Crystal Chaos Collection
Double Crystal Chaos Bracelet #1
Double Crystal Chaos Bracelet #2
Triple Crystal Chaos Bracelet #1
Quadruple Crystal Chaos Necklace #1
Double Crystal Chaos Choker #1
Single Crystal Chaos Necklace #1
Triple Crystal Chaos Necklace #1

Calico Colors Collection
Gold and Chocolate Necklace
Fire and Water Necklace
Midnight Forest Necklace
Field of Wildflowers Necklace
Ocean Sunset Necklace
Fire in the Sky Necklace
Sunshine and Honey Necklace
Sunshine Necklace
Lavender and Honey Necklace
Winter Breeze Necklace
Ocean and Sand Necklace
Snow on trees Necklace
Stormy Sky Necklace
Golden Sky Necklace
Gothic Princess Necklace
Wicked Autumn Necklace
Bumblebee Necklace
Autumn Field Necklace
Classic Beauty Necklace
Royal Beauty Necklace
Trees at Night Necklace
Royal Gold Necklace
Fields of Grain Necklace
Sky Over Lavender Fields Necklace
Roses at Night Necklace
Inner Flame Necklace
Halloween Necklace
Pale and Lovely Necklace
Royal Flame Necklace
Sun and Sky Necklace
Midnight Necklace
Sun and Roses Necklace
Sunset Necklace

Crystal Elements Collection
Earth Mother Choker/Necklace Combo
Crystal Rain Choker/Necklace Combo
Walking on Air Choker
Crystal Flame Choker

Original Pieces
Sun Burst Choker
Royal Crystal Necklace
Mardi Gras Pearl Triple Strand Necklace
Wicked Little Fringe Necklace
No Gray Areas Triple strand Necklace
Crystal Patchwork Blues Necklace
Beautiful in Black and White Necklace
Simply Classic Necklace
Fire and Ice Triple Strand Necklace
Fusion sparkle Necklace
Crystals and Pearls Necklace #1
Tiger Tail Necklace
Earthy Sparkle Double Strand Necklace
Winter Night Necklace
Teal Sparkle Necklace
Stone Duo Necklace
Calico Chaos Six Strand Necklace

Crystal Chaos Collection:
Single Crystal Chaos Necklace #2
Bib Style Crystal Chaos Necklace #1

Embrace the Chaos Collection:
Chaotic Necklace Version #1

Original Pieces:
Black as Night Triple Strand Necklace
Triple Purple Sparkle Necklace
Shades of…Triple Strand Necklace
Natures Chaos Necklace
Pretty in Pink Necklace
Wicked Crystal Necklace
Crystal Butterfly Necklace
Black Gold Necklace
Hint of Silver Necklace
Sun and Earth Crystal Necklace
Crystals and Pearls Necklace #2
Rainbow Chaos Necklace
Splash of Green Necklace

Saturday, I had a massive craving for the best french fries in Portland Oregon which I lovingly refer to as crack fries, from Kenny and Zukes. So, I convienced hubby – it didn’t take much, just the realization that he could have a Ruben dog – and we headed downtown. What we both didn’t realize was that the Starlight Parade – one of the parades put on for Portland’s Rose Fest every year – was going on that evening and most of downtown was full of people waiting for it to start. This meant that by the time we finished eating, multiple streets would be closed for the parade and getting home would be next to impossible. The only answer, stay for the parade.

So, we had a lovely dinner followed by a couple hours of the best kind of people watching. The parade started with a Starlight Run and as it always seems to be the trend, the majority of the racers were in costume. We had superheros galore, Mario and Luigi, tons of togas, Richard Nixon, weight lifters and many other various alter egos. Then we had the parade full of sparkly floats and marching bands – including one who played Poker Face and forever changed my opinion of marching bands. Hubby and I enjoyed out impromptu outing I felt much more inspired by the time we got home. And with the sudden urge to cover things in sequins.

I’d spent the last week or so cooped up in the house and on a nocturnal sleep schedule which just made it worse. I barely got anything done, no matter how hard I tried. I had tons of beading ideas in my head but any time I tried to manifest those ideas into actual jewelry, they refused to work. I needed to break out of my cage and go into the real world to get my beading muses speaking to me again. And it worked. Not only do I have ideas, I know how to go about creating them and more importantly, I’m motivated to actually get them done.

Thank you, Starlight Parade. And here’s hoping for a more productive/creative week.

Artist’s see the world a bit differently from non-artists. Whatever their medium is, they see inanimate objects as art materials. An artist’s eye is the only way I can explain why I created the Cootie Beauties Collection.

There’s this very adorable, quirky collection of plushes called Giant Microbes that are plush versions of germs – done several hundred times larger then what they’re actual size is. I have several of their normal sized ones and have given several as gifts ’cause I like them so much. I recently discovered that they make another smaller version of them that come in a little plastic petri dish. When I first saw these smaller microbes, I didn’t see a quirky toy, I saw a possible pendant. So, I bought a set of the Mono plushes and got to creating. Took a little trial and error – one of the three in the package sacrificed it’s life in the name of art – but eventually I had two adorable pendants.

The fun part was stringing the actual necklaces. I wanted them to be beautiful yet funky yet quirky at the same time. I think I achieved that goal.

Mono-Classic Necklace

In this necklace, I used black and white fiber optic beads to accent the purple of the mono plush – who I named Molly, by the way. Black and white are a classic color combo and make little Molly really pop.
Length, from end to end is 22 1/2″. Available for $37.

Mono-Chromatic Necklace

In this necklace, I used beads in the same color pallet as Molly – purple. Lots of purple in faceted glass and fiber optics. I really enjoy the monochromatic look of this. Actually, I just enjoy monochromatic as a color scheme.
Lenght, from end of end is 26 1/2″. Available for $37.

Molly Mono was my first but certainly not the last germ I turned into a pendant. I also bought some lovely Pneumonia plushes – that I named Phil – and made three more necklaces.

Untitled Pneumonia Necklace #1

Fiber optic tubes and cubes in cream and orange surround Phil in this crisp necklace.
Length, from end to end is 24″. Available for $37.

Untitled Pneumonia Necklace #2

Bright orange swirled flat glass ovals and clear crackle glass ovals & tubes make up this chunky necklace.
Length, from end to end is 23 1/2″. Available for $37.

Untitled Pneumonia Necklace #3

Orange fiber optics and orange fire polished crystals mix with two different size clear faceted glass double cones. The tiny bit of orange is a great accent with the clear beads. Lovely.
Length from end to end is 27 1/2″. Available for $37.

For Phil’s necklaces, I really liked using oranges/whites/clears because they made him strand out so much. Although I’m sure he’d look just as lovely with black or white or silver. May have to get more of him and see what I can do with other color combos….

I’m in love with the quirkiness of this collection. I can’t wait to get my hands on some more plushes and make tons more pieces for this collection. Keep a look out for more fuzzy germs peaking out from necklaces from me.

I’ve always been a little bit in love with love beads. You know the ones: extra long, thick, multi-strand necklaces made of a rainbow of tiny seed beads in no real pattern. A while ago, I was watching an old Charmed episode that involved them going back in time to the 60’s. This of course involved costumes and jewelry including love beads. On seeing these necklaces, I immediately wanted to make my own version. I thought on it awhile and eventually came up with a design that would be a bit more modern with my own spin. My version of this iconic piece of jewelry involves 1/2″ bugle beads and delica seed beads in medium length, three-strand necklaces. My love beads are much less chaotic then the original in both color and pattern but still has a lovely casual, colorful look that anyone could wear with anything. This design is my Modern Love Beads Necklaces, Version #1 – yes I said version #1. I’ve created five color combos so far with the intention of adding many, many, many more. This design also lends very well to customization. So, don’t be shy, if there’s a color combo you want, let me know and I’ll talk to the bead muses.

Modern Love Beads Version #1

Each of these necklaces are 22″ from end to end and are available for $22 each. Color combos currently available are: white with black, white with rainbow, black with red orange and yellow, black with three shades of purple and black with silver.

I also made a shorter version of the Love Beads Necklace using slightly smaller bugle beads with the delicas. There is only one color combo right now but don’t you worry your pretty little head, I’ll be making more soon. For now, enjoy this picture of the first shiny one in bronze, tangerine and hematite.

Modern Love Beads Necklace, Version #2 in Bronze, Tangerine and Hematite

Length from end to end is 17″. Available for $17.

I created one more design for this collection (so far) that still has a love bead flare but I’ve added a colorful, polymer clay peace symbol pendant to it. Three long strands of black bugle beads and glass rounds in the colors of the rainbow surround a single, short strand of black glass rounds and black delica seed beads with the peace symbol pendant at the center. Again, there’s only one design/color combo of this piece but more will be added eventually.

Peace and Love Beads Necklace Version #1 in Black and Rainbow

Length from end to end is 30″. Available for $27.

I usually try to get a line or collection to a good stopping place before I list them or blog about them. But this time, I just had to share right away. I love this line and look forward to making all kinds of new pieces for it. So, keep an eye out for shiny new hippie jewelry from me.

So, that makes what, five contests I entered but didn’t win? Oh well.

Look for my contest entry, Calico Chaos necklace to show up in my Artfire shop soon…

The first custom piece I ever made and got paid for, was a simple seed bead necklace. This was also the first piece I ever made for a man. He was my co-worker at a hotel and a high school football player – or some other sport, I can’t really remember. He wanted a necklace in his school colors of black and green. But he didn’t want it on elastic which was my stringing standard back then, he wanted a clasp. I had some clasps and bead wire in my tool kit, but I rarely used them. So, after some trial and error and one broken necklace, I completed my first custom order and got a whopping $12.

That first custom order lead to how I string necklaces now. Even though it wasn’t until years later that I made bead wire my stringing standard. There was also some trial and error in the way I handled a custom order: I now know what questions to ask, what to plan out before starting and how to figure out how much to charge. It was definitely a learning experience.

Over the years, I’ve done several other custom pieces – mostly for family but a few I even got paid for! I’m very lucky that I haven’t had anyone ask me to make them something hideous or had someone who had detail plans of what they want without leaving me any creative wiggle room. I’m very good at taking vague ideas and turning them into a gorgeous piece of jewelry. That sort of makes me love custom orders.

Urban Hippie Line
Peace & Love Beads Necklace Version #1 in Black and Rainbow
Modern Love Beads Necklace Version #2 in Bronze, Tangerine and Hematite
Modern Love Beads Necklace Version #1 in Black and Silver
Modern Love Beads Necklace Version #1 in Black and Purples
Modern Love Beads Necklace Version #1 in Black, Orange, Yellow and Red
Modern Love Beads Necklace Version #1 in White and Rainbow
Modern Love Beads Necklace Version #1 in Black and White

Cootie Beauties Collection
Mono-Classic Necklace
Mono-Chromatic Necklace
Untitled Pneumonia Necklace #1
Untitled Pneumonia Necklace #2
Untitled Pneumonia Necklace #3

Last night’s episode featured music by Lady GaGa. Now, I admit I don’t like Lady GaGa. It’s just not my kind of music and I always feel that if you have to go over the top with your costumes and performances, it’s probably because your music isn’t that good. However, last night’s episode of Glee made me (kind of) like Lady GaGa. Or at least the costumes they wore that were inspired by Lady GaGa. The costumes I now want to somehow recreate in jewelry. Especially the bubble outfit and the stuffed animal outfit. Now, I just need to get a hold of a still shot of them all in costume and get to a hardware store.

Even when I was younger, my hair was an a artistic outlet: I had a tail, spiked hair and even went a couple days with a full head of braids. Never dyed it until I was way past my childhood/teen years. I even used to say I’d never dye it. That turned out to be a lie.

I’ve done the traditional colors: reds, browns and even blond. But my favorite is going out of the crayon box of natural hair color. I’ve done pink, purple, and even rainbow streaks. Currently, my hair is a lovely shade of turquoise. And of course, there was that time I shaved my head.

How we look – our clothes, our hair, piercings, tattoos, ect – is a reflection of our personalities. Some of us just need to be a little more blunt in that relection, then others. So, it makes sense that my hair is generally bright, colorful and unique because that’s how my art is. And I’m nothing if not an artist.

Next up for my hair canvas, a mohawk. Maybe.