Take a washer for example, isn’t it a perfect starting point for a bracelet or a pair earrings?

Can you see it? I know that you can!

I am working on the details but I can say that the Industrial Revolution collection is just behind the corner!

What about you? What’s on your bead table today?

Oh, I almost forgot! Have you already seen the end result of Michelle’s Valentine Challenge?

Here is what I did with my card.

Not too much but I wanted to play with the embossed letters and I was lucky enough to find the important one.

She simply asked to pick up one card from her lovely embossed cards and to alter it.

There were no rules, no limitations, nothing. Creativity was our only limit.

I am not into the card craft world. I have seen wonderful things on the web, but I never walked that path. Nonetheless, the challenge was appealing and I picked my card.

Teacher Gift: Embossed Note Cards (Typography - Alphabet Letters)

Why did I chose the alphabet pattern? I can only say that it immediately stroke me, I saw it and thought “I want that!”.

Michelle sent me the card right away and in less than a week it flew over the ocean and landed in my mail box. I am sorry that you cannot touch it, because the texture and the quality of the paper are really wonderful.

I knew from the beginning what I wanted to do with the card but I was hesitant to begin. I was afraid to ruin Michelle work and the thought that I had only try didn’t help me. .

In the end I did it but if you want to see how Michelle’s card was altered, you have to wait till the revelation day: the 14th of February.

I think that the final result depends on the lucky you have and this time luck was on my side.

Last week I stumbled on this youtube video and find it very inspiring. And you know, I had to give it a shot.

I picked a big cherry quartz glass and started my project.

First of all I had to make a sort of bezel to set the pendant. It took me two hours to come up with something decent and workable.

It didn’t look great, but I knew it would have worked. So I took several pieces of wire and from now on it was all a wrap-and-thread work.

At first it looked pretty messy and I felt lost. But I suddenly remembered that there was no thing as wrong nor a pattern to follow. It was just the wire and me. As I realized this, everything became simpler.

Full of hope, I kept wrapping and threading and the next thing I remember was that the design was taking shape.

It all happened in a couple of minutes. I don’t know how, when and why, but a tree was there.

Only the roots were missing and, at this point, they were a piece of cake.

I love it!

I used a similar semi-precious bead as the regular shape really help the wrapping process and I think I did a better job. I could not stand all the marks that my pliers left on the wire on the first pendant and now I cannot see any, even if I look very closely.

It remains a basic wrapping, nothing compared to the wonderful designs I have seen around. But I’ll get there.

The most scary thing is that you cannot improvise.

The more I think of new wrappings, the more I realize that to make complex and wonderful wire architecture you must figure out in advance what you want to do.

So, please, tell me I am wrong because I am not so good at planning.

After seeing some pictures of wrapped beads and a tutorial video, I thought “OK, enough with the studying. Let’s do it!”. Yeah, I am that kind of person. I like learning while doing things rather than reading a complete step by step procedure.

So I took my three pieces of wire and started.

As I was bending the wire around the bead, I soon realized that my wire was too hard. Anyway, I didn’t undo everything and went on with my project.

I added rose/purple beads just to have fun before making the final big hoop. I should have thought better about it, really. Eventually, I could do a hoop and my first wrapped bead pendant was finished.

It’s a basic wrap with a lot of flaws, next one will be better!

There are earrings on my working table today.

Not much but my creativity was still buried under kilos and kilos of all the delicious things I ate in Italy.

What about you? What’s on your bead table today?

Picture taken from Flickr

2012 started pretty good for me. On the very first day of the year, I sold these two pairs of earrings.

They are ready to go to Austria and I hope Claudia will love them.

As if this was not enough, my very special and personal graphic designer surprised me with my new business cards.

They are plastic coated and I struggled with the light to take a decent picture… not sure I made it, though. I am biased, but I can assure you they look great!

Let’s be honest, I couldn’t have wished for anything better.

I have spent the last months showing you my work, reading your comments and your incredible blog posts.

From NeelyGirls on Etsy

Thanks to you, I improved myself, well sort of. Thanks to you I have learned new techniques, I addressed my curiosity and read new things. Thanks to you I learned. A lot.

From PearlesPainting on Etsy

Today I want to show my gratitude to all the people that once in their life stopped by me, to all those lovely people who spend some of their time to write a comment, to all the ones who follow me.

From SnowFish on Etsy

In this day, my special wishes go to Lori, Patty, Hope, Erika, Christine… just to name some of the beautiful persons I met up to now and to each of you that will read this post.

From WeddingsAndWreaths on Etsy

This time I wrote a note in a big font on my agenda. So I am ready to show you a couple of pictures.

I decided to make more of these metallic elements and to work them with Afghanistan Jade semi-precious beads. I think I will spend the next days making shabby connections as I want to make quite a long necklace.

Speaking of long necklaces, I made this one lately. What’s better than a long necklace on a turtle neck?

Don’t forget to go here to see what other bead tables look like today.

This is a great weekend if you are still looking for a Christmas gift or if you just want to buy gorgeous handmade items.

You will find more information on the event on Shel’s blog: MiShel Designs.

To celebrate the event I decided to offer a special discount.

Saturday, December the 3rd, there will be a special 12% off any item in my DaWanda shop, but if you enter the code Holiday2011 you will receive a special 10% discount code to use for your next purchase by me. So, a 12%+10% bargain!

Sunday, December the 4th, I am offering a special 15% off any item listed in my DaWanda Shop. Just enter the code Holiday2011 to save your money.

Here is a taste of what you can find:

Asymmetrical symmetry

Sparkling black

Smoky teardops

Zen garden

… and much more!

And here is the list of all partecipant shops.
Holiday Shop Hop 2011

Have fun shopping around!