Come on, people! Sing it with me!"Gypsys, tramps, and thievesWe'd hear it from the people of the townThey'd call us Gypsys, tramps, and..."No?Well, you are no fun at all.That's ok, I'm gonna show you a "pretty" anyway. 'Cause I love ya. And that's the way I am.
This is a lovely "gypsy" bracelet I made for a friend of mine.I used some of the great Swarovski crystals I got from Artbeads.com that I had left and some dyed pearls. Then I added two "raw" rubies for luck, one on each end.
She needs the luck, since she recently fell off a ladder and broke her back! Augh! But she's mostly better now and back at work with me, so it's all good.It's really quite festive! I may have to make some more...
(And, apparently, now I have to disclose that I "received the 'products' free of charge from Artbeads.com and that I am honestly reviewing the products and have not been paid for my endorsement as it pertains to the products received." Hmm, yah, well I'm okay with that! I still think it's great they found me and asked me to participate!)
So I finally got around to making something with some of those lovely Swarovski crystals I got from ArtBeads.com! Well, actually I made them last "weekend" (my weekend being Thurs/Fri) but I was also sick and by the time I got to feeling better I had to go back to work. I just got around to photographing them today. I really, really like the briolette crystals. The color is called "Silver Shade", there is just a little bit of silver color to them and they are far more gorgeous than my photography can do justice to.
I made a set of earrings and a necklace with them, and the 5mm bicone crystals in Indian Sapphire (a nice, soft grey blue color) and Black Diamond. I wanted to make something that would look fancy when worn together but could be worn separately to dress up jeans and a sweater or something along that line. I wanted a sort of chandelier earring, but not too complicated. After two attempts I wasn't happy with I finally got something I really liked!
Here's what I came up with:
Then I also made a set of drop earrings and a necklace out of some Swarovski I bought a couple years ago. They are lovely fall colors. I used an olive green round, an olive and a lighter green bicone and some orange-y diamond shaped ones, along with a lovely olive green drop pendant.
I really like this set, too, and it is also one that looks much fancier when you wear the pieces together.
I really wish I had more time to do jewelry, I really enjoy it. I'm going to try to do more soon. I still have a lot of lovely stuff from ArtBeads.com (thanks guys!). I think I'm going to try and make a colorful bracelet for a friend of mine who likes "gypsy" jewelry.
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I have also been busy with some new art. I'm trying a new style, something a little more "loose". Sketchy.
I call this series "Laundry Cat". 1, 2 and 3:
So I got my new Swarovski Crystals from Artbeads.com. Remember? I agreed to blog about Artbeads and their products and they agreed to give me free stuff? I love me some free stuff!
I tried some different colors and sizes than I normally would, usually I use about a 4mm crystal (I found out the 3's are way tiny, after accidentally buying a bunch, but I'll figure out something to do with them, I'm sure.) But this time I thought I'd try some larger ones to use more like a bead than an accent, so I got 5mm ones. They are quite nice, and the colors are just like they looked online, so that's a bonus! I hate it when you order something on line, beads, shoes, sweaters -whatever- and they look completely different in person than they did in the catalog or online.
Well, these are great. I'm looking forward to having some time this weekend to make some stuff. I think I'm going to do earrings. I, personally, wear more earrings than I do necklaces. But we'll see where it goes. Sometimes I start with one idea and go somewhere completely different. My drawings often work that way, too.
I do have some time this weekend, too, because Hubby, aka Secret Agent Man, is off to Michigan visiting his folks. I couldn't get any vacation time, so I get to stay home and work. And clean house. And make jewelry!
Here's some pix of the crystals I got this week. They are colors like Indian Sapphire, Indian Pink, Rose, Peridot, Padparadscha, Blue Caribbean Opal (which is interesting and opaque, I haven't used crystals like that before), Jet, Black Diamond,and Silver Shade. In a couple days hopefully I will be posting more jewelry.
And don't forget, all my posted jewelry is available at olivehue2 on Etsy! If you want to buy something, and you include in the message to seller that you saw it on my blog, I will give you a discount and free shipping!
So I got a lovely email from a Duchess Erickson at Artbeads.com who saw my jewelry and that I have a blog and asked if I would be interested in participating in a program they have where they send samples to some jewelry makers/bloggers and have them talk about the products and use them. I thought this would be fun and give me extra stuff to blog about, so I said "sure"!
This month, apparently, is Swarovski crystal month! Yea!
(Of course, the really funny thing is I just ordered a whole bunch of Swarovski from another bead company but, shhh, I won't tell if you don't. That's okay, though, I love them and will use them all!)
Anyway, I'll let you know what I get when I get 'em and maybe have some more pretty stuff to show!
Being the crow girl that I am, I love all things sparkly! Here's some interesting Swarovski stuff I found online:
This is a lovely "gypsy" bracelet I made for a friend of mine.
