Another fall piece

I didn't get to do any beading last night.  I painted my nails using this stuff that's supposed to make them as hard as gel nails.  I loved how they turned out--I used a nude shade and it was perfect.  I waited about 3 hours before I went to sleep, wanting to give them plenty of time to dry.  But, just my luck, I woke up this morning with sheet marks on my nails so bad that I had to take the polish off.  I don't do my nails often, and this is why!  How long do you have to sit around doing nothing, waiting on them to dry?!

I do have a picture of one of the pieces I made Sunday night.

It's a little hard to tell from the picture, but there is a maple leaf stamped on the blank above the word "fall".  I had some black chain that went perfectly with the ink on the pendant, so I used that instead of silver.  I added a few fall colored crystals and was done!  I love how it turned out.  It's casual, and could easily be worn daily throughout the fall season.

No nails tonight.  Instead, I'll be getting ready for this weekend's Guest River Rally...

New fall pieces

A word of advice.  If you buy a t-shirt from Walmart and the tag on the side of the shirt starts bugging you, do not rip it out!  I did that this morning and found out the tag is actually sewn into the seam.  So, I ended up with a big hole in the side of my shirt that I had to sew before coming to work.  Nice way to start a Monday!

On the bright side, I made a few fall pieces last night in preparation for the Guest River Rally this weekend.  Here are the first two:

I love fall, and I love something simple like these earrings and necklace to wear with long sleeved tees when the weather cools off. 

I know fall doesn't officially start until later in September, but in my little world it starts Labor Day weekend.  I'll be busy with the Rally this weekend, so I won't have time to get out all my fall decorations, but maybe next weekend... 

Seashell Bracelet

I cannot believe I haven't blogged since Wednesday!  Time flies, I guess, and now the weekend is almost up.  We spent Friday night at the first high school football game of the season.  Travis asked me if I wanted to go, saying that it was supposed to be a nice night for a football game.  Next time he tells me that, I'm going to ask him to define "nice"!  It rained for almost the first half of the game.  We were all absolutely drenched.  We sat on a blanket, but all the blanket managed to do was absorb the rain, so by the time we left I think the blanked weighed about 30 pounds!  I had to laugh, though, because he had said it would be a nice night for a game.  Whatever!

A friend of my mom's found a beautiful seashell at the beach, and wanted me to make her a bracelet from it.  This is how it turned out:

Sue's Seashell Bracelet

 

 

I was pleased with the way it turned out, but more importantly, she was.  

Now, over to the etsy shop for my weekly update!
 

New pieces

For the third time in 4 months I fell at work.  I dropped my BlackBerry in the parking lot and it went under the car.  I got down, picked it up, and when I got back into a squatting position I lost my balance and fell flat on my behind.  Did I mention my office is on a busy road and I was parked right in front?  I just hope too many people didn't see me.  I'm sure I gave some a good laugh.  

Last night I whipped up these earrings...

...and the matching pendant.

The beautiful glass beads are from Heirlooms in Glass.  

Next weekend is the Guest River Rally, a festival in my town.  I'll be demonstrating jewelry making, and will have some pieces for sale.  I'll be with other artisans, so it will be fun to meet folks, demonstrate and maybe learn something new myself!

It's a start

I actually had time last night to sit down and bead.  The problem?  I had no energy!  And, no energy means no ideas.  I was determined to get at least a little work done, though, so I started on a necklace using the fall colored beads I bought at the Highlands Festival.  

It's not much, but it's a start.  I also found some lime colored beads in my stash that I may use sparingly to bring out the green in the bead.  I love these beads, and I think the more I love a particular set of beads, the harder it is to create with them because I want to be sure I do them justice.  We'll see what happens!

Sunday night etsy update

It's the end of another weekend.  I don't know why they have to go so fast.  Had our annual fantasy football draft last night, so all day yesterday was spent cleaning house and preparing food.  I did manage to squeeze in a nap today.  I was watching NCIS reruns when I dozed off, so I had a dream about an FBI investigation....

It's Sunday night, so I've just updated the etsy shop.  Here are a couple pieces you can find. 

Copper Links

Acorn

If I were a rich girl

I love looking at handmade beads.  I could spend hours on Etsy and other websites fantasizing about the beads I would buy--if I were rich!  Most of the beads I find are quite reasonably priced, but the problem is I want so many of them that it's hard to limit myself!  These are a few of the recent ones I've found...

Humblebeads

Humblebeads

Earthenwood Studio

Tomorrow night we're hosting a fantasy football draft, as we do each year.  I have a plan for this year's draft.  A co-worker brought me a book on working with wire, so while the boys are drafting, I'll be reading!

More vacation beads

Okay, I have to admit that I completely forgot to post pictures of the rest of the beads I bought on vacation.  While we were there, we drove over to Wilmington, NC and visited Caravan Beads.  Well, I visited Caravan Beads.  Trav and the girls waited outside on a bench.  Pretty patiently, I might add.  Anyway, here are my finds.

I adore these beads, handmade by local artisans.  The larger pendant has an ocean feel to it, and a matte finish that I love.  I've had a pendant similar to the leaf one above before.  I think this one may wind up dangling off a fall themed bracelet.

I bought several of the flower beads because I found that I love working with them.  

I love the browns and blues of these little beads.  I bought two strands, and I'm sure I'll fit them into my fall designs, and no doubt wish I had bought more.

Finally, I couldn't leave without a couple of fall seed bead mixes and some more tila beads.  I've never used the tilas, but I'm determined to work them into a fall design or two.

Tomorrow promises to be a hectic day with it being the first day of school and Hannah's first volleyball game of the season.  Fall is in the air here, and I'm loving it!

New listings

I just updated the etsy shop.  I've listed a few completely new items, such as...

Geometric Sparkle

Mermaid

Natural Beauty

 This week promises to be just as busy as last.  Only a few more days until school starts back.  We still have a couple more things to buy, but are pretty well set as far as school supplies are concerned.  It's amazing how long the supply lists have gotten!  I don't think we had supply lists when I was in school.  Of course, that was 20 years ago and times have changed!

The closing ceremony of the Olympics is on.  The girls are pretty excited to see One Direction perform!

Highlands Festival Part 3

So, today is the last of the posts about the Highlands Festival.  While walking around, I saw a booth where a woman was making paper beads, and making necklaces out of those beads.  I talked to her for a few minutes, and she did a quick demonstration of the technique.  I've seen instructions for making paper beads before, but have never gotten around to trying it.  She made a bead in no time flat, and the beads she made were from old magazines.  It's amazing how pretty they turned out.  I bought this necklace:

If you look closely, you can see the print from the paper on the beads.  Very cool!  I may have to give this a try sooner than later!

Highlands Festival Part 2

Part 2 of the Highlands Festival loot!  I picked up these pewter pendants from one of the vendors:

I think both the tree and the pumpkin will look great with fall colors, and the nativity will be perfect at Christmas.

I have one more piece to show you tomorrow...
 

Highlands Festival Part 1

Yesterday Travis and I took the day off to go to the Virginia Highlands Festival in nearby Abingdon.  We had fun, even though several of the vendors closed up shop because of the rain.  I managed to find some goodies, though.  Today, I'll show you pics of the glass beads I bought.  These beads come from a shop called Heirlooms in Glass, from a lady in Knoxville, TN.  

The bead I really wanted was a very large pendant, with the Starry Night pattern.  But, at $650, I was forced to walk away.  I love the ones I got, though.  I may have to hoard them for a little while before I use them!  I've bought beads from her for years, but this is probably the most I've bought at once.  

Tomorrow, I'll show you the rest of my goodies.  Today, I'm exhausted.  I think I'm paying for the day I took off!

Update

I finally got around to updating my etsy shop tonight.  My intent was to do it yesterday morning, but I slept too late, had a few errands to run, went to a birthday party, and then took 4 little girls school shopping.  I plan to make these updates a weekly event in order to freshen up my shop.  These are a couple of items you'll find:

Just Beachy

Chocolate Dots

Tomorrow Trav and I are off to a local craft festival.  I can't wait!  We try to go every year, and I have a few favorite vendors, my favorite of whom makes beautiful glass beads.  Hopefully I'll have some good pics tomorrow night.  Plus, a day out with the hubby is always fun!

Fall casual outfit

I've been hearing a lot about Polyvore lately, so I thought I'd go on the website and check it out.  It's pretty neat!  You can create outfits by choosing from a seeming endless supply of pictures.  Above is my first attempt.  Fall is around the corner and I thought it would be a nice outfit for a casual fall weekend.  

 

If I had the outfit, these are the accessories I would wear:

 

A Walk in the Woods

A Walk in the Woods earrings

You can find these pieces in my etsy shop, www.mustardbead.etsy.com.   

Changes to Etsy shop

I've decided to make some changes to my etsy shop.  I'm afraid I haven't been devoting the time to it that I need to, and it's become stale.  It's been a good while since I even did an update.  So, the plan now is to take most of the items out, put 10-15 (haven't decided) pieces in at a time, and rotate those every week.  I'll probably list a combination of new and old pieces, but at least there will be something different to look at.  

I hope to start Saturday morning.  That may be my best opportunity this week.  That afternoon, I'm taking my girls and a friend for each school shopping and then having a sleepover.  Crazy?  Most likely!  Hopefully they'll have a good time, though!  

www.mustardbead.etsy.com