Fun Cords!

Hey all, I ran across a couple of great products recently and wanted to do a little shout out today.

I'm always on the search for different types of pearl stringing materials, and although I can't remember exactly how I came upon her shop, Patricia over at Patricia Saab Designs on Etsy had what's called Beader's Secret Thread that's said to be more durable than silk (it's polyester), comes in an array of colors and is perfect for knotting pearls.

Well I just had to try this out, so I messaged Patricia - who happens to be a fellow GIA Pearl Girl!! - and asked some questions in regards to the size of the thread compared to the Griffin silk sizes and she messaged me back quickly. 

I can be rather long winded at times (ya think?!) but she was super sweet at answering all my questions as best she could and even offered to send me a sample of some Beader's Secret Thread along with a color chart showing the variety that she carries in her shop. (how's that for customer service, right?!!)




So, in a flash, there it was in my mail box this week.  
What a sweetie! 

It's a very thin, dainty thread, comparable to a size 1 in Griffin Silk and to the micro-fine size of both C-Lon and SuperLon cords and just a smidge larger than size '0' silk cord by the Bead Smith. It's soft and very supple, just like silk, which is exciting. And, since it's a synthetic, it shouldn't fade or stretch as much as 100% silk either. (that's a plus!)




Patricia even sent me two large-hole beading needles, because she tells me you should knot with it doubled over.

Now, I haven't gotten the chance to get my pearls out and do any knotting yet, hopefully that will happen this weekend, but I'll let you know when I do and how I like it.

I suggest you hop on over to Etsy and check out Patricia's store. You should see the lovely jewelry designs she has - stunning!!  And the pearls she has for sale - WOW!  I'm in love with these,....

Patricia Saab Designs
 
SWOON!

And wait until you see all the lovely colors of Beader's Secret Thread she has available - it'll make you smile!

 _______
 

I'm sure you've all heard me mention how I love the waxed jewelry cord that Sandra over at The Knotty-Do-It-All carries (it's great for knotting gemstones and some of my large hole pearls!) and how I love both my large and smaller Knotty-Do-It-All boards, so when I saw that Sandra was carrying some 'Tassel Cord', well, of course I had to order some and try it out. 

I failed to get a photo of the tassel (duh!) that I completed, but the cord feels great and it works up into tassels that have that 'swing' you want a tassel to have. (yes!)

Tassel Cord from The Knotty-Do-It-All

I got quite a few colors, but I might have to go back for more - they're all so yummy!! 

So, if you're making tassel necklaces (like, who isn't these days?!) and stocking up on things you'll need for the 'holiday times' then you're gonna want to grab up some of these spools so you'll have them. 

Oh, here's my little 'disclaimer'.  
"No one paid me to do these reviews or asked me to do them or anything. I did these reviews of my own free will and spoke completely freely about my feelings regarding the products I mentioned here today, okay?"

Okay folks, that's it for today. 
Everyone have a great weekend. 

Come back over on Saturday and see what everyone who participates in Sally Russick's Focus on Life Weekly Photography Challenge has snapped if you can. 


 There's always awesome shots taken by the people who participate each week!

Until Next Time,

Peace, Love and Creating with Soft, Colorful Cords!

Cheers,





A Breath of Fresh Air!

Our topic for August for the Focus On Life: 2014 Weekly Photography Challenge is
 'Outside' 
and for week 32 Sally prompted us with
 'Fresh Air'
and told us to "Spend a little time taking a deep breath of fresh air, feeling the sun or the rain on your face!"




Here's the 'rain on my face' while sitting up at the very top of the tree house the day before we left the cabin.




You can't see the drops coming down through the trees, but it was heaven for sure!! 

 
The View From The Top of the Tree House!


Now, let's see what 'Fresh Air' everyone else captured!




Until Next Time,
 Peace, Love and Breathing Fresh Air!
 Cheers,
~Shel~

Outside the Box

It's August!  (Already!?!)  

Our topic for the month of August for the
Weekly Photography Challenge is "Outside".

This is week 31 and our prompt is 
"Outside The Box".





Sally didn't technically give us any rules for this one and it could be a play on words or it could be literally "Outside the box",  so today I'm going to share a photo I took back on Mother's Day while down at my sis's house.  

We usually take a photo of all the cousins when we get together, but this Mother's Day only Logan and Chad were actually there and so we tried to skype with all the other kiddos who live out of state or who couldn't make it that day.

My nephew had moved to Florida earlier this year and as the boys were standing around the t.v. chatting with Preston, I said, "Boys, squat down in front of the t.v. so I can get a photo of all three of you together."

"Seriously?", was what I think both of them said at the same time.

"Yes, Seriously. How else am I gonna get a photo of all three of you today?"



And if you look really closely, you can see my bro-in-law's face in the little square to the bottom left of the t.v. as he was on the computer skyping with them! LOL!!


So, Preston's actually 'in' the box,...not out of it. 

I'm pretty sure no one else with find this as odd funny as we all did, but I think it's pretty much an 'out of the box' way to take a photo.

What do you think?! 

Catch all the "Out of the Box" pics everyone else has captured and posted today, won't you?

Until Next Time,
Peace, Love and Snappin' "Out of the Box" !!
Cheers,
~Shel~



Celebrate the Season - FOL28

Our July theme for the Focus on Life:2014 Weekly Photography Challenge is "Celebrate" and for week 28 Sally, over at The Studio Sublime, prompted us to



"Celebrate the Season"



Each summer we spend time at my sis's cabin in the mountains and I love to 'Celebrate the Season' by capturing photos of all the lovely wild flowers growing all around!!  

Please stop by and see how every one else is Celebrating this Summer Season,....

Until Next Time,
Peace, Love and Celebrating Summer!
Cheers,
~Shel~


FOL14 - Week 27

The theme for the month of July for the Focus on Life 2014 Weekly Photography Challenge is 
"Let's Celebrate"

Week 27: Celebration!  "There are so many little celebrations that occur everyday and you may not realize that they happen.  A quiet toast between friends, a smile for a job well done, a candle on a cake, a sparkler all aglow.   Let's Celebrate the season, family, love hope and life!"



Monday was our son's 17th Birthday. 

He absolutely hates having his photo taken - even on his birthday!


Logan, Day 1 - in the hospital.  Then this summer at the cabin actually smiled and let me take a photo before he went on a motorbike ride!! (yippee!)


I snagged a pic of him blowing out the candle on his cheesecake (he's not a fan of regular cake) and then he turned around to see I was trying to snap another photo.





You can tell by the photo that he's not standing still and the look he's giving me is one that says, "I can't believe you're even trying to take a photo of me, mom!" 




Oh well, I still love it. And him!  

We also celebrated our country's birthday yesterday.

The good ol' USA turned 238 years old. 



So, Cheers to Birthdays and wonderful celebrations!!

Click on the links below to see what everyone else is celebrating this week!

Until Next Time, 

Peace, Love and Celebrating Life's Special Moments!

Cheers,
~Shel~



Happy Birthday USA

Happy Independence Day! 




Each day I am thankful for the ability to live in this country and the freedoms I have because of the sacrifice of all those before me.

Until Next Time,

~Peace~

Cheers,
~Shel~

Pearls! Pearls!! Pearls!!! 2014 Blog Hop Reveal!





Welcome to the 2014 
Pearls! Pearls!! Pearls!!! 
Blog Hop Reveal!



Are you ready to see some gorgeous pearls today?  I know I am!

The guidelines for the Pearls! Pearls!! Pearls!!! Blog Hop were quite simple.

"Show Us Your Pearls!" 

Yes, that's about it. It didn't have to be jewelry or bead related. Anything you wanted to design and create with pearls was fine - and welcomed!

Feel free to show off your pearls along with us. Just use the InLinkz Link Up tool at the bottom.

If you'd like to have the InLinkz code so you can have the link up tool on your blog today too, just clink here and you'll go to the page that has the link to the code.

With everything going on this month, it was challenging, but I did managed to create a couple of designs. 


First up, I got to play with some solid gold!

Oh YES! It was heaven!




And it isn't just any piece of gold either.

It's an 18k yellow gold original cross that my hubby, Mike, and our friend, Steve, created and cast earlier this month.

It measures a whopping 1.75 (almost) inches long and has some heft to it - but not too much!

I had no idea what or how I wanted to use this cross - especially since I don't wear gold - so this was a challenge.

I knew it deserved the 'good pearls' in my inventory.
And something that would make it 'pop'. 

The really nice freshwater cultured drop pearl that dangles on it is approximately 13mm in size - rather large.

The pearls in this necklace are freshwater cultured pearls from Majestic Pearl.

I wanted to make the cross charm something that could be taken on/off easily so the pearls could be worn on their own and so the cross could be worn on other necklaces, too.

I'd seen several versions of this sort of 'bail' over on Pinterest lately, so I thought I'd try creating my own version and it worked out quite well.

Did you know there is a difference between a 'bail' and a 'pearl enhancer'?  

You can read a nice article from my online friend Calla Gold about the difference here.
 





This necklace reminds me of Old World Kings and Queens and a time when, despite the rugged materials the craftsmen had to work with, pieces were elegant, opulent and exquisite.

It was extremely fun playing with 'the good china', as I call it!

From the pearls, the handcrafted clasp, to the cross - this one's a keeper! 

Except Mike keeps telling me he's taking the cross and melting it down and making something else with his gold.

Umm,...no. I think it's perfect the way it is. 

And then there's this fun little guy. 

Better known as 'Donald Trunk'.




My hubby found some old molds at a jewelry supply store in town here and he poured me this pewter elephant using one of them. 

Mike calls him "Donald Trunk" because he's got this 'blob' of pewter on the top of his head,...see that??  

It's like a wild pewter 'comb-over' or toupee.  Yep. LOL!!



 The pearls in this necklace are also freshwater cultured pearls.
The dark ones have been dyed to get this awesome deep color and they come from Majestic Pearl as well.

They represent the deep colors of the elephant, both his skin and his eyes.

The really fun 'waffle' pearls (that's what I call them - it's neither a correct nor industry used term!) are keshi pearls that I picked up several years ago from Ayala's Originals at the gem show down in Tucson. 

They represent the rough skin of the elephant and his wonderful 'wavy' ears and the color of his tusks.

Both necklaces were hand knotted on C-Lon cord that I purchased from the BeadShop.com

I like using C-Lon (and Superlon, too) on many of my designs because it doesn't stretch as much or absorb body oils, lotions and perfumes as quickly as 100% silk does. Which makes caring for it a bit easier than designs created with silk. And to me, it drapes/hangs much like silk, which I like.

 When we did the Pearls Blog Hop last fall, many of you said you liked all the links I provided to various educational sites about pearls and many of the video tutorials and things of this nature, so here's the link to
with all the links for anyone who wants to see them and revisit any of the goodies that were included in last fall's reveal post.

Also, here's the link to my Pearls page here on the blog where you'll find lots of pearl information, video tutorials on pearl knotting (not mine, but a lot of other people's tutorials) and other links such as jewelry, tool and pearl suppliers as well, so be sure to check it out.

I do want to share with you a really good video of how to knot pearls with out the use of tools, such as awls, tweezers or knotting tools or boards.  

This is a great method when you're stringing a simple strand of pearls - they come out beautifully!

This video is compliments of the wonderful folks over at Pearl Paradise.  Pearl Paradise owner Jeremy Shepherd and his wife, Hisano are a wealth of wonderful information and the designs that Hisano and the crew over at Pearl Paradise put together are just AMAZING!!  

Make sure to check out the latest post over on their blog, here.  And, of course, have fun drooling over all the beautiful pearls they offer for sale - wow!

And yes, the pearls in the below video are real, Saltwater Cultured South Sea Pearls,...Honkin' Huge!!




Now it's time to check out what all the other participants below have created with their pearls! 

Thanks to everyone who is jumping in today and sharing your pearls - I can't wait to see what everyone has created! 



Until Next Time,
Peace, Love and All Things Made With PEARLS!!
Cheers,
~Shel~


FOL14 - Week 26

Wow - half way through the year.  The first part has flown by, if you ask me.  Hopefully the second half of the year will slow down just a tad bit so we can all catch our breath, right?!

For week 26 of the Focus on Life 2014 weekly photography challenge, Sally has given us this prompt:

June 2014: Putting the Fun In Photography
Week 26: Free Space!



"Like the good old bingo cards state, "FREE SPACE" right smack dab in the middle of the card!  We have reached the half way point of the year, REALLY!  
We are half way through 2014!  
For this week you have a "free space" to photography what ever you would like in what ever way you would like."

Oh, so many possibilities.

I took some pics over Memorial Day Weekend while we were up in the mountains at my sis and brother-in-law's cabin.   

I rather like the look of this one, so I played around with editing it a bit. 



And, being our country's symbol of Freedom, I thought it would fit nicely for our 'Free Space' prompt.

I haven't watched the video that Sally no nicely put up on 'softening' your photos - so I'll have to do that because this one might look cool that way. 

Please check out the below links and see what every one else chose as their 'Free Space' this week, won't you?! 

Oh, and be sure to come back 
here tomorrow for the 
Pearls! Pearls!! Pearls!!! 
Blog Hop - Link Up.



I'd love for you to link up with us and show us what you've created with your pearls!

Until Next Time,
Peace, Love and "FREE" Space
Cheers,
~Shel~

Free Space to Grow! ;-)

Getting Ready to Show Some Pearls!

Hello Pearl Lovers!

The Pearls! Pearls!! Pearls!!! Blog Hop Reveal Date is Sunday, June 29th - 2014.
 
 
 

To make things super easy for you to join in the fun, 
we're doing a Link-Up type of Blog Hop via InLinkz.

You can simply add your link to the Pearls Hop by coming back here to the MiShel Designs blog on Sunday, June 29th and following the prompts for the Inlinkz linkup tool at the bottom of the reveal post. 

If you'd like to add the Inlinkz tool to your own
Pearls Blog Hop Post on the reveal date, 
Click here to go to the page on the blog where I will have the code.

Go to this Inlinkz page to find out how to add the code to your blog if you are unsure how to do this.
 
 
 
 
Until Next Time,
Peace, Love and Pearls, Baby!
Cheers,
~Shel~