Still Waters

It's been a tough couple of weeks being in a slump. My muse took a vacation right when business had picked up a bit. But I think she's shown back up. I'm glad she did. It's so frustrating not being able to create beads you're happy with. Hopefully, I'm out of my slump.

I used light and dark turquoise and light and medium gray for this set. This morning I decided to etch it. In hindsight, I wish I wouldn't have, but the effect is still pretty nice. It muted the colors a bit more than I had anticipated. But I do love the feel of etched beads.

Sweet Pea

What a week! As you can tell by my post dates, I broke my promise to post daily. I'm finding it increasingly difficult to find enough time in the day to do every thing I've committed myself to do. Talk about a full plate.

After playing catch up on my previous obligations. I manage to make it to the studio the day Mother Nature decided we were not finished with winter and dumped 2 inches of snow on us. Of course, the next day the sun came out, the temperatures rose and nary a trace of snow was left.

My love affair with pink continues in this set. Accented with a bit of pea green and white, I present Sweet Pea. Hopefully I'll have it on Etsy by this evening.

Wild & Blue

Inspired by the leopard and my desire to use bright colors. I created this set using vetrofond pajama blue and ASK tribal turquoise. The spacers are effetre black.

I've never really been fond of animal prints but I did enjoy making these. I'm not sure I would have tried had it not been for the suggestion of my son's friend. In fact, I think I'll explore it further in different colors. I'll be listing these on Etsy this evening.

Stone Washed

Ever so often I get lucky and discover a new color. That's not to say it hasn't been discovered before. In fact, more times than not, when I've created something I feel is so unique and couldn't possibly be thought of by anyone else. I'll find down the road that it's already been done. A bit disheartening but one of these days I'll find that special technique, style or color that's yet to be discovered.

But I digress. I actually discovered the base color in the pictured beads quite by accident. More out of necessity than logical thinking. I had ran out of clear glass and my order had not arrived at the making of these beads. I wanted the depth that encased opaque glass has to offer, so what to do? I had a couple rods of CIM Glacier that I wanted to work with but no clear to encase with. I didn't really like the look of glacier when I encased it with the transparent blues I have, so I grab a rod of transparent light gray and tried it. Bingo! The color reminds me of my favorite pair of jeans. The jeans that really are not fit to be worn in public but are just too comfortable to throw out. The jeans that are the epitome of "What NOT to Wear" but fit in all the right places and don't bind in the wrong ones. Let's face it. We all have a pair of those jeans. Now you can accessorize them! I accented these beads with pearl gray. That matches the threads fraying around the holes. I added a touch of Carnelian here and there. That will accent the skin peeking out of those holes. What more could a girl want?

Hurry Up Spring

The unseasonably warm weather we've been having across the Texas Panhandle has given me a bad case of Spring Fever. Temperatures in the high 70's and low 80's have been wonderful. Of course by the weekend temperatures drop back down to the normal 50's & 60's.

I'm tired of the bulky sweaters and wool socks, the drab landscape and being confined indoors. Bring on the green sprouts of grass and vibrant colors of newly budded flowers! If I'm not asking too much, some rain to relieve this 2 year drought would be nice too.

I dedicate this set to Mother Nature, hoping she's as impatient as I am and will........Hurry up Spring!

Pool Side

Inspiration can come from the most unlikely places. While shopping with my daughter at our local mall. I ran across a little brown eyed girl. She looked to be about 6 years old. She was dressed in the cutest light blue gingham dress with flower appliqués across her collar. Her hair was pulled up in little pig tails that curled to her shoulders. She was cute as a button!

Now, when you have a daughter that is 13 going on 30. It makes a Mother's heart ache to turn back time and have that sweet innocence in your own child back again. Back to a time when you could pick out her clothes and there was no argument that it wasn't "cool". You see very little sweetness with a teenage girl. A teenage girl that wants to wear the tight pants and mid drift shirts (over my dead body!) A teenage daughter that rebels when Mom suggests long sleeves, high collars, knee socks and Mary Jane's are the perfect outfit for the Sweetheart Dance.

In the end we compromised. Not too much skin showed and she was still cool. But, as I watched her walking to the gym for the dance. I couldn't help but think back to that little girl and how I wished that my own daughter would come running back and crawl up on my lap and snuggle like we did when she was little.

And that was my inspiration for this simple set of beads. I used the color scheme of sky blue, pea green and periwinkle. I encased each bead in clear and added surface decorations to some. You can find this set of beads for purchase in my Etsy store.