AJE Component of the Month for October 2014...

featuring amazing ceramic pieces by Karen Totten of Starry Road Studio!

She calls them Spiral Fossils and they are so very cool! I chose the green/blue glaze because I love it and I bought a few lovelies from her at BeadFest that totally work together!

Unfortunately, my piece isn't finished...I sort of bit off a bit more than I had time for after procrastinating...

I took so much time deciding that I wanted to try and experiment with Jenny Davies-Reazor's cool mixed-media pendant that she taught at BeadFest, and since I didn't take the workshop but am going on a quick how-to she graciously shared with me, most of my time was taken up getting the copper backplate how I wanted it.  Still have to cure the polymer and attach it all.

The other lovely pieces are also Karen's...love that feather, although it may be too similar in color, but it might work!

Hope you will check back...I will definitely post the finished piece!

Monthly Winners

Lindsay Starr / Phantasm Creations

Sherri Hartman Stokey / Knot Just Macrame

Staci Louise Smith / Staci Louise Originals

AJE Blog Team

Diana Ptaszynski / Suburban Girl Studio

Susan Kennedy / Sue Beads

Caroline Dewison / BlueberriBeads

Jenny Davies-Reazor

Lesley Watt

Melissa Allford Meman

Francesca Watson

Jennifer Stout Cameron / Glass Addictions

Kristin Stevens / Beadworks by KAS

April AJE Component of the Month

The very sweet and talented Lesley Watt of Thea Elements and Thea Jewellery is this month's component host and designer and she did not disappoint!  Lesley created some very cool ceramic button clasps!

I asked for a surprise and received a fun organic stoneware one with pretty green glaze.  I decided early on that I was going to make a bracelet.  A couple of weeks ago, I made my first viking knit and decided to use it in my design.

I had some brass caps that I torch-fire enameled with sapphire enamel...my new favorite color!  

I cut a copper oval and textured it by running it through my Sizzix Big Kick...I really like the result! And, surprise, surprise, I added some Czech glass flowers!

Thanks, Lesley!  I had fun creating with your cool button!

Here is the list of other participants...go and show them some button love ;)

Guests
Johana Nunez
Leah Curtis
Perri Jackson

AJE Team
Lesley Watt
Keirsten GIles
Caroline Dewison
Rebekah Payne
Jenny Davies-Reazor
Jen Cameron
Diana Ptaszynski
Kristen Stevens
Francesca Watson
Melissa Meman - me!
Linda Landig
Sue Kennedy

March AJE Component of the Month ~ Moth Wings

Caroline Dewison of Blueberribeads sent us some gorgeous porcelain pieces!  We had a choice of moths or bees!

Here is what I created...I wanted to offset the beautiful gold metallic glaze with some pops of bright color, but decided to stay fairly monochromatic, so chose teal.  I rounded up some Czech glass beads, then went through my stash of art beads and found a pretty borosilicate lampwork bead by Julie Delaney, and a lovely ceramic swirl bead by our own Karen Totten.  I remembered some pyrite nuggets and briolettes that I had and wire-wrapped them into the necklace with brass wire.

I decided to create a hook clasp and just use one of the component's links for the loop!

There you have it!  Simple, but bright and beautiful!  I had been holding on to these pyrite briolettes for a while...I think they work perfectly with this!

Sorry for the drab photos...it was rainy and gross yesterday and I waited until this morning to take photos, but didn't have enough light!

Now, go forth and check out all the other gorgeous goodies created by this month's design team!!

Guest Artists

Helen Simon – Helen's had to drop out due to a hand injury - get well soon Helen!

Niky Sayers – http://silverniknats.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/aje-march-component-of-month-reveal.html

The AJE Team

Caroline Dewison – http://www.blueberribeads.co.uk 

Diana Ptaszynski - http://www.suburbangirlstudio.com

Susan Kennedy - http://suebeads.blogspot.co.uk

Kristen Stevens - http://kristen-beadjourney.blogspot.co.uk

Keirsten Giles - http://cerebraldilettante.blogspot.com

Jenny Davies-Reazor - http://www.jdaviesreazor.com/blog/golden_wings_aje_component_month_reveal

Melissa Meman –  http://melissameman.blogspot.com (you are here!)

Rebekah Payne - www.treewingsstudio.com

Lesley Watt - http://thegossipinggoddess.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/aje-component-of-month-march-reveal.html

Linda Landig - http://lindalandig.wordpress.com/2014/03/30/luna-moth-necklace/

June Component of the Month Reveal - Summer Blossoms

Art Jewelry Elements' Component of the Month for June was sweet, little organic ceramic charms by Jenny Davies-Reazor.  Aren't these pretty?

I asked for a surprise, and got some pretty yellow ones.  I must admit, I didn't decide what I was going to make with these for quite a while.  After posting yesterday on AJE about my affinity towards complementary colors purple and yellow, I had an idea.

I layered some enameled flowers onto oval filigree components, then dangled the charms beneath! Pretty summery blossoms for your ears!

Thanks, Jenny, for contributing such fun components! Now go and visit all the other wonderful creations!


Guest artists: 

Leah - http://beadyeyedbunny.blogspot.com

Elisabeth - http://beadsforbusygals.blogspot.com

Jean - http://prettykittydogmoonjewelry.blogspot.com

Sarajo - http://sjdesignsjewelry.blogspot.com

The AJE Team
Jennifer Cameron -  http://glassaddictions.com/
Jenny Davies-Reazor  -  http://www.jdaviesreazor.com/blog 
Susan Kennedy  -  http://www.suebeads.blogspot.com/
Linda Landig -   http://www.lindasbeadblog.com/
Melissa Meman   -  http://melissameman.blogspot.com/ (you are here!)
Rebekah Payne  -  http://www.treewingsstudio.com/
Jo Tinley  -   http://daisychaindesignsjewellery.blogspot.com/
Lesley Watt  -   http://thegossipinggoddess.blogspot.com/
Francesca Watson  - http://www.francescawatson.com
Diana Ptaszinski   - http://www.vintagebluestudio.typepad.com/
Kristi Bowman -  http://dreamsomedesigns.blogspot.com
Kristen Stevens  - http://kristen-beadjourney.blogspot.com/

AJE Earring Challenge - 1st Reveal...

but I hope not a dollar short!  What is the AJE Earring Challenge?  Over at Art Jewelry Elements, the gauntlet has been thrown down!  Make 52 pairs of earrings...seems like a lot, but it is only 1 a week...easy, right! Unless you are a procrastinator, like me ;)  The catch is that they must contain an art bead or component and you must credit the artist, even if it is yourself!

I started out on Week 1 with sterling paddles and lampwork glass disks from the amazing Sue Kennedy of SueBeads...my favorite part of these, aside from the obvious lovely lampwork, are my hand wrought molten silver drops I learned to make from Stacie Florer at the last ArtBliss workshop!

For week 2, I created a pair from pretty, floral blue and green ceramic charms from the lovely and talented LeAnn Weih of Summers Studio...she is such a sweetheart!  I have had these in my stash for a while because I wanted to do them justice...what do you think?  I added Czech glass flowers and some sweet Thai Hill Tribe silver flowers as well as my hand wrought earwires.

You can visit other bloggers who are participating in the challenge by going here...or find all the beautiful earrings in one place on Pinterest!

December AJE Component of the Month...Labyrinth

Good morning, all...just getting in under the wire to still say that!  Happy New Year's Eve!

One of the cool perks of being a contributor for Art Jewelry Elements is getting to participate in the Component of the Month challenges.  Each month, one of the AJE members offer a selected component and create a limited number for members who want to participate, a few to giveaway to random commenters, and of course some in their shop for anyone else to join in the fun.

This month, our hostess is Jenny Davies-Reazor, who creates amazing ceramic pieces. She designed these amazing, colorful labyrinth pendants.  We had our choice of color and the number of holes.  I felt drawn to the 3-holed ones. Here is what I came up with...

I had a piece of leather with sterling ends already for a necklace that I never got around to using and thought it would add to the rustic charm of the pendant.  I went through several designs, however, and nothing really latched on.  Originally, this was going to be mostly leather, with a couple of beads, and a front clasp, but the leather was not cooperating.  I ended up using these gorgeous Czech glass beads in a mulberry and black, from ArteBella Surplus.  By the time I got it looking the way I wanted, it was so long, I decided to 86 the clasp altogether, so it slips right over your head!

I may go back and ditch the leather as well, and incorporate some more silver and maybe some chain...I think I will live with it for a couple days and decide!  What do you think?

Here is a list of the other participants...please go and see what lovely pieces they created!
This months guests of honor:

Emma Todd

Lee Koopman

Jess Green

And participating AJE team members: 

Jen Cameron 

Kristi Bowman

Diana Ptaszynski

Kristen Stevens

Lesley Watt

Francesca Watson

Melissa Meman...me

Jo Tinley

Linda Landig

Sue Kennedy

Jenny Davies-Reazor, your hostess 

Bead Soup Book Tour

Today is my stop on the Bead Soup Book Blog Tour!  So, do you have your copy yet?  If not, what are you waiting for?!

One day, I was minding my own  business, doing my normal thang....what's this?  An email from Lori Anderson!  Nonchalantly asking me if I would be interested in contributing to a new book she had the green light on.  What?  Are you kidding me? Of course, I would!  Maybe it is my low self-esteem, but out of the myriad talented jewelry designers that participate in her wildly popular bead soup parties, she wanted to include me?  Yikes! Humbled, I said yes!

I wasn't a bead/component maker at the time, although I dabbled, so the bead soup I sent out was mostly semi-precious stones, a couple of my enameled beads, and a handmade copper toggle.  Unfortunately, it did not get used in the book...no big whup;)

The soup I received came from Lori herself...

Absolutely gorgeous ceramic pendant and matching drops from Golem Design Studio, some gorgeous bright red glass flowers, and a sweet little brass flower clasp.  Just look at those sweet daisies and ladybugs...what ever was I going to do?  Here is a sneak peek...

Want to see the rest of the project?  Gonna have to go get the book.  It is well worth it!  If you are one of the hundreds that have  participated in the bead soup parties, you know how much inspiration is out there! Strangers swapping beads become friends!  The layout of this book is so clean and simple...soup  recipes are easy to follow. The color palettes are totally delicious. There isn't a single project I don't want to create for myself!

Thank you, Lori, for giving me a chance.  I am so proud of you (and of myself :)!

Now, who wants to win a prize?  I am giving away some Melismatic Morsels...a mixed-metal pendant, and an embossed copper toggle clasp.  Just leave a comment on this post and you will be entered to win. I will announce the winner probably Monday, the 8th.

But wait, there's more!  Every comment entered on every blog post for this tour will be entered to win a Grand Prize from Lori.  Oh, and have you been keeping up with other blog tour contributors?  They have been offering awesome giveaways as well.  It is not too late to go back to earlier posts and comment!

Here is the list...

Monday, October 1st
Lori Anderson — http://www.PrettyThingsBlog.com
Rebecca Anderson — http://www.songbeads.blogspot.com
Barbara Bechtel — http://secondsurf.com/wordpress/

Tuesday, October 2nd
Lori Anderson — www.PrettyThingsBlog.com
Kerry Bogert –   http://kabsconcepts.com/wp/
Melanie Brooks — http://earthenwood-beads.blogspot.com
Jennifer Cameron — http://glassaddictions.blogspot.com

Wednesday, October 3rd
Lori Anderson – www.PrettyThingsBlog.com
Diane Cook — www.rosa-josies.blogspot.com
Malin de Koning — www.beadingbymalindekoning.blogspot.com

Thursday, October 4th
Lori Anderson — www.PrettyThingsBlog.com
Cassie Donlen — http://cassiedonlen.blogspot.com
Jeannie Dukic — http://site.jkdjewelry.com/blog
Nan Emmett  — http://www.spiritrattles.blogspot.com/
Lyn Foley –  http://lynfoleyblog.com

Friday, October 5th
Lori Anderson — www.PrettyThingsBlog.com
Brandi Hussey — http://www.brandigirlblog.com
Cindy Wimmer — www.SweetBeadStudio 
Libby Leuchtman - http://libbyleu.blogspot.com/
Barbara Lewis - http://paintingwithfireartwear.blogspot.com

Saturday, October 6th
Lori Anderson www.PrettyThingsBlog.com
Melissa Meman — http://www.melissameman.blogspot.com/
Stefanie Teufel — http://stefaniessammelsurium.blogspot.com/
Shannon LeVart - http://missficklemedia.com

Sunday, October 7th
Sharon Palac — http://sharonsjewelrygarden.blogspot.com
Heather Powers — http://www.humblebeads.blogspot.com
Erin Prais-Hintz — http://treasures-found.blogspot.com