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.

Evening Elegance is the title of the blog hop that I am participating in today. It is the brainchild of Lisa Lodge of http://www.gratefulartist.blogspot.com/.  Thank you Lisa for inspiring me. We each received a kit with which to design our creations. The pic above is the kit that I received. 

The first beads that I chose to use were the blue top drilled stone diamonds. They needed to be the focus of a necklace so I spaced them apart with royal blue sea glass rounds and blue stone discs. The necklace is finished with silver chain and the clasp from the kit. I also made earrings to match the necklace. This necklace is simple but very wearable.

Since the hop was called evening elegance I wanted something that felt classic. For this necklace I chose the large dark fire polished rounds and the small Montana blue crystal bicones. I added grey pearls from my stash to complete the center section. The focal uses the two large clear crystals from the kit and a black crystal rondelle from my stash. I again finished the back section  with chain. Chain makes a necklace comfortable and lightweight. A hook type clasp makes the closure. I created earrings for this necklace too.

The  blue and white lampworked beads by Lisa Anderson in the kit just begged to be earrings so I topped them with small cobalt glass flowers, placed a white disc below, and suspended three of the cobalt ovals from the bottom. They look much better when worn that they do laying on a surface. Cobalt blue and aqua is one of my favorite color combinations so I enjoyed designing with this kit. Since the cobalt ovals are drilled front to back I wanted to figure out a way to make them lay with their faces showing instead of just the sides, as they would have if I had strung them. I decided to knot them on waxed linen cording. It took me a some experimenting to get it right but I am pleased with the outcome. I recycled an enameled earring as the focal that is edged with the same cobalt blue as the beads. The small aqua AB rounds make the cobalt glass ovals stand out. I had cobalt bugle beads that I used between the ovals. I hope you enjoyed my creations.  Please click the link above to see what the other designers made.

I made this necklace the last time I designed for http://www.znetshows.com
It did not get posted so I am showing it today. znetshows has wonderful cultured sea glass in a myriad of shapes and they are very affordable. The items from them that I used are P21-B82  bottle curve wide rectangle pendants for the focal, S81-B159 teal tubes for the straps, M0022-AB brass circles, and M0470-AB brass clasp. I added brass chain, brass spacers, turquoise rubber O-rings, and wire from my stash. This necklace suits me perfectly. I hope you like it.

I hope everyone had a great holiday season. Now for the fantastic news. Lori Anderson of http://www.prettythingsblog.com/ 
has announced that she will again be having the Bead Soup Blog Party. This is my favorite bead exchange. If you have a chance please join in the fun of participating in the fun blog hop.

Today I am showing the Christmas ornament that I made for an on-line ornament exchange. My partner said that she liked blue, green, and red in that order so I used those colors to make the ornament. I started with Deb Roberti of http://www.aroundthebeadingtable.com/ Starlight pattern. I reduced the sizes of all of the beads I used . Instead of superduos I used miniduos. I stitched 6 stars and joined them together. Then I stitched two rows attaching each star to the top. The bottom has twisted fringe finished with green and red drop beads. I truly enjoyed designing this ornament. I hope that my partner Candi of www.spunsugarbeadworks.com likes what I made for her. Thank you Lori Anderson of http://www.prettythingsblog.com/ for organizing this ornament exchange. Christmas is my favorite time of the year. I take great pride in decorating my tree. It is a tradition in our family to make ornaments. We started it back in the early 1980's. I have made ornaments out of turned wood, buttons, seashells, embroidery, rocks,beads, and many other items. This year I am making several ornaments from fused glass.  I also collect ornaments and I have several from the 1930's.

I have two challenges to post today. The first is A Time To Stitch 8- What's your bag? Therese Frank and Christine Altmiller host this fun hop. I have admired beaded purses for many years. When I saw this hop I could not resist making myself a beaded clutch purse. I used black backing stitched to black ultra-suede. Since turquoise is my favorite color I used turquoise marquise shaped glass to stitch the focal. Next I used twisted bugles and size 11 seed beads in black to net the entire purse. I chose a hidden magnetic closure. I lined the purse with black ultra-suede too. I am really pleased with how this turned out. Thank you for including me in this fun challenge. To see what the rest of the ladies made here is the link to Christine's blog http://onekisscreations.blogspot.com/ I am including an in progress pic below.

My second challenge today is called contrast. It is hosted my Lisa Lodge of Pine Ridge Treasures. I received my kit which contained black sea glass squares, black quadra-tiles, black crescents, black two hole daggers, white sea glass drops, and red size 6 seed beads. I am thrilled with all of the new multi-hole beads and the black, white, and red contrasting color combination is one I really enjoy. I decided to bezel a vintage red  Swarovski rectangular crystal with the quadra-tiles. They worked well to surround the crystal. Next I stitched black seed beads through the quadra-tiles to enclose the crystal on both sides. I stitched through the outer holes and used white rubber o-rings and the red seed beads as accents. I used two rows of the daggers on the bottom The edge of the focal is finished with white and red seed beads. The straps are made with more of the quadra-tiles, seed beads and crescents. A vintage black button serves as the clasp with a loop of seed beads. Thank you Lisa for this fun challenge.