Jewelry!

Last week I told you about a benefit that was held for a friend who is recovering from a brain aneurysm.  There was a silent auction as part of that benefit and I wanted to share with you some of the jewelry I made for the auction.

 

I was really feeling the turquoise and red color them when I was at work, so I embraced it.  This piece I was strung on beading cord and finished with clam beads and a lobster clasp.

The pendant and earrings were made with non tarnish silver wire with wrapped loops.

The earring hooks are sterling silver.

 

The second set I made was also threaded on beading cord.

I finished it with cone beads and wire wrapped loops.

I really like that finish.

I was worried that the pendant bead would look awkward because it didn't lie flat, but I really loved it.  I paired it with simple non-tarnish loop earrings.

All of the pieces I donated sold and what's even better was that they were for a great cause.

Accessorizing and helping someone in need; it's a win, win if you ask me!


I hope you are having a lovely Wednesday!

Linking Up:

Weekend Recap and Weigh In

The weekend was jam packed!  There was wine, a little sickness, lots of football and some new jewelry.  Let's get started with the recap!  :)

There was wine with friends.

Old Friends

New Friends

On Saturday I had my first University of Houston tailgating experience.  It was lots of fun!  Rebecca is a UH alum and she invited me and Daniel to join her friends at the game.

Rebecca's brother Jake, rolled up with his BBQ pit on a trailer and made fajitas.  They were delicious.

Texas pride

The guys next to us were doing it right.

Bloody Mary Bar

And someone brought cupcakes from Crave Cupcakes...delicious.

And they had spirit...

Go Coogs!

The game was at 3:30 and the weather was beautiful.  The Cougars ran right over Marshall...the score was like 63 to 28.  Good times.

Robertson Stadium

Kicking a Field Goal

Touchdown Celebration

Touchdown Celebration II

Shasta and Rebecca (far right)

Shasta and me

On Sunday I made soup for the week.  It was kind of an on the fly soup...so I will let you know if it is any good...I brought it for lunch today (crossing fingers).  I also watched football, did laundry and made jewelry.

Wearing these today

Love how yellow the yellow walls make my pictures look. Oops...lesson learned.

The weigh in did not happen this morning.  I did not get on the scale on purpose since I know what it would have told me.  After the weekend of mediocre food choices and no exercise and then the feeling of (advanced apology for TMI) PMS bloating I knew better than to get on the scale and bum myself out more.  Instead I skipped the scale and walked 2 miles with Rebecca this morning.  I might revisit my weigh in around Wednesday or I might just wait until next Monday.  You like surprises right?  The walk definitely improved my outlook and I am ready for yoga at lunch today.  I will make this a good week.

Today the pen color will be lime green.

Do you ever skip the scale?

Terrific Tuesday

At least that's what I'm hoping for.  It has certainly started off well.  I walked 1.7 miles with Rebecca this morning and it wasn't too crazy hot out there.  I was back in the house around 6:45 and I did some chores.  It feels good to have checked a couple of cleaning and laundry chores off my list already.

On Sunday my oldest niece, Courtney, turned twelve.  I can't believe she's twelve...it sounds crazy.  Here we are together in 1999.

I blogged about her upcoming birthday in this post: Time Flies.  It truly does.  Anyway, she is a big old 6th grader now.  She got her ears pierced this summer and she is getting into jewelry.  So what better present for my favorite 12 year old than to start her a James Avery charm bracelet.  You Texans will recognize the jewelry.  Courtney called me on Sunday very excited about the bracelet.  She told me her mom text me a picture of her wearing the bracelet.  I was very excited about this.  Thinking a picture of her smiling face holding up her wrist.  This is what I got.

Bummer, but cute bracelet.

For those of you that are not familiar with 12 year old goings on, the peace sign and tie dye is back in.  Good times.  Here is mentioned smiling face with her sister and new puppy.

Last night for dinner I tried something new and it turned out great.  I was inspired by eggplant parmesan.  I baked some chicken to go along with it and had some olives on the side...don't judge...if you like olives and you haven't tried it they are awesome in/with/near pasta sauce.

Makeshift Eggplant Parmesan

1. 1 eggplant sliced in thin circles
2. olive oil spray
3. garlic salt
4. half a jar of pasta sauce (I like Barilla)
5. part skim mozzarella cheese or parmesan (I used mozzarella last night since I had no parmesan)

Arrange eggplant slices in single layer on cookie sheet, spray with olive oil spray and sprinkle with garlic salt.  Roast for 10 minutes in a 400 degree oven.  Spread some sauce in the bottom of a corning ware and arrange a layer of the roasted eggplant, add sauce, repeat until eggplant is gone and remaining sauce is on top of the layers.  Bake covered in the 400 degree oven for 15 - 20 minutes until it is nice and bubbly.  Add cheese and bake uncovered until cheese is melted.

Yummy!  This dinner tallied 12 weight watchers points, but I only ate half of the chicken.

Today the pen color of the day is orange!

Happy Tuesday!

Recent Jewelry

My wire working is getting better...I was super excited about these earrings! 

One day I will be good enough to make the spirals spiral in the same direction...but I do kind of like the whimsy they have because they don't.  I heart them.

I donated some pieces for a silent auction to benefit a friend of a friend's mom's cancer treatment.  She has b-cell lymphoma and the awareness color for lymphona is green, so I was asked to incorporate that color in my pieces.  I didn't know it was specifically lime green...oops.  I wish I had been able to attend the benefit, but that was upgrade weekend.  

I did a wire wrap bracelet and earrings with gold tone wire.

Then I did a criss cross bangle with some super cool earrings that I wanted to keep for myself...but I resisted the urge.

The absolute best part of donating the jewelry and seeing pictures of the benefits is knowing that her treatment is going well...she is doing great!

I need to get busy, April is almost over and I have two April birthdays I need to create gifts for.  I'm late...my bad!

Criss Cross Bangle

Last month I took class at Nova Beads in the Heights where I learned to make a "criss cross bangle"  I made a blue and clear crystal one in class and then made this awesome pink and blue one later. 

Love it!  I'm working toward doing more metal working with my jewelry.  I am taking another couple of classes this month, one for a ring and another for a pendant.  I'm looking forward to those!

My First Custom Order - with pictures!

As I mentioned before, my first custom order was purchased by a bride that married last month. My friend Kasey of Monkey Tree Photography snapped these photos of the jewelry.

I was so excited to see the pictures of this beautiful bride in jewelry that I made!  Absolutely made my day!

My First Custom Order

I was very excited to make my first custom jewelry order and was even more excited that it was for a bride on her wedding day.  It is pretty cool to have someone want to wear your work, but it is super cool to have someone want to wear it on such an important day!

Kelly of Eventology Weddings, who helped me plan my wedding contacted me after seeing some of my jewelry on Facebook and asked if I took custom orders.  She sent me a picture of a necklace similar to the one the bride wanted created and I went from there. 

I made two pieces, a necklace and a bracelet with swarovski crystals and non-tarnish silver wire.  The bride had the awesome idea of adding her something blue to her necklace.  I did a little drop on the clasp with a blue crystal and a clear crystal.  It turned out very beautifully.

My BFF Kasey, a very talented photographer (Monkey Tree Photography) just so happened to be photographing the wedding.  Here is a blog of hers that has a slide show from the wedding!  Enjoy!

Jewelry

My niece is turning 11 next Saturday.  She is turning into such a young lady and I am loving it, even while I 'm trying to figure out exactly how it is possible for her to already be 11.  Time flies.  With her new found maturity she is starting to like more grown up things so for her birthday I have created her some jewelry.

First two bracelets made with glass beads on Stretch Magic 1 mm jewelry cord.

Then I decided she needed an even more grown up bracelet, so I created another glass bead bracelet, but this time with wrapped loops using 24 gauge non-tarnish silver wire.

I didn't want my sister to be too jealous, so I made her a drop for her neck wire.  It's a large stone bead and a small glass bead on 20 gauge non-tarnish silver wire with a sterling silver bail.

While I was on a roll, I decided to fancy up some pony tail holders; for these I also used stone beads and 20 gauge non-tarnish silver wire.