You know you WANT it!

And I'm just the gal to give it to you.

Okay, that didn't sound quite as creepy in my head. It's possibly a bad thing that it's only 10 AM and I'm already eating chocolate at my desk...

Whatever. Here's the porn:

More of the sale stuff I got from Earthenwood - I just forgot to post it when I posted the others.

Some great fall ceramic beads from Mary Ann Carroll. I don't know why, but I'm really into the whole clay and ceramic thing lately. I'll probably always be a lampwork girl at heart, but it's nice to have other options - especially since lampwork can be so pricey!

More of the same - I like to make sure I'm going to have enough beads for a design.

Some cute Thai silver flower charms. There are actually three in the set, but there were only two in the picture on Etsy - not sure why.

Soochow jade may be my new favorite stone. The colors are just so yummy.

I was really surprised when this ceramic bead from Little Cup on Etsy arrived at my house. It's HUGE. I love it anyway, but doesn't it kind of seem like the center of the flower is, I dunno, looking at you? Like some kind of alien eyeball?

Just me?

Okay, then. Moving right along...

Really cute ceramic heart link from Little Cup. I love aqua and red together. So happy.

Love the colors on these disk beads. These are going to make a very cheerful, happy bracelet with loads of dangles and crystals. I can already see it...

I love the deep, dark and mysterious colors in these beads from Beads of Passion on Etsy. I'm seeing some gold spacers and Purple Velvet Swaros...

Okay, that's it for this week. Hope you had a good time!

If I can ask a favor - I need some good thought/prayers/whatever for this weekend. The Ex is coming to see the kidlet for the first time in almost a year and I really need this to go well! Especially since I have to "supervise" the visit. I need patience and wisdom (and possibly a barf bag) to get through it.

Thanks and hope everyone has a good weekend!

KJ

It's Raining...

...or at least it's supposed to rain today. So far, it's a no go. We'll see. Rain would be nice for a change.


I have had the most boring week imaginable. Which is good in that I was getting kind of tired of all the domestic disasters and "life lesson" events I've had to deal with this year, but it also makes for super-boring blog posts.


Which is why I am ripping off my friend's work to show you...cuz I got *nuthin'* today:

My friend, Julie, made this necklace and when I saw it, I about fell over. I can't do it justice with my pictures, but she never photographs her stuff so I told her I'd do it for her if I could post it here. I taught her how to wire-wrap and NOW look at her! Amazing!

The blue frit used on these black lampwork lentils exactly matches the blue crystals in the piece. I'm trying to remember the artist's name but right now all I can remember is that she's on eBay.

Would you believe this pendant is from Michael's?? Originally, she had a different piece on here - it was a paua shell leaf. And it was pretty, but it just wasn't rockin' like THIS pendant is.

And, of course, no piece is finished without a dangle at the clasp. Guess who she learned that from?

Awesome job, Julie! This is truly beautiful!

And now, my contributions:

Flower disks from Winchell Clay Works on Etsy. They are so cute that I wanted to keep the earring design simple - just a Bali silver link and a lavender Czech glass flower with a tiny crystal center for some sparkle.

I'm still trying out different background trying to decide what I like best for pictures.

Yep - same earrings.

Okay, I'm lovin' the pink. I can't help it.

Czech glass rondelles and some teeny Swaros added.

Has everyone had a good enough look now? I wouldn't want you to miss out on the chance to admire me and my work ;-)

Okay, off to lunch!

KJ

Oooooh...Sparkley!

While I've really enjoyed playing with all the different base metal chains and wirework and asymmetrical designs lately, it took a reminder from a friend (thanks, Julie!) to help me remember that my first love will always be lampwork with silver and crystals. I can't help it, there's just something magical about each individual lampwork bead - like there's an entire universe captured in magical (and sparkley!) glass.

Julie made an awesome necklace with some great lampwork beads and Swarovski rondelles. Being the queen of originality, I had to immediately go out and copy her because her necklace was so awesome! Hey, it was either copy it or steal it from her and I chose to stay out of jail because someone has to be around to sign off on the notes that the kid's teacher keeps sending home every day (sigh).

Sometimes a girl just has to get her pink sparkle on, ya know?

"Ice Cube" lampwork beads are from Kool Kat Klass on Etsy. I added pink Swarovski rondelles from Fusion Beads and some silver spacers and chain from my stash.

Because the beads have a bit of a "garden" feel to them, I added a butterfly toggle for the clasp. And yes, I know excellent blurry picture taking by me. What else is new?

Can't get enough of the symmetrical, pink, sparkley goodness. Now I'm going to go put on my tiara and my princess costume and watch "Sleeping Beauty."

KJ

Rings & Things November Goodies

Got my package of Rings 'N Things freebies in the mail over the weekend. In the past, they've let us pick our own stuff, but this time, they made the selections and sent out some really unusual things.

I picked the items I liked best out of the package to show:

Two different kinds of really cool chain in shades of copper and black. I'm not sure how to describe it other than to say it looks like copper chain that's been blackened in a fire? I'm excited to figure out a way to work with it. I've got one idea percolating already...

Then there's this wooden "chain" with HUGE links. If it had been a longer piece, I was kind of thinking of doing some sort of beaded belt with it, but it's too short. I have a few other ideas, though, so stay tuned.

Thanks for everyone who has been commenting here and finding me on Facebook. I'm having a lot of fun with all of the communication. It's amazing to think I started this blog in what? 2004? And pretty much wrote it in a vacuum until earlier this year LOL! I guess I like to hear myself talk or something. Anyway, thank you all so very much - you have no idea what the feedback and communication means to me! It's awesome!

By the way, if you set your blogger/comment settings to allow your e-mail address to come through when you comment (not here on the blog - it comes to my e-mail address), then I can reply back. So, if you want to conversate (yeah, I make up words, so what?), that's the best way to do it OR friend me on Facebook - I used my real name, Kelly Morgan, on there instead of Silver Parrot.

Happy Tuesday to all!

KJ

Bookin' it!

It has finally happened. I have joined the entire rest of the human race and opened up a Facebook profile. I believe I'm officially the last person on the planet to do so, but hey, better late than never.

In other news, Lorelei and I have officially started a bead diet. 1 month with no bead purchases. Now, I know what you're thinking: "Didn't she try this a few months ago and she couldn't even go 2 weeks?" And yep, you're right. But, I didn't have a support system that time.

THIS TIME IT WILL BE DIFFERENT!

Okay, who just snickered? Shut up...or I'll find you and it won't be pretty.

Ahem.

The rules: no bead purchases for 30 days (starting today). Essentiall supplies like wire, findings, etc. are exempt from the rule. If we make it, at the end of 30 days, Lorelei is buying herself an Ipod touch as a reward. I don't know what that is, but I'm sure it's cool. I am going to make myself an appointment at a local day spa for a massage as my reward. It's something I keep meaning to do and with all the shoulder and neck problems I've had (and the stress!) this year, I think it's a good choice.

Oh, and don't worry. This will in no way impact the posting of the Friday Bead Porn. I have such a backlog of photos to get through that I could probably last until at least February.

And lastly, some jewelry (cuz nothing else exciting happened this weekend unless you want to hear about my nephew's 4th birthday party):

Beautiful art clay bead from Summer's Studio on Etsy.

Antiqued brass starfish charm from Patina Queen. Plus some dangles of Swarovski crystal and Czech glass in shades of aqua and purple.

I love this chain with it's round and oval links. Got it at my LBS, but they are out of it now. Apparently, I'm not the only one who likes it.

I have a whole strand of these Peruvian opal ovals and each one is a little bit different. They range in color from a dark, almost malachite, green to this pale blue with brown matrix running through it. I loved this particular one because it reminded me of an ocean shoreline - the matrix is the sand, the blue is the ocean and there are even some white inclusions that look like wispy clouds. The lavender bead is some faux sea glass from The Beadin' Path.

A closeup on the pendant because it is just so awesome!

And here's the complete necklace. Overall, I'm quite happy with it even though it's SO HARD for me to do the asymmetrical thing. This is probably my best attempt at it to date.

Okay, happy Monday, all!

KJ

XXX BEADS XXX

Okay, a few housekeeping items before we get to the bead porn:

1. Thank you to everyone who has left a comment or exchanged e-mails with me this week. I get such a kick out of all of you! It's been fun and informative. I even learned a few new words!

2. Lorelei - I couldn't find any REALLY ugly beads so...either don't read the rest of this post or else start your diet on Monday. I recommend Monday. It's really the internationally approved official diet-starting day, anyway.

Okay...on to the good stuff.

All things shell and ocean-y must be mine. Plus, these were el cheapo cheapo. Love that in a bead.

Cuz it means then you can afford to get some in EVERY color. I thought these would go well with brass, especially.

Now that I'm working more with brass, I thought it would be a good idea to have just some basic, round filler-type beads. I use a lot of things like this in my gold and silver designs as spacers or to finish off an earring dangle nicely, etc.

More random filler-type beads. These looked like they would go well with a lot of things and I like the gold patina on them.

Some cute and spring-y porcelain beads from macarroll on Etsy. No idea what I will do with these...I just thought they were pretty.

More from macarroll. I think these will go perfectly with a Chinook pendant I bought a while back. Hey, I don't ALWAYS buy at random (usually, but not always).

And one last set from macarroll - they're ocean-y. I can never resist anything that reminds me of the ocean. I am just a surfer girl at heart.

Melanie at Earthenwood had an Etsy sale a few weeks ago so I grabbed up some stuff. Cute butterfly and some kind of alien pod thing.

More from the Earthenwood sale. These reminded me of a cheerful Hawaiian print and will be great for a pair of quick summer earrings.

Last sale set from Earthenwood. I loved this yellow - it's just so sunny and cheerful! Can't wait to make some fun, bright designs with these pieces.

This pair of boro beads from Daniel's Beads on Etsy is called "lava lamp" and it's pretty obvious why. Still, I will always be a sucker for gorgeous boro beads drenched in color. Always.

See? Another pair, this one called "Supernova", from Daniel. Yummmmmmmmm!

I'll just say it again: "YUUUUUUUUUUUMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!"

Whew! Okay, I don't know about y'all, but I need a cold shower.

Have a great weekend!

KJ

Humblebeads Focal Challenge #1 - Horizontal Focal

How me it is to do the #1 challenge on the last day. Bassackward as always, but this particular design has been giving me fits all week. I drove home Monday thinking I had this totally awesome idea for it...then started working on it that night only to discover that hmmm...not so much with the awesomeness as I originally thought.

Plus, in my mental imaginings, I always have the PERFECT thing to finish off a design. Then I crash down to reality when I search through my stash only to discover that I do not, yet, in fact, own every single bead on the planet.

But I will. Oh yes, one day, I will have them ALL and...

Whoops! Did I say that out loud?

Never mind.

Anyway, this is about the 4th iteration of this design and I took it apart and redid it basically each night this week (see, THIS is why I don't normally re-do things...I get obsessed with it having to be PERFECT and pretty soon I'm bent over my worktable at 2 AM with wild hair and shaking hands and red eyes and I'm cackling to myself and it's a bad scene all around), but I think I FINALLY aced it.

However, that meant taking pictures at dawn this morning so the photos are...not that great. The sun was up, but there was a touch of fog so it wasn't quite as light as I had hoped for. But, after suffering over this silly thing all week, there was no way a little fog was going to keep me from getting it posted today.

Eh, voila!

I sort of turned the challenge around (which I hope is okay) and instead of beading across a horizontal centerpiece, I used a focal that was ALREADY horizontal and beaded around it.

Initially, I thought this brass leaf component would be really easy to design around, but for some reason, it was really difficult for me. I tried lots of different ideas about wire-wrapping the center section or trying to have a bird charm dangling above the branch and oh, a whole ton of other things that didn't work out. Then, I found this beautiful dichroic glass leaf in my stash and the muse finally decided to cooperate instead of wandering around in a drunken stupor which is what she usually does.

I took several different shots of the leaf trying to really capture the light, color and sparkle of it. I desperately wish I could remember the name of the artist, but all I can remember right now is that I bought it (and several others) at Brea Beadworks about a year ago.

Okay, I may be a bit obsessed with the leaf. Moving on.

The sides of the necklace are brass chain with peridot and amethyst chips woven through the links. The purple and green pick up the colors in the dichroic leaf centerpiece.

And one last picture of the whole piece. Y'know, for something that, at one point, I wanted to throw on the ground and jump up and down on top of in frustration, I'm REALLY happy with the way it turned out. The colors are gorgeous and the gemstones and art bead both really glow.

I'm calling it "I Heard it Through the Grapevine."

KJ