Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Pretty Palettes::November Reveal

This month's palette was lovely!  I love the look of the blue water and golden sand.  This time of year, however, I seem to always be short on time.  I did have a chance to make something but I didn't get to try anything new or exciting.  Instead I combined it with a need I had at work for an ID lanyard.  

Here is the inspiration:

And here is my new lanyard:



















































I had a great time as usual and am looking forward to the next inspiration. Maybe I'll have more time to be creative ;)  Thanks Erin!

Check out the Halcraft blog for more!

Sarah O

Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Pretty Palettes::October Reveal

Wow! October sure went by quickly. I actually had these pieces made early but then forgot about the blogging part :)

Here is the October Palette:

Lovely fall colors. I chose my own beads to go with the palette because I fell in love with these wooden round and rectangular beads. So lightweight and smooth! Here is what I made:




Let me know what you think and have a great day! Keep creating beautiful things! I love to see what everyone else makes  :)

Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Pretty Palettes :: September Reveal

This month's inspiration comes from beautiful paper lanterns. The Halcraft beads that Erin picked out from Michaels are so much fun. Beautiful bright colors!

I made a colorful bracelet and two pairs of earrings. If I had more time I would have done more because this palette was so fresh and happy.




As always I had a great time playing along! Can't wait for the next bit of inspiration from Erin :)

Take a moment and check out what others did with the same palette: Halcraft: Pretty Palettes::September Reveal

Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Esfera Jewelry Giveaway

Looking for an inspiring story about another jewelry artist.  Janine at Esfera Jewelry does fantastic interviews with the people behind the art.  Plus, there is always a spectacular giveaway.  She never disappoints. :)

To see the interview with Czech bead and jewelry artist Jana Bližňáková from Happy Fish Things. Click here.

Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Pretty Palettes :: July Reveal

Well for some reason I am a little behind.  My husband said "did you do your reveal post today?" I told him no that's next week. He said, "No, it's today. " So here I am writing a quick post so I can give you a look at what I made this month. I loved the idea of the Aurora Borealis for this month's inspiration. So magical! I wanted to do something different so I dug through some boxes looking for inspiration. I found this leather cuff that I bought forever ago. I liked it as a back drop like the night sky. I punched holes randomly and began weaving wire through and placing the beads. I like how it turned out.
Next, I made some earrings that I dropped from a piece of silver chain. Simple but i think they have a sort of elegance.
Lastly, I made another bracelet. This one I made three separate overlapping strands. Pretty straightforward stringing but I think it looks nice. Fun as always. Next time I will try and be more punctual :) Gotta go check out the other masterpieces!  



Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Pretty Palettes :: June Reveal

This month's palette was full of fun summer colors.  I loved the big flat silver beads and I could not stop running my fingers over the colorful seed bead mix. :)  If you are ever looking to get inspired, check out the monthly Pretty Palettes challenge because Erin does such a great job of picking exciting, different palettes each month.  Here is the one for June:



I had time to make a few pieces with all of these beads.  The first thing I made was a necklace.  I like the asymmetrical look and for ease in wearing I put the clasp at the front by the pendant:


Next, I made a bracelet.  I gave it three strands and finished it with a lobster claw clasp.  I love this bracelet because I can see myself wearing it with lots of different things.


There were still lots of beads left so I whipped up a memory wire bracelet and added in some long turquoise colored pieces left over from another project.  I thought they made the bracelet a little more interesting.

Had a great time with the challenge.  Now I'm going to see what everyone else made and wait for the next one!

Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Pretty Palettes :: April Reveal

I loved the beautiful inspiration photo for this month.  I picked some beads that I felt picked up my favorite colors in the photo.  I made a bracelet and necklace using these great sliders with purple flowers. After I had them all made I realized that I had forgotten the faceted beads in different shades of purple. So I had to make another necklace. Thanks as always to Erin for helping to get the creativity flowing. I love participating and seeing the different ways in which the inspiration strikes people.

Checkout the other designs and some other great DIY projects at www.halcraft.com/blog.

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Pretty Palettes :: March Reveal

I really loved this month's palette. So believe me when I say that I had really good intentions. I was going to make gorgeous jewelry with this month's pretty palette but then yesterday I thought "oops...reveal is tomorrow." So here is the pair of earrings I made.  I can't wait to see everyone else's beautiful designs! Thanks to Erin for doing this every month :)

Sarah O

Thursday, January 29, 2015

Pretty Palettes :: December Reveal

This time of year I am lucky to get any jewelry making done but I had already bought the beads for the challenge so I knew I had to make something.  For December Erin Prais-Hintz picked a palette full of lovely geometric shapes in elegant metallics.  When I looked at the palette I could just see the party hats and champagne flowing to bring in the new year.

Click here to see the palette and beads for December.

I started by creating a necklace from the beads.  I just loved the crystal encrusted pyramids so I wanted to make those a focal for my necklace.  I used eye pins to wire two of them together.  I then draped different lengths of fine silver change to give it some movement.  I wished that I had some other colors of that fine chain because I think mixed colors of chain would have looked even better.  :)  I used tubular gold beads over the wire to add to the metallic look.  Here is the necklace:






































I also wanted to make a pair of earrings with these fabulous beads.  I decided to make teardrop style earrings which are great for using up smaller pieces of beading wire that I have saved up.  I couldn't decide whether to use the pyramids for the focal bead or the faceted black cube...so I made both.  I strung the bead and then a link of chain on either side to add some texture.  I'm not thrilled with the tone of the gold chain but I was otherwise happy with the way they came out.  Here are the earrings:
























As always, I had a ton of fun participating and am looking forward to everyone's unique designs. Everyone always does such an amazing job!  Can't wait for the next challenge to be revealed :)

Sarah O

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Pretty Palettes :: January Reveal

How quickly this first month of 2015 has gone by!  I could hardly believe that it was time for another reveal.   I have had such a great time these last few months playing along with the Pretty Palettes challenge so I was thrilled when the lovely Erin Prais-Hintz asked me to be her partner for this month!

I must say I thought the beads that Erin selected this month just went perfectly together.  Click here to see the palette and the beads.

Because the beads worked so nicely together I could not stop making things.  Some pieces did not make the cut but there were several that I wanted to share.

The first piece I made was a necklace.  I made a little round focal by wiring some of the beads together.  I found these metal beads that I used as frames and also threw in some copper hoops.  I feel like it is a very wearable piece and plan on working it into an outfit soon.














































The next piece that I made was a bracelet.  For this I mixed in brass with the copper because I like the way the two metals work together.  I incorporated the Mookiate ovals from my existing Halcraft stash because I thought they worked well with the shape of the oval metal pieces.  I added some chain to give it some extra substance.





































Next up, earrings.  My favorite kind of jewelry.  I always have time to slip on a pair of earrings even when I get too lazy for the rest.  I like how the suspended pearls look like a bunch of balloons. :)


























Finally,  I wanted to make a versatile piece. I started working on a bracelet with tons of dangles because I love the movement in bracelets loaded with charms.























But then I thought who doesn't like options, so I made a piece from rubber cord that connects and transforms the bracelet into a necklace.

























I had so much fun this month.  Thanks again Erin!  I can't wait to see what everyone else has made. Hop on over to the Halcraft Blog to see the other great designs. Counting down until the next great inspiration!

Sarah O

Sunday, January 4, 2015

Humblebeads Muffin Tin Challenge


I have spent this weekend in my pajamas watching Netflix "recovering" from the holidays ;) But when I saw the Muffin Tin Challenge issued by Heather Powers on her blog I decided it was the perfect way to get my creativity flowing.

The challenge was to fill the cups of a muffin tin with all of the bits necessary to create a jewelry project.  I went with some variety a couple of earring projects to get me going as well as some necklaces and bracelets.

 I started with some earrings and I used some beads left over from older projects so I could make room for new stuff this year :)



























Here are the bracelets that I made:







































Finally, I made two necklaces:










































This was a lot of fun and it really got me refocused on doing some jewelry making. I laid out 8 projects and I got 6 made so I still have work to do.  I also need to make some time to get my workspace organized.  Baby steps..... :)

Thanks Heather for hosting this fun challenge.  Take a look on her blog to see what everyone else made and take a look at her beads (they are gorgeous!).

Sarah O