August Challenge Theme-Gold & Silver

Congrats to Isabella from bead4me for winning last month's challenge and for being able to pick the August theme! She writes:

You can bring the chic to your look without having to spend thousands. You can shine as bright as the stars in the sky with gold and silver beaded jewelry, so your heart will skip a beat. You can enjoy creating dazzling jewelry without breaking the bank. If you are not sure where to find inspiration from, you can start with Hollywood style!

You may start your entry today and must complete and list it by midnight Etsy time, August 5, 2010!

Rules:
Any style, any technique with a majority of bead weaving is welcome. Pieces submitted for the challenges should be newly-created (by you - not from a pattern) between the date the challenge theme is announced and the 5th of the month when it is due. Do not renew an existing or expired listing for the challenge.

ONE only entry allowed per EBW Member.

The piece MUST be created between now and August 5, 2010.

See our Challenge FAQ here for all of the details on the rules of our challenges.

Interview with Maddy Barkley of Jewelrybyjane19

Interview with Maddy Barkley of JewelybyJane19

Business Name: Jewelry by Jane 29

Real Name: Maddy Barkley

Etsy Page: http://www.jewelrybyjane29.etsy.com/

Blog Page:http://www.jewelrybyjane29.blogspot.com

Web Page: http:www.jewelrybyjane29.com

Facebook Fan Page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jewelry-by-Jane/29

Tell us a bit more about yourself? I am a self taught jewelry designer. I love all forms of design. At the present time I am caring for my elderly mother and designing jewelry, and selling it on line, and also at craft shows when I can.

How did it come to be that you started working with seed beads? I had a booth at a local craft show, and of coarse all of the venders check out each others wares. There was a vendor there that did beadweaving. I fell in love with her work, she told me she normally doesn’t sell in my local area and was just passing through and that she didn’t mind giving me pointers to get me started. From there I hit the web to learn other stitches. I was hooked from then on.

How long have you been creating with seed beads? It has been three years

Is there was any significance to the name of your shop? Yes, I named it that because when I was a little girl, my Aunt Mildred said my name Madeline was to long for me so she started calling me by my middle name Jane, thus all of my family has called me Jane since.

What inspires you? I get inspired many ways. Sometime its natures colors, sometimes its when I see a certain bead I want to work with, sometimes its just a whim, from my minds eye.

Do you listen to music or TV while you work? Sometimes I listen to rock music, but mostly not. It really depends on how I’m feeling at that moment. Usually when I work I like solatude, I do some of my best thinking when I am working. That is usually when I come up with my next project. I always have a pencil and paper close by to write down my ideas.

Do you have common colors you work with? Not really I try to be creative and use different colors.

What is your favorite color palette? All greens

Do you have a favorite technique? Which one and why? No not reallyI love learning new stitches. I try to learn something new every month.

Do you do shows or vending of any sort? Where? Do you teach beading classes? Where? I do local New Hampshire Craft Shows. At the present time the only teaching I do is to my 12 year old niece. She loves beading also.

Do you sell your work in any galleries/shops? Where? Not at the present

Where do you see yourself in your business in 5 years! The Five year plan is that my husband and I will be west to warmer climate and open up a shop/ gallery. We both will be working out of that shop.

June Challenge Winner-Phenomenon

Congrats to Isabella from bead4me with 23% (117 votes) of the vote for the win for this month's challenge!!!!

The Runner's-up are as follows:
25. Devouring The Sun - Beadwoven Solar Eclipse Pendant - gr8jewellery 83 (16%)
26. Rhythm of the sea bracelet - beademecum 73 (14%)
4. Phoenix Art Necklace - christinesbeadworks 38 (7%)
3. Earthquake Phenomenon - Jewelrybyjane29 2 (0%)
1. Ice Storm - enchantedbeads 26 (5%)
18. Northern Lights - JoyFullyJewels 22 (4%)
16. Hawaii After a Rain - BeadCatcher 21 (4%)
7. Rebirth - BettyStephanBeadwork 21 (4%)
10. The Nautilus Necklace - LaBellaJoya 15 (2%)

Thank you goes to all our gorgeous entries and to our voters! We really appreciate your participation!
Our next challenge is 'The Secret Garden' and voting will begin for that on July 9, 2010.

June Challenge-Phenomenon

This theme was chosen by Isabella, beads4me, the Winner of our April Challenge. To best decide the Winner, you can click on their links below the image. You can vote on your Favorite from June 9th to June 15th.

As I Have said before, I have found that the nature is the perfect creation, it always gives me inspiration to create some thing of my own by using the colors or the appearance. The ability to use it and let it effect our handmade creation is amazing by itself.
In the last few weeks, we were all witnesses to another affect of one such Iceland volcano.
Try to remember one Phenomenon that amazed you the most and transfer it to amazing beaded jewelry.

1. Ice Storm - enchantedbeads

2. Bursting with Topaz Beadwoven Necklace - TerriFayeJewelry

3. Earthquake Phenomenon - Jewelrybyjane29

4. Phoenix Art Necklace - christinesbeadworks

5. Mulberry Tree Necklace - annamei

6. The Power of Water - Waterfall Necklace - Medic5415

7. Rebirth - BettyStephanBeadwork

8. Harvest Moon Golden Statement Pendant - sagescupboard

9. Northern Lights - Beadwoven Cuff in Deep Metallic Blue - TheCrimsonMoon

10. The Nautilus Necklace - LaBellaJoya

11. Atlantic Beach, Long Island - southfielddesigns

12. Purple Bronze and Black Northern Lights Necklace - HannahRachel

13. Obsidian necklace Total Eclipse of the Sun - Kankou

14. Olympics Beaded Crystal Bracelet Cuff - crystalwonders

15. Polaris star pendant necklace - AnnaCohen

16. Hawaii After a Rain - BeadCatcher

17. Vulcano - June Challenge Phenomenon - MacrameByMaja

18. Northern Lights - JoyFullyJewels

19. White Spiral Necklace Rolling Snowballs - KRDesigns11

20. Lava Flow Sculptural Beadwork Necklace - bead4me

21. Africa - PFordCustomJewelry

22. Black Rock Beaded Necklace Unique Jewelry Mother Earth - SpringColors

23. For Neytiri - daynamiles

24. DORCAS - Stellaltinaan

25. Devouring The Sun - Beadwoven Solar Eclipse Pendant - gr8jewellery

26. Rhythm of the sea bracelet - beademecum

27. Rainbow Cuff Bracelet - FrancescasFancy

Thank you Ann of Francesca's Fancy for making this mosaic for us!!!