Treasury features

I'm stoked again to be featured in another Etsy Treasury ... "Wintery Days" by AngelqueCreations ... with my wired Dragonfly Brooch. Thankyou Angelque :)


and this one by MaryTDesigns, who has featured my "Dark Faerie" necklace. I loved making this one, so I'm chuffed to have this one featured so soon after listing it. Thanks Mary.

And again, this time with my "Ouro Preto" pendant in a gorgoeus earthy treasury by enchantedbeas, thanks darl :)

Muse teaser

OK .... so we're not allowed to reveal the Muse until Scarlett has, so I'll just give you a little teaser ... hope you like it. :)

See ... little teaser!!!!!

The Butterfly's Ball

I started making this piece about three weeks ago for the YOJ challenge on the Beading Forum - "Masquerade". However, what seems to be a common thing for me lately, I didn't get it finished in time LOL. Have been plodding along since then "attempting" to get it finished. Well, yesterday it finally happened ... I FINISHED IT!!!!

Now the colours .... I've not used these colours together before, and now I'm left wondering why I never have. They compliment eachother so well and just so much at home next to eachother. I can see more teal/turquoise/purple being used in the future.

This piece is going to be a christmas present for my eight year old daughter .... I'm going to get it framed in one of those box frames, and that way she can either have it on the wall, or have it sitting on her chest of drawers. I'm sure she's going to love it.

I'm going to try and make a dragon or two for the boys ... but we'll have to see whether I can pull my finger out and get them done. So many beady things going around in my head at the moment LOL.

I got featured ....

in Etsy Treasury West ... twice

My first one!!! I'm so happy someone likes my little Sun Man brooch to feature him ... and of course there's some absolutely gorgeous pieces from other Etsy sellers that have been featured in "Orange" as well ... I love the lillies. Thankyou njema :)

Updated 3 November 2009

Found this one today in my wanderings around the site ... my sun man brooch again!! Thankyou SmadarsTreasure :)

Lace motifs

I've been thinking about using lace in my designs for ages, and in my Etsy wanderings last week I came across Jennie's Heirlooms. She's an Aussie seller, and her hand dyed lace pieces are absolutely gorgeous .... I just had to buy some.

Well the order arrived today, and oh my are they even more gorgeous IRL. I even got some complimentary lace motifs ... so thankyou very much Jennie.

If you're interested in lace motifs, then you have to check Jennie's site out.

New items added

Well, it's been a while, but I've finally added some new items to my Etsy store ... and all going well, I'll add some more this week.

I've also started replacing my photos on my items. My previous photos were ... shall we say ... crap!!! So yesterday I sat down and took over 100 photos (new items included) and forced myself last night to sit on here and change the photos over. I think they look alot better - still have some to take and replace, but it's a start. Let me know what you think of the new photos, I'd like to get some feedback ... good or bad. :)

Isis - Mother of the Gods

This piece was made for a beading challenge on the Beading Forum, with the theme "Jewel of the Nile".

I drew my inspiration from two sources ...

1. Crescent Moon ... Among the most powerful of all lucky symbols, the crescent is especially lucky for young children and their mothers.In ancient Egypt, the crescent moon was the symbol of Isis, the Mother of the Gods. As the Queen of Egypt, Isis was the protector of motherhood, women, and healer of the sick. She also rules magic.

2. The Menat ... This symbol represents a heavy beaded necklace with a crescent shaped front and a counter piece at the rear. It was a symbol associated with the goddess, Hathor and her son, Ihy. In fact, Hathor was known as the "Great Menat". Hathor used the Menat as a conduit, through which she passes her power. It was representative of joy, life, potency, fertility, birth, and rebirth

I made my piece in the crescent shape, but instead of having the counterweight at the back, I brought it to the front. Love my Egyptian brass components :). Anyway, I used size 11 Slate Blue and size 15 24ct gold seedies .... I never want to see another size 15 seedie again - LOL!!!! I'm going to add in a fringe at some stage - but as I was working to a deadline I unfortunately ran out of time before this could be done.

Isis - Mother of the Gods

Golden Ivy

My one and only entry to the 2009 Create Your Style Swarovski Competition. I wasn't going to enter anything as this year has been sooooo busy and I didn't feel I could contribute something worthy, but I changed my mind (a girls perogative to do). Started it yesterday and finally finished it about 4.00 this afternoon. Ugh my aching back!!!! Nothing like leaving it until the last minute!!!!

This piece is dedicated to my beautiful Nana who, even though she passed away many years ago, left a mark on my life that has made me the person I am today. Her name ... Ivy May. She was a very proud, old fashioned woman, who had a wicked sense of humour, and a great sense of family values.

So ... down to the nitty gritty!!! I love Golden Shadow and it goes so well with Bronze Swaro pearls that I just had to team them together ... and added a smidge of cream rose in there just to break it up a bit ... and a whole heap of 2mm crystal rounds that I don't want to see again in a big hurry ... LOL. Believe it or not ... there's close to 1000 crystals/pearls on this cuff.

Here she is .....

Used 2mm crystal rounds, 3mm, 4mm, & 5mm Golden Shadow bicones, AND 3mm, 4mm Bronze Swaro pearls AND 4mm Cream Rose pearls.

I've since found out that this piece didn't make it through to the final 30 ... bit of a shame as I'm so in love with this piece, but at least I get to keep it now for the Exhibition I'm trying to organise. :)

Muse revealed

The long awaited reveal of the Muse has happened ... and what a reveal. Not only was the beautiful pendant revealed, but the multitude of entries and winners as well. I had so much fun today going through all the entries and gazing longingly at the array of designs from people all over the world.

Congratulations to all that entered and hearty congratulations to the finalists .... which I am happy to say, I am part of. You could have blown me over when I logged on this morning to find that I was one of two Australian finalists. My fellow finalist - Amanda Katz - with her amazing design and winner of the "Handmade Component" section ... congratulations Amanda. Finalists can be found here. There's also two galleries that have been set up with every single entry showcased - these can be accessed here.

Sooooo ... finally I can reveal my piece with the secret Muse - a gorgeous pendant from Lillypilly. I had so much fun making this piece, my first using this sort of design and stitching. Can't wait to see what secrets the "Use the Muse III" kit will reveal to me when I receive it. Thankyou Scarlett for such a great competition and beautiful Muse.

"Under a Moroccan Sky"

Ekka results

Well I guess I better put these up :)

I entered two pieces into this years Brisbane Show (Ekka as it's fondly known) - and this is the first year for me at the Ekka. Lady of the Lake and The Deep Blue are the two pieces that made it down there and I'm very happy to say that I got ..........

1st Place - The Deep Blue
3rd Place - Lady of the Lake

My mother went to the opening day last week and took some rather dodgy photos - not her fault, they are behind glass afterall. So here are the photos - except that you can't see the card for the 1st place, they hid it around the side apparently, and had the card and piece for the 2nd place winner in front of my piece *rolling eyes*.

Dragonfly Garden

Every now and then on the Beading Forum they have a Designer Quest (DQ). You buy the kit of beadies from the sponsor and from there make your creation. This time around the sponsor was Beadglass, and what a gorgeous lot of beadies it was.

When I saw the pack, and it's colours, I saw lush green gardens, and I had this idea of doing something wired. I set about finding a focal to go with the colours and just happened to have an Agate slice of the same colour. Using the Czech glass and seedies in the pack I wired around the slice and then set about making a frame to wire around for the main part of the necklace. I added in some little dragonflies here and there ... hence the name!!! I really love this and i'm so glad that I wired instead of stitched with the seedies. Just as a little something extra I made a dragonfly brooch ... really, really happy with how this turned out - so I may make more. :) Dragonfly Garden

woohooo I got cabs

Just got my delivery of a beautiful bulk package of cabs from Nomad Craft ... an Etsy seller based in the US. Oh my, some of them are stunners!!!!

I'm going to have so much fun with these ... oh and I got the most gorgeous starfish pendant from them as well. Definately worth a look!!!!

My gorgeous starfish pendant ... isn't it beautiful? :)

Japanese Blooms

Another Beading Forum Challenge - this week the theme was "Chiyogami". Chiyogami is a beautiful Handmade Japanese paper and the designs are just gorgeous ... AND I just happened to have some in my house. :)

For this piece I set some Chiyogami paper in resin and then based my cuff around the design on the paper. I used these gorgeous Czech cup flowers and mini flowers for the blooms on the branches. I really love the way this turned out - of course with all firsts I made mistakes and slightly miscalculated a bit on the size, but that was easily sorted. Would really, really love to do another one ... perhaps even a collar with these beautiful Japanese designs in mind. I'm also going to practice more with the resin ... love making my own focals :)

Japanese Blooms

Ouro Preto

This piece was done for a weekly challenge on the Beading Forum - the theme "Subterranean". So I did some research on the net last night on subterranean areas and found some truly inspirational pics - but one caught my eye and I thought I could do something with it. It's an underground Gold mine in Ouro Preto, Brazil - and for a small fee you can take the rickety old mining cart deep down into the mine and take the short walk to a glistening subterranean pool.

This is the inspiration piccie ...

and here is my piece - stayed up late last night to start it, got about half way through it before I started to literally fall asleep LOL ... and I finished the rest off this morning. A gorgeous piece of brown/gold Agate slice and in the middle is a hint of blue, this represents the pool deep down inside the mine. Tiger's Eye chips are the boulders and rocks surrounding it, and the gold/bronze seedies represent the veins of gold found within the mine.

Ouro Preto

and a closeup

Tidal Pools

This piece was made for a Seed Bead Challenge on the Beading Forum. The theme - "Rockpool", and it had to be all one colour .... not an easy feat I tell you. Anyway, this is my entry. I knew one day I would have a use for all these Agate Slices I have in my collection LOL.

The piece is made up of Blue Agate Slices, lots of different coloured blue seedies, freshwater pearls, Czech fp's, and Swarovskis. I loved making this one - I seem to be drawn to blue alot when I do "bigger" pieces .... I find it a very calming colour to work with ... AND of course, doing pieces that relate to water are right up my alley as I find water, the ocean, rivers/streams very calming as well.

Sarina Beach

It was the Queen's Birthday holiday here yesterday (Monday) ... and also mummy's choice day as to where we were going to have a picnic and for her to relax. LOL yeah right "mummy's day" ... mummy still had to go out and buy the food, prepare the food and drinks, pack said food and drinks, and make sure the kids were dressed appropriately and with hats ... where is the relaxation in all that? LOL

Anyway I made the executive decision - against all the kids wishes as to where they wanted to go *inserting evil laugh* - that we go to Sarina Beach. I love Sarina Beach.

I find the ocean, listening to it, watching it, very relaxing and soon find myself de-stressing (which I think was hubby's idea all the time) - it generally centres me, iykwim. While hubby and the three munchkins played footy on the beach - and yes my beautiful daughter joined in on that one - I walked along the beach, towards the rocks. I'd taken my you beaut digital SLR along meaning to take some wonderful photos - LOL don't think I took wonderful photos, but they'll do. The tide was going out, so alot of the rocks were left with interesting little rock pools. The idea struck me then to get slightly arty farty and take photos of the pools - and also to get inspiration for a current challenge themed "Rock Pool". So these are my attempt at arty farty.

The first one here is of the beach, the rocks and the headland - those rocks there are where I was walking around and taking photos ... and generally enjoying the peace and serenity of the whole place.

With this one below, I wish I could have captured the trickle or flow of the water. The water was racing down from the rocks towards the beach and water - and making this gorgeous meander across the beach.

I won't bore you with anymore - I took heaps, but these are the ones that really caught my eye while I was de-stressing. Hope you like my trip to the beach as much as I did.

Lady of the Lake

This was made for a "Ladies of Camelot" Challenge on the Beading Forum. I am the hugest Arthurian legend fan, and this piece just brought out the creative juices in me ... and the first thing I thought of was the Lady of the Lake. So without too much hoohaaaa this is my interpretation ....

The Lady of the Lake

The great King Arthur is dead!!!

As Excalibur was slowly drawn back into the Lake, the magical powers of the Lady of the Lake started to wane. Mere mortals had foresaken the magic folk and the Goddess, instead choosing to believe in the “One God”. She could feel the magic draining from her body as she slowly disappeared into the misty icy water. The curtain between the world of magic and humans was closing. She closed her eyes …. time to sleep ….

This piece represents the disappearance of the world of magic at the demise of King Arthur. The Lady relents to the pull of Avalon and drifts off into the misty icy water ... her magic ebbing away from her body (that's what the cabs represent) ... and disappears forever into the mists.

OK ... the details ... done with 11s and 8s seedies in various shades of blue and white, Czech fire-polished beads, freshwater pearls ... and quite a few of Wendy's fused glass and dichroic cabs that reminded me alot of water. The face cab I've had sitting in my cab box just waiting for inspiration to hit - it's a gorgeous Jen Martin face ... and the celtic looking scrolls on her face just fitted in so well. I've even got Excalibur in there with the sword toggle clasp.

Use the Muse - Contest

In my many blogging travels, I found this wonderful link and have been hanging out for weeks for the details of this contest to be announced. Well guess what, they have been. The "Use the Muse" is the brainchild of Scarlett Lanson, a Bead Artist based on the U.S. - and she shares her love of beads and co-ordinates this competition so that others can share her passion. The "Use the Muse II" contest is open to all beaders worldwide.

It's worth a look, just for seeing the beautiful entries from the previous contest ... LOL there's even someone on there that I know and love from the Beading Forum - congratulations Cindy on your win. :)

Pay it Forward - free gifts

aawww come-on, there must be some takers!! Post has been here for over a week now and there's no takers. Oh well ..... :-)

Random Acts of Kindness - I think that's what gives me that gooey feeling inside. Knowing that you've made someones day just by sending them a little something unexpected.

Thankyou to Julz from Meanderings by Julz for this idea.

So, here we go:

Creative people are Happy People! So, if you would like to participate, please send me a comment and the first five people will receive something from me in the mail.

Here are the rules, and happy posting!

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations so please read carefully:

1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make. This is an adventure afterall!

2. What I create will be just for you with love and good wishes. It will be made of actual materials, not of cyberspace.

3. It will be done this year (2009).

4. I will not give you any clue what it’s going to be!

5. In return, all you need to do is cut and paste this text on your Blog (from "Creative People are..." onwards) and create Five things for the first 5 people to respond to your post.

6. Send your mailing address after I contact you.

IMPORTANT: This offer is null and void if you do not post on your own blog to pay this forward. Would love it if you could join in!!!

Maryanne

Blue Wired Cuff

My latest offering .... but I think I may keep this for myself. It looks mighty fine on my wrist, so why not!!!

This is one of the ones I started on Sunday while at the Craft Fair (post below) ... and I finally got around to finishing it this morning. It features a Jan Cahill Kalera focal, and I've tried to pick up the colours in the frit she's used. I've also got some Anne Dundas little lampies in there (the apricot/pink ones).

Doing this has definately got me in the mood to do more wirework - something I haven't done in a long time. So with that in mind, I guess I can start on one of my Swarovski Comp pieces which is all wire - LOL, please notice I said "one" of my pieces ... I have so many designs down on paper at the moment it's beyond the joke!!!!