Powerless!! {slightly graffic}

I felt the true meaning of powerless yesterday. I woke up with a migraine and had a tough day. I was finally feeling fine and decided to go outside and watch my two youngest play. We had a nice time. They were running around, we went up to the back part of our large hilly yard to play in our little cedar house. I was tired and went to sit in the gazebo and kept watching them while reading bits and pieces of a book. All of a sudden Noah was coming towards me, he slipped on the grass and smashed his face against the deck. He was crying and screaming and all I saw was all the blood! I grabbed him, kicked at the door to get my husband to open it and grabbed a cloth and told him we had to go now!! Luckily my in-laws live with us and we were able to leave the other kids and just go.
He had fallen so hard against the deck that he had split about half an inch of his mouth on the outside and a good inch on the inside. We were at the urgent care for 4 hours. He slept for about an hour after the initial check in with the nurse and then we waited. I find it hard to understand why people who are in much less pain and who are less hurt get to go in before a child who just lacerated his mouth!! Why is that? I was amazed at how brave he was to just sit and wait all that time.
He needed 5 stitches to close it up, some on the inside some on the outside. They wrapped him up in a blanket with his arms tight at his sides, one doctor doing the stitches, another doctor assisting {student doctor} as well as a nurse holding his little head. My husband was holding him down and trying to help keep his mouth open, I was rubbing his feet trying to soothe him. After awhile, {I lost track of time at this point} I started to feel woozy. Now I am not a squeemish person. Blood does not bother me, open wounds either. I have no idea why I would feel dizzy all of a sudden. Needless to say I had to leave the room {they told me to} and I laid down on the floor trying not to pass out. My hubby officially thinks I am a wimp. lol. He of course is mister tough guy!! Nothing seems to faze him!! Thanks James for being my rock!! 
I imagine I will go through this again someday, it's tough!! You mothers out there know what I am talking about!! This is your child!! They are the force that drive us to conquer the world!! I wanted to take his pain away and make it my own!!

Thanks for letting me share my story. I don't normally write much personal stuff on this blog, but sometimes you just need to let go...

Marie

Vintaj, Vintaj and more Vintaj...

Some of you might know about the new ribbon slides from Vintaj. Well, this is one of them, but this is not what they normally look like! Now why would I want to use something as is, when I can change it!! Not that I had to, they are gorgeous in their natural state! I just love to experiment!! You just never know what you will be able to do unless you try something new!! To see how they look without alterations follow my link.

I really love the way it turned out! It almost looks like an old rusted piece! If you have any alcohol inks, feel free to try dripping on a fun metal piece, the results may surprise you!

The beads are a mix of Czech glass from Cbeads on Etsy. I wanted to make it as random as I could to give it a more rustic look. I made the hook myself, although I found I had a little trouble with the wrapping. I am going to practice this one a little more and hopefully the results come out better the second time. The hook is from Kerry Bogert's fantastic book Totally Twisted!!  I linked it to her website so you can know a little more about Kerry and her wonderful book.

This is a fun recycled bead and Vintaj necklace. I beautiful filigree butterfly, asymmetrical sides and a lovely side clasp with a pretty flower dangle. This whole necklace is done with eyepins and simple loops. I have been doing so much wire wrapping lately, I figured I should change things up a little.

You can really see the detail in this closeup, what a wonderfully ornate clasp. It stands alone quite well, but the added detail of the dangle really adds a lot! I am going to be using that technique more and more!

I really love these recycled beads, I discovered them through Lorelei, she always finds the best stuff, we are so lucky that she shares it with us! Thanks Lori!!

These designs were all featured on the Vintaj blog for my Designer highlight!! I am very pleased with the amount of comments I got, I love to hear what others have to say about the things I create. I also got a few more followers and fans, I also have some interest in my tiles!! Now I guess I will just have to entice everyone to come buy some!!

Stay tuned for more of Skye Jewels coming soon...

Marie

Vintaj Blog Designer Highlight!!

This week has been a big week for me! I have been busy with custom orders and preparing my Bead Trends submissions, but most importantly, I was lucky enough to be noticed by Jess Italia Lincoln of Vintaj! I have been posting occasionally on their Facebook fan page and this particular time, Jess just happened to really notice something I made. She went and visited my fan page and really liked my designs and proceeded to offer me the Designer Highlight for this week! Everything was posted this morning! Please follow this link to see my new designs... Vintaj Designer Highlight 

 There are six new designs, that I made just for this event. I am only including two on this post to hopefully entice you to go see the other ones on the Vintaj blog. I absolutely adore the Vintaj components! I love the colour, the texture and the unique style! They really bring out the best in my designing.

Just as important, is the fact that Jess really loves my little tiles! I think that may be the main thing that drew her to look at more of my pieces! Of course they are available in my Etsy shop and you can be one of the first to take advantage of what will hopefully become a trend! I have many styles and I take special requests. I also make my own clasps, I don't have many left in my shop right now but I can make some on request. I may even start making a few of the fun links I added to this bracelet and listing those. Keep checking back :)

Thanks so much for visiting!!

Marie

Wonderful Day!

What a wonderful few days of creating I have had. Getting ready for a show, getting my submissions ready for Bead Trends and Stringing and now Vintaj too! Very exciting :)

I have had these Tim Holtz locks in my scrapbooking stash forever it seems. I finally took one out and turned it into a necklace, or at least the pendant on a necklace :)

Here is a nice closeup!

Some of you may recognize the sweet little leaf! Every Heart Crafts' Erin sent that to me as a little gift. I have been holding onto it for awhile now, but it just seemed to fit perfectly in this piece. This is the longest necklace I ever made. I did a mini survey on my Facebook fan page, asking what people preffered and it seemed to be long necklaces. I went with it and created this one. I do have a tendency to go for the shorter necklaces, because at the shows it always seems to be those that sell first, but it's always good to have a variety :)

For shorter necklaces, I made a few of these. Copper chain and a lampwork bead with bead caps all wire wrapped. I attached the pendant directly to the chain so it would not move around all over the place. There is nothing I hate more than wearing a necklace and having the clasp moving around. If it's supposed to stay in the back, then that is where it should be. If it is supposed to be on the side or in the front then I want iot to stay there! I am sure you get what I am saying :)

Here is a nice closeup of the Boro glass bead I used. It is from Amanda Austin of Sea Shore glass. I just discovered her beads in the last few months and I have truly become addicted. I find them to be good quality and well priced. Some of them are quite large!! You can find her beads and jewelry in her Etsy shop.

Last but not least I also made a new bracelet using one of my handmade wood tiles. This is an example of what you can do with a four hole link charm. Imagine what it would look like if you used three or four of these in a row. You could make a really cool bracelet or necklace!! As with the majority of my pieces, I used Vintaj brass. I love the warm colours of the antiqued brass, they make each piece New Vintage somehow :) I also used crystal pearls in this piece.

See you soon!!

Marie

French Bracelets!!

I was inspired by this gorgeous flower focal yesterday. It was made by LeAnn of Summers Studio.  She was one of the first two artists I ever bought beads from and I continue to purchase beads from her now because of her talent and the quality of her pieces.

 I made the bracelet with eyepins and rose quartz. Very simple but elegant. I wanted continuity on this piece so you could really focus on the Beautiful flower bead as the centre piece. I added a tiny antiqued brass bee charm for a touch of whimsy, the charm came from FabBeads on Etsy.  I of course added it to my Etsy shop yesterday afternoon, so please have a look at "La Fleur et L'abeille".

This one is in a similar style but has one of my own charms added to it. You can always find more charms in this style in my other Etsy shop More Skye Jewels. I pulled the green from the dress for the beads and the pink from her cheeks. The little butterfly reflects the colours in the bracelet and adds a little sparkle.

You can find it in my Etsy shop "La Dame et le Papillon" I was feeling a little French, can you tell? Of course that is not a hard feat, since I am French ;)

I hope you will follow by blog, perhaps become a fan of my facebook page {at 500 fans I do a draw} and even follow me on Twitter!! Most importantly please visit often :)

Marie

More More More!!

I had mentioned in my last post that I had more earrings. Well here they are. I actually ended up making over a dozen more pairs later that day and still need to photograph them. Yesterday was my Noah's 4th Birthday, so I kind of figured that should take priority!

First I thought I would bring a little summer sunshine out, the weather here the last couple of days has been fantastic! Around 16 degrees Celsius for April is really great! I believe that is about 60 degrees or so for my American friends.

I have loved these sweet little butterflies for ever it seems. Green as you might already know is my favorite colour and I just can`t get enough!! I have been diversifying lately as you can see from my designs. The one thing I have realized, is Blue sells the fastest!!

These blister coin pearls are a lot of fun. I added some pale Aquamarines and pink Tourmalines. I just have to use my brass. I think I may try these in Sterling as well, they might even look better than the brass!

Here is some more green! These bright stones are Emerald Quartz and the dark ones are Czech glass. I think there will be many more of these styles of earrings coming out, I really like making the dangles and next I want to make longer ones.

Last but not least, these reminded someone of Jelly Fish :) I thought that was a great comparison! I also think of it as a compliment because I think Jelly fish are really beautiful. So a little Czech glass and some crystal pearls with my favorite Vintaj Brass!

So have a great weekend, I will try to post again soon and show you some more of my new earrings!

Marie

Ear Art!

I spent delightful hours in my workshop on Monday night. I don't often get the chance to do that. It is normally a few minutes here or there because of our busy household. I love my kids, I think they are the most amazing little people I have ever known. Sometimes however, Mommy NEEDS a little creative time to rejuvenate and feel whole.

I was feeling Victorian of something! lol. At least that is what these earrings remind me of. I have no idea why I make the the things I do in the way that I do. They just sort of happen! I literally sit there and start grabbing stuff and things just appear in my hands.

I have had these large flower bead caps sitting in my stash for a while now. I was not sure how they were going to be used. Recently I sent off a bunch of my stash to my sweet friend Amanda and ended up re-organizing my whole stash of beads! It took hours, but I am much happier with the way I have things mixed. I still need a place to put all my pearls but I think I will save up a little before I expand some more.

I find myself gravitating towards Vintaj findings. I have so much metal; copper, brass, silver, pewter, and gun metal grey...but I always end up back to my favorite, Vintaj Brass! The richness of the metal, the ornate filigree and all the different things I see these things becoming always leave me in awe.

A few months ago I don't think I would have mixed these two colours together. Turquoise and red! Now, I love it! I might have to make a bracelet to match! I am surprised by how much the combination appeals to me.

I am not sure how this combination came about, I was after all in my Czech glass stash! I guess they just needed to be made. My original intention I think, was to combine the Czech glass with these Swarovski crystals and I guess somewhere along the way that idea derailed and became Crystal and Aquamarines! What ever it was, I like it!

I have a few more, but just in case I don't have time to create anything in the next day or two, I thought I would save them for another post!

These will be going in my Etsy shop either today or tomorrow, it all depends on my Husband and his studying.

Marie

p.s. I want to send out a special Thank You to my new Friend Heather at Humblebeads for her help and for all the wonderful tips she has given me. What a fantastic woman Heather is, to give of her time when she is so busy and has so little of it for herself. I wish her all the best!! Please visit her blog to find all her links :)

Marie

Copper Bracelets to Boost your Spirits!

When you have a disappointing weekend and you need a little pick me up take out some bright shiny copper wire and make a little something to boost your spirits. I used bright colours that reminded me of a camp fire or a beautiful sunset. Warm summer colours. 

This dyed Varisite is wonderful and warm. The variance in colour throughout the bracelet gives it so much texture and depth. I have only seen this particular shade of Varisite once. I have the dark teal and bright pink as well as the natural here at home and have seen bright blue available as well.

The clasp on this piece is from ArtBeads.com. They had a sale I took advantage of a couple months ago where I grabbed myself a few fun little bright copper findings. I think it added just the right amount of whimsy to the bracelet.

It is very smooth and comfortable to wear.

titled "Sunsets"

You can really see the natural variance in this wonderful stone in this picture. The shades from light to dark and the striations in the stone are fantastic!

For this one titled "Gamboge illusions" The focal bead is truly the inspiration. This amazing bead by Amanda Austin of "Sea Shore Glass" is from a set named Gamboge. I borrowed the name because it suited the colour so well. You can find the definition of Gamboge at the end of this post, it has been slightly edited to make it 

more reader friendly.

You can really get a feel for the depth of this wonderful bead from this closeup.

Another wonderful copper clasp from ArtBeads.com. I love the hooks, they are so ornamental and detailed.

Also included in the bracelet are a few Picasso Jasper beads, an oval filigree and a large ceramic bead from my LBS. 

I hope these bright colourful bracelets give a boost to the beginning of your week.

Thanks for stopping by :)

Marie

Gamboge  is a partially transparent dark mustard yellow pigment.
Gamboge is most often extracted by tapping resin from various species of evergreen trees of the family Guttiferae
The trees must be ten years old before they are tapped. The resin is extracted by making spiral incisions in the bark, and by breaking off leaves and shoots and letting the milky yellow resinous gum drip out. The resulting latex is collected in hollow bamboo canes. After the resin is congealed, the bamboo is broken away and large rods of raw gamboge remain.
The first recorded use of gamboge as a color name in English was in 1634.

Extracted and edited from Wikipedia

Sale in my Etsy Shop!! New Inventory!!

I just added a few more pieces to my Etsy shop this morning for my sale this weekend. I am having a BOGO sale in my supply shop. Buy 1 Get 1 Half Off!! On everything in my shop!! This is your chance to get what you have been looking at at a great discount!! This is of course Buy one and get one of equal or lesser price half off.

I tried a few different things this time including fairy pendants and some stamping on top of different images.

This one is my favorite. If you look out the window, you can see two owls sitting on a branch. They are rustic and fun. I really hope you stop by and take advantage of this sale!!

Marie

Ocean Swirl Pendant!!

This was a special order for my friend Michelle. She had this beautiful chain and nothing to put on it. So we picked out some beads from my good friend Amanda of Sea Shore Glass and I created this one of a kind pendant.


You will have to excuse the poor lighting I had moments to take the photo and it was barely light outside. She needed it this morning so I had to rush.


The beads are Borosilicate glass and are titled "Teal-ie" I love the swirls of blue. I am more of a green person myself but the blue beads that Amanda creates are slowly bringing me around to using more blue.

Here is a closeup of these amazing beads. I also used some wonderful Artisan Bead caps from Cathy Dailey. I am never disappointed with the wonderful selection she has in her shop.

I am working on setting up a sale in my supply shop starting tonight so I hope you will come visit me at More Skye Jewels later today!!

Thanks for stopping by!!

Marie

Tim Holtz Time!!

I LOVE Tim Holtz Scrapbooking accessories.  I have started using them more and more in my Jewelry Designs just because they are so fun :) These come in  a pack of 12 with all different words. I have so many more ideas for the rest of them :)

I WISH I had more time to dedicate to my passion. To have all day to play and create to my heart's content. I know, it's a dream, but "Through dreaming do we bring great creations to the world!"

LIFE has brought me great joy in this creative medium. I have been lucky enough to make new friends and feel the great joy of appreciation for my work.

Great Artists have caught my eye.

And I hope to have caught a few great artists' eyes as well.

"The Key to Love" A mix of Red and Gun Metal Grey

"Wish Upon a Star" A mix of blues and more Gun Metal Grey

 "La Vie en Rose" a mix of pink and Gun Metal Grey.

I hope you come visit soon :)

Marie

Celebration!! Bead Trends full year of publications!!

I am so excited. This afternoon I went to check my e-mail and discovered that I had two more pieces accepted for Bead Trends! This time for the September issue. This issue was very important to me because it marks a year straight of being published every month! I feel truly blessed and take nothing for granted. I know I would not have this talent without my heavenly father and I thank him every day.

Not the best picture of me, but it's a picture so why not ;) and yes those are my teeth. lol

I also wanted to add that my little girl Emma is trying to follow in my footsteps. She loves to learn everything I do and wants to get involved. Since her report card was so good this term, I rewarded her with her own Etsy shop! She is over the moon and it will be a good learning opportunity for her. So I hope you will check out her little shop and give her some hearts <3

 Emma's Treasures and Trinkets   handmade items from Emma-Jeanne with a tiny bit of help from Mom. Some items will look similar to mine, but that is what she is learning after all. I help with little things like wire wrapping but she chooses all the beads she uses and the design. We are hoping to get her to submit to Bead Trends, she has been asking for about 6 months. We will see what happens :)

I want to thank all of you for your support, inspiration and kind words, they mean the world to me.
**Update** I had tested the shop link and it worked, when I went back it had changed. I just changed it back so hopefully it will work now. So please take the time to see my little girl's shop :)**
Marie