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!