Pretty Palettes - May 2018 Reveal

Have you ever had a month where everything just seems needlessly complicated? Not bad, per se... just everything takes an extra five steps?

That's what this month has been like for me. Oi.

Still, at least I can now happily report that I can download pictures to my computer again. Yay! (For those curious, it was an iPhone driver issue.) And downloading pictures means that I can share what I made for this month's Pretty Palettes. Double yay! :)

This month's inspiration comes from a rather spectacular (and flashy) source:

Not my photo!
Photo by Andre Mouton on Unsplash

That's right! Peacocks! Based on that inspiration, here are the beads that the talented Molly Schaller picked out:

...Although, truth be told, I didn't actually use any of those. Oops! You see, with all the organizing that I've been doing in my craft room, I had recently seen beads that I knew would match perfectly. So, I used those instead! (Do I get extra points for using up some of my stash? Maybe? *grin*)

With those beads, I made one necklace... and, without further ado, here it is!

The beads are glass (faceted blue and round purple) and aventurine (both light and dark green rounds). I went with silver findings to match the underlying color of the peacock feather pendant--a pendant that I colored myself using some of my new patinas. :)

I'm hoping to get this necklace listed to my store sometime in the next week... It's long and lovely, and I need to start making it possible for other people to wear some of what I make. :)

Thanks so much for stopping by today to see what I've been up to! I hope to be back to my normally scheduled blogging next month... I've been missing it! (I've been making great strides in cleaning my craft room, but it's definitely going to take more time... life can just be so busy. Ah well!)

Have a wonderful day, everyone--and a wonderful end of May!

Thursday's Worktable... ish

I'm apparently having technical difficulties right now. I've spent the last few hours attempting to get pictures from my phone to my computer, and it's just not happening. 

Argh.

I'm going to take a break and come back to it. Thank you for your patience!

Wednesday's Worktable... ish

Hi everyone!

This week's worktable post is being postponed until tomorrow, due to the fact that I completely forgot today was Wednesday. Oops! 

In my defense, this week has been a little nuts... I even went camping over the weekend, and survived! (Okay, that's a bit melodramatic... I went camping and had a wonderful time, even though I'm one of the least outdoorsy people I know. And it didn't even rain--although the sky threatened to!)

This was the sky on Saturday night. Yes, it really is a miracle it didn't rain on us!

Thanks so much for stopping by today... I'll try to have something pretty and jewelry-related to show you tomorrow.

Until then, have a wonderful night, everyone! 

Wednesday's Worktable

On my craft table this week: no current projects, really. My muse is apparently still obsessed with storage (I get ridiculously excited by Sterilite containers, hah!), and I'm not fighting it. I'm excited to show pictures when everything is said and done--although that might take awhile! (I am being very, very thorough.)

Still, I do have something lined up to work on when I come out of my Spring Cleaning Frenzy: this month's Bargain Bead Box.

I'm loving the combination of copper and pink. It's not something I probably would have put together myself, but the possibilities are exciting. I'm especially liking that butterfly focal! :)

And, just for fun, here are the boxes that I've cleared out from the craft room this week:

That big box? Is absolutely filled to the top of little boxes, which used to house random collections of beads. Those aren't all bead boxes, though... I've also weeded out quite a few of my other projects--including fabric that I'm giving to my nieces (they want to learn to sew, and I love sharing my love for crafts), and some yarn (recipients as yet undetermined). All in all, I'm quite pleased with my success!

Thanks for stopping by today, and being patient with my craft room overhaul. It's been a long time coming, and it's happy to be making such good progress. 

And now, back to bead sorting I go! :)

Happy Wednesday, everyone!

Wonder and Whimsy Monthly Challenge - May Hiatus

Well, you may have guessed it: my craft room is in complete makeover mode.

While that is a good thing, it also means that everything is completely covered in a bead-sorting explosion... and that includes my craft table. (...And the hallway, and the living room, and...)

I also have been having a very hard time doing anything creative recently. I'm in a complete organize-clean-sort mindset, and apparently I'm having difficulty switching between that and creating.

Oh look, bead baggies! :)

So! 

I'm actually allowing myself to focus on the project at hand, and am giving myself grace to not do a challenge this month. Now, if I get inspired--and have the time--I may make something with the gorgeous vintage Japanese beads I posted last week. They're two-holed beads, after all, and I hardly ever use two-holed beads (hence the challenge part). If not, though... that's all right.

Thanks for being understanding while I attempt to get everything in order. This is quite a monumental task, but I know it's going to be worth it.

Have a wonderful week, everyone!

Wednesday's Worktable

It's Wednesday! 

That means I get to show you what is currently on my craft table. Woo!

Now, I don't actually have any projects currently being worked on. However, I do have some pretty beads to share. You see, I'm in the middle of my massive Bead Sorting of Doom... Which, while being incredibly time consuming, has also been a great deal of fun since I get to visit with some of my beadie treasures.

You know, like these:

...and these:

Those are both Vintage Japanese two-holed beads... They're actually fairly new acquisitions (purchased from a friend and bead seller on Facebook), and they are absolutely gorgeous. 

Sorting through my beads has really driven home the fact that I really do have quite a few beautiful things. 

Also, quirky things--like these:

Coffee beans! Yes, indeed, those are jewelry-stable coffee beans. Hah! With the amount of coffee I have consumed during this project, I suppose it's only fitting that I have them as beads, too.

Now, I realize that I've been referencing this bead sorting project for some time now... To give you a scope of the project, here are the bins of my purple and blue beads. They have all been re-packaged and sorted by color (there really are so many shades of blue).

...And here are the browns and greens (both sorted), and the red/orange/yellow in pre-sorting phase:

That's not even including all of my metal beads. Or my findings. Or the beads that are currently housed in my bead boxes, or squirreled away in special places. 

...I really do have a lot of beads.

I think this is going to take me quite some time--and I'm sure you'll be hearing me talk about it a lot until then. Still, I'm super excited to be making headway with it, and it's going to be so worth it when it's done. And who knows? Maybe I'll share other little treasures here as I find them. :)

Thanks for stopping by today to see what I'm up to... Happy Wednesday, everyone!

Hello, May!

Can you believe that it's May already? This year has really been flying by for me... I had better be careful, or the next thing I know it'll be December!

Now, you may have noticed that I didn't do a Wednesday's Worktable post yesterday. The reason is simple: instead of sitting at home working at my craft table, I was at the Cincinnati Zoo! Woo! 

My best friend and I decided to go on a whim. It was a beautiful--albeit warm--day, and there was a lot of walking. (So much walking.) I also took a lot of pictures, and had a lot of fun.

The meerkats were quite interested in a gentleman's service dog, and came right up to the glass to look at it. 

The Cincinnati Zoo's resident celebrity, Fiona the baby hippo, was asleep behind her mama.

The Asian elephants were enjoying drinking--and playing with--their water.

The Komodo dragon seemed to be enjoying its sun rock.

Sleeping Black Footed Cat in the nocturnal house.

Sleeping tiger... My foot for size comparison.

This macaw was posing for me.

This Two-Toed Sloth really, really liked his basket.

Majestic camel was majestic.

...I also took a few little videos. Here are three of them--one of the baby manatees that the zoo is rehabilitating, and two of the giraffes. (If you want to see the videos bigger, they're also over on my Instagram account.)

There was also, of course, a visit to the Zoo shop. I refrained by buying a plushie manatee, but I did pick up a few things to turn into necklaces:

So, that's what I've been up to this week! I'm extremely grateful for a chance to go and see such amazing creatures and make some happy memories... and I'm also grateful for being inside in the air conditioning today. I'm not entirely sure what happened to Spring--it was 92 degrees yesterday, hot enough for Summer. Hah!

Thanks so much for stopping by today to see what I've been up to... Happy May, everyone!