My partner for this swap was Lisa Baxa. She sent me the awesome beads in the picture above. They are perfect for me. The first necklace that I created used the labradorite cabochon that she sent. I also had a labradorite cab that was a gift from my friend Cindy. I combined the two cabs in a bead embroidered focal piece. After bezeling with seed beads I surrounded the cabs with gray pearls and blue tin thread and edged them with gray seed beads. A blue pearl drop completes the focal. The straps were created with labradorite nuggets, seed beads, gray pearls, and the miracle beads from Lisa. The miracle beads have a blue flash that matches the labraborite flash perfectly. I used the clasp from Lisa too. I will wear this necklace often.

 

My second necklace was made with the ocean jasper cabochon from Lisa. Seed beads and green pearls form the bezel and the mercury finished rondelles from Lisa surround edge of the center. Next I mounted it on green leather and edged it with green seed bead loops. The straps are green stone ovals, seed beads, gray crystal rondelles, and green pearls. I used silver chain at the back to make it more comfortable to wear and a toggle clasp finishes it. Ocean jasper is one of my favorite stones. 

 

My third necklace was created with the bone cone from Lisa. The seed bead mix from her made the dangles by adding copper O beads, dark topaz rondelles, and black pearls on the ends. I created the bail and clasp using magnetic copper wire and made links for the straps from bone pipes with more of the copper O beads and black pearls. I hope you like what I designed. Thank you Lisa for bring a great partner and sending a wonderful swap stash. Please check out what Lisa made with what I sent her. Thank you Lori for being the best host ever. 

 

I participated in Lori Anderson's bead exchange. My partner is Norma Turvey. The picture above is what she sent me. I am thrilled with what she sent. The Aqua, teal, turquoise color family are my favorite colors. Norma's selections were perfect for me. Thank you Lori and Norma. I am forming a design in my mind already.

Toho Challenge Carnival Mask

If you read my blog you know that I enjoy doing challenges. This is my entry in this years Toho Challenge. I always try to do something unusual so that my piece gets noticed  instead of just getting lost in all of the necklaces. One of my friends gave me a cardboard carnival mask. It was laying on my bead board when I was trying to decide what to make for this challenge. A lightbulb moment happened and I began beading the mask. I am thrilled with how it turned out. Since bead embroidery is my favorite technique it was perfect. Toho chooses the bead colors and participants can use any shape in those colors. Only one focal piece can be added. Mine came from an old earring. I was not sure how to make it look like a plume on the top but I accomplished that with wire. I used chenille stitch on the handle. I hope you enjoy it.It was really fun to make.

Today is the reveal for the Bead Peeps Blog Hop 2018. Thank you LindaAnderson for hosting this fun challenge. Since my package did not arrive from my partner I decided to do something on my own. I bead with a group of friends every week. One of the ladies went to the Tucson Bead Show this year. She brought back the large green two hole rectangles and challenged us to make something with them. I decided to use them for this hop also. Since bead embroidery is my favorite thing to do I started there. I found a cabochon that is colored similar to the two hole rectangles and bezeled it. Then I attached it to a circular piece of backing. I stitched the two hole rectangles below it. A black seed bead and a green disc were uses to fill the holes. Next I created six fringes. One for each of the holes and stitched them below the rectangles. I found jade ovals for the edge of the circle. Then I filled in with green seed beads. The straps were created with faceted jade rounds, black discs, green bicone crystals, and black teardrop shaped beads. I chose a gunmetal toggle clasp for the closure because it matched the bead caps I used on the fringes. I also created matching earrings using a jade round and fringes with the same beads as the necklace only they are shorter.  I had fun creating this and I hope you like it. Now please check out what the other designers in this hop created at https://www.facebook.com/groups/beadPeeps/

Carrier beads are all the rage now so I had to try them. They certainly are fun and addictive. They stitch up fast and there are bunches of patterns to make. All of the pieces that I have seen are simply strung with a beads at each hole between them. I wanted to do something different, so this is what I came up with. I made a half a dozen tries at stitching them together  then gave up and went to bed last night. First thing this morning I thought of eyepins to connect them and they worked great. Three sizes of aqua rondelles, gold spacers, and white pearls create the straps along with a hook style clasp. An aqua drop hangs as an accent from the center carrier bead. A pair of carriers that match the necklace center bead were created as earrings. Simple wire wrapping connects them to the earwires. I am proud of how this set turned out and I hope you like them too.

I realized that I never posted what I created for the first Miriam Haskell challenge. This is the necklace and earrings from the first set. The petals on the large flower were painted with nail polish because I could not find the color that I wanted. Tiny white pearls were stitched in  the center and the flower was attached to an oval filigree. Then I used the metal flowers from the kit with bright pink pearls as centers on the lower corner of the filigree. The top has small pink glass flowers with white pearl centers. Two pink glass leaves finish the focal. The straps are the large white glass rounds separated by pink seed beads in the Haskell style. A box clasp from the kit is the closure. The earrings are one of the white glass rounds above three of the small pink glass flower dangles.

I created the pin on a metal form from the kit. White seed beads wrap the frame as I have seen in Haskell pieces. The center is more of the pink glass flowers with some cranberry colored ones also. A pink flower slider was used for the largest flower . A clear AB glass leave is the accent. Lastly I created another pink petal flower in a single layer that matches the necklace to use on the bracelet. The band is the large white rounds matching the necklace. Although I have never seen a Haskell piece with a snap as a clasp I chose to use one for the bracelet. If you don't know who Miriam Haskell is I suggest that you google her as you will see some of the most amazing pieces of jewelry. I had a wonderful time creating these jewelry pieces. I hope you like them.

I created this parure (set) for the second Miriam Haskell Challenge sponsored by A Grain of Sand.
When I think of Miriam Haskell jewelry I think of floral component based pieces so that is what I made for the necklace focal. To make the necklace I started with the round filigree from the kit. I stitched some of the black seed beads from the kit and a 4mm black round in the center, then I made loops of the pearly white seed beads that were a free gift with my kit to form the black and white flower. I also stitched some of the black seed beads into leaves. I was inspired to make this flower by one I saw in my Miriam Haskell book that was a bracelet center and was a Robert Clark design. I found a large brass flower in my stash and embellished it with more of the pearly white seed beads and used a matte light yellow glass flower center. I attached these two flowers to a larger filigree piece. Next I attached two pale yellow enameled flowers each in a different shape and with a different black glass flower center. The finishing touch for the focal was 5 small matte light yellow glass flowers. The straps were made with the large black faceted nailheads from the kit plus some I already had.They were spaced out with the black seed beads from the kit and black size 6 seed beads. I saw straps in my Miriam Haskell book which were made with black fire polished beads spaced in this way. Most of the Miriam Haskell pieces that I have seen are very colorful so black was more unique. I used the black faceted clasp from my kit for the closure. Next came the earrings. There were a pair of floral inspired metal pieces in the kit which I used as my earring bases. I glued black Swarovski crystals into the indentations and hung one of the yellow set crystal from the kit on the bottom to keep with the color scheme I had going. Earwires was all that was needed to complete these simple earrings. I used the large yellow cabochon with the crescent shaped holes to create a pin. I wired one of the yellow AB crystals to the center. It is surrounded by small black round beads. I created a harness with wire on the back. To this I attached three of the yellow set crystals so that they hung below the cabochon. Next I punched a pair of holes in the metal bow from the kit and used a pair of oval jump rings on each side to attach the embellished cabochon to the bow. I used wire to attach a pin back and this creation was done. I had fun creating these designs. I am working on another pin and I have a bracelet design in my head too but they will have to be finished after the challenge is over. It was fun to design these pieces. I hope you like them.

Fish Leather

The necklace I am showing today is made with fish leather. The royal blue salmon skin was imported from Iceland. The people who sell it were the speakers at the last Upper Midwest Bead Society meeting. It was interesting to learn about how the fish skin is processed. The focal beads are enameled copper from C-Koop Beads. I bezeled the two enameled pieces with large royal blue crescent shaped beads and seed beads and added a faceted drop to the bottom cab then sewed them onto the leather.  Next I added two bezeled  glass cabs as accents. I did use bead backing behind the leather to stiffen the piece and help it support the weight of the beads.When I was done applying the focals I glued ultra-sued to the back to cover the stitching. I edge stitch seed beads with daggers at the bottom to finish the piece. The straps are bugle beads and seed beads in a herringbone pattern. Blue crystal rondelles and silver cones finish the straps. I chose a silver toggle clasp as the closure. I had fun working with something unusual. I hope you like it.

Miriam Haskell Challenge

A Grain of Sand bead shop is offering a Miriam Haskell inspired challenge. They sold a kit with vintage beads and asked participants to make something inspired by Miriam Haskell's designs.The picture above is the parure (set) that I created for today's reveal.

When I think of Miriam Haskell jewelry I think of floral component based pieces so that is what I made for the necklace focal. To make the necklace I started with the round filigree from the kit. I stitched some of the black seed beads from the kit and a 4mm black round in the center, then I made loops of the pearly white seed beads that were a free gift with my kit to form the black and white flower. I also stitched some of the black seed beads into leaves. I was inspired to make this flower by one I saw in my Miriam Haskell book that was a bracelet center and was a Robert Clark design. I found a large brass flower in my stash and embellished it with more of the pearly white seed beads and used a matte light yellow glass flower center. I attached these two flowers to a larger filigree piece. Next I attached two pale yellow enameled flowers each in a different shape and with a different black glass flower center. The finishing touch for the focal was 5 small matte light yellow glass flowers. The straps were made with the large black faceted nailheads from the kit plus some I already had. They were spaced out with the black seed beads from the kit and black size 6 seed beads. I saw straps in my Miriam Haskell book which were made with black fire polished beads spaced in this way. Most of the Miriam Haskell pieces that I have seen are very colorful so black was more unique. I used the black faceted clasp from my kit for the closure.

Next came the earrings. There were a pair of floral inspired metal pieces in the kit which I used as my earring bases. I glued black Swarovski crystals into the indentations and hung one of the yellow set crystal from the kit on the bottom to keep with the color scheme I had going. Earwires was all that was needed to complete these simple earrings.

I used the large yellow cabochon with the crescent shaped holes to create a pin. I wired one of the yellow AB crystals to the center. It is surrounded by small black round beads. I created a harness with wire on the back. To this I attached three of the yellow set crystals so that they hung below the cabochon. Next I punched a pair of holes in the metal bow from the kit and used a pair of oval jump rings on each side to attach the embellished cabochon to the bow. I used wire to attach a pin back and this creation was done. I had fun creating these designs. I am working on another pin and I have a bracelet design in my head too but they will have to be finished after the challenge is over.This is the second of their challenges that I have participated in. I guess I neglected to post pics of what I did the first time. I will do that later. I have been neglecting my blog because my camera is not working and pics from my phone are large which makes them harder to look at on-line.

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.

I was lucky enough to get one of Toho's kits at the Bead and Button Show last summer. We were instructed to make something using only the beads from the kit plus a focal. Most people make necklaces from their kits but I wanted to do something unusual. I chose a flapper style headband.  In the kit were size 11 & 8 matte turquoise seed beads, size 11 & 8 chartreuse seed beads, size 15 & 3mm magatama in dark metallic green, size 15 dark bronze seed beads, size 11 copper seed beads size, 8 transparent dark amber AB seed beads, size 11 dark blue metallic AB seed beads, Aiko dark coppery red seed beads, 8mm dark bronze rounds, 6mm dark bronze quadra tiles, dark bronze 3/10mm daggers, and 6mm chartreuse 2 hole triangles. I used almost all of the different kinds of beads in my headband.  The pics above show what I came up with. I hope you like it. Thank you Toho for letting me join this challenge. I had fun.To see what the others made click on this link http://teamtoho.net/challenges-and-contests/2016-toho-challenge/

French Countryside

It's time for another challenge. The theme this time is French Countryside. The hostess is Lisa Lodge of  http://gratefulartist.blogspot.com/2016/10/french-countryside-blog-hop-link-list.html
I enjoyed the colors that were in my kit. French countryside makes me think of flowers so that was the inspiration for this set. I used patina to color the pendant, link, and clasp flowers lilac to help them stand out. The necklace uses the green crystal rondelles, clear crystal bicones, black rounds, and purple fire polished beads in a repeating pattern. The bracelet features the large black flat sea glass shapes with a purple lucite flower center.  The rondelles and bicones space the sea glass shapes apart for definition. The earrings have a pair of the black sea glass bicones at the top with a clear bicones and green rounds. The dangle is a pair of the purple flowers which I used in the center of the bracelet lucite flower. To me this set says springtime in the country. I hope you enjoy seeing them as much as I enjoyed making them. To see what the other participants made please click on the link above. Thank you Lisa for another fun challenge.