This first one is 6mm black cube beads with (I think) 3mm hematite cubes and 2mm crimper beads in between to give it a little bit of silver shine to match the clasp and chain. I found I like to work with spacers, crimper beads, and head pins when making these sets. I prefer not to do necklaces because they are too long, but eventually when we put my stuff on etsy, I will make them as special order if we have the beads available. My Mom is helping put my site together. I don’t think I could do any of this without her; she really is a huge help.

 This second set is made with 6mm hematite beads and metal tube spacers with 3mm round spacer beads in between each. So far, I have stuck with metal spacers because I like the way they look in the jewelry. My Mom keeps trying to get me to branch out into other avenues, but since I have just begun making jewelry, and I can only work in my spare time between school, kids, and studying, I haven’t felt up to experimenting. Maybe during the summer when I have more time I will give it a try.

This is the last good picture I have so far. I was supposed to take pictures this weekend of the three bracelets that have homes with my Grandma and Aunt in San Antonio, but I forgot my camera at home in Freer….I remembered the charger for the batteries, but it doesn’t do a whole heck of a lot of good without the batteries or the camera they are in.   Ah, well, I will get the pics next time I am in town (Tuesday), and maybe I will even remember the camera.

We can hope anyway. Now, where was I? Oh yes, the last bracelet. This one was made with 4mm fire polished violet AB beads with 2mm crimper beads in between. I like the purple color, and it shines so pretty. The only problem with this one is that if you look really close, I didn’t loosen it enough. The bracelet is a little too tight and zig-zaggy. That’s the best way to describe it. I have started pulling the bracelets after they are knotted so that they aren’t so tight anymore. It pulls the knots further into the other beads and gets rid of that not-so-pretty zig-zag look. As for this bracelet, I guess it slipped through my web of inexperience. It’s okay though. I’m learning as I go. I think that’s the best way.

Aside from the ten bracelets in December I have since made three others, but my Grandma bought one of those already, so I am down to three now. If I can ever get enough bracelet sets made, I will put them for sale online. They have been selling before I even have a chance to get pictures, but I am not complaining by any means, I am very happy I have sold as many as I did. I honestly didn’t think anyone would want them. So I am thrilled that everyone likes them so far. I just hope they keep liking them and continue to buy them. Once school is over I will really be able to put some time into this. So I’ll be asking for you to wish me luck when that time comes.  

Hope everyone is healthy and happy!

It was my first try at stringing jewelry, and I didn’t want to ask my Mom for advice since the gift was meant for her. So with my little bit of experience I had working with seed beads, I gave it a go. The bracelet is made with 4mm cube beads and 3mm metal beads. I used head pins and silver ear wires to make the earrings. I was actually proud that I was able to do it without her help.

It wasn’t until later on that week when I was making another bracelet that she told me about making knots in the thread before I cut it. She also showed me how to make a half-hitch knot. I had never heard of it, but I’m glad she showed me. I thought stringing was exactly like working with seed beads where you just pull the thread through the beads a few more times. That would have been embarrassing to have all my bracelets falling apart after a few weeks or so. LoL

I ended up taking my Mom’s bracelet apart and re-doing it, but that’s okay. You live, you learn, right? It was good practice, and it all worked out okay. I was able to keep her from finding out the bracelet was hers until Christmas. At least, if she knew, she didn’t say anything. And when she opened it, she said she liked it a lot.

About a week or so after I had finished that set, my son told me that they had picked the students for the gift exchange in his class. He got a girl named Cassandra, so I decided I would venture out and make a bracelet for her too.

This one was a memory wire bracelet with 6mm acrylic beads and in the middle of the bracelet I used plastic letter beads to put a heart, then her name, and another heart. It was my first memory wire bracelet, but my mom was there to help with that one if I needed it. Tommy said that he couldn’t tell if she liked it or not, because none of the girls in class said anything or made any kind of facial expression when they opened their gifts. Well, at least I tried to make her something nice. *shrugs shoulders*

I ended up making all four gift bracelet sets. One for my Mom, my Grandma, my Granny, and my Aunt, and they all said they loved them. I think they did. Just look at the look on my Grandma’s face when she opened hers. LoL

I also created five more sets besides the ones as gifts. I don’t have pictures of all of them, or of the other three gift sets, but as I get them, I will make sure to add a blog. The reason for the lack of pictures is that we took all the sets over to my Granny’s house so she could see them, and while we were there, another one of my aunts ended up buying five of the nine sets, including one of the sets I had made for my Aunt! It was all good though, we still had plenty of beads, so I just made another one almost exactly like it, and I finished it in plenty of time for Christmas.

All in all, not bad for my first week of wire work and stringing.

But she made it through. She had three puppies, but the boy (the third born) didn’t make it. My mom says he was possibly stillborn because he was cold from the beginning and could never be revived. He was big compared to the other two and would have been healthy, but I guess something went wrong. 

She did have two girls that made it though.
They were so tiny. My dad could hold both of them in the palm of one hand!

The little grey one was the first born, and my dad had to help deliver her. We were worried that she didn’t survive because she didn’t breathe right away. After a few seconds, she did finally take her first breath, so she was fine. After about a week though, fate took it’s course and Sweets started not wanting to take care of her. She was pushing her away when she tried to feed and ignoring her when she cried. Even our experienced mama dog, Sugars, didn’t really want anything to do with her. So we started feeding her, but it wasn’t enough…On Thursday, she passed . The best we can figure is that she didn’t have good enough lungs or wasn’t strong enough to make it. Tommy, my son, cried when my Dad told him, but all we can do is try and make sure this last one is well taken care of.

I call her Baby.
She’s a cutie, isn’t she?

These pictures were taken of her today. Her eyes still haven’t opened yet, but they should soon. She is healthy and eats like a horse! But I’m glad she is fine. Sometimes I think Sweets doesn’t quite know what she’s doing…I’ve had to get after her for plopping her bum down right on top of the puppy…but Baby is strong, so she just pulls herself out. She is already two weeks old, so give her a few more weeks and she will be jumping out of the box we keep her in, and roaming the house…and, of course, there will be plenty more pictures and plenty more blogs.

Yes, I am a proud grandma, but hopefully I’m not a grandma again (from Tommy and Anna) for a really long time.

Here is a look at her finished product.

It took my mom several times trying to make it and taking it apart. I think I said in the last blog about this bracelet that she was trying to do the pattern in brick stitch like the original pattern I made, and since she doesn’t have as much experience in that stitch, she decided to re-pattern it and make it in peyote stitch instead. It looks exactly the same when completed, it’s just a different way of putting it together. That’s what I understand anyway. I will learn more as I become more experienced.

Here is another picture. I love the way this bracelet turned out! It actually inspires me to try and create more patterns and possibly pick up a needle and beads to create some bracelets myself.

This is me. I am sometimes silly, sometimes serious, and sometimes neurotic since I seem to let my anxieties get the best of me quite a bit.

We live with my Mom and Dad. Here is a picture of my Mom with three of our six dogs.

I finally started using my BeadTool 3 to create beading patterns. My mom had been asking me to do some for a while now, but I just hadn’t gotten around to it. I guess it was partly because I was worried I wouldn’t be able to make anything good. Once I started she really loved them. I have only created four small christmas ornaments, one butterfly in different colors for a cuff bracelet, and four cuff bracelet patterns in various colors, but at least I’ve started doing it.

I haven’t started actually doing the beadwork for any of my patterns, but I will eventually. I just haven’t gotten to that point yet.

However, my mom is making one of my patterns for the newest Etsy Beadweavers team challenge. Voting will begin on August 9th. So if you are interested in voting, that is the link. Vote for whoever you like, you don’t have to vote for me, but please come and vote.
Her entry is due August 5th, but this bracelet has been giving her a heck of a time, so we’re hoping she’ll make it. She began it in brick stitch, but it kept falling apart, so yesterday she had to tear the whole thing apart and start over in peyote. I would post a picture, but as of right now, the bracelet is still itty bitty (only to the 34th row), but I promise, when she finishes it I will post a picture.

Wish us luck!

Have a great day!

I had never done a portrait before, so this was a learning process. And as with any learning process, I look back and see things I would’ve done differently if I had been more experienced. For example, since it was a portrait, I wanted to try and make it more realistic by doing highlight and shadow on the face. Here is a close-up so you can see it better.

For more delicate pictures, a lot of times I like to put lace around the edges. I felt like the pink lace looked really pretty on this one. And voilà! Here is the completed gift.

Hope everyone is healthy and happy!

Here is the finished embroidery before I put it in the frame.

It took me a while to make because I was going to school at the same time. But I finally finished it and got it to him for Father’s Day 2007. I wish I could’ve been there to see his reaction, but he lives too far away for that. However, from what my mom told me, he has it hung in the same room as the hummingbird. I’m glad he liked it.

Here is a close-up of the bird’s head. I like to do detail work on my pictures. The more detail the better. It takes a long time, but it comes out looking so pretty when it’s done. It took me at least a week or so just to finish the detail work on the cardinal itself. But I think it was worth it.

Overall I was very happy with the outcome. I am sort of a perfectionist when it comes to my work, so if I wasn’t happy with it, most likely I would have just chucked the whole thing and started over. Then it would’ve been the next Christmas before he received it. Everything worked out though, and now the cardinal is hanging right where it was meant to be. Here is a picture of it in the frame getting ready to be packaged and shipped (Sorry about the flash right in the middle of his head……remember boys and girls, flash and glass don’t mix). 

 I put lace around the edges before I put it under the glass in the frame. Here are some detail pictures:

And, last but not least, here is a picture of my grandma when she opened it on Christmas Day 1995:

I think I was still working on it Christmas morning, but I finished it by the time we opened gifts. If I remember correctly, it took me about a month to finish this, but her reaction when she saw it for the first time was worth every minute and every poke of the finger.

My grandma is not with us anymore, but at least I was able to give her something made with love that she would cherish, and that makes me very happy.