Second Place Is Great!!!

Who ever said that second place is only second best!  I beg to differ - I'm ecstatic!  Thanks to some VERY great friends who I know were rooting for me, I made second place in the popular vote!  For my first-ever contest entry, this is more than I hoped for!

I want to thank everyone for going to the Etsy Beadweaver's Blog & letting them know you like my Lions & Tigers Beadwoven Tile Bracelet!!!!!

P.S. I'm sure I'll be entering more of these contests in the future, so stay tuned!!!

Sincerely,

Terah ;-)
TerahClassyCreations.etsy.com

A Bracelet In Design Stages

Here's a behind-the-scenes look at how my creative process goes sometimes.  This bracelet started from the colors I found at the bead shop - specifically the little 3 millimeter magatamas.  Their color and shape reminded me of the bubbles and froth that come up on the seashore (a refreshing transparent blue that hint of sandy undertones)  - so from there the ideas flowed.

I got home and went through my beads and found another color for the deep-blue portion of my ocean, the lighter portion for the shallows, and the beautiful shimmery satin sandy color for the beach.






Yet another day I was sitting in the car waiting for a friend and found a friendly napkin on which to doodle my design - very official really.  :-)

So here's just a little sneak peek . . . I'll post the bracelet when it's finished.  (We'll see if it resembles the sketch at all  -  sometimes I just let the beads lead me and go with the flow, depending on what ends up being best at the time.)

Something Simple

Every once in a while it's nice to make something that doesn't take me days to create.  It kind of changes things up a bit.  So I broke out some of my shells and pearls and did some stringing with them.




This is what I came up with.  The name of it is the Coral Shell & Pearl Bracelet.  I also made some matching earrings.  The whole set will be off to Studio 12 Urban Day Spa in Modesto!





This is also to show everyone how I'm packaging my jewelry right now.  Since each piece I make is different, I make a custom card for each piece.  Bigger things like necklaces will come in boxes.  What do you think?  Any more packaging ideas out there?

Just A Reminder

Hi!

It's me again. . . . Just wanted to remind everyone to visit the Etsy Beadweaver's Blog  (September 9 - 15, 2011) to let them know which piece you like best for the September Challenge.

Don't worry, you don't have to pick my bracelet (psst . . ., it's the Lions & Tigers Beadwoven Tile Bracelet).
I promise I won't hunt you down . . . at least not this time!  :-)

I'm In Beadwork Magazine!!!!

EEEeeeek!!!  That's about what I did today when I went to my mailbox!!  You see, I received my issue of the October/November 2011 issue of Beadwork today!

I usually like getting it, but this time I was especially excited because my version of the Brilliant Buckle Bracelet was featured in their W.O.R.D. (What Our Readers Did) section.  I was so excited, I just had to share!!  If you're wondering what I'm talking about, here's the link to the original post about this bracelet when I first made it!  (And this is the VERY picture that appears in their magazine!! :->)

http://terahsclassiccreations.blogspot.com/2011/02/buckle-bracelet.html

So go out and look in the October/November issue of Beadwork, on page 10 & you'll see what I mean!!  You can say you saw it here first!!  :-)

Now it's time for me to do the dance of joy!!!

'Lions and Tigers' Beadwoven Tile Bracelet

A while ago I posted 10 Ways To Break A Creative Slump.  Since then I realized there's another great way to get inspired. . . . 

Join some sort of a group that is into creative challenges!  For example, I'm part of a group called Etsy Beadweavers.  To be part of this group we have to enter one of their 12 creative challenges per year.  I hadn't been able to enter it yet, because of my own time constraints.  But the challenge for September is "Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!  - a throw-back to The Wizard of Oz!  This really got the ideas flowing!  Just the name is very indicative of the piece I chose to make.

I'm calling it "'Lions and Tigers' Beadwoven Tile Bracelet."  

 Can you see why I called it that?

Any guesses?

.

I decided to make a "fabric" square (or tile) of beaded tiger stripes, and then chose a swirly gold pattern to represent the lion.  Ironically the tile containing the swirls also could represent the "twister" that picked Dorothy up and took her to the land of Oz!  I love that it has a double-meaning!  The gold frames on each of the beaded tiles and the gold-tone metal connectors represent the yellow-brick road.  (Incidentally, the bracelet itself could represent the road, since it looks like a path of stepping stones leading you somewhere!)

If you look closely you will notice the faceted red crystals that connect the "tiles" of beaded fabric mimic the  color of Dorothy's ruby slippers.  Finally, I chose to use two tiny, box clasps in the shape of bows to finish it, just like the bows on her iconic, sparkly ruby slippers.

So this will be my first submission to an Etsy Beadweaver's Challenge!!!  This will be fun!!  So don't forget to take a look at the Etsy Beadweavers blog!  It shows all the entries, and from September 9 -15, you can put your two cents in, and let them know which piece is your favorite!!

Spray of Leaves Necklace

It's been a while since I've posted - sorry to have taken so long.  Summer is such a busy time!!  (But I have to say something about teals and aqua blues just say summer time over and over again.)

I went to my friend's day spa and she mentioned that she likes greens and blues, and it got me thinking. . . Yeah, green is so natural and earthy and blue is so cool and soothing!  So right away I bought some big blue (more like teal) circular shells and started digging through my stash!  I came upon these great Czech beads I had bought for another project that I had long ago given up on.  (They weren't uniform enough in size for what I was working on at that time.)  For this project, they were perfect!

Paired with the copper spacers and clasp, I think the metallic green and blue of these leaves look fancy, but yet still organic.  I worked the leaves randomly in different sizes and then arranged them much like a florist would the greenery in a bouquet.  When I found what I thought was the perfect "arrangement" I stitched them together and added touches of pearls to mimic a milky little raindrop nestled in among them.  (I must give the credit for the leaf technique to the book by Diane Fitzgerald, The Beaded Garden.  If you like flowers, and you like to bead, you'll love this book!)

So this is what I ended up with - the Spray of Leaves Necklace!!

As a thank you for the inspiration she gave me, this necklace and the matching bracelet & earrings will be available at my friends shop, Studio 12 Urban Day Spa!! SOLD

 P.S. - My monitor is on the fritz right now, so I can't tell which picture is the best (which is why I added so many).  I would love feedback on which picture everyone prefers!