Pearl and Gold Jewelry

Well, not real pearls and gold but glass pearls, white luster seed beads, and silver lined amber seed beads. The amber beads really shine like a metallic bead without the worry of the finish wearing off. I also made myself a set, I really like the Victorian look of it.

http://www.mkmcreations.com/jewelry.html

Rose Mini - Time lapse acrylic painting

More Flower Earrings and a Bracelet

I got a couple more colours of Preciosa twin beads and made more of these flower earrings. I really like the pair I made for myself in red, they are quite light.

The inspiration for this bracelet came from the button I happened to find which was very close in colour to the large beads. This bracelet is quite weighty but I think it would be fun to wear, like big chunks of ice around your wrist.

My Dragons

Many years ago I painted a couple of dragons on the computer and then decided to make an illustrated book with them. I haven't worked on it very regularly though, so it still is not done. And then I had a big setback when my computer crashed in the fall.  I was behind on backing things up and lost a few pages.

Over the last few months I have been redoing what I lost, and reviewing the previous pages I had finished, discovering changes that had not been backed up and had to be done again. I'm finally caught up and I got one more page done. I plan on doing four more pages for the book. For anyone not familiar with digital painting, you might think it is fast and easy, but it is not. The way I paint these pictures takes a long time so I hope to get the last four pages done by fall. Plus, I like to take my acrylics out once in a while too.

Here are a few crops for a peek at what I have been doing:

Purple, Purple, and Red

You might have noticed that I like purple. Here are two more items I have added to my website.

I also like red, and the Cellini spiral stitch. Making a bracelet takes a very long time but earrings are much quicker. I hope to do more, but with the weather warming up I'm already finding less time for beading.

Ice and Rose

I added two new bracelets to my site today, both featuring interesting buttons I found. All the button collecting I used to do is paying off now as they make really pretty clasps for bracelets.

http://www.mkmcreations.com/icebracelet.html

 http://www.mkmcreations.com/whiteroselatticebracelet.html

Purple Flower Triangles

I just posted this new set to my site:

And these earrings:

I have more jewelry made, just need to get pictures taken.

New Bracelets

Today I added three spiral bracelets to my website. These are fun for experimenting with different colour combinations and beads.

Both my son and I think these curved tubes look like macaroni. He wanted me to make something with them and I came up with this stretch bracelet.

I gave him a few of them too. He strings some beads and I tie them in a loop and then he hangs them on door knobs. He's only three but has a good way of looking at things. Whenever he hangs up a decoration he says it's a new house.

Spring is coming

It may not seem like it but spring will be here soon. Time to start some flower seeds and bring out some spring decorations. And for many it's time to think about Easter, but even if you don't celebrate it you can still enjoy the colourful aspects of it... pretty flowers and painted eggs. And you can add a little spring decoration to yourself with this Spring Chicks Necklace.

I also added three pairs of earrings to my site, including these beaded ball earrings which make me think of little flowers.

More Flower Earrings.

I tried a couple more versions of the flower earrings using the Preciosa twin beads. These are posted on my site.
http://www.mkmcreations.com/jewelry.html

Preciosa Twin Beads

I decided to give myself another Preciosa challenge and tried out these twin hole beads. I'm keeping these but will probably make more in different colours.

I also added a couple of new things to my website. I really like this set:
http://www.mkmcreations.com/amethystamberemeraldnettedbraceletandearrings.html
This is new as well:
http://www.mkmcreations.com/greengoldblacknecklaceandearrings.html

Purple Rhinestone Earrings Redone

You may recognize part of this necklace. First I made earrings with the large rhinestones but they weren't comfortable to wear. So I made a third one and a couple of peyote tubes and turned them into a necklace. Then I made smaller earrings which I haven't actually worn yet but I think they will be more comfortable.

Also added more jewelry to my website today. http://www.mkmcreations.com/jewelry.html

New Website

I have decided to change my domain name and my new website address is www.mkmcreations.com .
I didn't make a lot of changes but it still took a lot of time to get it ready. I also added two new sections for jewelry and other crafts.
 

Another beaded ball

The same ball I made before in red and black but this time with the right beads. Also made another pair of earrings.

Cellini Spiral

I saw this on YouTube and had to try it. I used size 11 silver lined amber cylinder beads, some size 10 seed beads (which were really all different sizes), and size 8 silver iris seed beads. This probably took about 9 hours all together but I worked on it a little bit here and there.

I also made a simple pair of earring to go with it.

More Earrings

Still beading quite a bit, though a couple of projects I'm working on will take a while to complete and I have started redoing some digital artwork I lost when my computer crashed.

 One pair of earrings I made is a twelve bead beaded ball with red crackle beads, which are made by Preciosa.

And then I wanted to do something black and white and made these dangle earrings.

Preciosa

Stocking up on beads and watching beading videos has led me to learn about Preciosa and to discover their bead contest. And this led to a personal challenge to create something using only Preciosa beads. Just a couple pairs of earrings, I thought.

Being the end of January, I guess I was ready to start thinking about spring and I created this flower vine using these amethyst AB flowers with medium green and lime green size 11 seed beads.

Then I used the flowers again to make a wreath shape along with more green seed beads, pearl white seed beads, and emerald AB 3 mm round beads. I only wish I could take better photos so that you could see how nice the pearl beads are.

Next I used some crystal AB double cones and honey AB bicones with some pearl seed beads and 3mm copper luster beads.

I thought the lime green seed beads were such a pretty colour and also loved the sheen of the pearl beads, so I used them to try out the spiral stitch for the first time. First a spiral doughnut with a loop of 3mm emerald beads for the earrings, then I made a bangle with the 3mm beads mixed in.

There are many more Preciosa beads in my stash and I'm looking forward to using them.

Busy beading

One downside to beading is that it can take so long to make something, especially if you're trying to come up with your own designs. A few times I have nearly finished something and realized it would not work and took it all apart again. One thing I was trying was to create a doughnut shape without copying someone else, and after a few tries I finally got one to work. This has chocolate cherry seed beads, iridescent clear beads, and fluted purple beads.

I made these earring just because I think these green beads are really cute, so tiny and nicely faceted.

This beaded ball design is from a book, Crystal Play by Anna Elizabeth Dreager, but I used round faceted beads instead of bicones, which I think made it a little bumpier, but I still like it. I used the same design for the earrings. Red and black beads with gunmetal seed beads, which look really light because they reflect so much.

I also managed a small painting for the Different Strokes Project at wetcanvas.com. The theme this month was indulgence, and I went with sweets and beads! It was hard to concentrate on this though because I kept wanting to get back to beading. I think I will indulge in beading for a least a few more days, and then get back to painting more.
Ferrero and Beads, 6x4" on acrylic paper.

Addicted to beads

I just realized that I haven't posted since May. Summer was a busy time with camping and gardening. I did get some painting done, a couple of my acrylics are posted on my website, though I see one is missing. I also did some digital work but unfortunately my computer crashed completely at the end of summer and I lost a couple of paintings that I will have to do over again. I'm trying to see it as a blessing in disguise, that maybe the paintings will be better the second time. I know they won't be the same.

And lately I have been buying lots of beads and I have been trying out new techniques and trying to come up with my own designs. I have a pack of beads that have nice colours but are very irregular in size and shape, so I came up with these earrings to make use of them.

I hope to do a lot of painting and beading during the winter months.

Beading

I have always loved beads and making jewellery, so recently I found some time to get the beads out.