Introducing FFEST

I've joined another team on Etsy! Yes, for those of you who are wondering, I am crazy :P It's called Facebook Fans on Etsy. We're all about supporting each other, promoting, and of course, facebook and etsy!

Glory, our fearless team leader, put together a treasury of some of the new team. I'm in it! You can see my Earth Walker piece in the third row, in the middle. Go check it out!

Want to find out more about the team? Go to our forum thread or our ning site.

Earth Walker - Bead Woven Necklace - Elements Series 4

I started the Elements series about a year ago with Saffron's Firebird Necklace. Since then I've fallen in love with the pattern! I start with a Potawatomi weave base and then use netting techniques for the rest of the pattern.

It takes 4-5 hours to make one of these necklaces and hundreds of seed beads. The actual project takes longer though when you include planning, dreaming, and finding the right beads! Sometimes it's hard to find colors that work well together.

For this last piece in the Elements series, Earth Walker, I used browns and greens. To me the Earth element needs to be represented both by the actual ground itself, and the living things it nourishes. I tried to show that in the progression of colors that I chose.

The clasp was actual the hardest part of this necklace for me! I couldn't find a hook that was the right color, so I ended up making my first hook :) I bought bronze wire and played with it until it looked right.

This necklace is available in both my Etsy shop and my Artfire :)

Introducing - Earth Walker

I'm so excited and frustrated all at the same time! I knew I was going to the bead store today and I'd be able to pick up the final color I needed to finish Earth Walker - the newest in my Elements series - and I didn't remember to pick up the clasp I need! *sigh* So it'll be a couple days before I can properly finish and photograph this piece, but here it is 99% done!

I used 6 different colors in this piece starting with Smoky Topaz, rootbeer, copper, Dark green, medium green, and light green! I really like how it turned out. This isn't the BEST picture, but since it's not finished I was just snapping something quick so I could post about it anyway :P It's going to be $80. 

If you want to see the other's in the series there are links to all of them in my Wind Dancer listing.

Thanks for looking!

Thinking and Planning, and a Question

My original plan for this blog post was to continue writing about my crafty goals. Three posts ago I finished up telling you about my list of goals for last quarter - and what had been accomplished. So the plan was to go on today by talking about my new set of crafty goals. 

Then I realized theirs a degree of futility to sharing with you guys what my goals are. Why? Well, between planning to write this post, and actually writing it, a lot has happened! The list has grown longer. Two projects have been completed. Two more projects have been worked on. Not to mention there's the complication of realizing that I have crafty projects all over the place! I have crafts in different crafty genre's, projects not started that are on my list, and even a box full of unfinished objects (or UFO's), that I really should get to at some point. 

So here's the short overview :)  My crafty projects list is always growing and morphing, so this is very incomplete!

1. I'm working on knitting a scarf. It's going slooow...but I do want to finish it.

2. Whenever I finish the scarf Mom and I are going to pick out an easy first crochet project for me to tackle.

3. I have a few ideas floating around for cross-stitch projects.

4. BEAD-WEAVING - I have a LOT lined up here! Totally new pieces no one's ever seen, new takes on old favorites, and just plain lots and lots of fun :) 

I will tell you that one of my plans includes wrapping up my popular Elements series. So far Firebird, Swiftly Changing Waters, and my spin-off from the series - Woodland Fairy, have all gone to good homes! The only one currently in my shop is Wind Dancer, and this is the most unique of the whole series because I wove 50 crystals into this necklace! 

I'm still looking for the right beads to complete the 4th in the series, "Earth Walker." I had some that were perfect and the bead store hasn't restocked them yet. *sigh* After the 4th is done the Elements series will be complete, but I love this style so much that I know I won't stop there! I'll do many, many more spin-offs :) I have a few ideas of color schemes I'd like to do, but I'd love to know what your guy's ideas are! 

If your not familiar with this series I've been doing just click on any of the names to go see more pictures :)