"Reminisce"

rem·i·nisce

Verb: Indulge in enjoyable recollection of past events

 

Obviously I haven't been in the mood to make jewelry for awhile since my last post was more than a month ago!  I was thinking about the wire crochet and what got me started in the beginning.  Some of my original inspiration was the wire crochet I saw on the  Galena Beads website.   In their words, "The combination of our designs has vintage charm with a contemporary spirit".   They offer workshops, but they're in Illinois, so there was no way I could attend one.  I was so interested in this technique that I contacted them and asked about the possibility of offering an online class.  They responded that it just wasn't possible at that time, but were kind enough to mail me one of their class handouts! 

 

With that in mind, I went back to the beginning and created this necklace with open chains and random groups of beads.  I used dark rose glass pearls and an antique rose seed bead mix on Vintaj bronze wire.

 

 

The pendant is a re-purposed item.  My Mom picked these up at Ace Hardware.  An inexpensive little item and the original purpose is to replace the knob on a lamp.  You unscrew the one that came on the lamp and screw this one on in it's place.  Much prettier and easier to grasp!  I thought it would also make a neat pendant, considering my attraction to keys!  I'm not much of a wire wrapper, but I did manage to accomplish wrapping a few beads around it to give it some extra interest and match the necklace.

 

I can't believe Summer is almost over.  We've had record heat, but are currently enjoying cooler temperatures and some much needed rain!  I hope all is well in your world!

 

~{Funny}Thought for Today~

 

‎5 DEADLY TERMS USED BY A WOMAN:

 

 (1) FINE: This is the word women use to end an argument when she knows she is RIGHT & YOU need to SHUT UP.

(2) NOTHING: Means SOMETHING & you need to be WORRIED.

(3) GO AHEAD: This is a dare, not permission, do NOT do it.

(4) WHATEVER: A woman's way of saying SCREW YOU.

(5) THAT'S OK: She is thinking long & hard on HOW & WHEN you will pay for your mistake.

Strawberry with Sprinkles

These beads reminded me of strawberry ice cream with sprinkles!  They are a mix of tiny pale pink pearlized seed beads and clear bugle beads lined with bright pink.  The bugle beads catch the light and have a little sparkle to them!  It's one long strand crocheted and then twisted together.  I finished it with a pale pink organza ribbon that ties in the back.  This is the first time I've used ribbon but it just seemed to go with this one since it's so dainty and girly!

Hope you're having a nice Easter weekend!

~Today's Quote~

Worry is like a rocking chair, it gives you something to do, but it doesn't get you anywhere!

Hot Pink & Black Blingy Necklace!

This necklace was inspired by all the blingy wallets and purses you see everywhere, like this one...

Photo from the website of ST Country Bling located in Welch, OK

I've had the cross pendant for awhile but needed to get the right beads.  You can't see it too well in the picture, but I used black wire.  It is kind of big and blingy but it's really cute on!

As you can probably tell, I've still been a little uninspired this year.  I think maybe I just needed some new beads!  I took my granddaughter on her first trip to Hobby Lobby yesterday!  (Well, actually I did take her once before, but she doesn't remember, so it doesn't count!)  She had a gift card and I printed a 40% off coupon for her.  She had the ultimate Hobby Lobby experience!  She loved it.  She's partial to paper like the rest of us girls and was amazed that you could buy just one sheet of paper...and thrilled!  She picked out a couple of sheets of paper and some stickers to decorate a notebook and some little glass animal charms and a ball chain so she'll be able to switch out her charms for different necklaces.  It sure was fun!

I've been doing a lot of crocheting with yarn since the fall and have opened a new Etsy shop, but more on that later!

~Today's Quote~

There is in each of us so much goodness that if we could see it glow, it would light the world.

~Sam Friend

"Winter Enchantment" with Artbeads

Artbeads asked their blog partners to create a ‘Winter Enchantment’ design that represents what you find beautiful or inspirational about the winter season.  Well, this one stumped me because, quite honestly, there’s not much that I find enchanting about winter!

The definition of enchantment is “a magical spell, charm or bewitchment, in traditional fairy tales or fantasy” so I decided to use the literal definition and create a winter fantasy!

"Enchanted Garden"

I cast a magical spell and created an “Enchanted Garden” where roses bloom in the wintertime.  Take the key, unlock the gate and step into my garden...

Roses are climbing everything in sight, a vision of pink against a solid backdrop of ice and snow.  The sun is shining brightly, making everything to sparkle as if it's been sprinkled with glitter.  The sun is warm on your shoulders allowing you to linger and enjoy the beautiful sight just a little while longer....

For my design, I chose Crystal and White Porphyr Czech Fire Polished beads (ice and snow), 10mm Round Silver Foil beads with Pink Roses, and Rose Swarovski Crystals from their glass beads.  I used a sweet little sterling silver skeleton key charm and I also chose a large silver-plated pewter twist ring to hang the key from as if it was a key ring. 

And last but not least I added the silver-plated Leaves Toggle clasp.  I thought it fit with the garden theme and looked like it belonged in a fairy tale.

Thank you, Artbeads, for letting me escape the reality of winter for just a little while!

Disclosure: I am a Blogging for Beaders partner with Artbeads. The above noted items were provided to me free of charge, to be used for design purposes, or for my honest review of them. I have not been paid for my endorsement as it pertains to the products received.

A "Winning" Combination

"Audrey"

In earlier posts I told about winning a couple of blog giveaways.  This is a combination of beads that I won.   The larger beads are 8mm Fire Polish beads in "Crystal and Rose Porphyr" that I received from Jewelry by Jessica.  (Porphyr beads have "swirled" colors.) The seed beads are some of the seed beads that I received from JustATish.  They're a perfect match!  Thanks again, girls!

The center section is crocheted and I made a matching spool knitted "chain" to connect to each side.  I originally planned on attaching regular chain but nothing I had looked right so I decided to add the spool knitted pieces.

I like to give them names so I'm going to call this one "Audrey".  It's such a soft romantic piece and that name just seems to fit to me.

~Today's Quote~

"You may delay, but time will not."

~Benjamin Franklin

Isn't that the truth!

Pretty Pink Sparkly Necklace

Here is another of the spool knitted necklaces.  This one has a strand of  pretty Pink AB Celestial Crystals captured inside the spool knitted chain.  A matching Celestial Crystal donut is attached.  This thing sparkles like crazy!  I wish you could see it,  the camera never captures the true sparkle!

~Today's Quote~

“When you have an opportunity to be Right or to be Kind, always choose to be KIND ”

~Immaculee Ilibagiza

Inspired by Wedding Flowers and The Wedding Story

Erin of Treasures Found::Inspiration is Everywhere does a monthly challenge.  The challenge this month is to create something “Inspired by Wedding Flowers".   I decided to use my daughter’s wedding flowers as my inspiration. 

Please note that I didn't properly follow the rules for this challenge.  I just used it as a starting point for my own enjoyment!  If you're interested in joining the challenge please read the rules!

The Wedding Story…
Once upon a time there was a 16 year old girl who fell in love with a 25 year old guy.  They decided it was time to tell the parents. The young man came to talk to my husband.  Now my husband is a big guy so you have to admire the courage it took for this young man to tell him that he was in love with his daughter!  Well, my husband told him in no uncertain terms to stay away from his daughter!  We knew him and didn’t have a problem with him personally. He’s a nice young man and we approved of him, but as parents had a problem with the age difference since our daughter was still in high school.

Well, they continued to talk on the phone, but I’m sure they didn’t see each other because that was forbidden.  (Uh huh, I’ll just keep on believing that!)  The subject of them dating kept coming up and finally my husband agreed, with strict conditions!  They continued to date through her high school years and the day came that he proposed.  The wedding plans began!


We planned an outdoor wedding for May 6 at a garden a few miles from here.  Imagine walking through a vine covered canopy, down a lovely wooded path, past a small waterfall to arrive at the wedding site.  It was going to be beautiful!  Her flowers were Stargazer Lilies.  The wedding colors were hot pink and lime green.  She walked down the aisle to "Beautiful Mess “ by Diamond Rio.  A little unconventional but that is “their” song.  That’s what I love about weddings now days.  You can be unique, you can be you, you can do anything you want to do!


We planned to have the reception there, also.  I envisioned this lovely “afternoon tea” setting with guests lingering, enjoying the beautiful gardens, while having their cake and punch. Well, that was not to be…


It rained and rained and rained.  All day.  It wasn’t sprinkles, it wasn’t pouring.  Just a nice steady shower.  There was a small chapel on the property and that was our back-up plan if necessary.  We knew it would be very crowded but it would work.  She was so disappointed and determined that she wanted to be married outside.  Luckily, one of the guests was a Boy Scout leader and, “always being prepared”, he arrived early AND he had a canopy with him! They quickly set it up for the wedding party.  We sent someone to town to buy all the umbrellas they could find and she was married in the garden!


It was a quick ceremony due to the rain.  The unity candle and reception were moved to a hall they had rented for the party afterwards.  Due to our oldest daughter “knowing people” we were able to have an arch and yards of tulle and twinkle lights delivered and managed to set up a very pretty backdrop for the reception table!

As they say, “All’s well that ends well“.  It wasn’t exactly the wedding of her dreams but it still turned out beautiful and they just celebrated their 4th wedding anniversary!

I put together a little slide show with some of the wedding pictures.

And now for the jewelry:

"Katie's Bouquet"

I used small white seed beads with a pearl finish, and pink, green and yellow seed beads as accents on black wire.  I added some Czech Fire Polished beads. The color in these beads ranges from the palest pink to dark pink.  The pendant is from a garage sale find.  I think it resembles a lily.  If I had shopped for beads for this project it would have been more elaborate, but due to the distance of the nearest bead shop and the temptations involved with ordering online I just used what I had on hand!

  I enjoyed this trip down memory lane and hope you did, too! 

~Today's Quote~

"Some see age as a restriction, some see age as a number, I see age as mind over matter.

 If you don't mind it don't matter!"

Grandma's Rose Garden

Shades of Antique Roses and Pearls inspired me to name this necklace "Grandma's Rose Garden".

I used lots of glass seed beads in shades of pink along with mauve cultured potato pearls.  It looks very soft and romantic! 

I kind of liked the way the crocheted earrings with the shells turned out so I made a pair to go with this necklace.  I think the delicate look of them goes especially well with this necklace.

~Today's Quote~

There's a story behind today's quote!

.  I bought a little hand painted heart shaped wall hanging that said

"If Grandma's were roses, I'd pick you."

for my Grandma when she was in the nursing home and it hung on her door.  When she passed away, unknown to me, my Mom kept it.  Not long ago my Grandaughter gave it to me. I never imagined when I bought it that someday I would be a Grandma and it would be hanging on my wall.

"Deja" Necklace

"Deja" is made with Celestial Crystal in Pink AB. AB is a finish, "Aurora Borealis", which adds a prismatic effect to the beads. I've never used Celestial Crystal before but when I saw the new "donuts" I decided to give it a try. It's really pretty & sparkly. I love the donut pendant! I ordered these in a few different colors so expect to see more soon!

~Today's Quote~

"I wonder what it would be like to live in a world where it was always June."

-L. M. Montgomery

Pink & Green Bracelets

I got to take a little "mini" vacation last week. I took a few beads with me (Beads don't take up much room in a suitcase!) and had some time to play.

In her blog, Eye for Color, Beverly Ash Gilbert asked what your favorite color combination is. http://beverlygilbert.blogspot.com/ Well, mine is pink and green! I love pink and green, separately or together, whether it's in pale shades or fuchsia and lime green! I had a couple packages of pillow beads that I hadn't opened yet and some fire polished beads that matched so they went into the suitcase. I made these bracelets, one pink, one green and two mixing the colors. They make me think of green grass and pink roses!