Well it's March and in Michigan we are having some decent weather finally! It has been in the 50's which for me means some walks outside and I say, "YAY!!!"

With thoughts of Spring I start thinking of wearing anything that goes with flip flops. Basically it's time to think about fashion whether we care about trends or not we all think about what we want to start wearing that's different than winter wear.

Pantone gives us new color trends every year, wish before I started making jewelry I never really paid attention to or really was aware of. I like many colors and was always of the mind that, "I'm gonna wear what I want to wear" What I didn't realize was that we are influenced by Pantone's color forcast weth.er we want to be or not because the colors are out there and then we say, "Ohhh I love that, or yuck I hate that." At any rate there's going to be a color that suits us.

Here is a fashion site that I think is interesting and talks more about this subject.
http://www.hotbeautyhealth.com/trendsetters/top-10-color-trends-for-spring-2015/

I also want to address the everyday or work clothing aspect for those of us who don't live in Hollywood. Like I stated before each year presents a color pallette and we are affected by it because of the retail market. Sometimes we don't even know that we are surrounded by it. So it is wonderful to look in the magazines and see $100 to $500 plus clothing items on movie stars or who ever can afford to wear them but I'm from the real world. I want to show where we get our influences and how it trickels down to realistic clothing options for all of us!

Scuba Blue

 

Beautiful special occasion dresses.

Glacier Grey

I sooooo love this dress!

I love wearing grey, everything goes with it. I even love wearing grey on grey. It may sound dull but that's not what I see when I look at these outfits, especially THAT dress!!

           

                                 Strawberry Ice

I love how this color has been made to be for the grown up girl!

                                                                      


                                               Marsala

Ok I had to put in the converse shoes for my daughter! I love this color and I am really learning, with this season, that it is complemented by the other colors in this spring pallette.

Tangerine

 

 If this color doesn't  say fun to you I don't know what does! Super great accent color and what a stunning variety of tones! 

                                         Toasted Almond

 Doesn't Toasted Almond sound so much more femenine 
than camel?
 This color will always be a part of fashion and wow those dresses are fantastically beautiful. I love how the denim acts as the accent color to the  Toasted Almond

 Classic Blue

Soooo pretty!

              We all use this color, always have and always will.

Lucite Green

  

What a fun color and so much that we can do with it!

                                       

 Aquamarine

 I really like how the last outfit shows the aquamarine with the other Pantone colors. Look how great they all work together!                              

Custard

 

Not just yellow! Very easy to introduce to everyday outfits. Fun and elegant. I want to be that girl in the dress with the palm leaf print!

Earrings Everyday February Challenge

This month's challenge was inspired by, not only flowers  but flowers thought of in a new way! I loved it!

Malaysian artist and photographer Lim Zhi Wei (a.k.a Limzy) is the creator of these whimsical flower girls. She has a passion for turning every day objects into things of delicate beauty. For 2015, Limzy created a very limited run of a calendar of her Flowergirls. How marvelous would it be to gaze on those dreamy beauties every day of the year! The beauty of this art is that it is ephemeral. It will not last. Yet Limzy has captured the essence of the bloom in such a spectacularly unique way and preserved it in her prints. You can follow Lim Zhi Wei onInstagram and Facebook or on her blog, Love, Limzy.

Aren't these flower girls just adorable!

My inspiration came from the Rembrandt Tulip which I have in my garden. They change every year. I look forward to my tulips because the let me know that Michigan is coming back to life, and they do it with beautiful zeal!

I used polymer clay for my beads and Jade Swarovski crystal pearls>

 My necklace was chosen for the perfect pairings of this months challenge! They choose more than one but I am thrilled because I can be so hard on myself and my artistry.
Miss Katherine tells how she hand formed this bloom from copper, the leaves, too. I am smitten with the way she manipulated the metal into something so soft and lyrical. She also shares how she did a little research on the time period that this painting was created, the early 1900s. She intended to capture the soft and feminine look that was popular in the day in her necklace. I say that she succeeded! Featured Designer :: Katherine Thompson

http://artbeadscene.blogspot.com/2015/02/perfect-pairings-katherine-thompson.html

Here are some more things that I made to meet this month's challenge

This bead is made from copper that has been hand cut and shaped, a pattern pressed into it and pigmented, torch patinaed. It can be used as a pendant. a link or clasp. I quickly put the copper bail on to show use.

This necklace was cut from a tin, shaped and riveted. I used a silk string from Lima Beads and I finally dug into a stash of vintage buttons.

 February Challenge

By Art Bead Scene

I formed and shaped the pendant center from copper and pinned it to a brass plate that I pressed a pattern into. The leaf links I formed and patina was added.
the ribbon is dyed and edge stitched silk. I wanted to keep the feminity of the era of the painting in my piece.

"News of Spring and Other Nature Studies"

By Edward Julius Detmold

Watercolor

Amapolis 1913

Wow what a gorgeous painting and I love watercolor. Watercolor paintings have such a lightness to them but look at the expressive detail. I also love poppies and have been working on getting them back into my gardens for several years. The red ones that bloom in May I adore! I don't have a picture of the one huge coral poppy that I do have so this year I will add the photos of the poppies that I have incorporated into my gardens.

To keep in line with the basic theme of my blog I am adding the history of the era of the Paintings that I am bringing to you.

The Victorian Era

Fashions of the Titanic era by Catherine Bishop AN OVERVIEW OF FASHIONS 1910-1912  The period of 1910-1912, called the Titanic Era or Pre-World War I Era, saw the end of the Edwardian Era. By 1910 the silhouette of ladies dresses had simplified and became columnar, with a new, long, corset design which gave the body an upright posture. Evening dresses were usually made of fine silks, with open necklines and short sleeves, which could be cut in one with the body of the dress. Fabrics were silk satin, brocade, lace, chiffon and embroidered silks. Many fabrics could be layered to create a rich effect without a lot of bulk.  The bodicelining was structured, closely fitted to the figure and boned. Day dress usually had long sleeves, fairly fitted to the arm. For day wear one-piece dresses in silk or cotton (lingerie dresses with lots of lace trim), blouses and skirts, jackets with matching jumpers or skirts were all popular.

1913 ~ 1914 Fashion Catalog

ART NOUVEAU (all the rage: 1895-1915)

The graceful Art Nouveau period started with designers in France and those in America following suit. The most important characteristic of this kind of jewelry was its free-flowing nature. The whimsical lines found in Art Nouveau jewelry suggest the movement, passion, and youthful vigor in the new ideas of the turn of the century. At the heart of the Art Nouveau movement were nature motifs and fantastical elements such as fairies and wood creatures.

EXHIBIT A: Pieces in the style of Art Nouveau, ranging from $8 to $14

EDWARDIAN (all the rage: 1890-1920)

After the death of the UK’s Queen Victoria, the Edwardian era was ushered in when her son Edward took the throne. This was a lavish period with pearls and diamonds paired with emeralds, rubies and other gemstone accents. This era was proven to be a highly decorative and elaborate period, full of regal and bold components.

Yay!!! I won!!!

Terri's Blooming Ideas 

http://terrisbloomingideas.blogspot.com/

Operation Tackle That Bead Stash Challenge

Inspired by a song.

I did guess wrong. I guessed Elton John's, "Someone Saved My Life Tonight", cause butterflies are free to fly. The thing I didn't look close enough at was the toggle. I thought it was a belt but it is a dog collar with a bone toggle bar. The song was by Heart, "Dog and Butterfly"

That girl is so clever!

This was the fabulous bracelet that she made but what was wonderful was that she made it a double challenge and offered a surprise gift for either the first person who guessed the right song or if no one guessed names were pulled from a hat! Well yay for me I won and here are my delicious goodies!

I think of being in Florida when I look at these beads and I am hoping to wear them when I get there. I'm coming Mom!

We're All Ears :: January Reveal

January 2015

This month's Art Bead Scene challenge came from a very interesting artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser


Imagine Tomorrows World orange version
Stell' Dir die Welt von morgen vor
By Friedensreich Hundertwasser

Hundertwasser, a visionary and responsible creator, mobilizes the power of his art in order to spread his message for a life in harmony with nature and the individual creativity.

He is a symbolic figure for a non-conformist way of life, a forerunner of environmental protection and an ambassador for a self-determined alternative existence.

I personally was excited to be inspired by this artist.

I had saved this stamp that was on a package I received because I thought it was so cool! The background is metal with a leather frame for the stamp. I applied resin to seal. The dangles are Czech beads.

 My second bracelet is a copper piece that I colored with the melting pot embossing. I scratched into it to reflect the upper background of the painting. Behind the top piece is an up-cycled tin. The accent beads came from a glass bead making class that I took with Terri G. and my daughter Simone. Simone didn't feel well and layed down and slept about 2/3 rds of the class. About the moment I thought she really wasn't going do do anything she stood up, went to the work bench and cranked out a bunch of small beads. I saved them and I think they went perfectly with this challenge.

These cats I made because I used to have an orange striped cat when I was younger. He was a big tomcat, I said his name was Oscar but it might have been Felix (The Odd Couple) Any how the painting kept making me think of an orange striped cat. I used polymer clay and some thingy I found at the hardware store. I had made another bead but it didn't photograph very well and I all ready took it apart...

                   We're All Ears :: January Reveal

Theme Marsala Pantone Color of the Year

I love this color! I made earrings with shaped copper. I used triangle seed beads for the top. I felt they represented the Strawberry Ice Pantone Color. I up-cycled the ball chain for the dangles.

Here is the link for the earring challenge to see all of the fantastic jewelry submitted

http://www.earrings-everyday.blogspot.com/search/label/We%27re%20All%20Ears

Here is the link to the jewelry and bead recap. You can see all of the work done by all of the wonderful artists that contributed.

http://slide.ly/view/d6a1e78a6c10eebf31f55a0a940ac626

January Earrings Everyday Challenge

 Our Challenge ~What colors do YOU like from the 2015 Pantone Spring color forecast? 

What will you be wearing - or creating with - in the coming year?

Marsala ~ How do I love Thee.. A lot!!!

I have always loved this color, It has been described as faded burgundy, or a brown burgundy. All of these colors have a softer feel to them and I love it! Here are my earrings

I shaped and colored the copper, which I think falls right into the Marsala color line. I also up-cycled the Strawberry Ice colored ball chain, I used rose gold and some triangle seed beads from Fire Mountain.