a haku for my wrist

i was looking at all our shell and gemstone flowers, and thinking.. i wish the display were wear-able! thus, the bracelet. the flowers are stuck onto a chain "backing" by running ball headpins from the top of the flower and fastening it to the back of the chain.

quite pretty, huh!

gotta jam - jason and i are driving to KAILUA for breakfast at cinnamon's - yum! such a cute name and the omelettes are delicious! i have to get all my stuff ready: gps, water, sunscreen, camera... that's like going to the outer islands for us "country folks" out in waipahu :)

marms and grannys!

first, this photo makes me laugh! my mom is such a photo hog! she told me, "take our picture for a christmas card, " haha, i think this says it all! LOOK AT ME!! LOOKATME!

look at poor calvin posing behind her....

michelle made this for her granny for mother's day, and i've been waiting for the right time to post it. well, since i was on a straight-stringing high horse this week, i wanted to include this very pretty bracelet. i told michelle, "this is the first blue bracelet i've ever wanted to wear!"

the basics are fun!

basic stringing and crimping by michelle

basic wire wrap by jamie

i think that a lot of times, we underestimate the basics. sometimes, i'll tell myself, "that's too easy", no one's going to like it.... or "it doesn't look like i spent enough time on it...."

that's just a trick i play on myself, to avoid rejection, criticism or comments on my jewelry. i don't want to let anyone down, or have them think that i'm not trying my best.. does this all sound familiar? yikes, and it's just beads!!

so i'm putting it back into perspective. as i made this wire wrapped bracelet for my kumu's relative who was injured in a fire, i reminded myself, this is made out of LOVE. i stopped worrying if she'd like the colors, stopped judging if my loops were round enough or if the technique reflected enough sophistication.

i just held it in my hands and imbued it with all the love in my heart and sent messages of love and healing as i created it.

i must remind myself, that's why i started beading. that's why i started a STORE, and why i still bead today.

mary k.'s bling

lookeee, it's the diamond mine in 6mm bicones - so blingy! mary whipped this up for me in less than 2 hours - maybe even in 1 hour? it was so fast - her needle was a blur! this bracelet done in larger crystals is so eye-catching - the sample is on display at the store.

gotta jet to the eye doctor today - i've been slacking in my eye exercises (did you know there was such a thing?), and now i can't see unless it's 2 feet from my face!!! so hard to bead!!

pretty girl pics

look at pretty opal with her pretty garden pendant! she made this in a custom class with michelle, and i love the asymmetrical layout of her piece.

that's it for now.. i just got home from work and jason made dinner- gotta run!!

byeeeee! i getting scoldings....

put some sparkle in your eyes!

i started a right angle weave bracelet with medium vitrail, and it got so sparkly as i went on... i couldn't stop! i finished it in one night, and it's awesome, can't wait to wear it!

i used 10lb fireline and it performed quite nicely - and i didn't have to join any threads (i pre-measured enough and tucked it on the side - ask me how!) so it was easy breezy!

right angle weave is a beginner's stitch, and fun to do! i'm going to start another one soon- i think in crystal ab :) want to watch me? just let me know you're coming in!

ta ta! jamie

love the leather

today i did some kumihimo (japanese braiding) for jason on my foamy "loom", the whole bracelet took about 20 minutes - i snuck it in during our slow sunday...

here's the before....

.5mm leather and the disk

and 20 minutes later....

voila!

quite nice! want to learn how? stop in, it's quick demo! i showed jana how to do it in less than a minute, and she went home and finished it right away :)