Whimsy Wednesday! Animanic!

Hello Everyone!
Welcome to Whimsy Wednesday!
I have more Squinkies to show off as well as reacquainting you with an old friend viewed in new ways!
The Squinkie creations are both earring pairs and one happily coincides with the Fusion Beads March Blog Challenge for today!
Today's Blog Challenge is to make a piece inspired by an animal and here is my contribution!
Title: Penguin Pair
Ingredients: Squinkie Penguins, Bali silver, Czech glass, metal, surgical steel earwires.

I love the fact that these penguins are two different colours!
Title: Pas de Deux
Ingredients: Squinkie Penguins, Bali silver, Czech glass, metal, surgical steel earwires.

I'm so thrilled with the title! It is an old ballet term that popped right into my head as I was pondering this creation! It is literally translated from French as "steps of two", and is a type of duet in ballet! Awesome!

And now, an old friend! You might remember this post where I shared some of the nifty backgrounds I picked up on my adventures out and about! I've already found a creation that is a natural match for that wonderfully vibrant sun and moon background!
Here he is....
Title: A Little Batty
Ingredients: Hand-carved boxwood flying bat ojime, fine pewter bat (Green Girl studios), Czech glass, Swarovski crystal, metal.
The focal
The clasp and other detail...

Does this look spookily fabulous against that background?
By the way, all of the small-linked segments are 13 links in length! Isn't that fabulous?!

So, there you have it, all sorts of animals abounding today!
All of these will be up in my Etsy shoppe by tomorrow!

See you Friday!
Ciao!

Whimsy Wednesday! Celebrating Spring!

Hello Hello!
Welcome to Whimsy Wednesday!
I hope the weather where you are is as beautiful as it is here!
I've two creations to show you that were inspired by the Fusion Beads March Blog Challenge and also enabled me to play-yet again- with wire!

I am proud to show you this creation that was inspired by the Fusion Beads Blog Challenge to create a ring! I've a good bit of experience with wire-wrapped rings and so I wanted to challenge myself by using something that had no holes or obvious means of securing it to the wire-wrapping of the ring. I found a lovely glass cameo in my studio stock and decided to play with it and the wire! I'm so pleased with how it grew into completion! Have a look!
Title: Lady in White
Ingredients: Glass cameo, antiqued copper wire.
And a view of the right side...
I love the contrast of colours and styles. Some of the wire-wrapping pulls this a bit towards the Steampunk style, which is fabulous! This ring and it's colours are reminiscent of the in-between time of warm sky and rich earth-tones, just before the little shoots of green peek through the ground!
And speaking of green peeking through...
I created this pair of earrings on the same day as the Faerie Lanterns. To me, these earrings celebrate both Saint Patrick's Day and Spring!
Title: Forest Jewels
Ingredients: Czech glass, glass, Artistic wire, gold-plated surgical steel earwires.

I love the mixtures and textures in these earrings! The mixture of greens, the texture of translucent, faceted glass with opaque and variegated textures, and the geometry of the faceted beads with the organic loops and tendrils shaped in the wire. With all the hues of green in these, I'd say they are bursting forth into Spring (rather than a more modest peeking through!)
Even better is that these are now in my Etsy shoppe!

Well, I hope this encourages a Spring (HA!) in your step, a sunnier outlook to your life and I'll see you on Friday!
Ciao!

Fini Friday! Wearin' O' the Squinkies and the Green!

Hello Everyone!
Welcome to Fini Friday and the day before Saint Patrick's Day!
However you celebrate this holiday, be safe! I'm so pleased that this blog post is again in perfect step with the Fusion Beads March Blog Challenge! The challenge a few days back was to make a multi-strand necklace and this fit perfectly into my Fini Friday goal of finishing existing creations!
I've had the idea to use a small herd of non-matching Squinkie animals in some way and I call the finished creation a success! I wanted to approach the idea of a multi-strand necklace in a little different way and so I used fiber rather than chain or cable for the multiple strands! The result is something very soft, very colourful and very playful! Take a look!
Title: As Yet Unknown
Ingredients: Squinkies, fiber, Bali silver, aluminum, lead-free pewter, metal.

The Squinkie animals are, in order from left to right: Squirrel, Mouse, Giraffe, Frog, Puppy. Isn't this just fun!?! Look for this in my Etsy shoppe as soon as I discover it's title!

The earring creation I have to show you next follows the Blog Challenge for today, which also celebrates Saint Patrick's day... by creating something with green!
Title: Faerie Lanterns
Ingredients: Czech glass, vintage acrylic, brass beadcaps, Artistic wire, surgical steel earwires.

I love taking the opportunity to play with wire and I think you can really see it in these earrings! I've wanted to create something with these crackle-finished round beads for quite some time and here they are!
FYI:These are in my Etsy shoppe now!

And with that, I wish you all a Happy Saint Patrick's Day and lovely weekend!
Be smart and safe about this holiday and I'll see you on Monday!
Slan! (That's goodbye in Gaelic... if I could find the accent key!)

Fini Friday! Sea Scarf!

Hello Everyone!
Welcome to Fini Friday!
I hope your week has been grand! Once again, I'm pleased that the Fusion Beads March Blog Challenge has coincided with my Fini Friday theme! Today's Blog Challenge idea is to embellish something and I'd picked up three scarves a while back with an eye towards attaching beads to them in some fashion. I took this opportunity to finish one of them!
Here is the scarf unembellished!

And here she is, The Sea Scarf!
Ingredients: Czech glass, shell, thread, Fray-Check, rayon, metallic thread.
and a little closer view...

The last 12 inches or so of each end of the scarf have excellent quality Czech glass and natural shell beads lovingly sewn in between the wonderfully soft rayon fibers. There are a few metallic threads woven in here and there for a bit of flash and shine! Fish, shells and ocean-coloured bits peek out from what is reminiscent of fishing netting! These embellishments truly glow in the light!
This creation are available for adoption in my Etsy shoppe now!
So there you have it!!
I hope you have a fabulous weekend!!
Ciao!

Whimsy Wednesday! Dragonfly and Faery!

Hello Everyone!
Welcome to Whimsy Wednesday!
Whew!! This has been a busy, busy week so far!!
As I mentioned earlier, I've been participating in Fusion Beads March Blog Challenge and have a few creations inspired by that to show you today! Both of these creations incorporate chain in what I feel are innovative ways and I'm pleased to show them to you!
Let's get started!

Title: Fairy's Secret Garden
Ingredients: Artisan Furnace Glass, Mood Bead(Secret Garden design), upcycled chain, lead-free pewter, aluminum.

That wonderful chain is diminutive enough that the artisan-made furnace beads, Mood and lead-free pewter beads slide freely along it! Instant fidget toy!!! Isn't that awesome? Also! The centre bead is a Mood Bead in the Secret Garden design! I finished the bracelet with vivid violet-coloured rings and a beautifully detailed toggle clasp that has a star-shaped opening with Dream imprinted on it as the toggle and a wonderfully-detailed Faerie (in flight!) as the bar. There is so much I love about this magical creation!

I love the play of colours and textures in this next creation!
Title: Dragonfly At Play
Ingredients: Aluminum, metal, lead-free pewter.

Upcycled chain in silver, gold and copper tones are playfully weave through a recently-created electric blue aluminum chain in this eco-friendly creation, reminding us of the path a dragonfly might take as it weaves through the currents of air and stalks of grass! And speaking of dragonflies... all of this fabulous chain culminates in an enchanting dragonfly clasp! I love that this necklace is so sleek and modern, yet has a whimsical and fairy-tale feel to it!

Both of these creations are available for adoption in my Etsy shoppe now!
So, there you have it! A Wednesday full of wings and whimsy!
I hope the rest of your week is fabulous and I'll see you on Friday!!!
Ciao!

Fini Friday! Ringing in for a Challenge!

Hello Everyone!
Welcome to Fini Friday! As some of you may know, Fridays are all about the creation process, particularly when I finish a creation that has been languishing in some state of growth for much too long! A 30 Day Challenge came across my email inbox a few days ago from the folks Fusion Beads in celebration of March as the Craft Month and thought it would be fun to do this! I doubt I'll be able to complete every day, as I have other things lined up for the month of March, but I'm almost always up for a challenge! The Challenge schedule is here for those that are curious! As we Challengers complete each day, we post on Fusion Bead's Facebook page, so you're welcome to check out the challenge there are well!

Ok! I've combined Day 2, 3 and 4 both because I'll be out and about this weekend and they dove-tailed nicely with my Fini Friday post! So, you'll get to see a bit of everything in this post!
Day 2 Challenge was to use leftover beads and so I have!
Title: Fascinating Ruby and Her Jewels
Ingredients: Swarovski crystals, Glass (Czech&India), brass beadcaps(USA), metal, gold-plated surgical steel earwires.

Those luscious ruby-coloured glass beads were actually hand-selected for me by a friend, who used them to wrap a birthday present a few years back now! How thoughtful!! I simply had to create something with them, and today's challenge of using left-over beads was the perfect springboard for that!

Day 3 encourages us to learn a new technique. I've chosen to expand on my wire-wrapped ring skills with this technique. The creation that unfolded also fit perfectly into Day 2's challenge of using leftover beads and Fini Friday, since I'm always on the lookout for ways to use my existing bead stash in different ways.
Title: Smoldering
Ingredients: Cut glass, Artistic Wire (permanently-coated copper wire, USA).


And last, but not least, Day 4's Challenge was Organize Your Bead Area. This fabulously fit into my ongoing Studio Reorg, so I took the opportunity to clear out another drawer in one of my Creation Cabinets!


Everything that was in the drawer found appropriate homes or were recycled and now I have another empty drawer with which to play! YAY!
So there you have it, a Ringing start (get it? A pair of earrings, a ring = ringing?) to the Challenge and a fabulous Fini Friday! WHEEE!!!
Have an awesome weekend!
See you on Magical Monday!
Ciao!
P.S. These earring and ring creations will be in my Etsy shoppe by Monday!