Suburban Girl Studio Design Team - Fall Reveal!

November 1st! I know, huh?!  Where has the year gone?

 

 

Lucky for you, it's time for the 
Suburban Girl Studio Design Team's
Fall Reveal!

 

 

Diana from Suburban Girl Studio sent me one
of her Heart Shaped Pendants - Sweet!!

This time, I sort of knew what I wanted to do, so once I got started designing (which wasn't until the last minute!)

it went pretty smoothly.

 

 

 

 

I was lucky enough this go-around
to supply each member of the group with one of
my copper swirl clasps.

I wanted to make a couple of my own components this time too, so I wire wrapped this cool little rock that I found on one of our last outings in the desert and I created a Sari Silk, wire and bead wrapped 'bead', too.

Fall is one of my favorite times of the year and my sister and I usually take a sister's trip and head some place here in the state that cools off enough to have the leaves change
and actually look and feel (temperature wise) like fall.

This is a pic of Sedona from one of our trips a few years back.

Autumn in Sedona, Arizona
Photo my Michelle Buettner

 
The blue sky, the red rocks, the colors of the trees.

"Sedona"

 

 It was my inspiration for this piece.


The Hubby and I were married in Sedona 18 years ago this past September.




Sedona is a beautiful place - during any season!

Thanks to Diana of Suburban Girl Studio
for having me along for the ride this year.

It's been a blast creating designs with her
gorgeous pendants and components!

Hop on over to the other team member's
sites and see all their great designs!

**Special Note**  Team members Sandra Miller & Jan Onipenco are currently out of power  due to Hurricane Sandy and will post when they're back up and running.  Our thoughts and prayers go out to all those who are affected from this storm.**
 

Suburban Girl Studio Design Team

 

Diana Ptaszynski
Jenny Davies-Reazor
Kristen Stevens
Jan Onipenco
Marie-Noel Voyer-Cramp 
Sandra Basara Miller
Michelle Buettner

Until Next Time,

 

Peace, Love and Fall Fun!

 

Cheers,

~Shel~

I Heart Macro - It's Sunday!

Happy Sunday Peeps!

 

 

 

Linking up with I Heart Marco today over at Studio Waterstone.

 

 

 

 

Until Next Time,

 

Peace, Love and Pink Roses!

 

Cheers,

~Shel~

Saturday Night Cocktails

Whatcha doing this Pre-Halloween Weekend?

 

Plans? Parties?

Ghostly Gatherings,....Witchy Wanderings?

 

 

I've been hanging out over at the new Artisan Whimsy site.

 

 

 

 

  It's a site that was started by some wonderful artisan ladies after the Creative Bead Chat over on FB got to be so successful and people asked for something more. 

 Artisan Whimsy is loaded with all sorts of fantastic information for creative bead/jewelry minds,...videos how to's, tutorials, jewelry inspiration and ideas, forums and chats, challenges and give-a-ways, events, and fun and informative blog posts.

One of those blog posts is where I learned to pin my own MiShel Designs Etsy items onto Pinterest and then create a set with it over on another favorite site of mine, Polyvore. 

 

 

 

I had figured it out a while back and forgotten how to do this and then when I had tried it again, it was like I'd never done it in my life, so I desperately needed my hand held and told step-by-step what to do! 

 

Artisan Whimsy's having a

"Show Us Your HOOTERS" Challenge.

 

 

 

Nope, not those kind of hooters,...owl Hooters!! 

 

Go on over and check it out.

 

You've got until the 28th (tomorrow) to enter I think it is.

 

 And, if you've recently added some cool things to Pinterest, why not leave your link or follow me and give me a 'head's up' on what's going on over on your favorite boards!

 

Until Next Time,

 

Peace, Love and Saturday Night Spotlights!

 

Cheers,

~Shel~

 

Echo Creative Club - October Reveal!

Welcome to the October Edition of the
Echo Creative Team Reveal.

 

Remember when I showed you the two pendants that Jeannie had sent me to be used in both the October and November Reveals? 

 

As I mentioned, I decided to use her wonderful
Cherry Blossom Pendant for the October Reveal.

 

One reason is because it's Breast Cancer Awareness Month and there's shades of PINK all over the place - LOVE that!!

  The other reason is because the leaf she sent reminded me of my sis's cabin and Thanksgiving,...so I wanted to use the leaf charm/pendant for next month's reveal. (Nov.25th)

 

When I saw Jeannie's Cherry Blossom pendant I fell in love with it!  Although I take a lot of pictures of flowers, I don't use many of them in my jewelry designs. But this Cherry Blossom is super gorgeous and it also took me back to my childhood,....



Via Lisa Crabtree - Pinterest

 

 



Growing up in "Mayberry" (how I lovingly refer to my hometown) we had a beautiful cherry tree in our back yard.  I could look out my bedroom window and see it every day. I loved this tree. I loved how it looked in Spring when it would bloom and how the blossoms would smell. 

 

Cherries from King Orchards via Pinterest

 

I also loved the cherries it produced.  I loved them a bit too much.  I ate a lot (I mean a LOT) of cherries off that tree every single year!  So many in fact that each year my body would scream "Enough Already!" and I would break out in hives, covering me from head to toe in huge, itchy, red welts!

 

I even had to come home early one year from Church camp because I broke out in hives w/in 48 hours of getting to camp - that sucked!!  (My parents weren't very happy about having to come and get me, either!) 

 

Still,...I didn't learn. I'd eat a ton of those juicy little 'red-devils' every single summer! Until I got in junior high and didn't want to go through all the itching and looking like an massive red-welt for a couple of weeks!

The dark bark of the tree, branches, cherries, cherry seeds and stems 

 

But I'd still snatch one or two off the tree each year just to temp fate because they were so darned yummy!

However, in my defense,....ya gotta eat a lot of cherries to have a proper 'cherry seed fight' with your brother (who's a few years older than me) who was consistently able to spit seeds a bit farther and faster than I was!  Just sayin',...

 

 

 

I remember one day after school a friend of mine rode his bike over to my house to talk about some of his 'girl problems'.  He was a bit upset and ended up throwing his bike against my cherry tree. I yelled at him for that cause he put a huge gash in the tree and if my dad saw it he would come unglued and yell and my brother and me. 

Well, the tree survived the bike, but when my friend passed away in August of this year that memory came rushing back,...

 

From the Cherry Blossoms to the Cherries,....

 

 

That cherry tree was a source of comfort. It was always there. It always bloomed, always produced the best tasting cherries, it was pretty with or with out blossoms or leaves and was a constant in my life from the time I was born until I left home at age 19.


Anyway, several years after I moved away and after my step-mother had sold our house, I went back to Mayberry and rounded the corner to my Aunt's house where I always stayed when I went home (it was across the street from my old house!) and that's when I noticed it. 
 

The cherry tree had been cut down!  OMG!  How could it be gone!?! I was so angry. I stormed into my Aunt's house demanding to know why on earth those jerks who lived in my old house cut down the most beautiful cherry tree on the face of the planet! 
 

 

 

 

 

She just looked at me, raised her eye brows and said (rather sternly!), "They're not jerks they're kids who grew up here, just like you, and they didn't want to cut down the tree, it got struck by lightning and split in half. They didn't have a choice!  Welcome home.  Now, what do you want to eat?"

 

 

"Oh."  That's all I could say. Just "Oh."  And then the tears started to well up. My Aunt looked at me and said, "Don't you dare cry about it. It's just a tree!" She was right. But, to me, it was my tree,...part of my past,...part of me. 

 

 

 

So, when I got Jeannie's Cherry Blossom Pendant in the mail for the Echo Creative Design Team Challenge this month it brought back all those special memories and the comfort of that tree.

 

I know I'll probably re-design this necklace a hundred more times since nothing will ever be perfect enough,...but for now, this is my "Cherished Cherry Tree".

 

 

Thanks so much Jeannie for allowing me to take a ride down memory lane this month with your beautiful Cherry Blossom Pendant and the Echo Creative Team!

 

 

Be sure to check out all the other participants this month and see the wonderful designs they've created using Jeannie Dukic's (Jewelry by Jeannie) components.


Kim Dwork

Michelle Buettner 

Shannon Chomanczuk 

Jeannie K Dukic

Cindy Cima Edwards

Beth Emery

Erin Prais-Hintz

Charlie Jacka

Kristen Stevens

Lola Surwillo


Echo Creative Club

Jewelry By Jeannie

Echo Creative Club

Flickr group

Until Next Time,

Peace, Love and Cherry Blossoms!

Cheers,

~Shel~

 

Kalmbach's Bead Soup's On,...

Welcome to my little cup of Bead Soup! 

Back in September I got a package from Kalmbach Publishing with some 'Bead Soup' from Bead World of Glendale, AZ in the mail.   This was in conjunction with Lori Anderson's new book, Bead Soup (which is a fantastic book and is so unique as far as beading and jewelry instruction books go!)

 

 

Here's the original post where I told you how excited I was to receive some 'Bead Soup' from Bead World, a place I regularly shop at (bead soups were sent from bead stores from all over the place to tons of people!).

And just look how fun the beads are that they sent me, too!

    I popped in to Bead World and shared my little goodies with the girls in the store and snapped a couple of pics and now it's time to see what I finally created with the yummy pieces of goodness they so graciously sent my way.
 

 

 

I stewed and stewed (no bead soup pun intended!) over what to create - nothing looked quite right and I haven't worked with crystals for a little while and all these beautiful shiny beads were just 'blinging' back at me. 

Did I want to hand knot something, did I want a link style bead chain,...should I wire wrap a cool pendant necklace or bracelet or should I string something?
Nothing seemed to fit, at least at first anyway.

 

Here's what I finally decided on.

 

 

 

These are the earrings I created to go with it.

 

I created these with some Swarovski Crystal Circle Pendants (don't ya just love those!!) and some chain and jump rings from my own stash and a few of the beads from my bead soup.

 

 

Here's the Set Together

 

 

 

 

I decided I wanted the lamp work pendant bead to really stand out,

and this style and design seemed to do this it quite well.

 

 

 

 

 

I tried to put one of the Swarovski Crystal Circles in the necklace,..but it just wasn't working for me.

 

 

 

 

I decided to name her Desert Gypsy because she reminds me of the Belly Dance costumes my sister would make to wear in her dance classes - they were always so amazing!!

 

 

 

 

And because it reminds me of the colors of the beautiful Arizona Desert!

 

I wanted to make a bracelet out the remaining beads, but I haven't quite decided how I want that to be yet. 

 

 

Thanks to everyone over at Kalmbach for doing this great Bead Soup Promotion for Lori Anderson's new book, "Bead Soup" - this sure was fun!

 

And, thanks to all the great folks from Bead World - you know how much I appreciate you!!

 

Until Next Time,

Peace, Love and Desert Gypsies!

 

 

 

Cheers,

~Shel~

 

Have You Seen,....

The November issue of Bead Trends Magazine?

 

 

 

Well, you are in for a treat!

 

The Fall/Autumn inspiration in the November issue of Bead Trends is phenomenal!

 

I fell in love with Kristin Oppold's "Love is Seasonless" Necklace which she designed with her mother in mind when she was ill with cancer. Not only is the necklace beautiful and inspiring, so are Kristin's words about her mother! 

(Pages 84-87)

 

Next I have to give a nod to fellow Phoenician, Sara Oehler. Her Jewel School Article (Pages 68-72) is so cool - I mean seriously - she has created these beautifully colorful bracelets with Soft Flex Beading Wire (my FAV!) and crystals - and they are macarame!! Awesome!! 

 

The cover piece, designed by Wenche Brennbakk is so pretty and loaded with gorgeous pearls!! (Pearls!!) and then Kristy Abner's "Vintage Romance" necklace completely sets the stage for all those cool fall nights you'll have sitting with your sweetie by the fire!  (Pages 12-13).

 

And of course the 'beachy-girl' in me was dropping my jaw on my desk as I came across Joanne Shockey's "Silver Beach Bracelet!  (Pages 18-19)  It's a stunner, let me tell you!!

 

And the Designer Highlight on Andria McKee is fantastic!  Her designs are the kind you will want to wear every day! (Pages46-57).

 

Although I cannot share the entire magazine with you (you'll have to get your own copy!!) I can tell you that I was super fortunate enough to have two of my designs in the November issue of Bead Trends as well. 

 

 

 

My "Stick Around Town" Earrings from my Urban Chaos Collection are beautifully photographed on pages 42-43 and my "Everyday Glitters" leather and rhinestone chain wrapped bracelet can be seen on pages 80-81!

 

 

 

Insert "Happy Squeals" right here!!!

 

Thanks to Tatia Meyer and everyone over at Bead Trends for all the fabulous work you do each month in Bead Trends. The photographs are always so wonderful and the articles and projects are ones that capture our attention and keep us excited about what we do!!

 

Until Next Time,

Peace, Love and Happy Squeals!

Cheers,

~Shel~

Door Porn!

Click here to see
My Bead Table Blog Hop
from Saturday, October 13th.


Happy Sunday Folks!

 

 

I have what some people might refer to as a slight obsession with photographing doors (peeling paint, rusty key holes, iron work and all that yummy stuff that goes with doors.)

Click to enlarge photos to see details ;-)

 

 

While I was on vacation last month I had the most wonderful opportunites to snap a bunch of photos of some of the above mentioned subjects.

Yep, I went to Door Heaven!!

Oh, the textures!  And the colors,

And the intricate details,....OMG!!

 

 

 

 

The angles at which I was able to take photos wasn't always my first choice, nor did they all come out the way I wanted them to - but at least I have them. 
 

Napoleon's "Boat Park" Door - Venice, Italy

If not the way I want them on my computer,
I have them the way I want them in my mind!! ;-)
 

This was one COOL Cat!!

 

I'm linking up with I Heart Macro over at

Studio Waterstone today.

Sill So Regal!

 

 

If you get the chance, hop on over and check out all the super-cool macro shots that people have posted  - they're always drool-worthy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Until Next Time,

 

 Peace, Love and Door Porn!

  

 

Cheers,

~Shel~