Keep working....

Rusty's Birthday Bash is getting closer every day.

I am keeping busy making collars.

Some are re-works of designs I have already done.

The collar in the right is a color variation of "Gabe".

On the left is a sparkly version of "Tanner".

And I have added a Red, White and Blue stripped background

to this yellow ribbon "Awareness collar".

And some are new designs.  I will be adding the pattern for the "Rosebud Collar"

(on the left)

in medium and large sizes later this week.

This has been a great creative time for me.

Now, back to beading!!

Blessings and Hugs,
Beth

Collars Everywhere!

I was so excited when the phone rang the other day!!

I don't always get excited about phone calls.  In fact, I am not one who enjoys talking on the phone.  I am a writer, so I would rather e-mail. 

But this call was special.

The person on the other end was calling to ask me to participate in Rusty's Birthday Bash at the Adams' County Winery. 

Tanner and I visited this event last year when he was just a puppy. 

We shared a piece of Birthday Cake!

We even got to take a tour of the winery together.

We had a great time and I was anxious to go back.

Check out his Blog Post about the day here:  Party Time

But this year will be different!  Because this event benefits the Adams' County SPCA, I will be donating one of my collars to the silent auction. 

I will also be setting up a display, selling collars and taking orders for custom collars.  10% of my sales will go to the SPCA at the end of the day.  This is such a good cause.

I am trying to make sure I have a lot of collars on hand.  So.... I have been beading......

And Beading.......

AND BEADING!

I want to be sure to have a wide variety on hand! 

I should have more photos to post on Wednesday!

If you are in the area on June 30, Tanner and I would love to see you!

Blessings,

Beth

Camper Beading

Mike, Tanner and I are on the road again.  We were called out of town to celebrate the life of a dear friend who crossed-over a few weeks ago.

Because the family lived about three hours from us, we decided to make a “trip” out of it.

We started off in a hotel, because our camper dealer was close to our destination.  Our camper needed some work done that was covered under our warranty, so we decided to take advantage of the time and get it done.

This was the first time Tanner had stayed in a hotel.

 

He did really well.

Then we picked up our camper and headed to a nice KOA in the area.

We were supposed to attend the Memorial/Celebration on Thursday, then stay through the weekend to vend at a Pow-wow in honor of our friend.  But due to lack of participation, the Pow-wow was cancelled. 

We chose to stay anyway. 

And I got some beading time in.

Here is how I set up my beading space in the camper.

This is our dinette in the back of the camper.  After I clean up breakfast, I am free to spread out and get some beading done.

It isn’t a bad way to bead.

 

This is my view! 

 (Much better than the concrete walls of my basement)

And, my sweet Fur-Baby is never far away!

My travel bead-box even has a space to sit.  Just within my reach.

I am getting a lot of beading done and having a great time.

Hope everyone is doing well.

Hugs,

Beth

A study in White

Up until today, I thought of white as an accent color

in my glass making.

I used it as a 'separator' between color layers in some beads.

And I used it to make dots in others.

But today, I decided to use it as a background color.

I started each of these beads with white center.

It was so much fun to chose the colors for the accent dots.

So many times, I get hung up in making sure colors go together.

But with a white background, any color pops!!

I love this collection and can't wait to make a piece of jewelry with them!  Or maybe I will wait and make a few more.  Then I will make a piece of jewelry!

Hugs,
Beth

Collar Care

This is the flyer that I include with each beaded collar that I sell.
It gives the new owner some basic cleaning/care instructions for each collar.

I use them too!!

This is Tanner's everyday collar.

It is also one of the first collars I made.

This is how the collar looked just after it was made.

And this is how it looks now.

Tanner has been wearing this collar for about 9 months.

He is a very active dog.

He loves to run, play and scratch.

And the only damage on the collar is this...

I am going to replace the 2 missing beads before I put it on him again. 

 

And I will also give it a good cleaning with a soft toothbrush.

And I know he will be proud to wear it again come January.

Blessings,

Beth

Torch Time

Ahhhh!!!

It feels so good!

The escape into the world of fire and glass!

I am one happy girl!

Yesterday, I got to spend two glorious hours with my torch.
I had a goal.
I wanted to work on making "long, skinny beads".

I was inspired by an article in an e-book that I just added to my collection. 

You know, sometimes, you can see instructions on working something many times and still not get it.  That is, until someone explains it to you in a way that clicks for you.

Or is it just that you are finally ready to hear the explaination?

Well, whichever it is, yesterday, I took on the challenge of making these beads following Cynthia Liebler Saari's instructions in the article "Getting the Skinny" which is featured in the e-book 10 Glass Bead Making Projects:  Flamework and Lampwork Techniques.

The photo in the upper right corner was my inspiration.

How do you think I did?

I worked with my favorite color, purple, first.

I did two beads, reversing the placement of the colors.

Then I tried to challenge myself.

I chose Orange and Transparent Yellow.

I did a swirl for the center of the tapered bead.

The other bead is done in rings that fused together.

Before I stopped for the day,

I could not resist having some 'real fun'.

I wanted to practice my dots and placement.

This one is my daughter's favorite.

She said she loves "bumpy beads".

Thanks for Bouncing by

Blessings,

Beth

Re-working continues!

Well, the next cuff re-work/update is now in progress.

The next bracelet that I have chosen to update is the "Stained Glass Roses" bracelet.  This piece is done in Brick Stitch, so the re-work was a bit more challenging. 

The cuff blanks that I use are approximately 6.25 inches long, so I had to adjust the design to fit that length.

The origional was pretty close.  In fact, it was just a bit longer, so I had to remove a row or two from the design.

Of course, I started with my computer program.  I use BeadTools4.  I find it to be a very user-friendly program.

Then, I move on to the beadwork piece.

After I removed the button and loop from the origional closure, I started doing the froggie stitch. 

Rip it!! Rip it!

Then I sort most of the beads and start "re-working" the design.

I measure the "finished" piece against the cuff blank to be sure it will fit before I cut the threads.

And when I am done, I have a brand new piece that will make a great cuff!!

The pattern for the Stained Glass Roses Cuff can be found at Bead Patterns Boutique.  It includes and option for you to download my step-by-step finishing tutorial with the purchase of the pattern.

Hugs and Blessings,
Beth

Today....

Today, I wanted to spend time with this.

I wanted to escape into the blissful, timelessness that exists when I work to turn these

into these....

But, instead I got to use these.....

to turn this .....

into.....

Well, you get the picture.

Maybe (to borrow and change a phrase)

My torch will get lit tomorrow!

Blessings and Hugs,

Beth

My New Necklace

While we were camping and at the Pow-wow, I picked up a very inspiring book.

I had looked at it before, but never opened a copy.
When I did... well, I just had to have a copy.

The book has a lot of wonderful ways to use my looms.

As you know, I have quite a collection of looms.

Some I like to use more than others.

Well, the piece that inspired me the most in on page 51.
The Iris Nouveau necklace.

This was just the inspiration I needed to make my own!

I designed the piece in now time.

In fact, I had the design in my head before we left camp.

I went right home and put it together on Bead Tools 4.

Then I strung the loom and got started beading.

It seemed to take me forever to complete.

With so many other things going on, I just have not had a lot of time to bead lately.

But....

Finally....

It is done!!!

This piece is All Mine!

I will not be publishing a pattern for it.

I want to keep it for me!

It features my Wolf Paw Motif and a whole bunch of Citrine crystals in the fringe.

Citrines are very special to me.

They are a protection stone and they also help increase creativity.

I can't wait to wear this necklace to the Pow-wow!

Hugs and Blessings,

Beth

P.S.  I have also re-worked my "Wolf Tracks Cuff" pattern to fit a metal cuff blank.  The eliminates the need to worry about why size to make a cuff.