Homecoming

I had a little "family reunion" of sorts last week when my distributor, Ruth Schmuff, sent me a box containing some of my older stitched models.  These guys have logged many a mile on the trunk show circuit, as well as quite a bit of time in Ruth's shop, Bedecked & Beadazzled.  I haven't seen these in person since I finished stitching them, years ago now.  It's nice to have them back to get reacquainted! 

These two are from my earliest set of Halloween designs, a collection of teardrop ornaments, stars and topiary trees.  Both pieces were finished by Marlene's, whose idea it was to make the Jack o' Lantern star into a magic wand.  It came out so cute!

My Halloween series right after this was a set of three Victorian-style candy cones.  This one is the "Witch's Accessories" cone, featuring her fancy red shoes.  Loading it up with selections from my Halloween doo-dad collection was lots of fun! 

I stayed with the witch theme in my next collection, which merged Halloween with my interest in stitching accessories.  The witch hat shape is such a natural choice for a scissor case.  This was also the first time I ever tried the technique of Basketweave Beading and I was very pleased with the way the little Jack o'Lantern motif came out.  I made the little witch scissor fob as well to round out the set.

Now for something different, this checkbook cover is called Floating Flowers.  This was designed for and published in Spool magazine, which is, sadly, no longer published which is a shame as it was a great magazine that appealed to every kind of stitcher.  The canvas and stitch guide however, are still available.  

Finally, this early Christmas Tree Forest canvas takes me way back to my very first collection!  This one was one of my very first stitched and finished models.  I was sequin-crazy back then, the embellishment pack for this very small design has almost 30 sequins and beads of various sizes and shapes. 

Hope you have enjoyed this little trip down my memory lane!  Thanks for looking and have a great weekend with plenty of stitching time!

Bits and Pieces

I have a little bit of everything for you today, new fobs, a new finish and a trunk show reminder! 

In my previous blog post, I asked you all to send me your photos of your finished CandyLands.  Mary Susan Muirhead was happy to oblige me with this beauty:

Isn't this sweet?  I just love that shade of pink and the cording is pink too!  Mary and her friend Debbie Fink both took the class and had their pillows finished the same as well.  The finishing is by Pillows by Evelyn in Riverdale, NY.

I recently sent a big batch of scissor fobs off to Ruth Schmuff for the Baltimore TNNA show in September.  Here's a peek at what will be available; if your shop owner is planing to attend, you can ask them to pick something up for you! 

And finally, the Ruth Schmuff/EyeCandy Needleart trunk show is at the Stitching Post in Midland, Texas until September 3rd.  Be sure to stop by if you can!

More New Scissor Fobs!

Scissor Fobs have been a hot little accessory item lately!  They have been flying out the door over at Ruth's Bedecked and Beadazzled, so she had me send a new batch this week.  Here's what I sent this time:

I took a picture of these "lollipop" fobs hanging from a dowel to better show how the silver chain tassels drape asymmetrically.  The center bead that looks so much like candy is actually made from felt!  All five "flavors" are accented with crystal beads.

These "Goofy Ghouls" fobs are a lot of fun-- I even kept one for myself!  The center beads have zany "eyes" that always seem to be looking at you and they are framed with big pumpkin-orange crystals and lampwork spacers.  The tassels at the ends are metal scrapbook tags mixed with square lampwork glass pendants.   

Here are two views of a Pirate-themed fob, the first one is hanging up so you can see how the pewter Jolly Roger charm dangles above the tassel trim and the second is laying flat so that you can see all three of the silk tassels and the rest of the crystal beads.

I always have to include some pink and green!  Both of these designs feature rhinestone covered Pave' beads. 

I also like more subdued color schemes, provided they are also very sparkly!  This fob features very large Indicolite blue and Crystal AB color stones accented with a big rhinestone ball. 

You may have noticed that every batch of fobs I show here is different.  That's because I make each style in a very small quantity, often limited by the number of beads I have.  I'm often able to make more or substitute a similar bead, but very often each style is a limited edition if I am not able to restock the featured beads.  So please don't be disappointed if a style you like is sold out already, I may be able to make more but if not, I may come up with something new that you might like even better!  

Bead Soup!

"Bead Soup" was my initial thought when I returned from a bead show last Friday and piled my purchases on my desk.  Here's what it looked like:

I spent a day or so just looking at the spectacle of it all and letting my ideas marinate for a while.  After I sat down and got to work, the wonderful hoard became quite decimated, but my ideas took shape and as a result, I cooked up a whole new batch of scissor fobs!


The owl beads (seen in the lower right corner) have been combined with some of the sparkly crystals and some matching pewter charms:

Speaking of pewter charms, I found a lot of marine life themed charms-- dolphins, fish and a seahorse and combined them together with a gorgeous iridescent blue foil bead for a fob with a ocean theme.  I added all the charms to different lengths of chain in order to make a tassel that looks like a school of fish:

I was on a mission to acquire some of the new Swarovski color, Crystal Astral Pink.  Since it is very new there was not much to be found, but I did get it in 4 & 6mm bicones and rondelle shapes, plus some in a very pretty heart shape pendant.  I combined those with some fuchsia color crystals and a Czech glass ladybug to make this very summery-feeling fob.  The ladybug is dangling from a chain set in between the larger crystals:

There were so many cute pewter charms available I really went overboard with them.  Here are a very pretty fairy and butterfly combined with very sparky rhinestone pave' beads:

Currently, these little goodies are in a box headed via USPS to Ruth's shop, Bedecked and Beadazzled, just in time for the Orna Willis class this weekend.   Hope you will be there, but if not you can always shop online!  Ruth always posts pictures of her class weekends and the photos are almost as much fun as being there, so be sure to check out her blog next week to see all the fun!

Spring and Summer Preview

I shipped the last of three boxes of new canvas designs to my distributor, Ruth Schmuff, this week, just in the nick of time for the upcoming TNNA trade show this June. These shows are only twice a year, but do they ever seem to come up fast when painting deadlines are looming. It feels like only yesterday that I was rushing to be ready for the show this past January in Phoenix!

I've broadened the scope of my line this season; in fact, I will need to add a whole new category to my EyeCandy web page to accommodate my new designs! I will probably call the new category "Fantasy" as so far it will contain both Fairy Tales as well as fantastical beings like my Pirate Mermaid:

Hope you like her! I plan on painting her a sister or two for the next trade show. In the meantime, I have to figure out rules for my new canvas category, since I have a Pirate Owl too. He resides in the "Nature" category with the other owls, but perhaps he should move to Fantasy as well. On the other hand, since nothing in needlepoint really has to make sense, I have a lot of canvases that perhaps qualify as Fantasy-- cats in hats anyone?? Such a dilemma!

Well, at least scissor fobs are easier to categorize-- they are tools, and fun ones at that! Back in November 2011, I sent Ruth's shop, Bedecked and Beadazzled, a big batch of fobs in time for Christmas shopping season. I sent the kitty ones below and the mixed batch below it:

In the box I sent this week, I included about a dozen new fobs, a couple each of the styles seen below. Hopefully, they will fit the bill for Mother's Day presents which is coming up fast next month. The photos here really don't do them justice as I don't seem to be able to photograph jewelry very well. Suffice it to say, they are in the EyeCandy style, very bright colors and extremely sparkly-- I add crystals and rhinestones to every one! With all the blingy needle magnets out there, I figure the scissor fob needs to match!

Hope you have enjoyed this peek at new arrivals and soon-to-be-released designs. I'll post the rest of my new canvases here in June, which will arrive before you know it! In the meantime, Happy Stitching!