Finished Product

I ended up not using the rose bead. Here is the finished product. It is only a one decade rosary.

And...I made earrings out of the rose beads.

A Rosary for my Sister-in-Law

My SIL wanted a rosary for her mom and since they are Irish, I wanted to make an Irish rosary, so I bought shamrock beads and a shamrock crucifix and center.

At first I was very excited about it, but now I am having doubts as to how it looks.

I want it to be special, so I thought of adding a cherry quartz rose bead for the pater instead of another shamrock bead.

What do you think?

Wishes

I am really wanting to go to Bead Fest Wire in Pennsylvania this year.

There are lots of wonderful classes that will be offered, such as Asymmetric Woven Wire Ring, and Two-Tone Woven Wire Bangle.

Unfortunately, most of the classes that I'd love to take are closed already. I guess this is one of the events in life that you have to make reservations for a year in advance. Kind of like a big wedding.

Y'all Love Bargains, Right?

UPDATE: This necklace has already sold to one of my fellow tweets on Twitter.com! Thanks Brian! Y'all check back next week for a new bargain!

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I have decided to start offering a weekly bargain in my etsy shop and I'll feature it here on the blog.

This week, I am offering the Walk in the Woods Necklace. It is made of jasper beads and has a silver tree pendant and a silver plated "s" hook clasp. The colors of the beads are just beautiful and remind me of a summers day in the woods.

Just click on the Buy Now button on my side bar and be looking out for more weekly bargains every Saturday.

Etsy Teams

Over on Etsy, we have teams that we can join. The teams are not only for socializing, but for support. We promote each other's shops and get to know each other.

The first group that I joined was the Big Damn Crafters.

They got the name from an episode of Firefly, which is the common thread that binds us in this group. We are all Browncoats...fans of the cancelled show Firefly and the movie Serenity. So we have contests to make the best Firefly-themed items each month and we post promotions in Etsy Promotions that sometimes are themed to Firefly.

If you are fans of this series or just looking for something different, check out the BDCers on Etsy. Just type in TeamBDC on Etsy's search box. There are some very talented crafters/designers on there.

Jewelry Lessons

Hey! For those of you who would like to know how to make some lovely jewelry creations, Jewelry Lessons by Eni Oken is a very good place to start.

There are a bunch of beginner lessons on making findings such as jump rings, chains, simple pendants and tumbling. Also, you can learn to make intricate designs such as a wire-wrapped cabochon, and how to oxidize the metal with eggs.

Some lessons are free and some aren't, but there are some mighty good designs on there and some nice designers willing to share and teach you as well, such as Bobbi from My Wired Imagination.

Flame Painting Copper

I ran across this phrase a while back and it intrigues me.

Flame painting.

On copper.

I love copper and love working with it, so this techinque might be something to look into for the future. Here is an example of a flame-painted pin.

Flame painting involves a using a torch to heat the copper. Different degrees of heat make different colors. I can just imagine making a pendant using this technique. Isn't it beautiful???? This heart was made by a husband and wife team. You can find them at www.coppercolorists.com

Organizing IS fun...

OK, I just have to keep reminding myself that. ;)

I am just sitting here in my home office, hanging up pictures, a white board, cleaning off my desk, etc... Not very entertaining, I admit, but I need to get on my blog more often and share my beading adventures with you.

I just signed up with twitter.com. You can find me at www.twitter.com/colorsofthewood. The full name couldn't be added due to it being too long, so the final "s" is missing.

Now I just have to figure out how to tweet.