I have been VERY busy beading!

FIRST OFF!

I found a bead store going out of business! 
Whooops! 

 Big mistake. 

 I put off going until the last day it was open....

my hubby told me to take my credit card....

BIGGER MISTAKE!

(When hubby okays it and even gives me the credit card, ya' know

I am NOT going to come home empty handed!)

Okay, I know I have gone pink nuts! 

I found this beautiful antique rose metallic galvanized bead. 

 (I can not show or tell you how lovely this bead is.) 

It is SOOOOO Victorian and so ME! 

This necklace is done with a right angle weave with four size 11's/three rows wide and

a tiny size 15 light gold bead in between each bead. 

Pearls just had to be added! 

It just fell together just like it was always "supposed to be made" into something this beautiful.

NEXT

Actually this bracelet was the first thing I made. 

I started with a metal ear ring and added pearls with the size 15 tiny gold bead. 

The "flower" just needed more punch so I began to add leaves from a rosey gold delica. 

You can see the larger veins that I made with tiny gold beads but I actually added veins with several darker shades when I originally made the leaves but they just did not show up as good as I would like.  So I topped it off with the size 15 lighter bead.  I then added pearls and Swarvoski crystals to the center of the bracelet, then added another four rows to complete the base form. 

What do you think?  It is so very comfortable and unique.

NEXT

Again I used the same beautiful pink galvanized beads!  This bracelet is made with a larger  twisted "bugle" bead and accented with the

pink bead on the sides and a peyote in the center. 

Then I began to add a variety of sizes, shapes and colors of pearls and crystals

until I was satisfied with the shape of the "flower" cluster. 

LASTLY!

I told you I had been busy beading!

One more piece to show you.....

For quite a while, I have had this pin bar that wanted my attention.

(I am a jewelry collector of sorts...lol) 

The pin has a lovely tiny china rose in the center. 

From the center bar I hung this gentle cameo.  I did a bead embroidery around the cameo. 

Did you notice that the side with the curtain is a different color and

texture of bead than the right hand side?  

I used a stunning stone like multi colored pink finish bead for the right side and a

soft matte rose on the left where the curtain hangs. 

Now I have a broach to wear or sell that is unique and very pretty/feminine.

(This is the only piece I have made recently that I did not use that galvanized pink. ....)

Well, that is it for now. 

I'm tired so I am headed for bed.

Tomorrow I will try to get a post to you about the Easter Basket Swap that I participated in.

Blessings to all,

Sharon

Spring Flowers Earring Style from Mimi

Mimi of

http://lascreacionsdeboricua.blogspot.com

is a fellow beader and from Georgia.  

She had written to me that she was coming to our Southern Belle Retreat.  She makes the most original stunning pieces of jewelry.  

I had asked about a couple of pieces that she had designed and she was so generous in sending me this lovely gift.  She had sewed a dainty bookmark into a package and embroidered my "S" initial.  

Isn't it absolutely the sweetest little package? 

She filled the bookmark with all of these lovely acrylic flowers. 

It also included some metal stems so all I had to do is a quick couple of pair of ear rings. 

This is what I came up with. 

 I find it very hard to use the flowers as they are so beautiful. 

Don't they look just like spring? 

I love them so much! 

I am going to make a bracelet for spring and hope to get it finished while I am at the beach next week.  Because Mimi is coming to our get together April 10th and I want to show her how much they were and are appreciated. 

I had just gotten in some beautiful size 4 rondelle AB beads and some purple crystals from China. 

 They matched perfectly! 

Thank you, Mimi, for such a thoughtful and creative gift. 

I am getting so excited to meet everyone in Hoschton, GA. in a couple of weeks!!! 

Yikes! 

Just two weeks and I am going to be gone for one week to the beach with my daughter and grand daughters for a week away to bead, swim and bead some more. 

I have my name tag all made but the hanging of the beads from the heart. 

I will try to post another time to show you some of the pieces I have been working on.  I don't want to make my posts so long that you will get bored but I have so much going on.

Blessings to all and thank you again, Mimi, for the sweet gift.

Sharon

OWOH Gifts Again

Jackie

of

http://SilverLodge-Gems.blogspot.com

 from the UK

sent me this lovely leaf piece!!

This is one of the many gifts I received from OWOH.

I have added a gold chain to it and wear it all the time. 

I wish you could see how detailed and delicate this piece is. 

The colors are wonderful!  I think you can see the metalic leaf with

jewels in the middle of every flower.  Isn't it beautiful?

Jackie I love it so much and know it took a long time to get here and I will cherish it forever because you made it especially for me!

Thank you so very very much. 

Southern Belle's Up-Dates

More NEWS!!!

Southern Belle's Retreat...

Dawn may teach a mini-class on April 10th for us!!

(We MAY be sharing a couple of workshops.)

We are getting so very excited about meeting everyone!

(I had to include a few pictures of Georgia sunshine at Grandma's house.... My three littlest munchkins came over on Friday and they HAD to go into our gardens to pick

a few flowers before going home.)

Back to the real reason for this post.

I am working on my "name tag".
(Hint, hint...lol)

Mine is going to be a heart for love,.... a rose in 3D for my love of pinks and of roses,... an old post card for a name.... to show my love of Victorian with a 3D stamp for my love of details then I will end it with beads for my passion....

it is a work in progress.

Have you started on yours yet?

(A surprise will be given to the
most orginal and creative
 name tag.)

I have some door prizes to bring!

Dawn (The Feathered Nest)and Yvette (The Charm House)

will be donating something too!

Plus I am making a special piece of

jewelry for my

"gift exchange".

(Your gift exchange gifts do not have to be anything
 extravagant or expensive,
just something from your heart.)
I am having to do things ahead of time as I am taking my other Grand daughters to the beach for the first week of spring break

BUT

I will be back just in time!

(It seems it is always so busy all at the same time.)

I will look forward to seeing you all real soon...

I am having problems with getting the correct email addresses for everyone so please send me your correct addresses so I can keep everyone updated.

Don't forget to post about this event for our
Southern Belles'!!!

Thank you so much for participating!

Sharon

Southern Belle's Date

Hello Everyone!

Did you think I have forgotten all about

the Georgia Bloggers?

"NEVER!"

Here are NEWEST plans for the upcoming:

Southern Belle's Date!

1: We are meeting for sure on

April 10th

at

Peckers Resturant in

Hoschton, Ga at 11:00AM

(Please see former post for directions and meeting place or email me for information.)

2: Please bring a gift to exchange.

(This can be hand made or boughten.)

3: There will be door prizes galore!

4: We will have one or maybe two workshops for you to attend.

5: We would like for you to make and

bring your very own name tag.

(Your name tag should "reflect your personality" or blog.

We would like that name tag to contain your name and the name of your blog written clearly for everyone to see at a glance.)

6: I would love to be able to know approximately how many are planning to come.  IF you KNOW you can or can not come. 

Please RSVP and I will try to keep track...lol

7: Bring yourself, your name tag, and a small gift to exchange.

8. Please post about this event! 

Let's see how many we can get to meet us.

9.  Come expecting to make new friends!

(I will try to get a banner and link set up so

you can grab the button about the event.)
If I have missed anyones email address it is NOT intentional or repeated the email twice/three times, please excuse me.

I will keep you informed as the plans come together.

It is just around the corner!

We hope to see you there!

Everyone is welcome!

Even if you do not live in Georgia,

please try to join us.

Thank you for your interest in meeting fellow bloggers.

MORE NEWS!!!
Southern Belle's Retreat...

Dawn may teach a mini-class on April 10th for us!!
(We MAY be sharing a couple of workshops.)
We are getting so very excited about meeting everyone!
I am working on my "name tag".
(Hint, hint...lol)
Mine is going to be a heart for love,.... a rose in 3D for my love of pinks and of roses,... an old post card for a name.... to show my love of Victorian with a 3D stamp for my love of details then I will end it with beads for my passion....
it is a work in progress.
Have you started on yours yet?
(A PRIZE will be given to the
most orginal and creative
name tag.)
I have some door prizes to bring!

Dawn (The Feathered Nest)and Yvette (The Charm House)
will be donating something too!
Plus I am making a special piece of
jewelry for my
"gift exchange".
(Your gift exchange gifts do not have to be anything

extravagant or expensive,

just something from your heart.)
I am having to do things ahead of time as I am taking my other Grand daughters to the beach for the first week of spring break

BUT

I will be back just in time!

(It seems it is always so busy all at the same time.)


I will look forward to seeing you all real soon...

I am having problems with getting the correct email addresses for everyone so please send me your correct addresses so I can keep everyone updated.

Don't forget to post about this event for all
Southern Belles'!!!

Thank you so much for participating!


Sharon

Spring is bursting all over my studio!

Sweet Yvette of the Charm

House

http://charmhouse.blogspot.com

had a post the other day about miniture roses made from crepe

paper.  She saw on Judys posts.

http://lindaalbrecht.typepad.com/simple_things/2010/02/the-rose-2.html

so I decided to give it a try.  All I had in my stash was a roll of crepe paper streamers so I tried that and it worked great! 

I then used water colors to give the rose a little more depth.

Well I was just not satisfied with the way they looked.

I was speaking to a lady at Hobby Lobby and she said her Mother made crepe paper roses then dipped them in wax.

I had bees wax on my counter.

Stuck it in the Microwave.

Then dipped the roses really fast.

The results were fascinating! 

The crepe paper now looks like they might be a china or bisque. 

I thought I would share them with you.

What do you think? 

Dipping them in the wax seemed to make them

stronger and more durable when I tried to arrange them.

My Easter Crosses:

I went to Hobby Lobby and they were

having a sale on paper formed boxes.

With it being Easter I wanted to make something

with a Christian theme.

I took the boxes apart and made two ornaments for the price of one.  I had gotten this cross book mark from

The Vintage Moth

and it fit perfectly inside of the box. 

I added a few flowers for a 3D effect then added those tiny mico balls on the edges in Silver and in gold.  Of course I had to cover the outside of the cross with a

purple paper that was one of my favorites.

Easter and May baskets are blooming everywhere.

I made another May/Easter basket! 

This one I made white on white with no color except for the jeweled piece I added under the bow.  It is just peaking out.

Don't you love spring things? 

My daffodils are in full bloom along

with the almond trees and the wild plum trees.

Yes, I have even made a couple of

beading projects.

Yes, I have been beading too. 

I wish you could see this bracelet in person.

I love emerald colors!

This one is a dark emerald  deep blue on one side and a lovely emerald purple on the other side.

In between the rosetts I added Vintage ravoli crystals that pick up both colors.  It truly is a stunning piece.

If you want a closer look be sure to

enlarge it by right clicking on the pictures.

So as you see I have been busy getting into the spring mood.

Easter Eggs and Bookmarks

I realize not everyone remembers back when we were always given a book mark at Easter time or when we learned my memory a verse from the Bible.  For the last couple of years I have been making bookmarks and giving them to people who mean a lot to me.  So this is my version of an Easter Bookmark.

I hope you will enjoy my labors of love and possibly

get some ideas to work with too.

Before I go I want to thank all of you that responded to my plea to interput the Blogger News article!

I got so many good, talented, and smart answers. 

Thanks girls, You are dolls for helpin' out!

I feel assured again and ready to tackle blogging again.

My God Richly Bless

you.

Sharon

Can Somebody Out There Tell me what in the world this says???

Have you noticed the Blogger News lately?  I hardly ever even look at it but I just happened to click on it.  I am very dense (as you already guessed) but  was this definately written by a lawyer that was paid by the word.  I haven't any idea if this means we will no longer have blog access after March 10th?  I have received some messages saying they are losing their followers since changing their blog.  I pray this does not mean I will loose all of you during this transition!!  I NEED you gals and would hate to have anything interrupt our lovely groups.  Can someone tell me what this means? 
My husband has read it and he didn't understand what my blogging buddies, followers, links, etc. were about even though he is pretty computer literate (unlike his wife).

I am concerned! 

"Important Note to FTP Users

January 22, 2010 — permalink

Last May, we discussed a number of challenges facing Blogger users who relied on FTP to publish their blogs. FTP remains a significant drain on our ability to improve Blogger: only .5% of active blogs are published via FTP — yet the percentage of our engineering resources devoted to supporting FTP vastly exceeds that. On top of this, critical infrastructure that our FTP support relies on at Google will soon become unavailable, which would require that we completely rewrite the code that handles our FTP processing.



Three years ago we launched Custom Domains to give users the simplicity of Blogger, the scalability of Google hosting, and the flexibility of hosting your blog at your own URL. Last year's post discussed the advantages of custom domains over FTP and addressed a number of reasons users have continued to use FTP publishing. (If you're interested in reading more about Custom Domains, our Help Center has a good overview of how to use them on your blog.) In evaluating the investment needed to continue supporting FTP, we have decided that we could not justify diverting further engineering resources away from building new features for all users.



For that reason, we are announcing today that we will no longer support FTP publishing in Blogger after March 26, 2010. We realize that this will not necessarily be welcome news for some users, and we are committed to making the transition as seamless as possible. To that end:



We are building a migration tool that will walk users through a migration from their current URL to a Blogger-managed URL (either a Custom Domain or a Blogspot URL) that will be available to all users the week of February 22. This tool will handle redirecting traffic from the old URL to the new URL, and will handle the vast majority of situations.

We will be providing a dedicated blog and help documentation to provide as much information as possible to help guide users through the migration off of FTP.

Blogger team members will also be available to answer questions on the forum, comments on the blog, and in a few scheduled conference calls once the tool is released."

I know somebody out there knows the correct answers and interpetation of this.  Please explain in terms even I can understand.  Thank you so much!!!

Sharon

p.s.  Does anyone know where the

spell check

went to on the "compose posts"?

 

How I am getting in the Spring Mood...

We had SNOW yesterday! 

Snow in Georgia is rare but snow this time

of the year never happens. 

It is forecasted to be 70 degrees on Sunday!

Go figure!

I am just waiting for the daffodils to bloom and

the sun to come out to stay!

I have been having some physical problems that have required my going to the doctors several times the last couple of weeks.

  I already have cabin fever but this is

 NOT my idea of getting out to have fun.

So my idea is to make spring in my home.

I had entered Ms. Rhea's Easter Basket swap and thought I would make a couple of extras while I was at it.

I made the pretty rose basket first.

This one spoiled me!

It started with some yogurt cups, via Ms. Rhea's instructions.

"It must contain a yogurt cup"

(Please note the banner on the side bar)

I had never bought yogurt before so I sent my hubby to the store to buy several yogurts.  He came back with strawberry flavors.

He said, "If you are planning on feeding that to me, forget it!"

So I snuck it in on him....lol

I had frozen strawberries from our garden, added that to vanilla pudding and added the yogurt.

Walla!  He ate it all... until he figured out what I had done.

He said, "This is Not too bad"...lol

Now that I had the mess from making numerous baskets

I decided to decorate some eggs. 

(I used napkin rings for the holders.) 

What do you think?  

They are so EASTER! 

Now for the things NOT to do...

Don't start covering a arubic cube at 12:00AM!

I started off cutting the little squares...

NOT...

I got one whole side done when it dawned on me to leave the picture whole then just cut in between. 

Easier,

but NOT much.

It took me four hours!  Four hours!

Why, you ask?

Because you can't leave any paper in the cracks.  It won't turn otherwise.  Whoever gets this one you better believe

I like them, alot!!...lol

I am just kidding.  I was planning on four pictures. 

NOT!

There are six sides to a cube...dahhh.

 It just dawned on me when

I only had four pictures printed...lol 

 (I am blond when it comes to math..)

 It was fun but I am not sure if I will ever do another one.

Well, friends, I am not thinking about winter today. 
I am thinking SPRING!

The mail lady brought me a lovely package

Nancy of Notes and News

today.

http://www.nancymalay.blogspot.com/

sent me another package from the OWOH giveaways.

The package contained the tinyest & loveliest book of

Shakespeare "Sonnets" . 

 Isn't it the cutest little book? 

I am going to leave my computer and just read for a while....

Plus Nancy made me this pretty book mark to go with the book. 

Thank you so much, Nancy!  I love them both!

Have you been over to see her beautiful blog?

I want one of her precious hand made bunnies!!!  Her designs vary from Easter bunnies to buggies to Victorian Cones.  I can clearly see her humor in all of her delightful creations.  They are all so sweet and SO SPRING!

Thank you again, Nancy for the gifts.

Blessings to all,

Spring is just around the corner??

Sharon

And the WINNER is........

Carol

of

Carol Anne's Boutique

http://carolannesboutique.blogspot.com/

I am so happy to announce

that the number generator thingy picked number 24. 

 (I just found out how to work that program.  I love it because it takes all of the personal feelings out of a drawing and picks just the right person every time...)

(I will not reveal the surprise love gift.  Carol can have her moment in the sun...lol)

Carol has been on my blogroll and my follower

since day one, I "think". 

I found her sweet blog when she was so kind to leave me a comment to welcome me to blogland.  Now that is the perfect person to receive my little "love" gift drawing for

my great followers.

IF you haven't stopped in to see Carol, please do so.  This sweet picture and the card are the type of goodies that you will find there.

For those that did not win, I love you just as much!

Thank you to each and every person

that are "following" my posts. 

YOU are an important part of my life. 

Even if you just stop by for a chat, I appreciate you too.

It is the people who support you, care about you,

and nurture your creative spirit

that make blogging so rewarding!

Thank you from the bottom of my heart

 for each comment,

each encouragement

 and each lovely individual

who has stopped for a visit. 

Please come by often.

 You make my day!

Sharon 

p.s.  I will be having more giveaways as spring gets closer so stop by often.