Making a Trade and Some Other Things

Warning...long post ahead!!! :)  It has been a busy beading week for me.  Yea!  Beads, oh glorious beads.  :)  I can't say they were anything too complicated or extravagant, but you know what?  I like them anyways!

First up though I recently went into a trade with my very dear friend Beth over at Bellesanbeaus.  She does the most amazing face cabs, and I'm getting another one.  woohoo for me!  I'm working on a project that I want to use one of her amazing faces for as the focal point.  Being a little tight on funds I asked her if she would be willing to do a trade.  A pretty for a pretty.  She was game so I started wracking my brain on what I was going to make for her.  Her favorite colors are the same as mine...blues and purples...and luckily that's what I have the most of in my stash.  I picked out some of my most coveted beads that I haven't used before and set about making her a bracelet.  Had a few false starts, but what I decided on first was a Russian Spiral.  I just couldn't get the beautiful shades captured in a pic the way I wanted to, but you can get the idea.  I used my favorite bugle beads with varied shades of blue and purple along with some seed beads I found last year.  Until now they have been unopened.  Have you ever looked for a true purple purple shade of seed bead?  It's really hard to find the perfect purple!  When I saw these I knew I had to have them, and they were perfect for Beth's bracelet.  Here's some pics of the Russian Spiral:

I love the way it twists around.  Reminds me of DNA.  I was nervous that maybe she wouldn't like this one, and I really wanted to make sure she was happy so I made her a 2nd one.  This one uses a 4mm (I think) round that was actually called Indigo.  Hey!  They named it after me!  :)  Ok, maybe it was the other way around, but these are another of my coveted beads.  They are a super dark blue, not black.  I also used a triangle seed bead and a sparkly blue for the picot tips to finish out this netting bracelet.  Here are some pics:

Her package came in the mail today and she told me emphatically that she loves loves loves BOTH of them, so I am oh so very happy!  She also told me that my cab is looking pretty marvelous, and I am waiting on pins and needles to get it.  I will show it to you all as soon as it comes in.  She does the most amazing work!

A couple weeks ago my mother-in-law was telling me that I need to get some stuff together for her to take to work to sell there.  She works at a high school, and the teachers just love things like what I make she says.  I have my two higher end sets (the crystal and the dragonfly sets), and I also wanted to give some lower priced things too.  Again, I just used this and that from my stash and set about to see what I could put together with what I already have.  I was pretty pleased with what I came up with.  The first one I think is super pretty.  It's all purples with gold.  Can't go wrong with that, right?  It's made on memory wire, and I just love the way it wraps around.  Here are some pics:

I also did another one like this but using some wood beads that I had no idea when or if I would ever use them.  Surprise!  They worked out great with the combination of natural stones and Czech glass in earthy colors.

Then I did some even simpler ones, but they are using some really great things so I like them.  The next one is made using Stretch Magic, one of my new favorite stringing materials (now that I know how to keep the knots secure).  It's all about lusterous beads.

And then there's this next one.  I picked up this really unusual 3 sided piece of shell quite some time ago.  It's really interesting and has great shades of pinks and browns running through it.

And finally I did one that is using very simple blue beads.  It's dainty, but very sturdy.

Sometime in the next few days I am getting an order in from Artbeads.com, so I'll be showing some more things soon.  I posted these new things in two places.  One is in my Etsy shop here and the other is in my Shop Hand Made shop here if you would like to go take a look.

I probably won't be writing more posts for a few days, so I hope you all have a great weekend!  Bead happy!