Glad Rag Swag Bag

Having received my second mailing of goodies from Rings & Things but being separated from both my cameras for reasons long and boring, I was at a loss to show you my loot. Then my brain woke up and I got these pix for you to look at!

Please go to A Bead a Day to see the full bounty of beads as they came to the mailbox of Lisa Crone. Oh, and her new book is out!!!! It looks wonderful and I am humbled to even have the same beads as Lisa! lol!

Here's an awesome close-up of some of the beads from Rings & Things:

These are black 'faceted helix sparkly glass beads'. Helix. "A helix (pl: helixes or helices) is a type of space curve, i.e. a smooth curve in three-dimensional space. It is characterised by the fact that the tangent line at any point makes a constant angle with a fixed line called the axis. Examples of helixes are coil springs and the handrails of spiral staircases." -Wikipedia 

A space curve! So Tardis and Dr. Who! Seriously, you need to see these beads in real life! They are subtle yet happening! They are beyond faceted! To me, they whisper 'Vampire Steampunk'. Yes, I know, steampunk again. I have the most amazing thing to grace these beads with and then I will show you!

In the mean time, please do visit the blogs of the others playing with these beads, some of whom are listed in the sidebar on the right. My right.

Happy New Year! All the best for 2010! Keep sparkling!

Time Flies!

Here is my first creation with the swag batch I received for cleverly winning the Rings & Things Blog Partner Contest! As you know, these packages are put together by Dave Robertson, R & T Web Optimizer, and the man really takes the Optimizer part of his job description seriously! Who amongst us has not enjoyed at least one Twitter or FaceBook interaction with Dave? Anywho, he's also, ummm, a bit, uhhh, well, unconventional in his selections....check my last post to see what I'm talking about! (Okay, lazy, he sent Tim Holtz Ideology scrapbook embellishments with the jewelley making stuff! *whirls finger beside head*).

Ha ha Dave! Using scrapbook stuff is all the rage in the funky mixed media jewellery in the spotlight lately! It's so Steampunky! That's the vibe these vintage styled pieces gave me anyway and above is the result! Let me walk you through my process here a bit...the 'why' of my design.

I started with the Hammered Oval Cable (Antiqued Brass Plated) chain. I was already thinking Steampunk because of that crazy little embossed brass corner piece and the watch hands. At this point, on an unrelated craft emergency, I had to go to Michaels, the Arts & Crafts store near here, to get some 12 x 12 paper. Like most of you, I go into craft stores knowing exactly what I need, head right to it, check out and leave...I'm sorry; my lies sicken you, don't they?! Suffice it to say, while getting the paper, I was distracted by a nicely sized, coin shaped piece of Opalite, which is Chinese glass with a haunting glow to it....to me, a very Steampunk type of glass.

(Sidebar: I learned all about Opalite from R& T years ago, and it was their truthful Opalite info that made me their fast friend!).

I also found those sweet little leaf and word tags dangling off the bottom and the little bird at the top of the opalite bead. Rings & Things has similar danglies. I used brass wire to make a double eye-pin to put through the opalite bead and then I did something heretofore never even considered...I glued the Opalite bead inside the brass cormer frame!!!! (Have you noticed how its okay to glue things to things now in jewellery making? So I did!) I had to manipulate the frame a bit, but it knew it was being manipulated, and it didn't seem to mind, so I quickly had the large coin shaped Opalite snugged inside the frame.

Disoriented and dizzy from the glue fumes, I now had a rather visually heavy pendant, which meant that I needed more chain to balance it.(More, not less chain, is all the rage right now!) Having 2 kinds of such brass chain, I quickly attached them to each end of the length of oval chain. I then attached the watch hands together with a link from one of the smaller chains, and made them into half of a toggle clasp, sliding them easily through one of the oval links. I like it and prefer it when necklaces close in the front.

Isn't it beautiful how the Opalite seems to change colour?! The tag dangly says 'bloom', the bird and the watch hands remind us that time flies and to live for the moment and the entire necklace, I think, evokes a delightful memory of a past that hasn't happened yet.

What do YOU think? (I know you can hear me!).

It's Raining Beads! And Findings!

Cor, what a week of fabulous mail deliveries! Took this later in the day so it is rather shadowy, otherwise I think you can see the many cool things sent to me by Rings & Things for winning their Blog Partner Contest!

I'm intrigued to find what appear to be scrapbook embellishments! So glad my Tim Holtz token has an "E" on it, for Edward, my dh! Watch hands, a frame, a metal corner...these are from Tim's Idea-ology™ line.

There are also the cutest little glass Christmas charms...a tree, a stocking, an adorable pengy penguin, a gingerbready bear and two decapitated snowmen! Well, the heads of the snowmen lol! I know that they want to be earrings but there are a few other things I'm trying first with them!

I'm loving the three different types of chain, especially the Ebony wooden chain.

Oh and right there in the middle, and a little to the left, is the most darling little bottle, with a screwable closure and a hole for a jump ring! It looks like a fairy's perfume bottle or maybe a flask for those hard fairy days!

Okay! To work!

(SO not work! lol)/

Thank you Dave and Rings & Things! Please stand by!

And The Winner Is.....

.....ME!!!!
I've written about Rings & Things before, and you've met Russ Troll Bead here and followed his travels, so it should come as no surprise to know that I entered this and my name was drawn! What a lucky duck I am to work with the thoughtful choices put together by R&T's own Web Optimizer, Dave Robertson! I can't wait to see what my first package contains! I'm not in this alone either! Have a look at Just a Tish's blog and Dawno's blog. (I'm afraid to because I want to come up with my own take on things, which is really, quite difficult, what with inspiration to be found everywhere! But our styles are all so different that it should be quite interesting!)

Now, MY news from Rings and Things is thrilling, isn't it?! YOUR news from Rings and Things can be thrilling too! These guys are so generous and they are really showing it by giving designers this opportunity:

"A jewelry contest of creations made from Rings & Things products.

We invite you to show us your favorite handmade designs.
Designs don't have to be jewelry—they can be anything!

Entries accepted Jan 1 thru Feb 28, 2010. 

Winners announced the 1st week of June.

Winning entries (with credit to the designer) could be featured in our catalog

& promotions—that's exposure to more than a million people a year, worldwide!

You can turn around and use this for "as seen in" promotions of your own."

How cool is this! Fun for YOU and ME, thanks to Rings &Things! How perfect! Thank you Rings &Things! YOU rock!