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/

Save Money; Adorn Your Ears

Well long time no read...or write...I have been a major slacker when it comes to blogging. I have a blogger friend that insists I should feel more confident in my work and ability to write a blog, although I am severely in need of some classes when it comes to both if you ask me...but I'm going to give it a shot, and I figured the best way to start was to just show everyone what I've been working on, offer a sale to move some of my jewelry, and involve myself in some things that will force me to blog, like Lori Anderson's bead soup blog hop.  I am signed up for the current bsbh again, but as of yet don't know who I've been paired with, so stay tuned for more details on who my partner is, what I'm sending her, and what I get and create with the soup she sends me.

In the meantime...here are some new earrings I've been working on:

I used embossed blanks on the 1st, 3rd, and 4th pairs, and then added color with patinas and used relief to make the embossed patterns pop. The last 2 pairs feature vintaj large tags which I first hammered, then dapped and worked into horseshoe shapes. I used fine ornate vintaj chain to attach them to the earring lever backs. They all feature gorgeous Swarovski crystal faceted briolette drops and other Swarovski crystal beads as well. The green and crystal copper pair also have handmade spacer beads from Lisa Anderson.

If you have made it this far in my blog post, well thanks for reading!!!   I am having a big sale on my etsy shop - 20% off anything in the store. Sale ends July 6th at 11:59 est. Use code SALE20 to redeem your discount. As always my shipping is very low, only 2$ for domestic US addresses. I have a massive amount of inventory and am not going to be doing many shows this summer, so in order to get rid of the old to make way for the new, I have to unload some jewelry!

www.etsy.com/shop/beadfulthingsjewelry
Or just click this link:   MY ETSY SHOP

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!