Angelque Creations

After a very busy Christmas with all my craft fair events I finally have a few minutes to finish off a few projects that I started and to start a few new ones.  This week on the beading block (salon table)  I am working on several new hair accessories, some earrings and a couple of bracelets.   Since we live on our boat the salon table acts as my studio and hubby (Mike) has to put up with all my beading supplies laid out for days on end while I finish up what I am working on.  I try to keep it contained so that I can pack up the work into one corner of the table in order that we may eat dinner, but mostly when I am working he has to eat at the navigation station.  Luckily for me he is able to watch TV from that location or I might have to pack everything up. My hair accessory line was very successful this Christmas season, in fact it is probably the fastest selling item that I make, so I am trying to build stock for the spring and summer when I again do ...

I know, I know, I should spend more time with my blog to promote my work, but I always seem to forget after spending hours surfing the web with my Etsy stores, Facebook pages, team pages, twitter feeds, team blog posts and now Pinterest (what did I get myself into) the day just flies by and I find that I have not done any beading which is my passion. This year I also have the added excuse in that we spent the summer refinishing our home Angelique of Vancouver our 34' Coast sail boat.  She got a new paint exterior, new paint interior, new fabric and cushions, new black out curtains for the windows and hatches, refinished flooring.  But that is not all, still to come is new headliners, new electric windlass (for setting the anchor and then for hauling it up, hubby says he won't manually do this anymore as he is getting old), new canvas enclosure, new hard biminy top, new main sail traveler (this helps us control the main sail) new boom vang (controls the boom when jibing and t...

I am really quite bad at keeping up with my blog, mostly because I really don't know what to write about or what people (anyone) might want to read on my blog.  I follow quite a few beading blogs from my Etsy Beadweavers team and think I should have written something like that, but then I never do.  SOOO what am I going to write about today, let me see , Uhm, well, I don't really know, hence my absence. Since my last post regalling you with my busy Xmas schedule, I took a break (not from beading) but away in the sun.  My sister and brother in law (refered to as K&T in an earlier post) and my hubby spent almost a month on the garden island of Kauai in February.  My hubby was amazed that I pack up some beads and dragged them off to Kauai, and was even more amazed when I found some Toho beads in ACE Hardware (of all places).  I spent my days laying on the beach getting a great tan, and my evenings drinking MaiTai's and working on the various projects tha...

I recently found that my Baja Sunrise Bead embroidered necklace was featured in this Mex I Can treasury by clonehardware on Etsy and I am trying out a widget that CraftCult offers for Etsy sellers to promote treasuries. Below will be an interactive widget that should redirect you to the Treasury collection on Etsy and the individual items Test it out and let me know how it works. 

I know that it has been a while since I have posted anything to my own blog.  It is not that I haven't been making anything, rather the contrary I have several new pieces and participated in the monthly challenges for Etsy Beadweavers.  I just forget to go to my own blog and post my pieces after I have promoted the team on the various Facebook  pages and the team blog. So I thought that it was high time that I paid some attention to my own blog.  For this months challenge I created Baja Sunlight necklace fashioned after my favourite island in the Sea of Cortez, Isla Sanfransisco.  This beautiful agua blue bay is extrodinarily beautiful and the water is calm and soothing after a hot day of hiking on the small sizzling hot island. The voting started on July 9 and runs until July 15, at http://www.etsy-beadweavers.blogspot.com/ Please stop in and vote for your favoirte Sizzling Sunshine and Soothing Water's entry.  There are 32 wonderful entries t...

It is a sunny Saturday here in Vancouver and my hubby (Mike) is off racing again on J (a 33' J boat) with his friend Rick.  They left early this morning and hubby forgot to move his bike from behind the car so that I could take my Mom out for lunch so I am stuck on the boat on a Sunny Day.  Oh drat, darn, etc.  No really I don't mind it at all, our boat is a great place to be on a sunny day.  It is very bright and I can work on my beading with out any additional lights.  So while my hubby is tillting around the bay I had a very productive morning working on my second ever bead embroidered piece.    During our trip last May (has it really been a year) we visited the ruins of Ephesos on the coast of Turkey.  As part of our tourist package of the cruise ship we receive a moulded clay focal of Ephesos.  I did not like the leather strap that came with the necklace so I immediately removed it knowing that one day I would use the focal for somethin...

Well after finishing my first entry Spring Flowers for the "Spring Around the Corner" Challenge, I decided to send a photo of it to Bead and Button Magazine.  I received an email asking me to send the necklace to them for photographing and possible future publication in the "Your Work" section.  So I of course mailed that sucker out right away.  I don't know that it will get published but it was good to know that they were at least interested.  I had my Day Lilly completed and was trying to figure out if it was too large to make into a necklace, that is why I started and finished the Spring Flower.  I since finished off the lariate and decided that I liked the single Day Lilly even if it was more life size that I had wanted.  The voting for the "Spring Around the Corner" starts on April 9th and runs until the 15th at http://www.etsy-beadweavers.blogspot.com/ .  You are as always encouraged to vote for your favorite entry and again there are some ...

I have spent the past few weeks working on my entry for Etsy Beadweavers April Challenge "Spring around the corner"  I started out with a Lily flower (see earlier post) but it turned out larger than I originally envisioned.  I tried various ways to encorporate it into my design but the more I looked at the I realized that it was way to big (at least for me) to wear as a necklace.  The Lily may reappear as a brooch or something as I still love the look of it.  While I was walking each day I noticed that the crocuses and daffodils were starting to emerge and changed the focus of my design.  I created a green netted necklace base using green 8/0 Czech seed beeds and 5 mm green bugle beads.  The necklace base is like a green picket fence with the flowers emerging.  I also noticed that the cherry blossom trees along my street were also starting to bud and flower and I realized that "Spring" was really just around the corner.   The ...

Here I am sitting at the computer on a sunny day in Vancouver wrting this post.  I have not written one in a while because I was having issues with my shoulder and the computer work really bothered it.  The computer is in the navigation station on the boat, the counter is too high for a vertically challenged person to sit at and be comfortable.  My shoulder was always elevated and that caused it to freeze up over the xmas period.  My hubby bought me a wireless keyboard and mouse for xmas and let me tell you that has made all the difference.  My shoulder got the rest it needed and I was able to go back to doing the things that I love.  I am currently working on a necklace for the April challenge of Etsy Beadweavers called "Spring around the corner"  Today in Vancouver it certainly looks like spring, the sun is shinning and it is so bright on the boat that I had forgotten how bright it could be with sunlight.  I am attempting to make a necklace wit...

I know that it has been a while since I posted anything to my blog.  I have not been neglecting you, well maybe just a little.  November and December were just a whorl wind of activity for me because I started my Xmas Craft events with 10 days straight.  The first event was at Thursday at BCIT, then 3 days (Fri-Sun) at Abbotsford Cristmas Craft Fair, then Simon Fraser Universitys Craft Fair (Mon-Fri) endng with my usual Saturday at the Abbotsford Farmers Market.  The weekend before this 10 day stretch I was at the Delbrook Rec Centre's Craft fair, and the week after the stretch I was at the Langley Craft Fair.  Some of the events were more successful than others.  Simon Frasers week long event was my best seller and I sold more this year than last year.  I had some slow days but overall sold many of my newely created and not photographed beadwoven necklaces and bracelets.  Delbrook on the Sunday prior was also good as it was a very busy event....

I know it seems that time is just flying by and next thing you know a whole month has gone by and yes I have entered another of the monthly challenges for Etsy Beadweavers.  This month the theme is "Holiday Treasures" and I created Poinsettia Holiday Treasure Corsage cuff to wear throught the holiday season. The cuff is made with one of my new favorite stitches - Russian Leaves in white and red with gold accents, the cuff is a silky ribbon of glass seed beads in Cream Soda color made with an alternating pattern of gold seed beads in a brick stitch.  The slide clasp is hidden amonst the Poinsettia flower. Voting for the challenge starts today November 9 and runs until November 15.  To register your vote please go to http:www.etsy-beadweavers.blogspot.com and vote for your favorite "Holiday Treasure"  We have 36 entries and all are wonderful so it will be a difficult decision.

Well I finally have the time after my whorl wind trip in Europe to get back to posting on my blog and making new items for my Etsy shop.  I had such a great time traveling to London, Paris, Rome, Naples, Athens, Rhodes, Turkey, Eygpt, and Venice.  We were moving everyday seeing new sights and taking too many pictures that I now have to edit.  I also starting working at Redwoods Golf course and that has taken up some of my time.  I am happy to be back at beading and here is the first of my efforts inspired by my trip.  I call it the Eye of Horus (Ra) bracelet and it is made with Japanese Delica seed beads from a pattern that I created.  The pattern will also be available on my Etsy shop Angelque Creations.

After a long dry spell with no activity I recently sold 3 of my beadwoven items.  One of the items that sold is my March "Fairy Tales" challenge piece called Tinker Bell's Pixie Dust cuff.  This bracelet is 2" wide and created with 3 mm Japanese lime green square beads, size 6 rainbow cream soda Japanese seed beads, 11/0 pink and gold silver lined Japanese seed beads, white and pink fresh water pearls, and lime green dyed (MOP) mother of pearl donuts.  This so far is my favorite piece that I have created and I am glad that it has gone to a good home where it will be worn with pride. The other two pieces were my Artist Exposed for VickiDiane - Baja Desierto bracelet with 6/0 desert mix Japanese seed beads, fresh water pearls dyed Iris gold and the 3rd bead woven piece is my Cotton Candy bracelet.  Cotton Candy was listed at 50% of in my shop AngelqueCreations and there are still several other beautiful items listed at 50% off.  I am trying to create room in my s...