Purple and pink and "bead chicken"

In my last post about the cube and bugle earrings I wrote that I also might try out the beaded triangle tutorial using Delicas and shorter bugles as intended.

I hadn't expected it to happen so quickly, but when I put the long bugles back in storage (that was fast this time!) I noticed a tube with short purple bugles.
My first plan was a pair of dark mysterious earrings, maybe in black and purple. I still like the idea, but when I went through my beads, a tube of magenta ones urgently demanded to be seen.
Okay, so not dark and mysterious, but bright and bold? As you wish.

Delicas "clicking into place" has something incredibly satisfying that I don't get from other beads. You can't really hear it, but feel it, no matter if it's between two other beads in peyote technique, between warp threads in bead looming or on top of each other in brick stitch.
Had you told me, by the way, that I would be saying something like that when I was stringing endless chains from very irregular seed beads at my schoolmate's house at the age of 11, I would have laughed at you.

For the third color, I chose galvanized berry from my really old stash, a kind of dusty rose.
While beading the first triangle, I already thought about the finished earrings, which leverbacks to use and where to attach them.
Yeah, didn't happen.
A little tip, if you're not sure whether you have enough beads, weigh or count them before you start a project unless you are a pro at yarn chicken like me (I used to be a knitter) - or "bead chicken" in this case? - and are ready for any outcome.
Just five more bugles and I could have made earrings. Gaaah!
Sometimes I wonder if I subconsciously do this on purpose to create a challenge for myself. Perhaps I'm just a little stupid, though.

Okay, new plan. A pendant after all. Not just the one triangle though, also because I had really wanted to use those bugles up now. In the smaller triangle the bead colors are reversed.
Talking about reversing - I hadn't even noticed at first that the pendant is reversible now. Funny how those things happen.

Triangles always remind me of Art Deco. Maybe I can take this design a little further eventually?
For now, however, I'll take a break from this shape.

Springtime

One of my favorite flowers are Bleeding Hearts (they are actually perennials). The most popular name here is "Tränende Herzen" - Crying Hearts.
Where my grandmother lived, there was a small meadow with three buildings around it, and along the walls of those buildings, there were Bleeding Hearts. I still see myself sitting down beside them to admire the little pink hearts which were so perfect.
Probably my memory deceives me and there wasn't the mass of blossoms I seem to remember, but that doesn't change anything about my thinking of my grandmother every time I see one of those plants.

Picture via pxhere

Then one day I stumbled upon a picture on deviantArt which surprised me, not sure why it did because I love looking at flowers, but don't know the next thing about them.
It was a white Bleeding Hearts plant and it looked beautiful. I had seen black and blue ones on the web before and knew those weren't real, but white ones are and I immediately fell in love. So when I met the neighbor the next day and he told me he was off to the garden center, I jokingly asked him to bring me white Bleeding Hearts and he did!

It has been in our little garden for some years now and while it's not blooming in abundance, it makes me smile every year.
Last week Monday, there were no blossoms yet, but when I went down two days later to fill up the bird feeder, I was happy to see two little rows of white.
From what I read, April is rather early for Bleeding Hearts to bloom. Part of the blossoms were still quite delicate and I just hoped the predicted rain wouldn't be too hard on them because it was already too dark to get a good picture.

The next morning I checked from the window and saw a blossom peek out from under the green, so I went down - without much hope because it was a really grey day, just how I love it, but not good for pictures with my little old camera - and found them alive and well.
Welcome spring!

If you want to know more about Bleeding Hearts, where they come from, and an old tale behind the name, check out
Bleeding heart: origin, properties and flowering time

Tackle that stash - Pink wire crochet earrings

It was not the first time that I have been told I should wear more color, and once again I told the story of the friend who said "I love all colors provided they are black". It's true. I tend to go for black, maybe a dark blue and whenever I actually do wear a brighter color, people notice, even those who don't notice when I get new glasses.
You want color? You'll get color.

These two beads were part of a surprise parcel. Because of the stick shape my first impulse was to just put on jump rings and earwires, but you know me, that's something I hardly ever do. So I wondered what could replace the jump ring and decided to make some of my wire crochet rope rings instead.
My second impulse was to use silver wire for those rings, but I wanted more color than that, so I added pink seed beads, too.
Told you you'd get to see some color ;-)

The earrings are in my DaWanda shop now.

Oldies but goodies - Pink

In recognition of October being Breast Cancer Awareness Month and the pink ribbon that represents this disease, the chosen topic for last week's Oldies but Goodies Theme Challenge on JAC was pink, too.
Wow. I wouldn't have thought there was so much pink around! One beauty after the other was posted and once again it was really hard to pick just one item from everyone. Have a look at all of the pictures here and let my selection give you a little taste first.

1 RioRita
2 Violetmoon's Corner
3 J3 Jewelry
4 Loki's Links
5 Galadryl Design
6 MC Stoneworks
7 Cat's Wire
8 The Crafty Chimp
9 Jewelry Art by Dawn

I am not ....

.... a pink kind of girl, but it's never too late to change your mind, is it? You just need someone or something to convince you.

1. Hot pink candy jade by Crysallis GEMS

2. Pink flamingo mini glass bead mosaic by Designs of Avalon

3. Fuzzy pink leopard badge reel by Simply Smiss

4. Woolhelmina woolly mammoth by Eddy's Pressies

5. Pink satin fairy wing embroidered cincher skirt by 28 Sides

6. Pink hand dyed superwash sock yarn by Selana Handarbeitskram

7. Forever friends bear fridge magnet by Butterfly Crafts

8. Pink ivory wood slimline pen by C. Newcomb's Woodworking

Happy browsing!