Our first fan page giveaway is now complete and we have a WINNER.  We had 8 fans leave comments and I numbered them in the order they were received (1 - Nancy Dale; 2 - Ruthie Stickney; 3 - Liana Spiegel; 4 - Rebecca Anderson; 5 - Marjorie Ixes; 6 - Laura Zeiner; 7 - Linda Roberts; 8 - Loretta Sirota) and the winner is:

Ruthie Stickney.  Congratualations Ruthie, I'll put your ornament / pendant in the mail as soon as I receive your shipping information.  Our next fan giveaway is only 20 fans away and I'll be giving away a pair of my sterling and crystal heart earrings.  Even if you don't wear earrings, these are beautiful hung from a tree.  More details to follow.

Use the Muse III Countdown (Updated with Pictures)

 NOTE:  This Post has been updated to include pictures.  The Big Reveal occurred December 17th and you can see all of the entries here.

In a previous post, I gave you a sneak preview of my entry for the Use the Muse III contest.  Well the big reveal is almost upon us.  Scarlett posted the winners December 17th!.  She asked participants to share their favorite part about the Use the Muse contest experience.   When I approach a challenge, it's not enough for me to create something beautiful.  I usually challenge myself to also try something new, whether it be a new technique or simply incorporating elements I don't usually use.  When I belonged to a quilt guild, we had a challenge every year.  I entered 4 quilts during my time with them, each one incorporating a new technique.  The last two, I also further challenged myself to incorporate my grandmothers unfinished blocks.  As a result, I ended up with something so much better than if I had just considered the challenge rules only.

I approached Scarlett's challenge the same way.  I wanted my focal point to be removable and I wanted to incorporate beaded beads from patterns I'd been saving over the years but had never tried.  I ended up creating two focal elements although you'll only see one of them when Scarlett posts everyone's designs.  I'll show both here after the reveal.  I also challenged myself to use everything in the kit.  I succeeded with all of these challenges, even though I had to demolish the crystal yarn to do it!  I loved this about this challenge.  You get this gorgeous kit, with an unexpected element, and the freedom to do anything you want.

I also learned a great deal.  This was my first bead related challenge and I made a huge mistake reading the rules.  It almost derailed my entire entry.  Fortunately I had time to recover and  I learned to slow down.  The challenge came to me while I was preparing for my first craft show.  I was frantically making pendants for the show and rushed through my entry.  Although I'm very pleased with my design, there are a couple of elements I could have reworked.  I had the time and didn't take it.  I also should have blown up my pictures and looked at them for awhile before submitting.  You'd be surprised what shows up when you use your picture as your computer's screen saver.  I won't make that mistake again and I'll take every bit of time allowed.  I'd definitely do this challenge again, it was rewarding and I have a fabulous piece to show for it.

First Fan Page Giveaway

I've found that the handcraft market is full of wonderful people on both ends of the transaction.  Buyers and admirers have never ceased to amaze me with their support, kind words, and advice.  Fellow artists are always quick to lend a helping hand and words of wisdom in this very tough market.  In the spirit of this ongoing friendship, I'm sponsoring my first fan page giveaway.  The ornament/pendant above is my first giveaway.  I don't sell these in my shops, I carry them at my shows.  These were the first things I made with bottle caps after a class I took from Mary Hettmansperger.  She's an inspiring artist and started my love affair with the bottle cap.

First the rules.  My  Facebook Fan Page giveaway will take place each time we acquire 50 new fans. Prizes will be announced here and on my Facebook Fan Page. To enter, you must be a ChristinesBeadworks Fan on Facebook; you must be 18 years of age or older; and you have to leave a comment on my Facebook Fan Page.  The  topic for comments will vary for each giveaway and will be announced on the Facebook Fan Page. Each giveaway will last one week and I will collect comments from fans. Only fans who leave comments will participate in the giveaway.   I'll use a Randomizer to choose the winner.  The winner will be contacted via Facebook messaging to obtain shipping information.  I owe a debt of gratitude to Leah from Marmalade Hills for providing this framework and for her support.  She has excellent products and I've purchased often from her.  If you have not had the chance to check her out, click on her name and you will be directed to her blog.

Ode to Cynthia Rutledge

If you haven't explored the world of Cynthia Rutledge, you need to do so.  Her work is structural and, at least for me, provides a path to other creations.  I'd classify her patterns as advanced, but doable.  I do not consider myself an advanced beader and am able to do her patterns.  I have to rework and redo, but with patience I get through them just fine.  Her teaching style is conversational, which poses some difficulty for me as there is a repetitiveness that confuses me occasionally.  Nothing I couldn't overcome, and something that probably doesn't bother most.  The first few kits I purchased, I wasn't focused on the piece itself, it was learning how to do a specific closure (I've been obsessed with making my own closures).

This first picture is not a great one, so you may want to click on it to blow it up a little.  This is from her Beyond Buttons kit, it's not a kit you can purchase online but she typically has it at her trunk shows.  I was able to call her and she sold me a kit that way.  The instructions include several different ways to create your own buttons or to enhance an existing button.

Unfortunately, (because I was looking for closures for necklaces), this kit did not meet my original goal.  However, they became great embellished buttons for my friend Loretta's knitted purses.  They made fabulous pins and pendants, but were just too large for a necklace closure.

This kit, Coming to the End,  was purchased specifically for it's key toggle closure.  Although I've not yet done it, I envisioned this as the closure to a flat peyote strip.  The only  difficulty I had was that the toggle bar slips out of the base and the bracelet falls off.  I've added a touch of velcro under the point, but the toggle needs to be longer and fatter to offer a more secure closure.  I made three of these bracelets.  They're fun to do and it gives you a very good lesson in peyote increases and decreases.

This was the last kit, Simply Elemental, I bought simply for it's possibilities and it has really paid off.   I bought it with the intention of using the attached rings as toggles.  They're a bit too much work for that purpose but I may consider it again in the future.  What really inspired me was my decision to do a Kumihimo rope rather than a herringbone rope as called for in the kit.

 

When I came to the ends of the necklace, I referred back to the pattern to do the loop and toggle closure.  I had to do some reworking of the pattern, but those of you who have done Kumihimo ropes will see the beauty and elegance of this closure.  No more cones and the raw ends are completely encased.  I plan to end my ropes this way in the future.

The only problem I created for myself (always seems to be a little problem) is I did the rope in size 15 seed beads.  This was the same size Cynthia used for her herringbone rope.  Unfortunately, the Kumihimo is much more compact than the herringbone and I had to do a lot of creative stitching around my stop beads to keep the rings and other embellishments from sliding around.  You can't tell from this picture but it did create a headache.  In hindsight, I should have used size 11 seed beads, it would have aesthetically balanced the larger elements and I wouldn't have had to fuss with it so much

This bracelet, Sea Coil Bangle, was done for the pure joy of the design.  It has a seemless closure which you can see opened in the picture to the right.  It's beautiful on but does need an added safety chain.  It also has a tendency to open on me.

I had the great honor to take a class with Cynthia this past year.  This bracelet, A Chain Reaction, is not yet sold as a kit.  I don't often do Cynthia's projects more than once, I pull components from them instead.  This bracelet is the exception.  I think it's because each segment can be done in one sitting and then you link them all together.  It's not as overwhelming as working on the the piece in it's entirety.   I have one finished, one halfway finished and one started.  That's a true testament to how much I like it.  Visit Cynthia's website by clicking on any of the project names in this post.  They are worth looking at.

Christine

Warm and Cozy Bazaar Report

I just returned from the Warm and Cozy Bazaar in Hartland.  It was a huge show spread throughout the old High School building.   I had plenty of space in my location as there was a ramp to my left keeping that area clear.  It allowed me to set up my high-end items that I don't always have room to display.  These three pictures show my set up which seems to be working well.  I do believe I need to invest in some lighting.  Jewelry looks it's best when you can clearly see the shine and color.

This customer is admiring one of my Coca Cola pendants.  I had set it up as raffle for joining my mailing list.  However, no one signed-up to win, so by mid-show I removed the sign.  Either I didn't promote it hard enough, or no one wanted to spend the time filling out the ticket.  Three people did sign up for my mailing list and I look forward to seeing them again in the future.  Several people picked up business cards and suggested items they'd like to see at future shows or on my website.


My set up expenses were less for this show as I already had the displays and I was able to borrow tables from my friend Lisa.  My only expenses were the entry fee, table covers, and my annual fee to offer credit card payment as an option (all but the entry fee of course, is reusable).  Although the bottle cap tree were new items I made for the show, I was able to use existing materials to make them.  I sold enough to cover these costs and as this was only my second show, I count that as a success.  I believe I received about 1/3rd of the overall traffic that visited the show.  We were down a side corridor and, while not a bad location, was also not ideal.  It's uncertain if I would have done better in another location.  Those that did visit my booth, were very complimentary, with one person saying "I know high quality when I see it," and another saying "you have by far the best jewelry here".   It always a great experience to receive feedback that positive.

A big thank-you is owed to my mother-in-law, Judy (on the left) for, not only spending these 12 hours with me at the show, but also listening to all my shop talk these past few weeks.  In the middle is my daughter Heidi, who brought us lunch and also has been very patient with mom's obsession this holiday season.  And last is me adding last minute extender chains to my cords (I probably should be using the readers on my head!).