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!

New necklace with Gaea beads

I finally used some of the beads I won on the Gaea giveaway.
Remember that?
I was so unsure on how to use them but I finally came up with something pretty different:

There are beaded beads made with both seed beads and Superduo beads, glass beads, Pandora beads and resin chain.

It's so comfortable and light! And I so love this color combo.
Still have to decide whether to sell it or keep it!

Spring bracelets

I'm making tones of these to fight the "rain-blues"

Simple, bright and can be stacked all together

Just something quick to make while watching a bedtime movie, hoping for the morning not to bring rain again...

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!

You've Got Mail

Yesterday I was a bit sad 'cause my bead order from Gaea hadn't arrived after almost one month...which isn't that strange, since packages from USA take so long (but not the other way around).
My boyfriend came home and he had 3 envelopes in his hands...and only one was bills!
First one was this:

an unexpected gift from Preciosa Ornela in return for my blog post about them.
So sweet. Lilac twin beads I can't wait to use.

The other one...was from Gaea!

Where we live now we have a pomegranate tree in our shared garden (which is quite unusual in Milan); it is in many culture a symbol of fertility and prosperity.
But for me is so much more.

One of my first post was about my grandfather and his house in the country of Puglia, where I've spent all of my summers until the age of 12.

I used to spend a lot of time with him teaching me different kinds of trees and how to tend at them, but my favorite was the pomegranate: because fruits got ready when we were already back into the city.
I was eager to taste that strange flavour so, when october arrived, I knew that one of those afternoons I was going to find my grandad squeezing pomegranate seeds to make a juice.
When I saw this pendant the first time, I restrained myself and it got sold; the second time I wanted to purchase it, but hadn't enough money on my paypal. So I told myself: if I get money on time, I'll buy it.
As you can see...I made it. Can we say it was destiny?

Misty Winter's Dawn - October challenge

Seems like everybody is looking forward for winter this year!
It's only october, and in the south of Italy it's still warm enough for the beach; but elsewhere people already dream about foggy weather and reading a book in a cozy armchair, with tea and a fluffy blanket.
The Etsy Beadweavers Team is already in "winter mode-on" with this beautiful theme:

Voting starts today and last, as usual, until October 15th.
My entry was inspired by one of the most beautiful picture I found on internet, which you can see here.
The gorgeous shades of pink and lilac made this unique dawn the perfect start for my muse.

It was relaxing, for a change, to make some freeform tubular beads with a mixture of colors, plus I've had those nice tribal beads for an eternity!

Please have a look on the other entries, some of them are stunning beyond your imagination!

Not my fault!

Stars, like hearts and pink and glitter, are one of those things hidden in every girl's DNA. Even though you try hard to convince yourself that you are too old to wear, let's say, a heart printed t-shirt or star shaped earrings, it's impossible to resist them.
It's not your fault.
So that's what happens when I bead stars and have people around me: I can't even finish one and that's already sold!

Here are my latest puppies, ready to leave me: a beautiful lilac pendant made with size 11 miyuki

and these tiny earrings, so elegant and delicate, made with size 15 miyuki

These last look great if you're tanned and might as well be worn as bridal jewelry.
I'll see if I can get some pics of people wearing them!

Bellflower

One of the Pantone spring-summer 2012 colors is a bold Lilac called Bellflower.

via Pinterest

Seems pretty neglected from what I've seen in shops, while Tangerine Tango and Margarita are going to be the big hits of this summer.
I was just looking at a huge bag of beads in this wonderful tone on Ilenia's blog. Have a look and drool!
Yes, because Ilenia (a fellow beader from Etsy Beadweavers team) is one of the participants of the Pantone 2012 swap, and she was lucky to receive her partner's gift in no time...
Maybe sharing brings good luck, 'cause after reading her post I looked at my shop and saw...1 more sale!!!
This puppies are going to leave me tomorrow

and they happen to be in the same Bellflower color I was watching.
Hope they will bring some colorful joy to my customer's summer!

Earrings!

Lately I made a lot of earrings. I think it's because the temperature is rising and I can't help but imagining myself on a beach, with a colorful bikini and a pair of even more colorful (possibly matching) earrings.
Started with the tab earrings



and couldn't resist to make some stars in the same colors



and then tried a purple color combo


but this metallic violet is impossible to catch with the camera.


I tried and tried, but the picture is very far from the sparkly metallic finish they have in person.

I have so many half-finished works that I feel ashamed every time I open my bead boxes and look at them...first of all there are other 2 beaded stars which are waiting to become SOMETHING.
We'll see...