Summer Design Partners @ Artbeads.com

I got my first batch of beads to play with from Artbeads as part of their Design Partners Bloggers. I got to pick from the HUGE assortment of Charms, Pendants, and Glass Beads for this round. I picked some sea life tierra cast charms in copper, czech glass beads in 4 and 8 mm earth tones mix and sea tones mix, a really cool Kalera style glass bead in sunset, and several ocean colored grooved glass rectangles with a picasso edge. I love beads from Artbeads because it's easy to match up colors on their website to get a great selection of beads that go together well. It seems that I'm all about copper these days so I used lots of copper in my pieces.

My Fun Bead Order


Sunset Necklace
I combined the 4 and 8 mm czech beads to make this necklace. I did the earth tones in 8 mm alternating with the sea tones in 4 mm off the ocean colored side of the Kalera bead and then did 8 mm sea tones alternating with 4 mm earth tones off the amber colored side. To finish it I used a copper toggle clasp from my bead stash. This Kalera bead is beautiful. The czech rounds go well with it too. I love how these colors all work together.





Ocean Fun Bracelet
On this fun piece, I used some copper wire, a copper trailer hitch clasp, and copper oval jump rings from my stash and combined them with the ocean rectangles and copper sea life charms. I made wire wrapped links using 20 gauge copper wire and linked them together with an oval jump ring and a charm. The clasp is from a bead store in Oregon but I have recently seen them at Joann's. LOVE this little bracelet- it's not too lose or too tight. I may add some czech glass links in between to make it a bit longer or possibly into an anklet. This bracelet is very easy to make and the charms are great! They don't feel heavy on the bracelet so you can pile quite a few on if you want a more "charm bracelet" look.


Ocean Earrings
I had some left over rectangles so I decided to make a pair of earrings to go with the bracelet. I used copper ear wires, copper head pins, 6 mm czech glass earth tones mix, and some 4 mm copper beaded spacers all from my stash. I used 2 of the glass rectangles. These are simple drop earrings and perfect to wear with jeans and a white tee shirt.


I made my own earring stand too! SUPER easy! Get a 20" piece of wire (I used 12 gauge home wiring wire and stripped it down giving me THREE pieces!), make a 90 degree bend 5" in from each end, make a loop at the ends and bend upwards. I bent my loops over so they would hold the earrings a bit better for my taste. Easy peasy earring holders/displays. If you want it to stay copper color, I recommend spraying it with a clear sealer. I didn't spray mine because I don't really care if it tarnishes.

Disclosure...As a reviewer of products at Artbeads.com, I received all beads pictured in the first photo posted above free of charge. I have been asked to review these products and give my honest opinion of the products...positive or negative. I am not being compensated by Artbeads.com for my endorsement as it pertains to the products received and reviewed.