Ice Queen

This piece was made as part of the Ice Queen challenge on the Bead Mavens site. Once again, I left it to the last minute to get something done. In fact I only thought of what to do late last night. So away I beaded into the night - got three hours sleep - and beaded the day away, to make the deadline by 10 minutes. Why I do these things to myself I'll never know LOL. All up, there 13.5 hours of frantic work in there.

Anyway my explanation .....

The Ice Queen admires the tendrils of ice around her neck ... but wait!! In amongst all this coldness and despair ... beauty survives.

Made with a braid neckpiece/motif, lots of seedies and Crystal AB Swarovski's to represent the icyness. The winter white roses represent the beauty that survives.

 



SALE time !!!

Five beautiful new pieces have been loaded onto my FB store for my 15% OFF SALE ♥ . The sale goes until Sunday 21st November (Aussie time), and if not sold, they will be relisted onto my Etsy store and website at their regular retail price (RRP).

Just click on the "Shop Now" tab at the top of my FB Maryniky Designs page.

Holiday Treasures

The theme for the Etsybeadweavers November Challenge is "Holiday Treasures". When I think of Christmas I always think of the big family christmas' we used to have when we were kids. It was a time for the whole family to be together ... all the cousins catching up and having fun ... and of course there was the food. Oh my the christmas fare was to die for. My Aunties German cookies are always a fave, the Christmas Puddings that my mum cooks up, the Rum Balls, and I can't forget the Pav. Beautiful and crunchy on the outside, soft and gooey on the inside, and topped with cream and berries.

Hence my piece is a tribute to that Pavlova. Gorgeous handmade Lampwork cabs by Australian Lampwork Artist Anne Dundas, with her aptly named set "berries & cream". It also features are beautiful deep red dichroic cab as the centrepiece, surrounded by Swarovski Crystals and seedies. The colours remind me of that beautiful Pav and the berries. Yummo!!!!

It's been a while since I made a cuff, and I really must do another one soon ... I'd forgotten how much fun it is.

To see this, and all the other gorgeous entries for this Challenge, please visit the team blog, http://www.etsy-beadweavers.blogspot.com/  between the 9th and 15th and vote for your favorite entry.

Christmas Fare

Create Your Style Swarovski comp - 2010

Those of us that entered this year's comp have finally heard whether we've gotten through to the next stage - the final judging. I'm really stoked that my piece "Jardin des fleurs rouges" has made it through to the next round. Now we all have the mad rush to send our pieces in by the due date. I do want to say a hearty GOOD LUCK to all those that entered and have made it through to final judging ... let's hope they can't decide and award us all the trip to Fiji :)

Jardin des fleurs rouges

and the winner is ........

CONGRATULATIONS Belinda

As picked by Random.Org ... you are the lucky winner of my Blog giveaway. I'll be contacting you soon to get your address.

New giveaway

You know, I never thought that I would embrace FB like I have. It's been a wonderful meeting place, and I have met so many wonderful beady people. So as a way to say thankyou for your continued support, I'm having a little giveaway.

These earrings are so cute, but I'm so over size 15 seedies LOL. The colours in these acrylic cabs are so beautiful - blues/olive green. These earrings are a bit of a first for me in that it's the first time I've used picot edgeing straight onto the ultrasuede. Must admit that I love how they've turned out. The earring hooks are Sterling Silver by the way.

So, what do you have to do? It's easy ... just comment below with your name and email addy (so I know who you are), before Monday 18th at 7.00 a.m. (Aussie EST). I'll announce the winner that morning.

1000 likers winner

And the winner is ..... according to Random.org the lucky number is 8.

CONGRATULATIONS COLETTE

Thankyou to all those that have, and continue to support my fan page on FB. Without any of you it'd be pretty lonely in there. *mwah*

1000 likers giveaway

I have so many things to be grateful for in this life, and one of them are the many great friends I've made on FB. To celebrate reaching an amazing 1000 likers on my Maryniky Designs page, I have this little giveaway. It's a gorgeous lampwork heart made by Australian Lampwork Artist Jan Cahill, enhanced by Fuchsia and Rose Swarovski Crystals and Pink Swaro Pearls.

One lucky liker has the chance to win this beautiful pendant by commenting below with your name AND your email address. Entries close on Friday 24th September at 8 p.m. EST (Aussie time).

These are a few of my favourite things ...

is the name of my newest Treasury on Etsy. You can find it here.

Basically it's a selection of items from my Favourites - and believe me there are many, so it was really hard to pick just 12 of them.

Enjoy

and the winner is ......

Jo Lewin from Beads Galore NZ. Huge congratulations darl ... I hope you love your new necklace :)

900 "likers" giveaway

I have been very blessed with wonderful fans aka "likers" on FB ... and seeing as I only have 40 or so to go till I get to 900 "likers", I feel the need to reward one with a special giveaway.

Swarovski Pearls and Crystals in gorgeous tones of purple have been wired to this brass stamping, creating a vintage-style pendant. If you think you'd like to have a go at winning this one-off pendant, please comment below with you name and your email address (must-haves) before 8p.m. EST (Aussie) Tuesday 14th September.

Oh and spread the word so I can reach the magical 900 :)

Thankyou to all my "likers" :)

New Pieces

Just a few newies from me :)

Spring is Here!!
A pretty Spring inspired necklace featuring Peruzi connector beads and Swarovski Crystals

Cinnabar
Another necklace featuring Peruzi (Nat) beads and cabochon. The deep red in these beads is just gorgeous and really must be seen in real life.

Rosina
Hand wire-wrapped Morganite pendant with Garnet rondelles on a silver-plated chain.

Orange Delight
Beautiful mottled orange handmade Lampwork beads, with gold-fill bead caps, Swarovski Crystals, and Gold-Fill hammered chain.

Starfish Folly
A fun, whimsical piece with a beautiful glass starfish as the centrepiece. The necklace is made up of blue and white seed beads, and Czech fire-polished beads for added sparkle.

SOLD

All can be found in my Etsy store and on my website.

Swarovski Comp entries for 2010

Well it's that time of the year where all over Australia beaders are madly entering the Create Your Style Swarovski Competition. The comp has been open for entries since February and officially closes tonight at midnight. There are so many amazing entries on there and it really is worth a look - you can find the entries page here.

So to my entries for this year's comp. First up we have a piece that I actually finished towards the end of last year and has been sitting on the shelf in my beading room all that time. I used some of my most favourite colours ... Golden Shadow, Crystal AB Crystals, and Bronze and Cream Rose Pearls.

It's called "Niamh of the Golden Hair" and is based on a mythological story of a beautiful girl with golden tresses.

My second entry was only started and finished yesterday (Monday 30th), and the inspiration for this piece was the Red Magma Swarovski Wing pendants and some Red Artistic wire that I found in the clean up of my beading room on the weekend. Used lots of Red Magma, and just a smattering of Siam, Peridot, Forest Green, Fire Opal, Jonquil Crystals, and Lt Green and Bordeaux Pearls. I love the way this one turned out, and I'm equally amazed that I got it done in one day ... a very rare occurrence for me I can tell you that.

"Jardin des fleur rouges" ... loosely translated, "Garden of Red Flowers" .. yep, sounds better in French doesn't it LOL.

Colour My Love

My newest piece ... just finished this morning.

I started this piece a few weeks back when I was madly making all that wedding stuff for the Bridal Show. I thought of doing this as something different - "out of the norm" so to speak for a wedding. Well, true to form, I didn't get it finished in time for the Show .... but actually I'm glad I took my time on this one. It's the first time I've ever made beaded beads - albeit little ones - but I love doing them so much I want to do more.
Rich sumptuous reds - clay heart tiles, seedies, Swarovski Crystals (lots of them), and a gorgeous Sterling Silver and Garnet toggle clasp
 

and the winner is .......

Kara Esler from Heavenly Princess ... come on down!!!! You have won the beautiful pair of earrings shown in the post below.

Email me you addy darl so you can receive your beautiful earrings :)

cheers
Maryanne

Gift for 700th liker on Maryniky Designs - FB

Well ... I never in my wildest dreams thought that my "like" page on FB would reach 700 "likers", but it is drawing near. I decided to give away a gorgeous pair of earrings to the 700th person.

These earrings are very special indeed and come from my Nebulae series ... featuring handmade Lampwork beads by Etsy Artist Atlantisglassandbead, Purple Velvet AB2 Swarovski Crystals and Sterling Silver studs. Valued at $30.

See my FB page for more details - just look for Maryniky Designs :)

New website up and running

It took me the good part of a day, but I finally got around to re-designing my website. I was lucky enough to have a new logo designed by Rachel from Atomicbutterfly Designs, so I thought "why not re-design the website as well".

Hopefully I've ironed all the glitches out - please let me know if you see anything amiss, or if there are checkout problems at all.

You can my website here ... Maryniky Designs

Also, as you can see I've changed the layout of my blog to reflect my new logo :) mmm now to get new business cards and flyers done up. :)

Jeanne Antoinette - Madame du Pompadour

Jeanne Antoinette was better known as "Madame du Pompadour - she was the mistress of Louis XV.


This piece was started back in April as part of a themed Challenge "Madame du Pompadour". When I started researching pics of this famous mistress, I saw pretty blues, lace, flowers, brocade, ribbons ... so I endeavoured to make a choker-style piece based on all those things. This is the result ... a winding branch of pretty blue flowers.

Made with seed beads, Czech FPs, Czech flowers, lace flowers, and Swarovski Crystals. Finished off at the back with a deep blue satin ribbon.

Hope you like her :)

A couple more Bridal pieces

Here's a couple more that I managed to get done before the big Wedding Showcase today.

Had a great day - met lots of lovely people, networked with a few businesses, passed out lots of business cards and even a couple of orders.

Below are pics of the setup I had for my table :)

Bridal collection

I'm in the process of building up a bit of a bridal collection - this is just the beginning :)

Top Left:  Biwa pearls, Freshwater pearls, Swarovski Crystals, Gold Fill clasp and extender chain
Top Right:  Biwa pearls, Freshwater pearls, Swarovski Crystals, Gold Fill clasp and extender chain
Bottom Left:  Coin pearls, Swarovski pearls, Swarovski Crystals, Czech FPs, Gold Fill
Bottom Right:  Swarovski Crystal Sliders, Swarovski Crystals and Pearls, Sterling Silver

Lace Wedding necklace - lace motif, seed beads, Swarovski Crystals, Swarovski Pearls, Sterling Silver

In flight

This piece was my entry to the Australian Beaders competition - the kit sort of stumped me there for a while, but in the last week before posting it finally came to me what to do. I had also recently received a copy of Beverly Ash Gilberts gorgeous book "Beaded Colorways" and it has inspired so much. I ended up making a bit of a bead soup with the beads from the kit and adding some blue seedies into the mix ... it worked, which is really good coz I didn't fancy picking out all those blues from the soup LOL. This is my first foray into freeform beadweaving, and I'm hoping to do alot more in the future.

Flight

Newspaper article

On Monday I had the pleasure of being interviewed by one of the journos from our local paper. I fully expected that it would a normal sized article with perhaps one photo. Well yesterday I got the surprise of my life when I opened the paper and saw this. To put it simply, I was completely gobsmacked and totally stoked all at the same time.

It's quite humbling seeing ones work shown like this.