Karla's Cottage

A bonus bead show

While I was in Indy, the gem show was also in town!  Great timing!

My Sissy and her two girls took me there and we made a day of it with lunch, shopping, then home to create with and play with our finds.  I guess we made a night of it too, we played with beads til bedtime.

 I am thinking about a project that requires some neutral tones, so I grabbed these beauties for it.   Quartz, citrine (but not the typical canary yellow), and pearls were ideal for what I am making.   

I have been on the search for these gold rimmed stones for over a year.  I know they can be found online, but for more than I wanted to pay.  Plus, I prefer buying my gems in person so I get exactly what I want.   There wasn’t a wholesale area at this particular show, but I always ask if there is a volume price.

 Some dealers say yes, some no, but you gotta check it out right?

 Luckily, if I bought multiples of  these, they were half off, even better than I’d hoped.   Glad I asked.

When my boy and I were at the gem show in KC, we wanted opals and spent time picking out a few strands, just to find out we had read the sign wrong and what we thought was an “each” price was actually a gram price. 

oops

The opals went back to the table instead of home with us.   But we regretted not getting at least a few.  At the Indy sale, they were priced by strand, so I knew upfront what they cost.  Sticker shock was still in effect, but I braved through it and purchased one anyway.  They have more rainbow colors in them than what shows up here. I’m looking forward to crafting with Adam and using the opals I splurged on.

This doesn’t look like my typical haul, does it?  I usually go for the genuine stones, or find vintage pieces to take apart if I’m using crystals.  But for the craft I had planned, these multi colored, multi faceted strands of various shaped crystals were exactly what I went there for.

Rainbow colors were perfect for the sun catchers I was making to take into Good Juju for the spring sale.

I’d brought all the supplies needed to make the ones with ring shapes for a family craft, but for myself, I just wanted the simple ones to hang on a suction cup in a window.

Here are a couple my neices made with the rings. 

Silly me, I didn’t get pictures of the rest.   The girls made some beautiful pieces.

And did I mention they were beautiful girls?  And such fun to be with.  I had the best week, and miss them so much already.

While we were together, we tried to plan a beach adventure in October that is still up in the air, but might work out.  Although if it doesn’t, I’m every bit as happy hanging out in Pendleton, IN with my family- beading, crafting, laughing, and being silly together.  I love the Florida trips, but I love simply being with them even more.

 

Royal blue

This is different for me, a sports themed display.  But my own way, pretty things to decorate your home for a baseball party, and pretty blue jewelry to add to your own look.

Im not exactly a fan of games myself, but I appreciate how much my adopted town supports its team.

For a giggle, I put in a tray of mood rings.   If other fans are anything my husband, moods can fluctuate as viewers watch the score of a game fluctuate too.  It would be fun to wear a mood ring and  keep track of the colors going back and forth.

Isn't this is such a lovely blue?

 I added crowns too.  

And I found some cute lil baseball charms to hang onto the blue bracelets.  

For the Super Bowl, I’d made a few Cheifs color pieces of jewelry that were well received, but I didn’t do a big display like this royal blue one.  

I hope it goes over well!  

What we made while my son visited

Here is one of my boy’s creations from our beading nights.  

We headed to the gem show with a plan this time.  First stop, our favorite pendant lady.  We picked out set stones then filled our bags with beads to match from the other vendors.

This one is some sort of agate that looks like a window into another world.  It has a polished, clear dome that you can see down into.  I wish I could’ve gotten a better photo, and that I could’ve bought more of them.

This mother of pearl pendant has a similar look, but in a completely different way.  The agate was naturally clear, the MOP has been layered with a faceted quartz over it to create the window effect.

I put this “doublet” on a double strand of tiny garnets and finished it with silver findings  the jump rings are hearts!  This is for my Sissy, garnets are her birthstone.  And there was a store we would visit in Florida on our sister trips with Bobbie that specialized in these layered stones.

While my son was doing beadwork based on the Fibanocci theory (his stones were placed in a very planned sequence!) I decided that mine would be simple strings of one color to hold the pendants that I’d bought.  

These are for the Spring Good Juju sale.   Along with tons of lovely blues that I’ll be selling for ladies to wear with their Royals shirts when they cheer on the local team.  

A lot of my time was also spent in re-organizing my beads.  There is a slight chance, well honestly, a very BIG chance that I got carried away with my purchases…  I had to make room for my new preciouses.

 
While I typically buy only genuine stones or take apart vintage necklaces for my creations, this time I picked up a lot of new crystals.  I’ve had sun catchers on my mind and wanted to give them a try.  Since the gem show is only in town twice a year, I went all out and bought a pile, hoping my idea plays out.

We had hoped to make them while Adam and Quelyn were here, but simply ran out of time.  I’ve never made these before, but when I get my curiosity tickled, I go all in.  I doubt this haul of shiny beads will go to waste.

But I do wish the kids were here to make them with me.

Finalizing my new spot and finding joy in doing it

My new space is done, inventory set up, and ready for this week’s sale at Good Juju.

The front portion of the booth is my jewelry boutique.  

The very front entrance holds a jewelry shelf dedicated to Valentine’s Day. 

Once you step into the main part of the space, there is an abundance of tributes to the holiday sprinkled about.

But the entry is mostly jewels.  I set up a small table with Cheifs colored pieces since we are located in KC and the Super Bowl is this week.  And to not be just an opportunist, I actually watched a game (for the first time).  While I  cannot call myself a football fan, I am a huge Kansas City fan, and love the way my adopted town’s citizens support it local teams, events, the city itself. 

By the way, that might be the last game I watch.  As a person who has had multiple concussions myself, watching the crashing bodies gives me the willies.

There is a row of gigantic metal poles down the aisle of Good Juju that support the high ceilings.  I have one at the left side entrance in my area, and I refused to ignore it or treat it like a wasted space.  Instead, I used magnets to wrap the top in vintage wallpaper and the bottom in silver velvet.  Then I added more magnets with hooks and hung necklaces from them.

Eyesore into asset, with just a few magnets!

With the expanded dimensions I now have, I could bring in another full table of old earrings.  And of course, if you layer upwards, you get even more display space.

I’m taking advantage of the extra wiggle room to bring in more handmade bits too. 

When I was a kid, one of my favorite games was playing “store”.  With this new, improved, larger spot, I actually feel like I’ve gotten past the make believe stage of my game and have a real, live store of my own.  The walls we built and the spacious layout of the area combine to bring a more professional look to my junk and treasures.  

Fingers crossed that my jump to a larger spot (and higher rent) pay off.  Whether it improves my sales or not, it has brought me joy.  

 

 

 

 

More charm necklaces

One of the advantages of having a bigger space at Good Juju is that I’ll have room to actually display my hand made necklaces.  My jewelry had been crowded into a smaller area and these pieces were mostly hung on hooks.

Which certainly did not show them off to their best advantage.  Especially the charm necklaces.  They need to be spread out to show how they will look while being worn.

I’m taking advantage of having more space to fill by using it as an excuse to craft more necklaces.

 

Because it sure makes me happy to whip some up.

 

 

What I did while it snowed

While avoiding the swirls of snow and freezing winds, I snuggled into my studio and made jewelry.

Along with valentines candy boxes.

Mostly jewelry.  One day, that was all I did, til time to make dinner and watch tv.  I do not allow myself to sit in front of the television before six, or that would be all I did instead of create. 

I finished lots of watch face pieces and charm necklaces.

A handful of charm bracelets. (Or should I say an armful?)

Including Cheifs themed ones.

After whipping out a bunch of Cheifs colored pieces, I had a mini panic moment.  As a non sports type, it dawned on me that I do not know anything about football season ending dates.

With my venue only open two days a month, my time to hawk these was pretty limited, and did I completely miss the time of year when people would be donning their red and yellow gear and cheering on the team?

I looked it up and saw that the Super Bowl was still an option in February.  So if the local team is playing there, I’ll have a huge opportunity.   If not, possibly the fans are still backing them and not fair weather followers?  I should stick with what I know, and not try to follow trends or teams, or use colors that do not appeal to me because I think they could be popular, huh?

Although, if I were to be a supporter of a team, I’d much rather wear some vintage jewelry in the jersey’s colors redesigned into something new.  And I really liked the way they came out.

Not all of the necklaces I made were vintage.  This one is a silver chain with some simple stones on it.



This is a 14kt gf chain with faceted amethyst beads holding an amethyst pendant framed in 10kt gold.  I don’t know if this type of thing will fly at Juju, most of my pieces are lower cost, this will have to be a bit higher.  

I do love working with both the old pieces and the precious or semi precious.  And doing minor repairs instead complete do-overs.  I’d been collecting vintage pendants, that needed new chains, or stones reset, or other little fixes.  So a pile of those were completed too.


My two days of playing with baubles were too short.  By then, Rich got the drive plowed and we were off to working on the new space at Good Juju.  That was not nearly as much fun, and we are still doing the manuel labor to get walls built, chandeliers up, electrical cords strategically placed and painting done before moving in.  Rich has been an amazing help in this project and I’m excited about how it will turn out.

It might be more fun to create jewelry, but this booth make over is very exciting.  And I’ll be glad that we made the effort once it’s finally done.  Plus this spot is twice the size of my previous booth.  I can devote an entire quarter of it to my jewelry display.

Kinda like making lemonade when life gives you lemons

Did I mention how hard the renovation we just went through was?  The work was grueling.  But after finishing for the day, we’d have jewelry parties at night.  

Being with my boy, getting to be creative, certainly helped me get through the exhaustion.   And the fact that Adam got the job done so quickly didn’t hurt either. If we’d gone through a contractor, we could’ve faced months of a torn up bathroom and laundry room, not just days.  And doing it as a family saved us a ton of money too.

Mine is on the left, with a golden opal. Adam’s on the right with smoky quartz.

He crafted his with a mathematical scheme, mine was more random.  I lay out piles of color on my bead board, and move them around til I find balance.

These are both mine, first is a mother of pearl “doublet” topped with quartz from the gem show, 2nd is a pearl mosaic I made.  One is slightly longer than the other so I can wear them together.

I also whipped up a ton of holiday colored bracelets for Good Juju and to give to friends. 
Too bad that I didn’t get more pics of what Adam made, he was as talented in creating jewelry as he was in rebuilding our foundation and creating a beautiful new bathroom.

His child joined in too, Sugarwings made these pieces.  The kiddo stayed with us most of the time he was in town.  It was great to have them both around during such a stressful time to turn things around into something special instead.  Now, don’t get me wrong, it was strenuous labor to get through, but working by my son’s side, watching his skills with pride, making jokes, and then making jewelry was a delightful way to tackle a huge project like ripping out the back of the house and redoing the bathroom.

I was also lucky enough to have a new favorite person added I too my life. Adam’s partner, Jacquelyn flew out to join him for a week.  I vastly enjoyed getting to know her, and appreciated the way she pitched in on the hard work too.  

She made these two bracelets.

And some earrings, as well as a few other nice pieces.  Once again, I didn’t get photos of them all.

Another thing I did not get enough pictures of?  Jacquelyn’s cooking.  Her plates of food were art.

Colorful, all natural, delicious, and healthy too.   As the person who typically does all the meals, I appreciated the effort she made along with the discovery of how nice it is to work your butt off then sit down to a plate of tasty food someone fixed for you.  What a treat!

Little Dewdrop couldn’t be here with us, and her dad missed her birthday to do this job for us. We sent her a gift and got to see her open it on FaceTime, but he was still pretty sad to miss out on being there in person.  Each of us put together bracelets for her that he can personally hand to her when he returns to North Carolina.

The one with the silver and crystal moon is from me, because her nickname is Tiny Moon.

Everytime I wear one of the necklaces I put together during this reno, I’ll have a reminder of my son and how he turned what could’ve been a hell into a special time.  

A tub of treasure

Jackpot!
At an estate sale, I bought tub of dirty, dusty jewelry, but could tell at a glance that it was worth washing.  What I didn’t see was that it was vintage new stock, still in original packaging, never worn!

Some even had their display stand.  I was thrilled with this find, but had some more complicated cleaning ahead of than I had planned.  It was important to leave them on their cards, but most were paper and all were dirty.  I gently cleaned each with a toothbrush, paper and all.

Some of the cards were a bit torn up, but most were in decent shape and looked great once I washed them.

In total, there were 155 old clip ons, maybe half of those are bead clusters.  The other half are nicely varied.  I also scored a couple dozen singles or broken bits to use in crafting.  And a pile of eighties pieces that I personally don’t care for, but which might be to someone else's taste. 



Here’s a bonus! Heavily tarnished, chunky silver pieces that have a nice glow once polished.

Overall, it was an exceptionally good garage sailing weekend.  I tended to buy a lot of project pieces and filthy stuff, but all worth the effort.  I’m not afraid of a little cleanup when it comes to bargains.

 

 

Yep, more bracelets, this time I tried a daisy design

I remember making seed bead daisy necklaces back in the 70s and thought I’d try to whip up a few more now. Trouble is, I’m not a fan of that type of bead anymore and hoped to use genuine stones.

The trouble with that, was that the holes are too small to get the elastic through twice.

I did have these vintage, Made in Japan beads, and they worked so-so.

But you know what works perfect? Medium sized seed beads from Hobby Lobby.

So I raided the grand fairies’ stash and made Swifty styled ones.

My heart wasn’t in it if I couldn’t play with my beloved stones and gems, so I went back to my own cabinet filled with sparkling delight and made mermaid bracelets for Sugarwings’ mama’s birthday.  While I was at it, I made a dozen (or more, you know how I am) Halloween colored ones for Juju.

 

An order for 8 bracelets turned into me making 60, that’s just how it goes around here

I had an order for a few bracelets, so while I had my enticing tubs of beads out to play with, I whipped up a few extra for myself and for my display at Good Juju.  This soon became a pile of over sixty completed pieces.  

Seriously, have you ever made one? You cannot stop at one!

 I’m like an addict as I tell myself, okay, this is plenty…well maybe just a couple more then I’ll quit.  Hours later I’m still repeating that to myself as the dogs are crying for their dinner, my back is cramped up from sitting at my desk, and my vision is blurry from the close work.

The sales of beaded bracelets at my booth are spotty, but over time I notice the stacks dwindling down, so I guess the few here and there that shoppers get do add up.

As much as I love crafting them, I wish the gradual diminished inventory would go more quickly,

But that is also why I have so many varying items for sale.  A little bit of that, a little bit of this, you never know what our guests will be looking for and I certainly enjoy making many different things.

I am blessed to have found a venue where I can sell my hodge podge of arts, crafts, vintage bits, and jewelry.

And any day that I have an excuse to rifle through my gemstone bead collection is an extra wonderful day.

When I first got the order of 8, I was going to gather them from the ones still at the mall.  But I soon realized there was no fun in that, and used it as a good reason to get my pretties out to work with.

After creating a few I thought that I would be nice to fill the order, I started thinking about the group they were being gifted to.  These were meant for some gals who got together every week and called themselves the Thirsty Thursday bunch.  


The perfection inspiration to make beverage toned bracelets!  I hope they all get a kick out of these like I did.