Wedding sneak peek-MOTB jewellery

Over the years I have made some great lampworker buddies and 2 of my best are Lynn of Brilynn Beads and Laney of Izzy Beads. I decided long ago that I would ask Lynn to make my MOTB beads and Laney to make the Bridesmaids beads for The Wedding. Luckily both agreed to make my commissions. For those of you who are in the dark about marriage terms MOTB stands for Mother Of The Bride... aka ME! I had no idea what the letters stood for until we began The Wedding journey back in December 2010.

Lynn lives way over in Oregon, USA so she and I "talked" via email last year. I bought my outfit for The Wedding last summer and I was able to show her the outfit on line...she is the only person outside of my family who has seen it. From that she sent me some colour sample glass beads. Lampworkers work with molten glass and wind the colours onto a mandrel over a flame. Really skilled artisans such as Lynn and Laney are then able to work extra magic and create beautiful one of a kind beads.

This is the fabric of my dress, you will have to wait until July to see the rest ;0) It is a beautiful silk.

The sample glass colours arrived last autumn

I was able to hold the colour samples against the dress and get the perfect matches. I was amazed how close to the true colours Lynn had got just by using on line photos.

I had already decided that I would have the blue as the background colour so we knew this was the base we would build on.

Lynn makes fabulous raised floral beads. I have bought lots from her before. Below are just 2 of the many  necklaces I made years ago from some of her beads.For the first necklace I added lovely variations of rock crystal . The second necklace I just used different sized gorgeous black onyx faceted and round beads. Whenever I wear these I always get compliments. I love these necklaces.

Christmas Rose necklace
Below;
Autumn Glory necklace

I decided that I would like Lynn to make bi cone shaped beads for my necklace and lentil shaped for my matching bracelet. We decided that she would make 3 flowers on each side of the bead for the lentils, each flower using a colour from my dress. For the bi cones she would place them around the side of the beads. Lynn had a play with sizes and shapes and sent me more sample beads.

She also had the idea to add little blue flowers to the lentil beads which I thought was a great idea.

She also sent me a key with a bead as a little keep sake..what a sweet thought ;0)

After a few more tweaks Lynn was ready to make the final beads and they arrived safely.

These were the lentil set for the bracelet complete with the little blue embellishments.....

and these were the bi cones . I was stunned by them as they were just such a perfect match.
So that was the end of last year. I spent a LONG time with different design ideas and I finally decided that I would use quite a simple design using head drilled freshwater pearls and Swarovski crystals for the necklace and round freshwater pearls for the bracelet.




So I am sure you would now like to see the finished result? OK then here they are...

Here's a close up of the beads.

I managed to find some lovely silver heart toggle clasps little silver daisy spacers. I am thrilled with my jewellery and cannot wait to wear it in July with The Outfit.

Thank you Lynn, you are a star and a great beadie buddy too.

So for today's card challenge I thought I would keep with The Wedding theme. When I went on my calligraphy course to Denman recently I met up with a lovely lady who was most interested in the cards I make. I showed her my Etsy shop and she asked if I would take a commission for a wedding card for a wedding she was attending over Easter.


I thought it would be a good opportunity to have a play with wedding cards as I shall of course be making one for Milly and Tom. This is what I made for the commission I took at Denman.

I bought a gorgeous Lili of the Valley rubber stamp called "Wedding Couple" which I stamped and hand coloured using my trusty Promarkers and Flexmarkers and highlighted the image using my Prismacolor pencils.

I used gorgeous matt silver backing card and mounted the image like a photo on top of a Martha Stewart punched border. I added some "photo" corners, ivory ribbon and pearls. I also added some little gems to the centre of the flowers for some extra "bling". I finished off with a circular sentiment which I cut a scallop frame for out of the same silver card.
I was very pleased with how this turned out and I made another colourway of it which is for sale in my Etsy shop here

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges;
Totally Gorjuss Challenge 127;bling
Scrapbook Sisters Anything Goes #79
Pretty Little Ribbons To die for use die cuts or punches
Stamp, scrap and Doodle Saturdays Pastels
Joanna Sheen A card for someone special
My Mum's Craft Shop  #52 It's a celebration
Paper Sundaes #116 Anything Goes
Stampin with the Dragon Weddings
Sugar Creek Hollow die cuts or punches #7
Card Crafter's Circle Gentle pastel colours #18

As we speak Laney is working on the bridesmaids beads and when I have a sneak peek for those I shall let you know. Well it's nearly time for a new week again. There have been plenty of sunshine and showers here over the weekend, all good for the garden but it is a little chilly. I have a few plants to put out but I think I may wait for a few days as some recent nights have even produced a frost.

Have a great week everyone,

Thanks as always for your kind visits and your lovely comments.

Bye for now,

Jane x