Labradorite Take 2

This time I went for a horizontal orientation. At about 3" wide this piece is substantial yet still delicate and subtle. The neutral tone-on-tone is just lovely to my eye. Love. :)

Loving Labradorite

This highly mystical stone is said to bolster one's strength and intuition, plus aid in transformation.  I am loving the labradorite against the lighter driftwood backdrop.  I just realized that I was writing about tassels last Christmas and I believe it is becoming a classic trend that will be in style for years to come.  The silver chain tassel adds just the finishing touch this piece demands.   

A Merry Red Pairing

I made this two bracelet set for my sister to give as a gift but I liked it so much that I had to share it before I sent it out into the world. Ruby jade and a very lovely piece of driftwood, plain and simple. Happy Holidays!

Driftwood ~ Meet Tourmaline

A whole new crop of driftwood specimens arrived at my doorstep last night compliments of my friend and partner-in-beaded-crime, Jennifer.  She recently and quite spontaneously decided that we needed more driftwood inspiration and hopped-a-plane for the Oregon coast...my hero!  Tourmaline is said to enhance understanding, increase self-confidence and amplify psychic energies...bring it on.  Who knew multi-colored tourmaline on driftwood would look so smashing?! The dragonfly was added as a custom touch for a client. 

Driftwood Gallery: Apatite ~ Stone of Acceptance

This faceted aqua colored gem perfectly brightens a sea-washed piece of driftwood.  They call apatite the "stone of acceptance".  Ok, no problem, I accept!  It's Friday and I chose to highlight my latest driftwood necklace creation with a pretty pink background.  Happy colors, happy day.  Cheers!

Driftwood Gallery: More Bracelets!

Maybe it is the full moon or maybe I have just found a serious creative zone but I literally cannot stop making these bracelets.  Here are three more for your viewing pleasure.  From top to bottom: Turquoise seed beads, Appetite, Aquamarine.  Oh what a happy little stack of bracelets!

Driftwood Gallery: Bracelets with Turquoise

Loving these...Christmas gifts anyone?  :)

Driftwood Gallery: Earthy-Hipster Bracelets

I always return to bracelets, admittedly they are my favorite category of jewelry.  I love making pendants with the driftwood but these pieces feel so special too and appropriate for everyday as bracelets.  These three lovelies are utilizing leather, turquoise, recycled sea glass and wire.  I am feeling ever more confident in this category of earthy-chic.  So many possibilities!

Driftwood Gallery: No. 3

There are endless possibilities with this medium.  I LOVE working with driftwood.  In this necklace, I liked the contrast of the turquoise with the darker wood.   It's a fairly simple design but I think it works.  This one measures 1.5" wide and a little over half an inch tall.  Let me know what you think!

A True Vintage Find!

I love it when you go into a thrift store and walk out with something so perfectly on trend and truly vintage!  And, so phenomenally inexpensive, try $6!  Yes!!  This is a beautiful and classic gold mesh collar by Givenchy with a 1976 date stamp on the tag charm.  I am quite impressed with myself on this one.  It feels amazing on, lightweight and very flexible.

Peacock Pearl and Gold Chain

In this convertible piece I took peacock pearl and added a little gold wire and chain...I just love simple chic!  Wear as a long necklace or a 5-wrap bracelet. 

p.s.  More driftwood pieces are in the works!  :)

The Jewelry Bird at Kitsy Lane!

I opened my Kitsy Lane online boutique today!  There is truly something for everyone as they highlight up and coming jewelry designers.  I bought this cute little leather ring recently and kept going back to peruse the shop.  So, I decided that I would try my hand at selling my own curated selection of their crafts.  No, none of my pieces are for sale at Kitsy Lane, at least not yet! You'll have to contact me at LisaBead@gmail.com if you see something on my blog that you like. Please do check out my little corner shop at Kitsy Lane for some unique finds from other designers: https://jewlerybird.kitsylane.com!

Driftwood and Aquamarine

Hello Part II...in the Driftwood Gallery series that is!  This one was created to specification for my friend Cathy.  This time I used mineral oil to bring out the color and definition in the wood.  Then I wire wrapped faceted aquamarine to create a lengthwise tassel necklace.  I used a dark antiqued brown leather and gold wire and button for the adjustable clasp.  I truly love the one-of-a-kind-gallery-feel this piece has!  Email me at lisabead@gmail.com, if you'd like a quote on your own special piece.

The Jewelry Bird Copyright 2012

The Jewelry Bird Copyright 2012

The Jewelry Bird Copyright 2012

Driftwood Gallery Series

A lovely person off the northern coast of England collects beautiful pieces of driftwood and when I saw them on her Etsy.com site I knew they would be the perfect inspiration for some totally one-of-a-kind and special jewelry.  My friend, Jennifer, and I thought we'd be making mostly bracelets out of this lot of pretty driftwood but as it turns out each piece has revealed a unique destiny, many as necklaces.  This piece is only a small sampling of the creativity that came out of working with this natural medium.  In this one, I re-purposed a thrift-store-gold-necklace-find and added turquoise and gold wire to complete the finished look.  I can honestly say that I have never seen anything like this and that makes me very happy. 

The Jewelry Bird Copyright 2012

Gronstedt Design

There is a very talented jewelry artist named Anita Gronstedt from Sweden who makes the most amazing leather bracelet cuffs.  My friend Jennifer discovered her in Boulder at an art festival.  She saved her pennies for two months to purchase the bracelet below.  These pieces are traditional to northern Sweden in an area near the arctic circle known as the Lapland.  These Lapland bracelets are hand stitched out of reindeer leather and are of the highest quality and workmanship.  I had to write about her because her work is so special and unique and she does all of her work right out of Boulder, CO.  The bracelet below features an antler centerpiece.  Just stunning!  Many of her pieces are featured and sold on her website at http://gronstedtdesign.com.  She also custom makes these, so they are a perfect fit to any wrist size, hallelujah! 

Turquoise Wrap Bracelet

Well, I said I may never do another ladder, Chan-Luu style bracelet again but these pretty turquoise beads lured me into another project.  It took the better part of two weeks to finish, working on it here and there, approximately 4 hours total.  I am realizing that after being a Coloradan for nearly 15 years now, it is high time I grow some southwestern roots...and style.  These last two pieces are a tribute to my deepening appreciation for southwestern style.  Now if I could just manifest the perfect pair of cowboy boots...see my "dream boots" on Pinterest!  (By the way, Pinterest.com is great fun...I highly recommend it!)

The Jewelry Bird Copyright 2012

The Jewelry Bird Copyright 2012

Chrysoprase Statement Necklace

I finally did it...I broke the cycle of bracelet creation!  These beautiful chrysoprase beads were begging to become one big and beautiful necklace.  I am in love with these stones.  The deep greenish-aqua hues mixed with the earthy browns are really special.  Visually they are stunning but even more, the very feel of them is intoxicating.  It is said that chrysoprase is a stone of love, abundance, prosperity and healing, no wonder I feel like a million bucks parading around in it!  I put it on an extender so I could wear it shorter or longer.  I mixed in some lovely turquoise beads as spacers and added a rich brown leather cord to finish it off.  This is such a special piece...I am very excited to share it!  :)

The Jewelry Bird Copyright 2012

Buy it because it fits?

I have very few hard and fast rules when it comes to jewelry.  One of my rules is that if I find a piece of jewelry that I want to buy but I can make it, then I am required to at least attempt to make it.  And secondly, if I find a bracelet (that I can't make) that actually fits my child-size wrists then I buy it!  Especially if the price is right.  I hit the Nordstrom Rack clearance section this week (at a minimum, this is a quarterly event) and discovered this plastic green cuff.  It fit perfectly, and it was under $10.  Sold!  But really?  A plastic green cuff?  Today I am questioning the thought process that went into this purchase.  I am thinking that I should add one more important criteria to my list of questions...must love it.  But here I waiver.  It was under ten bucks.  So what if I only have occasion to wear this funky thing once or twice?  :)  By the way, the chain link bracelet was a gift from my friend Kristin for my birthday last year, love it! 

The Brandi Wrap

I needed a bracelet to go with an outfit this weekend that I wore to the Brandi Carlisle concert at Red Rocks.  AMAZING show by the way, such a special and talented performer.  And what a perfect date night with our friends, Nicki and Bret, thanks guys!  Casey and I needed that!  So I whipped up this little double wrap delight and am calling it The Brandi Wrap in her honor.  I thought it looked really nice with the feather bangle from my very first post.  I re-purposed these rhinestones from an old piece and wove it into leather with blue-grey embroidery floss. 

Had to throw in a concert pic of Nicki and I!  :)  

Beaded Summer Bangles

I admit, I made the red one last week to have a little something patriotic to wear on the fourth.  I made a silver version of the ruby jade one for my friend and coworker, Katherine, this week, happy 30th!  And, the white quartz triangles I made today.  I have been wondering what to do with those triangle beads for some time.  I've seen a bit of a trend in triangle shaped jewelry in the last year, so it is timely that these beads find a home.  The flexible wire that I used allows me to get these on and off a bit easier than if they were rigid.  It also made it so that I could make it smaller than a rigid bangle since I can mold it over my hand when putting it on.  These are quick pieces, appealing to my instant gratification side.  My friend, Jen and I (who made the "Merry Wrist-mas" bracelets with me last year) are already beginning a plot to make a more stackable version of these for future gift-giving endeavors...hint hint.  :)

Beaded Leather Cuff

Etsy.com is a continual source of artistic inspiration and creative ideas.  I saw similar designs to this beaded leather cuff bracelet on many sites and thought I'd give it a try.  It was quite labor intensive (~3 hours) but the result was definitely worth it.  If I were to do it again, I probably will not use the cube beads down the middle.  They look beautiful when laid out straight but they do not lay as perfectly as I'd like when worn around the wrist.  This is a substantial piece worthy of standing alone or, as you see below, layered with some other wrist candy!  :)

Perfect Pink and Little Leaf

This shade of pink is not only my sister, Abby's, favorite color but just makes me feel happy!  And the little leaf button I found for the clasp is perfection.  Not too cutesy, not too plain, just right.  I used dark brown leather and DMC's Cotton Perle embroidery thread for this project.  I love this design, it is so simple and clean.  It could be worn alone or layered to create the all exciting "Arm Festival"!  (See previous post.)  My sister claims she will be wearing this one every day!  :)

Blog Crush: Meet Inslee Haynes!

I have a new blog crush.  I am not ashamed to say that I am totally smitten with Inslee Haynes and her Sketch Book blog!  I started reading her blog a couple of weeks ago and could not stop reading until I had consumed all 300+ entries!  This woman does the sweetest, most beautiful fashion illustrations.  And her passion for her work and how she arrives at her content is very endearing.  Her "little ladies" as I call them are quickly becoming an inspiration for my jewelry creations.  The night I finished reading her three-year-volume-of-postings I found myself standing in front of my closet saying, "what could I wear tomorrow that Inslee Haynes would find interesting and worthy of a sketch?"  As if it was not already nutty enough that I am having this thought process, I actually answered the question..."I should wear neutrals with a pop of color and an Arm Festival!"  (A direct reference to this post.)  And that is what I did.  White skinnies, a gray tank top and a bright salmon colored summer scarf and this super fun "Arm Festival".  All but the studded bracelet are my own creations.  Thanks to my co-worker, Katherine, for some great pictures!

The Hawaii Wrap

I got together with my friend, Kari, today and for some reason the conversation just kept coming back around to the beach and going to Hawaii and drinking margaritas!  We made these double-wrap-beachy-delights and I think they are totally in keeping with the theme.  Her daughter, 5-year-old Whitney, even got in on the action and made a sweet little triple wrap bracelet for herself and made me a beautiful beach drawing too.  The clasps are made out of a pink flower Lucite bead and an aqua recycled glass bead.  We used brown waxed linen and size 6/0 clear beads.  What a fun afternoon, thanks ladies!

The Friendship Bracelet: All Grown Up

A couple of days ago I stumbled into a little store on my lunch break called The Knitty Cat.  What a can of worms (or should I say "yarn") that turned out to be!  I had no idea what amazing, beautiful string there was out there these days.  I went in thinking that I may find a particular color of thread for another project I am working on but that is not what I found, of course.  I could have easily spent a sizable portion of my life savings in that store but I restrained myself in the end and just bought the gorgeous string you see in the bracelet below.  I love how earthy and organic feeling this is but still modern and clean.  I wore this out to eat last night with my friend, Kristin, and she already requested that I make her three!

This bracelet wraps around twice, the string is a cotton/silk blend, wrapped around leather cord and finished off with a muted-gold button clasp.  There is something about working with string that makes me feel giddy, like how I felt when I first learned to make friendship bracelets as a kid.  But this, this is what I am calling "Friendship Bracelets for Grown Ups"!  I think there may be many more versions of this one in my future!  This looked so nice stacked with one of my "Merry Wrist-mas" bracelets (see post from last December) today that I had to include a second picture. 

 

Lovin' The Wrap!

Day two of wrap bracelet frenzy.  The scene: Three full hours to myself while our 12-year-old-mother's-helper entertains the little one. Oh yeah!  This one is the same technique as my last post but with drastically different bead choices.  I went with cube beads for one side of the braid and faceted rose gold beads for the other.  I like the end result which makes it feel like two bracelets in one and gives it that stacked look.

Aqua Beaded Wrap Bracelet

I have very limited time these days and I have to think very carefully about what can be done in a 90 minute to 2 hour time frame while my two year old takes her afternoon snooze.  I am happy to report that from start to finish, this fun bracelet only took about an hour and fifteen minutes.  I have to give thanks to Erica and her blog (http://honestlywtf.com/diy/diy-beaded-bracelet/) for the idea and instruction. I think it will prove to be one of my summer staples!

I used brown waxed linen, size 6/0 beads which are a bit bigger that the one she lists in her blog and an aqua sea glass bead for the clasp.  The finished piece measures 13.5 inches and wraps twice around my wrist.

Oh and one more thing... after making this bracelet today I managed to post this blog entry before my daughter woke up from her nap.  YES!

Easiest Wrap Bracelet Ever!

I whipped up this little cutie when I realized I bought the wrong shade of leather for another project.  And, I used a bead that was left-over from a coworker's bracelet that I had sized smaller for her.  It is so simple but has a lot of impact and goes with so much of my wardrobe.  Just take a long piece of leather and figure out how long you want it, attach a button or bead clasp, tie some knots and voila...a lovely 5-minute wrap bracelet!

The Jewelry Bird's Dream Studio

One of the great things about being home sick with the sniffles is the inevitable curling up on the couch and partaking of daytime television that occurs.  While in a state of severe head fog recently, I caught an episode of The Nate (Berkus) Show and there was a segment on OlioBoard.com.  This is the coolest interactive online design site I have ever seen.  Users create and design mood or inspiration boards to depict a room they'd like to manifest.  Naturally, (post-head-fog) I logged on and created the Jewelry Bird Studio of my dreams!  Of course this room would also serve as a personal sanctuary and relaxation space.  For days I added, took away, nudged, rotated and adjusted countless elements and came up with the Olio Board you see below.

Oh what fun and highly addictive this process was!  That big blue flower you see is a rug, isn't that beautiful?  I am currently not allowed to log on to their site for a self-enforced-48-hour-design-detox.  My only miniscule complaint about the free version of their site is that I do not see a function to upload your own pictures; I am sure they have their reasons. 

This process got me thinking; what if there was a site like this for jewelry and other DIY crafts?  Or, inspiration board-builder-sites for goals and dreams?  It's endless! 

Friendship Wrap Bracelet Revisited

Do you remember Spring Break, circa 1992?  Let me refresh your memory, you were considered one of the cool girls if you came back tanned to a bronze and with some brightly colored string woven around a tiny braid in your long hair.  Today I revisited this concept but as a bracelet and hopefully with a 2012 edge!  This was fun and surprisingly easy.  How I ever learned to make friendship bracelets as a kid without YouTube is beyond me!  I found this little gem of a video yesterday, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gs2mzaR2vk&feature=related. I used four strands of waxed linen for the inside pieces instead of the braided yarn this video suggested and it worked great.  It gives the bracelet a nice little rigidity as a bonus.  The clasp is a tinier version of some nest pendants that I had created a few years ago.  And of course in keeping with my tassel obsession I just left some of the excess fringe.  A unique look for sure!  I think it would be cool to do a really long version of this that wraps around five times and incorporates more colors.