Here's to my favourite Etsy team!

I'm not much of a joiner, but the Tradeholics team is one of the best on Etsy, and I love to trade so you can bet I'm a member!
It's one of the best teams on Etsy, I think. Very easygoing, inclusive, supportive and FUN! They have monthly 'trading parties'--and you don't have to be a team member to participate!
The most recent trading party (called a Trade and Stay, or Trading Frenzy) saw me making three trades with team members!

PeculiarParchment (a seemingly tireless team leader) traded some of her 2x2 notecards in exchange for a pair of my blue shimmerstone earrings, very similar to the ones below.

 I've previously traded with TheHappySoul for some wonderful  massage/bath oil, so this time she traded one of her custom salt scrubs in amber & sandalwood (to go with my bath oil) for a hand-drawn, one of a kind art journal from my ParadoxMoxie shop.

 BragginRightsBath has a cool line of 'whipped body butters' that I've been wanting to try for a while. They feel AMAZING, not at all like lotion and they literally melt right into your skin! The scents are divine too.

So we traded. She traded a set of mini body butters in Sex on the Beach, Coconut Almond and Sweet & Sexy for my Desert Nectar anklet.

If you're interested in trading, hanging out or joining the team, visit these sites to get a feel for the team:
Etsy Traders blog lists the current team members and what each has to trade, the Tradeaholics forum team thread where traders come to chat about their lives, their shops and team news (members and non-members alike are welcome), and the hub of the team is the Tradeaholics Ning site, which is where you get all the news, links to trading threads, party dates and monthly design challenges. You can also run an Etsy search for 'team trade on' to find an ever-changing array of items up for trade.

Mark your calendars!

 
Bright Circle Jewelry is having an online jewelry party that you can attend no matter where in the world you live! Join me for 7 days of shopping fun filled with freebies and perks galore! The party starts Sunday August 22 and ends Saturday night August 28 (11:59 pm, to be exact). You'll have all week to shop at your convenience!

This isn't just any party either; it's an exclusive party to which only my fans (that's you) are invited. There are many ways of becoming a Bright Circle fan: subscribe to my blog The Beaded Passion, 'like' Bright Circle Jewelry on Facebook, watch Bright-Circle on DeviantArt or email bright.circle@yahoo.com to become a member of my mailing list.

To attend, please RSVP before the 22nd by leaving a comment here or on my Facebook fan page with your Etsy account name. If you're not yet registered with Etsy.com, it's free and easy to sign up. On Saturday, August 21, I will send your Etsy account a 'conversation', (sort of like Etsy's internal email system) containing a coupon code . When you make a purchase, enter that code in the 'notes to seller' box during checkout to receive a FREE* pair of earrings and FREE* shipping with every order total. You must RSVP in order to attend, but an RSVP is not a commitment to buy!

There's more! Every item you purchase gives you an entry in a drawing for a $25 gift certificate to Bright Circle Jewelry. The more items you buy, the greater your chances of winning! Additionally, the first customer of each day, Sunday through Saturday, will be sent a code to redeem for up to $15 of free jewelry!



Lastly, if you want to enjoy even MORE freebies, ask me about hosting a party for Bright Circle Jewelry; it's free and easy!
*Free via paypal refund after purchase

My beading kit, published in Beadwork magazine!

Several months ago, I submitted my own beading kit for consideration of publication in Beadwork magazine's 'Challenge' department--and they accepted it! The editors told me when it would be published, but I'd thought it would be in the fall end of September. Imagine my elation when as I paged through the August/September issue, I turned the page and saw my very own kit!
The kit includes a strand of 4mm teal glass rounds, a medium Griffin purple shimmerstone, a bag of blue/aqua bead mix (with a bit of purple thrown in), 10 violet pearl drops, 1 strand of bright purple silk, and a silver wire bangle. I had to send in 4 identical kits for the editors to use in the department, and they advised me to have a few extra available upon publication, because readers often request the same kit upon seeing it in the magazine. The kit IS available in my shop, just click the top picture, or the highlighted references to the kit.

In the spirit of the Challenge, here is my first attempt at bead embroidery, using some of the blue and purple seed beads and incorporating a small mirror tile. Turquoise and purple are two colours I didn't used to think of pairing, but one day I saw them next to each other and something in my mind clicked. Here, the colours are set off by shiny black seed beads, embroidered onto stiffened felt and backed with black leather. The two layers are stitched together with black edge beads.

Inspired by Hollywood

One of the most common remarks people make when they see one of my beaded necklaces is 'Oh my, girl, you have some kind of patience I sure don't!' Well, I have a bit of a secret--it's not patience. In fact, with the bigger seed-beaded pieces, the way I manage to see through to the end is a lot more akin to mindlessness. My secret weapon against bead-induced insanity? The lowly television set!

Most of my jewelry is beaded while watching something or other. It's an odd balancing act, integrating detail-oriented, labor-intensive beadwork with something as visual as television, but I've been somehow managing for years (it started when I realized that I could just look at my beadwork when something embarrassing came onto the screen--like a shirtless man. I was a strange teenager. Actually, I'm still strange). And if I didn't bead while watching, I'd almost never get around to watching anything at all.

Not surprisingly, whatever I'm watching at the time will frequently become inspiration for a piece of jewelry. My most notorious inspired-by-Hollywood piece is the Crime Scene lariat pictured above, which won its category in the Fire Mountain Gems contest last year, and was featured on the front page of well-known art site DeviantArt. Can you guess I watched a lot of a certain famous procedural?

One of my favourite movies is Iron Man. So, inspired by the 'iron' theme and the glowing 'arc-reactor' powering Iron Man's super suit, I beaded a pair of earrings in which bright silver surrounds a 'heart' of sparkling crystal, set into an industrial-looking Maltese cross in matte metallic gray. Cut to two years later, I'm in the theater watching Iron Man II for the first time, and it's at the scene in which the remarkably-ugly and appropriately-menacing villain builds his own twisted version of Iron Man's super suit. Well, what do I see around his neck but a silver necklace in the very same shape as the earrings I made two years ago! I knew right then I had to make that necklace, so here it is. You can see the movie version (and the villain) here. 

And then there's all that Stargate I love so much. For those of you who aren't sci-fi geeks or die-hard Stargate fans, one of the defining symbols of Stargate is an inverted V with a small circle at the point. It represents Earth. In one of my very favourite episodes (the 'time loop' episode which every respectable sci-fi show does at some point), my favourite character wears a royal blue shirt while making pottery; something very unlike this military man's normal persona. So I made a beaded dog tag with the symbol for Earth in silver on a field of royal blue.

Sometimes I get inspired by some of the concepts of a movie/show, rather than specific imagery, but that's a tale for another day.

Three of my earring designs set to be published in BeadStyle magazine!

http://bright-circle.deviantart.com/art/Earrings-Sherbet-rectangle-169066751Oh man I'm super-excited once again! A few weeks after getting back from the Bead & Button show, I heard back from sister publication BeadStyle, who wants to publish THREE of my earring designs!

I had an especially good feeling that the last pair would get in--something fascinating about those silver spacer bars, plus it uses the same technique as my Armor in Moonlight spacer bar bracelet published in the May issue of BeadStyle.

Julishland's leather jewelry giveaway!

Leather jewelry artist Julishland is doing a giveaway of three pieces of her leather jewelry! To see the entry rules, go to her contest blog entry about it. And while you're at it, take a look at her Etsy shop Julishland  or her DeviantArt gallery.

Are you a Bead Geek? (or, How I Made a New Line)

Are you a bead geek? Do you get excited over technical little details (like sparkling inclusions in a quartz strand) or read bead catalogs for fun, or want to correct layman mistakes in spelling of a kind of stone?
My 'bead geek' moment came recently, when I realized not everyone read bead catalogs as teenagers, and therefore not everyone knew what 'calibrated' meant. For the record, 'calibrated' refers to standardized common sizes/shapes of cabochons, such as those in this chart (courtesy of Fire Mountain Gems):

And I'm having a 'bead geek' moment now. Oh how excited I am! After receiving several special requests for calibrated cabochons, I am now introducing a permanent line of shimmerstone cabochons in calibrated, uniform sizes and shapes, for my customers who love incorporating them into their pre-fired metal clay projects, for polymer clay enthusiasts, and people who work with vintage and modern cabochon settings.
When I first decided to make a special section for the calibrated cabochons, I thought I'd have to buy a lot of new supplies, but when I looked in my drawer of glass, I saw I had enough materials left over from the commissions to make a decent number of calibrated cabochons to fill a new section. Joy!

Where The Leaves Turn Red

A few months ago I traded with another beader for a thrilling LOT of padparadscha 8mm swarovski cubes. It was a challenge to my creativity to be sure--I rarely if ever used that shade, and have difficulty designing with cubes, as their expense means I never buy/use them. Finally, I hit upon finishing beads by coiling wire around the roundnose pliers, instead of merely finishing with a loop, and it seemed a suitable way to use the cubes. Simple, but with the devil in the details. Each cube link is connected to the next with not one, but two jumprings. This necklace has a wondrous weight, and luxurious feel to it, and I am in the process of making it into one of my newest class offerings.

Shimmerstones as published in Step by Step Wire Jewelry!

The other day while paging through Step by Step Wire Jewelry, what did I see but my very own shimmerstones, published in the Cool Stuff department! I had sent them in for consideration a few months ago, but didn't know the issue had gone to print. When you're waiting for months, you tend to feel like you're always going to be waiting 'just a few more weeks' until it hits the stands! SO EXCITING!

Ancestors' Echoes Necklace

'Ancestors' Echoes Necklace'
Lately I've discovered the joy of pairing just a little blue lapis with bright orange carnelian stone. And since turquoise is another shade of blue, but lighter and different in tone, it goes well with both lapis and carnelian. After the bright translucence of the carnelian and the solid earthiness of the turquoise and lapis, the lustre of pearls and shell seemed to fit next, giving shine, gleam and lightness to the three strands of the necklace.
Bringing the three strands together is a sterling silver flower connector on each side, connecting the center strands to mother-of-pearl coins and a few silverplated feathers with epoxy inlay.

Necklace is about 18 inches (45 cm) with extender chain. Available for sale.

Vote for your favourite Beaded Passion entry!

Look through the pictures and vote by LEAVING A COMMENT with the number of your favourite entry! The one with the most votes wins People's Choice award!
BE SURE TO DOWNLOAD THE FULL VIEW. Voting closes April 8. You may vote only once.

And the beautiful entries are:
1. Suspended by :Jayetta: 2.  Mobile cover for Nokia 751 by koshanez:
3. Out of Africa by (Debger)
4. Medusa's Child ring by :Sylva:
5. Vitality by :vampi:
6. Lacy by (Cynthia Newcomer)
7. Fingal Frolics by Karyn
8. Copper Canyon Sunrise Necklace by SalamanderHouse
9. Labradorite Bezel Necklace by :Annie-Jewelry:
10. Dryad's Sanctuary by :iconSkyeTrinity:
11. Midnight Champagne by :Ellygator:
12. Danu by :Szilviabead:
13. Vintage Amber by (FucshiaBloomStudio) 
14. Forest Twilight II by :blackcurrantjewelry:

lucky thirteen!

DeviantArt user Jayetta has woven copper jumprings into a clever setting for a genuine jade cabochon. someday I hope to be able to do something half as clever!

The eleventh entry is...

'Out of Africa' beaded cuff by Etsy artist Debger. The patience it requires just to do a pendant with bead embroidery is impressive, and she's done an entire cuff! The variety of finishes give the safari colour scheme nice depth.

The sixth contest entry is...

Dryad's Sanctuary by DeviantArt user SkyeTrinity. Her bead-embroidered piece skillfully incorporates a stunning handmade focal cabochon by DeviantArt user Sleetwealth , and effectively uses bead embroidery and seed bead stitching to evoke the feeling of twilight in the forest.

fifth contest entry is...

Medusa's Child ring by DeviantArt user Sylva

I am in admiration of her wiring skills; the perfect control with which she manipulates the wire coils around the netted cabochon to evoke Medusa's mane of serpents.

The third contest entry is...

Midnight Champagne by DeviantArt user Ellygator  , incorporating a Shimmerstone in the 'Alethiometer' shade. This is only a small taste of the wonders in this woman's gallery!

'The Beaded Passion': announcement and call for entries!

I'm giddy to announce my newest ongoing project: a self-published how-to beading magazine, called 'The Beaded Passion'! It will feature jewelry made from various materials, using a myriad of techniques at many different levels--but they will all reflect a passion for beading! There are still some things to work out and finish up, but I hope to release the premiere issue around the end of January.
In the meantime, what better way to celebrate the upcoming beady joy than with a contest? So, I call for entries to 'The Beaded Passion Contest'!

This beading contest is to show off your skills designing with one or more cabochons! The cabochon/s may be gemstone, bone, vintage or modern glass, polymer clay, metal clay, or Shimmerstone.Techniques you might use in your entry piece include but are not limited to: wiring, bead stitching, looming, bead embroidery, clay work (polymer or metal), and chainmaille.

Rules for entering:
Entries may be jewelry or functional art object.
Judges not eligible to enter.
Your entry must incorporate one or more cabochons, and must be your own original design.
New work is encouraged, but previous works done within the past six months are acceptable.
Put in the listing description that this is for the 'Beaded Passion' contest, with a link back to this post.
To submit, simply comment on this post with a link to your entry. Alternatively, you may send me a DeviantArt or Etsy note entitled 'contest entry' with a link to your entry.
Last day of accepting entries is March 31. Winners are notified and announced within two weeks.

The prizes are as follows:
Most Unusual~$15 gift certificate to my bead shop ParadoxMoxie
People's Choice~$20 gift certificate to my bead shop ParadoxMoxie
Best Entry~$25 gift certificate to my bead shop ParadoxMoxie

In addition, each of the the winning designs will be featured on my Bright Circle blog, my DeviantArt journal and in an issue of my upcoming bead magazine, 'The Beaded Passion'! All entries will be featured on my DeviantArt journal as they come in.

 Entries will be judged on creativity, technical skill, aesthetic appeal, and use of the cabochon in the design.
If you would like to furnish prizes/be among the judges, send me a DeviantArt note or Etsy Conversation.

Contest rules subject to change depending on the number of entries received. For example, a deluge of entries may necessitate the introduction of contest categories. Rest assured, any changes will be posted.

EtsyBead Treasury!

Quick, look at these beautiful shops and the treasures within! http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list_west.php?room_id=81674

Cara of TheBeadedStorm.etsy.com put together this treasury. I like these lapis earrings of hers:

I've been published!

This is so incredibly exciting! For the first time ever, my designs are published in national magazines! The current issue of BeadStyle features my Copper Fan earrings, below:

And my Moon Mother Talisman pearl necklace took honorable mention in the Pearls category of the Interweave's BeadStar contest, so it's published in the just-released 2009 issue of BeadStar magazine. Go on, get yourself a copy and share in the celebration!

Keep an eye out for the upcoming special issue of BeadStyle devoted to pearls--one of my bracelet designs is featured! I want the design to be a surprise, but will say it involves multiple strands and crystals.

Featured Artist: Aubeebop

You've never seen jewelry like Aubeebop's! Her highly inventive pieces are near-kinetic and thoroughly engaging! I mean, LOOK at this spatial purple bracelet! http://bit.ly/16onqK

The artist says: "My work is created through lots of experimenting with shapes, colours and materials. So far I am obsessed with acrylic as it satisfies my craving for colour. It's unyielding quality is always challenging me to create new designs."

Visit her amazing shop at http://aubeebop.etsy.com