Sunday Funday - Week 11

Week of December 22-28, verge of the New Year...

What a fantastic week - I hope you all had fabulous holidays, and got to spend time with your families (or family of choice).  I am currently back in Knoxville writing this post, where I've spent the second half of this week with our good friends.  I am unashamed to admit I had an ulterior motive for wanting to spend the holiday weekend here...the clothing consignment shops are fantastic here!

My friend also let me "shop" her old work wardrobe.  We are similarly pear shaped people, so all of her too small clothes ended up fitting me perfectly!  Including four pairs of trousers - yay for not having to try pants on in the stores!  Friday evening and all day Saturday we spent shopping for more tops, sweaters, and a fabulous winter wool trench coat that fits like a glove.  Now when I get back to Nashville I can comfortably purge my wardrobe of all things that don't fit and aren't appropriate for work...a good wardrobe purge is always liberating.

I made time this week to photograph a bunch of pieces for Etsy listings.  I hope to be able to write a listing every day after I get home from work.  So I will share a few sneak previews with you this week...it seems like all my posts lately have been about eye candy.  Admittedly, a bit lazy on my part, but I'm still getting used to the new work schedule and I know you don't mind!

I love making brooches, and these three have always been some of my favorites.  A pink and blue bouquet, a paisley with vintage glass focal cab and flower nailheads, and a vibrant hibiscus that makes me want to visit tropical climates.  I will have to make some more soon to wear with all my new jackets and sweaters!

I just love making these encrusted key pendants.  Each one is stitched over an actual old metal skeleton key.  The two on the right are teeny furniture keys - delicate, even covered in 15/0 seed beads.  The one in the middle is one of my first...and still one of my favorites, between it's huge size and heft, the colors, and the teeny peephole of key that you can see just under the ring.  The red and turquoise one was a challenge - the hole ended up being too small and became clogged with beads when I tried to preserve it.  So I solved the issue by creating a beaded loop attached to the top of the key - I love that none of the actual key is covered by the ribbon.

I will be listing these two necklaces and two pendants featuring my encrusted polymer clay cabochons.  The black, purple and blue necklace has always been one of my favorites!  The peach, crimson, and seafoam one is a great statement piece, and the fringe makes a wonderful sound as you wear it.  The purple and black pendant is super small and delicate, with it's ruffle of purple twins.  And the eye pendant with bright blue lashes...I don't know, I may have to keep that one.  I've always love the evil eye symbolism, and this one will go well with my new wardrobe.

Tidepool is one of the biggest bead embroidery pieces I've ever stitched.  I got the Mexican onyx starfish on my birthday trip to the Tennessee Aquarium a few years ago.  If you ever visit Tennessee, you MUST visit the aquarium.  It has one of the most spectacular collections of freshwater critters that you will ever see, and their turtle and tortoise collection is amazingly diverse.  There is an atrium full of butterflies, another with river otters, and a third showcasing the inhabitants of the Louisiana bayous.  I could spend an entire weekend exploring the place and be completely content!  However, this piece was inspired by my love for the Oregon coastline.  When I visit home, a trip to the coast is always in my plans, and if we manage to hit it at lowtide, the tidepools are on the agenda, for sure.  Besides the starfish, this statement necklace features several other denizens of the rocky coast I'm so familiar with.  Snails, with vintage glass shells...a purple sea urchin...mussels, this one features an ancient piece of roman glass...a green sea anemone...a few barnacles...the blue gray stones that are so prevalent...and my favorite part is the strap that features a stitched jellyfish, tangled in kelp, the floats made of hollow Venetian glass beads.

I made this necklace quite a few years ago, but I've always loved it.  In fact, I'm pretty sure it was one of the first peyote bezels I ever did around a cabochon.  Dichroic glass has always been an extreme fascination of mine, and I couldn't resist this very large tricolor piece from store I was working at.  The fringe has red opal vintage glass leaves, such an unusual color!  I think I will have to rework the strap, as it's a bit short for me now, and stitched from a thread that I no longer trust.  But a strung strap out of black seed beads and a few matching accent beads will set the cab off even better I think.  

Keep an eye out in a few days for my Art Jewelry Elements December Component of the Month post.  The reveal posts of my fellow contributors are by far my favorite blog hop around.  My friend Sherri and I will also be announcing a big surprise that you will not want to miss!  Don't forget to keep up with me on Facebook, and also keep an eye out on Etsy for some of these pieces to make an appearance soon.  As always, thanks for looking!