New Lampwork Earrings

Yesterday I made time to create a few pairs of earrings.  Each of these pairs feature my lampwork in them.  The earrings on the left have green iridescent leaves at the bottom under pretty blue Czech glass squares. The pair in the center has 2 of my daisy flower headpins.  I bent the wire at the back of the flower and added the green Czech glass ovals and brass connectors.  The earrings on the right have pink bell flower headpins with antiqued silver cones on the top.  These earrings will be in our Etsy shop soon.

"Hobo" Gloves

Lampwork - Glass Rods

 

Look at these beautiful glass lampworking rods.  This is what I make the beads and headpins from.  I melt these rods with a torch to form these leaves. 

Large Hole Lampwork Sprocket Beads

 

Here are some of my sprocket lampwork beads.  These make great earrings and links in necklaces.   I have a special mandrel that I use to make the hole so large.

   

Summer Fun Leather Bracelets

These fun bracelets are an example of the jewelry that we make at Dry Gulch. My daughter Catherine made these octopus bracelets for a customer.  She hand stamps the sentiment and rivets it and the octopus onto the leather bracelet.  Each one is unique and she can stamp any message you like. 

Crocheted Hat

This is my latest crochet project.  This hat was made with Japanese yarn that I found at The Rabbit's Lair in Rogers AR. If you are in the area, this store is an incredible fiber store.  They carry fabric, yarn, hand dyed threads, felt and more.  The pattern is called Bonita and can be found on Ravelry.  Some of my pieces will be available in a new Etsy store soon. 

Beaded Beads

These beaded beads are a blast to make.  They use SuperDuo two-hole beads and Swarovski crystals.  I made several sets of these for earrings and necklaces.  You can find SuperDuo beads on our website, www.drygulch.com.

Medallion Ribbons

I created these pretty embellishments with elements from the Bravo Making Memories line, ribbons and lace and silk flowers.  These medallions make great package decorations and card toppers.

More Bell Flower Headpins

These are my newest bell flower headpins.  I melt the glass with a torch to form these cute little flowers.  These make great earrings.  Just bend the wire into a loop and dangle from anything.  Available in our Etsy shop.

Crochet Socks- A First!

I wanted to share my first pair of crochet socks.  These were very challenging and they just might be my last pair of socks.  I have to admit that this was a great project for learning many stitches.  The secret to great socks is to use yarn with stretch.  These are cotton with a tiny bit of stretchy material in them.  I hope Deborah enjoys them!

Flower Card

I created this pretty card this morning for our partner, Christina Hickman, in the 2016 Bead Peeps Swap N Hop.  This is an exciting bead swap for Dry Gulch Beads and I needed a pretty card to include with the beads we sent. I embossed an antique brass filigree and layered it over the foiled background.  The leaves are French seed beaded leaves that I created.  The gilded bird is a vintage German Dresden piece - these are very hard to find.  The lace is vintage, of course.

New Flower Bud Headpins

Here is my latest batch of flower bud headpins.  These are prefect for necklaces and bracelets.  These are available in sets of 5 and can be found in our Etsy shop.  Here is a pair of earrings made by our customer and friend, Carla Rickman She used the flower buds and leaves.  Beautiful!

Leaf Lampwork Headpins

We have been busy at the torch this week.  This the latest batch of leaf headpins.  You can find them in our Etsy shop.

Dry Gulch March 2016 Color Challenge

Design with color and inspire your creativity!

Welcome to the

Dry Gulch Color Design Challenge!

Every month Dry Gulch Beads and Jewelry will be hosting a challenge for creative artisans everywhere.  Be inspired and unleash your creative talents!  What will you create?

Use our colors to inspire your creativity!  Post your project using the color palette above.  Your design will be eligible to win either a $50 gift certificate or a $25 gift certificate to Dry Gulch Beads.
 
Anything can be created for this challenge, including;  finished jewelry pieces, headbands, wearable pendants/pins, handmade cards, lampwork beads, seed-bead art, sewing design, metal-smithing/art, paper crafting, clothing/fiber art, leather work, painting, even your favorite culinary delights (like cupcakes), etc.  Your project must be created newly and specifically for our current monthly challenge.  The sky is the limit!  Show us how creative you are with our color palette.
 
For this challenge, Dry Gulch is offering a $50 gift certificate to the Winner and a $25 gift certificate prize to the Runner-up.  The judges will be looking for adherence to the color palette, creativity of the project’s design and effort.  You may purchase and use Dry Gulch components in your project, but that is not a requirement to win.
 
Your judges (4 judges) will be the 3 generations of women who create at Dry Gulch Beads and Jewelry.  The judges may create and post their own visions of the monthly color palette also, but for inspiration and presentation only.We’ll publish each created work on Facebook and here on this challenge page.  Add your photo in the comments on our Color Design Challenge Facebook Event or email us your photo to custserv@drygulch.com.  When uploading, you may add a description of your work.  If also Facebooking and/or blogging your Dry Gulch Color Design project, please add a link to the Challenge on your page.  You may also use our official Color Challenge blog badge, which can be found on this page to the right.
 
Entries for the Dry Gulch Color Design Challenge may be turned in from now until midnight CST, Thursday, March 31st, 2016.

Thank You Card

This pretty little thank you card was made for a friend who taught me how to tat.  I wanted to learn tatting for a long time and it was a wonderful lesson by Mary Jo in Richardson, TX.  Mary Jo runs the tatting group, Tuesday Tatters.   I know she will appreciate the vintage lace I added to this card.

New Lampwork Headpins

These cute little bell flower headpins are the newest addition to my lampwork headpins.  I recently bought a new flower press and have been working on different combinations of flower colors.  The transparent ones are my favorites, but I have had special orders for opaque flowers already.  My daughter, Victoria has been making them as well. She is becoming an accomplished lampworker.

Here is a necklace I created using the bell flower headpins (which can be found in our Etsy store).

Return to Blog Land

Hello, my fellow crafters!  It has been awhile since I have shared my creative projects here.  I have decided to expand my blog to include all of the other creative things that I do.  I love to crochet, make jewelry and I also create lampwork.

I recently went crazy at Michael's and brought home a ton of yarn.  I plan to crochet baby hats and booties, neck warmers and more. Stay tuned for more crafts!

Passion Flower Card

 

I created this passion flower card as a thank you to Grandad and Grandma Gail for my birthday presents.  I love the botanical print that I found on Pinterest.  We have wild passion flower vines growing in our horse pasture.  As always, I distressed and inked the edges.  I created the shimmery background using my new Gelatos.  The butterfly diecut needed a little extra something, so I added a dresden butterfly over the top.  The little green resing flowers are from The French General.  I love their embellishments.  The filigree corner can be found at Dry Gulch.  I hope they like the card.

Vintage Blue Bird Card

This is my latest card creation.  I love the digital image of this pretty blue bird.  I found a sheet of these images on Pinterest and printed them on cardstock.  I distressed and inked the edges and layered it over a background I made using water colored shimmery Gelatos.   I added lots of trims and a chipboard birdcage that I found at Michaels.  A sparkly gemstone flourish is the finishing touch.  The pink set shown below will be my next creation.  I love the old fashioned look of the vintage prints. 

Vintage Style Thank You Card

My sister sent me a giant set of Gelatos for my birthday so I had to play with them.  I made this old fashioned thank you card using lots of antiqued layers.  I started with a piece of cardstock with writing on it and smeared on three colors of Gelatos.  The pigments are rich and sparkly.  I used a watercolor brush to soften and blend the colors.  Next I distressed and inked the edges.  Then it was time to start layering.  I embossed the filigree with embossing powder and added more Gelatos to the thank you plaque.  I hope my sister likes it!

Making Lace Cards

Just look at this beautiful batch of lace medallions.  Lace is a folded and cut paper technique pronounced lah-say.  Using a cut file that my sister created, I used my Cameo to cut these laces. These all have a simple scalloped edge which makes the cutting go faster.  I use these to decorate little folded cards cut from scrap cardstock.  It is a great use for the extra paper we all have.  Usually, when I create a card, I cut the excess into rectangle shapes that are just the right size for these little cards.  These unique notecards will be used to add a personal note when I ship bead and jewelry orders for Dry Gulch Beads.

Beautiful Bird Card

My sister created this beautiful bird card for my birthday.  I love the old fashioned colors and the pretty bird.  The different layers of paper have lots of texture.  The little collage in the corner makes the perfect finish for such an elegant card.  Thanks to MFS!