Echo Creative Club September Reveal

In my last post, I shared the beads I am using in this month's Echo Creative Club Challenge. They are gorgeous Caribbean Blue peeled paint beads from Jeannie. Here's the photo of the beads again: 

I created 2 pieces with these beads (and still have a few leftover to work into other projects!)  The first piece is a necklace that is a long, beaded chain with a filigree focal that I used to drop one of these larger beads. I used turquoise and gold Swarovski crystal pearls to keep the colors uniform.

The next piece is a pair of earrings. I plan on doing a pair just like these with bronze findings to match the necklace, but originally I did them with 14K gold filled findings as shown here. They have Czech gold glass metallic pearls and crystal golden shadow Swarovski crystals.

Pardon my crappy lighting - hard to get decent pics inside my house and I haven't been able to get any recently outside due to a hectic day schedule.  

I hope you enjoy the beads and the jewelry. If you want to check out Jeannie's amazing jewelry, visit her store by clicking HERE

Be sure to check out Kristin's and Jeannie's blog post reveals as well by clicking on their names below.

KRISTIN     JEANNIE

Echo Creative Club September Beads

I am honored to participate for the last time in the Echo Creative Club. It has been a blast getting to use Jeannie's fabulous beads in my projects and share with you all. This month, I had some beautiful round peeled paint beads in a Caribbean blue and gold/copper color.  You can purchase some of her beads for yourself HERE. Make sure to check out her other beads, pendants, and jewelry!

Stay tuned for my reveal tomorrow, Wednesday the 25th of September to see what I created with her beads!

ECHO Creative Club Reveal

I was so excited to once again participate in the Echo Creative club. Thank You to Jeannie who organizes it all and mails us her fabulous beads and pendants to work with on her own dime.  How lucky are we?!  My last post was a preview of the bead that Jeannie K Dukic sent me for this month's ECHO Creative Club Design Challenge. If you missed that post, here is the bead she sent me.

It is a pretty green gin blossom pendant. She has a ton of other ones in all sorts of colors, but my favorite of her new ones are the patina'd versions. Check them out by looking at her SHOP.

So I decided on using Leather Cord with this one. I'm kind of on a leather kick right now, and it felt more organic than chain, which I just wasn't feeling with this one. I boldly opted for a dark emerald green color, and green beads...yeah I went there. Consider me Irish. Here is what I ended up with:

I know its really green...if I redid it I'd probably try a bronze shade leather instead, but that's ok, its a perfect necklace for St. Patrick's day and any day for someone like my sister, who is a true redhead and wears green a lot. Maybe this will end up being a future gift for her. : )   

Thanks for checking out my piece and be sure to visit the other participants:

Dagi http://www.kokopellidesign.blogspot.com/

Jeannie K Dukic http://site.jkdjewelry.com/blog

Lisa Lodge   http://www.gratefulartist.blogspot.com/

Lori Anderson  http://www.prettythingsblog.com/

Echo Creative Club Design in Process

Once again I am a lucky participant in the Echo Creative Club, where I get to take a handmade set of beads or pendant made by the awesome Jeannie K Dukic and create something with it. This month I am using this cool green Gin Blossom pendant. You can get one for yourself HERE.

I think I'm going to use some of the new leather cord I just got with this piece. The reveal is on June 25th, so check back to see what I design with it!

- Jessica

Mmm That's Some Tasty Soup!

So it may have taken a little longer than expected to get ready for my big 3 day show, and as a result I completely forgot to schedule the Bead Soup reveal in advance and am a day and a half late. My apologies to everyone! So my awesome partner, Cassie Donlen sent me her awesome handmade beads, bead headpins, and enameled pendant (not to mention all the other beads, findings, and cool chain) I was over the moon excited!  Here is what she sent me again:

I ended up making a few different things using what she sent combined with a few of my beads, and I still have lots of beads left over! I immediately knew I wanted to make a bracelet with the larger beads and the focal b/c I love a good toggle clasp on a bracelet! I used the large beads, the small spacer beads she made, and a few of my own beads.

Next I used the long silk in a moon face necklace of mine. The colors of the bermuda blue crystals went great with the deep turquoise color of the silk, and it was just what this long necklace needed to complete its dreamy feel.

Lastly, I used the funky, large silver chain in a fun charm bracelet. I used a different, multi-color blue/turquoise silk, along with a few of her beaded headpins. I added random beads and fun sea charms. I'm calling this one "Sea Spray." There are a few copper pins thrown in the mix...fitting since Sea Spray could cause certain metals to rust, as I learned the last time I was at the beach! 

I hope you've enjoyed my soup, I had a lot of fun cooking it up. Please visit the other participants by going to the main list page HERE Definitely visit Cassie by the link at the top if you haven't already, the necklace she made is awesome!

April ECHO Creative Club Reveal

It's reveal time for the Echo Creative Club!!  If you missed my preview post, I have one of Jeannie's Lonely Heart Pendants. 

Last year I had another style of heart from her, and I created this awesome necklace that I decided was too over the top for it to be wearable. Now I'm not saying I wasn't proud of the design, I did put a lot of thought and time into it, but at the end of the day, it was too much for my personal style to really wear it. And I do love funky hearts, so I wanted to make something this time that I could and would enjoy wearing. I already knew I wanted to make it longer this time so it would fall below my bust line. Everything that falls above it looks funky on my thanks to my body type. dI ended up using this fine rolo antiqued silver chain and some fun steampunk gears and links. I made a connector by glueing a Tim Holtz tiny gear onto a slightly larger copper gear, then used a hole punch to make it a link. It is 2 sided, so if it flips around, it looks the same. I knew I was going to keep it simple but asymmetrical, so I balanced the other side with 2 smaller links, and used a section of double chain between to give it more weight. Something told me to stop there. I know it is simple, but that's how I like my jewelry most of the time b/c I am usually running around in yoga pants, such is the life of a mother. That being said, I wasn't trying to take the easy road necessarily, but rather wanted to highlight the pendant itself, which is really the star, and compliment it with a similar asymmetrical, whimsical feel in the chain without totally overdoing it. I used a larger gear to link the pendant to the necklace and voila! What do you think?

I hope you like it, I have been fretting over whether it was too simple, but at the end of the day, I like it and will definitely be wearing it - today in fact! Thanks for taking the time to read my blog, please visit the other participants listed below!

Dagi http://www.kokopellidesign.blogspot.com/
Jeannie K Dukic http://site.jkdjewelry.com/blog
Lola Surwillo  http://www.beadlolabead.blogspot.com/

Creativity in the Works

Hello all,

March came and went quickly thanks to our wonderful 9 day vacation to Orlando. April has been a month of catching up, custom orders, and preparing for a 3 day show I'm doing at the end of the month. It is also a month of creativity, as I have 2 different design challenges in the works. The first is the Polymer Clay Bead Challenge with the Echo Creative Club. We take a bead that is gifted to us by the ever creative Jeannie K Dukic and design something with it. This month, I had one of her fabulous Lonely Hearts Pendants.  

Isn't is cute?!  I think so. I will post the final piece I made on the 25th of April.

Next up is the one and only Bead Soup Blog Hop! My partner for this event is the oh so talented Cassie Donlen. Click her name for her website, or click HERE for her blog.  She is an incredible designer and glass bead maker, among other mediums. She sent me a gorgeous bead soup including one of her focal enameled flower clasps found HERE as well as 3 of her candy pop beads, found HERE.  There were also an array of other glass beads, some of her handmade glass bead headpins, fantastic funky chain, and a beautiful dyed silk. It was like a bead filled birthday! I am so lucky to have been paired with a bead maker as talented as she, so please check out her stuff and show her your love and support if you are in the market for some unique components! Also her finished jewelry is fantastic! I especially love her cool, funky bangle bracelet sets! 

Here are photos of the soup she sent. First, the attractive packaging was so cute!

Then you open the boxes and bag, and here is what was inside!

Here is a close up of the beads, spacers and headpins, and focal clasp, I just love everything about all of them!

I've had so much fun working with these colorful and whimsical components. I can't wait to show you all what I made. The reveal date is April 27th, so look for my reveal on that day!

Thanks for checking out my creative challenge components and reading!

REVEAL for Echo Creative Club

I received 4 pendants from Jeannie for the months I'm participating in the challenge, and it was pretty hard to decide which one to go with. After way too much time pondering and daydreaming, I ended up going with the Purple Anemone. Here is is:

I combined so many different beads trying to brainstorm a design, but I ultimately decided to keep it simple and sweet, much like the pendant itself. I chose Swarovski crystals in Lilac and Golden Shadow shades, which happened to match nearly perfectly with the shades in the pendant. Tanzanite was pretty close as well, but it was quite a bit darker than the lilac, and I found the lilac to be sweeter. I combined the crystals with lovely figaro chain from vintaj natural brass, which also has a feminine, sweet look to it. For a little extra bling, I took a 12mm rivoli and made a setting with a vintaj filigree to enhance the pendant.  Here is the final necklace:

You can purchase a pendant of your own from Jeannie HERE  They come in 3 different colors.   Check out her other awesome pendants and beads as well.

Please visit the other blog participants shown below. 

Dagi http://www.kokopellidesign.blogspot.com/

Jeannie K Dukic http://site.jkdjewelry.com/blog

Jessica Klaaren (you are here) http://cellardoorjewelry.blogs

Thanks for reading!

Echo Club Preview

The month of February turned out to be a lot busier than I expected! I ended up having to move my booth space at a store I sell in that is over an hour away to a new glass case they made, then I had a new store open here in town that I had to quickly inventory and price jewelry for (not to mention make a few new pieces) I had to have numerous doctor and dentist appointments and had an opportunity to send jewelry to the Wendy Williams show, and had to quickly make, package, and ship out all of that. In the meantime I've been working overtime at the day job in order to save up some money for our Disney Vacation AND I did my own taxes, and with 2 schedule c businesses, that definitely took a lot of time. Oh not to mention the interview for the paper and the fact that I had to create a studio in 2 days because a news crew is going to be at my house TOMORROW to interview me for a segment.  Needless to say, my 1st Echo blog post where I reveal the pendant is very very late. The truth is, I didn't even decide on which pendant I was using until last night, and I finished the necklace up at about 3 am this morning in order to have it ready to photograph today. So forgive me for not having a preview earlier, I just hadn't decided on what I was doing yet. Since I have some more time until my next month in the club, I should be well above schedule for the rest. : )  So here is the pendant I ended up deciding on. Forgive the photo as it was about midnight when I picked the pendant and had to take the photo indoors where my lighting is terrible. 

This is the Purple Anemone Poppy Pendant. You can purchase one for yourself HERE

Thanks for reading and check out my reveal blog tomorrow!

Memories & Thanks Blog Hop

I signed up for this memories and thanks blog hop with good intentions of creating something new, but as it often does, life got in the way and I really haven't had time, so I opted to show something I had already made. Some of you may recognize this necklace as it is also the first piece of jewelry I ever had published, last Feb in Bead Trends magazine. It features a walnut slice that came from my grandfather's workshop after he passed away. While he was alive, no one ever even knew he had been slicing all these walnuts in his shop, and it wasn't until after he passed that we found them in coffee cans. We aren't sure what he had intended to do with them, but I certainly didn't want to let such an interesting piece of nature's beauty go to waste (not to mention his work involved in slicing all these walnuts) so I decided to put them to use in my jewelry. I made the first necklace for my sister and called it Molly's necklace and submitted it to Bead Trends. I was over the moon excited when I found out it had been selected for publication. Since then I've had 11 pieces published, including landing the cover in December. Here is the magazine shot:

As if that wasn't enough to be thankful for, I also recently had the opportunity to be a part of a celebrity earth day gifting event. I racked my brain and thought about doing something upcycled and steampunk, but then I thought, what is more appropriate for earth day than these walnuts? So ultimately I decided to send the celebrities one of my walnut slice necklaces too. I hope my grandfather would have been proud of what I'm doing with his walnuts. I'm glad to know they aren't going to waste. I sure hope that after I pass away, my family doesn't throw away the things I was working on. Even if they don't know what my intentions are, there are so many artists out there that could take my ideas to completely new places and keep my memory alive. That is my intention for him and I am so thankful that he made them and that I was able to find them, because they led me to places and opportunities I never thought possible.  Here is a photo of the style that is headed to the celebrity gifting.

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog and checking out my memories and thanks necklace. Please visit Pretty Things Blog to get to the list of participants and continue the hop.