It's beginning to look a lot like Advent

What's a girl to do when she's nuts about the holidays but works for a bishop who is adamant about the separation of Advent and Christmas?

I love the holidays. Starting with Halloween and ending with Epiphany on Jan. 6 (I celebrate Christmas for as long as possible!) I get all sentimental and happy. I decorate for each holiday and wear annoying holiday-themed clothes and jewelry.

I was contemplating the first Sunday of Advent, which is a season of waiting and preparation, in church Sunday and I thought about Advent wreaths. My eye fell upon my Mah Jongg bracelet and I had an early Epiphany. An Advent bracelet!

I went home had chose three purple tiles and one pink tile. (The pink tile is for the third Sunday in Advent which traditionally is rose or pink in honor of Mary or Gaudete Sunday.) I paired them with large 12mm crystal rounds. I'm quite pleased with it and version of this will be available in my Etsy shop.

I drilled a necklace last night for a customer who bought an Ivory-colored Mah Jongg tile on 18inch silver cable choker but asked if I had any Flower tiles instead. I found, and she approved, a Flower tile on a green flower-backed tile. I paired it with a green cable since it added to both sides beautifully.

Finally, I made a cute red and green checked bracelet similar to what Mom did in August but forgot to photograph it. Oops. Three green-checked tiles alternate with three red-checked tiles. This can be worn year round but I admit I had Christmas in mind as I made it.

Do you lilac these?

Just a couple more to show you tonight. First I drilled white Mah Jongg tiles and strung them with 10mm rainbow-and-white-striped roller beads and 10mm white fiber optics rounds. Adding the rounds helps the roller beads lay better so I'll attempt to do the same with yesterday's black bracelet as soon as I get more black beads.

I then drilled these lilac and white Mah Jongg tiles and after much looking decided I liked them best with the 10mm white fiber optic rounds.

I need to get into some fall type bracelets but they'll have to wait a bit since I've got a major work commitment Sept. 13-21. The bishops are coming! That's right, The Episcopal Diocese of Arizona is hosting The Episcopal Church's House of Bishops. More than 200 bishops and their spouses and partners will be here.

It's a good thing I love the color purple, right?

I'm bead, flat, worn out, tired....

I haven't been able to do any drilling since last Thursday due to two emergency room adventures, but I'm slowly getting back up to speed and thought I'd share two of the items I've worked on.

First of all is a custom Trinity Cathedral bracelet I did last Thursday as a prospectus for the Dean after he showed interest in the Diocesan one I did a few weeks ago. I had white Mah Jongg tiles engraved with the Cathedral's crest and strung it with amethyst beads. (Purple is the cathedral's color since it's the Bishop's see, or seat, and the Bishop's ring is traditionally made of amethyst. It's also why bishops wear purple shirts and vestments.)

He liked it and showed it to the Cathedral Shoppe manager. After some discussion we're going to try stocking a few things such as bracelets, necklaces, key chains, and a bolo tie and see how they do.

Tonight was the first time I felt up for using my drill press so I drilled some black Mah Jongg tiles with primary engraving and strung them with 10mm rainbow roller beads. I'm delighted with the colors but the roller beads don't lay as smoothly as I'd like, so I'll be experimenting with them. I plan something similar with white tiles and rainbow roller beads with white spacing between the stripes. Both black and white versions will be available in my Etsy shop with personalization available.

I also tried to drill some chopsticks for my lovely noodle hat but both broke so I'll have to experiment with that when I have both the time and energy.

Don't worry, bead happy

I had yet another productive weekend, although I didn't get much drilling done.

Friday afternoon I stopped by a small local salon and boutique in Scottsdale called S.tylers of 5th Ave. A friend told them about my jewelry and the owner asked me to stop by. They loved what I have and put 11 bracelets and four necklaces on consignment!

So I got busy, after making Mom a Patriotic bracelet. She didn't realize the one I had made was a sale item and had been looking for it so I made her one of her own. Using 7-4-1-7-7-6 (Character?) tiles I made it with red stripes and royal blue beads.

That done, I had to get busy making new items so I started stringing some floral Mah Jongg beads I had. This has been a favorite bracelet of mine for years so I was delighted to find more online. I thought they were drilled tiles but after getting them I think they are just really good beads. Who knows.

First I made another bracelet like mine (six tiles) with 10mm white fiber optic beads. This is on Etsy.

I also made some with 10mm magenta, blue and green glass pearls, which pick up the three colors in the floral tiles. All are in my Etsy shop.

These are really festive but only the green and white beaded bracelets are truly reversible since the magenta and blue don't match the faces.

Saturday was busy with various events so I didn't string or drill anything! However, I was able to give my future sister-in-law her personalized bracelet for her birthday celebration and she seemed very pleased.

Tonight I made more floral bracelets and drilled my four final black Rexphiles logo tiles and strung them with two 20mm twisty black cinnabar beads between each. It's stunning but you'll have to wait to see it since I forgot that to shoot that one.

Monday I need to get busy with gift boxes and tags. And restring a butterfly bracelet for the shop owner's granddaughter.

Oh! And here's the ice-blue bracelet I did last week for Mom with the 11mm sea-green cinnabar beads.

Proud as a peacock

I only made three bracelets tonight but my mind worked on dozens, thanks to a new shipment of cinnabar beads. Oh, the possibilities!

First of all, I restrung a blue denim/granite bracelet I made last week from 15mm red cinnabar rounds to new 15mm dark peacock blue cinnabar rounds. While I liked it with the red I am really tickled with the new blue beads - especially since the one Bamboo is a peacock. I'd make more but I'm out of the blue tiles for now.

I then drilled six of the pink breast cancer awareness tiles I did yesterday and made a similar bracelet for myself. I do love this odd combination.

Sadly, I can't show you my last effort since I couldn't pry it off Mom's wrist! Drilling the same ice-blue tiles from yesterday, I strung them with these lovely new blue-green cinnabar beads. (The beads in the photo are 15mm but we got those colors.) The beads are supposed to be 10mm but are more of an 11mm so we'll have to play around with the number of beads for size.

When I get it off Mom. It's too bad she "doesn't like" these ice-blue tiles!

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Mum's the word

I had yet another productive night drilling and stringing six (6!) bracelets but, first, I wanted to show off two of Mom's creations.

I love this green gingham set she did. (I drilled the tiles for her but she strung 'em with 8mm white fiber optic rounds.) She has a green gingham jumper and this makes an adorable accessory for it.

Mom didn't care for these ice-blue tiles ... until I held them against the blue and green 8x10mm tube beads. Now she likes it so much she asked me to drill a matching necklace to go with it! She likes the white Dragon tile with the "P" since that's the first letter of her name. Why a "P"? According to Sloperama:

Po means "white" or "blank." Some tiles come marked with a letter "B" or "P." Why "B" or "P"? In Mandarin Chinese, most people these days call the white dragon tile "bai" or "bai-ban" (sounds like "buy" or "buy bonds," er, I mean, "buy bon"), meaning "white" or "white board." In Cantonese, the white dragon is usually called "bok" or "bok bon" (as in "bok choy" which means "white vegetable"). In Cantonese Jyut Ping, "bok bon" is written as "Baak6 Baan2." In some parts of China, what we Westerners think of as "B" can be pronounced "B" or "P" depending on the word and the local dialect. Originally, white dragon tiles were all blank.

As for what I did, my first effort tonight was with pink tiles from an incomplete breast cancer awareness set. I made this to sell on Etsy but I'm so pleased with it I think I'll make another, larger version for me. (If you see five tiles in a bracelet it's pretty much guaranteed to be for sale!) It's strung with 10mm frosted red plum glass beads.

If you like to wear more than one at a time, as I do, then the pink bracelet looks great with this similar mint green bracelet with 10mm frosted green glass beads. As with all these bracelets, it's reversible so you can wear it either direction.

I was shocked by how much I liked this pairing. I'm more of a silver girl, but had five gold mardi gras tiles. I drilled them then stared at my beads trying to decide what went with them. Strands of metallic blue in the gold tiles caught my eye, so I grabbed these 10mm blue fiber optic rounds. Wow! As I said, I'm more of a silver girl, but if I had more of these gold tiles I'd make one for me, too. This is for sale on Etsy.

I then went on to patriotic and Christmas themes. The first set is a red-stripe tile with 10mm frosted green glass beads. It features 1-2-2-5 Bamboo tiles plus a Winter tile. All very Christmasy, no?

The patriotic bracelet is made with either lighter red or a very deep pink stripe tiles. Neither Mom nor I could decide but we loved it paired with the 10mm royal blue fiber optic rounds.

I ended the evening with lovely turquoise-stripe tiles paired with 10mm white fiber optic rounds. It's made with NEWS Wind tiles and the blue and white Dragons.

Not bad for a night's work.

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The beads of ummer*

*with apologies to Don Henley**

Tonight's beading was fun!

As I was sorting through my projects for tonight, I discovered an oops. The summer Season tile was missing its "S" so it was an "um" tile. It made me laugh so I had to drill it as one of my projects. (I've seen some with a letter not filled-in before but not missing the letter altogether!) Here's the coral-backed Mah Jongg tile bracelet made with the four Season tiles, a three Character and a Joker, since I thought the "um" tile was a joke. I strung it with 10mm frosted green glass beads with facets.

I then did a burgundy-backed bracelet with 10 or 12mm beads. I forget what they are but possibly Rhodonite? I like it but I'm not thrilled so I'll probably list it for sale.

I also made a bracelet for my daughter's teacher (the principal's sister!) at her request with the custom tiles I had made with the school's Good Fortune logo.

I also drilled necklaces with my custom black and white (with red engraving) chops and a school tile, too. All for me!

Ooh, and I sold my first bracelet on Etsy tonight!

Click on any photo to see it larger.

**Hmm, yesterday the Eagles', Take it Easy (Eagles), and tonight Don Henley's, Boys of Summer (Building the Perfect Bead?). Guess I need to go listen to them!

Just for the drill of it

I had a such a lovely weekend being creative!

Friday night I made a personalized bracelet representing my daughter's birth. It's on pink-backed tiles since she's a girl. The numbers represent the date of her birth. (I used Jokers as "0" since there are no zeros in Mah Jongg.) May's birthstone is Emerald so I chose tiles with green in them and strung it with green 10mm fiber optic rounds. I love how it turned out and even my mom, who loathes pink, liked it!

More of my custom tiles arrived on Saturday and oh! I had fun creating jewelry!

First I made a bracelet featuring the logo for The Episcopal Diocese of Arizona where I work. I told the engraver to use her best judgment on what would look best after I told her the color palette we use. Wow, did she deliver! The ivory-colored tile nearly matches our stationary and the logo is engraved with a slightly pearlescent aqua. I strung my bracelet with alternating bands of dark brown and aqua 10mm fiber optic beads.

I then made a bracelet with milky white mah jongg tiles I had engraved with a midnight blue Chinese "Good Fortune" symbol. The symbol is the logo for my daughter's school and I thought they might be able to use it for appreciation awards and school fund-raisers. (Navy and light blue with white are the school colors.) I strung the bracelet with matching midnight blue 10mm fiber optic rounds to wear and show the principal.

I proceeded on to a black bracelet featuring my Rexphiles and Rextiles logos! Engraved in red and green on identical black tiles, I alternated them with black 10mm fiber optic rounds since I wanted the red and green to pop. I think it's simply stunning and totally me. (People have been teasing me about all the purple in my wardrobe. I foresee a lot of black in my future!)

I saved the best for last - and the hardest! My chop, or Chinese seal, was engraved in red on both black (above) and white tiles. I strung the white tiles with red 10mm South Sea China pearls. The reconstituted (!) pearls had the gorgeous color I wanted but the hole was small so I had to carefully ream each and every bead. Some broke and it took me more time to create that bracelet then all the other projects that night!

Tonight I wanted to continue with an idea I had Saturday night. A couple of weeks ago I had picked up an inexpensive 18 inch green cable choker with barrel clasp. It fits me and is surprisingly comfortable, although I do want to get some in a 20 inch length.

The green didn't work with the piece I was thinking of but on Saturday inspiration struck and I drilled a single hole through one of my Rexphiles tiles and threaded the green cable through it. It's not normally something that would appeal to me but I love it with the funky Mah Jongg tile.

So today I bought more cables and tonight I made more. Lots more. I made one for my daughter's principal on a blue cable. I made one for work on a dark brown cable. I made some for fun, and I made a bunch for my Etsy shop.

I also got out my heat gun and embossed some gift tags and boxes.

Can you tell I'm having fun?

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Happy bead day to me!

I went a bit crazy again tonight drilling beads. I finally got caught up on Mom's requests, then did some for myself and for my new Etsy shop.

For me, I drilled some lovely pale blue glitter Mah Jongg tiles and matched them with 10mm midnight blue fiber optic rounds. I love how the contrast in blues works together.

I then made up my own birthday bracelet featuring the date of my birth in numerical tiles: 7-1-1-6-4. Since I'm a July baby I used onyx beads to space the tiles. The year? I thought about using a dragon tile since '64 was the Year of the Dragon, but decided to use a summer Season tile instead since I already have so many dragon tiles in my bracelets.

These are a lot of fun to do since you can commemorate any date (as long as I have the appropriate numbers!) and can use either semi-precious birthstones or beads of appropriate color. I want to do one for my daughter but didn't have the right emerald glitter tiles for her birthdate, so I'm still thinking that one over.

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Beauty and the bead

Well, the wedding dress is done. Phew. The bride can now wear her dress with a smile on Sunday while standing on a Hawaiian beach at sunset.

Putting in the new zipper left me with little time for drilling or beading tonight, but I have high hopes for Thursday. After all, I have a brand-new Etsy store to fill!

Just bead it, bead it

I have had so much fun making bracelets and being creative since I got my drill press on Friday!

I love to make things and, while I also love to sew, making several bracelets in one night is much more satisfying than taking several days (or weeks) on a dress.

Last night was especially fun since I finally got to drill and make some bracelets that have been haunting me for more than two years.

Using what is called a blue denim Mah Jongg tile, I strung it with red (modern!) cinnabar tubes. This one is for sale on Etsy.

Pleased with the results, I made one for me that's a little larger and heavier. It's also made with blue denim tiles but with modern red cinnabar rounds.

When I started sorting through the black & white speckle-backed tiles (similar to the blue denim), I was delighted to find a Mazel Tov joker. I immediately thought of my soon-to-be sister-in-law. She's Jewish and loves to go canyoneering year-round. So I made her a bracelet with the Mazel Tov tile and four Season tiles on the black & white speckle-backed tiles (which I think looks like granite) matched with some twisty red cinnabar - just like her beloved Utah slot canyons.

Mom and I were so pleased with the results that we bagged up several more sets in black & white and green & white speckle-backed tiles for me to work on Tuesday night.

Finally I got some .7 Stretch Magic and got my Christmas bracelet finished. I am delighted with it and can't wait until the first Sunday in Advent, Nov. 28, so I can wear it!

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Drillin', drillin', drillin', Rextiles!

Phew, what a weekend!

I got my new drill press, got it set up and, after a lot of adjustment, drilled my first holes in more than two years. Yee haw!

I drilled purple glitter and purple mardi gras tiles for me (both sides are shown), green stripes and green checks for Mom. (Can you guess what our favorite colors are?)

I also strung these tiles with a purple glass pearl. I really like how the pearly surface set off the sparkly tile. I'm looking for matte beads too since I have more glitter and mardi gras tiles. I might restring the pictured braclet too if I can find some purple matte beads for it.

Saturday I drilled three green striped and three red striped tiles for a Christmas bracelet I'm working on for me with gingerbread boy polymer beads from Kennick Kreations. The red and green striped tiles made me think of Christmas candy. I'm having to adjust the beads a bit since my gingerbread boys are about 12mm in diameter so I needed 4mm fiber optics rounds to make the size I need for my wrist. (I've found the perfect mah jongg bracelet for me is six tiles and 20mm of spacers between each tile, such as two 10mm beads, or a 12 mm bead with two 4mm beads on each side.) After getting the right beads I realized my Stretch Magic™ Elastic 1mm cord was too big so I'll need to find something smaller on the way home. I don't like .5mm so I hope to find some .7mm or .8mm. We shall see. I'll post photos soon.

I spent most of Sunday finishing a friend's wedding dress alterations. She leaves for Hawaii on Friday and is getting married next Sunday on the beach. She got a gorgeous dress (right) but sadly the shop where she got the dress had no records of her pre-paying for alterations and wouldn't do it. Of course I said I'd help her and shortened the skirt so it's ankle length in back, raised the hemline in the front to mid-shin, and shortened the straps, too.

We had a scary moment when she was trying it on for the last time. When we went to take it off her the zipper stuck! After much effort (and tears) we got it off her. I offered to put a new zipper in but she refused. I told her to think about it overnight....

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Drill, baby, drill!!!

No, not that kind of drilling!

I am getting my new drill press today after work! I had one, for drilling mah jongg tiles for jewelry, but someone decided they needed it more. Grr.

Last weekend I received my custom tiles and was dying to make jewelry but had no way of drilling them. So I went to my local Ace Hardware store where a very helpful sales associate was outraged by my tale of woe, showed me what they had with an enthusiastic review (He loved his so much that his wife had to tell him to stop drilling her spoons!) and drilled my tiles for me for a nominal price. Talk about a good sales person and good customer service. I was sorry to hear they don't get a commission since I promised I'd be back today to get my own.

Now where should I start? I've got more than 500 to choose from.

• Rainbow Delight
• purple glitter
• red glitter
• pink glitter
• gold glitter
• silver glitter
• mint glitter
• emerald glitter
• blue glitter
• gold mardi gras
• silver mardi gras
• purple mardi gras
• green stripes
• red stripes
• ivory
• white
• blue
• burgundy
  
• green checkered
  
• coral
• black & white speckled
• blue denim
• and more that I can't think of!

You know where you'll be able to find me this weekend. Drilling ... or finishing the alterations on a friend's wedding dress.

Click on any photo to see it larger.