Time to Reveal...

The 1st reveal date for the 6th Bead Soup Blog Hop has finally arrived!!  Before I show you what I created, let me remind you of the soup I received from my awesome partner, Cynthia Wainscott. She made that center focal herself with polymer clay, isn't it amazing?

On the first day of playing with beads, I broke one of the connectors off of the awesome copper piece seen on the left.  It was completely my fault for testing the limits of bending the link too far, and now it will have to become a pendant instead of a bracelet connector as I had initially hoped, and I haven't gotten around to using it quite yet. 

The first piece that I ended up making features the polymer clay focal, brass branch, and 1 of the pretty turquoise like disc beads. I didn't want to overcomplicate it because the focal alone was so detailed and beautiful, but I loved all of the colors in it and really wanted to draw those out, so I chose a few beads from my own stash to do a sort of boho, mixed up beaded chain. 

The next piece used only the clasp and a look alike bird I had in my stash. I used it because it was already beat up and also didn't have the third hole connector, and I wanted to use the brass bird from the soup as a centerpiece of a different necklace...another thing I didn't get finished in time. I might just have to post an additional reveal on another day in a few more weeks, but I digress.  I made a crazy fun necklace using a lot of brass blanks I had embossed and patina'd, mostly birds, owls, dragonflies, nature etc. so the fly away clasp was the perfect combo. I changed the toggle bar because the other one kept wanting to slide out, so this one was a little longer and more secure since the necklace isn't the lightest. Now this might seem like an easy design, but I actually had a hard time with this one. The color combination, choosing the pieces and colors ended up being quite the challenge for me. I ended up riveting the largest bird to a ring and having all of that together in order to get that center section to fall just right, and luckily the rest seems to fall into place. 

Here is an another look at the full necklace:

Lastly, I used one of the Genova beads in one of my dragonfly focal bracelets. I just loved the greens and had to pair it with more of the stone flower carved beads I had, and also used one of the adorable flower bead caps from my soup in this one as well just as a little charm. 

Ultimately I still have quite a few beads and pieces left from the soup I got, and if it weren't for unexpected events (tree falling on house and taking out power line to name one) causing additional time restraints, I probably would have more to show...oh well, that's life for you. ; )  Now, please go check out Cynthia's Blog if you haven't already, and you can find the list of the rest of the participants by clicking here: 6th BSBH Participants.  Thanks for reading and if you feel like commenting, go right ahead, no captcha required.  I will be very busy this next week visiting others and can't wait to see what you have made!  : ) 

Fabulous Giveaway

So one of my favorite bloggers, Ms. Lori Anderson, is having a fantastic giveaway over on her blog. You can read all about the giveaway, which has 5 different prizes and chances to win, here: LORI ANDERSON'S ALL THE PRETTY THINGS BLOG


Here is the first giveaway in the group:

Isn't that silk cord so cool? And those car links - must have those!! Also, I've been wanting both a golem studio pendant as well as a green girls studio pendant for awhile, and this price has both, so hello, you were meant for me!!  I really hope I can win this. The odds really aren't in my favor, but hey, a girl can dream, right? : )  Check out her blog, follow it, and do what you must to enter this fantastic giveaway! 

Soup's On - Meet Cynthia Wainscott

So I told you in my last blog post that I was gearing up for the Bead Soup Blog Hop, and last week I received my bead soup from my partner, Cynthia Wainscott. Isn't she gorgeous?! I know that isn't a requirement for beautiful jewelry, but exotic Peru seems to describe her as well as her jewelry. I just love her booth set ups too...but anyway, I digress.

 I was thrilled to learn all about Cynthia through our emails to each other and truly felt like I'd won the Bead Soup lottery in a way, as the partnership seemed like it was just perfection. Not only is she very similar to me in our personal aesthetic and style, but we are close in age, both design from home, are self taught jewelry designers, love brass and vintage, eclectic, and creative designs, and are moms of little boys. We definitely get each other. And while it may have its perks to being teamed with someone completely different, it is definitely nice to be paired with someone you feel like you understand. Here are a few of her designs that caught my eye:

I just love that Lucille Ball bracelet. My little sister used to collect I love Lucy items, so I can appreciate the fondness for the infamous Lucille Ball. The middle necklace is so delicate and romantic but still creative and unique, and the last one is just AHH-MAH-ZING. I would love to make jewelry this fabulous, but I don't think I'm quite at this level yet! What a talented designer, and how lucky am I to have her as my partner?!

 I was utterly over the moon when I saw the soup she had sent me. Not only had she included some gorgeous beads she hand picked from her native country, Peru, but she had also made me a polymer clay focal that is simply beautiful, and I believe she will also be offering a variety of these for sale in a new shop soon: 

In addition to the focal, she sent me some beautiful brass components (some of my favorites) from B'Sue Boutiques, as well as a variety of lovely quartz beads, Genova stones, Brazilian turquoise, Czech glass flowers, and pink glass beads, WOW. As if that weren't enough, she also sent me an adorable toggle clasp that she stamped the words fly away into. How perfect!

Needless to say I was super worried about what to send her, as her jewelry absolutely blew my mind, and it took me a few days of going through everything to figure it out. She had mentioned she really loved pearls, so I knew I wanted to include some, and since pearls remind me of the ocean, I chose a lovely beach themed pendant from Clayworks that I had purchased last year, along with a variety of beads including 3 different colors of pearls in 2 different styles, jasper, and 2 handmade glass beads from Lisa Anderson. The clasp was a vintaj toggle clasp, and I also included a little silk cord and some handmade "porthole" components.  Here is a photo of the soup I sent her:

Are you excited to see what she makes with it? I know I am! Wish me luck that I can do her fabulous components justice! In the meantime you can also help me out (warning, shameless plug following)  and vote for my bracelet design in this month's vintaj challenge, road trip is the theme! 

Click this link to vote: Vintaj Challenge   My bracelet is entry # 4.  Thanks for reading all about Cynthia and stay tuned for our design reveals on July 28th!