ABS November Blog Tour

The November blog tour is out.  Very nice comment on my necklace Green Madonna.  You can check out all of the November entries on the ABS flickr page. Many lovely entries this month.  I was inspired by all the green in the painting. 

Waiting for the big reveal of the ABS Ornament blog hop on Wednesday.  I posted my sneak peak.  Can't wait to see everyone's ornaments.

ABS Ornament Blog Hop

Here is my ornament.  

I picked these beads up at the Milwaukee Bead & Button show.  The lovely green beads were made by Julie Miller. The ceramic connector bead is from Lisa Peters.  Use of the ribbon seemed very appropriate for an ornament.


Here are the other participants in the ABS Ornament Blog Hop:

Humblebeads

Suburban Girl Studio

Spirited Earth

Garden Path Beads

Life in the Lyon's Den

Blog by Salla

It's Been a While 

Sue Beads

Artist At Work

Modern Nature Studio

WireWorked

Too Aquarius

Artfully Ornamental

Gem Rose Designs

Jewels by Ine

BeeTree by M.E.

Islandgirl's Insights

Angela Lund-Logan  Thanks for stopping by

Gem's PC Corner

Summers Studio

Sandy Volpe

The Next Bend

Skye Jewels

Janina Grigore

Elysian Studios

Art Bead Scene

Jeannie's

 

Green Madonna

I used antiqued copper and bronze colored wire as it was the color of Madonna's hair.  There were yellow accents through the piece so I added the yellow ribbon, the pendant, and the yellow rounds into the pearl strands.  Brown and Green were abundant and obvious choices.

Leaf pendant was purchased from the cutest main street store, Dream Catcher, in Galena, Illinois (www.dreamcatchergalena.com).  Added bronze colored copper wire accents to green lampwork beads.  Green disc beads have bronze wired loops at each hole connected by double jumprings. 

Three separate strings of pearls create the left side of the necklace with accent yellow rounds are added to the center string. 

The right side consists of copper chain with ribbon (yellow, green, and brown) woven through it. 

 I created two colors of earrings.  Brown:

Green:

 Inspiration for November ABS Challenge:

Madonna Pietra degli Scrovigni by by Marie Spartali Stillman

Previous two blog tours

A little late on posting this but after posting the October blog tour, I decided to post the tour after my submissions each month.  For those of you who would like to see the comments on my submission for the August ABS challenge on the August ABS blog tour, you now can.  Here is the September blog tour as well.  Enjoy.

ABS October blog tour

The October blog tour is out.  Please check out the kind words about my necklace as well as all of the wonderful blogs of the other entrants.

The ABS flickr page shows all of the October entries.  I like to click on the first picture and then hit "older" to see the next submission.  So many people were inspired this month.  Looking forward to November's challenge (and announcement of the winners).

Over the Hedge

Cabochon from Lisa Peters purchased at her booth from the Milwaukee Beads & Buttons show.  Carved rounds are 14mm antiqued jade.  Coins are 15mm grey feldspar which I thought resembled the rocks in the inspiration piece.  Put the toggle clasp together myself.  Bar is a comprised of two spacer beads, two beads, antiqued copper eyepin, and a copper coil that I wrapped in brown ribbon.

 September ABS Blog challenge inspiration is A hedgehog in a landscape by Giovanna Garzoni:

Check out this months entries to the ABS Blog challenge at www.flickr.com/groups/artbeadscene.

Ahead of the trends

On Monday I designed my pearl earrings

Just Fabulous introduced its new jewelry line designed by Kimora Lee Simmons.  These earrings are among the new line.

Pearls Galore

On Monday I decided that I needed a bracelet and earrings to go with the Jackie O my pearl necklace.  Here they are:

Black and Blue Tree of Life

This is my submission to the ABS September competition.  The tree of life pendant in white, blue, and black was handmade by ebay seller zansell.  I added the square blue beads and silver headpin accents to the black twisted oval chain.  I used the silver ribbon to tie into silver bail on the pendant.  The ribbon can be tied at any length to perfectly match any outfit.

Check out the ABS blog, artbeadscene.blogspot.com.

September inspiration:

Fall Fashion Trends

It seems that the TV show Mad Men has made its impact on fashion.  Banana Republic actually has a Mad Men Collection and Mod was all the rage on the catwalk.

It also appears that a few items from Steampunk will be popular: duster coats and ruffled collars

The 80's are rearing their ugly head with crew neck sweaters and rounded shoulder. 

Other trends for the fall are:

• Lad
• Luxe tux
• Primary Plaids
• Boudoir slippers
• Oversized pants
• Colorful snakeskin
• Wide brimmed hats
• Linear Midis

ABS August Blog tour

http://artbeadscene.blogspot.com/2011/08/draft-august-monthly-challeng-blog-tour.html

This link will take you to the August blog tour on the blog of Art Bead Scene. Enjoy all the wonderful submissions.

Amber Faire

My husband purchased the beautiful pendant for me at the Bristol Ren Faire. I was having trouble putting together the perfect necklace for the Art Bead Scene blog (ABS) August challenge. Everything fell into place when I decided to use my new pendant from Nagle Forge & Foundry.

Check out the ABS blog, artbeadscene.blogspot.com.



August inspiration:
Illustration for American Cresent Cycles by Frederick Winthrop Ramsdell (1899).

Stormy Winter Sky earrings

These earrings are a piece from my Winter Collection. My grandmother's illness and passing delayed the posting of these earrings.

The textured silver beads invoke the chaos of a winter blizzard with the darkness of the stormy sky being represented by the oval beads.

45mm from the curve of the earwire.
$5.00

Bridesmaids necklaces

Three-strand bridesmaids necklaces for five bridesmaids. Also made earrings. The bride had a similar designed three-strand necklace in ivory. I made two sets of earrings to make sure she liked one. Bride was in Colorado so dealt with the grooms step-mother. Pictures of the bridal party with necklaces to come.
Wonderful project and the largest I have had thus far. Great experience. Love to make custom ordered pieces.

Family Illness

Dear Followers:

Due to the suddenly and serious illness of my grandmother, I will be out of the office until further notice. I have some jewelry to post but will have to wait!

Angela

Enchanted Evening

I began with the blue faceted rounds. Then added the triangle connectors. It took a bit to arrange the middle strand perfectly. Then I struggled to finish the piece. After several tries I found just the right rounds to compliment the gunmetal roses. I see this piece being worn with an evening gown hence Enchanted Evening.

Jackie Oh My Pearls

The latest piece from my Winter Collection called Jackie Oh My Pearls. Pearls, Pearls, and more Pearls is the essence of this piece. Reminiscent of Jackie and her pearls with a simple twist - the addition of the 18mm pearl. I have had this string of pearls for many months unsure how to use them. Until I purchased the large pearls that were like Christmas bulbs. 17"

New tools

I discovered some of the "tools" available at etsy back in the fall. I have updated these tools (as well as the etsy listings). You will see that I have changed my etsy listing on the blog from the "magazine" display to the "brick" display. You may notice that I have new pictures for many of etsy listings. Thanks to a new camera and a few photography tips, I have done away with only using the green background. I hope these changes allow the true essence of my jewelry to be seen.

The picture above is the after picture with new camera and a neutral background. The before pictures follows for you to see the transformation

BEFORE:

New Year

I hope that everyone's holidays were splendid (or at least not too traumatic). I took the longest out-of-the office break since 2007. Boy did I need it. I even managed to crank out some jewelry while I was out. And even a few pieces since I returned. All will be posted in the weeks to come (still trying to catch up on work while I was away).

The first piece to be listed is one was created while I was in Iowa and stayed in Iowa. My grandmother is enjoying this piece (and she just loves it) that embodies my Winter collection.