I am proud to say that I participated in the 2017 Toho Challenge. This is what I created. I love the flower center made with two colors of crescent beads. The tan and brown leaf above it adds drama. The straps are right angle weave are embellished with the blue crescents, tan 3mm melons and seed beads, and 5mm elderberry melons with seed beads. A hand stitched clasp finishes the straps. When I submitted the piece it did not have the fringe. Thanks to Jean Erickson for teaching me this at the UMBS fall retreat. It is the perfect finish for this necklace. I have wanted to do twisted fringe for a long time but my results were less than spectacular. Now I have got it. A broken arm kept me from beading for a while but now I am back and I will try to post more frequently.

I created this bracelet as my second design for the Potomac Bead Challenge 2017. I used a Potomac exclusive crystal rivoli for the center. Seed beads form the bezel. The surround is created with Arcos Par Puca, Ava's, Rounduo's, and dragon scale beads. Seeds beads, delicas, and bugles were stitched to the ultra-suede next in bead embroidery style. An Ava and Rounduo accent each end. Copper firepolished beads were used on the edges. A pair of copper cup buttons and seed bead loops form the closure. I hope you like it. I am pleased with how this design came out. It is very different that what I saw in my head at the start. You can see all of the designs submitted for the challenge on Potomac Beads facebook page. You can vote for your favorite design by liking it.

Potomac Bead Company is having a design challenge. This is the first piece that I created for it. I started with a tree agate cabochon. I used Ava beads and rountrios with seed beads to bezel it. The fringe hangs from more of the ava beads. Three hole beams and seed bead picots form the straps. The closure is a cup button and seed bead loop. I hope you like my design. You can vote for your favorite on Potomac beads design challenge facebook page.

Bead Peeps Blog Hop

Today is the reveal for the Bead Peeps Blog Hop. We were given a partner with whom we exchanged beads.  Then make something with the beads that you received. My partner is Tina Pawass. Her blog is https://freebirdsinnovations.blogspot.com Thank you for being my partner Tina. I enjoyed getting to know you.  My camera was not playing nice when I tried to photograph what she sent so I will just have to tell you about it as I go. She sent the two ceramic ovals that I turned into the pendant. I used petrol blue pearls as a frame for the ceramic ovals. Next I stitched cobalt blue size 11 triangle beads around the pearls. Cobalt blue and white size 15 seed beads form the inner rings of the bezel. I used the white two hole triangles from my package at the bottom of the pendant. I finished the rest of the pendant edge with  stitched crown points trim. The bail is twisted bugles and white seed beads. I chose to suspend the pendant on a silver curved tube. The blue 6mm rounds were in my package. I turned them into the straps for my necklace with the silver links that Tina sent. The closure is a toggle clasp from Tina. I had fun making this necklace and I hope Tina likes it.

This is a closeup of the pendant so that you can see it better. Please check out what Tina made with what I sent her at the link above.  I always enjoy seeing what two people made with the same beads but I forgot about that part of the hop. Thank you Linda Anderson and the other administrators for hosting this challenge. #BeadPeepsSwapNhop17. Here is the link to Linda's blog where you can see all of the amazing designs that the other participants made http://fromthebeadboard.blogspot.com/

BSBP BeadHoarders Blog Hop 2017

The amazing Lori Anderson of http://www.prettythingsblog.com/ is having the Bead Soup Blog Hop again. This time it is called Bead Hoarders Edition. We were asked to choose beads that we had been hoarding because they were special to us. This is one of the most important days in my year. Lori assigns us a partner and we exchange beads. Then we create something with them and post what we created on our blogs. Today is the reveal. This year my partner is Sharyl King. She will be posting on her Pinterist page which is https://www.pinterest.com/sharylk/bead-soup-blog-hop/  She makes beautiful lampworked beads. I am in awe of people who do this. I hope one day to do it myself. Sharyl sent me some of the first lentil beads that she made. She said that they remind her of spring. I agree. The picture above is what she sent. I felt honored to receive these lovely bead and I wanted to create something special with them. Here is what I created.

 

Bead embroidery is my favorite technique so that is where I started. I wanted the lentil to be able to turn inside the focal pendant so that both sides could be seen. I chose the colors that Sharyl used in the bead as my inspiration. I stitched areas of each color and combined them all in the top portion. Bead caps accent the center bead and fringe finishes the bottom of the focal. The straps were stitched in spiral rope technique. They are finished with bead caps, white lentils from Sharyl and light blue crystal rondelles. I used a hook style clasp for the closure. The light blue lentils from Sharyl became earrings to go with this necklace. I added bead caps, white fire polished rounds, light blue flowers, and white drops. I am pleased with the outcome and I hope you like this set too.

This is a close up of the focal.

 

Sharyl also sent four jasper beads that she had hoarder for years. She said that she could not decide what to do with them. I started out to create a wire worked pendant, but as you know beads sometimes have a mind of their own. I ended up putting three of them on headpins and attaching them to a chandelier finding to create the focal for my second necklace. I had some tiny fire polished rounds that matched the jasper perfectly in color so by adding them and hematite colored triangle seed beads to the headpins I was off and running. I had purchased a necklace last year at the Bead and Button show that was the same mottled green as the jasper and by reworking it I had my necklace. It had gold bead caps which I replaced with silver and I changed the beads that were between the glass ovals with smoky quartz ovals and gray discs to better match the jasper beads. I again chose a hook style clasp. I also made earrings to match. I hope it pleases Sharyl. You can check out what I sent her and  her amazing beads by clicking on the link above to her Pinterist page. Please click on Lori Anderson's link to see the other participants designs. I think you will be amazed by all of the talent this ladies have. Thank you Lori for being a wonderful hostess.

Bead-it-Forward is a cause that is dear to my heart. Jeanette Shanigan started it in honor of her mother who died from breast cancer. Each year a theme is chosen and this years theme is fantasy. Beaders from around the world stitch small squares that are assembled into quilts, shadow boxes, ornament, and other items. These items are auctioned off and the money goes to breast cancer research. Since my mom and both sisters have had breast cancer I am committed to this cause. I have participated for for several years. I promote this at my bead group. These are the squares stitched this year from the Upper Midwest Bead Society members. The three squares in the left vertical column bottom were stitched by me.

I know that with 63 degree weather it is not the time when most people are making Christmas ornaments. I saw this design in the October issue of Bead and Button magazine and I had to make it. I recently purchased an endless loom so I tried it out on this ornament. I am pleased to say it was an enjoyable experience. The reason I have mostly stayed away from loomwork is weaving in all of those ends. With an endless loom the loom is warped through a started strip and there are no ends to weave in. My Mom was a big fan of cardinals . She really enjoyed watching them come to her birdfeeder. I made this ornament in memory of her. I hope you like it. I sure do.

Today's post is for the Color Blog Hop. I signed up again to participate in a challenge hosted by Lisa Lodge of http://gratefulartist.blogspot.com/2017/01/pine-ridge-treasures-color-blog-hop.html  .The lower picture above is the kit that I received from Lisa. Blue is my favorite color so I was pleased. The upper picture is the necklace that I created from this kit. The luscious large blue pearls became the straps with the aid of a few of the silver ovals and matte white glass rounds as accents.The two holey silver discs were the start of my pendant. I stitched them to blue ultra-suede using bead embroidery. The base row was made with the dark blue rice shaped pearls. A row inside of that made using size 8 beads forms the bezel to hold the silver components in. There is a trim row outside of that that uses blue seed beads capped with white points. Dark blue bugles form the base of the fringe. The fringe end sequence is a pair of  4mm lapis colored pearls flanking  a silver corrugated spacer bead and having a silver faceted rondelle below. I used a few of the lapis pearls and two of the white glass rounds as accents on the silver holey discs.  The bail was created with a modified herringbone stitch from the same  blueberry luster colored delica bead the I used in the outside row of the pendant trim. I am proud of the design that I created and I hope you like it too.  Thank you Lisa for another fun challenge. To see what the other participants made  from their kits please click on the link above. 

I did a lecture on bead embroidery at my bead group last week. In it I showed this pendant from start to finish. I choose two stone cabochons in my favorite color. The base row around them is pearls. For the inner bezel row I used size 15 seed beads. It looked too bland in all aqua so I picked up the coppery color from the stones to add flair. Next I stitched on the rondelles as accents. I put copper two hole kheops around them. After filling in the backround it was on to the edging. When I started I was sure that I would use  fringe because I really like fringe but when I came on the idea of daggers the fringe looked too busy. I stitched a row of dark blue daggers then topped it with a row of aqua ones. Inside that is a row of transparent drops to finish it all. I am please with how this piece turned out and my lecture went really well.

I wanted to show several variations in bead embroidery so members could get an idea of what can be done with this wonderful technique. This is the pendant I showed next. I used ladder stitched strips to bezel the cabochon. The connecting row is twisted seed beads. To make the piece cohesive I used a ladder stitched bail and twisted fringed. Picots with seed beads between finish the edge.

The base row of this pendant uses dark purple faceted ovals. The first row of the bezel is two drop hubble stitch and the inner row is a window bezel. I made a herringbone bail and crown points edging. The fringe is gathered with drops at the end.

A serpentine cabochons is the center of this pendant. I used two hole half moons in dark green metallic for the base row. White pearls are inside of that. When making the inner row of  bezel it looked blah until I added the aqua seed beads. I picked up the aqua again in the brick stitched bail. I used graduated fringe to show another option and a side petal edge. I hope that you like what I made.