Happy Holidays! Bead embroidered collar process

Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays!

Its that time again where we run and run in hopes of finishing Christmas goodies,  shopping ,

wrapping ,  decorating,  entertaining, and enjoying one another's company.  Managed to get the  tree

decorated ,  all the Christmas cookie jars out,  put lights outside for the first time :) ,  still working on making fudge and my favorite ham rolls. 

                                                         Buger 2011 Christmas Tree

progress on my first collar for the Etsy Bead Embroidery Guild ( EBEG team) first Bead Fest  'Winter Wonderland' ,     WOW ,   that was a tongue twister to say,  photo below shows the suede backing after its glued and is being stitched with size 8 seed beads , I chose a tarnished brown color to finish the edging of the piece, after all the white I was completely and utterly in need of some color, I had to fight my urge to use a completely outragious color! That in itself was quite trying.   I haven't decided if I like this piece as much as others but am doing a few things I have never done, for instance, the collar. I still have the clasp to do , my thoughts are not clear as to if  I will use a metal clasp  or  some variation that I come up with. Possibly another petrified wood to compliment the focal?  

My thoughts have started from a bare tree branch covered with snow, then the tarnished angel feeling came about while doing the frosted cubes and gold triangles, following with the cream seed beads I found I wanted more color, but fought the urge and finished with pearl white, awhhh...

now comes the finally in this bead embroidered collar,  I need to get beading to finish by the deadline !

Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays!

BEAD SALE !! Agate Pin

Big bead sale tomorrow at StringBeads in Chico, CA. , I have been to another one of their big sales and I do tend to save money when the seed beads are 40% off  .     Not to mention all the other goodies that are on sale.   I am hoping to get there before noon,  I know buying beads can be cheaper online ,   but hey 40% off is just as good and no shipping, plus I get to examine them personally,  I don't like spending money on seed beads that are not quality. Happy Bead Buying To Me!

here is a couple images of my agate pin I finished up this week.  Sometimes its good to take a step back and make something you can finish in a shorter amount of time,  that does not mean the quality is less just the piece is not so elaborate, thats how I look at it.  I chose a freeform cut agate  I polished myself, somehow this makes it more interesting :) keeps my attention . Which is definitely needed.

I embroidered blue size 11 seed beads around the agate , using a silvery white size 12 and size 15 translucent white to do the bezeling securing the stone in place.

I hope the images are clear enough on your screen as they are a little out of focus on mine :)  In finishing the pin I decided to use a spiral rope twist to give the stone a little extra flair  and texture ;)

In doing this pin I thought of the Trinity River, I had imagined a fast running current and imagined the agate was a large stone among many with large waves crashing into them , as if they were in a hurry to get some where..

                                                 the pin measures 1 1/2" by 2 1/4"