Back to the ocean!

As some of you know, a lot of my earlier beads were ocean themed, and I still love to make them.  However I wanted to bring them up to date with what I am doing now.  So I spent some time with a pen and paper (make that pencil, eraser and paper) and began drawing out seagulls.  I wanted to include the ocean, sand and some shell type bits as well.  So here is a picture of the first in a new series of "Shoreline Seagulls".

Shoreline Seagull - side 1

Shoreline Seagull - side 2

I want to explore the idea further before offering these up for sale in my Etsy - but look for some in the next few weeks.

Have a great weekend!

Cherry Blossom Bonsai bead

I have been making "bonsai beads" lately - this one is a cherry or plum blossom, and I really like how they are turning out.  I have plans for more!!

Bonsai Cherry Blossom Bead

I have been scouring the internet looking for inspiration and pictures of bonsai trees.  I found several pictures of bonsai trees, but the best inspiration came from a bunch of tattoos!  There were pictures of people who had their whole back (or other body parts) tattooed with a Japanese plum or cherry tree - ouch!! 

This is still a work in progress, but I am happy with the results so far.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Sunrise for my sister

Well over a year ago, I told my sister I would make her a sunrise bead with a black cactus on it.  I had seen someone wearing one and really liked it, but didn't want to copy.  However I figured it was OK if I was going to give it to my sister.  Well, I finally got around to making it, only instead of a cactus I put a black tree on it.

I'm going to see if she sees the blog post here before I give it to her - how long should I wait?