Nick the dragon

Now, I did say that I am hooked on lampwork glass art, right? Well..... Michael Dean steered me in the direction of a glass artists blog, and "we love Etsy site. While I was cruisin' around on these sites I ran across a glass artist that makes cute little lampwork critters. Anyone who knows me well knows how much I love animals and there was one little guy who cried out, "buy me, BUY ME!" His name was Nick the dragon. After I had completed the transaction and Nick was officially mine, I got to thinking..... I know, look out, lol. I wondered if she could make me a husky, and I decided to contact her and ask. She was happy to take on the new project and seemed to look forward to the challenge. She is working on making me Yukon as I type this post. I can't wait to see her finished project and I will post a picture once he is done. Luanne's Etsy store is Sheltie's Lampworks. Yes, the name did give her away. To see more of her work click on the link below.

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5278310

Egads!

Gawd I HATE Vista! Who at microsoft designed this ungodly software? I have been using windows since version 3.1 (now that is dating myself.) Never have I been unhappy with a windows version.... until now that is. I am going back to XP until they impriove on this OS. Talk about an unstable, sluggish, program.... and it tries to take over everything. As far as I am concerned? JUNK!

Ok, now that I have fumed, as I wrote a blog entry and had it just disappear before my eyes. I so hate typing twice, especially when I am tired and have had a long day....

But, enough of the bitching and on with the latest in the jewelry and beads n' things updates.

What's new? Lampwork glass art. While I was looking around some of the other jewelry sites at Etsy (and God, I love that site,) I stumbled upon some unique and very beautiful beads. As I checked into them further, I found out they were called lampwork beads. They are made of molten glass and let me tell you, this is really an art all of it's own.

I am not even going to try to attempt this craft, as I leave it to the glass artists, I knew I just had to have some of these beads. I hunted high and low for something that got my attention.

I feel so fortunate and blessed to have found Michael Dean (Protege at Etsy,) and marveled over his beautiful work. I originally ordered three and my finished creations using these beads are all listed at my lvsbeadsnthings Etsy store. My favorite, Prairie Winds, was the hardest one to bring together, because I had a specific design in mind. As I worked and worked, then reworked, and worked some more, the design in my head did not come out quite like I had visioned. It is almost laughable now that its' done, and I am finally happy with the final revision.

Here is a picture of the finished project.

To see more of Michael Dean's lampwork click on the link to go to his Etsy store.

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5229300

He is Protege.etsy.com

Triple Strength High Power Magnetic jewelry is now available!

I have added more items to the magnetic jewelry section at the online store. In addition to bracelets (men's and women's,) I have added ankle bracelets and earrings. I even added an ankle bracelet for your pet who suffers from arthritis. I make both high power and (new) triple strength high power magnetic jewelry. These are great if you suffer from arthritis in the hands, shoulders, neck, elbow, or have carpal tunnel. Several styles are available and can be purchased at Lady V''s online store. They can be found under "magnetics" under the "store" tab.

http://lvsbeadsnthings.com/

Mother/Daughter birthstone bracelets

My Daughter asked if I would make her bracelets for her and her Daughter for Christmas. She wanted something that represented them, so I made each of them traditional birthstone bracelets.

Shannon's is a wire wrap bracelet made of non-tarnish sterling silver, green tiger eye gemstones, emerald bicone Swarovski crystals, sterling silver beads, mother of pearl hearts, and the focal bead is a pearl (which represents her Daughter Sammie.) I made the clasp from sterling silver wire.

Sammie's bracelet is made of baby freshwater pearl rice beads, bicone Alexandrite beads, 4mm sterling silver beads, small mother of pearl hearts, and is strung on vinyl coated silver plated beading wire. I also made her clasp out of sterling silver.

Merry Christmas Shannon and Sammie. I hope you like your new bracelets.

xoxo's

Grandma

Lady V's Beads n' Things jewelry now listed on Etsy.com

Lady V's jewelry is now listed at Etsy.com, a great place to shop for hand made crafts, hand crafted jewelry, wood carvings, and unique one of a kind gifts. To go to the Etsy store click on the link below.

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5351467

Take your time and look around at Etsy.com This is a great site and, in my opinion,. beats Ebay when it comes to hand made crafts.

The picture above is a new creation. It is a double stranded, high powered, magnetic bracelet designed for men. I have ladies magnetic bracelets too. They can be seen at both the Etsy.com site and lvsbeadsnthings.com store

NEW! Eagle Series - Hand carved flute

Small Mountain (Brother,)is at it again. Carving his hand made flutes. This is a one of a kind rare flute that will never be duplicated. It is carved of Bristlecone Pine. If you could imagine a living tree as old as the pyramids of Egypt, what do you think it would look like? It would look like a bristlecone pine, Pinus longaeva, the oldest living thing on the planet. As you can imagine, it is extremely rare. SM hunted for this wood for years! This is truely his finest and most treasured masterpiece.

Priced at $1500. Note: Other wood flute variations are available - starting at $150.00. All flutes made by custom order only. For more information on the bristlecone pine click on the link below. Pretty amazing stuff!

http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/bristlecone_pine.htm

Wire Wrap Pendant

Those of you that know me, know that I am taking wire wrap jewelry classes and I am looking forward to creating some pieces after the craft fair is over (now old news.) I couldn't sleep worth a darn last night.... coming down with a cold, so I figured why not create! Here is one of my wire wrap pendants. I am sure I will improve over time, (ain't as easy as it looks,) but not too shabby for one of my earlier attempts.

The black beads in the background are rare, antique beads that were gifted to me from Liza at Turtle Beads..... WOW! They are gorgeous. Thank you soooooooooo much Elizabeth. You know you are my inspiration when I run out of steam. Now that I created the "Eagle" series of beads you have to keep hunting down those old, one of a kind, rare, antique beads, so I can keep making them you know, *winks. I will be seeing you soon, Liza. Get some good wire in.

Now that the Eagles Club craft fair is over, I will be working primarily on wire wrap jewelry and stringing beads for the pendants. I am now getting ready for the Stratton Elementary school craft fair on Dec 1st, located in Newport. Oh yeah, lastly, I will be teaching a "beginning wire wrap" class at Turtle Beads in a month or so,(depending on interest,) so if anyone is interested in attending, call Liza.. Turtle beads is located in Newport, WA.

Hugs to all

Lady V

The long awaited Blue Lace Agate Arrived today!

UPS finally arrrived with the Blue Lace. It seems like I ordered it eon's ago, but I guess it was last week. I have lost all sense of time. Well now I AM ready for the craft fair. I have my master piece and a couple of other wire wrap necklaces to have on display.

NEW! Magnetic Gemstone Bracelets!

I am now making genuine gemstone bracelets with magnetic beads and clasps. Men's and Woman's bracelets are available. Magnetic therapy is great for people with tennis elbow, arthritis in their hands or shoulders, or carpal tunnel. The magnetic beads are approximately 800 gauss and the clasp is close to 5000. It takes a magnet strength of 2400 to penetrate the skin, so you can see that a single strand bracelet well exceeds that and a double strand is
powerful magnet therapy. To purchase click on the "Beads n' Things" store link on the right. For more information, email me.

A few pendants get face lifts

While I was in the "stringing beads" mood, I decided to give the Ocean Wave Jasper pendant a face lift too. I a strung a necklace of silver Swarvoski pearls and of course added Swarvoski crystals.

Copper and Black Onyx Pendant Necklace

Just as I imagined, the Onyx and copper necklace looks gorgeous! I made a strand of Swarovski bronze beads to go with it, added a few Swarovski bicone crystals and antique bronze beads. Wa-la! Paz' Azz!