Leaf Print Beads

Wow, two posts in two days! Can you believe it? I have been inspired by my good buddy Karen Ottenbreit, who has been working hard on getting her website up and running, setting up a blog and an etsy shop, and then jumping in and trying to figure out facebook with me. She made me feel like such a slug! So...hopefully her work ethic is going to rub off on me some!

I made a whole series of these leaf print beads a few months ago. Some of them were the colors you do find leaves in, shades of greens and browns. But I had the most fun making them in colors you don't see leaves in, aqua, pink, mauve, purple, turquoise and red. I want to make some more, most of them are long gone.

I used different leaves from my yard, and a few I snuck from my neighbors! Raspberry, strawberry, lilac and birch were all that I could find so late in the year. I am impatiently waiting for our long Alaskan winter to be open so I can add more leave print molds to my collection.

Hearts for Valentine's Day

I have been working on some hearts for Valentine's Day. I myself like a lot of texture (and I LOVE that I don't have to sand them!) but the beady folks that buy my beads tend to prefer as much bling as possible, so I created a number of beads in both styles. The turquoise bead has a cane in it that I think was made by Leigh Ross, it looks like babies breathe and I love it. The rest of the canes are mine, old ones...I can't make a small cane to save my life, so I have lots and lots of canes I need to get some use out of and this was a good excuse to get them out.

This is just a small sample of what I have been working on. Hopefully I can sell some, and if not, I will have them as inventory for the Bead Expo at the Anchorage Museum of History and Art, held in October. I haven't done a show in a many years, and I need to get back in the grove...the Bead Expo is always one of my favorites!