After I got married (which by the way was almost 26 years ago) I remember changing from my wedding dress into a little houndstooth suit, and grabbing my luggage to go on my honeymoon. I remember how much I loved that suit. As I think back it was a symbol that my life was about to move forward with my husband and that now we would be making decisions as one!
Last year I challenged myself to make a bracelet which resembled the pattern of that suit and this is what I came up with.
This bracelet cuff is special to me because of the peyote stitch I used. When I started beading years ago, I tried to learn as many stiches as I could but the peyote stitch just baffled me. It wasn't until years later that I was able to master it. My husband was a cheerleader for me when I came to him complaining that I just couldn't get the stitch. He assured me that I could do it. Now when I create things with peyote, it comes to me effortlessly. I challenged myself with this cuff to make a clasp instead of purchasing one. I love the little barrel clasp that I created for it! The whole bracelet is all peyote stitch!
Well it has been a long while since I have blogged! I am seeing that it has been since March. I have been so busy with family and illnesses in the family which is why I have not been on, but really missed blogging!
It is hard to believe that summer is almost gone! I'm in the process now of choosing bead colors for Fall and trying to figure out what colors would look great together. At this point I am in the process of purchasing all the September issues of the Fall magazines so that I can start getting my color palette together, so I will be prepared for the upcoming bead show in October where I will get to purchase a lot of beads!!!
For my Etsy store I am focusing more on building the paper bead jewelry section. So far I have started collecting pretty colored paper to represent the season (see below).
Some of the paper has a nice sheen to it, so it will be interesting to see what kind of beads it will make. Building the paper bead section of my Etsy store does not mean I won't be working with seed beads and crystals. I have already begun to work with Fall colors!
Pictured above are my orange stackable bracelets for fall. This bead bracelet stack is perfect for the upcoming fall weather. I love the little jack o lantern charms that dangle with the crystal and seed beads. There are 9, so you can wear them all on one wrist or on both wrist. You can even share with a friend!
I was fortunate enough to have a friend give me some really pretty orange paper. The paper was thick so the beads were quite a bit bigger after I hand rolled them and I was able to use end caps on each paper bead to create the purple and orange necklace below.
March is one of my favorite month's for a few reasons. The first one being that Spring is on its way! After sloshing around in the snow and rain we will soon have warm weather, and after the harsh winter we just had we are so totally looking forward to it!!! The other reason is St. Patrick's Day!!!!! Some of you may not know this but I am part Irish and love St. Patty's Day!!!!!!! My brother was born on St Patty's Day, so that makes it a double day of celebration.
When my brother and I were younger we would visit my grandmother often and she would take us out into an open field near her house where she would tell us to find and bring her four leaf clovers. We would look very hard and sometimes would find one or two which we would bring to her. She explained what each clover mean. One leaf represented hope, the other faith, the third love and the fourth luck! We were so excited when would find them and didn't mind searching for hours for them. The bracelet below was made in her honor.
The other thing I love about St. Patty's Day is wearing Green! Since I make jewelry this is never a problem. Here are a few other pieces in my Etsy store which help to capture the spirit of the season.
It has been a long time since I posted but I have been very busy! The holidays seemed to be a whirlwind! I was busy most of the time trying to keep my head above water as I completed all of the craft fairs I was scheduled to attend.
As I got toward the last one I decided I needed a long break! So I then just enjoyed the holiday time with the family! After Christmas though I got back into it because I decided I wanted to make additional items for my Etsy store. So at the present time I have 104 items in total! It feels more like a real store to me because there is so much variety! Please check it out at, https://www.etsy.com/shop/FeithHodgeCreations?ref=si_shop. I also added new sections, which includes seasonal items and tutorials as well as an anklet selection. As always I will be creating things with a variety of prices. The good thing is I'm always learning and trying things. During December I even posted an easy tutorial for a beaded ornament! It did well so I will be featuring it again come September for the next holiday season.
After Christmas I collected a lot of left over wrapping paper from family and friends to create more paper beads with! I made these beads with my new paper bead roller. I guess it is true what they say, "one man's trash is another man's treasure."
Some would view this as a bag of garbage....to me I just smile and know what pretty beads I can get from it!!!!
During the holidays I also purchased a new paper bead rolling tool. It was one of the best gifts I ever gave my self! I love the way it makes paper bead making easier!
This tool was purchased from https://www.etsy.com/shop/PaperBeadWorld. One of the things I love about it is that you can eject the beads off clean and easy from the tool. My beads seem to be more uniform and have been quicker and easier to make! See the video below on how to use it,
Like everything I needed a little practice, but once I got the hang of the new tool, I wondered how I ever used anything else! This particular roller is in 2 sizes. The 1/16 roller and the 1/8 roller which makes beads with bigger holes. I will be purchasing the other very soon.
So far I have been making a lot of beads with the wrapping paper I received. I even did an angel earring order for a friend which I will also be placing in my Etsy store.
beads made from that big bag of "trash" on the new roller! So uniform!
Used the new roller to make this cone shaped "dress" for my angel earring!
You can visit the paper bead jewelry section of my Etsy store to see what else I am up to with my paper beads at, https://www.etsy.com/shop/FeithHodgeCreations?section_id=13371888&ref=shopsection_leftnav_6.
I have so much to be thankful for this year! I am especially thankful for my health and the fact that I get to bead! To show my appreciation I would like to offer a 10 % discount to all for shopping in my Etsy store for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. If you use the code HOLIDAY1 in my Etsy shop at checkout, you will receive a 10% discount.
I don't know where the time has gone, but it is surely flying, and we are soon to enter the Christmas season! I know that I have been very busy, but I wanted to post this because I just completed my first Etsy bead tutorial! I love the season of Christmas! Especially here in New York, where we have the big tree in Rockefeller Center. It is usually topped by a large Swarovski crystal ornament! These ornaments which I created have Swarovski crystal as well, and are easy to make. Follow the link to purchase the pattern https://www.etsy.com/listing/168288028/simple-netted-christmas-ornament-cover.
