Ceramics!!! How I love Ceramics!!!

Ok, so did I mention I am a terrible photographer?? lol.
Someday I am soooo going to take some classes.

I just wanted to put up a quick post today because I am so busy trying to finish my submissions for Bead Trends for the December issue. I have about 6 projects I am working on AND the "Use the Muse II" on top of that.

This necklace is very simple and easy to make. This is a little pendant I picked up from Michael's. It was my first try using ceramics, so I wanted something just basic. I used some chain from the same place and attached it to the sides and put a hook on the back. Can't get much easier than that. I wear it all the time! It is lightweight and not too long and really comfortable to wear.

I just got my goodies from SummersStudio today. I can not tell you how thrilled I am to have all those gorgeous pieces of art in my hands. Keep coming back and you will get to see what I create with them...I think I just added 2 more projects that I will be submitting to Bead Trends. I better get to work!!

Bye for now

Marie

Use The Muse II

Look What I got in the mail yesterday! I just thought I would give you a little peak {not that you have not seen it before} but this one is mine :) I honestly ave never used the teeny tiny little seed beads so I am at a loss on how to use those, but I am up to the challenge.

And all I can tell you about the muse...it's...pretty! Sorry, I am not giving that one away, that is the rules.

Check back often for sneak peaks of what I will do with it...

Marie

Rhyolite Passion

This post today has two purposes. One, to show you this lovely necklace that I am really happy with. And two, to show the lady that ordered it and hopefully get approval for it.

I used the picture of the Bracelet and earrings I made for her and made this to match. I did not do it exactly because I felt that for this necklace it needed to be symmetrical unlike the bracelet was. The materials mostly consist of Rhyolite in puffed squares, puffed circles and nuggets. Decorative Copper beads, small round copper beads, copper spacers and toggle clasp as well as some 4mm Tigerskin Jasper beads.

Above is a close up {blurry close up :S} of the matching toggle and below is the picture of the bracelet and earrings I already made for her. I hope she likes the necklace...
Thanks for stopping in

Marie

"Verdigris"

To start off, I got this fun, bright, shiny copper pendant from Artbeads. I picked it not because I liked it, but because I had a vision of what it could become. I always loved the shiny copper roofs on some of those building you see sometimes. What I liked even more was watching them change over time to this wonderful verdigris patina. Well, I did not have that kind of time so I improvised. {I am good at that ;)} I will tell you first that I have been a scrapbooker for about 5 years now, and I have accumulated a ton of stuff over the years. One of my favorite
things is embossing. I have sooo many colours, I can not even begin to list them off for you. So without further ado... THE EMBOSSED PENDANT!!!!

First you need "Ranger Verdigris embossing powder". I took the pendant and heated it with my heat gun. Because the pendant is metal, you don't need to use a watermark to hold the powder, just heat the metal and "dip" the pendant, or "dust" the top of the pendant with powder. Because you have heated the metal pendant, the powder melts on contact. Keep heating it though, it does not always all melt. Repeat this process
until your entire pendant, front and back are covered. You will need several layers to make it look right, although you can leave a few small bare spots with the original copper showing through.

You will need to hold it with needle nose pliers obviously, because it will get very hot. Do not put it down!! You need it to cool off completely before you do, or big chunks of the embossing will come off if it touches another surface. {my son was "helping"me and knocked it over from where I had it cooling off. So I know!!}
Once it is dry, drip a drop of walnut{or brown}alcohol ink and sponge it. Repeat in a couple of different areas and repeat with a bi of copper alcohol ink. Make sure that is dry and then take an old nail file and sand a little bit at the corners and any other thick spots. That's it! You are done.

HERE IS THE FINISHED PENDANT!!! {pretty cool huh??}

I am not sure if any of you know this, but when Artbeads first started their "beaders that Blog" group, I was asked to join. I was truly honoured to say yes. In all honesty I did not believe I was good enough to even be considered! I have evolved so much since then. I honestly feel like I was given a chance by someone who saw something in me that I did not know was there yet. Thank You Steve Gronier for believing in me, you have been a HUGE part of my evolution and I am eternally grateful. This necklace, I feel, is one of my best.

Here is a close up of some of the beads. You can see green Aventurine, two colours of Fresh Water Pearls, Copper beads, Glass beads and even Lampwork beads along with a few copper spacers.

And here is the finished Necklace, with the beautiful copper pendant given to me by Artbeads and altered by me.

You will have to go see the Enchanted Adornments flicker/facebook page and see all the wonderful entries for their Mixed Media competition. I have two necklaces so far and both of them have pendants from Artbeads.

I hope you have the confidence in me to add me to your blogroll and to become a follower. That would mean a lot to me. I am grateful for all of you who come to see me and I hope to see you all back again soon.

Marie

Sahara Swirls

I think the name came from the sand I put the bracelet on to take the picture more than the bracelet itself. lol. I think it works though. It certainly has the right colours for that name. This is one of the first bracelets I made after I discovered copper. It must be 2 or 3 months now? I just loved the way it looked, so much warmer than silver, and a nice change from what I was doing to start. These last six months have been a discovery of my artistic skills. Having never made a piece of jewelry in December, to being able to make pieces that are being published within just a few months. God has given me a great gift and I want to use it for good and to better our lives.
The large copper beads and golden pearls are from Fire Mountain Gems and the lampwork beads are from Beadazzled. Everything else is from Beads n' Plenty More my local bead store.

Thanks for coming back...

Marie

Become my Fan on Facebook!!! {giveaway too}

I have just created a facebook page and I want you to become a fan!! Please come visit me at Skye Jewels and become a fan and after I get 100 fans I will be giving away a bracelet valued at up to $65! After I get another 100 who knows what I will giveaway... Post it on your blog, let your friends know, let your family know. I am trying to get people to know I exist and to know what I am doing. I want my art to make people happy, so share the love :)

Marie

Earring Frenzy!!

I have seriously been on an earring frenzy lately. My rack is so full I don't know where I am going to put any more. I guess I will just have to sell them ;)
I have really been into copper lately, brass too for that matter. I have also developed quite the courtship with Rhyolite. The colours and the texture, it just makes me smile to look at it. Now about my photography, I can not get t to work for me. My staging has gotten better, but the pictures still leave something to be desired. One day...

The first and second pictures are essentially the same basic design, I even used similar beads. The main thing is the difference in the Rhyolite. The first is very smooth and simple. The second has more texture to it and stands out more because of its shape. I won't go into detail on how I made them, you can pretty much see for yourself, of course you can contact me if you do need instructions.

The one thing I wish, is that Bead Trends would have picked these earrings{second pair} as well as the 2 vintage pieces they did pick. These really were my favorite earrings I sent them. Oh well, you win some, you lose some. The most important thing of course is taking the chance and trying.

Don't forget to enter Silver Parrot's giveaway!!! The draw is tonight so hurry!

See you soon

Marie

"Spring Muse"

Are those beads not the most gorgeous beads ever??? I will tell you in a second where you can get some like them. First I want to tell you a little about what has happened with these beads. lol. Don't worry it's nothing bad.
I have had these beads for maybe a week or two, and I have had them sitting on my desk somewhere I can easily see them. There are two other sets that I got with these, that are also within viewing distance. I have been catching my breath every time I looked over at them and wondering how I could possibly make anything look good enough to compliment these amazing beads. My almost 9 year old daughter comes into my workshop {formerly known as my dining room} and stars playing in my beads. She wants me to show her how to make earrings. So I finally just grab these beauties, not even thinking about it much, and pull out a few sterling plated silver beads and bead caps, sterling french hooks, and silver plated pins.
I swear I was not even planning anything in particular, these earrings just happened!! That is it. They just came out of nowhere and voila! About 20 minutes after I hung them up on my earring rack, my friend Barbara came by and wanted to look at some stuff. Right away she spotted these and had to have them! She also ordered a bracelet to co-ordinate. That is why I named them spring muse.

I was lucky enough to stumble onto this blog on a day when she was doing a giveaway. I entered and amazingly enough I won!! It has been a really long time since I have won anything and I was thrilled because I genuinely fell in love with the beads. I even went onto her Etsy shop and bought two more sets including the pair I used in these earrings.
You can find beads like these at SueBeads she has a link to her Etsy shop on her blog and there you can find a variety of stunning beads, or you can special order something just for you.

Thanks Sue, for sending me my Muse :)

Marie