Russian Spiral and some Sculptural Peyote

I was browsing around some beading blogs again and had took a few looks back at some that I've already seen, and I peaked over at Operation Tackle That Bead Stash again and noticed that she arrange a monthly challenge that really got me into the mood for applying. Never signed up for something like that before and thought, hey, why not give it a try :P

And those amazing beading fares that I've been reading about and only seen on pictures doesn't seem to be that popular in Belgium. Yeh, moments like that you really wish you lived in the states or in UK ^^;

I've been stacking up on a bunch of blue beads in different shades since the new year, but I haven't really used them for anything until now.
I tend to buy my beads depending on how pretty they look, LOL x)
Well, some girls can't get enough of shiny stuff, specially if it means that you can do something with 'em and touch 'em, hah. I guess I learned what a "beadaholic" is now.

Speaking of which, if you already haven't, you should take a look at Beadaholique's Webshop, they have a lot of nice supplies. I normally buy some of my stuff from there, specially when it comes to tools and Swarovski crystals. I don't buy from their original store cause I get extra taxes since they're located in U.S and I'm in Europe. So I use their store at Amazon.co.uk since they have a store there as well :)

For my latest piece, this lil' necklace; I used 11/0 seed beads and 9/0 seed beads. I used the russian spiral stitch to make the chain and sculptural peyote stitch to make the pendant. And then I added some embellishments here and there.

Two Rings a Week: Mizu

I had a look at Operation Tackle That Bead Stash! blog and saw this tutorial on these cute rings and decided that I should try it out. You can go directly to the tutorial by clicking here.

I used 11/0 seed beads in turquoise and galvanized silver, and 3 6mm glass beads. And as you can see, I made two variations of it.  I used a black nymo thread for the right one, and a crystal FireLine for the left one.
Had some minor problems with the fitting, and getting the right size for 'em tho. I still don't have a ring mandrel. I just ordered one tho! \o/ So I'm sitting and waiting for it to arrive at the post office :)

Latest project

I got really in love with the circular brick stitch and I wanted to try out something with a few 6mm fire polished alexandrite glass beads that I purchased a while ago. Then I added together some purple and amethyst colored seed beads and some bugle beads in a matching color that I had laying around.

I got really attached to the result and decided that I'm gonna make a necklace with a few of these pieces. Just still pondering what sort of chain I will combine with them :)

Missed the buss...

Well, what do you do when you're bound to buses, trains or whatever? I go shopping until the next one leaves :P

I have to change bus two times every day, and sometimes the traffic gets rather busy, and my first bus gets stuck in a traffic line, which normally results to the point that I miss my second. My second buss only goes one time each hour, and at that point I get really, really bored.

I tend to pop over to the only store that have some sort of jewelry making stuff. They are rather expensive so I don't go there that often, only for some supplies that I really want to look at and feel in person before I buy them, rather then looking at a photo. A picture doesn't really tell everything a bout a product, specially not about beads, and when you get your order you can either be thrilled or just disappointed.

Well, yesterday I ended up in a traffic line and got stuck. And I went to just that store and picked up some pretties. A few 8mm, 6mm and 4mm glass pearls, and I also bought some embroidery crystals on 7mm.

Two Rings a Week: Summer

So I decided to do something with peyote stitch. And I decided on a little more simple ring, a thumb ring in fact, since I decided to make it a little bit higher.

With this ring, I also wanted to try to play with some color gradients, and noticed the blue-green-yellow colors that I had in my beading boxes.

I also added an edge with galvanized silver beads for some contrast. I only used 11/0 seed beads to make this.