More Treasures from the Bead & Button show…a luscious pile of glass strands in bright, fun colors. Perfect for summer designing—and better than cupcakes!
Here are some of my new treasures that I’ve been experimenting with this summer. After a fun trip to the Bead & Button show in Milwaukee, WI, I collected a ton of new supplies for my stash.
The highlight of the show was definitely Sandy Schor, a vendor with amazing vintage selection that made me LOSE my mind (and quite a bit of my hard-earned cash). Beautiful sew-ons, cabochons, West German vintage glass, unique metal and lucite findings…and then I found the vintage French sequins! At which point, I began crawling around on the floor to dig through them (and literally hyperventilating). After some tough choices, I came home with some beautiful cupped emerald sequins, lovely mint sequins (shown) and amazingly rare metal sequins that are tiny, yet have wonderful weight to them! I also chose many unique pieces that you can see in my group shot.
This year I was ALL about mint and coral: two colors that are favorites but usually a bit tricky to find in bead colors.
Needless to say I am going to be spending a lot of the summer beading and stitching with my great new parts. These have bead embroidery written all over them. I mean—look at these sequins, come on!
Here were my Mother’s Day presents for my great mother!
She loves pops of red, so I made her this fun and flowing necklace with a gradient of bordeaux Swarovski pearls!
The other piece is an artistic application of bead embroidery that’s been a long time coming (it was supposed to be a Christmas present, that took five extra months!) It is a vintage-inspired concoction of stones, bugle beads, daggers and more. A resin pendant drops down from the center of the stitched piece, which I think gives it a cool mixed media look. My mom and I share a love of Paris and French culture, so I wanted to give her a fashionable memento that she can wear whenever she needs a touch of charme! The backing fabric is embroidered with the phrase “remember” so she will always remember our time together in Paris!
The flower on the chain is removable, so she can tone the look down a little depending on what outfit she’s wearing it with!
What’s In The Box?!
I have a special surprise just for my mom, the loveliest lady in the world! Check back soon to see what is inside… I’ll give you a hint: it may be related to my blog. heehee!
Happy Mother’s Day!
I tried Herringbone stitch for the first time…and here’s my new bracelet! The stitch is very fun and addicting. I chose springtime colors and arranged the beads into stripes with a pearl channel down the middle. I love the color combination of army green and pink, which is featured in the center. This little mint button was the perfect fit for a closure that blends right in.
I just finished my beloved couture hoops that blend stitching with metal in a way that is new and exciting to me. After forming hammered teardrop hoops with gold filled wire, I created embroidered crescent shapes with a bohemian mix of gold, mint and bronze. Each hoop is double-sided and fully reversible, so there’s no need to worry about flipping. From far away they may pass for enamel or cloisonne, but up close you can see the detail of stitching and the tactile, dimensional effect the embroidery creates!
I started embroidering these medallions that are focused around these fantastic vintage glass pieces. They are an opaque, faceted gray that I am in LOVE with…they have been sitting in my stash for awhile and begging to be made into something worthy of their greatness!
I want to make five identical medallions and weave them into a large statement piece, so I tried to keep the color palette pretty neutral. There is a little pop of pink with the pearl border, but hopefully it is subtle enough.
Making a paper template (like my green one, made out of recycled magazine pages) is a great way to see how your shape will turn out, without getting too far into a project. I can actually hold it up to my neck and visualize the size and placement, which is a huge help when designing!
