Features and sold item

Please visit Nina Design blog to read about their experience as judge for the Bead Soup Blog Party and to see their choices.
It's so nice to be there!
Just got back home from a milanese happy-hour with my friends and found this beautiful surprise, plus another one in the form of a sold pair of earrings

and a couple of surprises to talk about in the next months...
Good night now!

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!

Old habits...

...they really die hard, so here I am again with a beaded star.
I was playing with macrame and braided bracelet, which I'm lately stacking shamelessly on my wrist and dutyfully removing before each bath at the beach, but it's pretty annoying and time consuming, so I was looking for a solution...and I came up with this:

It's a wrap bracelet which changes style at each turn on your wrist, from a braid to macrame knots with a cute pendant

I used a special closure for this one, coated in silver glitter:

I'm surely making more of this, we still have a long summer to decorate ahead of us!

Perfect holiday

How is a perfect summer holiday for you?
Mine involves the sea (possibly my hometown beaches)

good books, and of course the right weather to enjoy both, which is hot but slightly windy.
Until now I've been fully satisfied!
I've decided to stay as much as I can here this summer, since I'm not working and the heat is impossible to bear in Milan, besides: would you ever leave this

for Milan with 40°C???!
This summer, I'm certainly not!!!
Unfortunately I didn't bring all my beaded items with me 'cause this decision was unexpected, so all I can eventually sell is: tutorials, custom orders and my Orange starfish earrings, which were accidentally in my stash box.
Hope everyone is having great vacations!

New stars

Some new arrivals in my shop:

Grey starfishes

Bronze ones

and light blue

Summer is coming....

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!

Finally on sale

I made this necklace almost 2 years ago and just put it aside



I didn' know how to string it properly and which length I prefear.
Today I was working on something different and realized what I had to do...so I grabbed it, left the other necklace in a corner of the table (sorry necklace, I'll be back at you in a moment) and finally used my pliers and jump rings.



I'm happy with this new length and really pleased that I managed to finish it, finally!
I'm listing it right now on etsy and then I'll finish my bag too- leaving tomorrow, heading home!

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...