The House Mysteries

The Lady of Shalott

Another week has come and gone. I'm MADLY working on jewelry (my night job), getting ready for craft show #2 at the Greek Orthodox Church in December. I found a fabulous source for digital art, at Lisa's Altered Art.  I've gone shopping twice there this week. There are glass tile and memory frame pendants coming. BUT, I've been wanting to play with chains and crystals and this is the weekend result. 

This necklace features a pendant I made awhile back, with the painting of the Lady of Shalott by John WIlliam Waterhouse.

  I used a combination of black, smoke, and clear crystals and white pearls. The gunmetal double black chain is awesome!  I found the key at an antique store of sorts in downtown Greensboro.

There is a lovely charm that says BELIEVE on one side of the bottom chain.

 A lovely crystal hangs from the back of the necklace. I made a clasp from black steel wire.

Hope you enjoyed seeing the Lady of Shalott. Blessings to all!

Goddesses and Towers and Castles

After a LONG week of grading, grading, grading student work, I'm back making jewelry--YAY! Next weekend I'm going to be in my first craft fair, another milestone in this artist journey.  Two years ago it started when someone taught me how to make earrings. Now two years later I have a small craft jewelry business, I'm going to conferences and bead shows, and (most importantly) I'm BLOGGING!  This week I selected the Goddess and Eiffel Tower ceramic pendants I just got from Gaea. They made up very nice.

In 1999 I went to Paris.  I found it both exhilierating and disappointing. The museums were amazing, and Versailles palace was a dream come true. At night, the Eiffel Tower was all lit up with a thousand white lights. So these ceramic pendants bring back those wonderful memories of Paris. The disappointment came in discovering that Paris is also a very big city and it was very dirty, noisy, and full of smog. I thought I was in Los Angeles...

 
 I'm afraid of heights, so I didnt' go on the ride UP into the tower, but still it was beautiful. If you go to Paris, you must visit the Eiffel Tower at night.

Speaking of Versailles, here is the painting of Martin 1722 showing the palace in its heyday.

 

For those of you following my mystery novels, book 2 On the House is done. It takes place in Paris, at Versailles. In my research of Paris and Versailles, I discovered King Louis XIV built another palace, Marly, as his weekend escape. This palace complex contained twelve small palaces (royal townhouses?) where the King's friends could stay. There were giant fountains and pools, with fountains that could send water 100 feet into the air. Thomas Jefferson was invited to visit Marly in the court of Louis XVI. Marly was torn down by Napoleon, what a loss. Martin painted this picture of Marly in 1724. Amazing. I hope to get book 2 edited by next summer, ready to field to agents and publishers!

Memories from my Mantle

This week I hit the wall. So much is happening at work, plus I've been madly getting together a teaching portfolio for a teaching award that I've been nominated for. So, needless to say, I hit the wall mentally and physically. I let go of making jewelry this week. Instead, I cleaned my guest room/studio and bought some new desktop file drawers and organized my seed beads (by color). Went to Pilates class Saturday. Now I can't move. I've discovered stomach muscles I didn't know I had...Went to church this morning and to a fireside tonight. Heard a great talk by a couple who joined the Church in Nigeria and moved here.  So  tonight, instead of posting this week's jewelry creations, I'm posting some pictures of my living room mantle, which holds objects with much  meaning to my life.

First, here is a garden fairy given to me by my friend Myra. Also a rose box, gift from my rose friend Suzanne!

Some pottery I got down in Seagrove, NC last year on trip with friend Michelle.

Picture of Savior in silver rose frame.

 The cats were on hand to enjoy the quiet night.

Note how Abigail's eye's match the pillow...

Eliza Jane chooses the sofa near the green wall, to match her eyes, too!

 
 
 
 
Good evening, my friends. I'll return to jewelry (and writing) this week.

Passionate for Purple!

Purple has been my favorite color ever since I was a little girl.  When I was five, I announced I wanted purple shoes. When I was eight and my parents moved into our first house, I got a purple bedroom. So, naturally, I would love purple beads. Last week I went to the Golden Triangle Wholesalers show, which is part of Bead World. Knowing that purple is a big color this fall/winter in clothing, I wanted to make purple necklaces. This week I got started. The necklaces you see below feature ceramic pendants I got from Gaea.

Here is a Mermaid in Twilight Blue.

Here is a darling Lady Bug Big Heart Pendant, paired with purple pearls and amethyst crystals.  I also put some bali silver beads on the ends.

Here is a sweet lavender butterfly.

Finally, I put together this smashing light purple multistrand necklace, with tons of seed beads, pearls, and natural gemstone beads. I LOVE PURPLE!!!!

The kitten girls were nearby as always to lend a hand. Abigail my ragdoll cat loves to bead. She likes the strings...

Eliza Jane justs likes to watch...

 
 
 I had a nice dinner tonight with my friend Carol. She just finished reading Keeping House.  This led to a discussion of book 2 On the House. I am so swamped with making jewelry right now, my mind hasn't been on Madame President and the other characters. But they are still there, waiting...
 
 
 
 
 

The Mystery of Multistrands

I don't know why, but forever I've been afraid of making multistrand necklaces...

Not anymore!

Last weekend, I watched some instructional videos on how to use CONES in your necklace design, bringing together multiple strands, to finish off your necklace. I gave it a try, and now I'm hooked!!! I put together some necklaces with white pearls, rainbow seed beads, blue beads, and crystals. So, no time for writing now. I'll take up editing book 2 On the House after Christmas.

My Christmas order of ceramic beads by Gaea arrived, just in time for the Golden Triangle Wholesalers Show. I was able to take them with me this morning to the show, to buy beads for Christmas jewelry! Look at the Twilght Blue Lady Bug Queen Heart!

Note the Coffe Queen Pendant and the Eiffel Tower in Aqua on Buff!

Here is a busy bee in emerald green and Eiffel Tower in Robin's egg blue. Also you can see a Moon Queen in Blue Snow and Moon Beam Goddess in Aqua on Buff.
 

 

Christmas Red Boxes are Here!

Yesterday I came home from work to find a BIG box waiting for me on my front doorstep. It was my new ruby red jewelry boxes from Premier Packaging. I did a little dance. Then my new business cards arrived from Colorful Images featuring Victorian Roses and a Beautiful BLUE BUTTERFLY!

 

I found a cool picture of blue stone and gold necklaces in an old UnaAllaVolta magazine, got inspired, and went to my bead closet (yes, the beads have taken over an entire closet) and pulled blue, gold, brown, and white beads and pearls and went to work. I pooled three new creations into blue and white china bowls. I got one made up this morning. Look what I made!

  

I will listen to the LDS General Conference tomorrow online while making up the other blue and gold necklaces. I gazed inside my gold findings box this morning and found my inventory on gold spacer beads and clasps was rather low, so after having lunch with my friend Carol Rauch, I drove over to ACMoore. I was going to stay 30 minutes. I stayed 2 hours.... Now it's time to attend to Abigail's litterbox...

More Fairy Necklaces

I know it's the end of September, but Christmas looms large before me, and I'm making lists of jewelry I need to make by November. Needless to say, I'm not writing at present. It kills me, but I only have so much creative energy. So for now, book 2  On the House waits in the wings, ready for a complete rewrite after two external reviews. Last night, I ordered new cards that featured Victorian roses and blue butterflies. I ordered RED boxes from Premier Packaging. They are going to be AWESOME. I ordered findings from Fire Mountain Gems and sterling crimps, (the best ever) from Rio Grande . I'm waiting for my new pendants coming from Gaea . I can't wait. I have some Mermaids and Effiel Tower pendants coming! This afternoon, after church, I watched Bridge to Terabithia and made up some more Fairy Necklaces! Very fitting, I thought.  Do you believe in fairies? Here are the four I completed this week.

Close up of the blue Fairy Necklace. You can see the lovely clear crystals I found at the last Golden Triad Wholesalers show in Greensboro. The next show is in two weeks, and believe me, I already have a list of beads to buy!

 This one turned out pretty, with brown-gold pearls, silver spacers, and smoke crystals. These smoke crystals are really something. They are on my shopping list!

Last week I went through some jewelry magazines and cut out pictures of things that inspire me. I found a necklace made up with random blue, green, brown, and turquoise beads. So I pulled out my bead boxes, grabbed some random beads, and went to work. I made my blue-green "chunky" necklace. And I like it! This picture is made out in my front yard, by a lovely royal blue vase.

A close up of the chunky necklace. You can see white pearls and smoke crystals.