Painted with Roses ~ February 2014 ABS Challenge

I'm playing along in Art Bead Scene's challenge again this month!

Below is our inspiration…

The Rose Garden, 1920 

by Paul Klee

Oil on cardboard

I was really drawn to the white-washed tones of yellow-orange, fuchsia, purple, and red. And of course the bit of soft cream and golden browns was nice. The abstract style is something a little more challenging to me, but there's nothing like a good challenge once in a while!

So, here's what I made…

Are you surprised that it's a bracelet?! I can't help it—bracelets really are my favorite jewelry design to work with. For this challenge I decided to give the cuff style another go and I have to say that I'm quite pleased with the way it turned out. I titled it "Painted with Roses".

The rose beads are of course, my own polymer roses. I made these in a golden-orange to match the color in the painting.

The geometric squares are painted leather. You've probably noticed that leather has been taking over my studio these days—not entirely, but I am playing with it a lot. I cut each square in soft suede leather and used a wood burner to create a geometric pattern to echo the houses and buildings of the painting. And then I layered on my paint colors, matching the tones of the painting, and I added a little gold accent too.

I chose a cotton fabric with a printed crackle pattern (like the crackled paint of an old house) and grunged it up a bit with burnt umber and black acrylics. I stitched the roses on to the fabric, but simply glued the squares in place—I couldn't decide where to pierce them and so I thought it better not to.

After I got the roses and squares in place, I stitched the edges of the cotton fabric down on to two layers of felt—one black, and one camel—for stability.

For the closure, I used a gold tone vintage button. And on the back of the cuff, I used acrylic paints to add some color and to hide my stitches. I was pleasantly surprised when the paints gave the felt a needle-felted look.

I love how it turned out both bold and rustic! I hope you all enjoyed this peek into my process.

* * * And, speaking of painted leather… don't forget to enter my feather giveaway! * * *

I also have a free shipping sale going on—everything in my shop ships to you for free when you use coupon FLYFREE thru March 5th. See all the details here.

Go here to see the other entries of the month: http://www.flickr.com/groups/artbeadscene/

What will Art Bead Scene challenge us with next month? I can't wait to see!

The painting is finished… and a giveaway!

* * * This sale and giveaway has ended. * * *

Thank you to everyone who entered, shared and shopped!

Here they are! I've done five different color combinations so far… they're a bit tedious to paint, but I'm thrilled with the way these have turned out. I hope you are too.

They're listed in my shop here.

And now… are you ready for some fun?

My fluffy white horse, Lady sure is! (I think she was hoping my little trip outside to get these photos would involve something special for her—don't worry she and Strider will get apple cores and some burnt toast with their supper. Yum!)

I actually have two surprises today…

First off, everything in my shop ships to you for free when you use code FLYFREE through March 5th. (Yes, that includes all my international friends too!)

And second, it's giveaway time!

I'm giving away 1 mirrored set of these hand painted leather feathers to 2 lucky winners! You'll get to pick your favorite color.

The Rules:


To enter, all you have to do is leave a comment in the comments section below and tell me what your favorite color combination is and what colors you think I should try next. Or tell me what you'd make with them—earrings? Necklace? How would you use them? I love to hear your ideas!

And you get extra entries by leaving additional comments for doing one or all of these:

1. Becoming a follower of Tree Wings Studio blog
2. Sharing my GIVEAWAY on your blog, facebook, twitter, or pinterest
3. Sharing my free shipping SALE on your blog, facebook, twitter, or pinterest

Be sure to leave ONE comment for EACH thing you do.

And don't forget to leave your contact info.

(Feel free to use any of the photos posted here when sharing.)


This giveaway and sale will end on March 5th at 11:59pm EST.

Giveaway winners will be announced on March 7th.

Good luck! Lady is rooting for you!

In Progress…

And ready for paint!

It's going to be a fun weekend!

These new leather feathers will be painted and ready to fly to their new homes in a few days… and I'm thinking maybe a little extra surprise is in order, like maybe a giveaway… What do you think?

Details coming soon. :-)

Happy Saturday!

Snow Day!

Yesterday I was enjoying this lovely view outside my studio window…

Yep, it is deep. Last I measured it was 16 inches and at the time it was still snowing hard.

It's a magical place when the familiar world is blanketed in white, isn't it?

Faded summer flowers all dressed up in white.

All the fence posts are decked out in snow hats.

Today the sun is out for the first time in a few days and already the pretty white is slowly starting to melt away. Just in time for more snow tomorrow.

And this morning my noble steeds got their favorite heated breakfast again… makes me feel better to give them warm food in cold weather. :-)

Back to the studio… it's bead making time!

Fly with Painted Wings ~ Rustic Leather Feather Earrings

Try to keep me away from paint… and you'll find it's impossible…

This time it is paint paired up my new rustic leather feathers.

What do you think?

I used purple-red, blue, grey, and gold acrylics and then hung them with matte amber rounds, a couple stacked bead caps—one bronze and one silver, and Kristen Steven's lovely oxblood beaded beads. I titled them "Fly with Painted Wings".

I think they'd be perfect with a long maxi skirt, a peasant style blouse, and a fringe-y scarf—all in earthy tones. And maybe long braided hair. But of course, blue jeans will suffice too. :-)

More painted feathers will be coming soon!
I'll try very hard not to keep them all for myself!

Having fun with leather

Remember this necklace?

I've had leather on the brain for quite sometime now and on Wednesday I spent the whole day turning those ideas into something real.

I started with a few shapes…

Cut out the suede…

And, ta-da! Feathers!

Okay, yeah, it was a bit more complicated than that and involved some detailed "drawing" with my wood burning kit—but lots of fun. I'm putting these first ones in the shop today and more will follow soon.

There are SO many things that could be done with them—they could be bead frames like I did for my necklace, beads could be stitched on, holes added for dangles and such, color added—too many ideas! What do you think? What would you do with them?

Already I have some jewelry designs I'm dreaming up. I don't usually have much time for jewelry making, but that's really something I'm working at this year. 

And, it helps when you happen upon some fun new beads…

I got these beaded lovelies from the talented Kristen Stevens. Aren't they gorgeous? You know how much I love tiny detail, so of course, I'm going to have a blast playing with them—and with leather feathers! fun!

Happy Friday everyone!