Ikea beads

Sometimes your eyes just need some rest from those tiny, naughty beads.
But that doesn't mean you can't keep on beading...
I made this pitaya bead with Pyssla beads from Ikea:



I had this huge jar of beads (a friend of mine was throwing it away!)and didn't know what to do, so I started experimenting...



I'm trying to make some sort of beach bag with these peyote triangles, and will make some more pitayas to decorate my balcony - and maybe recycle them on my next Xmas tree!
So if you want something different try them!

Earrings!

Lately I made a lot of earrings. I think it's because the temperature is rising and I can't help but imagining myself on a beach, with a colorful bikini and a pair of even more colorful (possibly matching) earrings.
Started with the tab earrings



and couldn't resist to make some stars in the same colors



and then tried a purple color combo


but this metallic violet is impossible to catch with the camera.


I tried and tried, but the picture is very far from the sparkly metallic finish they have in person.

I have so many half-finished works that I feel ashamed every time I open my bead boxes and look at them...first of all there are other 2 beaded stars which are waiting to become SOMETHING.
We'll see...

EBW June Challenge - Heal the World: LET'S VOTE!

Here is the mosaic:



You know what to do!
From June 9th to June 15th, 2011 you can choose your favourite and vote for it!

Heal the world

Finally I started beading again after a long break!
This month's EBW challenge was so interesting I couldn't avoid to partecipate!
The theme was "Heal the world" and, being a Michael Jackson huge fan, I really wanted to make something. There was a lot of choice...

Since this is something we deal everyday with, I chose the recycling/reusing theme.
What if we indulged ourselves with, let's say, a coke only if we take the pledge to re-use the bottle for another purpose? What if, in our everyday life, we tried to produce less garbage not only by buying loose stuff (food, water, cleaning liquids) but also by reusing everything we can several times?

Sounds stupid but I don't see many people doing it.
So I used a simple item, can tabs, to make this:



Can tabs are washable and versatile, there are thousands of ways to use them!



Thay also give a silver-y sparkle to the finished piece.

Do you know how many things you can make with tabs? Just look on youtube for tutorials and you'll be amazed! And take a look at this gorgeous website!

I also amde a pair of red earrings Bollywood inspired



That's all for today!
Can't wait to see all the entries for the challenge!

Pavlova

I love baking cakes.
Waking up in the morning and seeing a beautiful "ciambella" waitig on the table for you is the best beginning for a day.
But to bake a perfect cake, it's necessary to have a good relationship with your oven.
And here come the problems.
In this new house I'm still tring to understand it, the heat seems lower than it should be.
So I decided to make something easy and fresh - not that I need any sweets after Easter: I came back home with a lot of chocolate eggs (yeas, I still get chocolate eggs at 28!) and 5 boxes full of cookies made by aunt Annarita...

I was curios to try a recipe I had found on one of my favourite blogs, Jul's kitchen.
So I chose the pavlova:



It's not "good looking" like the one on the blog, but it tastes terrific!
It's soft and sweet and then you get the slightly sour taste from whipped cream and strawberries.



Please visit Jul's blog and try some recipes, you won't be disappointed!!!

Spring swap - my surprise

I'm late, I know, but I spent these last days in total chaos and travelling.
So it's really time to show what I received for the EBW Spring Swap...I don't like posting pics of myself, but I think I owe it to my swap partner!



Thanks a lot Sue!!!
Please visit her shop Crystal Wonders on etsy, her pieces are amazing!



I'm really enjoying this gift, especially since my latest favourite eye shadow is a bold orange.



I'm also very proud that my "swap-receiver" Ruthie was happy with the necklace I made for her, jump to her supercute blog to see pics - and maybe stop for one of her many giveaways!

April giveaways

Easter has just passed but there are are still a lot of surprises: 2 wonderful giveaways!

The first is at MAKUstudio which is celebrating its 1000 etsy sales...congratulations by the way!
They make wonderful raku pieces of art.



Go to their shop and see yourself!

The second is from Lark Jewelry & Beading, giving away 14 books - some of them signed - which everybody would want to own.



I said FOURTEEN!!!

I'm usually too lazy to partecipate, but these are really amazing.

EBW Spring Swap

A couple of months ago the Etsy beadweavers Team organized a Spring Swap.
Now the time has come to show you the result:



It was a cute idea: we challenged ourselves to make something for a person with different tastes and preferences.

It's useful to stop and think about what others might actually want to wear.

We can make amazing pieces of jewelry but sometimes people just want something to put on with a t-shirt and jeans.
A lot of people love beads but don't wear them because they don't have a suitable occasion.
I think it's up to us to make them feel like it's always ok to wear beads and there's always something perfect for any occasion - That's what I learned!

The grey city

I once read on a blog I love that every Japanese city has an adjective which defines it, known to everybody.
In Italy it's more or less the same.
Rome is "chaotic".
It's funny 'cause most of the people who say that have never been to Rome. But it's reknown. Full of people, full of cars, traffic is crazy and people don't walk: they almost run.
Venice is "romantic". It's THE city for lovers. I've never understood why, because yes: it's beautiful and has a singular architecture, it's almost dreamy at night.
But I don't find it romantic. It's humid, uncomfortable and it's also falling to pieces due to the nonexistant maintanance.

And Milan...well, Milan is just GREY.

Everything here is grey: weather, buildings, even people. After living here a couple of months you find your skin is becoming paler and paler, with a greyish nuance.
That's why many people are "tan-aholic" (is that a word??)and get sunlamp almost every week.
It's not like the sun is never shining here, of course there are wonderful periods (like this week) when the temperature is high without being annoying and you can take a walk...into the city. Yeah there's more or less only one big park, it's beautiful but you might get out from there with a hundred bites of mosquitos.

Living here is especialy difficult for people coming from seaside cities in the south of Italy (like me) where it is perfectly normal to get out from the office at 2 pm and go directly to the beach to have lunch with your family and enjoy the rest of the day. This happens from may to september, depending on the temperature.



In my hometown it's not conceivable that you stay home and don't go to the beach if the sun is shining. Even with a whirlwind (which we are pretty accostumed to).Even if it's 42° C outside.

Spring...is it around the corner???

It's that time again...time to vote your favorite piece of beaded art on the Etsy beadweavers blog.
Here are the entries:



All amazing as usual!

I don't know about you, but here in Italy we just had 3 days of heat with an incredible rise of the temperature - up to 30° C!
It seems more summer than spring around the corner...
But (of course) rain is coming in a few days.
I'm going to enjoy the sun as much as possible on my little balcony...pretending I don't have a million boxes to unpack.