasury. Enjoy!

Also, Andrea of Beadmask included one of my necklaces in her treasury Strange Birds which has some really, really awesome items in it!

Such a tease!

Do you like these Hamsa earrings? Well, you can't have them! I did create them with the intention of listing them in my shop, Handmade Jewelry by Erthe Fae Designs, but I tweeted about them while I was making them and one of my dance classmates saw and called dibs! I call that proof that social networking really is good for business.

Anyway, over the weekend I worked on my new crystal bracelet variant (with metal seed beads!), and I completed two of them, but I don't really feel like setting up my photography stuff just to take pictures of two bracelets. I have the beads picked out for a third bracelet to make while I'm watching DVDs tonight. I could have made it last night after finished the second bracelet, but honestly the thread that I have to use with the metal seed beads is hard on my hands, so I don't like to work with it for too long at a sitting.

So tomorrow afternoon I will have three bracelets to photograph and whatever I buy at the Rings & Things show in Mesa tomorrow. Yep, I'm going to drive almost 2 hours to buy beads again, even though I keep saying I have too many of them. Guess I should go use up some more tonight.

Belated Treasuries

Shame on me, not getting around to rounding up this week's treasuries until Friday! I'd like to say I have a great and valid excuse, but the truth is that I spent all day Wednesday reading a book. It was a really good book! And it's been so long since I allowed myself to just read all day. And it was unusually gray and cold. Yesterday, of course, was dance class day and I had to be out the door by 4:10pm, so I didn't have a lot of time to do anything.

Anyway, it was a great week for treasuries! My sexy mermaid necklace is in the one above, one of my crystal bracelets is in Magical Twilight Hour and the Phoenix Feathers necklace did it again, being included in The Heat is On.

My treasury offering for the week is A Bounty of Beautiful Bracelets.

The Mysterious Mr. Bird-Man.

 I already showed this necklace a bit ago, along with the hair stick that I made in the same week, but today The Mysterious Mr. Bird-Man gets to take center stage in his very own blog post.

 What is he? Is he Garuda? Quetzalcoatl? A Tengu? Some other fanciful blend of bird and man? We may never know. I saw him at the Bead Museum gift shop and simply had to have him. He spent a couple years just hanging out in my bead collection until I decided what to do with him.

Now he hangs from a strand of glass, stone, and pearls in lovely shades of olive and golden brown. Not really a tribal piece, but I've been wearing him to dance class a lot anyway.

I made something pink!

Talk about stepping outside of my comfort zone! I made this for my friend Meghan, based on the colors of a little hip scarf she wears to dance class sometimes. It was very weird to work on, because these colors are so bright and there's no neutral involved. But I kept telling myself that Meghan would like it, and that plenty of bead artists work in color combinations like this, so they can't all be wrong.

The pendant is a large Swarovski crystal bezeled with Delicas and Japanese seed beads, hanging from a hand-dyed silk ribbon that perfectly matches the crystal.

Feathery Treasury

I've been really into feathers lately, and then I saw that ridiculously awesome peacock mohawk. Wow! That had to go in a treasury! So I stepped outside of the usual box of making FAETeam-only Treasuries, and made one that had members of my team, but also other sellers whose work was beautiful and feathery and well-photographed. Along the way I found lots of things that I wanted to buy, especially hair accessories. I've been so crazy over my hair and things to go in it!

No treasury features for me this week, boohoo. Actually, not many people at all made FAETeam treasuries this week, so I'm not surprised. I can't expect Mermie to include me EVERY week!

I can't help but notice that my comments section has been really quiet this week. What's up, everyone? Let's talk! I just talked about how I've been obsessed with feathers and my hair... what are you obsessed with?

LL-BFAC Kit for 2012 Auctions

How pretty is this color palette? It's the latest Layne's Legacy -- Beading For A Cure kit, to be used to create items to be auctioned off in 2012. Betcey at Beyond Beadery provided this year's beautiful and generous kit, with lots of Japanese seed beads and Swarovski crystals. There are even some of those new-ish long Magatama drops that I haven't tried out yet.

I'll probably do some bead embroidery, but I haven't decided yet what I want to add. I was looking at some nice cabochons on Etsy last night, but my taste was running towards the expensive!

Soul Eater, rarh!

It feels good to be making new jewelry for my Etsy shop again, especially when that new jewelry includes Soul Eater Skull Necklace, the most badass tribal necklace I've ever made. The awesome skull pendant was one of my great gem show finds earlier this year and I'm happy to have it worked into a finished piece and up for sale at Handmade Jewelry by Erthe Fae Designs.

Over the next day or so I'll also be adding another necklace and more Handmade Anklets, as well as whatever else I feel like creating and photographing. It's going to be a busy week.

FAETeam Exhibition!

Have you seen the latest FAETeam Exhibition? It's called Fairies, Elves & Pixies, Oh My! and it features a lot of great fae folk created by a lot of talented fae artists! Of course, two pieces of my faerie jewelry are in there. There are so many beautiful items this time around, I don't know that I could pick a favorite. The team has really been growing and attracting new, amazing artists.

Please pardon this short post, I have a lot to do before I leave for dance class in 5 hours!

Beautiful Treasuries!

Here we are at another Wednesday, which means it's time to take a look back at Tuesday! I was only included in one Treasury this week, but what a beauty it is! Click on any of the items in the Widget to have a closer look.

Our weekly theme was something May-ish, so I curated a collection called Adornments for the May Queen, which gave me an excuse to showcase things which were beautiful and green (or photographed on a green background).

I've also been quite busy adding new things to my shop Handmade Jewelry by Erthe Fae Designs, so be sure to drop in!

A Rose for Jen

 My friend Jen's birthday was last month, so I made her a necklace. Because she often wears shades of purple and green together for belly dancing, and it's hard to find tribal jewelry in those colors, I strung some rainbow flourite and Thai silver together to make something that I felt fit her sense of style and her costuming choices. I'm happy to say that she likes it!

To achieve a nice random mix of purple, green and clear stones I left the flourite in the compartment box I had it stored in, and set it at the other end of my desk, so I could reach it but not see what I was grabbing. Otherwise I would have gotten too picky about not having too many greens or purples in a row, and it would not have looked as wonderfully random.

This also fits nicely with the continuation of Operation: Buried in Beads because the flourite and Thai focal had been part of my stash for a long time. I'd periodically tried to come up with a design to use that rose and never succeeded, so clearly it was waiting for Jen's birthday!

Interested in your own one-of-a-kind tribal necklace? Visit Handmade Jewelry by Erthe Fae Designs!

Anklet Season is Here!

I know some parts of the country are still dealing with late snow storms, but here in Arizona it's warm and beautiful, which means that I have broken out the sundresses and the sandals and turned my thoughts to anklets. Today I listed three anklets, representing three of the four styles I currently make (I didn't have time to list the fourth, so it will go up tomorrow!). Above, Blue Bells is a beadwoven anklet featuring a chevron chain pattern and jingling bell accents.

 Bohemian Gothic is a chain and dangle model, featuring silver chain and vintage beads. Because I bought the chain years ago, the price does not reflect silver's current cost, which is about $45/oz. As such, it's quite the steal!

Spring Leaf features strung beads in a delightful vernal color combination. I love how top-drilled leaves look in anklets, they form the perfect little drops all around the ankle.

Keep an eye on Handmade Jewelry by Erthe Fae Designs for more ankle bracelet designs, or hop right over to the Handmade Anklets section to see what is currently available!

Two new things for me!

To celebrate the fact that I finished all my outstanding custom orders and birthday presents for friends, I decided to make myself a couple of presents! First, a cool necklace with a pendant that is either a tengu, Garuda, or some other bird-man. Second a bone hairstick adorned with glass and stone beads, a carved skull, and an Afghani coin. Big surprise, both items are brown and green!

The hairstick is actually a prototype for a new product line. What do you think? Would you like to see unique tribal hairsticks at Handmade Jewelry by Erthe Fae Designs? Hairstick materials would include bone, horn, wood and metal, and accents would include beads of all sorts, coins, bells, pendants, keys, and whatever else would look cool. Pricing would probably range from $10-$20+ depending on how fancy they get and how much I have to pay for the base stick.

More pictures of both items will be posted next week, right now I have way too much to do before I head off to belly dance class!

Let's talk about Treasury Tuesday!

I have to say, I really like this treasury that I made yesterday! It was choose-your-own-theme again, and after vacillating for a bit, I saw a hair accessory that I liked in someone else's treasury and decided that I should do an entire collection of beautiful hair goodies. It seems rather fitting, because I've really been into taking care of my hair lately, trying new products to clean it and style it and keep it safe from harm.

Also, I was featured in two treasuries yesterday! Phoenix Feathers Beaded Choker continues its winning run by being featured in Busy as a Bee Creating Blissfully by Liza's Whimsical Art. Meanwhile, Miss July the Faerie Pin-Up Necklace is in All A-Glow by Mermaiden Creations, my favorite treasury curator!

Tribal Lotus

 This is the first necklace I made as part of my ongoing Operation: Buried in Beads. Created as a gift for one of my belly dance teachers, it features a tribal-appropriate black and red color combination and a cool matte black carved stone lotus flower. I'm happy to say that she loves it. There's few things nicer than creating a gift that is well-received :)

For more handmade tribal jewelry, be sure to check out my shop, Handmade Jewelry by Erthe Fae Designs.

The return of Operation: Buried in Beads

Last year, I had too many beads and I decided to undertake Operation: Buried in Beads to try to use up some of my massive stash. Well, I still have too many beads, and I still can't figure out a way to get them all properly organized and put away, and I still don't have a dedicated workspace, so I'm doing it again. It is time to make some friggin' jewelry, and hopefully use up lots of stray beads and components in the process.

I already started, but I can't tell you what I made because it's a present for somebody! So I'll post it after it's been given. I've also got the start of a few other projects laid out, but first I have to make a couple more presents. Seriously, why is everyone having birthdays in April? And Mother's Day is right around the corner, too! Plus my birthday is just over a week away on the 1st, so I need to make myself a present because hey, I deserve it.

Anyway, back to slaving away in the bead-cave.