White Snow On Green Boughs

One of the prettiest sights of winter is fresh fallen snow piling up on boughs of evergreens.  Walking through the woods behind our house, in the hush of snowy afternoon, is about as magical as it gets.

 As I was thinking about snowy evergreens last night, I was inspired to highlight some snowy white and woodsy green jewelry and art beads for today's post. I hope the following artisan pieces will leave you feeling inspired, too.

First up are these wonderful polymer clay headpins from Melismatic. The back side shown in the upper right reminds me of the needles on a fir tree.  I love designing with decorative headpins. 

This fabulous pair of hand painted leather feathers, by Tree Wings Studio, brings to mind great winged raptors gliding on wind currents above the forest.

Continuing the woodsy them, we have trees from Jenny Davies-Reazor, but not just any trees, these ceramic charms picture the Tree of Life.  Love this shade of green!

These uniquely shaped rustic drops from Slate Studios Supply pick up the green and white theme with style!

Our newest AJE team member, Lindsay Starr wove seed beads into this delightful basket pendant necklace.  Cool, huh?

We have loads of bunnies in the woods here, however ours are brown with white tails, not green. Nevertheless, here are some green bunnies from my shop.

 I love all the shades of green with white flecks in these lampwork glass beads by Sue Beads. 

I found so many awesome green and white art beads and jewelry that I couldn't include them all here.  I didn't want to leave any of my other favorites out, so I made a green and white Treasury collection on Etsy.  You can check it out here: Green and White Delights.

-Linda

Linda Landig Jewelry 

Beads at the beach: a bead retreat

Two weeks ago I headed to the beach. Rehoboth Beach, Delaware to be exact. We were having the coldest temperatures of the year to date - It was like 16 degrees F in the morning! But I was headed to a wonderful three day retreat,  doing bead embroidery.  What did I care about the weather?

I took about 10 minutes on the beach one morning. Until my ears froze. Had the place all to myself - heaven!

Many of you might know Meg and Moggie of BEAD My Love. They are regulars of the bead show circuit, from Beadfest to Tucson. Their company sells everything a seed beader could need: Ultra suede, stiff stuff, needles, cabs... and beads! (And so much more!) This charming and talented mother/daughter duo also host retreats.

I signed up after Beadfest August, if I remember correctly. Their retreats happen a few times a year, and fill up fast. The November retreat I attended was Tuesday - Thursday; perfect for my teaching schedule. I have been doing bead embroidery for approximately a year - and was ready to challenge myself, learn new stitches, go bigger?

Starting out: my kit, some beads from home... my orderly Virgo approved workspace. 

We arrived at 4 pm - a very welcoming group who adopted me and made me feel right at home. Many attendees were there for a second, or third time! Upon arrival we selected our kit for the weekend. Returnees arrived early and lined up at the door to get first pick! Meg makes up stellar kits with everything you need start to finish - in such fabulous color palettes! My kit included: 2 agate cabs, a face cab from Melanie/Earthenwood Studio, needles, thread, and beads ranging from 15s/11s/hex/drops... (More beads than I used up - I am excited to continue to design with the palette I chose. )

Once settled, and introduced around the room - we opened up kits and started to dream up designs. The room is set up to shop - I quickly decided the ammonite  (above) HAD to go with one of the agates... And we started beading. And chatting. And shopping. Designing, discussing, sharing. Meg and Moggie gave one on one instruction to any and all; beginners were started of with the basics of peyote stitch for a bezel. More advanced students planned larger, layered pieces, and composite pieces made from components beaded and joined together.

My neighbor Diane working on her piece with a Marsha Neal Studio button. A gorgeous palette of sages and copper; finished piece on the right. 

A forest of Ott lights: the room seen from the far corner. Thats my empty chair at top right... 

It was exciting to see things from the other side of the table... as a beader, not as a ceramic artist. BEAD My Love has carried my cabs for a few years. ( I'm still honored, and excited by that...) Watching people select their kits - Lisa Peters cabs, Earthenwood Studio , Marsha Neal, and my own "Mythic Nature" cabs... knowing these artists, their clay, their glazes... It was great fun, and inspirational to see the women at the retreat work their own creative magic with the ceramic cabochons. It presented my own work to me in a new light, and for that I am grateful.

My fellow attendees work in progress. Yes - thats my lunar raven in purple! 

Still orderly... All the bags on the left were my "kit". Tubes and labeled bags in the center were my additional beads. 

The three day weekend (I know it was during the week! It FELT like a weekend) was phenomenal. I would highly recommend a BEAD My Love retreat to anyone that is into bead embroidery - or wants to learn. There were break out groups throughout the 'weekend' to demo brick stitch, soutache embroidery... We worked all day and socialized over lunch/dinner. We came away with new friends, and new skills.  The structure was relaxed and informal. The people I met were interesting, creative, and funny! with diverse careers, interests and experience. I left the 'weekend' sad that it was ending/invigorated with new ideas/inspired to try new things/and happy tired. 

From my weekend: two completed pieces and one work in progress. The WIP piece is an enameled focal from Anne of Gardanne Beads. 

There is even a newly created Facebook group for BML retreat alumni to keep in touch and share pictures of new creations. All in all a fab weekend. When can I go again?

For now - you know I am bead embroidering Holiday gifts... off to the studio!
Jenny

Goodbye Rehoboth! Until next time... 

The retreat included your project kit, and additional supplies, one dinner, 2 lunches. Snacks and beverages were also provided. Lodging was not included. 

I received no loot, favors or free stuff from BEAD My Love in exchange for this review. 

December Component of the Month Winners

The two winners for the December component of the month design challenge are WindDancerStudios and Fulgorine Cate. Congrats ladies! Jen Cameron will be emailing you for your snail mail address so Diana can get these sent out to you ASAP!

KISS Designing and a tutorial

How many times have you fallen in love with a bead and thought of all the elaborate things you could do with it and ended up putting it back in your stash because nothing you think of is right?  This happens all to often to me.  Then it hit me!

Keep It Simple Stupid!

Some beads need to just be the focal like this Treeman by Jenny.  I can not tell you how many times I have taken this out of the box only to place it sweetly back in because I can not make it work.

I have been so wrapped up in redoing our sons room, holidays and working on a design that is requiring a lot of research and step away time and I needed to complete SOMETHING.

On the Treeman necklace I used o-beads and beautiful AB lined olivine.  I used them all in the completion of the necklace.  What to do if I want to give you all a little tutorial?

No worried how bout showing you with tri-beads.  Yes I said tri-beads!

If you want to give this a go here is the step by step.

You will need:
 O-beads or Tri-Beads
 15gr size 11/0 seed beads

Pick up 5 11/0 beads, 1 tri-bead, 5 11/0 beads and 1 tri-bead

Go through the first 5 seed beads added

Pick up 1 tri-bead, 5 seed beads and 1 tri-bead

Go back through the beginning 5 seed beads, the tri-bead just added and the next 5 seed beads added in the beginning of this step.

Pick up 1 tri-bead and go through the the 5 seed beads in step one.

Pick up 1 tri-bead and go through the 5 seed beads at the start of this step.  

Pull beadwork snug and go through all the top tri-beads.

Using these tri-beads as the base for the next steps.

Pick up 5 seed beads, 1 tri-bead and 5 seed beads and go through the tri-bead from the beginning of this step in the opposite direction and the next tri-bead in the base.

Pick up 1 tri-bead and 5 seed beads and go back through the tri-bead you started from and the next tri-bead in the base.

Pick up 1 tri-bead and 5 seed beads go through the tri-bead you started from and the next tri-bead.

In this step you will go through the 5 seed beads on the other side of the tri-bead you just passed through.

Pick up 1 tri-bead and pass through the 5 seed beads to complete the side.  Go through the tri-bead in the base, back up through the 5 seed beads and through all the top tri-beads. 

Repeat these steps to create the length of chain you desire

Let me know what you think and if you do give it a go make sure to send me a link to it!