I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. I just love Christmas time. I take great pride in my tree. Over the years we have made many of the ornaments including painting eggs from our chickens. I by Christmas ornaments to remember special occasions. I even have a book that I enter all my ornaments in.  This year I got a special treat. Back in the early 70's I was in a Leewards craft store and saw my first beaded Christmas tree. I thought that it was the most beautiful thing I had ever saw. However the cost of the kit was what we were living on for a whole month so I knew that it was just a dream. I also knew that some day I would make one and I started collecting small treasures to put on it. This year when I went to bead retreat in the fall Julie had a Christmas tree kit for $5.00. I finally got my mini-beaded tree. I have spent the last week making and decorating it. I don't have the toys and presents under it yet but I wanted to show it anyway. Hope you like it. I am sure that over time I will make more ornaments and replace some of the simpler ones, but for now I am happy.

I haven't blogged in a while. I pinched a nerve in my back and I haven't been good for much. It's finally getting better and I can get back to jewelry making. A surprise came in the mail. Back in September I entered to be part of pay-it-forward on Michelle Mach blog Beads & Books. You can check out her blog here http://michellemach.com/blog/   I chose the bead assortment and the pic above is what she sent. Aren't they beautiful? There are enameled rectangles, ceramic beads, a metal snowflake charm, crystals, a pair of boro yoyo beads, electric blue jump rings, long earwires, headpins, and lots more delicious new fun. All of these beads were sent in a small tin. Michelle thoughtfully included decorative papers and other embellishments to decorate the tin with. How fun is that? Now it is my turn to pay it forward. The first three to comment on this blog will receive a pay it forward gift from me sometime in the next year. Up for grabs are 1) a pair of earrings made from some of the beads Michelle sent. 2) a wrapped bracelet -color of your choice. 3) the tin Michelle sent decorated by me and an assortment of beads- color of your choice. You in turn pay it forward to someone else with handmade things. Please join me in this fun adventure. Just leave a comment on my blog and maybe you will be one of the first three.

Today is the reveal for the challenge of color blog hop hosted my Erin at http://treasures-found.blogspot.com/  We were each given 2 color pallettes to choose from. The pics came from "The Earth as Art" series from NASA. How cool is that? My first choice was Bolivian Deforestation. My favorite colors are pink and turquoise so this was a natural. I challenged myself to not buy anything new for this hop. My first choice was the lampworked pendant by Carol St. Johns. I have been hoarding this pendant for 2 years.  I  peyote stitched tubes using 6 shades of pink and 6 shades of turquoise with white seed beads. I finished the tubes with pink glass discs. Between the tubes I used cranberry pearls with pink faceted jade rounds and teal pearls with amazonite rondelles. I found the light pink beaded chain in my stash and thought that it was a good match for the pendant. The third strand is cranberry glass shapes that I wired into a chain to echo the cranberry color in the pendant. The center of the necklace looked too plain so I added 3 swags of the turquoise seeds and I am pleased with the outcome. I peyote stitched a button from Beadwork magazine for a button and loop clasp. The red in the NASA pic is healthy plant growth. It's amazing to see how much of the rainforest is already gone.

 

My second color pallette is from the Namib desert in Africa. When I was growing up in Minnesota I saw pics of the desert and thought that it looked lifeless. My first trip to Arizona I was amazed at the wildlife sounds and the feel of that glowing sun on my skin standing in the desert. The Namib desert is located on coastal Africa. The winds off the ocean can cause 980 feet sand dunes. To represent the glowing sun feel I chose silver lined glass lentals and seed beads. The lentals have spots of the light green in them.The grey green rectangles are a stone called silver mist and they are the same green as the spots on the lentals. . The small discs in the center of outer strand are bone. The rounds that complete the straps are yellow and green adventurine. When I was designing this piece I thought that I would use a filigree piece to wrap the focal but in the end I used the filigree as a bail. Light brown pearls in rounds and a drop, bronze glass flower caps, filigree connectors, and dark topaz crystal rondelles complete the ingredients for this necklace. I am honored to be a part of this challenge. I hope that you enjoy the pieces I made. Now please visit the other participants in this great hop.

Erin Prais-Hintz
Brandi Hussey
  Rebecca Anderson

Kris Auderer  

Chrizette Bayman

Lori Bowring Michaud  

 Courtney Breul 

Lynsey Brooks
Stephanie Buss 

Iveth Caruso
Shannon Chomanczuk
Lisa Cone
Cece Cormier

Lori Dorrington
Dawn Doucette
Jeannie Dukic    (life threw her a curveball, spread some sunshine to her anyway!)
Kim Dworak
Beth Emery
Janice Everett
Pam Farren
Donetta Farrington
Gloria Ferrer

Cherrie Fick
Therese Frank
Patty Gasparino
Tanya Goodwin
Ambra Gostoli
Jess Green
Denielle Hagerman
Mary Harding
Karla Hartzog
Kim Hora
Emanda Johnson
Jennifer Justman
Sue Kennedy

Ema Kilroy
Lee Koopman
Linda Landig
Kirsi Luostarinen
Cynthia Machata
Alicia Marinache
Beth McCord
Mary K McGraw
Karen Mitchell
Cheri Mitchell-Reed
Aimee Moisa
Karla Morgan
Penny Neville
Becky Pancake
Kashmira Patel
Alice Peterson
Kayla Potega
Debbie Price
Bobbie Rafferty
Caron Reid
Nicole Rennell
Cynthia Riggs
Andrea Ross
Sally Russick
Annie Scherz
Pam Sears
Renetha Stanziano
Sandra Stein
Kristen Stevens  (her Muse is on vacation - hop over and give her Muse a nudge ;-)
Tracy Stillman   (hard to bead with a wrist injury, send healing thoughts)
Sherri Stokey
Lola Survillo
Kay Thomerson
Jo Tinley
Emma Todd
Cory Tompkins
Pam Traub 
Melissa Trudinger
Michelle Tucker
Shelley Graham Turner
Monique Urquhart
Rachel Van-Walsh 
Patti Vanderbloemen
Lesley Watt
Lynn White 
Joan Williams

Look what I found in my mailbox yesterday. This beautiful pearl necklace was made by the talented Suzette Bentley of  www.ElliesBijoux.com I have admired her lovely jewelry for a while now.  I found her post with a chance to win this necklace. I am not normally very lucky, but I was that day. I will wear this necklace proudly. I feel very lucky to own a piece of Suzette's wonderful jewelry.

Here's a bracelet that I made for my show on Saturday. I called it Christmas Charms. I used clear 6mm  fire polished round beads, matte green glass squares, red 4mm swarovski bicones, and of course charms. It got lots of looks and compliments but it came back home with me. I'm starting to feel the Christmas spirit And I hope that you are too.

Another magnetic copper necklace and earrings is the jewelry pic I am showing today. I adore the color of the magnetic copper and the coating should make it not turn green. I find this wire in 20 gauge easy to work with.  I shaped marquis elements, made double coiled beads with copper bead caps, added protection the the area where the bail is, and added 1/2 inch coils to the fringe all with the magnetic copper wire.  I made the focal out of 2 copper filigree stampings and attached it to the necklace with a jump ring bail. The five focal fringes are made with light brown pearl drops, dark topaz crystal rondelles, coiled copper, and small faceted copper beads on headpins. The section between the double coiled beads and the marquise elements is composed of two copper twisted glass ovals with a brown 6mm pearl in the center and a brown 4mm swarovski bicone crystal on each end. The whole section between  the two marquise is strung on copper beading wire and crimped together. I used a wire guard to protect the stringing wire from wear.  Above the marquise on each side  is another twisted glass oval section. This time it is made as a wire link and attached with 2 copper jump rings. There is copper chain and a hook type clasp on the end. I made earrings too. I am pleased with how this came out and I hope you like it too.

I joined in the Humble Beads Blog hop put on by Heather Powers of .www.HumbleBeads.Com. And today is the reveal day. I thoroughly enjoyed this challenge. I used all of the beads that she sent except 1 gray round, the double leaf charm, and the silk strand. All that I added was a larger leaf stamping, seed beads, jump rings, and brass wire. I bezeled the disc branch bead with brick stitch and peyote, then I attached it to my larger leaf stamping with seed bead loops. I attached the 2 small glass flowers at the tip of the leaf. The branch I tried to drill, but even with a diamond bit I was not successful, so I wire wrapped it with brass. I made 3 links with the branch rondelles and each is different. When I first laid out the beads I put the three aqua glass rondelles face up & I liked them that way, but I wasn't sure how to make them sit face up. I made a long link with them but I didn't like it so I ended up making a wire triangle with 2 loops and attaching the rondelles to it with brass wire. Three of the bicolor glass wavy beads are each separate links. I made a spiral rope using similar colored seed beads to go around the neck and finished it with the bead caps. I made my necklace asymmetrical with the clasp on the side, because I think that they are easier to clasp that way and I like how it looks. I have only made a few asymmetrical necklaces. On the left side one link is made with 2 gray glass rounds and a branch rondelle. The next link is 2 brown pearls and a branch rondelle. The link closest to the center is made with the 2 aqua matte glass ovals separated by an aqua crystal rondelle. All of the links are attached with 2 brass jump rings to make them more secure. I am not totally satisfied with how the disc bead is attached to the leaf because the bezel is pulled a little funny so I will change that. I hope you enjoyed my challenge Idea. Thanx Heather for challenging me.The link above will let you see the other participants.

Here's pics of my newest necklace design. I used 3 bead netting for the straps. The beads are copper colored twin (2 hole)beads and seed beads. For the focal I started with a copper stamping as the back. I used leaf shaped glass beads to form the flower petals & drop beads for the center. The 6 fringes which hang from 3 two row seed bead loops  are made of  20 gauge magnetic copper wire coils that I stretched out & attached black crystal rondelles to the ends. Above the focal are 2 more of the rondelles flanking a fancy copper round bead.  I made the bail and the toggle clasp with the magnetic wire also. The ends of the straps have copper floral bead caps and more black crystal rondelles flanking  two more of the fancy copper rounds. I used copper jump rings to attach the clasp. I hope that you like looking at this necklace as much as I enjoyed making it. A lot has happened since I last posted. My friend Donna gave me a wonderful birthday party. It's the first birthday party I have had since I was a kid. Thanx Donna.  I stopped at the Bead Box in Brainerd for their going out of business sale. It's sad to see a bead store close.  I worked at the Twin Cities Bead Bazaar, which is always fun. And of course I bought some new beads while I was there. Last night I took my first lampwork bead making class. It's harder than it looks. I can see how lampworkers can get lost playing with the glass. The 2 1/2 hours flew by.

Another resistors necklace. This one I made for my friend Lisa. Awhile back I wanted to try something new & not usually thought of as jewelry. What I found was electrical resistors. In this necklace I put 2 pairs of resistors on 3 jump rings to create links. I joined the links with pairs of jump rings. Toward the back I used larger resistors singly. The end of the necklace has a silver tube bead on each side and then the toggle clasp. There is a story that goes with how I chose resistors. My husband was digging in his drawer & found his jar of "phone bugs". Let me explain what phone bugs are. Back in the '70's we had a friend named John. He had a brother-in -law named Charlie. Charlie often did things that were not very smart & for a while whenever we saw John he would say " you will never guess what Charlie did" This was back at the time when people were protesting the Vietnam war. Charlie went to several war protests & then he got the idea that the government was spying on him for his protest activities. Charlie went about cutting all the "bugs" (aka resistors) out of his phone & the 3 friends who he had gone to the protestor's with phones. We saved some of them in a jar & over the years we have laughed about them many times. When my husband pulled them out of his drawer the last time I knew that I had found my unusual jewelry item. The resistors are perfect. They have wires protruding from both sides and come in lots of colors & sizes.
              I would like to thank Heather Powers of   http://humblebeads.com/ for the photograph tip that I used today. She suggested using a piece of printer paper in direct sunlight for better pics. I thought it would create too much shadow but I tried it and my pics with the paper did come out much better than the ones without the paper. Thanx Heather. 

Hi, Today I am showing a double wrap bracelet. It has really soft suede in pink as the base. The beads are hematite and the thread is black silk. The clasp is a black button & the suede had a loop that goes over it. These are fun, fast & easy to make, & very much in fashion right now. I like pink & black together. I even took a pic of it on me. That is a first for me. Enjoy.

Here is my first Kumihimo bracelet. If you don't know what Kumihimo is , it is a Japanese braid. I chose Aqua, one of my favorite colors, and black, to make the aqua stand out. I used  silver plated bead caps & a toggle clasp to finish it off. I tied one of the seed beads at the end of the string for fringe. I wire wrapped the ends of the string above the fringe  with aqua wire to make it secure & I used two pair of 4mm jump rings to attach the clasp. I tried 6mm jump rings to attach the toggle first but, they were too big. I didn't think that one 4mm was very secure so I doubled them up. I am pleased with my first attempt. I will probably do more. Stay tuned to find out.

My jewelry pics today are of a necklace made with three bead netting straps. The gorgeous focal bead is by lampwork artist Jeff Barber.  At bead retreat Doris showed us how to do 3 bead netting with the new Czech  twin beads . When I had a couple of inches done I thought about Jeff's bead & I knew that they would be a great match. I even stitched the clasp. I didn't follow a pattern I just stitched until I had the look that I wanted. I have made clasps before but they were made of wire. I am proud of my first attempt at a stitched clasp. I will admit that I had to do a second toggle bar because the first one was too short. The pics were taken before I stitched the new bar. I peyote stitched a loop for a bail because I wanted to keep it simple to showcase the focal. The only accents are a couple of crystal bicones,  a couple of dark topaz crystal rondelles , &  4 seed bead fringe with bronze bicone ends.  I hope you like it as much as I do.

Here's another bracelet that I made at bead retreat. The pattern is by Jamie Cloud Eakin. I did change it a little. If you have never heard of her you are missing out on a great bead embroidery artist. She has authored 2 books that are a bead embroidery  bible to me. I have bead embroidery books from several authors but Jamie's are the best. She brakes bead embroidery down into several steps and gives you lots of options for each step.  She doesn't just show you projects, although there are several, she shows you how to design bead embroidery.  There is even a purse project embellished with bead embroidery . There is lots of eye candy in the gallery at the back from many bead artists. I cannot count all the things I have learned from her books. If you want to learn bead embroidery I suggest that you read "Beading with Cabochons" and "Dimensional Bead Embroidery" both are authored by Jamie Cloud Eakin.

Hi all. I got to go to my first bead retreat the 13th through the 16th. It was the most fun I have had in a long time. I got to know the others in my bead group better & they got to know me. We learned new techniques & the pic I am showing today is one of them. It's a bracelet made with the new Czech twin(2 hole) beads. I used copper & light peach. The button is vintage & it reflects lots of colors. The class didn't have an edging on it but Kathy did picots on hers & I liked it. Next Doris showed me an edge with a picot & a small drop on one of her bracelets. I decided to do a picot with a large drop in the center of the picot. I am pleased with the outcome and I hope you like it too. I have wore it 3 times already. When I got home my Mom was in the hospital. I spent most of the rest of the week with her. It's not serious but she needed help when she first came home. I didn't have access to internet at Mom's so that's why I haven't posted until now.

I am posting this pic in honor of Lori Anderson. Lori is a awesome woman who gives so much to all of us beaders. She is struggling with pain. In response to her pain she dyed her hair pink. To show our sympathy to her pain many of us who entered the Bead Soup Blog Party dyed our hair pink also. Lori is the organizer of the BSBP & she does an outstanding job.  If you get a chance please check out her website. Pink is my favorite color & I am proud to show my support of Lori.

The amazing Lori Anderson of the Bead Soup Blog Party fame is having another book giveaway. Her blog is  http://www.prettythingsblog.com/ 
Here is a copy of her post. You should check it out. I'm entering.

NOW!  The last three books for review and giveaway!  Read up and then go to the bottom of the post to see how you can win!

"Color, Texture & Casting for Jewelers:  

Hands-on Demonstrations & Practical Applications"

by Carles Codina

Casting is a specialized jewelry technique, so right away you must know this is not your ordinary jewelry book.  That, really, is one of the things that makes it so special!  I mean, how many times have I looked at a cast piece and wondered "HOW do they DO that???".  Now you can learn!

This 128-page paperback book is in two parts.  Part 1 covers color, texture, and finishes.  Part 2 covers modeling and casting.  Plating and Mokume Gane were fascinating to me and seemed surprising accessible.  YES you will need special equipment, but if you are ready to really take your jewelry design to another level, this is an invaluable resource.

"Beading With Crystals: 36 Simply Inspired Jewelry Designs"

by Joan Campbell and Katherine Aimone

Holy moley.  What a lot of eye-candy!  And guess what?  It's good for anyone at pretty much any level!  Some projects are very simple, and some involve more skill, but it's a fabulous book for any crystal and bling lover to have!

This 142-page paperback book is beautiful and STUFFED with information.  I found it easy to follow.  The designs range from the wear-every-day to the opulent-night-out styles.  Truly, something for everyone.  Hard to give this one up!

"Heat, Color, Set, & Fire: Surface Effects for Metal Jewelry"

by Mary Hettmansperger

Oh man.  I totally had intended to keep this one.  But I showed it in the collage above, so I'm sticking to my word and giving this AMAZING book away.  Sniff, sniff.

A hardback book with 128 pages, this book is for metal-lovers everywhere.  It goes into different surface treatments such as etching and torching.  She even uses grout and concrete!  (I should have kept this book, I should have kept this book....)

There are 21 unique projects, and they're all very cool.  The first 51 pages are full of techniques and tips, so combine those two and you have a book you're going to be reaching for ALL the time to take your jewelry adventures all over the place.  Oh I envy you!

Here's how to win one of these books!

1) Leave a comment

2) Blog about it

or 

Facebook about it.

(If you are a non-US reader, I can ship you this book 

if you would share in the shipping cost.

You can figure shipping at www.usps.gov.)

This is a fast giveaway!  

Winners will be announced on Sunday, September 16th.

Hi, today's pic is of a necklace & bracelet. My sister-in-law saw a necklace with a blue labradorite stone, a blue chalcedony stone, a silver starfish, & a pearl that she liked. She asked me if  I could make her a necklace & bracelet with these stones, She thought it looked like the ocean. So here is what I made her. The other stones that I added are opals from Peru. I drilled a real shell for the focal.  I didn't crimp the crimps on the bracelet yet because I want her to try it on & she may want some changes. I am pleased with how it turned out.

At last the final piece from my bead soup. It has been an extremely busy summer for me,  so my posts have been neglected. From now on they should be more regular. Anyway here is my bead embroidered necklace & earrings. I used the small yellow stone beads & the 14mm yellow stone beads from Anitra, my partner. I used yellow calcite with her stones. They were left over from the necklace that I made for my sisters birthday. I think that they match well.  The blue stones are blue lace agate. I embroidered with the small yellow stones, seed beads, bugles, peanuts beads, yellow flower spacers,  & a Swarovski polygon crystal.  I sewed jump rings to the under layer for attaching the straps. The backing is tan ultra-suede. This is the largest bead embroidered piece that I have made. I also used light blue opaque bicones, yellow seeds,  & gold plated heishi spacers in the straps. The clasp is gold plated pewter. I am proud of this piece.

I have one more pic. It is not bead related. I have been living here since the early 80's & I have always grown morning glories. This year I have one vine that is white. I have never had a white one before. Yeah!

Hello everyone. Today's post is my BSBP reveal. It is my first time participating. For those of you who don't know about it the amazing Lori Anderson of http://www.prettythingsblog.com/ pairs us with a partner & we exchange beads. We make something with the beads we received & on the appropriate date we show what we made. First let me say THANX, Lori. I don't know if words can describe how much this blog party means to all of us. Next I want to thank my partner Anitra Gordy of http://www.leelucreations.blogspot.com/ . She is a beautiful new bride & she sent me a wonderful bead soup.

The first piece that I made used the cute owl focal, the light green stone beads, & the clasp from my soup. I added silver chain which I wove with dark green silk, silver leaves, copper beads, rondelles, some green glass, & a bronze owl dangle. Isn't that owl cute? I added the copper accents because the owl has copper in his foiling & I like mixing metals.

For my next piece I used the jasper rounds, the vintage chain, & the four brown vintage dangles that Anitra sent. I made the clasp & links from brass wire. I have never used this gauge wire before. It was much harder to shape than what I have used before. I also made the piece that connects the two strands to the clasp. The focal is a squared stone donut. I used fine pink leather with pink seed beads to suspend two of the vintage dangles from my soup with 4mm bicones, & tan glass leaves. They are very detailed & beautiful rounds. The reason I chose pink is that there are pink beads in the vintage beaded chain which makes up the center strand and the metal in the chain appears like rose gold. The links in the outer strand are jasper in the center. Butterscotch Czech glass flank the jasper. Next comes crystals and last are pink seed beads. The second kind of links are made of carved bone donuts, tan uneven bicones, 4mm rose alabaster bicones, & seed beads. I have never used donuts before. I made a pair of matching earrings with the other two dangles from my soup. It is hard to photograph long necklaces so I curved it into a heart shape so that you can see the details better. 

I saved my favorite piece for last. The day before my soup arrived I finished reading “The Art of Beaded Beads” edited by Jean Campbell. I knew that I wanted to make a confetti bead by Nancy Zellers from the book so that is what I did with the seed bead mix that Anitra sent. I painted a wooden bead copper then beaded around it. I wanted some of the copper to show through so I didn't follow Nancy's pattern exactly. I would never have chosen such dark colors for my seeds but I knew what I wanted to do the minute that I saw them. The inspiration for what to do with the bead after I had it beaded came from Lisa Barth's Caged Turquoise Bead Pendant published is Wirework fall 2011. The wire that I used for this necklace is magnetic copper. If you don't know what that is,it is what is used to make the windings in electric motors. The wire windings would short out if they touched each other so it has a coating to prevent this. The coating makes the copper darker & richer colored. I suspect that it won't turn green like regular copper. It was leftover from fixing corvette headlight motors. I used copper 20mm bead caps, dark topaz crystal rondelles, small copper faceted beads, & a brown pearl drop to complete the focal. I suspended the focal on a copper coil with small brown crystal bicones. Next I used copper beads & more topaz crystals. A beaded spiral rope with copper bead caps uses more of the seed beads. I wanted a long necklace so I added rusty colored silk for the ends. I wrapped the silk with more of the copper wire that I put rainbow jasper beads on to give the silk more strength. I used three copper jump rings to attach the clasp which I also made. You can see the difference in the copper colors on the clasp. The base wire is regular copper & the coil is magnetic copper. Anitra included a copper hand that is stamped “hand made” on it. I suspended it next to the clasp as a finishing touch. I am very pleased with how this piece turned out. I have never made anything like it before. I also made earrings to go with it. 

I have one more piece in progress. It is a bead embroidery using the large & small yellow stone beads from my soup. I will post it when it is done. That only leaves two jasper rounds & the wood beads. This blog party was extremely fun & it helped my stretch my creativity. Now I'm going to see what great creation Anitra made with the soup I sent her and I think you should too. Then I'm checking out the other beaders who are revealing today. They  can be found at this link http://lorianderson-beadsoupblogparty.blogspot.com/2012/06/participants-of-6th-bead-soup-blog-party.html

Thanx for looking & please check out all the creative stuff the other participants made.

A bead giveaway. Sky at http://skyescreativechaos.blogspot.com has a Freebie  Friday bead giveaway the first Friday of each month. I am entering & you can too.

Here's one of my favorite pieces from the BSBP. You can enter to win this piece. How kool is that? here's a link to it. http://javabead.blogspot.com/2012/08/bead-soup-blog-party-big-reveal.html

 


  Today is the day to party!! Bead Soup Blog Party reveal #2 is today. If you want to see some real creativity you should check this out. There are 400 people from all around the world who exchanged bead soups & are making jewelry with the beads that they received. There are many jaw dropping pieces. It's very inspiring to see what others make with their soup. Here's a link to it  http://lorianderson-beadsoupblogparty.blogspot.com/http://lorianderson-beadsoupblogparty.blogspot.com/    Enjoy

Hi, I know it's been along time since I posted. This last month has been the busiest that I can remember in a long time. I even volunteered at a habitat for humanity house & put up sheetrock. The earrings I am showing today were not made by me. They were a gift from my sister's quilting friend. Aren't they wonderful. They are from India. I feel special when I wear them. I am going to have to think of something special for her too.

Attention Bead Lovers Lori Anderson Of http://www.prettythingsblog.com/  & Bead Soup Blog Party fame is having another bead giveaway.  This time from Beads Direct UK. So the only rule to this giveaway is you make something and review it, linking to http://www.beadsdirect.co.uk  -- and yes, it's open to international designers!

Here's what you'll get:

Three large-hole wood beads and two magnetic clasps.

Lots of teal braided leather and dyed wood of various colors and sizes.

But hurry!

I will announce the winner on Monday! 

. Check it out. I'm entering.

I'm back home. Last Thursday I flew to California for my nieces wedding. It was a great trip. On Friday we went to San Francisco sightseeing. Here's a couple of pics from there. The golden gate bridge,where we walked on the beach near Cliff House, & a huge carved ivory  ivory tusk in a Chinatown shop. It was my first time there & I enjoyed it a lot. The wedding was beautiful & everyone had a great time. Now I can get back to working on my pieces for the Bead Soup Blog Party. I haven't had a chance to go blog hopping, but I plan on starting tonight.

Here's the necklace that I made for my neice. She is Russian. I put the 3 pieces of Baltic amber in the necklace to represent the 3 parts of the life. One for her life in Russia, one for her life in California, & one for her new life with her new husband. She likes black so the rest of the necklace is links made of  blackAB rondelles with black glass rounds & chain. I used hematite drops as accents. When I showed the starting pic of this necklace in an earlier post I had the middle amber drop horizontally in the chain. I decided it looked better as a pendant.  I think she will like it.

My sister asked for a pair of red drop on gold chandelier  earrings so here they are. Hope she likes them.

Hi, since I am working on my BSBP pieces I can't show you what I am working on. However I am taking a break & making a necklace for my niece. I took a starting pic this morning & sent it to my sister for approval. I decided that I can share it with you also. So here is the start of another necklace. I will post  more about it when it is done.

Hi, I haven't posted in days. I am usually better than that. This week has been  busy & you know how that is life gets in the way. I have been working on my bead soup creation but I can't show it to you until August 25. In my haste to get started on my soup I neglected to introduce you to my partner. She in Anitra Gordy a beautiful new bride. Her blog is http://www.leelucreations.blogspot.com/   & her etsy shop is www.etsy.com/shop/LeeLuCreations  She told me that she liked vintage beads so I started with the flowered cab. It came in one of my treasure boxes from A Grain of Sand. The bicones, large orange lucite, the small rondelles, the metal shapes, & the white large beads on the left are all from my bead hoarder curiosity club (treasure) boxes. I added the adventurine rounds & a few pearls as well. The clasp I made. That is what is all pictured above. I decided to add some vintage purple pearls, vintage copper flowers, a copper clasp, & a brass metal stamping so that she would have choices about the color & the clasp. Unfortunately the pic with all the stuff in it got deleted so you will have to look at her blog to see the rest of what I sent her. I hope she has a much fun with her soup as I am having with mine.

Michelle Mach at http://michellemach.com/blog/  posted  a whole list of free giveaways on her blog Friday. I just found them today so I passing on the bead giveaways to you. Here is a great chance to win a bead stash giveaway. Cj at http://cjbauschka.blogspot.com/ who has a great stash is giving away 2 sets of stash beads. Check it out.

Beads of Clay Giveaway

Beads of Clay Giveaway

July Beads Of Clay

Giveaway Time!

Once a month we give you stuff 

Just look at these Awesome Beads and Pendants!

This collection is valued at OVER $75!

Left to right, top to bottom we have:

 Porcelain Heart from  Diana Ptaszynski

 Porcelain daggers from Joan Miller

Porcelain Heart with Leaf from Lise Nilsen

Stoneware Carved Beads from  Golem Studio

The amazing Lori Anderson is at it again. tempting all of us beaders with a 5 part giveaway. Pictured below are 4 of the prizes & #5 is a bead soup mystery mix that Lori will put together. Prize #1 is stuff she got at the Bead & Button Show. Aren't the filigree pewter ovals great? Prize #2 is a copy of Lori's soon to be released book about the Bead Soup Blog Party. Prize #3 is a free e-course about blogging that Lori made. Prize #4 is a tote for going to bead shows with the bead soup logo on it.  Please be sure to check out Lori's blog www.prettythings.com for your chance to win. T