Bead Porn for the Lull

The Lull - those days between Christmas, and the return frenzy on the day after Christmas and the New Year's celebration.

Hope you all got what you wanted for Christmas - including some great beads!

If not, or if you just like to look through other people's holiday loot, here's some bead porn for ya!

I was still on my poly clay bender...

These are called "chit chats" and I thought that was just too cute to pass by. These were in my favorites during the entire, torturous bead diet and I kept checking every day to make sure nobody else bought them. Luckily, they were still there when the diet came to its inevitable end.

Not usually a fan of the donut shape - don't know why, but I loved the finish on this and it has a wire loop at the top so that expands the possibilities for me.

Raku leaf pendant from Star Spirit Studio on Etsy. Love the gorgeous colors!








Raku shell pendant also from Star Spirit Studios. I couldn't resist - lovely colors AND a shell? I'm so totally in!







This is from the same vendor - I thought the petroglyph feeling of the horse design was a great contrast with the colors of the raku background.

And if you're thinking that Star Spirit Studio just does raku - WRONG! Look at this unusual blue and gold bird pendant. I love it!









Pewter feather pendant from Mamacita on Etsy.












Pewter peacock feather pendant also from Mamacita.








Some awesome green and gold aventurine swirled lampwork beads from Kelley's Beads on Etsy.

Happy New Year, everyone! See you in 2010!

KJ

Who Wants (Bead) Porn for Christmas?

ME!

And, hopefully, you, too! Wow...there are lot of commas in that sentence.

Anyway, just because I'm going to be off until January 4th, doesn't mean I'll leave all you addicts high and dry without your porn. I've scheduled a few entries to post between now and then so hopefully, you won't go through withdrawals too badly.

Cute poly clay bird house with flowers, crystal and butterfly - from The Color of Dreams on Etsy.

Also from The Color of Dreams. Cute poly clay pairs just dying to become earrings!

I know, I know. I was kinda on a girly-girl binge when I picked all these out, but then I remember how much my grandmother loved pink and how she was known for her roses and her flower garden and I think these are an awesome remembrance of her.

These beautiful poly clay flower beads came from Mars Design on Etsy - would you believe they shipped all the way from Israel? And fast, too!

Also from Mars Design - check out the cool silver metal centers!

Is it Lay's potato chips where the slogan is "betcha can't eat just one?" Yeah, I'm kinda like that with beads...except not so much with the eating and more with the buying and collecting.

Okay, okay, I've occasionally been tempted to eat a bead, but so far, I've resisted that temptation.

As far as you know.

Heather Powers at Humblebeads had a sale a while back which finally allowed me to get some of her beads.

I'm lovin' these links - they are going to be FUN to design with.

Another one of Heather's beads. This pendant has two sets of holes so that it will hang horizontally. I love the colors in it, too.

And lastly, this "frosted berries" square bead. Yum!

As you can see, I was kind of on a poly clay kick. Until recently, it has never been a favorite of mine, but there are a number of artists out there really taking it to new heights so expand your horizons and check them out if you haven't already.

KJ

P.S. I've already contacted those involved directly to apologize, but I wanted to say for the record here on the blog that any comments I may have made about "bead porn" being my idea or my territory were STRICTLY meant to be humorous and should not be taken any other way. Of course, it's a completely free concept and anyone can use it. If you want to give me a link back out of the goodness of your heart - yay! If not, no biggie. My sense of humor often turns out to be funny only inside my own head so if you EVER read something here and you're not sure if I was serious or not, PLEASE e-mail me so we can straighten it out. I want everyone to have a good time and share the jokes.

Okay?

Okay.

Happy Holidays, all!

Christmas Gifts

Of coure, I didn't spend my entire weekend playing with the crabs. I did make some jewelry, too. Mostly for Christmas prezzies. I've given all these out so it's safe to post them here.

I haven't given up trying to get people to wear chicken jewelry. I've just found cuter chickens.

These are the shorter, more conservative chicken earrings.

Slightly blingier with red Swaros on top and bottom.

Sweet girly-girl chickens with pink Czech hearts.

Full-on glam chicken earrings with Swaro crystals.

Whatever your style, there's a chicken earring for you ;-)

I'm calling these babies "Hot Lava." Beautiful boro beads from Daniel's Beads on Etsy are paired with indigo Swaros and vermeil spacers and beads. Simple design that lets the beads take center stage.

Moongarden Earrings - named by Ryan. He thought the mauve lampwork beads looked like a flower garden and the hoops reminded him of the full moon. Air blue opal Swaros and some vermeil spacers and beads complete the look.

Starbird Earrings - Ryan named these, too. Polymer clay beads from Humblebeads mixed with vermeil spacers, brass bird links and wire, and amethyst Swaros.

Whew! Jewelry presents done. Still have to go out tomorrow and brave the stores for a couple of last minute things for my brother and my mom and then it's time to start wrapping.

KJ

Crab Update

I got to WATCH Summers switch shells last night! It was amazing! Mom took Ryan out for a special "grandma and grandkid" dinner so it was just me and the crabs (uh, that didn't come out quite right) at home. I went into Ryan's room just to check on them and there was Summers in his green painted shell sitting on the water dish. The other two were still hiding out.

I left and turned off the light.

Went back about 30 minutes later, turned on the light, and there he was, halfway out of the green shell and holding on to the front of the striped shell. I quickly turned the light back off and sat on a chair in front of the crabitat. It was REALLY dark, so I could just barely see, but he crawled out of his old shell and into the new one. I waited about 10 minutes and turned the light back on and there he was, in the striped shell.

He was still in it this morning so I'm thinking maybe he's finally made up his mind? I never knew they'd go back and forth and back and forth like that.

Oh, and to ladybug15057 who asked about the selection of shells in the crabitat - there's a HUGE variety in there including the turbo snail shell that you recommended. None of the empty shells are painted (well, except the one that Summers just vacated). I can't do anything about the fact that two of the crabs arrived in painted shells - that's how they came from the store and I wasn't the one who did the purchasing. Thanks for the resource information. I will be sure to check it out. As for our interaction with the crabs - I'm going by activity level. Summers has stayed out and about the whole time so we've interacted with him a bit. The other two, except for the first day, have holed up so we've left them strictly alone. I figure they'll let us know when, and if, they want to be social. Thanks again for your interest.

More crabby updates to follow.

KJ

Got Crabs?

Hermit crabs, I mean.

We do.

Well, Ryan does.

He is now the proud owner of three hermit crabs named Rocky, Talky and Summers. They live in an ultra-deluxe oasis known as a "crabitat."

It comes complete with it's very own "coconut hut." You can't see her (I say "her" because she has a pretty red shell painted with a girl's face on it, but there's really no way to tell the sex), but Talky is in there hiding out.

You also get this little doo-dad which Ryan has dubbed the "undersea paradise." Never mind that these are land crabs who would drown if they got into the water. This place has a nice hideout under it and Rocky is currently in there taking a snooze. He had a very busy day of shell-switching his first day with us. When he first arrived, he was wearing a sort of heavy, blocky, dull looking shell (hence the name "Rocky" since it kind of looked like a rock). We left for dinner and when we came back, he'd switched into a much lighter and spiffier-looking striped shell. However, when we woke up the next morning, he was back inside his original shell and had gone to hide out in the cave.

Now, let's meet the last of our three crabs - who was the only one who wanted to be social while I was taking pics.

Heeeerrrrrrre'sssss Summers:

We had him out most of yesterday afternoon and he was crawling all over the place. According to the book that came with the crabs, "Hermit Crabs for Dummies" (what, you were expecting the "Encyclopedia of Crabs?), we should be able to teach him some tricks using food. I'm not holding my breath on that one, though.

He wanted me to get his better side so here's another shot. He got his name from the beautiful beach scene that is painted on his shell, but since he spent a good part of yesterday switching shells back and forth between this one and the striped one (the same one that Rocky tried out and abandoned), I'm not sure his name will last. Still, he was in this shell when we woke up and checked on him this morning so you never know.

And, here he is hanging out on his water dish.

So, we spent most of our weekend doing "crab checks" every 30 minutes or so. The kid is in crab heaven and even I'm getting kind of a kick out of watching their antics. It's kind of interesting to find out who's wearing what shell today and who dug themselves into the sand or re-arranged the crabitat.

Hopefully, the other two will become more social and I'll get some pics of them as well. You can probably expect ongoing crab updates as part of the blog from now on :-)

Hope everyone had a good weekend. I did get a few pieces of jewelry made so will have those posted tomorrow.

KJ

The REAL, ORIGINAL Bead Porn

I'm like Porsche - there is no substitute!

Cute aqua and red links from Jangles.

And a big red pendant - also from Jangles. I love that she throws in some coordinating beads.

Such a bright, happy flower. I'm looking forward to a fun, summery design with this.

Aqua resin "pebbles." I thought they would make great spacers and also give a "sea glass" look to any design.

Had to get the green, too, of course. I did manage to resist the yellow, pink and purple sets. Go, me!

I needed just some nice lampwork pairs for earrings and these great beads from Lazy Cat fit the bill perfectly.

I just love pairs for making quick earrings - and since that's what I usually give out at Christmas, I needed several sets. These are also from Lazy Cat.

I had to get these lovely blue daisy beads. I think the workmanship on them is phenomenal.

This pendant came from the same vendor and is in my favorite color of royal blue. Plus, how cute is that butterfly?

An amazing flower pendant from The Classic Bead on Etsy. The colors she got to come out in her glazing of this piece are truly phenomenal and the picture doesn't do full justice to them.

"Paper white" pendant from The Classic Bead. I could seriously buy everything she does - they are all just gorgeous.

Same pendant - different color scheme of pale pink and aqua.

Happy weekend, all!

KJ

Potpourri

So, last night I'm in my room waiting for the kid to come in so he can take a shower (his bathroom is still under construction from the flood!)...

All of a sudden, he comes racing in screaming at the top of his lungs, jumps until he lands right in front of me, throws his arms wide and yells "TA DA!"

At which point I realize he's completely naked.

Except for a pair of sunglasses.

Gotta love that kid.

I'd LOVE to be able to read his mind to follow the thought process that leads up to stuff like this.

Let's see, what else? Oh, yeah. Mom called and left me a VM at work yesterday...to tell me that my outgoing message is too long and could I please change it so she doesn't have to listen to it any more.

Because it's Christmas, I refrained from calling back and saying "Well, if you don't want to listen to it...DON'T CALL ME AT WORK ABOUT STUPID STUFF!"

I believe this now officially gets me onto the "nice" list.

Oh, and then there's jewelry:

This is a huge departure for me. Asymmetry. Color. Mixing cheapy materials (wood) with expensive stuff (silver).

Plus, get me using a stone I JUST BOUGHT instead of hoarding it. Also, this picture comes with a free view of my backyard. No purchase necessary.

Okay, so I've been hoarding these 4 silver beads practically since I first started making jewelry. I couldn't stand to have just one lonely one left over...so I used it for a dangle on the back.

Closeup of the bright green bead and the silver.

I'm thinking I might need to adjust the front - take out a few of the wood beads. Or maybe not. I can't decide (another hallmark of being a Gemini).

By the way, I need a good name for this piece so if anyone has any great ideas, feel free to leave 'em in the comments or e-mail me. I'm usually pretty good at the names, but this one has me stumped. Right now it's just called "Green Wood." BORING.

Okay, that's it for today. Not sure if there will be a post tomorrow or not - I have to go to a funeral :-( A co-worker's mother passed away. I'll do my best to get the bead porn post done before I go, but if not, it will be there on Monday for sure.

KJ