Etsy Specials!

Starting November 14th through the 18th receive free shipping on any order from my Etsy account. The link is posted at the top left hand corner of this page. Also watch for a great deal on Black Friday!

Exclusive Pieces!

As some of you may know I've recently started getting my jewelry published for sale on Etsy. Well, I've got some other exciting news! I've now got a few items available in an actual store!! Woo hoo! If any of you are familiar with downtown Cadillac, MI I'm sure you  know there are some really quaint little shops there. Blossom, formerly known as Apple Blossom, is by far my favorite. They have adorable, and unique clothing, along with shoes, and other nick-knacks. As of a week or so ago, I placed some of my jewelry there. These items are exclusively found only at Blossom!!!

 This is made with flower shaped drops for the focal points. It also has peek-a-boo pearls inside the flower. The chain is black metal.

 You can see the peek-a-boo pearls inside, along with some ruby crystals.

 I've recently been playing with asymmetry in my jewelry designs. I use a focal point on the side instead of the middle. I think this gives a vintage look with a modern take.

 I used copper wire for this one

 Up close view on the focal piece. I've been really attracted to the vintage fillagree. I really like the way it looks especially with pearls.

 This is one of my favorites and I hope to replicate it for future designs. There is no clasp in this one. Instead it uses a hoop in the front in which the pearl barely fits through. This gives the focal piece in the front with a new twist. You can pull the pearl farther up or down to change the length of the necklace.

 For this one I used a brass colored metal. This gives it an aged look.

 Close up of this one

 I really liked the unique features of this one.

 This is another version of one of the previous ones. I used light green pearls and a gunmetal focal piece.

 Gunmetal is a color somewhat between silver and black. It almost looks like a silver that has been tarnished, but is still shiny.

 This is another one that I tend to replicate. This necklace has the clasp on the side right after the metal leaf. I also have these leaf pieces in silver.

 Close up of the focal point

 Matching earrings.

 This necklace has a the same asymmetry but with a  double chain in the front. I used antique silver split pieces to do that.

 Close up of the focal piece

 Matching earrings

 This one is the same concept as the last. I used peach colored pearls instead. Also the focal piece is a rose instead of a metal embellishment.

 I really love this rose bead. It's made from separate parts and combine to give it a fuller effect. I definitely plan on buying more of these before I can't find them anymore!

Although these are only at Blossom, in beautiful downtown Cadillac, MI, I can always try to create them again. The biggest issue I have is to try and find the exact parts that I've previously used. I try to only buy 1 of each thing, so that all of my items are unique. If you are interested in any of these, however, just let me know. I can do my best to replicate them and post them on Etsy. Thanks for stopping by!
Holly

Let Them Eat Cake!

It seems like it's been forever since I've been on here. I've recently completed school with for my RN. Now that I'm done I will have more free time to get on here and post. I've recently started baking more in my spare time. I've always loved watching those cake shows on TV and was always impressed at how grand they were. I've always made cakes but nothing like those. Well, I made a trip to Hobby Lobby and ended up with all of the cake tools I may need, probably for the rest of my life. I started with a basic cake. I made James help. I made homemade buttercream and put him to work. Then I got busy trying to figure out how to make sugar flowers.


These are my first attempts at daisies and roses. Not bad for a first try. Then it came time to put the tiers together. These are the daisies, believe it or not these were really pretty easy to make. You just have to cut them out of the gum paste. Then you use little tools to make the edges thinner. The middle is just gum paste tinted yellow.

 This is my first attempt at a rose. This was a little more difficult. I still need more practice on getting the edges thinner. You have to start with a base then make individual flowers and layer them to get a fuller look.

This is a close up of the daisy. I used yellow sugar for the middle too.

This started out to be a water lilly, but I never made the rest of it. I just had extra pink colored gum paste.

This is the first official cake. It's pretty helter skelter, but that's just because I was trying to get a feel for decorating the cake in general. It takes a lot of time in order to place things just right. I also had to fondant a cake for the first time. Let me tell you they make that look easy on TV. It's really harder than it looks.

Here's the other side of the cake. I made calla lillies the same way as the other flowers. I think these turned out a little better than the daisies.

 This was the top layer of fondant. I used a press that embossed a design into the fondant. I really like the way it turned out!

 Here's the rose and 2 carnations that I attempted.

This is the second cake I tried. With this practice cake I tried to pipe on a design instead of using the embossing mat. This is going to take some practice. Mind you this is the 1st attempt at piping. My hand is still not as steady as it needs to be.










This is the top of the cake. I ran out of callas, but you get the general idea. This is what the top of my sister's wedding cake will look like. It will be next September at my house. And guess who is making the cake? ME! OMG I'd better get some more practice in. I really enjoy making cakes. I would like to start making more out of my home. I've tried thinking of a really cute name for my "bakery" or so you could say. Any ideas?

Lovely Lilies

This is the best year for my lilies since we've moved into our house 4 years ago. I'm not sure if they're just spreading more or if they just like the weather this year. My day lilies that I planted last year have gotten really tall. The flowers are almost 5 feet!

 Then my little yellow ones have a ton of blooms on them.

 This is one that I planted this year. I love the dark purple almost black color. It gives a great contrast to my garden.

I've also got some regular ornamental lilies blooming. This one is my Sherbert lily. I moved it 2 years ago and this is the first time it's done anything since. I ended up with only 1 flower, but I'm sure that next year it will be even better.

 Then I've got a soft blush pink lily

 And bold reds

Then my favorite ones; my Stargazers! I love the bright pink and white together.

I've got a few other kinds of flowers opening up too. My delphinium is smaller than last year as far as height, but the petals are huge!

And, do you remember one of my earlier posts of the orange and pink gerber daisies? It's done really well and had filled in great.

I know I haven't really been on here in awhile, it seems like there's always too many things going on in the summer time. This heat wave has been really unbearable too, since I don't have air conditioning. It's not enjoyable to sit at my computer with the sun hitting me through the window when its 95 and humid. I've since added a few more items to my Etsy account too. I hope that if you ever get a chance that you'll check it out. www.etsy.com/shop/hmbeadcompany. I still only have necklaces posted, but I'm working on getting pictures of everything else. Well, I hope all is well with everyone.
Until next time,
Holly

I've got an Etsy Page!

Well, I finally set up an Esty account! There's only a few things on there so far, but I will be adding new things every day until I get all of my work on there. I'll try to keep posting those pics on here to, so that you can be kept updated. Check it out by clicking on the link on the left or http://esty.com/shop/hmbeadcompany. I will always have the small link on the left of this page.
I hope you enjoy it!
Holly

New Shelf

I made James work really hard this week. Not only did he have to clean up the yard for our party, but he made me a new shelf for the bathroom. It's not quite done, but it's a start. The wall was just so barren that it needed something. I'll eventually need some other things to fill the shelf. I'm welcome to any ideas. I found the blue Ball jars for a steal at an antique shop that was going out of business. I got them all for about $3.00. I filled them with beach glass and tea lights. The one on the right has lavender that I bought from Debbie's booth. I put my Scentsy tealight in the middle. I'm going to have James also put little hooks on the flat parts so I can hang something on them. Any ideas for that are more than welcome also.

 My flower beds this year blooms some surprises. These daisy's weren't there last year and I didn't plant them. They magically appeared and started blooming. I think they're a great addition to this bed.

 I also got a great deal on some bulbs. Because it's close to the end of the season bulbs were marked down 75%. I wasn't prepared for them to do really well this year, but low and behold here's the first one. I can't remember the name but it's a kind of daffodil. I love that it's so different looking.

 My lilies did really well this year too. I think they overcame the shock of transplanting them last year.

Well, let me know if you have any ideas for my new shelf! I can't wait to hear them!
Holly