Batik Dangles on Jewelry Affaire

------------Still hopping for the Bead Soup? HERE is my reveal!------------

I have been published on Jewelry Affaire for the second time, and also this time I have to wait further before my lovely BF brings me my copy of the magazine.
Here is a super cra**y-but-lovely-pic made with his cell:

Simple earrings chosen by the editor herself.
Can't wait to read the entire magazine, it is so luscious and interesting and hope to be part of it again!

The "nothing to wear" syndrome

You know when you open your closet, full of clothes of any kind, and still you got nothing to wear?
It also happens with beads.
You might have plenty, but still you feel if you had some more of a different kind, you would be so much more creative and could do amazing things.

Add a very gloomy weather which makes it so hard to take pictures, and you get why I haven't beaded much.
But I made a couple of easy-peasy things to keep myself working.
One is this nice bracelet

found this on so many websites, I wanted to try it and I thought the bicolor beads from Eozy would be perfect.

If only I had had more jump rings of the perfect size, I would have made a necklace too.
I also used the lilac glass beads from the same shop and I love them so much, both color and size are perfect for my flower donuts

This time I started with earrings, but I feel I would love an entire necklace like the Bridal Flower Wreath I made for the EBW challenge in June.
Just need to find the perfect color of crystal bicones to match.
That's all for today, I'm going back to beading!

Tiffany

This color is so popular now, I felt compelled to make a pair of my can tab earrings using my last delica purchase

which also perfectly matched my favorite summer nail polish.
The result is delicate yet sparkly in a subtle way.

Back on the saddle

After a long pause I feel recharged enough to start beading again.
I hope to be more productive even though embroidering and knitting and studying are taking a considerable part of my days...so I started with something old and safe, which is always a good way to ignite inspiration

I usually don't even consider blue, but this shade is so beautiful, plus the AB finish on the crystals and the confetti polish gives them a festive twist.
Maybe too much :D

Agate chips

I finally got back to beading something.
I have had so many occasions to buy beading material and was so excited and unpatient to use it, but as usual life had a different idea.
Without further ado, here are my new babies

which style you have obviously seen before, but I am now looking for new shapes and options on the bottom.

So, inspired from some crystal jewelry I had pinned, I tried to use some agate chips I had bought for a necklace.

Despite the weird shape, I love them.
Hope this juice will continue to flow and I'll get to use some stash pretty soon!

New tutorial for Twin Beads earrings

Yesterday I received a request for a tutorial to make this can tab earrings, which features Preciosa Ornela Twin beads.

I love these earrings. They have a different shape and make me think I should experiment more with these amazing beads.
The tutorial is ready and you can find it here. Hope to receive good feedback!

Summer makes you thirsty

Even though this summer is really windy and cool, it's always nice to drink some fresh soda and so I always have a nice amount of can tabs to play with.
I am so behind with my beading schedule, I still have used only a small part of all the neon beads I had ordered and feel so guilty about it, so here are some good old can tab earrings with my new UV active seed beads and farfalle beads from Preciosa Ornela

The nice shape of farfalle beads is perfect for these earrings!

Also, I can't help but loving the beautiful confetti finish on the tabs.

I am working on a grellow pair and also on a grellow bracelet - I bought some pretty things on the local market this morning. Here you can see just the beginning of it from the balcony of my room

Brindisi, Puglia: thursday local market

It's huge! It has the shape of a Pi (more or less) and you can find everything there. And it's quite cheap.
So many projects on my mind, so little time!

More neon

A new bangle I just made mixing tubular peyote technique and simple stringing

I used both seed beads and big farfalle beads from the new Preciosa Ornela neon collection.
Don't you just love the decreasing effect from the thicker beaded rope to rhe size 11/0 beads?! I do.

I also had the smaller size of the farfalle beads, which I used to make these

They are thicker than usual and I love how the farfalle beads stick out from both sides.
Will make more experiments!

Beaded Wood Spool tutorial

I am sad to say I am one of those persons who starts something, then forget about it for months.
Sometimes I get to finish things though.
Today I decided to draw schemes for my new tutorial to make beaded beads out of wood spools

These spools are tiny, only 9/10mmx13mm, but I'm already working on the bigger ones to make another tut.
I think these are cuter and easier to use on bracelets and necklaces.

Hope you'll enjoy it!

Earrings arrived - from earring swap 2013

This morning I am struggling to find a friend of mine a nice birthday present.
I am thinking that despite spending time together, even shopping together, I don't really know what her tastes are.
So it's even stranger when you receive a present from someone you only know by e-mails and blog posts, and it fits you so perfectly as if you picked that present yourself.

Remember I was waiting for my Earring Swap partner Ginger's earrings to arrive...well, I just found them in my mail!

Amazing card also!

She said they were "me" and I have to confirm that.
I wear a lot of grey and black and even though I am trying to color up my wardrobe, my fav necklaces are still black and grey. Plus, my hair is a mixture of brown and orange right now, so they pop up nicely.

The thing I would like to convey is how light they are and how beautiful both texture and finish look. I am no clay expert, but this is quite astonishing.

Sorry, blurry. I'll take bette pic later with make up on!

I have put eyes on her tutorial to make these gorgeous components, but I guess my boyfriend would kick me out if I buy new materials (beads can be hidden among beads, you know) so I need to wait to try and make these beauties myself.
You'll find it here together with other impressive tut and beautiful components. Her holo effect pieces are so beautiful, I guess you won't have to buy rivolis anymore!

Thank you so much Ginger for making these special earrings for me! I love them and won't get them off my ears for quite a long time!!!

Earring swap 2013

Despite some people trying to ruin it, some beaders who partecipated in the BSBP also took part in a really nice earring swap, hosted by Jessica Murray.

Swaps are a beautiful chance to know crafty people, interesting not only because they share at least one passion with you (a general love for handmade jewelry), but also because they use different media, have a totally different life on the opposite side of the world and, last but not least, because they're nice people!

Alas I still haven't received my earrings because, you know, Italy has the slowest postal service ever when it comes to incoming mail, but I can show you what I made for my partner, the amazing Ginger Davis Allman of The Blue Bottle Tree.

I know, nothing new, but the more I was reading Ginger's e-mails describing her life, and the more I was looking at her gorgeous rustic components, the more these earrings seemed to be perfect for her.
She told me they are.
She loves blue and is a bit of a boho lady, and I loved that she recycled all these blue glass bottles to make an amazing tree in her garden. It's such a nice story.
So I thought some recycled can tabs with a little blue were just perfect :D

If I'll receive some surprise in the mail tomorrow, I'll update this post; otherwise I hope you'll be kind enough to stop by lately again and take a look at the other partecipants here.

Alanis earrings

These earrings are quick and easy, an instant gratification for those days when you don't feel like spending a lot of time on the beading table

It's the first time I buy rivolis and am looking at them the whole time, so sparkly and love the color!

They're already on my ears!
Tutorial by Xa Na.

Pink, glitter and grey

Pics don't catch the glitter sparkle in these earrings, but the mixture of 3 different colors on the can tab (glitter pink, silver and a dark green for some shadows) had an amazing result

Light pink seed beads are the same color of the pink glitter polish, the bigger ones are a darker pink with a hint of grey inside

It's a really dull and grey day here, so no good light for photos. I'll bead more...

Embroidery frenzy

Since I can't show my soup progress, here's something else I did last night just to make practice with bead embroidery

Not perfect but still it is a big step for me - and the back is clean too! Just not in the right color...should buy more ultrasuede in the future.
I have already glued several stones on the bead backing and hope to actually finish everything on time. Too many projects, so little time...

Zoisite

I just made new can tab earrings with the strangest color combo.
At least for me. Not for nature. It started some days ago, when I discovered ruby in zoisite

Source: Pinterest

I'm in love with this stone.
The result is a bit quirky for me, but I so love it

I obviously felt the urge to also buy some matching miyukis and voilà..."damage" was done!

As usual, I'll take better pics in the morning. Lately (really???!) I'm kind of a night creature, I'm always impatient to take pics of my items as soon as they're finished.
BAD IDEA.
I'll buy more of these beads.

Twin Tab earrings

As promised, here are my new can tab earrings made with Preciosa Twin Beads:

I call them Twin Tab, to make it shorter.

I'll try them with Super Duo beads to make some Super tab earrings...I think the different shape might be more suitable to this kind of construction.

Peacock earrings with twin beads

Yesterday I made these amazing earrings with the new Twin Beads that Preciosa Ornela sent me:

The tutorial is from Cr3azioni di Cr3stina and is really easy and quick.
Now I need to go on with my Japan piece and also need to restock my can tab earrings, since tonight I sold the white ones to a return customer.
And maybe I'll finally get to make some photos in the sunlight!

Silver hoops

Tonight I made these simple silver and turquoise hoops

They're for a 12 year old beautiful girl, hope she'll like them.

The Butterfly effect

Yesterday I was (impatiently) waiting for a bead delivery, which included some Super Duos.
I was curious to try them and test the differences with the Twin Beads.
I was trying to keep calm, tracking my pack on internet, when I saw a new pattern from Good Quill Hunting on facebook. Using Super Duos. I couldn't help myself.
Here they are, the Butterfly effect earrings:

They are super quick to make and the result is gorgeous. And you don't need tons of different colors or sizes of different kind of beads. Just three.

I love Christina's work and will probably buy a couple more patterns soon, as I saw some other interesting earrings...but she comes out with new stuff so often, I'm sure I'll find many more!

Five red earrings for five cousins

Christmas is over and my hands are pretty grateful for that...I've been beading furiously for weeks and now I have one thing left to show you. Or should I say 5.
I was asked to make 5 red earrings for five cousins, so they had to be different from one another, not too big, red and a bit sparkly.

Unfortunately, caught in the "last minute rush", I didn't take pics of the last 2 pairs.
One of them is a copy of my Confetti earrings and you can see here the other one...

Pic taken in the dark with my cell.
Here are the 3 other pairs, gone to 3 sisters:

horseshoe

circles and beaded beads

and RAW sticks proposed by Marcia De Coster on her website

Hope to have chances to take better pics of the first ones!