New Line of Jewelry Available Online!

I just opened up my new jewelry shop on Etsy- Azure Seas. To my surprise, I was featured in a treasury this morning! Not only is that so awesome, I'm just shocked my jewelry wasn't buried, as I'd expected, so someone was able to find it for their treasury! Here's the treasury and some of my new things.

Circuit Sale!

Click below to read more about cuff links and to purchase them at 10-20% off my usual price! Use password "summer" to access the deal!

Circuit Cuff Links

$25.00

If cuff links aren't your thing, take 15% off your entire purchase at my shop by entering summer in the message to seller. I'll honor the discount by refunding it through Paypal.

iFixit: Welcome to Repair 2.0

I came across this video and thought I would share. It brings up a good point, and I think the project is a great idea! As it is, I've had my computer for 4 years and hope to keep it running as long as possible.



Here's a more fashionable way to handle the waste problem:

Spring Beading

I seem to have trouble remembering to photograph items before I turn them into jewelry! Thanks to Artbeads, I again have received some awesome spring-y items to try out. I chose a range of flowers, leaves, vines, pastels, and bright spring greens to make a range of pieces well suited to the changing seasons.

This first necklace uses these really cool felt beads. A friend of mine makes really cute needle felted creatures. Similarly (but not nearly as cute!) are these beads. I've modernized the look by combining the natural, fuzzy feel of the beads with clean lines of metal. A string of bright turquoise delicas finishes out the necklace to keep it from getting too big.

Next, I had to get my Swarovski fix! I chose to use a peridot twist pendant combined with simple wire wrapped crystals. I also made a wire wrapped bracelet using amethyst polygon crystal beads, along with some real amethyst faceted rondelles.

I chose a couple of neat leaf components. The first is a leaf pendant from Tierracast. I kept the design simple since the leaf is neat by itself. The other is another lariat (similar idea to what I did for the Valentine beading post). The toggle is a really cool leaf and branch design. I kept that to the front and mixed it with lime chalk turquoise, peridot crystal, and a simple chain dangle from the clasp.

After months of seeing the vine bails for the Swarovski briolettes, I had to give it a try. I went with a large, uber-sparkly crystal AB briolette with the silver vine bail. They're really simple, but pack quite a punch!

Finally, I made a ton of earrings, as usual. I've always wanted to try making earrings with the resin flowers. I did just that, and combined them with a bunch of miscellaneous bead caps and spacer beads I had stashed away. There's a copper and olivine version of the above earrings, some felt earrings to match the necklace, and finally, I tried some glass flower beads.

Right now, Artbeads is having a sale! More details HERE.

Please note that I have received the products free of charge from Artbeads.com and that I am honestly reviewing the products and have not been paid to do so.

RNEST Giveaway

I'm providing one of my pendants valued up to $17.50 for my local team, The Rochester NY Etsy Street Team. There a bunch of ways to enter. The following is copied directly from the RNEST blog.

Wednesday Wellspring: Beadwork by Amanda
The well is bubbling over with the excitement of being able to bring you what you requested: a giveaway from Beadwork by Amanda!!

Amanda is giving away any pendant in her shop, valued up to $17.50 - yes, indeed, that includes several gorgeous circuit pendants that you were all so interested in! And here's a little more information about how Amanda creates these upcycled works of art:

Recycled circuit boards are hand cut and ground into a variety of shapes. The boards rest in bezel cups and are covered in clear resin. These circuit pendants also work excellent as key chains.

Now, in addition to being an artisan of amazing beadwork and upcycled creations, Amanda is also planning and hosting a new, indie arts and crafts show: MayDay! Underground. Located right in the heart of downtown Rochester on May Day (May 1st), this show promises to be a feast for the eyes, ears, and soul with lots of beautiful and unique crafts and works of art, plus live bands! Check out the site and apply to be a vendor if you're a local artist or grab a coupon and plan to attend if you're in the area!

Now, for the giveaway rules (This giveaway is open INTERNATIONALLY)(Go to the RNEST blog to enter. Entries here don't count):

MANDATORY ENTRY #1: Go to Beadwork By Amanda, heart the shop, and then leave a comment here telling me your favorite item.

MANDATORY ENTRY #2: Become a follower of this blog and leave a comment letting me know- or if you are already, leave a comment saying you're a loyal follower (for this, go to the RNEST blog, since entries here don't count).

BONUS ENTRIES (leave a separate comment for each):
1. Follow the Beadwork by Amanda blog.

2. Follow Beadwork by Amanda on Twitter.

3. Become a fan of MayDay! Underground on Facebook.

4. Follow MayDay! Underground on Twitter.

5. Tweet and blog about this giveaway and leave a comment here with the link.

6. Bonus entry for Rochesterians: Add the MayDay! Underground badge to your blog or print and hang a flier at your place of work.

The winner will be chosen using the random number generator on Tuesday, March 16 and will be announced in the next Wednesday Wellspring.

Valentine Beading Part 2

As promised, I'm back with some more Valentine's Day inspired jewelry designs!

I've always dreamed of making a lush bracelet full of beautiful cane glass beads. Those pink beads pictured yesterday were staring at me all night, so I put two and two together to make a dangle bracelet! I also made some pseudo matching earrings, although the style is a bit different. A little extra punch is offered by bright hot pink Czech fire polished glass beads.


To feed my bead weaving obsession, I spent several hours creating this next piece. I started by making six beadwoven tubes using pink luster delica beads and red thread. The beaded beads, heart chain (which makes a reappearance!), and Swarovski crystal bicones are all connected with sterling wire wrapping. Notice I've also put the heart toggle clasp in the font to show it off and create the look of a lariat. I might just have to make more of these...


Many thanks go to Artbeads! Right now, they're having a sale on Valentine's day items, so go on over and save 15%!

Interested in purchasing any of the items I've made for these Artbeads reviews? Hop on over to my Etsy shop and send me a conversation!

Please note that I have received the products free of charge from Artbeads.com and that I am honestly reviewing the products and have not been paid to do so.

Sterling Silver and Glass

Once again, Artbeads.com has been wonderful by providing some awesome sterling silver components and glass beads to try. I selected a range of beads and silver components including silver leaf charms, Venetian glass beads, Czech glass bricks, Bali sterling pendants, and sterling silver links. See below what I picked out!

I've been in quite an earring mood lately, so most of the jewelry I have created with these items were made into earrings. The pair on the left was made with very fine sterling silver chain, glass flower beads, and a 4mm Swarovski bicone. The pair on the right was made with Venetian glass beads, sterling silver flower bead caps, and aquamarine Swarovski crystal beads.


These simple earrings make use of Czech glass bricks, brown tone fire polished beads, and copper findings. The beads have a really nice earthy, vintage feel to them.


These sterling and swarovski earrings have really cool links. I've dressed up the copper leaf earrings by adding a large jumpring. The back side of the leaf beads is a copper finish, that really looks neat in sunlight.


I also made several simple necklaces using a sterling silver leaf pendant and crystal, and a really neat Bali sterling silver pendant paired with a gemstone teardrop.


There's your inspiration, now head on over to Artbeads and see what awesome beads and supplies they have! To sweeten the deal, I have a code for 10% off your entire purchase: SCF10P-ARTBEADS-0424 (expires 12/31/09).

If you're interested to see what I've made with Swarovski crystal from Artbeads, check out my previous post.

Please note that I have received the products free of charge from Artbeads.com and that I am honestly reviewing the products and have not been paid to do so.

Swarovski Crystal

Who doesn't love a healthy dose of Swarovski crystal?! Artbeads has tons of beautiful, sparkly beads and components to choose from. I got a whole bunch of different beads to give them a try. I really like the crystal rivolis because they have so much depth and dimension. The funky polygon shape in padparadscha is also really neat!



Here's what I've made with the Rivolis and a little bit of bead weaving with size 11 and size 15 seed beads:

I had a lot of fun incorporating Swarovski Crystal bicones into bead woven bracelets. The wavy lime bracelet is inspired from a bracelet in the most recent Bead and Button magazine, and has lime crystals in the center. The deep blue bracelet makes use of dark sapphire bicone crystals.



Check back here in a week or so and I'll show you what I've done with some more of the Swarovski Beads that I have, and to get some inspiration!

Bridal Jewelry

A local woman called me last Monday when I was on my way to Key West. That's a whole other story, but she needed jewelry for 5 bridesmaids and 2 flower girls by this Friday! I came up with a design in "pool" and "butter," express ordered beads, made an emergency run to a local bead store, made them, and packaged them.

It was quite fun to work with so much crystal! Everything was done with Swarovski crystal and sterling silver, with the exception of the one gold filled set. I had fun designing the packaging with the wedding colors in mind. (Names have been blurred to protect the innocent!) (I have to give credit for the idea to UnderGlass's beautiful packaging.)
I can't wait for the day that I can design my bridesmaids jewelry!

Birthday Bash!

My birthday is this week on Bastille Day! I'll be the ripe old age of 21. To celebrate, I'll be offering 15% off all items in my shop from July 13th - July 19th. The sale also coincides with my feature on the Etsy Twitter Team Blog.



For every $5 that is spent in my shop, you earn an entry into a giveaway for a $10 gift certificate to my shop! To make it even better, orders over $50 earn double entries.

Additionally, return customers will receive a free gift! Just use the code "RETURN CUSTOMER" and tell me what you purchased.

New Line!

I've been playing around with some beads I bought from a show some time ago. For some reason, I've been obsessed with making tons of these! They are an affordable way to wear beadwoven jewelry!

They're available in a myriad of colors and I'd be happy to make custom pendants and earrings!