It’s been a long time since I wrote a few lines here. My life is in constant revolution and evolution and I’m trying hard to find a balance between my daily obligations and the need to create. Beads, pearls and cristals are part of my daily schedule but then again so little time left to keep the online world running. It’s a challenge indeed! And, as usual, I’m up for it!

Ideas are always blooming in my head and crawling into the world via the beadwork. As new year is just about, I get my share of  special requests for customized pieces and I’m very greatful for it! I’m also thinking about a few tutorials and tips to share so keep in touch dear friends!

Much love to you all
Kindly,
Annie
XOXO

I just found out visiting the Etsy Beadweavers website that I am winning the August Challenge for my Royal Blue necklace!  I’m very happy!

They got a great number of visitors this month and this is also an awesome news!

Many thanks to you all for your great participation and support!

Kindly,

Annie

XOXO

You can see more creations of mine, including this necklace at Studio Annie Veillette.

This beautiful choker necklace can be found at my Etsy Store. Please be sure to share this post, or the Etsy page with your friends and network that also love Arts, Jewelry, and Beadwork.

Inspired by her character, I conducted a little further research discovering just how controversial her life was, and I was further inspired by her love of the fine arts, dance, and fashion. A great deal can be said about her wardrobe and her sense of aesthetics, however, the most interesting fact is that her genuineness had a simplicity to it that brought a greater degree of modesty to the elaborate fashions of France toward the end of the 1700’s.

Seeing this impact upon fashion in that era, I found myself compelled to focus on precision and simplicity, rather than adding more detailed embellishments upon this beaded choker jewelry. Ribbons were a significant visual trademark of the Marie Antoinette icon as image upon image are viewed. Adding the ribbon as a main feature at the back of the choker created an amazing result.

Creating the stitching, strength, and curve loopholes for the ribbon were a fun variation. The results when worn are out
of this world. The texture and comfort of the ribbon is sensuous and pleasing, while dressing up the view from the back very beautifully. Properly fastening and tying the ribbon allows the choker to be worn very easily and comfortably, and can be done with different colored ribbons, various styles of dress, and even use other fasteners.

The “Royal Blue” Marie Antoinette choker is easily one of the most comfortable chokers ever worn. The pattern’s repitition and the high-quality beads used gives the jewelry a ‘crisp’ look that is clean and consistent with the influence Marie Antoinette had on fashion in the late 1700’s. Historical images and presentations also indicate the colors chosen as favorites; the royal blue crystal, paired with yellow.

You can find this Choker, the “Royal Blue”, at my Etsy Store. I’ve entered this beaded jewelery into the Etsy’s Beadweavers AugustChallenge, “First Lady”, and your vote would be tremendouslyappreciated. You can visit from August 9th to August 15th to place your vote.

Special thanks to Lee Down for editing this post.

What is a pearl exactly? A grain of sand ingested by a wild oyster? No! No! No!

The mollusc must ingest something like a piece of shell, bone, coral,
or a parasite. When that happens, this becomes an irritant to the
oyster or mussel and they will coat it with a substance called nacre
which they also use to build their shell. Over a period of time, the
longer the better for the sake of the pearl quality, there will form
many layers of nacre added over the irritant.

“Nacre is composed of microscopic crystals of calcium carbonate
perfectly aligned with each other, so that light passing along the
axis of one crystal is reflected and refracted by the other crystals
to produce a rainbow of light and color.” ~ Jamie Hogsett

A cultured (or natural) pearl will always have blemishes and that’s a
way to differentiate it from an imitation. Most of the time, the hole
will be drilled where the blemishes are for aesthetic and quality
purposes. A flawless pearl is either an imitation, or a pearl wtih
super-great-value!

The value of a pearl is also determined by the lustre of its surface,
just as much as its inner-glow. In other words, a thick layer of nacre
will refract superb light and a deep glow which determines the value
and quality of the pearl.

I hope you enjoyed this bit of insight into the pearl. Now I’m going
back to work with my pearls on this beaded jewelry.

Have a great day! Keep the wisdom and faith!

My Online Store

Aureole

310 St Luc BL
St-Jean-Sur-Richelieu, QC J2W 2M6
(450) 359-4684

And is always available online in my Etsy shop.

“here’s the logo of my webzine since the very begining

for me this is the color of positionning

it’s between a « light blue » which represents self-expression and eternal knowledge, creativity and a « vivid green » which represents vitality and personal growth

this turquoise for me speaks of a place in between, something like diversity … an opening for the other, something different”

Éric Bolduc – éditeur ratsdeville
agent commissaire – la dixième porte

“My favorite color is green. (…) for one thing my eyes are green…..other than that I love green because it’s a healthy color. It shows growth in everything and as you can see from my Etsy shop, I have a love of nature.

But to me it’s not just nature’s growth that is green, it’s in people also. We are becoming more & more “green” every day. It is a part of the wonderful world we live in every day. Without the color green this planet would be and look dead. It’s also a calming color in my opinion. I find that it’s the most calming (to me anyway). Nothing is better than walking out into my gardens at the end of a stressful day and just sit amongst all the green plants….it helps wash all the hurry hurry stress away.”

Debbie Rigrish

“My favourite colour? That’s one of those questions that, for me anyway, is both easy and hard to answer at the same time. I’ll opt for the easy answer I think…

My favourite colour would have to be orange, yet it is a colour I don’t wear and don’t own anything in except for art supplies. I would look terrible in orange, and would hate orange furniture or accessories, preferring something more restful. But as an art material I love orange.

I do mean as a material too, not just as a colour. When I was doing the Honours year of my Diploma of Art & Creativity we looked at the idea that colour itself can be a material. I immersed myself in every orange paint and dye and ink and powder I could find – then couldn’t sleep. The orange was all so overpowering and intense that my mind just could not shut down. And then there’s the message orange screams – warning, danger, pay attention, high alert – no wonder I was wide awake till all hours of the night.

The more I filled page after page, canvas after canvas, with orange paint, dye, ink, wool, cellophane, the more I could see that the orange itself operates as a material. Stunning. So why is orange my favourite colour? I think it is the sheer intensity, the excitement of it, and its ability to create a reaction, that appeals to me.”

Cath Sheard

Cath’s blog!

“Le vert est rafraîchissant et  énergisant!”

Jonathan Houle, Photographer

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“My mother used to cover me in purple and everyone tells me my blue-green eyes are pretty, but if you look in my closet, on my walls and even at my company’s logo, it’s easy to see my favorite color is red. I sometimes think it’s because I’m an Aries and, since I became interested in horoscopes, I’ve been told red is my color. It could be because the color, in its many shades, can be so rich and passionate. I think I like it simply because I do, though – still – even my best friend will tell you purple and green are my colors of choice. (The truth is, they’re hers.)

Red. Red. Red.

Red lips, red walls, red shirts, red car: my favorite color is red.”

Rhiannon Bowman

The Word Trade

We help small businesses use words wisely.

“I have always loved green and black , but recently I have been playing a lot in red. I don’t know why.
I used to always walk away from red as a child. As a child I had red hair and didn’t like the way it looked on me, but now I have blond (which is red gray hair) and I even wear it more.
I think it might be that I am attracted to it because it brightens the monochromatic stage of my life.”

Marie Segal

Art from my heart

“Here’s some earrings I’ve sold using gold and yellow tones as well as others, but lately as summer comes along these warmer yellow/gold colors seem to say sun.”

Judy Richards

Cat Paws Artifacts

I’ve been watching the Etsy Bead Weavers monthly challenge for a while…  The pieces of bead artwork that are entering the contest are stunning!!!  See for yourself and if you love beads and are not familiar with that blog you MUST suscribe.

It never came to my mind that I could add my beads to it until recently.  When sharing this idea with my friends on facebook, I got some really encouraging words from rocking bead artists!  Carol from SandFibers for instance.  You’ll see what I’m talking about when I say rocking if you check out her store on Etsy. I call her the “Triangle lady”!

Let’s have fun!

This month challenge is not an easy one for me but very inspiring for that specific reason. Here’s what it’s all about :

Let’s have fun!
When I saw Beadwoman’s necklace at the Time Machine theme, I just loved the humour in it! That’s why I would like to choose HUMOUR for June’s challenge. Humour is international and it has several forms: intelligent, absurd, simple, plebeian etc. I would like to see many-many funny jewellery pieces! Let’s laugh heartily!

Vezsuzsi picked it up as she was the winner of the April challenge.

My entry

Back to my entry for this month (if I get to finish all the enrollment process on time) will be this “Bed or roses for ladybugs“.   It’s a multi-layered piece that can be sports in many different fashions. The picture above show the most conservative way possible as you just tie it out and leave the straps hanging on your back.  You can also wear it long, short, let the straps hang each side or twist it around the neckline, twist one side or both, make a knot or not…possibilities can run as far as your imagination…

Technical stuff

I made a spiral for the base.  I am a sucker for spirals as it is so much fun to do and so versatile. The center is where the flowers are in full blooms with lots of foliage (I added 1 layer to the spiral for roses and foliage and just a touch of yellow but it’s not really an extra “layer”). The side strap also is a spiral to wich I added 2 layers.  Flowers are about to bloom and there’s far less foliage.  Both side are not the same lenght.  One side is finished with a red Swarovki drop crystal and the other side with 3 bicones Swarovski in different shades of green.  As you can see, ladybugs are making there way in on the neckline but I did not want to add too many as I thought they would kind of disappear in the garden!!!  These five little missies are there to add a cheer to this work. The sublety of this addition does the trick for me!

Inspiration

I got inspired as I was surfing the Youtube channel of my favorite makeup artist MissChievous, I totally fell for her ladybug look!  Too cute!!!  Check it out and suscribe to her channel if you like it!  I certainly do!

Special thanks!

I have to mention that I got some pretty good tips to improve my Etsy store from Patricia who is managing my enrollment and I am sending her a special thanks for it. Check out her amazing work in her Etsy store : SilverDragon.

I also need to mention a dear Twitter friend @JimCim (photographer) who gave me some advices and also did touch up in the top picture.  Love what he did!!! Check out his blog here… Thanks Jim!