Treasures by Louise

One of my favorite activities is taking photos to mark the change in seasons.  I often zoom in on flowers to fill the frame. Here are some of my favorites. Early dwarf iris Daffodils Spring Wildflowers During this Covid-19 pandemic, I'm thankful for walks in the garden and sunny days.  I hope these flowers will brighten your day on a cloudy April morning.

When you learn to open and close jump rings properly, you have the skills to replace a broken clasp on your bracelet. You just need a few things: Jump rings in the metal type and color of the broken jewelry. Two pair of Chain Nose pliers. Replacement clasp. Both of these items can be found at your local big box craft store. Better yet, shop at your local bead store (LBS). When shopping for jump rings, things to pay attention to: Metal content - if you or your recipient have metal allergies, look for nickel free components Check the silver content. Uncoated silver or silver-plate will often darken (tarnish) with time. Rhodium plated findings will retain that bright white silver shine. Don't mix the two, unless you like the mixed-metal look. When shopping for Chain Nose pliers, purchase the best quality you can afford, with a smooth, no-teeth surface. If you use the pliers from the hardware store, you run the risk of marring your metal and loose the shine or even s

Coordinating Jewelry for an outfit For a recent commission, I was asked to create a necklace and earrings inspired by a dress, to be worn for a friend's wedding in October. Inspiration for Jewelry The dress is as pictured, and I wanted to find "just that special bead" to compliment the pattern on the dress. I was fortunate that our Bead Guild's twice yearly bead show was happening in early October. I found the focal bead, accent beads and spacers at Small and Beautiful Beads, one of my favorite vendors. There's always a crowd at her booth, which is full of lovely colored beads as well as finished jewelry to inspire. The recipient received many compliments on her jewelry and enjoyed the beautiful wedding last month. Congratulations to Bride and Groom!

Lizard Earrings On our trip last summer to Arizona, we traveled north from Phoenix, and stopped at a park along the highway. I'm always carrying my camera and looking for the little details. I caught sight of a little lizard sheltering in the shade. It took a few tries, and I got a nice picture of this cutie!  This little lizard had found some meager shade under a fence rail. He looked like napping and keeping cool was his first priority.   Lizard seen at a park on the highway north of Phoenix, Az. ~110 deg. F.  I was quick enough to photograph a few more lizards during the week: Lizard with lichen, Arizona Colorful collared lizard on a nature trail, Arizona Inspired by the wildlife, I created some lizard earrings. The brass lizards and the lever back ear wires are from B'Sue Boutiques, and the Fire Agate beads are from Michaels. The bead caps are by Vintaj. I'm keeping these for my personal collection! Lizard Earrings with Fire Agate

After a hiatus, I'm back to creating. I've been a caregiver for a little while. After Mom's illness and her passing, I tried to cope by keeping busy. I'm taking some time to regroup. Now I'm starting to create, making earrings; because I need to start somewhere. Earrings June 2017 Teardrop lightweight earrings Right: Snowflake Obsidian and silver plate hearts; Left: Teal cathedral beads and tiny compasses on silver plate mounts. I'm cleaning, sorting and organizing, too. This vintage quilt is a keeper, freshly washed: Crown of Thorns, vintage quilt in my collection. Thanks for stopping by my blog; hopefully I'll be blogging more regularly! :)

A once-in-a-lifetime trip: My Hubby and I took a wonderful trip to celebrate our 30th Wedding Anniversary, and I had the opportunity to photograph beautiful scenic landscapes, much different than my usual macro photograpy of beads, jewelry and flowers. I used my same familiar camera, to make life simple! Now to experiment with my basic photo-editing software. The beautiful views will be design and color inspiration for future creative projects, both jewelry and wall quilts.  I may have some prints made to hang on the wall, too. First view of the Red Rocks of Sedona Arizona Original Photograph - Cannon Power Shot A640 Photo Shop Elements editing tools applied Photoshop Elements (for Windows) allows for simple photo editing: "fixing". With the tools, you can crop, sharpen, improve contrast and 'color correct'.  Indeed the sky is more turquoise, and this probably shows the actual colors more accurately. For some reason, I prefer the dark red on the st