GO CHIEFS!!!

Our wonderful Kansas City Chiefs are the #1 team in the AFC West! We are in the play offs and get home field advantage in the first game. It's so good to go from the cellar to the top of your league in just one year. Thanks to our great coaches, coordinators and team players!

Bargello Cuff

It's been a very long time since I took on a project such as this one. The pattern is called Bargello and the colors are wonderful. This piece is done on a loom and I had to rebuild mine. I have only done one simple project on a loom recently and this is taking a bit of time. It's going to be nearly two inches wide after I add the final edging and about seven and a quarter inches long. I'm going to make my own clasp since the ones for these are pretty pricey. I'm using Toho seed beads since that's what I have on hand. These come out neater if made with Delicas. I also didn't have all the colors in opaque so the only opaque beads are the black, yellow and orange. The others are either transparent or silver lined. Does give the bracelet a little sparkle.

Playing catch up again...

Trying to play a little catch up here with some photos of a few of my newest pieces.

Photo #1 is a porcelain cameo wrapped in antiqued bronze wire.

#2 is a beautiful art glass pendant with a copper wire woven bail and hung on a turquoise and copper necklace.

#3 was done for a Winter Wonderland Challange. It's white quartz in Sterling with Swarovski Crystal accents.

#4 features rectangular Turquoise beads, silver spacer beads and a silver fancy clasp.

#5 is a set consisting of Leopardskin Jasper and Perido Agate beads in two sizes.

#6 is a spectacular Horse and Mountain Porcelain cameo in Sterling Silver.

HOLIDAY BARGANS GALORE!

Big 15% off every item in my Artfire Studio through November 30th! All pendants, rings and neckwires packaged in nice white gift boxes prior to packaging for shipping. Makes gift giving a breeze.

Pre Holiday Sale!

I am having a Pre Holiday Sale 11/12/10 through 11/14/10! All items marked down by 15% in my Etsy Store and my Ebay Store plus a coupon code available for 15% off in my Artfire studio. Don't miss this opportunity to save on your holiday jewelry shopping! All purchases are placed in nice white gift boxes prior to packaging for shipping. Perfect for your gift giving!

Did my first bead loom work in years. The only seedies I had were Tohos which are very nice but not great for bead looming. Since I live in Kansas just south of Kansas City of course we're KC Chiefs fans and these earrings are my statement of that. The first photo of course is the finished earrings. The second shows them still on my funky home made loom.

Busy, busy, busy...

I had quite a few pendants and rings that were just setting in a baggie so I decided it high time to get them listed somewhere. I've decided on ArtFire and in the last two days have listed like crazy! Only (at this writing) have four more pendants to list but will get started on the rings this afternoon. With holiday shopping right around the corner you might want to check my studio Creations by Carol Ladine on ArtFire and favorite it for later shopping.

Here is a piece I made for the month of October. The stabilized Turquoise beads are about 20mm by 30mm. The clasp is antiqued sterling but the larger silver spacer beads are antiqued but not sterling. I placed a size 11/0 black matte seed bead before and after each silver spacer bead. The stringing material is .019" (.4mm) Accuaflex. The length is approximately 18 inches. Oh yeah, the turquoise beads were part of the stash I purchased from a lady from the Jewelry Making forum at about.com This piece will be going to D'Marie Gallery of Fine Arts 5 West Wee Paola, KS the end of this week.

New Beading Books!

My three new beading books just arrived in the mail and I'm thrilled! Looks like I'm gonna be a busy lady learning these new techniques. Naw, I'm not giving up the wire work but do need a bit of a change of pace.

Bon Voyage Michael!

As of Sunday afternoon our grandson Michael is headed for the Navel boot camp near Chicago, ILL where he'll train for demolitions disarmament. We got a chance to have him and other family members over on Saturday for a quick light supper. We had lots of fun as usual and got a few photos. This is the best one I got. In the photo is: Michael, Sr (our son), Michael, Jr (our grandson), Me and seated is my hubby Anthony (Tony)

8/30/10 - It's Christmas in Kansas!!! I had the chance to purchase a bead lot from a lady that lost her job a while back and needed to make some extra $$. I looked at her stash and thought it was worth every penny of the asking price. They arrived Monday 8/30/10 and I had a blast going through all of them. Still can't believe I was lucky enough to purchase before someone else did. I feel so blessed that I was able to help someone in need and receive some beautiful beads at the same time. It doesn't get any better than that.

Just listed these two new pendants on ArtFire. A beautiful cameo of the Madonna in very detailed high relief. The second one is a vintage Victorian Lady in a more modified relief. Just as detailed though. Both pendants are wire wrapped in 14K Gold Fill and have generous bails.

www.creationsbycarolladine.artfire.com

Holey Moley!

Holey moley how time flies! I had no idea it's been so long since I posted anything here. Guess I'd better start writing myself notes! I have done a couple of things lately. One is this beautiful pair of earrings I just completed. I created these from a tutorial, Victorian Style Droplet Earrings by Abby Hook.

All's well.....

...that ends well they say. I didn't get to the Rings n Things bead show because Mother Nature decided we needed a snow storm. So, I buried my disappointment by going on line and buying lots of pretties. Most probably won't be in until later this week but I will take some pictures so you all can see.

One year anaversary!

One year later and still not smoking!!

One year, 5 hours, 37 minutes and 11 seconds. 7304 cigarettes not smoked, saving $1,187.01. Life saved: 3 weeks, 4 days, 8 hours, 40 minutes.

DLST

It's the first day of daylight savings time and I hate it. Not only that, it's about our fourth day of clouds and light drizzle, ugh. It usually takes me a couple of days to get used to it and it makes getting anything done that much harder.

Experiment...

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

I decided to make a few rings this morning so here they are. Back row is a Unikite and Adventurine, Adventurine and Pink Quarts, Red glass. Front two are, white Stardust and Sodalite, white Opalite and Faceted Hemitite. All are created using Sterling Silver wire.


In the afternoon I had to take our van to have the lift platform (handicap equipment) worked on. The only place is Lenexa about 40 miles north of us. On the way back took a side trip to the Olathe Michaels to use a gift card my daughter gave me for Christmas. Spent more that the gift card of course. But it was fun! Can hardly wait for the Ring n Things trunk show the 20th of this month.

A Tale of Two Bracelets

Back in 2003 I made this cuff style bracelet and sold it on ebay. After a few years and a computer breakdown I only had a couple of small photos of it and wanted to make another one. The buyer and I had remained in contact over the years. Last spring I contacted her, told her what I had in mind and asked if she could possibly send some good size photos so I could see the details. She said she would see what she could do. A while later she wrote me back and asked what I would charge to put a nice clasp closure on the bracelet. She had put one on herself but didn't really care for it. Anyway, seeing a great opportunity I told her I would love to do it and would only charge for the return shipping .

To make a long story short, she sent the bracelet, I made the clasp AND got my photos. Below is the bracelet I just completed thanks to my good friend Ms. P!

Some of my newest pieces

Here are a few of my newest projects. To the left and directly below are some earrings from my new Pretty Petals Collection














Next is a beaded pendant using nuggets, faceted beads and gold fill beads and wire.





Last but not least is a necklace of Leopardskin Jasper, dark brown glass bead that have little bumps for texture and a sterling silver wire wrapped Botswana Agate pendant.

You'll find all these lovelies in my shop at Etsy

Organizing...

Worked on sorting and organizing my loose beads and cameos today. Geesh, what a job. Took me the better part of the afternoon and still not quite done. I have other supplies/findings that need organizing and simply a proper storage place. On top of that I have more beads and findings coming in next week then I get to sort and organize them. My goal is to totally redo my workspace/room and finally get some organization and have proper storage/shelving out the wazoo!

I just completed my newest tutorial. It's a prong style setting for a large faceted gemstone. The stone used in the tut is an Emerald Cut, and I show you how to create the setting with the prongs on the diagonal.

http://www.creationsbycarolladine.com/facetedpendantsetting.php

Materials:
• 57” (4 3/4 feet) 21ga square 14k GF or
Sterling Silver wire cut as follows
• 7 pieces at 7”
• 1 pieces at 8”
• One large emerald cut faceted gemstone
• 2 to three feet 20ga Half Round Half Hard
wire. If totally wrapping the sides you’ll
need 3 feet
The one I used here is approximately 21mm
by 12mm by 7mm deep

Tools:
• Flat Nose Pliers
• Chain Nose Pliers
• Flush cutters
• Round Nose Pliers
• Some type of low tack tape
• Fine tip Sharpie
• Hard plastic or rawhide hammer
• #9 knitting needle or ¼” dowel
• OPTIONAL: Tumbler & Stainless Steel Shot,
calipers, prong pusher