Bracelets

Vicki & I didn't get to take the tennis bracelet class that Colette taught, but we were able to get the directions for it, which are really simple. The directions were for a single strand, but after doing several singles, we figured out how to do double strand. The nice thing is this work up very quickly, so it is easy to make lots of them & they make great gifts. They look good worn in multiples on the wrist, too. I made most of these, with the lime green & hematite ones made by Vicki for me.

The next image is bracelets Vicki made for me - the top two were for my birthday and the bottom one was a new design that she found online and made for both of us.

The cubes and chain bracelet was an image I saw online and figured out how to do it by looking at the image. I'm sure I didn't so it exactly as the one I saw, but I do like how it turned out. I have the beads and the new chains at Michaels in the Bead Landing Meadow Grove collection will be perfect for this design.

I must have put the word out very well that I needed jewelry to wear with black & lucky me, I got several beautiful pieces. From my friend, Vicki, I got two gorgeous ones - one peyote stitch & one accented with drop beads. I know I'll get lots of wear from these (as I've already worn them several times).

Another friend, Nancy (Draped In Jewelry), drew my name in our group's Christmas mingle. She made a lovely bracelet & earring set using crystals & chain. Unfortunately I can't tolerate earrings anymore, but I hated to just have them sit in the drawer somewhere. I do wear necklaces and originally considered contacting Nancy to see if she would convert the earrings for me. The bracelet she made is pictured at the right. The earrings were dangles and I decided to see if I could incorporate them into a crystal criss-cross necklace, as the center dangle - it worked! I made the necklace New Year's eve while watching "chic flick" movies. Now I have a necklace & matching bracelet to wear. The necklace is a choker style and the earring parts made a great accent - perfect!

The second piece I worked on while I was away is another bracelet, this one with the remaining frog beads to match the necklace I did previously. I did a peyote stitch base and added the frogs, leaves and flower beads. It isn't finished as I haven't decided what to do about a closure. The piece is rather heavy and I'm afraid a button closure will work loose with wear.

As I've mentioned, when I travel, I bead. I recently went to Rhode Island for my annual artist getaway with fellow artists. I did the base of this bracelet prior to boarding the plane and beaded during the flight. One of the airline attendants was a beader, so she was very interested in my piece. She said that she only did simple beading. This bracelet was inspired by the silver fish beads I bought at the Bead Renaissance Show in May. I wanted the fish to appear to be swimming through the grass & moss.