Vintage Velocipedes

Hi there, I hope you are all having a great summer whereever you are in the northern hemisphere, and a great winter if you are in the southern. I myself have been enjoying cosy day excursions so far, and sitting on the veranda in my back garden. Later in the summer I will be going away on a little trip to the south of Sweden.

Bicycling has always been a favourite thing of mine. As a child and teenager it was my major method of transport most of the year. If the temperature was more than 5 degrees Celsius that is. I could easily bike more than 20-30 km a day just to get to different places. I would still bike every day today if I could, but unfortunately since a few years back I have too much balance problems due to MS. I plan to get a tricycle for grown-ups though, in a not too far future. They are good, but a bit pricey, so I hope to get a contribution from a fund for people with MS.

Check out those old style bicycles on the earrings I made. High wheelers or penny farthings. They are super cool don't you agree.

Art beads:

Tag shaped ceramic earrings pendants with decals of old bicycles  - DonnaPerlinplim

Ceramic cone beads with a pale yellow matte glaze - NadiaTerra

Other ingredients:

Rustic glass beads

Heavily oxidized copper wire

Handmade Sterling Silver earrings hooks, heavily oxidized

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All my best,

Malin

www.beadingbymalindekoning.blogspot.se

We're All Ears :: July Reveal

I didn't make it to the Wausau Balloon Rally last weekend. Drats. But a local radio personality named Dave Kallaway is a mighty fine photographer when he is not on the air and he has taken some awesome shots! Check out this one... and this one... (I truly hope you can view them...) But in case you can't here is one of the inspiration pictures...

To make this quartet of earrings it was easy to find the beads. Most of my beads look like they would make great hot air balloons! But the ones that stood out to me where the ones with fun simple patterns. To make the baskets I used some beads and decorative headpins. The key is to have a little bit of space between the bottom of the bead and the top of the basket shape. I didn't want these to be too referential so that if someone is just attracted to the bright colors and patterns they don't need to know that they were created with balloons on the brain.

Golem Beads are perfect for this project. The bright colors and graphic patterns really do look like the balloons at a rally. I am always cheered when I look at Vlad's beautiful ceramic beads. How can you not smile when you see these beads or these balloons? They exude happiness.

And then I spotted some polymer clay beads from a seller who no longer makes them (Honey from the Bijoux). The stripes are really playful!

Finally, I decided to go a bit more sophisticated with the lampwork glass from Jenni Connolly. They remind me of Monet's water lilies and were a gift from the Australian artist in a Bead Soup long ago. Pairing them with a wee bit of bling peeking out with the rhinestone rondelle spacers gives them a little added sass. Just a touch.

So there you have my own little beady balloon rally. I can't wait to see what you made!

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Sparkles

I started with one of my favorite things, headpins!!

These amazing Lampwork headpins are by Janell Nelson. 

Then I stacked some Amazing Blue Keishi Pearls and wrapped some tiny little glass beads that remind me of Druzy in to a loop.

They are topped off with Handmade Embellished Copper Earwires.

Kristi

KristiBowmanDesign.com

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That Little Extra Touch

I wanted to share with you a little added touch I stumbled upon with some simple metal flower drops that can make a creation blossom. 

Below is a before and after- I wire wrapped seed beads up the stem in a flower pattern and added enamel charms at the bottom.  You can add more decor up top or leave them as is.

I went a little crazy once I figured out the technique, the other photos show examples of more designs.  The last pic is my absolute favorite because they are just down right funky♥

Thanks for heading over here, please share a few comments if you can, and we will see you again in two weeks, ♥

Lynn

My Etsy Shop- Yucca Bloom

Cookies and cream

Summer. Sun, sea and……ice cream.

 During the 5th century BC, ancient Greeks ate snow mixed with honey and fruit in the markets of Athens. The father of modern medicine, Hippocrates, encouraged his Ancient Greek patients to eat ice "as it livens the lifejuices and increases the well-being (souce: Wikipedia).

Helados de popsy by Mackbeth24

I love ice cream. There are lots of  ice cream shops in Nafplio (Greece), the town close where we live. The beautiful display of so many delicious flavours is so so tempting. Cookies and cream is one of my favourites. As are all the chocolate varieties. Or strawberries or caramel or…… What can I say, I love ice cream. And apparently it is very good for my well-being LOL, according to Hippocrates.  And who am I to disagree with Hippocrates :-) I'm not sure he will say this regarding the current available ice cream, but hey, these are details I'm not going to worry about.

If you love ice cream, which is your favourite flavour? 

Cookies and Cream
Sweet short earrings made with handmade ceramic charms by Kiyoi Design in a lovely caramel brown with old rose pink flowers, (vintage) brass and Czech glass.

Available in my shop.

Thank you so much for visiting and I hope to see you again in 2 weeks.I wish you a wonderful day with lots of joy, sunshine, happiness and ice cream

Janine

Esfera Jewelry

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New Dress - New Jewelry

My brother is getting married this weekend, which seems like a fine reason for me to treat myself to a new dress.

 And with a new dress, comes the need for matching jewelry. Its hard to really see the pattern in the fabric from a distance.  Here's a close-up.  Lots of pretty jewel tones to work with in designing coordinating jewelry. 

Of course I'm still making jewelry the night before our flight to L.A. for the wedding. Its 9:30 p.m. and the earrings are done.  The necklace is only about half complete and I haven't even packed yet.  At this rate, I may be finishing the necklace in the hotel hours before the big event.  Oy !

The saucer shaped beads are Thai Hill Tribe beads that I bought long ago when such things were affordable!  I dangled 3 lengths of silver chain beneath the silver beads.

I placed Swarovski crystals above the silver beads and wire wrapped crystals to the end of each chain dangle.  The crystals are turquoise but they have an emerald green AB finish on one side, so they accent the 2 main colors in the dress.  And people keep telling me that L.A. style includes more bling than I'm used to.  So I definitely have the bling thing going on here.

 The necklace has Swarovski crystals too and some beautiful lampwork glass beads.  I'll share it on my blog after the wedding. 
Hope you are enjoying sunny weather!  L.A, will be hot!

Linda Landig Jewelry

Repeat Offender

For those of us who gravitate toward art beads---and who doesn't, really?---we tend to have favorite bead artists that we keep going back to, time and time again. Can't seem to shake em. And just when you think that 1.5 trays of their beads are going to satisfy your hunger, they list new components and you find yourself going back again for another fix, like a zombie in the endless pursuit of BRAAAAAAAINS. 

One of the bead artists on my short list is Marsha Neal. I remember buying from her years ago when I first started designing jewelry and I still buy from her to this day. Her abstract, organic shapes and earthy glazes have captured and held my fascination through quite a lot of creative growth on my part--through it all, her beads have always played a note in my cumulative song.

Some of my favorite beads are her twisted horns. It's clear that she takes great care in forming them but still lets them take on their own unique, evocative shape. I have yet to find two that match perfectly--that's part of the magic, for me.

For this pair, I used a slate blue-gray matte glazed pair of horns, stacked them with vintage German pressed wood beads, and capped them with rusty petal bead caps. Throw in some blackened soldering to fill the gaps, hang them from some of my extra long ear wires, and you've got two edgy pieces of art for your ears.


Happy Wednesday!
Nikki 
LoveRoot on Etsy