Monday, January 4, 2010

Product Review, part one

I got one of my jewelry orders in today. This one is the jewelry sent to me by Artbeads. I was surprised to get this one first since I got the shipping notice last, but I was not disappointed. At this point I've only used about half of the items because I have plans to use the remaining items in projects I can't start until I get my other two orders.




This first piece was fun to make. I've been wanting to try multiple strand projects using something actually made for that purpose for a while. I really like these 3-Strand Multi-Strand End pieces. At first it was intended to be either a necklace or part of a necklace, but I ended up changing my mind about halfway through. These end pieces are great. They seem pretty durable and I had no issues looping the wire through at all.



All of the Valentine's Day stuff is already out in the major stores, so I thought I'd try something in the traditional colors. I used rose glass cubes and ruby glass cubes with some white seed beads I had on hand. These glass beads are some of my favorite beads ever. I have a lot of them in multiple colors that I'll be playing with and posting pictures of between bouts of studying and going to class. These beads are durable and fun, and very beautiful to look at. :)



These earrings have been nothing but a pain today, and I think it's because of the thinness of the eye pins and head pins. I'm going to have to buy some sturdier ones at Walmart later in the week. The item being used here is this end piece. It's very beautiful, however, the back is hollow which the website doesn't seem to tell you (unless I missed it, which is possible). That's a bit of a disappointment, but these earrings aren't meant to be looked at from behind anyway. I do like the end pieces, regardless of the back. I thought that first they would be really flimsy, but so far so good!



This is the last piece for today, and it's just a fairly simple bracelet, but I love the way the colors work together. The products being used in this item are sapphire glass cubes, emerald glass cubes, and 4mm seamless sterling silver beads. I am, of course, utterly in love with the cubes and I knew I would like them before they even arrived. The sapphire cubes were a color haven't used before, however, and I have to say, I think they're my favorite. These sterling silver beads are amazing as well and I definitely plan to buy some myself when I have the chance.


At some point later in the week I'll be able to post the last bit of items I still need to use. I'm just waiting on my other shipment from Artbeads.com and my shipment from Fusionbeads.com.

Legal stuff: I am not being paid by Artbeads.com for my opinion on their items. I have received these items (ssr577, gc-em5, gc-sap5, ss-msend1, gc-ru5, gc-ro5, ss-msend3) free of charge and am reviewing them honestly. Anything else in the photo from Artbeads was bought and paid for by me months ago.

Sunday, January 3, 2010

New Items!

I hope everybody recovered alright from their New Year celebrations. This is the first year since I moved out of my parent's house that I haven't had a drink to toast the new year, so that was rather strange. Instead I spent a good amount of time making jewelry. I've been trying to get ahead on producing more items because classes start tomorrow and I'm sure the course load will be mind-boggling awful.

Before I show off the pictures, I wanted to point out that I have added gift certificates to my store on Etsy in amounts of $5, $10, $20, $50, and $100. They are good for my store only.

This new line is called "Aurora Borealis" because of the brilliance of the colors (and in keeping with an astronomy theme). A friend of mine in Iowa sent me these beads, and I'm hooked on them now. I hope you enjoy the photos! All are for sale in the store.




I have plans to copy this design with different colors though I think I'll like this one more. It's just head pins, seed beads, and chain on an earring wire. It was a tad time-consuming, but well worth the effort.



I had a dream about this bracelet last night, so I woke up and made it. It was great how it just flowed out of me, and I love it a lot.




:) These are the same design, of course, just in different metals. I went with a color contrasting theme for these.



This picture really doesn't do the set justice. It's a bracelet and earring set, and there are much better pictures on Etsy.




I will admit to taking a bit of inspiration from Harry Potter for these. The themes are Ravenclaw and Slytherin. These two gave me the most trouble, to be honest. I was dropping beads and jump rings all over the place. These two are also my favorites. I love the way gold and blue work together, and silver and green are just such a nice combination. They look far more elegant than I could have ever hoped.

For more photos of these items, head over Eclipsical Jewelry on Etsy and take a look around!