Skye Jewels and Vintaj

After a rough year it is so great to be back in full force! To start things off I was offered a chance to participate in the Bead Partner Program with Vintaj! What an honour! I was so thrilled that even though I was not finished with my cancer treatments, I jumped at the chance! What a great way to get back into the swing of things!

With the help of digital collage artist Ella Bouchard, we came up with a set of Exclusive images just for the weeping willow challenge! Vintaj supplied me with a colour palette that I should work with. I forwarded that to Ella and gave her ideas of what I was picturing for images. She did an amazing job and these pendants are the result!

I have a selection of 1X3, 1X2, 1X1 and 1.5inch circles and 1inch circles. You can find them all in my Supply Shop on Etsy. I love the colour theme, and I love the rustic images. I chose a variety of things to go into it since not everyone will want to play with trees.

Of course for those of you who are interested in trees, I have quite a few to choose from! I have a few different versions of the Weeping Willow and also the tree Jess Italia Lincoln used in her design featured on the Design Challenge ad.

I hope you will take a moment to participate in the challenge. I am excited to see what kind of pieces will be entered! Use your imagination and don't forget to include your favourite Art Beads with your Vintaj findings for the best results! My tiles of course go very well with the Vintaj filigree, shown in the necklace I created at the top of this post.

Thanks for visiting, I hope you leave us some of your thoughts to read :)

Marie

Studio Saturday With Marie of Skye Jewels

Welcome to Studio Saturday! Each week one of our contributors gives you a sneak peek into their studio, creative process or inspirations. We ask a related question of our readers and hope you'll leave comments! As an incentive we offer a free prize each week to bribe you to use that keyboard. The following week we choose a random winner.

This week's winner is Kiwiken! Congratulations, Kiwiken! You've won a Fused Glass Donut!

 Send an email to Cindy Gimbrone and she'll send your prize right over to you!

Welcome to Marie's Studio!

I have been working all week on this post. Taking pictures and getting something interesting together to share with you. It's not often we get to look into a specific artists process and see how they work or how they create. I will be sharing some of my process, but not all. If I give it all away you won't have a reason to come shop with me ;)

My studio has somewhat changed since the last time I posted. There have been a lot of changes in my life in general! I gave up the Den so my oldest daughter could have her own room. That was where my studio was and I had a lot of light even in  such a modest space. Emma has been a huge help to me since I was diagnosed with Inflammatory Breast cancer in May. She deserved a space of her own. So my studio is now in the dining room, a much smaller and darker space. Can't take too many good pics in there, you would not see much for the darkness! Working on figuring something new out, but in the meantime, I work where I can and that includes the kitchen table where these pictures were taken...

I am working on something that has been a customer request for awhile now. Earring pairs tags! I am starting with these in a new shabby chic style! I have a few customers that love the shabby chic style and I have not had much to offer them so I have been trying to come up with something new to satisfy this need. 
The pattern is called Toile. It is from the original style of Printing a story onto fabric that was started by the Irish and adopted and made popular by the french in a place called Jouy, France. Hence the actual name of Toile "Toile de Jouy" These Toile images normally came in complex pastoral scenes and floral arrangements. The long sheets of fabric would be printed and laid out in fields to dry. Imagine the beauty!

These are the charms, all ready for a top coat!

Here they are drying. You can tell from these last two pictures that once I add the top coat they become more vibrant and the colour stands out more. 

Here they are along with the Raven charms I posted the other day. All done and some still drying! You know what that means, I should be taking pics and listing right away! It has taken a little longer than normal to get them completely finished, but that has a lot to do with this week being "meet the teacher" at school! That and my anniversary. Life goes on even in the studio! 

Here is a closeup of the finished Raven tiles! Looking forward to getting these listed and in my shop for you! The Shabby Chic/Toile earring pairs will also be listed...just have to decide how many pairs I will list to start.

So that is what has been going on in my studio this week and a lot of the rest of the time. Creating these takes 3-5 days with proper drying times. I don't want to send you anything that might not have had enough time to cure. They should not stick together if given the proper curing time. No sticky or tacky top coat and especially no streaks! These have a very smooth finish.

I hope you enjoyed learning a bit more about what I do. Please feel free to ask me any questions you might have and I will do the best I can to answer them!

Leave a comment and you win a pair of my new Toile Charms! I'll even let you pick your color!

Hugs,
Marie
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Ravens

Over the last few months I have had more and more request for Ravens! So finally here we are! I have created a series of Ephemera pendants for you to use in your jewelry creations that include these fabulous Ravens! These are in an unfinished stage, I have a lot left to do on these to make them listing ready, but this week is magic week! The week where things happen!

I could not resist these awesome images! I worked with Ella of Calico Collage to get this idea together. She makes about 75% of the images I use to create my charms and pendants. These of course I wanted to have in time for Halloween! I will be listing them in the next couple of days.

I want to remind you of all the wonderful ways you can use these. To start, I sell them un-drilled. This allows you to use your creative imagination to it's full potential! Some of you will choose to use them as they are and just add a magnet to the back or even add them to your scrapbooking pages! Very versatile!

My favorite way to use them is with Vintaj filigree! This adds a certain "je ne sais quois" to the pieces of jewelry I create. It gives a touch of romance and mystery! Perfect for these Ravens! The dark laciness of it...I love it! 

I have even seen some of you wrap them in wire! What a creative use of these small pieces! 

At anytime of course you can have them custom drilled at no extra cost to you. There is the simple top drill. Just look at the image to see if that is where you want the hole. You can also top and bottom drill to add dangles! What about each corner for a bracelet maybe? Or a little lower on the sides... I can even do three strand bracelet drill for some of these! 

One of the most used drilling options is the two top corners and bottom center. This makes the piece a focal with the possibility of endless dangles!

So many ways to use these! So look for them in the Skye Jewels Supply shop this week...

Thanks so much for another fun visit!

Marie

**Speaking of Vintaj, October's challenge just happens to be "Radiant Raven" what a coincidence! Maybe some of you will want to use these in your design?** 

Studio Saturday - Skye Jewels

Welcome to Studio Saturday! Each week one of our contributors gives you a sneak peek into their studio, creative process or inspirations. We ask a related question of our readers and hope you'll leave comments! As an incentive we offer a free prize each week to bribe you to use that keyboard.
The following week we choose a random winner.

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This week we visit the studio of

Marie-Noel Voyer-Cramp of Skye Jewels

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This week's winner is CRAFTYHOPE! Congratulations! You have won win a ceramic pendant and bead bundle from Gaea Handmade! Send Gaea an Email with your address and she will get your prize out to you soon!

I have been asked so often to see my studio, I figured this was the perfect time and the perfect place!

So Here it is!

 I can't begin to tell you how hard it was to get this photo, getting the angle right and the placement for the camera... The space is what you might call "small" or "petite" lol but you get the idea.

 This room has dual purpose. I am first and foremost a jewelry designer and I am also an avid scrapbooker. At least I used to be... funny how beads have taken over my life and left little time to create with paper.

I spend about a week getting clean enough for pictures! Now it will be a challenge to keep it usable so I don't end up working like this...

 ...again!

Yup! You are seeing this right! When I run out of room on my work benches I end up working on the floor. I can't help it! I NEED to be surrounded by beads to be able to fully feel the inspiration take over! Those are my knees...ouch! I am getting too old to work like this. Maybe someday I will have a better space to work in.

Where do you end up working that is out of the ordinary? Do your beads take over and push you out of your studio or are you a meticulous artisan?

Leave a comment answering any of these questions and you will be entered for a chance to win an assortment of Skye Jewels wooden pendants selected especially for you, for your jewelry designs!

 

Photo Credits for the studio photos go to Angela Durocher

Thanks for stopping by...

Marie   

Thinking Outside the box!

If you are like me, you love a good challenge to get those creative juices flowing. I have put together a few fun things to help challenge yourself into seeing your Art beads in a new light!

To start here we have one of my own Ephemera pendants. When you see this you think of a necklace, something maybe a little mythical or "Avenging Angel"! lol

Well, what if you had two...

Now this could be interesting... so think outside the box! What would you do with a pair of wings? You could certainly put one on each side in a necklace, or you could...

Make Earrings!!  These are quite large of course, but that is the fun of thinking outside the box!
So here is the next idea...

A beautiful Pendant by Summers Studio! As you can see, the pendant has two holes at the top and one on the bottom. It is made to be hung a certain way, with a dangle at the bottom.
Well, think outside the box!

Turn the pendant sideways and add dangles to two of the holes, in unexpected places! 

What a fun and unique piece it becomes! It hangs beautifully and you would never know it was meant to be done a different way!

What else can you do? How about using a Toggle in a different way?

Love this toggle from Vintaj! Beautiful shape, texture and colour!

Why not change it into...

Earrings! You just add your Art Beads {in this case lampwork by SueBeads} to the combo, sideways with jump rings as an extra out of the box touch! These are really perfect for spring and you know no one else will be wearing them ;)


Keep an eye out for my next post, it will be a continuation of this one, with pieces made by other designers I have challenged to "Think outside the box!"


Marie


All Jewelry pieces and ephemera art beads are made by Marie-Noel Voyer-Cramp of Skye Jewels. Ephemera pieces are available at More Skye Jewels on Etsy