Beaded Jewelry Continued

Welcome back! Yesterday I posted about the blue necklace and bracelet set I made. Today, I wanted to show you the necklace I wore to my brother-in-law's wedding.

I found this beautiful black dress for his wedding and I needed some statement jewelry to go with it. To begin, I fused some glass pieces with different colors of glass.

 

I wasn't sure how the glass was going to come out, so I did some blue, pink and orange stripe, and purple. After looking at them for a day, I decided I wanted to use the pink and orange stripes on black. Then I went into my beading supplies and picked out some beautiful seed beads and crystals to match.

 

 Then I started stitching the glass pieces and attaching them.

Then I had to decide how I wanted to stitch the chain. Sometime simple but elegant seemed appropriate.

 

Here is the final piece!

 

Beaded Jewelry

I wanted to show some of the detailed beaded necklaces that I do. I use the fused glass and then bead around it to create a unique piece of jewelry.

My brother-in-law got married this past summer and I found two perfect dresses (one for the rehearsal dinner and one for the wedding) but then I couldn't find any jewelry to match. So, I decided I should make some instead.

My sister-in-law's colors were a nautical blue and a bright pink and I wanted to stay with those colors. For the rehearsal dinner I had a pretty navy blue dress from The Loft and this is the necklace and bracelet I made to match:

   

The necklace has one fused glass piece in the center with seed beads and deep blue crystals around it. The chain is made of the same seed beads in a special stitch that makes the chain twist around.

The bracelet has three small fused glass pieces with the same seed beads and crystals as the necklace. The clasp is a simple silver one.

Check back tomorrow for the pictures of the necklace I wore to the wedding. :)

 

3 Generations of Struthers

My family was recently approached by the Creative 360 Studio in Midland, MI to do a exhibit with them. I come from a family of artists and they said that they were interested in doing a generation show.

If anyone is in or around Midland January 18 - February 22, please stop by and see our work - Creative 360 Stage, Studio & Gallery 1517 Bayliss Rd. The opening will be on January 18 from 7:00pm - 8:30pm. Visit their website for further information: http://becreative360.org/class-942.htm

Just to give you an idea, there will be five of us showing our work:

Carol Struthers - My Grandma - She will be showing her beautiful woodblock prints
Clint Struthers - My Dad - He will be showing his wonderful handcrafted furniture
Leslie Struthers - My Aunt - She will be showing her carefully handcrafted turned wood
Jodie Struthers - My Mom - She will be showing her outstanding oil paintings
Me - I will be showing my watercolor and oil paintings

Hope to see you all there!

New Year

Hello everyone! I have been bad and not written on here at all lately! Between work and traveling for the holidays, I haven't had any free time.

I have some resolutions this year for my design and jewelry:

1. Post on my blog at least every other day - might have to work up to this
2. Possibly start another blog that would be dedicated to my design work. Possibly update this blog and use this one too.
3. Get my jewelry into some galleries around Grand Rapids and the possibly other states.
4. Create some more glass wall hangings and get them into galleries.
5. Promote my Etsy shop - get it all over the web!
6. Create more designs that I can post
7. Create a website to showcase my design work and to use as a portfolio

Ok, this may seem simple and easy but I think it will take some time. I am getting my mind set on how I want to achieve all this and in what order I need to do it in.

For now, I hope you all have a happy New Year!

Happy belated Thanksgiving

I hope everyone has had a nice couple days with family and friends.

I am very thankful for the love of my family and my husband. For my job where I learn something new everyday and my coworkers that make me smile.

After a couple days with family in Iowa we are headed back to GR this morning anPd Payton is happy to be heading home with her new Thunder Blanket!

Happy Monday

Mondays are always hard to get back in the swing of things, but knowing I get to come home and snuggle this sweet girl makes my day!

Finished Display

Finally finished!

Jewelry Display

Fun DIY way to display my pendants. I bought some old frames at a garage sale, then cut foam core board to fit in it. Then I found some fabric I liked and wrapped the board with it. After taping it in place in the frame, I used sewing pins to hold the pendants up. Very simple!

Happy Weekend!

I know for my little girl, the weekends are the best. Hope everyone else has a great one!

Promotional Material

I don't know about everyone else, but I love to create things, but I am horrible at marketing my work. Creating this blog and creating my Etsy shop was a big step for me. With the holidays coming around, I thought that a postcard might be a good way to get the word out there. I am sending it to the printer tomorrow, can't wait to see it!