Tropical Nights Necklace and Earrings - EBW Challenge

It's time to vote for your favorite entry in the Etsy BeadWeavers monthly challenge again!
Triz, who won the November challenge, have chosen the Jan-Feb challenge theme - "Tropical Holiday". It was a great theme and I think it's the first time that there are so many entries - 47 wonderful creations!.
Please visit the EBW blog, pick your favorite and vote for it. Your comment is also appreciated. Voting lasts until the 15th , so don't postpone your voting!

My entry, #26, is the Tropical Nights necklace.
I used gorgeous, sparkling Czech vintage crystal stones I bought a while ago and I thought they would be perfect for this project, as they sparkle in iridescent shades of tropical green, fuchsia and yellow. I also used 24k gold plated Delicas, Swarovski crystal bicone beads and vibrant fuchsia Swarovski chatons.
I had to unpick the necklace a few times before I found the best connecting points of the components to allow the necklace to sit nicely around the neckline. I almost gave up after the forth time… :/ I hate that part of beadweaving, which I guess many, if not all beaders do… But, I was able to finish it on time, and I like the way it came out so much that I even created a pair of beadwoven earrings (I'm beginning to like creating those.. :)) with the beautiful fuchsia chatons.

Photographing this necklace was a challenge in itself.. and these are the best photos I could post. The necklace is much more sparkling and colorful in person. I am lucky to have a very patient photographer… Thanks, Ardjan! :)

My Best Student Ever! :)

These two bracelets were beadwoven by my 14.5 years old daughter, and I am so proud of her!
She has always been fascinated by my beadwork and recently asked me to teach her a few things. I thought basic herringbone and even-count peyote would be a good start.
I think she did a great job, not only with choosing these colors, but also with the quality of her first beadwoven creations.
She is now able to look at my work and say what technique I used. Next techniques I am going to teach her are the tubular versions of the above. I am pretty sure she will quickly have a firm grasp of them, too.
I am a happy mother! :)

"Corn" Necklace

I bought this beautiful mix of Czech seed beads from Bogal, my bead supplier a while ago. It reminded me the colors of a multicolored flint corn, so I decided to create a more natural look pendant to go with the beadwoven rope. I used a piece of genuine leather and a beautiful, roughly faceted tourmaline nugget bead, with delicate natural cracks in it. I really like how it turned out :)

Multicolor Flint Corn - Courtesy of plantnames.edu.au


I want to thank again everyone who congratulated me for my first publication. I have to admit that your warm comments made this even more exciting for me! Thanks! :)

My First Publication In Print

Finally, I got my copy of Jan/Feb Bead&Button magazine this afternoon. I have my first publication in print in this issue! I am proud to have one of my designs published among all the gorgeous projects in there. :)
It was a nice and pleasant experience working with B&B editor Lynne Soto, who tested my project and created the pendants that are in the magazine.
In the next issue of Bead&Button magazine, one of my bracelets will be published, so I am excited about it, too ;)

I got "hooked" on the Saraguro Hojas pattern and have already created a few items by using it. This pendant is one of the results of "playing" with this lovely traditional pattern. If you would like to make this pendant, you'll only need an hour or so to complete one... That's why I managed to create 6 of them in one day..

Happy New Year!

My first post in 2009. Time flies… It's been just a little more than a year since I first started blogging. A lot has been happening in my life since then, both professionally and personally, good and bad… I think more good than bad, so I guess that makes it a rather good year for me… you know the song: "always look at the bright side of life" … :)
I wish us all a very happy, healthy, prosperous and successful New Year and most important - peaceful!

This new bracelet is quite a simple one, but I like it very much. I made it two weeks ago, when I needed to do something simple, between the few other works I had in progress. Now that I think of it, this bracelet's colors are symbolically reflecting the past year – bright colors mixed with the dark black, like life…

Since winter is finally here (we get to have only cloudiness and cold, but unfortunately not much rain so far. We really need rain… :() and the sun sets early before my photographer gets back from his day job, he couldn't take photos in daylight, so he built this home-made light tent. I think he succeeded in taking good photos, despite the lack of natural light, don't you think?