Tag Archives: tube beads

Inquiring Minds Want to Know

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My friend Katybeth brought up this question, and I assured her I’d try to answer it — What’s the Sheltie’s name?

He’s been pictured beside me ever since I started blogging three years ago, but I’ve been consistent in calling him “the Sheltie” or “Darling Doggie.”

Most of the time.

But he tells me he’s not happy with this cloak of anonymity.

Even if it was woven to protect him.

“Are you ready for me to tell the world your name?” I asked.

“Sure, mom, go ahead. But why not have some fun out of it? Make ’em guess!”

So let’s have us a little contest, shall we? Place your guess (or guesses, if you’re feeling really creative) in the comments below. The Sheltie and I promise to read (and in his case, guffaw) over each one and on Sunday (Oct. 28), we’ll announce the winner, based on whoever’s guess is closest (or most amusing!). If there’s no clear winner, we’ll draw one name out of a hat.

To be fair, if you already know my Sheltie’s name because you happen to know us, please don’t participate — give the others a chance, ‘k?

Here are some “hints”:

  • The Sheltie is a male
  • The Sheltie will be six years old next month
  • The Sheltie was born in Illinois
  • The Sheltie is a “paper dog,” not a mixed breed
  • The Sheltie came from a litter of three — two girls and him
  • Don’t even think about calling him Lassie!

To reward the winner, I’m prepared to part with one of my beaded jewelry creations (what can I say? The Sheltie drives a hard bargain!). Here’s the photo and the description:

Chandelier earrings

This is a pair of silver filigree Chandelier Earrings, approximately 4 inches in length. Each earring features:

  • Top section — one 4mm fuchsia bicone flanked by two 4mm sterling plated round beads
  • Middle section — two 5mm pink pearls flanking a single 6mm emerald green bicone (with two silver daisy spacers)
  • Bottom section — one long antique silver tube bead

The earrings also contain silver headpins and eye pins as findings and leverback ear wires. Despite the length, they really are light!

Note: Most people would consider these earrings “costume” jewelry; they’re not made from real silver, nor do they contain precious gemstones. Depending on the winner’s preferences, I could be persuaded to switch out the ear wires for sterling silver ones and I could leave off the bottom tier (shaving off nearly an inch of length, for those uncomfortable with dangling earrings). If you’d just like to play along without being entered in the drawing, let us know that, too. We’ll try not to sulk or pout!

Six More Beaded Creations

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Who’s ready to see more of my beaded jewelry creations?

You are? Cool, let’s get started:

1) This is a pair of approximately 3-1/4″ long earrings with round, olive green faceted Czech glass beads, 6 mm in size. Also included are small barrel spacers, flat round spacers, and an ornate connector piece. I bought the green because it’s one of my favorite colors, of course!

2) I found these interesting connectors (the long silver portion) at Hobby Lobby. They remind me of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. I paired them with 6 mm white faux pearls and 4 mm dark grey hematite beads. Did you know that Hematite is a good gemstone for Virgos like me?? Hematite supposedly carries grounding and soothing energies to help you relax physically and mentally — all I know is, I love the way it feels. So cool to the touch!

3) Don’t you just love this shade of turquoise? They’re called fiberoptic or cat’s eye beads because they have a tiny white line running around their circumference (sounds like I was listening in Geometry class after all, haha!). They also feature long, antique silver tube beads. Anyway, true story: I wore this pair to a first meeting with a potential new client for my Web Design company. Everything went well until I got home and realized (gulp!) I’d lost the entire bottom half of one of my earrings! I checked throughout my car and retraced my steps to the garage, to no avail. I can only surmise I lost it at the guy’s office (sure hope he doesn’t have a wife or girlfriend who’s the jealous type because nothing happened. Promise!!)

4) These silver earrings are almost long enough to brush my shoulders! They’re made with twisted silver tube beads and an ornate connector piece. I love finding earrings that are as light as these are, too! They don’t yank your earlobes, but that means I’m checking periodically throughout the day to make sure they’re still there (unlike the previous pair, ha!)

5) Another piece in green! This one is a bracelet featuring bamboo-shaped tube beads, interspersed with crystal spacers and fastened with a toggle clasp. Perfect for St. Pat’s Day or the Irish in you!

6) Generally, I work in silver-colored metals because I’ve found it to be more flattering to my skin tones. However, sometimes a girl’s just got to try her hand at something yellow-gold, and this is what I came up with. I used the same olive-green beads from photo #1, along with faux white pearls and gold-colored daisy spacers. I have no clue what that weird round shadow is at the bottom of the green beads — must be some kind of reflection I didn’t notice until now. Trust me, they’re pretty!

If we could get an entire day with a steady rain, just imagine how much beading I could get done!

P.S. Heigh-ho, Heigh-ho, it’s back to school we go! I’ll be taking a few days’ off this coming week so I can accompany the Domer back to college. I’ll catch up with everybody when I return — please don’t abandon me entirely, ‘kay??

Beading in the Rain

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In my little part of the world, we’ve had nothing but rain for days on end.

Downpours. Cold. Wind. Thunderstorms.

But I’m not asking for sympathy. No siree. When the weather gets bad, some people read; others sleep.

I bead.

And since I had to attend a special dinner on Saturday evening with Mom, I used that morning to whip up a new pair of earrings to match the outfit I was planning on wearing.

Here’s what I came up with:

Earrings by me

You can’t see the pretty detail from this picture (blame the cloudy skies and the flash on my camera insisting on leaving a gaudy white spot on the black background). But they perfectly matched the color in my top. . . .Wait, I have a better idea! I’ll write a fancy sales copy paragraph describing them.

Simple and elegant — The bottom half of this handmade pair of beaded dangling earrings features five matching, 5 mm round, pink pearls separated by a 1/8-inch ornate silver tube bead. A figure 8 connector attaches the bottom portion to a half-inch long antique silver tube bead. Silver leverback findings provide an easy and secure on/off. Perfect for dress occasions! Flirty and attractive, just in time for summer!

No, I don’t sell my jewelry online — yet. I’ve been told I should, but as it is, I have more than enough on my plate running a business and writing. And the thought of taking every single piece I’ve made out of its protective bag, photographing it in the best possible light, writing sales copy, designing a Website, and placing all those items on it — not to mention the actual selling of the pieces, boxing them up, shipping them, etc. — just makes me weary.

So, for now at least, I’ll just continue to love beading. It’s relaxing, and there’s something that satisfies me to the core in selecting beads, playing with colors and textures, molding them together, and rejoicing in the pleasure of being creative.

Is it wrong to love doing something, just for yourself?