And The Winner Is ....

These earrings are an adorable pair of beaded cube beads that swing from golden teardrop shaped hoops (which are handmade by me). They fall from 14 karat gold filled ear wires that I've embellished with peridot green Swarovski Crystals. These really are so much prettier in person.

Sara, of the blog Red Pine Mountain, has graciously hosted a giveaway for my new etsy shop this past week.  Today she has drawn a winning name for the Monte Carlo earrings. 

A random number generator at random.org  was used to choose the winning number and that number belongs to Rick Kratzke ...  Congratulations Rick.   Rick says these will make a nice Christmas gift for his wife.  Indeed they will.

I wish to thank each and everyone that took the time to visit Sara's blog "Red Pine Mountain" and enter the giveaway  ... but most of all I wish to thank Sara for giving of her time to do this for me.
I'm not sure where she hides them but she must have a pair of gorgeous wings as she is truly an angel.

Wishing you all a lovely week-end.  :)

Working With Beads...

A few years ago I attended a Bead Expo where I picked up a couple of rather expensive kits for beaded beads. One was for a beaded flower bead, I thought it was cute but wouldn't really call it a bead as I'm not sure how one would string it in bead-like fashion. However when I attempted to follow the instructions my flower fell apart...time and time again, also had the same problem with the other beaded bead kit. It seemed that whoever wrote the directions had left something out, finally I gave up on the directions and constructed them my way, the way that seemed most logical.  After incorporating a couple of small changes, the flowers were quite secure...only, what to do with them ?

Photo above...one side of flower has a white center.

Photo below...the other side of the flower sports a black center.

With experimentation I found they could be adapted for use as a small pendant in beaded necklaces.

Photo below...Beaded Flowers in use

Even to this day I can't help but wonder about those poor souls who, with little beading knowledge, faced the frustrations of misleading and incomplete instructions.


I'm considering offering these in my shop AlmostPrecious for use as focal pendant beads but I'm not sure if there'd be any interest. I would truly value and appreciate your input and opinions on this.