Something Old is NEW Again

Anyone who’s spent any time with me at all has probably heard me ramble on about my favorite hotel on the planet – the Hotel Queen Mary over in Long Beach, California.

You are immediately rushed back in a time bursting with history and culture as you walk on board with Fred Astaire and instrumental jazz music playing softly in the background. Beautiful, rich wood and chrome details are a delight to the eyes and the Art Deco paintings set your mind a whirl as the excitement of what it must have been like to sail on this amazing ship engulfs you! (I could go on gushing for days,…so I’ll just stop now, K?)

This pearl and gold tassel was in a bag of vintage goodies that my niece picked up at a yard sale in the mountains of Arizona. It always reminded me grand opulence (hence, the Queen Mary!) so when it came time for the new Artbeads Blogging Challenge, “Something Old is New Again”, I knew exactly what I wanted to create!

I worked and re-worked this piece a few different times, first with two different chains like what it was attached to when it was given to me. I added, subtracted, added, subtracted Swarovski pearls, crystals, bead caps, more chain,….urggghhhh,…nothing looked right and nothing felt like the sleek sophistication that was befitting the Queen Mary or the elegant women who graced those magical ballrooms and suites.

“Simple is Best” kept whispering in my ear, (just like the ghosts of the Queen Mary herself!) and I reconstructed everything once more, adding only a few pearls to the bottom of the tassel, keeping the chain that more closely resembled the 1940’s period and ditching the art-deco looking chain - although it would have been very fitting, it was way too "gold looking" and bright for this specific piece.

I alternated different sizes of Swarovski Pearls and gold plated bead caps and finished it off with a simple hook clasp; very befitting the time period. Earrings were created that would compliment, but not distract, from this elegant necklace and I finished them with my own handcrafted 14K gold filled earring wires. All was now perfect!

I imagine myself wearing this stunning and timeless set while sipping a cocktail on the aft deck of the Queen Mary; soft music playing in the background and the cool, ocean air dancing lightly on my skin as I sail, like royalty, across the ocean!

Until Next Time,

Peace, Love and Something Old is Definitely New Again!

Cheers,

~Shel~

FTC compliance disclosure: the Artbeads.com items mentioned in this post were provided as a promotional gift as part of the Blogging for Beaders Program. These items are for review or design purposes.

Winter Enchantment – Windswept Dreams Necklace

Our assignment this time around for the Artbeads.com blogging challenge, was the theme “Winter Enchantment” and I found some nice items to try – and boy are they cool!

This project, by the way, is also doubling as my YOJP 2011 Week 9 Entry this week – with the theme being “Windswept”.

I had a ball with this cause I was really jazzed to try out some of the Swarovski Crystal beaded yarns. Here’s what I got:

• Swarovski Crystal 3mm Crystal Beads White Cashmere Yarn

• Swarovski Crystal 3mm Jet Beads Black Cotton Yarn

• Swarovski Light Grey Mohair Yarn with 3mm light grey pearls (ya knew there be pearls in there somewhere, didn’t cha!!?)

• Swarovski Crystal Hematite Mohair Yarn with 3mm hematite beads.

These were really fun to work with. All were soft, and the mohair and cashmere ones are really ‘fuzzy’ and remind me of nice, warm winter sweaters! They would be great to make little “Barbie” necklaces with. Yes, I even make jewelry for Barbie once in a while….I’m such a dork!

I really am a dork, because I forgot to snap my ‘before’ pics when I take all my goodies out of the bag and you get to see everything lined up before I start creating – sorry about that.


For my necklace focal bead I chose a 28mm Jet Swarovski Crystal Twist Pendant – boy does this have some heft to it! LOVE IT! And, the toggle I chose - since I was doubling this for my windswept theme for Week 9 of YOJP 2011 – was this spiral (swirly wind!) Tierracast Spiral Toggle Clasp.

I like the Tierracast toggle design and since it’s light weight (it’s silver plated not true sterling) it feels nice on the back of your next and doesn’t press down on your neck bones in the back. I know that sounds weird,…but trust me,…it’s important!

I gathered up these lovely little, fabulously fuzzy yarns with their tiny little beads and wire wrapped the ends, sliding them into some plain sterling silver cones that I purchased from my friends over at BeadWorld here in Glendale. I also got the nice sterling silver bail that’s holding the Swarovski Crystal pendant on at BeadWorld as well!

I added the pendant and the toggle clasp to the layers of Swarovski yarns and ‘Ta-da’ – it’s a “Winter Enchantment, Windswept Dream!” (it’s more of a little winter enchantment, fluffy, fuzzy looking type of dream necklace than any windswept necklace, but whatcha gonna do!?!) But, it still looks rather ‘Winter-ish’, don’t you think?

I’m really thankful to the folks over at Artbeads.com. I’ve been ordering from them for over 5 or 6 years now and their items are really great, shipping is fast, and their prices are some of the best around. You definitely can’t beat that these days – that’s for sure!

Until Next Time,
Peace, Love, Winter Enchantment and Windswept Dreams of Spring Coming Soon!!
Cheers,

~Shel~

FTC compliance disclosure: the Artbeads.com items mentioned in this post were provided as a promotional gift as part of the Blogging for Beaders Program. These items are for review or design purposes.

Colors of Fall Designs for Artbeads.com

Just when you thought all things Fall/Autum were gone - being that Santa figures, Christmas Trees, Winter Scenes, Shopping Malls and Snow Storms are all the rage right now - I'm finally posting my Artbeads.com blog post for their Colors of Fall assignment. 

I've had this piece for a little while now (just not the pictures), so I'm happy to be able to get this posted but it made me a bit sad, too. 

See, Fall is my favorite time of year,...the colors, the activities, the somewhat cooler temps (although not this year here in the desert - it was still in the high 90's until Halloween!!) and I hate to say good-bye to Fall, even though the Winter Holiday Season and the New Year Celebrations are always fun and filled with excitement!

I really love designing jewelry for fall with all the typical fall colors; seeing how I can maybe combine them differently this year than in the years past and possibly throwing in some new and unexpected colors as well. 

I love Artbeads.com  Trends section of their website. And, their section in their Learning Center section under Seasonal Jewelry has tons of great free designs for you to try and the inspiration you can get from this resource is invaluable!  (Plus, it's loaded with all the lastest and greatest colors of the season, too!)

For my designs I started with Artbeads.com's silk ribbon in Multi Browns.  I love this ribbon!  I'm sure you can tell because the photo at the top of my blog of my  'Midnight' necklace was created using this ribbon in the Blue/Grey Color Combo!

I wanted to mix things up a bit, which is hard for me sometimes as I tend to stick to the same materials, so I added some copper chain and an antiqued copper Leaves and Flowers Toggle.  Both were easy to work with and since the toggle was 'antiqued' it brought the shininess of the chain and the matte colors of the ribbon together quite nicely.

You all know I love pearls and I love all things 'sparkly' too, so I chose to use some Swarovski Crystals and Crystal Pearls in my design in some fall-like colors.  I chose to use the Deep Brown Swarovski Crystal Pearls and the Brown Pearls since they matched the browns in the ribbon so well. I wanted some pops of color, so I chose Swarovski crystals in "Cosmic Olivine" and "Amethyst" and then threw in some really soft "Golden Shadow" for that added sparkle!  

With "Tassles" being so poular this season I decided to do a mini-tassle on my necklace and dangle it from the chain, adding little dangles of the pearls and crystals along the sides and using the ribbon so it would lay in the back; soft and natural on your neck!  (great for those sweaters we wear in the fall - nothing to catch or snag them!)  I used the toggle to connect the ribbon with the chain on the side so it would be easy to get on and off. 

I like how it turned out - although the pictures don't do the actual design justice!  But it does emind me of the rich colors of fall, the greens that are turning to brown, the purple hues of the sunsets as the nights get colder and the browns of the woods as the nights get longer.

Oh,...Fall,....sorry to see you go!

Until next time,

Peace, Love and all things "Falling,.....Falled,....Fell.  (On to Winter!!)

Cheers,

~Shel~
*I have received these products free of charge from Artbeads.com and I am honestly reviewing/creating with these products and have not been paid or compensated for my endorsement as it pertains to the products received.