Feathers... Feathers. Feathers!

I definitely have a new addiction - brooches! I just can't stop making them. Today I'm gonna show you my feather brooches. I'm absolutely in love with these colourful things! And I figured out so many different ways to wear them. Here you can see some of those.

I used paua shell and tigereye cabochons, large turquoise bead, Japanese seed beads and plenty of feathers.
For more pictures go to my Etsy store. Just click any of the images above.

New life of an old suitcase

Last Saturday I bought this suitcase from a local flea market for only 2 euros. By its appearance and construction I would suggest it comes from 80's. Although the condition of the case was almost perfect. I decided I'm gonna make some jewelry storage out of it. So, I bought some supplies, including 1 meter of waxed fabric, a jar of contact glue, dug out of my scrap box several kinds of decorative ribbons and ropes, couple of sheets of scrapbooking paper, plus, two evenings of hard work on the living room floor... and here is the result.

That's how the case looked when I just brought it home. You can even see the price tag. :)

Look from the inside.

Some of supplies I used.

And this is the new look. I'm especially proud of the decorative rope going all around the corners and closures. That took ages, but it also gives the case completely finished look. :)

I used waxed fabric to protect the case from moisture, and it's also very easy to clean.

And finally here is the inside - thick scrapbooking paper and some ribbon did the trick.

I have one more way older suitcase in storage waiting for its transformation. I already bought some white fake leather and waiting for metal parts to arrive from US. Stay tuned for more luggage transformations. =)

Night's Rest

I love Art Nouveau style. I love Riga. And I love Eisenstein's architecture! If you haven't seen his buildings, you simply must find time to visit Riga centre. The feeling of that time always fascinates and inspires me.

My another Art Nouveau passion is Alfons Mucha's art. His image of a woman has some special vibe, some special mood...

This time I created a bracelet using a fragment of Mucha's lithograph from his "The Times of the Day" series. I covered the image with thick glass creating a "cabochon" look and then embroidered around it using Japanese seed beads. I used lightweight metal base for the cuff and covered it with artificial leather from outside and ultrasuede from inside.

This is my special spring celebration bracelet. Therefore I have special offer for my Etsy customers - purchase this bracelet and receive a FREE GIFT - pair of bead-woven earrings in matching colours. Let's celebrate spring together! =)

Birthday gift

This is a beautiful pearl set I made for my Mommy's special day. Unfortunately, I couldn't catch the real colour of the pearls as they are vintage pewter colour with a light champaign sparkle. =)

Dryad Bracelet

Dryads are nymps of the wood in Greek mythology. This bracelet reminds me of forest with tall trees and mysterious sounds.

This was quite long project. I've had these lovely green cabs for ages, but I had no idea where to use them. And then one day while playing around in my "treasure box" they just formed a straight line and finally the inspiration came. I tried to create the feeling of deep green moss carpet under mighty trees. I used beautiful matte seed beads and combined them with shiny hemalyke beads. For the backing I used artificial leather in black colour.
Several creative evenings and here it is - my green treasure. =)

Orchid Necklace

Last weekend I decided to try out something completely new for me - beaded flowers. I've never been a big fan of those, but then I saw couple of beaded orchid pictures and fell in love... Here is my own try to create a beaded orchid. I didn't have any patterns so I just tried to do something off the top of my head. Two painful days of adding and removing beads brougth me to this.


It still doesn't quite look the way I wanted, but now I've learned from my own mistakes. Hope that next one will be perfect. =)

Sunshine earrings

A while ago I tried out a new technique. Looks quite cute. What do you think? Should these earrings live or go?

One more giveaway

Yulia at "Beads For Rabbit Liza" is having a giveaway as of an upcoming great occasion - her cute rabbit Liza is turning 2 on March 26. Yippee! Click on Liza's picture to check out "Beads For Liza" blog and take part in birthday giveaway.

Today was a happy day

I finally got some time to write, as the birthday girl is finally down for her nap.
My sweet little puppy turned 2! Hard to believe. Time is running so fast...
Here are some pictures of Liisa-Olivia. The first one is taken 2 years ago, when we brought her home, she was 3 months old.


And this is how she looks now.

Giveaway

Here is giveaway from a talented Russian artist (till April 2)

Click the picture! =)

Wind in the Prairie

Dry grass. Heat. White sun. That is what I saw in this amazing eagle eye agate cabochon. I surrounded it with shiny grey, beige and white matt seed beads and natural 4 mm moonstone beads. Pendant has soft beige ultrasuede backing and long dangling fringe with creamy moonstone triangle beads at the end. Necklace is secured with small silver-plated toggle clasp.

Ocean At Night

This is my newest brooch with beautiful paua shell cabochon. This cab has very interesting colour scheme with multiple shades of green, purple and blue. Soft ultrasuede backing (love, love, love my new pile of ultrasuede pieces!!!) and silver-plated pinback.

My new Etsy store!

I'm soooo excited! I finally did it! Now I have my own Etsy store, where you can check out my new (and old ones, too =) ) creations.

Here is the link to My New Store

Welcome!