Beading to a New Level...No Kidding!

In June we had friends from Hawaii come stay with us for 10 days.  It was like old home week.  Lots of Bar-b-ques and old friends.  Much to my delight, my friend Nina brought a special little purse with her for her scheduled outings.  This was and absolute "Beader's Dream!"  After I stopped druelling and was able to catch my breath Nina told me about stumbling upon this ocean themed bag that was covered in all things from the ocean and beads.  She explained how "she had to have it, once she saw it!"  No big surprise.  Later on she said "hey lets pull the designer up on the Internet and see what we can find."  So we typed in "Mary Frances" and up popped her website.  Apparently she is well established and a successful Artist/Business Woman from San Francisco.  She not only makes awesome purses, but pill boxes, business card holders, etc.

Plain and simple...If you love the art of beading like I do, you've got to hit this link and check these out!
http://www.maryfrances.com/home

I saving my allowance and it's now been moved to the top of "My Want List".

Come back and tell me what you think?

Who doesn't LOVE Turquoise!

I just love Turquoise! It's got such a casual elegance to it. No matter what I wear it with I get compliments. It can bring me out of a funk in a second! I can wear it with just about everything.

With Spring here and the desire to show a little more skin it pushes me into the jewelry box.

This great cuff; I searched for that perfect piece of turquoise for nearly a year. And I found the focal piece on this cuff in a great little bead shop in Santa Monica, CA. Here's the link to their site.

http://www.ritualadornments.com/


Its a small shop but with tons of character and they've probably got any "special" item you're looking for. I certainly left the store doing the happy dance. The customer service was awesome.

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Now, onto another of my favorites which is Abalone. The more I've learned about Abalone the more respect I have for those who work with it from ocean to what we find in the stores. It is extremely toxic. Probably one of the worst things one might come in contact with. The dust from cleaning and sanding and drilling is super toxic.

Here is my latest necklace which I've used Abalone disks as focal. I love the ocean and I love shells. There is not a calmer element for me than to be at the ocean with the water and the sand at my feet. I've used peyote stitched beaded beads for the neckline and then used green briolettes and amazonite chips. I stuck in a few of the pacific opal bicones in the drop linking the Abalone disks.

This necklace goes great with the "Aquarius" Bracelet on my Etsy site. Check it out!

I see a pattern here with my attraction to the Abalone. So my goal for June is to try to move on to something else. (I'm sure this will work...at least until I stumble upon another awesome unique piece of Abalone).

I am a hair close to finishing a piece I've worked on for a good amount of time. Wouldn't ya know it....I'm out of a bead and it's been discontinued!!! DISASTER! So all of you beaders our there please check your stash and see if you have any of these tiny things! I would be so grateful and happy to pay what you need for them. Just contact me and let me finish this one item.

• 3mm Firepolished Round Peridot AB

Thank you and Happy Beading!

We are getting rain on the west coast and it's finally a reasonable amount! I love it because "rain" = Beadtime for me. :D I've just listed a new item on my Etsy store and yesterday added a couple also. I've taken pics of almost all my items and the goal is to get them all posted by the end of February. So I'm hoping for a fairly full calendar of rain. Central California is despirate for the wet stuff, so I don't feel so bad. My heart goes out to all of the friends and relatives on the east coast that are dealing with a tremendous amount of snow, which will hamper some plans to go to the Olympics.

As I get more and more involved with the Etsy community I am learning so much more about online marketing and resources. With each task I've picked up a little more knowledge about what has been a mystery to me. It can all be a daunting experience. However I don't feel it being so overwhelming since the subject matter is my love of beading. So "bring it on," www! (ha!ha!) just figured out that "www" translates to "world wide web". I may be a slow learner at times but the message is that I get there.

Here's to keeping warm and safe. Don't forget to check out the February ebw challenge.

Welcome

Welcome to my first attempt at Blogging. It amazes me what my hobby has led me to. 2009 has been an exciting year. I've won an award for a necklace I created. That gave me a significant boost to get out and market my jewelry. I was successful in October making my way up the beautiful coast to my favorite home away from home, Cambria. I can think of nothing greater than making the trip north along the sandy shores to sell at the greatest shop on main street called Terre Bella. I love the sparkle of the ocean and I love the sparkle of crystals, stones, gems and beads. One of the pieces sold was the cuff bracelet pictured here which I used Paua Shell, Freshwater Pearls and seed beads. As with every piece I design and create I became connected. I remember the combination of colors and patterns. I also learned this year to make sure I take pictures of each piece, because once they are gone...they're gone!

This trip also took me on into Sacramento for some political advocating for our Veterans. This allowed me to make my entrance at the store I always saw in the Beading Magazines, "U-Bead It". I was just in heaven! I spent hours just hovering over each section like a child in a candy store. What a great treat. Well, I hurried back home with my treasures and have sence decided that from now on, part of a new tradition I'm starting, I will Google Bead stores for each new city I set out for on my road trips. One new treasure from each trip.

I'm excited about the Artist Gallery in Ventura. I'm able to show and sell my pieces along with a good number of other talented artists. There are so many new mediums and styles of art which is not only jewelry. It's a great find for that unusual gift for any occasion. Hope to have a new website up and running for the Gallery in the near future.

Now I've moved on to Etsy and Facebook. I am extremely excited about joining the Etsy Beadweavers team. I have seen inspiring talent withing this group of beaders. That's the greatest part of art to me; when sharing with others stirs up the great visions and ideas we all seem to come up with when others inspire us.

Well, until I get back here again to update, I hope you will enjoy the Etsy website as much as I do.