Mother/daughter brooch

I spent a bit of time working on my latest idea tonight and created my first birth month brooch. (pictures to come in the next few days).

I used my birth month, May and my mom's birth month, September. I'd never made either flower, nor did I have any reference books to help me on this one, so I looked at some pictures of Lilies of the Valley and Asters online and let the creative juices flow. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I think I'm going to find some white 15/0 beads for the next LotV I make, I think they would be prettier made with smaller beads.

In less than two weeks I go under the knife for carpal tunnel. As much as I'm looking forward to be rid of night time numbness in my hand, I'm just starting to feel as though I'm really progressing in developing ideas and building up inventory for opening on Etsy. I hope this hiatus wont set me back too much. I plan on spending my recovery time continuing my research into the world of business, marketing, craft shows etc. Should be informative and I know this is necessary prep work that will help me along later on, but I know I'll much rather be actively creating.

First Bouquet!

I was hoping to finish work on my first beaded wedding bouquet by next weekend. I beat my schedule by a full week and I'm absolutely thrilled with how it came out. It's a little smaller than I was planning it, but it's just the right size to cover both hands. It's small and sweet and packs a punch of beautiful colour. Makes me want to get married all over again, just so I could use it! The stem will be finished with a light yellow ribbon (I think, still have to go shopping for it.)



My next project will probably be birth month brooches. One possibility I'm thinking for these would be as baby shower gifts for the mommas to be. One flower for their own birth month, and another for their baby's, combined into one very sweet little brooch. I think the idea would work well for Mother's day gifts, wedding shower present (bride/groom birth month flowers) etc. I'm so excited about all the possibilities.

Another lily and a dahlia

I finished the two coloured lily a few weeks ago. I'm pleased with the overall effect, but it was a lot of work to string all the beads individually, so I'm not sure I want to under take too many more in this style.



I wanted to try a new type of flower so I followed a dahlia pattern in one of my books. This one is also two toned, but the colours are so close that it's not very noticable other than for a very light effect.



At this point, I'm thinking of making a few more dahlias, a dark red one for sure to tie in the colours of the lily, some various little wild flowers, maybe another lily and see what type of bouquet all of those will give me. So far, I do like the two flowers together.



My plan is to have this bouquet finished before my carpal tunnel surgery in two weeks. Wish me luck! After I've had a few weeks to heal, I'm hoping to get back into full swing by late May.