Saturday, July 31, 2010

I Popped My Etsy Cherry!

Is that post title too graphic? Sorry, I'm just really excited! I've been obsessed with Etsy for well over a year now. I look every day and I love just doing random searches and seeing what pops up. There are so many talented people in the world!

I finally made my first purchases today and I'm so excited! I can't wait to get my hands on the little lovelies I bought! I just hope I can do them justice.

First, from Summers Studio:

Look how pretty!

Then this: 
Love this.


My next stop was to Mermaid Glass where I bought these
Fairy flowers

And Bayou Blue Spacers

Then my last purchase was from Bella Beads & More


Are you noticing a pattern?  I am addicted to blue. Well, actually, blue, green and purple.  Throw in some occasional pink and you've got my favorite color palette!  I had no idea that I was buying only blue stuff today, but it seems fitting for right now. My eye is just automatically drawn to any color that feels "beachy" to me.

I'm going to be haunting my mailbox every day until they arrive!

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Creative Jewelry

I got my copy of Creative Jewelry yesterday at Hobby Lobby.  I grabbed it, walked over to the checkout counter and when the guy told me my total was $16.38, I almost had a stroke!  Oh well...totally worth it!


Some of my favorite bloggers are in there, too - Lorelei, Lori, Silver Parrot, Jen Judd, Kerry Bogert, and all sorts of other people!  These blogs were among the first I found and I decided I want to be just like all of them when I grow up!  Way to go, gals!

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Big Giveaway!

This is going to sound like I'm sucking up, but I'm really not.

When I first started making jewelry, I went in search of jewelry blogs. I am also a huge fan of food blogs and I know from that experience that you can get a lot of great ideas from other people.  The very first blog I found was Silver Parrot.  I thought she might be my twin!  She loves all the same colors I do - whatever reminds her of the beach! She also has a love of lampwork and so do I.  Then there's the Bead Porn she does every Friday!  It's literally the high point of my week!  The night I found her blog, I literally spent HOURS reading the whole thing all the way back to the first post.

She started blogging six years ago and to celebrate, she is having a giveaway.  You really should go over to her post and find out how to enter!  She's been sick with a summer cold so I don't have a picture of what she's giving away, but when she posts one, I'll show you!

Monday, July 19, 2010

Girly Stuff

I spent an awesome girly day with my sister on Saturday!  The first stop? Bead shopping, of course!  I was on a limited budget so didn't end up getting anything, but I helped her instead. She is also just getting started, so we bought her first set of pliers, bead board, findings, etc. It was so much fun!

After that, we went clothes shopping, lunch, more bead shopping, and then got pedicures.  All in all, a great day!  Sisters rock!

Saturday, July 17, 2010

The First

Hi! I'm Tara and I'm a Newbie Beader. A little over a year ago, I had been laid off from my second mortgage company in 12 months and needed a hobby to keep me from going insane while at home all day. I happened to find the Auntie's Beads website somehow and then stumbled upon a goldmine - the Karla Kam videos. I watched her make bracelets, necklaces, and just do basic stuff, and I said to myself "I can do that!" And so now I am.
I've never been to a class, although I keep meaning to sign up. I've gotten a lot of ideas from YouTube and other peoples' blogs, though.

I am woefully unskilled when it comes to taking pictures, but here are a few of the stuff I've done so far.

The first is a necklace I made for my sister in law. It's an illusion "mothers" necklace with Swarovski crystals in her sons' birthstones. This is a really bad picture because there is too much in the background and it's hard to see the detail on the picture.



This is a pair of earrings with some blue glass beads I got at a little bead store near work on clearance and some Swarovski crystals. My loops look terrible and should have been wrapped loops instead of simple loops. Those were among the first pieces I made.


There is so much I want to learn when it comes to jewelry making. I need to perfect my wrapped loops because they are very inconsistent. I want to do a LOT more with wire. I want to test my creative side more. I have no plans to sell my jewelry as of right now, but maybe after I've gotten a lot better. Since I'm still learning, I am still using silver plated materials and cheap components. I want to venture into more quality stuff, but am nervous at this point about screwing up and wasting thing like headpins, chain, etc.

So here I am. A newbie beader. Please be gentle with me as I learn what I am doing, and if you have any tips for me, I'd love to hear them!