Hi everyone. Today is the day for me to reveal what I made in my latest bead challenge. It's called “Diamonds in the Rough” and the great folks at http://www.znetshows.com put it on. In case you haven't heard of Znetshows they supply wholesale beads on line and at bead shows. They have a great selection and reasonable prices. I got to choose gemstones that I like and they added a few extra pieces to spark my creativity. You will find a small button on the right side of my blog showing me as part of their design team.

The first pieces that I made are a set consisting of a necklace, bracelet and earrings. The stones are Rhodonite cubes in two sizes (item #'s SCBDG142-16 and SCBDG142-16B). I also used puffed black onyx ovals (item # SCBDS287-08). I knew before I started how I wanted this set to look. I think that the black and pink compliment each other well.

 

The color of my blue diamonds necklace and earrings is what attracted me to choose them They are a stunning color of sky blue and an interesting shape. My favorite thing to do is bead embroidery and this piece gave me a chance to do that. The large part of the focal that I embroidered is (item # SCPDG201). The smaller embroidered part of the focal is (item # SCPDG145-22). Both focal pieces are made of quartz. I peyote stitched the bail with size 11 seed beads and accented the whole thing with some vintage purple pearls that I had. The straps are more of the sky blue quartz in a diamond shape (item # SCBDS382-12) separated by peanut beads. I used gold diamond/oval chain and finished with a toggle clasp. The second pic is a closeup of the focal. A necklace needs earrings right? So I made a pair.

When I was ordering my supplies from www.Znetshows.com I picked baby blue glass teardrops (item # SCBDS-16) because they look like Larimar to me. I knew that I wanted them to be the center of a necklace with chain at the back. Strung between the teardrops are freshwater pearls (item # PRL60-04). I braided a strand of turquoise cotton, white hemp, and skinny teal leather and wove it through chain to make the beads stand out more. It's a simple design but it's very pretty. My Mom wants this piece.

I used the same baby blue teardrops for my next piece. A brass flower filigree was the frame for an aqua flower made with the teardrops beads. The filigree is attached with a jump ring to the body of the piece. Two curved gold tubes separated by aqua glass flowers on each side of the seed beads makes the flower really stand out. I also made a pair of earrings with the last two of the teardrops that I had. They can be worn with either of these two necklaces.

Can you tell that I like Aqua? Well I do so I chose another aqua focal. It looked like larimar to me too but it is hemimorphite (item# PT75-05). I used seed beads and turquoise fire-polished beads to showcase this focal in another bead embroidered piece. A sequin and a pearls add an accent. The stones in this piece are amazonite pebbles (item # BDS1413-06) made into links with black seed beads between them. All the links are connected with two gold jump rings. I also used two gold filigree beads on one link. The asymmetrical necklace is balanced with gold chain and a seed bead strand. I made the clasp myself from wire. Don't forget the earrings.

I always try hard to make pieces in a variety of different designs in my challenges to use as many of my jewelry making skills as I can. I enjoy pleasing a variety of people with my designs. I wanted to do something with wire work so my next piece uses black 20 gauge black craft wire to wrap the focal which is new jade (item # SCPDG201-20). The straps are 6mm round silver leaf beads (item # SCPDG114-03). I used the black onyx puffed ovals again (item # SCBDS287-08) plus tiny brass spacers. A few peridot colored fire-polished beads give a pop of color to draw the eye to the focal.

My next design is a green multi-wear necklace/bracelet. I made six bracelets with snap clasps. Two of the bacelets clasped together is 15 1/2” and makes a choker necklace. If all six bracelets are used it is 43” long. There are two shell flowers with lobster clasps and rings on the back that can be attached at any of the connection points. The larger flower is black lip shell (item # SCPDG114-03) and the smaller flower is golden lip shell (item # SCPDG289-04). There are many ways this set can be worn. It can be a medium length necklace at 22” with three of the bracelets fastened together and the other three bracelets worn with one of the flowers as a three strand bracelet. Four bracelets is 29 1/2” and five bracelets is 38”. Both flowers can be worn on the necklace or one on the necklace and one on the bracelet. It can even have no flowers to show the beautiful beads. How's that for multi-use? A perfect travel set because it can be so many looks with just a few pieces. I bet you want to know what beads I used to make this set. Bracelet #1 is green fire agate barrels (item # BDS1591-07) with light green peanut beads and brass spacers. Bracelet #2 is made with fire agate rondelles (item# BDS1591-08), more of the natural color freshwater pearls (item# PRL60-04), and three acrylic beads with flowers on them. Bracelet #3 pairs 8mm olive jade cubes (item # SCBDG142-45B) and more of the 4mm rhodonite cubes (item # SCBDG142-16), and green seed beads. Bracelet #4 is green adventurine 4mm cubes (item # SCBDG142-24) in sets of three separated by dark green crystals. Bracelet #5 uses amazonite pebbles (item # BDS1413-06) and gold corrugated beads. Bracelet # 6 is two adventurine rounds with wavy pearls and green seed beads. There is a pair of earrings too. They are a gold 3to1 with beads from the bracelets in three dangles. The pics show a couple of ways to wear this set and one pic is all of the pieces separated.

Since the deadline got extended I made another necklace using the fire agate beads again. This time it's Bohemian style. The green beads all have copper bead caps. I textured, patinaed, and sanded two copper washers from the hardware store. The focal is a copper charm from which hangs a fire agate and copper chain. The clasp end has 3mm copper faceted beads that got the same treatment as the washers. A copper lobster claw clasp and jump ring finish the end. Everything is strung on black cotton cord and knotted between elements. There is a matching pair of earrings with a fire polished round and copper findings and chain.

For my last pieces I started with brown soft aluminum wire from Michael's. I attached adventurine cubes (item # SCBDG142-24) on both sides of the aluminum with copper wire. Then I laced another piece of wire around the connecting wires. This gave the piece a nice structure and stabilized the cubes. The clasp end of the bracelet has three pearls (item # PRL60-04) on each side. I made the clasp with copper wire. And I didn't forget earrings. They are a simple copper wire circle with the cubes wire wrapped around it. One of the pearls hangs in the center. I am finally at the end. I used almost all of the beads I was sent.Thank you for reading my post today. I hope you saw something you liked. There is voting for this challenge on facebook for the designs users like best. I hope you like one of my designs and vote for it. I also hope that my post has encouraged you to check out www.znetshows.com for something you might make with their wonderful products. I feel very honored to be asked to be part of their design team.

like one of my designs and vote for it. I hope my post has encouraged you to check out

Focusing on Life:Abstract

Abstract was the prompt this week for focusing on life. Sally at http://thestudiosublime.com/ is doing such a wonderful job of getting us to focus on the little things we see around us every day. Here is my interpretation of abstract.

Focusing on Life: color

"Take notice about how color affects their mood or how the color impacts their perception of an object" was Sally Russick's prompt this week for focusing on life. I always feel better when I come home with something new to wear. When I was in town this week I decided to stop at the second hand store and this is what I came home with. As I removed them from the bag I draped them across the back of a chair to admire my new finds before putting them away. I thought they made an interesting color combination. I think the Jamaican print is cool and I know that I will wear the grey lace.
   My second photo is of my diningroom wall. My husband picked the colors. We painted "racing stripes" around the whole room. I know that diningrooms are not supposed to be this color but I love it.

Focusing on life:take a walk

Our prompt this week for focusing on life was take a walk. I know most of you will be showing pics of flower and green grass, but no flowers here yet. It snowed 7 of the last 10 days, Thursday and Friday I got 15" of new snow. Around here people are calling it the winter with no end. Normal temps for this time of year are 60 degrees somehow I don't think it will get anywhere near 60. LOL.The snow was wet and heavy and it stuck to everything.

BSBP7

Today is the day I have been waiting for. It's my reveal for Bead Soup Blog party (BSBP). First I want to thank Lori Anderson of http://www.prettythingsblog.com/ who spends many, many hours and puts on the best blog party there is. In case you don't know about the BSBP Lori pairs us up with another beader and we exchange beads. We make something with the beads we receive and post what we made on our blogs for everyone to see on our reveal day. I participated last year and I anxiously waited for this years party. My partner this time around is Cris Peacock. Her blog is  http://www.crispart.blogspot.com/ She is very talented and you should check out what she made. She poured the resin and assembled the focal in the first necklace. She also fused the glass pendant in the second necklace. Besides being talented she lives in Hawaii. How cool is that? The first pic is the soup I received.She used alcohol inks on the can and colored the wrappers and included a beautiful note.

When I opened the beautiful package that Cris sent and saw it had a flower in it I immediately saw a lei. Since Cris's beads are probably as close as I will ever get to Hawaii I decided to make a lei with her beads. The necklace has 105 components in it. The flowers are lucite, glass, metal, and vintage plastic. I tried several different ways of attaching the flowers, leaves, and pearls unsuccessfully. I ended up wire crocheting four rows of 24 gauge wire. Next I laced the wires together with more wire. It formed the base which I attached the flowers to. I took the focal apart because it just melted into the lei and I wanted it to standout more. I started with sheet copper and brass. I cut, textured, dapped, patined, and waxed the metal flowers that surround the focal flower from Cris. I punched a new hole and reattached the resin bottlecap at the bottom. I also made 5 small metal flowers which are used throughout the lei in the components. This is my first metalwork and I am proud of it. The crocheted section ends with brass flower bead caps. The part of the necklace at the back is a peyote rope made with green seed beads which was part of an earlier attempts at a base for the flowers. I put green seed beads on wire and wove it through the necklace to make it look like vines. I also made the clasp.

The second necklace I used the beautiful fused glass focal Cris made and the clasp. The straps are made with right angle weave with sizes 8 and 11 seed beads. I embellished it with size 6 beads in black and clear AB. Then I picked up the pink and purple in the glass and used those colors to add another layer of embellishment. There are picots with size 15 seeds on the edges. I tried to make a wire bail several times but none of them look how I wanted it to look so I peyote stitched a tube and finished the ends with Swarovski saucers in black. I stitched 2 sets of straps to the tube. One set goes around the base and one set goes around the focal. Then I used 2 of the silver beads Cris sent to add a little interest and draw your eyes to the focal. I am pleased with the outcome.

The small boro drops that Cris sent are wonderful. I attached 5 of them to a small copper flower component. Above it is a faceted rectangle also from my soup, flanked by small blue lined clear AB peanuts which complete the focal. The topaz seed beads in the strap match the drops very well. And I chose the peanuts because the boro glass has streaks of blue in it. A tab type copper clasp finished the necklace. I also made earrings to go with this necklace.

My last necklace started with the two handmade links Cris sent. I took the purple and aqua colors from one link and the blue from the bottlecap link. I also used the 2 green tubes, purple coins, cathedral beads, and transparent blue faceted glass rounds from my soup. I made the felt bead and added the rest of the stuff from my stash including 1 mood bead that changes color when touched. I wanted this necklace to be fun so the middle strand is blue chain. The inner strand has 20 different different seed beads to pull it all together.The links are all hooked together with 2 jump rings and they all have small silver spacers from my soup.  A silver toggle finishes this necklace.I want to thank Cris for being a great partner and sending such a wonderful soup. It challenged and inspired me. If you want to see what everyone else made Lori's link has the list.

Aged beauty was our prompt this week from Sally at http://thestudiosublime.com/ for the year log challenge of focusing on life. This weeks prompt fits me well. I have been helping my husband restore classic cars for more years than I care to admit to. I have sandblasted, painted, sewn interiors, and turned wrenches on scores of aged beauties. The photo that I am presenting today is from several years ago. The car in the pic is a 1938 Chevy coupe. We had just brought it home and I snapped this pic before it was unloaded from the trailer. Some people see cars in a field and think that they are just junk. I see beauty, potential, and holding onto a piece of history. Thanx to everyone who visits and leaves comments. I appreciate hearing from you.

Focusing onlife 52 photos: close up

If you have been following my blog you know that I am participating in Sally Russick's (http://thestudiosublime.com/ )Focusing on life 52 photos. Sally's prompt this week is close up. She wanted us to use the macro setting on our camera. My choice is this peacock feather that sits on my desk in a wine bottle. It has such beautiful color and you can see each feather individually. Isn't it beautiful?