Yuletide 2014 at 1305 Gallery

 
Once again, this year, I will have items at 1305 Gallery during the holiday season.  My items are part of the Cincy Craft Cartel's display of Christmas and art-y items for sale as part of Yuletide 2014.  I wish I had taken some pictures of what will be there but have been in such a rush with family and other obligations, that I totally missed the boat.

1305 Gallery will be open from 4pm - 10pm on Black Friday and  you can check out their facebook page for additional hours.

From me, there are a lot of leather bracelets with handmade artisan beads and earrings.  Wonderful gifts for the holiday!  The Cincy Craft Cartel is a conglomeration of local (really talented) artists and also includes knitted and sewn items.  They also have an Etsy page - Cincy Craft Cartel Etsy. 

Halcraft November Pretty Palettes Challenge

Time for the reveal for the Halcraft November Pretty Palettes Challenge.  If you'd like to see more info about this challenge, check out my post from this post or the Halcraft Inspiration Blog. 
I used this color inspiration:
 

And received these beads to play with and come up with something fabulous!!!


I hope I did this color scheme justice.  Orange and grey were difficult for me to jive in the same pieces.  I liked some jewelry with the orange color and I liked some jewelry with the blue grey color but the colors together were just not working well for me.

So here it goes.  First, two bracelets. 
The first bracelet has the round orange dyed jade, hematite and natural shell beads.  Finished off with a gunmetal clasp.  Perfect for fall.  Perfect for Thanksgiving.  Definitely within the color palette.  I like thick bracelets - I figure if I'm going to wear a bracelet, especially when I have long sleeves on, then it better be big enough to stand out.  And this one works great with my cream sweater and black shirt. 

I feel kind of like I cheated on this second bracelet.  And I also love this bracelet.  I wore it at a party with my Cousins that I haven't seen in quite awhile and got lots of compliments.  The colors are a little subdued from the color palette.  The second bracelet has the black and white shell lentil and some Czech glass beads in tortoise, blue-grey seed beads and some small white shell beads (coincidentally, also purchased from Michael's).  The chain I got from the recent local Intergalactic Bead Show and wish I would have bought more - love the detail on it.  If you try to make a bracelet like this, here's a few hints:  1) make sure to pick chain that turns like this one and has even links.  I tried another chain that continuously turned and it was not good.  2)  make sure to loosely wire-wrap the links or else the bracelet will not move organically with your wrist. 

Next, a necklace.  Hmmmm..... Still think it needs work.  I like the front beaded part on it, but the circle links are a little big and don't seem to go with the leather quite right.  I think I will have to bring it back to the drawing table.  I was trying to keep it from being too heavy.  I have a problem with wearing necklaces that are too heavy.  But, man, those beads - banded onyx faceted beads - how pretty!  Such awesome stones!  I really wanted to make some kind of necklace with them.  This one includes the banded onyx and bronze plated beads and some copper washers.

And some earrings.  These include the white shell lentils and have been worn a few times already.  I like mixing the metals.

And a failed attempt, but I thought I'd show anyway.  I was trying to make a different type of link earrings with these, but the onyx beads, although the right size, are just a little too heavy for this design.  They just distorted the circle links.  But a good try. 

And all together.

Thank you Erin for including me in this month's pretty palettes challenge.  It was so much fun!   Can't wait to see what next month brings. 

Check out what Erin did with these beads here. 

Miss Hannigan

I recently designed a really pretty unique necklace.  It looks great with the style of long shirts and long sweaters.  Even the blanket coats.  It is a wonderful bohemian, shabby chic feel to it and includes some of my favorite things - wire-wrapped beads, Czech glass beads and handmade artisan beads.

Lovely, if I do say so.  *Pendant by Humlebeads.  Lampwork glass by Kimberly's Corner.

And then, I was watching Annie with my daughter.  The original 1982 version.  I loved this movie when it came out and love it now.  I loved belting out "The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow" in the shower as a kid and my girl scout troop did a rendition of the "It's a Hard Knock Life" (in Scouts).  Much to my daughter's chagrin, I can still sing all of the songs from this wonderful movie.  I was so into the movie, that at the time, I had the doll, the record and even for Easter one year, got the Annie locket (and still have it - well, I gave it to my daughter).

 See?  Quite awhile ago I added the pearl necklace instead of the original gold chain.  I was making jewelry before I even knew what jewelry-making can all encompass.

So, back to watching Annie with my daughter.  I couldn't help noticing Miss Hannigan's (Carol Burnett) wonderful jewelry collection.  Even in her scanties, she always had an abundance of costume jewelry.  Long chain and beaded necklaces.  The kind that are popular now.  And I was thinking how the necklace I made might fit into her wardrobe.---It just made me laugh.

 **Image from:  http://www.buzzfeed.com/lizlanteri/how-to-get-through-monday-by-miss-hannigan-63hh



*Image from:   http://parade.com/229552/carole-burnett-and-annie-ftr/

Seriously, though, this is more an idea of the outfit I was thinking of wearing with this necklace:

 

  Goodness, aren't these pretty?  and much better than walking around in underwear and feather boas.

This shirt can be found here: Anthropologie.   and the sweater here:  Anthropologie sweater


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One last thing, for the Annie fans - did you hear a new one is coming out in December 2014?  With Cameron Diaz as Miss Hannigan?  She is supposed to much more edgy?  (She has big shoes to fill!)  Can't wait to go with my daughter!

Halcraft November Pretty Palettes Challenge

I participated in the last two month's Pretty Palettes Challenge hosted by Erin Prais-Hintz on the Halcraft blog.  And I was already planning to participate this month (I need some challenges to get my creativity flowing) when Erin asked me to be her partner!  Yay!!!!!  I was so excited.  How fun it is to get free beads in the mail!   

So, then I saw the Inspiration blogpost and the original palette:


Gulp!  What to do with these colors?  I'm not a huge orange fan.  And man are those pumpkins bright!  But then I saw the beads she picked out and all fear went to the side.  
 
I mean look at these beads - shell and stone and metal.  These are more my speed.  I really like the shell beads - anything to remind me of summer!   The black and white beads, I thought from the picture just had the light reflecting the white and would be more black and grey.  They are indeed striped with white, black and grey.  And the copper beads have a richness to the color.  So, now the challenge begins.  I must put my thinking cap on and move forward. 

See you back on November 26th for the reveal!