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!

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!

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!   

The Huge Difference of Small Details

I think I have made it pretty well known that I've been on a bracelet kick lately. I have also been experimenting with using silver, a territory I wasn't that comfortable with since my creative roots lie with brass products, but that didn't stop me from trying it out. My first attempt was with lapis lazuli beads and crystal dangles using silver findings and wire. After my last purple butterfly bracelet that I posted on a recent blog, I wanted to do a similar bracelet only with beads alone and no focal butterfly, just to make the design more generalized to appeal to more people who were looking for basic or classic jewelry and not necessarily hand painted butterflies. I loved the design so much that I did the EXACT same bracelet, only I used silver wire, jump rings, and bead caps. Here are photos of both bracelets to show the difference that the findings make in the design. Which do you prefer or are drawn to? I am almost always drawn to the brass as it feels less complicated, more laid back, more down to earth, if you will. But here lately, I feel the silver pulling me ever so closer in...will there be a change in my designing future? Perhaps...it would be easier to go there if the cost of silver went down! Until then, the artistic wire will have to do.
Here is the brass version:

And here is the silver version:

My last post was about the blog hop, and I made 2 pairs of earrings that also used some of the beads she sent. One pair included only beads she sent as well as chain, and the others just had one little glass bead left over from my bead soup. Here they are!