Here is the third necklace for the I wish it were summer hop. Yesterday did not go as planned so I just finished the necklace this morning. I used the stone rectangles and drops as the focus of the necklace. Spaced between the stones are small goldstone rounds, bronze flowers discs, and orange glass discs. I thought that the bronze flowers gave the necklace some needed punch of color, but did not distract from  nor compete with the stones. There are smoky glass fire polished beads at the ends of both strung sections. I made links from the two colors of orange sea glass drops to be the strap sections of the necklace. The wire I used is magnetic copper. This is one of my favorite wires to work with. It is darker and richer than regular copper wire. The coating also keeps the copper from turning green like regular copper does. I also made the clasp from this wire. Each link is joined by two jump rings. I made earrings from the last two drops. I hope that you like my new creation.

Here is the kit that I received from Lisa Lodge of http://www.gratefulartist.blogspot.com/
for today's blog hop. The theme is "I wish it were summer." Aren't the colors yummy? The aqua family is my favorite color to work with. One of the best parts of summer for me is the water. I really enjoy swimming so that is what I used as my inspiration for the first two necklaces that I made.

I used the sea glass barrels, discs, rounds, and fish to look like water. I also used the seahorse and teal glass discs from the kit. I added the pendant, small glass discs, and bead capped pearls from my stash. I like chain at the back of a necklace because it make the necklace lighter to wear and there is nothing poking the back of my neck, so that is how I finished my necklace. I used the two kinds of discs and the sea shells for earrings. I embellished the shells with nail polish and I am very pleased with how they turned out.

The second necklace I called Sea and Sand. The lampworked focal reminds me of the shore. I used two of the lovely crystal rondelles from the kit and two small tan fire polished beads to complete the focal. The gold wire attaches it to a sea glass barrel. Two of the teal glass discs flank the barrel. I had some aqua and white striped small nuggets that looked like water to me and I spaced them apart with tan seed beads. The turquoise bay sea glass teardrops and aqua discs are from the kit. A simple gold toggle clasp is my closure. I have a third necklace almost done that uses the orange stone beads from the kit if you come back this afternoon I will have it posted. Thank you Lisa for another fun challenge. To see what everyone else made click on Lisa's link at the beginning of my post.

Bead It Forward is a cause that is dear to my heart. Jeanette Shanigan started the project to honor her mother who died of beast cancer. It has turned into an international project. Beaders from all over the world stitch squares on a theme. This years theme was   “Space: Out there somewhere, there’s a cure”. These squares are assembled into quilts, shadowboxes, ornaments, and other items. These items are auctioned off and the funds go to breast cancer research. The top pic shows the two squares that I stitched this year. I asked the members of my bead group to participate also. The second pic shows the squares that I received. I have joined in this worthwhile effort of 6 years now. My Mom and sister have both had breast cancer so anything I can do to help eradicate this terrible disease I want to. I just learned yesterday that a friend of mine has breast cancer.