Saturday, June 30, 2012

Bead addiction satisfied... for now...

Another bead addiction has been temporarily satisfied today at the bead show. I was able to almost stay within my bead budget, and found some great beads that I can't wait to get started on. I really try to find the best deals on trending as well as traditional colors, new and classic stones, crystals, and materials. Not only is my goal to create a piece that will satisfy my creative bug, but also to pass the best deals possible onto my customers, with stylish yet classy new designs and styles. I like to keep my creations beautiful, wearable and fun, and love to throw in surprises and excitement by keeping my customers guessing on what I will make and use next. I'll add subtle nuances, varying colors, textures, and shapes, and use different techniques, styles and current trends to keep things fresh and exciting.

And I try to keep that in mind when I go bead shopping, especially at a larger bead show where you can sometimes have a ballroom full or 2-3 rooms filled with wall to wall beads. But let me tell you folks, it ain't easy.. I really have to discipline myself, because I have been known in the past to attempt to buy everything I see that I like - and I like a lot... 

As you will see below, I think I did very well and found some really cool and beautiful beads, as well as a few unique looking ones. I snagged lots of larger crystals with different reflective hues - greenish tints, blue/purples, and oranges - in a variety of shapes - globes, large and smaller drops, flat teardrops, rectangles and hexagons. I also chose a few faceted round quartz in different blue mixed shades, various dark purple and pink glass pearls and crystals, beautiful cherry quartz faceted briolettes and small drops, light pink quartz discs, and large square labradorite. I also scouted out this great light aquamarine jasper mix in graduating size rondelles.  Hope you enjoy my finds. Now it's time to put my creative hat on, and make some great jewelry pieces.






Sunday, June 10, 2012

Rectangles and Roses Glass Beads Necklace

Not too long ago, I snagged these fabulous large faceted rectangle and rondelle glass beads while satisfying my endless bead obsession at a local bead show. The shine and reflection of the bluish-purple and pink prisms first caught my eye. At closer inspection, I loved how a portion of the glass also has a light smoky quartz look to them, which adds depth and gives the colors some balance. Then on another bead hunt, I got lucky and found these adorable rose glass beads that had a similar reflective shimmer. And don't you just love them too! I used a large cute heart clasp for easy fastening.  I displayed the necklace on a black as well as a white surface, so you can see how they appear on both backgrounds. I really wanted to make a longer, flowing, eye-catching necklace that really showed off the quite large-sized brilliant glass, and its multi-reflective colors. It measures 36" adjustable to 40", and will stand out and match wonderfully with your blue, grey, white, pink, and even brown outfits. This is a one-of-a-kind creation, and I believe it turned out simply stunning! 
These videos and pictures are my attempt at giving you a better, truer visual show of this gorgeous glass beads necklace. I hope you love my newest creation! I'd love to hear your comments or requests.

Rectangles and Roses Glass Beads Necklace - $38
UPDATE - SOLD!











Video 1

Video 2

For my email readers - in case you aren't able to view the videos in this email, here are links to the videos.



These and pics and more can also be found in the $20 and Up Gallery.



Rectangles and Roses Glass Necklace

Saturday, June 2, 2012

Crazy About Quartz

In one of my recent bead show indulgences, I found these great quartz spheres with beautiful naturally occurring white bands throughout. There is something so magical and majestic to me about mother nature's own hand-crafted beautiful designs. I really loved how the white banding in these quartz pieces sort of glow from within and looked pressed between and bring out the natural greys, greyish-blues, and browns of the semi-precious stones. And similar to another Mother nature creation, snowflakes, I love the variety you can get from quartz because no two rocks are exactly the same. Plus, depending on how and what it was formed from in nature, there are also numerous varieties and  categories under quartz to choose from. I've included a few pics of quartz geodes for a small glimpse at how these beautiful natural stones start out as, which are then cut and shaped by us.

I decided to accentuate these banded quartz pieces with cultured pearls that have a satiny brown metallic shine that really make the different shades of grey and brown in the stones pop, and also give added texture. They've been nestled in between a few pieces of Labradorite for extra sprinkles of natural beauty. I added 2 round shell pieces because I liked their silvery glow, and liked how they give luminescent variety between the stones. I also included a few gun metal grey glass beads to keep with the glossy look and feel of the stones. It measures at 18 1/2", and adjusts up to 23".

For the bracelet, alternating colors were used with gun metal, light grey, glossy brown and smoky quartz in glass pearls and metal beads to accentuate the same colors, lustrous look and clean line of the necklace. It fits wrists sizes 5 1/2" up to 8".

I truly hope you enjoy my Crazy About Quartz necklace and bracelet as much as or even more than I enjoyed creating them! You can find these two pieces, along with a few more items I've just added to my collection in the $20 and Up, and $20 gallery bins on the right-hand side of my blog page. If you love them, have a request or questions, let me know by clicking on one of the vote boxes or comment on my blog page, email me at Caras.Creations@yahoo.com.  Thanks for reading my jewelry blog!

Here are links for my email readers -
$20 and Up gallery - https://picasaweb.google.com/107300574423774597919/20AndUpBin?authuser=0&feat=directlink
$20 gallery - https://picasaweb.google.com/107300574423774597919/CaraSCreations20?authuser=0&feat=directlink

CRAZY ABOUT QUARTZ - **UPDATE - SOLD***
    Necklace - $30
      Bracelet - $15
Necklace and Bracelet Set - $38 > $7 Savings!

**UPDATE - SOLD**

**UPDATE - SOLD**














Crazy About Quartz - Necklace

Crazy About Quartz - Matching Bracelet

Crazy About Quartz - Necklace and Bracelet Set