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!   

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

A Great Giveaway

I was excited to see this post on Lori Anderson's blog today. She is giving away a fantastic prize for jewelry designers - a set of impress art letter stamps and a new, specialty hammer made just for stamping letters.  I entered and you can as well by clicking this link and following the directions on her blog post. 
http://www.prettythingsblog.com/2012/04/win-set-of-impress-art-letter-stamps.html




Just a quick update while I'm on my blog - I have been busy with sending out some goody bags for a bead swap as well as trying to get my house cleaned over the last few weeks.  I have a new post coming up about my most recent bead swap, as well as a giveaway of my own, my first ever, actually! I also am happy to say that in the first week of my diet I lost 9 lbs and am well on my way to reaching my big goal! Gotta love that dance central. : ) Stay tuned next week for all the fun stuff mentioned above. Until then, I have to keep getting my house under control before summer arrives, and I'm also gearing up for a paranormal investigation with my ghost hunting team at the historic Hales Bar Dam on Friday night. (Friday the 13th to be exact!) Should be an exciting and eventful weekend!

Making Changes

Anyone who knows me personally, knows that I tend to wear the same thing every day. I have a wardrobe that consists of black yoga pants and various solid t-shirts, mostly v-neck t shirts. Its really pretty sad and pathetic, honestly. I used to dress up on occasion and at the very least mixed it up with jeans and fun shoes, but something has happened to me...I turned 30 last May. I think the change probably came about around 29 honestly, but it was probably only because I knew what was coming around the corner. I have also been churning out jewelry like crazy, which means a lot of sitting in my house. Not a lot of calorie burning. That is why I've gained about 40 pounds in the last 1.5 years or so. I also quit smoking about 1.5 years ago...go figure. Anyway, I am officially the heaviest I've ever been sans being 9 months preggo, so I've reached the point where I absolutely cannot allow this to continue. So the last 3 days in a row, I have tried to maintain a reasonable diet, nothing strict or really that different, I just didn't gorge out on sweets...I did still have dessert. But I also worked out with the Dance Central 2 game on the kinect for over an hour each day, and I was delighted to see this morning that I had lost 5 pounds! That gave me a boost of motivation, since summer arrived in February, I definitely need to get a move on in being in control of my weight and my body and my eating habits. No more allowing jewelry to overtake every aspect of my life. I still have to make time for me.  I will keep you posted on my progress, but consider this my official pledge to make it happen! 

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!