Moonlight Shimmer Beaded Jewelry

Julie is a self proclaimed "bead addict". As a self taught artist, Julie shares how she came about designing and creating such stunning jewelry..."I fell in love with handmade jewelry in 2010 while on a vacation trip. I visited a bead store and bought a pair of wire wrapped beaded earrings. A few months later I bought a beginner's jewelry making kit and started teaching myself via instructional websites and YouTube videos. After some trial and error, I improved my techniques, figured out my personal style of jewelry, and started crafting up a storm."

Moonlight Shimmer specializes in earrings and necklaces. Featured items include wire crochet necklaces, beaded necklaces, sparkly earrings, and charm earrings. Be sure to visit her etsy shop, just click on the link below!


Moonlight Shimmer
Artist  Julie Wylie

http://www.etsy.com/shop/MoonlightShimmer

I started making jewelry about two years ago. I'm mostly self taught, but I now take an occasional class when I can learn a new technique. My products are all centered around beads.

 I picked Moonlight Shimmer for my Etsy shop name because at the time I was mostly making really sparkly jewelry. Over time I've branched out more and found that some of my best selling items now are chunky stone necklaces and beaded wire crochet bracelets.

My workspace is mobile, and I end up beading wherever feels right that night. My photo is of me at the dining room table.

Sometimes I bead in front of my computer, or the TV, or at craft night at my local bead supply store. I store all of my supplies in tackle boxes. That makes them easy to pick up and move to a different room. I've also found that tackle boxes are usually cheaper than specialized crafting containers.

Follow Julie and her designs at her twitter account: twitter.com/Julie_Wylie

Personal Designz

Visit our feature artist and jewelry designer Marge Mills at Personal Designz. Marge creates stunning one of a kind specially designed pieces and creates exclusive items just for you... !

Jewelry Designer ~ Marge Mills   

Personal Designz        
http://www.etsy.com/shop/PersonalDesignz

I started jewelry design about 7 years ago. Although I do all forms of Jewelry Design, my main focus is on Wire Wrapping. I love the technique and have even come up with my own style of "Free Form Wire Wrapping" . This gives me the opportunity to show off more of the gemstone that I am working with than the traditional form of wire wrapping as you do not have to cover as much of the stone to hold it in place.This lets the true beauty of the gemstone come out in the piece.

 I have also tried beading, polymer clay, silver metal clay and seed beadwork. But I always come back to my wire wrapping. Sometimes I will just see a gemstone that calls out to me to make a setting for it. But a lot of the time it is a client who is responsible for my return to bending wires.I love to design settings for gemstones and actually spend a lot of my time designing pieces with stones my clients have that they love but are just not happy with in their present setting. I take out the stones and redesign a new piece for them that they will enjoy with stones that have sentimental meaning to them...This brings me as much joy as it does them to see that stone in the new design.

All of my designs are one of a kind...I like that I can offer that to my clients.



That is what sets us apart from the jewelry found in department stores... handcrafted jewelry should have an individuality about it that the client can not find in just any store. I love being able to give that option to them.

My inspiration in the arts comes from my Mother... she was a gifted artist... and a career seamstress. I never grew to love sewing although I was taught from an early age and can do what I need to when the need arises to sew, but the love for art became evident when I started to paint.I owe that to a client of mine.. I am a retired colorist/stylist. I had a very dear client who was a gifted oil painter. I always envied her ability and one day as we were discussing her latest art piece, I told her how much I envied her being able to put the ideas in her head down on canvas. She quickly told me that she would mentor me in my attempt to paint and that if she felt that I did not have the potential, as a former teacher she would tell me and I would know if I had any ability or not. That was 12 years ago and I still love to paint. The love for the arts spilled over into jewelry design some 5 years later and I have never turned back since. I love what I do and if it gives others pleasure, then it is that much better.

 I urge every person who has that inner desire to create to go for it, do whatever it is that you have that desire to do. You will get such enjoyment out of creating and what you create may
just bring joy to another.We all have abilities that we are not aware of and sometimes it just takes another person to bring out the best in us...

I am fortunate enough to have a 2 story house with a loft upstairs which is my little corner of the world. My office is there as well as my art studio. My first love is oil painting  and I still try to devote time to it whenever I get the chance. The room is large enough that I have a corner dedicated to jewelry design. I love to go to my private space for some real quiet and relaxation time.

One of my favorite quotes:
Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.
                                                           ~  George Bernard Shaw

Art is Where the Heart Is

"Art is where the heart is" and so is your studio space! I am off to enjoy some holiday fun in the sun and will certainly bring a little piece of my studio with me. I am looking forward to relaxing and having lots of time to journal and create new things. I created my little portable art kit with paper, a small paint set and pencil crayons. I am excited to go exploring and pick up some local handmade craft items!

Enjoy a visit to The Backyard Bear http://www.etsy.com/shop/TheBackyardBear where you are sure to find wonderfully unique creations with a wildlife theme!

by The Backyard Bear

Hi there. My name is Mary Ann and I have a confession…..I am an Upcycler.

Actually I grew up upcycling before the word was even vogue. Coming from a family of 6 kids and being the youngest my parents were upcyclers as well. This was just natural to them as they were born in the early 1900’s when things were never thrown out. It just was unheard of. I remember watching my grandmother make rugs from old clothes, mittens from old sweaters. She would sew them on her old Singer Sewing machine. My mother had a sewing machine which she only used for patching. I taught myself how to sew by making Barbie doll clothes from worn clothes. I still have that old machine and its wooden case but I now use a more modern one.

I was always creative and my mom, to keep me amused would scour the house to find me items for my craft addiction and would make glue from flour and water. How Eco is that!

I lived in the country and my siblings were quite a bit older than me. Friends didn’t live close by so I would amuse myself. Wildlife became an obsession. I would try to tame every chipmunk and chickadee I could see. I started to draw them and eventually started painting when my oldest brother bought me a paint-by-number set. Back in the 60’s they came as oil sets and I never had patience for the paint to dry before the next colour. I remember putting one on the hot air register and later found that I had created a Picasso from the forced hot air. I can still remember the smell of those oil paints. After that I asked for watercolour paints and now I love to paint using acrylics.

I still have that drive (call it an obsession) to create. You can find me every Saturday morning in the summer at yard sales. You can find me at the Thrift store at least 3 times a week in the winter months. Every item I pick up I look to see what it can be reinvented into. By night time that item has been upcycled into a new life. Spring is just around the corner and that means yard sale season. I just can’t wait to get out there to find more items I can recreate into something useful.

One Upcycle I’m particularly proud of are my teapot bird feeders and bird houses. I came up with the idea a few years ago. It just gives your garden that little bit of sparkle. All of my feeders and houses are made with the birds in mind. They are functional as well as pretty.

Other upcycles which I have sold quite a few of are my sweater mittens. Every thrift store I walk into I look for wool or fleece sweaters with birds, animals, nature embroidered or as part of the fabric. I try to incorporate those parts of the sweater to make the mittens unique. I also make them warm and I’ve had nothing but positive feedback from them. I also started to make leather mittens from old leather jackets and hand paint wildlife pictures on them to make them unique as well. This winter I started to make bomber hats with animal or bird patches to match the mittens I sell.

I started selling on Etsy just over a year ago and I’m a member of a few teams. I feel I’ve done well with my sales and it motivates me to create more. The Oh Canada Team is a great group of Canadians and are the most positive team I’ve been on. They are helpful, giving great feedback to our shops, pictures, items. Giving suggestions of other things we might want to consider making.

On another note, just recently I found the art of felting. I have taught myself using a You-Tube video and have purchased wool roving from fellow Estians. I hope to create my wildlife feltings as life like as I can. My most recent project is a chipmunk. The same animal I tried to tame all those years ago.

It’s sad that we live in a world that tosses away so much without a second thought. We need to teach our kids the art of upcycling. So much money would be saved, the world would be a cleaner place and our children’s creativity would make them more aware of their environment.

My favourite quote;
"One should either be a work of art, Or wear a work of art" ~~~~ Oscar Wilde
My website and blog: thebackyardbear.com