Still waiting...

I'm still waiting for my wrists and arms to heal. They are doing better, and I'm in physical therapy several days a week. I'm starting to bead on a very small basis, but it still aches when I do it for any length of time. So, I need to be careful and heal all the way so that surgery won't be required. Thanks for your patience!!

Sorry I've been ignoring this...

But my tendonitis is not getting better quickly. I thought it would be a few weeks or so, but it looks now to be a few months or so is more like it. I haven't been able to even make new beads for the last 8 weeks, as it makes my wrists ache too much. I'm hoping to get back to it soon, but for now, I have to content myself with creating ideas in my head and writing them down for the day I can get back into the clay! Hope everyone has a great day!

New pendants

I've been working slowly on some new pendants. They are very time consuming, but turned out really cool! I'm going to make more single beads and make necklaces using these. It should be interesting to see how they turn out! They are definitely one of a kind items as they take too long to make more! :)

Name that Stone!

I'm having trouble figuring out what gemstone this is. Any suggestions?


Okay, we think we've gotten it -- Czech glass. Thanks for your help, and you can see more pictures of it here:

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=12536882

New things are happening!

Well, where to start. First I've opened two new Etsy shops. I've separated the different styles into new shops.

www.struckmyfancy.etsy.com -- fun and colorful jewelry
www.struckmyfancybeads.etsy.com-- just beads and buttons
www.MiraBelleDesign.etsy.com -- upscale, one of a kind jewelry designs

The day I opened all these, I got tendonitis in my wrist, so I have to limit my time on the computer greatly and I cannot make anything new until it is better. So, I will have to take a few weeks off to rest it so that it can fully recover. Hopefully I'll be back soon with new designs and ideas since I've got some great ones!!

I've been featured in an Etsy Treasury...

What is this, you may ask? Treasuries are a way for etsy members to put things together in a theme or a color.

http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list_west.php?room_id=11365

This treasury happens to have lots of bright green and hot pink and one of my bracelets was featured. I think it is the first time I've been featured in a treasury, so it is quite nice!

What's New?

I'm working on revamping my Etsy shop, tweaking it really, to get it where I want it to be. It has been interesting to think of my shop in a new and different way, finding things that emphasize what my designs are all about. I'm still in the middle of this process, but will hopefully be done soon with a new look for my shop and this site as well.

Be sure to keep checking back often! :)

A special order!

This one is an anklet made to match some flip flops. It turned out really cute and very colorful! I love pink and green together. Anklets are fun in the summer with sandals and flip flops.

Another Black and White

I just love black and white!! It is so fun and goes with almost everything. So, I make quite a bit of it and I love how this one came out. The beads are square and diamond and are alternating on the bracelet. Very fun! I call it, "Zebra Squared".

Earrings!

I've been working on some new earrings lately. I have covered metal and wooden earrings with clay designs of my own. Hopefully they'll be stronger than thin earrings of clay alone. These are really cool and I just love the black, white, and silver mix.

On the Spot Too

Here's another bracelet with lots of spots. It is a fun and happy bracelet that is perfect for summer!

A "charming" bracelet

Another charm bracelet, this time with black, white, and hot pink with LOTS of sparkling crystal and silver beads. Very fun!

Going on vacation...

I'll be gone for a few days soon, just wanted to let you know. I do have several new things in the works, but for some things I'm waiting on supplies, for others I'm waiting on time to work on them, and the others are still ideas floating around in my brain! Be sure to check back soon and often for new and interesting things I'm coming up with!!

Finishing something I started...

a long time ago. I've had these beads floating around for a while, had them strung, and then changed my mind and made the bracelet wrap around the wrist more times. It is a fun and rather funky look, but great color! I love hot pink and lime green and black and white are always classic. I named this one--"Do the Cha-Cha".

Big Black Horse and a Cherry Tree

Another new necklace--this time combining black and white with a cherry red faceted bead. So striking!! It is a gorgeous necklace and very eye-catching.

Mocha Latte

A calm and earthy bracelet of swirled black and taupe. Very soft colors, but interesting.

Another new necklace!

I've been on a roll lately getting some things together and this one was especially fun. I call it "Psychadelic"--a tribute to the 60's, I guess. I really don't care for the color orange, but I really like these beads I made and I think I found a good setting for them!

Needed to find a name for this necklace...and

I finally decided on one! It's called, "Don't Stop Believin". It is a really pretty necklace and I love the colors!!

A new Zebra!

This one is a square and diamond black and white swirl bracelet. So fun and so bright! I just love black and white and all the things you can do with it and of course, wear with it!!

New ideas, new designs

I want to try new designs and techniques so
that I learn new things. This is a new design for me--a charm bracelet with my beads, some glass, some agate, and some glitz. Fun and really pretty!

Another design in the works...

This one is a work in progress. I've been working on it today and it is coming together. I've still got some work to do on it and hopefully it will balance and look beautiful when it's complete!!

What I made with the beads...

to match the fabric! I've made a bracelet and I'm
working on another bracelet and a necklace as well. They are turning out really cool and the colors are great.

The black, lime green, yellow, and french blue are all swirled together and make a bold statement!

A brand new idea!

I have seen things covered with clay, but never tried it myself. So, I did this weekend! I found a brown wooden bangle bracelet, covered it with a specialty mixed clay made to look like malachite. I am really excited how wonderfully it turned out! Let me know what you think!

Here's a website that shows what real malachite in jewelry looks like: http://www.wehug.com/malachite-jewelry.html

New bracelet colors

I've been making a lot of special orders lately and
this is one that matches the colors of a blouse
for my mother. It is a very unique combination of colors--a seafoam green, a pale aqua, and a soft blue with black and white. Very pretty though..

I made this pendant last fall, and finally came up with a good design to put it into! I really like the colors in this, they are very rich and warm. I just have to buy a clasp to finish it.

Pastel Necklace and Earrings

A necklace and earring set in pastels with black and white swirls. I think it is pretty cute and it turned out well. Just some new techniques with the kaleidoscope cane that I tried.

Circus Earrings

These earrings match the Welcome to the Big Top bracelet. They are so cute!

I really like how they turned out!

New necklace and earring set!

I just finished this last night. and I love it!! It is so funky and fun. I named it Cookies and Milk, and I like so much! They are black, silver, and white with black accents. Let me know what you think!!

New beads to match fabric...

I saw some cool looking fabric that I really thought would make some great beads. So, this is what I came up with:


I changed the colors to be a little brighter, but I really like them. It will probably be a necklace and maybe even a necklace and bracelet set. Either way, it will be eye-catching jewelry!!

Special Orders galore!

Here's one I finished this weekend. I've been
working on about 10 special orders lately, and some of them are done. A few left to do, but this is one of the most challenging. I made 3 bracelets which my friend Kelli bought and then she wanted a necklace she could wear with all 3 of them. So, I had to come up with something that could be worn with each one separately, or all together. At the outset, it didn't seem like they would go together at all, but I think the design I came up with works with all of them. Kelli liked it, so that is good enough for me!!

A little matching going on!

I had a special order to create some beads to match a shirt's pattern and colors. I think it came out fairly well! (Actually, if you put the beads on the shirt, they're difficult to see!)

A success! And lots of fun to come up with matching colors and patterns for me.

Sorry...

I haven't had much going up here lately. I've been sick again. Hopefully it won't last an entire month this time! I'm working on some new things, but they are in the unfired stage at the moment. I have about 100 new beads ready to fire and I will hopefully get to that today. Check back again soon!

New color!

Last night I was working on a new color. I have some cherry quartz and I'm trying to make some beads to match them and make something unique with them. Who knows what it will be? I'm thinking right now it will probably be a necklace or bracelet. The quartz stones are about 15mm in size and faceted, so I don't know what shapes my beads will be yet.

Here's what I made...

with the beads I finished last week... It is a large necklace, about 30 inches long, but very cool looking, I think.

The clay beads are a olive brown with swirls of black and gold with some silver leaf embedded as well. A very unique look and definitely one of a kind. I don't think I could ever make them again! It was a difficult color to make and I wouldn't be able to match them exactly. So, a one of a kind!

And still more new things...

Here is the second of the two new things I've been working on--malachite beads. These are a bit different with many different shades of green to work with! Interesting to get the right texture with these, but I think I did pretty well and I like how they turned out. I'm hoping to add more semi-precious gemstone looks to my beading repertoire.

Working on some new things...

I've been trying to make my beads match the colors and styles of some semi-precious stones lately. This is some lapis lazuli on the left and my beads on the right (obviously:) Anyway, I think I got the color pretty well, but lapis has so many different variations of inclusions in black and gold that it is difficult to match. So, I did my best with the color and I'll add things from there!!

I've been featured in a blog!

Another artist has featured me in an interview on her blog. Here's the link:

http://www.justbebrave.com/2008/03/an-interview-13.html

Very exciting! Hope you check it out and tell me what you think!

Thanks, Melba!

Working hard!!

I'm working hard on some new things, but they're still in the planning and development stages. I hope to have some things ready for pictures within the next few days. Meanwhile, I hope you can check out my Etsy site where all of my jewelry and beads are for sale.

www.struckmyfancy.etsy.com

I've been working on the site quite a bit lately and it is doing well!
Thanks for checking things out!!

Star Flower

Here's a cute little pendant with shades of blue. It turned out really cute. But, what shape is it? A star or a flower?

New beads designs

Just finished them today! I'll be incorporating them into a necklace or something later. But for now it is a new technique that is interesting. It's got silver leaf, gold clay, a specially mixed green/brown clay, as well as black and copper. Very unique.

Bubble Gum, Bubble Gum, In a Dish...

How many pieces do you wish? As a child, I loved to jump rope and sing this little song and see how many times I could jump in a row. This bracelet reminds me of all the bright pink gum I used to chew way back when! So bright and pink!

New necklace tonight!

I made this necklace tonight. I was planning to use these beads in a bracelet and maybe some earrings, but they were too chunky for the wrist. Sooo, I ended up making this instead! I really like how it turned out. The beads are about an inch square and the round black beads are wood. They are spaced with silver stardust beads that are really sparkly.

So fun!!

New beads closeup and personal

Here is part of the new bead design I've been working on. This is the large version, I made smaller ones too. I'm thinking of making earrings and a pendant with these. They are so fun and such great colors of greens!

Beading

I'm really excited about what I'm doing now. New ideas and colors are interesting and although the ideas don't always come out like I plan, or haven't made it to the top of the "list of things to do and try" yet, it is still fun and I still enjoy it. I think I'm doing the best work I've done and I'm constantly trying to learn new techniques and concepts in art. Stretching the limits of what I've done before and trying to surpass them. It still seems a little funny that people I know call me an artist----me! But I'm trying to learn and grow and do more each day and do better than I did yesterday, and not just in beading and jewelry-in life as well.

Working on some new designs..

Here are some of the new beads I've been making the past week. It has been lots of fun and they are bright and yummy! I've now got blue, green, violet, pink, and yellow finished. I'm still working on a brown set and possibly red as well. In addition, I've been working on some new black and white designs!

One of my favs

One of my favorite bracelets. Love the hot pink and lime green and black in it. I'll be putting it up on my Etsy shop soon. I'll almost be sad to see it there because I like it so much.

I've been working on a ton of new stuff--pics to come soon!

Bright and Summery

Something great for summer--a bright bracelet that goes with everything.. So bright and fun!

Here's what I made with it....

I finished the pendant I made with the cool blueberry clay. It turned out really well, I also have some large and small beads of different shapes as well. But here is the pendant!!

Going for the natural look..

A bracelet made with bone and wood beads accenting my own beads. The colors are really pretty in this one.

I've been working on some new things, hopefully I'll have them shaped and fired soon! They are really cool! I used the blue clay shown below and made beads and a pendant. Then I made some in green, violet, and yellow! (I still have plans for other colors as well, just need time to do it!!)

Okay, so I didn't quite get to the image transfers...

but I did start on something new. I think it totally rocks! I really like how it turned out and I'll have to see how the beads, the bracelet, and the pendant I made with this actually turned out. Hopefully good. Let me know what you think!!

Earrings!

Here are some cute earrings made with cubes! Black with hot pink dots and some black glass faceted beads make these darling! So fun!

I love comments, so if you have something to say, write it down!

Walk on the Wild Side

Walking on the wild side can be scary, or it can be fun! Here it is just fun to wear this leopard print bracelet. Safe, yet daring!!

New beads!

I made these in January. I think they're different and they turned out well. The colors are beautiful--a dark pearl blue, an apple green, and white. Some of my favs!

Pearly Gates

Here's a new necklace design I started working on last fall. It is a 4 strand necklace of pearl and silver with lots of crystal and glass beads with it. Lots of shimmer and shine. Understated and elegant, I think. I really like this one! You'll have to let me know what you think! :)