Monday, June 20, 2011

Time to Post a New Creation

I'm kinda stuck in a creative "writer's block", so I'll post some of my recent creations. It'll make me feel like I've been working hard!

The first piece was for my best, and favourite customer, my Aunt Dot. She loves the colour blue and one night we were looking at all the pendants that she doesn't wear, so I offered to make her one for Christmas. Of course, I didn't get to it by Christmas and couldn't do it until I got back from Grenada, so she received it in May!


The stone is called "Denim" Lapis Lazuli and is quite beautiful. I ordered it from Rio Grande, along with the sterling silver wire. I have Dale "Cougar" Armstrong's book, Wirework, but I haven't really taken to working with square wire. And her designs are just waaaay out there. Maybe my tastes will change as I learn more, but somehow I kind of hope not quite to that extent!  I still need more practice with this technique, but Dot doesn't mind being my guinea pig.

Here's a bracelet I call "Aqua Twist" with my colour design from a Beadwork magazine pattern:


Finally, here are some more stretchy bangles to add to my inventory. This style seems very popular and is very budget-friendly...hmm... hence is popularity?! Both are made with size 6/0 seed beads and the one on the left is from a mix called Earth Tones and the one on the right is called just plain ol' Copper.


I bought these beads at Len's Mill Store, a hidden treasure for beads and a whole lot of other goodies. I went back recently and was disappointed to find that they had raised their prices! Darn. A $2.99 40g tube is now $3.99. Despicable. My complaint was met with a shrug. Hmmph. Story of my life.

Sunday, June 5, 2011

No Time to Play With My Beads...

I'm up on this social networking, but I don't really like the time it takes away from actually beading. I've opened a store on Facebook. (click on Blog title for link) I figure since I do my socializing on Facebook, I should have an easy way for people to find a link to buy my jewelry. I'm wondering if there is any easy way to transfer my ArtFire items to this store. Anyone know? I'll have to do some research.

I only have one item posted, but if you go to my business page, /FranMade, look for "Shop Now" on the left hand menu. Just click on that and it will take you to my store. I'm still working on presentation, so welcome any tips, especially a heads up on typos. Here's a screen capture of the page: