Getting Ready

Today, I fly out to Tampa, FL to hang out with my fellow Creative Circle Ambassadors and all the cool peeps at Cousin Corporation.  We have a whirlwind few days lined up for us.  I can't wait.  The only draw back is my dear friend and fellow ambassador, Patty Squillante, will not be with us.  She opened her very own bead shop and is unable to join us due to all the responsibilities of running a business.  She had one of her dreams come true with this shop so all the best to Patty!  I will make sure I take tons of pictures for you, Patty.

I woke up this morning at 3:50, wide awake at that, before my alarm which was set for 4:05.  I was planning to hit snooze for a while before I actually had to get up.  Since, I am up, I decided to go ahead and put makeup on.  Don't want to scare anyone on the plane.  LOL

Anyway, this will be my very first flight.  I am almost 40 years old and am just now going to fly.  I have always traveled by car everywhere I go.  Even when I went to Canada, it was by car.  I like my feet on the ground.  So....be praying for me that I don't freak out and become one of those raving lunatics you read about in the news on Yahoo!

Much love
Shelly

Prima Bead - Bead and Button Show Project - Part One!

In early February, I posted about a new project for Cousin which would be our "biggest assignment to date."  I'm super excited and super nervous about being able to create something that will be displayed at such a prestigious event.

While I sorted my supplies, I ran into a problem.  The color of some of the pearls were off.  I had ordered dark blue/navy and what I received was dark teal/green color.  Turns out I had a mislabeled batch.  Oops.... I reached out to one of my contacts there at Cousin/Prima Bead and he quickly sprang into action to make sure the other pearls were labeled correctly for other customers and find me a perfect match for what I wanted.  Within a few days, I received my new goodies.  But the fact I had off colored items didn't stop me from creating a beautiful piece from the pearls.  So now I have two necklaces for Cousin to choose from.  Below are the progression of each necklace from idea conception to finished beauty.

The beginning of the first one:

This was the focal design I came up with and the rest of the necklace flowed around it.  Sterling Silver fancy head pin, filigree heart connector and eye pins were used with a 10x8mm Crystazzi Dark Sapphire teardrop bead, huge 20 mm glass pearl and a 6x8mm Crystazzi Light Sapphire rondelle.

I came up with a pattern using 6mm deep teal, light turquoise, and white glass pearls.  I knew I wanted to use a collar style necklace as the base for this piece to give it a Victorian feel.

I used Beadalon's WildFire Thermally Bonded Bead Weaving Thread in Frost 10 lb., 15mm with a #12 beading needle.

I created a Right Angle Weave using a base ring of four pearls then adding in three at a time until I reached the desired length.  I then went back in and added 4mm round A/B finished Swarovski clear crystals and 4mm bicone Crystazzi Light Sapphire crystals.








I added in dangles along the sides using 10x8mm Crystazzi Dark Sapphire and Clear A/B tear drops accented with 4mm bicone Crystazzi Light Sapphire crystals and 4mm bicone A/B clear crystals. I draped a Sterling Silver link chain from the Elegance Metal line in the design.

Bit by bit, it all came together.  I continued to add in various colored glass pearls, crystals, and even some Jewelry Basics acrylic beads.

 

New Project!

Okay...I received my February/March project information on Friday, February 1st.  This is going to be the Creative Circle's "Biggest project to date" as our contact at Cousin told us in our email.

This is the exact quote from the email detailing what this project is about. 

We want to feature YOU at our Prima Booth at the Bead & Button Show in June!!!!!!!!!!!  Each necklace will be a major focal point of the booth complete with a name plate of the designer!

Assignment:

-Create a show-stopping Necklace that will be featured at the Prima Booth at the Bead and Button show.  We want something that will WOW them and grab everyone’s attention!

-The piece must retail between $300-$500

-No earrings or bracelets it must be a Necklace.

-Once you have completed the necklace we will send you a call tag to ship it to Cousin headquarters

-The assignment will be due on April 1^st

After the initial panic wore off and I composed myself, I researched some trends and decided to create something blue. My next step was to requisition the materials I was going to need from Prima Bead and wait for them to come in.  Today my goodie box came!  I was so excited.  I must have looked like a kid at Christmas when the UPS driver arrived at my door.

As the project progresses, I will post photos.

More On The Collaboration Project

As in a previous post, the Creative Circle Ambassadors began working on a jewelry project together.  We have been passing each piece to another member of the circle when we were done.  Well....after illnesses and funerals, I have finally shipped off my pieces to Patty Squillante for her to finish out with her contribution to the project.   Before I mailed it off, I took many pictures of the different combinations that could be made the mix and match jewelry pieces we created so far.  I can't wait to see what Patty adds to the project.

December Collaboration Project Continues

The Cousin Creative Circle Ambassadors began in December a collaboration of a jewelry project based on the Make The Connection Line that debut on HSN back in September of 2012.  We decided to use on of the Class in A Box kits from Cousin.

Here are the photos from my part of the collection.

I began with the 4mm creamy colored pearls in the kit.  I thought I had some Crystazzi pearls the same color, but as it turned out they were actually a pale rose color, so I just decided to use them.  There are a few of the cream colored pearls mixed in.

 I used the 8mm shiny Burgundy and matte Pink glass pearls from the kit.  Using Beadalon's WildFire Thermally Bonded Bead Weaving Thread .15mm 10 lb in Frost and a Cousin #12 Beading Needle, I created a right angle weave with the 4mm pearls.  As I went I would add the 8mm pearl to each grouping of pearls.  Most people who do this style of bead weaving will wait until the end to add the big pearls, but I'm not most people.  :)

To attach the clasp, I used Cousin's Antique Bronze crimp beads and two of the jump rings from the kit.  I threaded the jump ring into three of the crimp beads and then on to a very small jump ring that I had attached to the clasp.

I also made a clip on pendant using a lobster claw clasp.   I used a large textured oval and attached a jump ring to it and the clasp.  I made bead dangle out of a 12 mm burgundy glass pearl.

 At the bottom of the oval, I made four bead dangles consisting of one 4mm burgundy pearl, a 6mm pink pearl, and 4mm deep rose pearl, and a 4 mm pale pink pearl.

I took two antiqued brass chains and cut two different lengths.  At the end of the longest link, I attached a antiqued brass rose and a burgundy pearl beaded link.  At the end of the other, I put a cute antiqued brass bow and a pink pearl beaded link.

December Collaboration Project

This month the Creative Ambassadors decided as a group to collaborate on a Vintage Christmas themed project.  We are using Cousin Corporation's Class In A Box pictured below.  We chose this one due to the lovely pearls and antiqued brass chains.  It has a very Victorian feel to it.  The dark pearls look like berries.  Each of the five ambassadors will create a single piece that will connect to the previous ambassador's piece via a toggle clasp.

We began with Suzette creating the first piece and passing it on to Lisa, then Lisa is to pass it to Gail.  Gail is to pass it to me, and then I'm to send it to Patty.  Below is the photo of what Suzette and Lisa have come up with so far.  I can't wait to see what Gail does!

I love the look of Suzette's piece.  So rich and creamy.

Here is Lisa's piece.  The middle one is very elegant.  I love the edginess of the outer ones.

November Project

For our November project, we were to create something from the new box of goodies we received from Cousin.  They have introduced a new line of jewelry components called Second Skin.  Second Skin is focused on the look and feel of exotic snake skin. This new line features luxurious jewel tones and metal accents. This line is available at Jo-Ann and Prima Bead's website.

My box of goodies arrived on Monday, October 29th.

 So I got started early and cranked out four pieces the day I received my box.  I am chomping at the bit to create more things.  Taking a little break at the moment, but I'm sure I will burn the midnight oil making more beautiful designs with these amazing products.

My first creation from the box was a mixed media cuff bracelet. I had a blank copper cuff bracelet laying around that I never did anything with.  I was planning so much for it, but it never materialized.  So when my box came in, I discovered these amazing metal slider beads.

 As soon as I saw them, my creative wheels started turning. 

I flattened out my cuff and laid these beauties on it.  I ended up using only three of the four.  I had some scrap dyed and embossed leather laying around that I picked up at a yard sale very cheap and decided to make use of some of that too.  There was this piece of lovely snakeskin looking tangerine stuff that I felt went with the copper very well.  I measured out where I wanted the sliders to be on the bracelet and then cut the leather to fit in between the sliders. I torch soldered the sliders to the cuff blank.  I then glued the leather pieces down to the blank.  I had to use BeadFix since I couldn't find my E-6000.  Still worked.  I then cleaned, sanded, and polished the exposed copper. I coated the leather pieces with Mod Podge in Matte. I used Environ-Tex's two part Jewelry Resin to cover the leather pieces.  After it was all set, I reformed the bracelet on my mandrel. I touched up the silver plating on the sliders with a Krylon Silver Leafing pen you can get at most craft stores. I touched up the places where the solder was showing on the copper with some Ranger Alcohol Inks. I used Watermelon and Citrus from the Tim Holtz line.

 

My second piece was a simple pair of earrings.  I found these lovely connector/pendant things that just screamed ready made earrings. I added a 6mm gray Crystazzi crystal pearl and a 3mm jet black Crystazzi crystal on head pins and connected them to the top of these and then to silver plated copper ear wires.

They turned out very pretty and classy looking.  I just love them. They are definitely on trend for this fall.

My third creation was an amazing tribal looking necklace.  I found this lovely metal connector in my box.  It has a center piece that consists of black and white faux snakeskin and an olive green acrylic gem setting.  I used some transparent faceted green glass beads from the Second Skin collection as well as some more of the gray Crystazzi crystal pearls. There was some lovely large double link textured chain in my box as well that I decided to use in conjunction with this focal pendant.  It worked out great.  The texture of the chain resembles the texture of the faux snakeskin on this piece.

My third piece was another tribal piece.  It reminded me of something Egyptian.  The focal piece was a three strand connector that had three sections of brown/tan/cream faux snakeskin and two black enameled triangle sections.  This piece was very intriguing to me.  This one I set on very thing figure eight chain from the same line and made a strand of bead connectors of 6mm opaque black round beads and 8mm matte metallic brown beads from the Jewelry Basics line and, 6mm matte light rose Crystazzi pearls.  I strung the beads on 20 gauge steel plated copper craft wire.  I found a lovely large faceted black resin pendant in my box that fit the look I was going for.  I wire wrapped it on the same 20 gauge craft wire and added some of the Jewelry Basics 6mm opaque black beads.  The end result is a necklace fit for a queen for sure.

All product photos are from the Prima Bead website.  All finished piece photos are property of Raziela Designs.