Wednesday 30 May 2012

"Grace" is what it's all about.



 
Also called elegant, sophistication, affected, appropriate, apt, aristocratic, artistic, august, chic, choice, classic, clever, comely, courtly, cultivated, cultured, dainty, delicate, dignified, effective, exquisite, fancy, fashionable, fine, genteel, graceful, grand, handsome, ingenious, luxurious, majestic, modish, neat, nice, noble, opulent, ornamented, ornate, ostentatious, overdone, polished, rare, recherché, refined, rich, select, simple, stately, stuffy, stylish, stylized, sumptuous, superior, turgid, well-bred.



To me that was quite a revelation - I was born in August, and I can relate to most of the synonyms above.

When I was still a little girl, I attended boarding school because of distances between our farm and the town. All the farmers' children attended boarding school, so to me it was a very natural thing to do. My dad/mom would drop me off before school starts on a Monday morning, and fetched me again straight after school on a Friday, normally at about 13h15. I then would spend the weekend on the farm.

My mom was really very good with sewing, baking, creating things, painting,  and often made me special dolls' clothes. She will then dress the doll in the new clothes, and should they go to town during the week, leave the dressed up doll on my bed in the boarding school. I will then find the "surprise" on my bed when I return from school that day.

One of my very special memories from those years is a particular doll that was dressed in a full length pure white wedding gown. I came home from school one day and there was this beautifully dressed up dolly on my bed. I can still picture the image, it is so vivid.

Many of the beads in this collar came from my mom's stack of beads after she passed away some years ago. The sequence beads were used on that very same wedding dress for my doll. "White" resembles pure, grace, and to me the wedding gown for my doll my mom made me.



The white rose represents a little girl, the white glass cabochon below the rose purity, various white shells, white cabochons and glass cabochons were used in creating "Grace".  Embellished with glass beads, glass seed beads, glass pearls, sequence beads, this collar to me will be a direct reflection to my doll and her wedding gown.

I embroidered on white leatherette, ultra suede is the backing, the length of the collar is around 53 cm. A toggle finishes off this collar.

To create depth and texture I made use of Picot Stitch between some of the cabochons.

Hope you will enjoy this creation as much as I did when creating it.


Monday 21 May 2012

Midnight Blue Monday?

Well, we all know about a Blue Monday. So I decided to make a gorgeous Blue Pendant for my private collection, but instead of Blue Monday I called it Midnight Blue Monday.


The cab is a perfect midnight blue, I used my Midnight Blue Bead Soup to finish this pendant. The absolute BEAUTY of Bead Soup is now coming to its full value.  

I spent a wonderful time with my daughter last week, she spoiled me rotten, what a special daughter/friend/person she is! I just love her to bits.

Her Gran's birthday is the end of this month, Gran saw my  Swampy Forest Cuff, and loved it so much she also wanted one! Except Gran is very skinny, and the wide cuff would not have suited her arm, so I made her another bracelet/cuff - 


This cuff is only 1inch wide, I used a tiny very strong magnet clasp for ease of use around her tiny 16cm wrist.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY OUMA NITA!




Sunday 13 May 2012

Mother's Day

A most amazing day to celebrate - and with the celebration comes the memories (of course!)

Two women made a huge impact in my life and I will always remember them, honor the heritage they left behind and try and walk not only beside them, but be worthy of them.

My Gran - Cornelia Maria Vorster (previously Barnard) nee Roos


And my Mom- Japie Pienaar (nee Barnard)


I salute you!


Wednesday 9 May 2012

Bead Soup

Where did this week go? Can't believe its almost weekend - time seems to fly 
WHEN YOU'RE HAVING FUN!

I discovered Bead Soup! Now what is that you may ask? Bead Soup simply is a number of different beads of different colors of different sizes thrown together  - and from this Bead Soup Mix one creates a piece of jewellery! I not only discovered Bead Soup, I also learned how to use the Color Wheel to create my own Bead Soup, and as they say in the classics, the World Is My Oyster!

Bead Soup no 1 Cuff - Rainy Forest


Bead Soup no 2 Cuff - Swampy Forest


I love strong colors, but my next Bead Soup Project will be a Pastel One!

Going to mix my Bead Soup now - I love being a Lady Child!

Don't forget to leave a comment and join this blog please...
  


Friday 4 May 2012

Pendants

Did I mention that I am a bead addict?  Signing off for the week with this photo of pendants I finished today.





Finished the pendants below earlier this week!
Way to go Girl!


Have yourselves a wonderful weekend!

See you all next week - don't forget to comment and sign in on my blog -