Spread too thin...

It seems that lately I am behind on everything...my 9-5 job is really annoying me and cutting into my creative time!  If I didn't have pesky expenses, like mortgage and that silly "eat food" habit, I would quit! In all seriousness, I think I signed up for too many things with deadlines...AJE Earring Challenge, AJE Component of the Month, Bead Soup Blog Hop, Focus on Life-52 photos, Challenge of Music...all challenges that motivate me to be more creative, but all require time, thought, and preparation.  I will get there, I just need to plan ahead and stop procrastinating...remember my word of the year - Focus!

My "Focus on Life - 52 photos post for Week 7 was due this past Saturday.  The prompt for the week was Beauty of Flowers.  I love taking shots of my flowers I grow every year in my garden...not much there right now, however but dried out stuff waiting for new growth.  Soon, though!  Fortunately, my hubby is an orchid-lover, so there is always something blooming there.

And here is a shot of one of my African violets at work...they have been blooming almost non-stop since I got this fluorescent task light under my shelf!

This one inspired me to make these earrings...

They are today's post on Earrings-Everyday!

Speaking of earrings...my AJE Earring Challenge Reveal #3...I only got 1 pair finished for this reveal, so will catch up and make 2 for this week (she said)!  Here is the pair that I did get posted...

Embossed copper and Czech glass

There, I feel much better!  A couple of things done.  Now, I need to get my bead soup out the door to my partner.  I'll be blogging about that soon and introduce you to my partner and show you this gorgeous soup she has sent me.

Later ;)

Let it Snow!

I participated in Art Jewelry Element's November Component of the Month Challenge.  This month's component was a gorgeous snowflake created by the talented Lesley Watt of bronze clay.  Aren't these fabulous?  Big, too...like an inch and half!

I have to admit I was a little stumped, but I pulled it together at the last minute!

I decided to use white enamel and created a back plate for the snowflake and riveted them together.  While I was at it, I enameled an assortment of filigree beads to incorporate as well.

I used some faceted white Czech glass beads that have been in my stash for a while...my crappy photos don't show their yummy matte finish.  Needing something else, just a tad smaller, for variety, I remembered I had a few howlite beads left over from a rosary and incorporated those as well.

Of course, I was singing "let it snow, let it snow, let it snow" all last night!

Thanks for stopping by!  Go see what my colleagues created!

Jennifer Cameron

Kristi Bowman-Gruel

Diana Ptaszynski

Kristen Stevens

Jenny Davies-Reazor

Lesley Watt

Francesca Watson

Melissa Meman (ME!)

Joanne TInley

Linda landig

Sue Kennedy

Jean Wells

Marie- Noel Voyer-Cramp

Therese Frank

Challenge of Color Blog Hop...Fruit Star

Per my usual modus operandi, I am late in finishing my challenge/blog hop posts, so if you stopped by earlier and didn't see anything, my apologies...hope it was worth the wait!

Erin Prais-Hintz, over at Treasures Found, founded this color palette - inspired hop/challenge to get herself out of a color rut, and let me tell you, it works!  We told her what color we wanted and she chose a palette especially for us from a wonderful site, Design Seeds.  I told her green...not sure why, I work with green all the time.  It is my "go to" color!  I think my thought process was that it would be a safe, easy color scheme for me to work with and I could create something in my sleep.  Not!

This is the green palette Erin chose....Fruit Star.  Umm, hello?  What do I do with this?  I sort of shut down.  I mean, chartreuse and gray?

 Until I started playing with my Czech glass...I found leaf beads in the perfect shade and decided to make one of my woven flowers.  When I stumbled onto the labradorite on my table I had put out for another project, the light bulb finally turned on!

After the flower, it seems to really come together.  The only issue was that blue color.  When I enameled that blue bead, I thought I had just the right amount of peacock and Elan gray to get that steely look, but on the monitor, it is not the right shade.  Oh well...close enough :)  All the enameled beads were made by me, and the beautiful lampwork is from JavaBead.  I decided to splurge and use sterling and oxidize everything.

Thanks, Erin, for taking my "safe" choice and throwing me a curve ball!  I had fun :)  Now, all of you that are reading, go look at what the other participants created using their own palettes!

1 Norma Turvey ~ Teal ~ Color Crave

2 Jeannie Dukic ~ Green ~ Mineral Tones

3 Mary McGraw ~ Teal ~ Embellished Hues

4 Jo Tinley ~ Red ~ Decadent Tones

5 Rebecca Anderson ~ Pink ~ Tulip Tones

6 Kristi Jaro ~ Red ~ Temple Entrance

7 Stephani Gorman ~ Green ~ Dew Tones

8 Melissa Meman ~ Green ~ Fruit Star

9 Kathleen Lange Klik ~ Teal ~ Silk Hues

10 Cynthia Riggs ~ Red ~ Autumn Comfort

11 Heidi Post ~ Teal ~ Flora Bright

12 Cece Cormier ~ Teal ~ Merino Teal

13 Amy Freeland ~ Gray ~ Cultured Tones

14 Alice Peterson ~ Blue ~ Island Play

15 Rose Noble ~ Gray ~ Autumn Stacked

16 Kristina Johansson ~ Yellow ~ Sunny Flower

17 Kirsi Luostarinen ~ Teal ~ Dragon Hues

18 Tari Kahrs ~ Orange ~ Citrus Tones

19 Mallory Hoffman ~ Purple ~ Petaled Dark

20 Molly Alexander ~ Brown ~ Peppered Tones

21 Regina Santerre ~ Red ~ Frosted Berry

22 Emanda Johnson ~ Teal ~ Color Purl

23 Amy Severino ~ Orange ~ Winged Tones

24 Bobbie Rafferty ~ Teal ~ Lime Hues

25 Tanya Goodwin ~ Gray ~ Pecked Tones

26 Lisa Lodge ~ Blue ~ Nocturnal Tones

27 Hope Smitherman ~ Blue ~ Bloom Tones

28 Linda Landig ~ Green ~ Cacti Dark

29 Ambra Gostoli ~ Teal ~ Perched Autumn

30 Lori Bowring-Michaud ~ Blue ~ Sharpened Blue

31 Pippa Chandler ~ Teal ~ Hungarian Hues

32 Keirsten Giles ~ Purple ~ Mineral Brights

33 Jennifer Justman ~ Blue ~ Autumn Rays

34 Sandy Richardson ~ Purple ~ Moroccan Brights

35 CJ Bauschka ~ Teal ~ Teal Air

36 Shaiha Williams ~ Teal ~ Sushi Hues

37 Kay Thomerson ~ Purple ~ Autumn Spectrum

38 Sally Russick ~ Purple ~ Golden Gate Tones

39 Cilla Watkins ~ Purple ~ Autumn Infused

40 Shirley Moore ~ Purple ~ Frozen Heather

41 Jenni Connolly ~ Gray ~ Paw Tones

42 Tamara Soper ~ Green ~ Field Tones

43 Sharyl McMillian-Nelson ~ Blue ~ Nested Blues

44 Jen Velasquez ~ Pink ~ Sweetened Tints

45 Maria Grimes ~ Red ~ Bright Bloom

46 Elisabeth Auld ~ Gray ~ Petaled Tints

47 Susan Kennedy ~ Pink ~ Zinnia Tones

48 Shannon Chomanczuk ~ Gray ~ Autumn Leaf

49 Holly Westfall ~ Yellow ~ Sprinkled Tones

50 Patty Gasparino ~ Red ~ Color Carton

51 Angela Little ~ Pink ~ Singapore Brights

52 Lizzie Zawinski ~ Green ~ Budding Hues

53 Kristen Stevens ~ Pink ~ Scooped Tones

54 Dawn Doucette ~ Brown ~ Jarred Tones

Oak Leaf Challenge

Remember these sweet little oak leaf clasps that Jo Tinley of Daisychain Designs challenged a few of us with?  Well, today is the reveal day! Yes, I am late to the game...I should have had my photos taken and post all written, ready to pop up for you at dawn's early light, but you know me :)

Jo shipped all the way from the UK, so I got my leaf right before the Thanksgiving break.  I pretty much had the bracelet already made, ready to add the pretty leaf clasp and tweak it a bit.  I stuck with a sort of autumnal color scheme, which seemed to make sense to me with the leaf.

The big orange enameled bead is by me, as well as the little "blest" enamel/resin charm. The matte orange lampwork bead is by Sue Kennedy of SueBeads, and the borosilicate ones are from Julie Delaney.  I used a mixed metals approach and included copper, sterling and even a bit of bronze!  I have fallen in love with this sort of monochromatic bracelet style.  Watch for a few more that I have been working on!

Thanks, Jo, for the clasp, and the opportunity to participate in this fun little challenge!  The clasp works like a dream!  Now, go see what the other participants created with their sweet oak leaves!

Jo Tinley
Niky Sayers         

Amber Boorman             
Kimberley Roberts      
Rebecca Anderson         

Challenges, Swaps and Hops!

Oh, my!

Looks like I am going to be busy this month!  I have signed up for 3 distinct and fun events for November, now I need to get cracking!  Stay tuned!!

Hot, Fresh, Chunky Soup...

just in time for lunch!  It is definitely soup weather here in MD today!  You might break a tooth on this soup, it is so chunky!

What is bead soup?  Well, Lori Anderson has hosted a Bead Soup Blog Party for the last couple years...I believe this is the 4th one...I have participated in all of them and this is the biggest by far...362 jewelry artists swapped beads (the mix had to contain a focal and a nice clasp) and each set out to create pieces utilizing what was sent. 

This year I was paired with Mary Ellen Parker from BeeTreebyne.  She sent a gorgeous soup mix in lovely autumn colors, complete with one of her signature  polymer clay leaf pendants.  Here is a reminder of the raw mix, to use as a before shot.

I knew immediately that I would make a necklace since that pendant is so huge! I also knew I would be using copper wire in some way to pull it together.  My quandary was over how to hang the gorgeous leaf...I mean I could just put that on a copper chain and call it a day and it would be beautiful...but that's not what this challenge is all about!

I created a sort of bail out of 16g copper wire...it was supposed to be 2 smaller leaves, but as my hubby graciously informed me, it turned out looking more like a pair of wings, which is okay too!

I used more copper wire and created swirly links with the fancy jasper nuggets.  I enameled a couple of the smooth copper beads in sunset orange and embellished them with twisted copper wire, then for something different, made up some wire beads.  Initially I was going to use the tiny swarovski crystals on thread and have a fiber element, but after playing around a bit with that idea, decided to take the crystals off the thread and combine them with 1mm copper beads and 1mm green agate beads I had in my stash, then wrapped them on with 26g copper wire. 

Utilizing more 16g wire, I made a bunch of jump rings for the chain and to connect the other links...get ready for this, I actually sawed them!! and I didn't break a blade!

After oxidizing and tumbling, I added the pendant.  But wait...there were some other elements Mary Ellen sent that I really loved, but didn't think worked in my necklace design.

I decided on a simple, but fun, chunky bracelet using the big faceted quartz beads.  I added copper bead caps from my stash and some brushed copper rondells.  To finish, I added some more of the copper jump rings I made and hammered out a swirly hook clasp.  I really liked the look of the African brass leaf bead, so I used one of my enameled headpins to hang it as a charm on the end of the bracelet for balance.

Thanks, Mary Ellen, for sending such fun, beautiful, challenging soup mix!  Thanks, Lori, for hosting this behemoth party!  Thanks, readers, for stopping by and saying hello and leaving your thoughts and comments.  It means so much to me, as I know it will to the other talented artists who participated in this blog hop, so go take a gander at what everyone else made and show them some bead soup love!

Click here to see the full list of participants!

Andrew's July Reader's Challenge

Last month, Andrew Thornton announced his very 1^st  Reader’s Challenge.  He offered a limited number of kits in his shop for purchase and challenged us to create a piece with the components in the kit and post it today.I loved the colors and mixture of elements he chose, so I dove in and purchased one the kits...it included a ceramic leaf pendant from Melanie Brooks of Earthenwood Studio, a ceramic tube bead from Keith O'Connor, a lampwork glass bead by Bernadette Fuentes, plus a mix of Czech glass, Swarovski crystals, semi-precious stones, vintage glass, brass chain, and a tiny seed beads. To top it off, the kit included a mystery item...one of Andrew's own handmade copper coins carved with a leaf !

To me, the most challenging part was the seed beads!  I never string stuff!  After staring at everything for a couple weeks, I finally got a game plan together, and came up with this quirky, fun necklace!  It is definitely a step in a different direction  from my usual style, without totally losing myself.

I decided I wanted a multi-strand portion, so I used the bead mix to create 1 strand on beading wire, then wire-wrapped selected beads with alternating lengths of the chain that was supplied in the kit, then decided the 3rd strand would be simply chain.

I punched holes in in Andrew's lovely leaf coin and used it as a 3-strand connector on one side, then used a bronze cone from my stash for the other end, to add to the assymetrical quirkiness.

I wanted to make my own clasp to match, but the largest brass wire I had was 18g so I used 16g copper wire, and wrapped it with 22g brass.  The mixed metals really work with this one, I think, so  I also used some copper beads to embellish the big ceramic tube.

Melanie's leaf pendant and a little Czech glass teardrop charm are the perfect embellishment to the clasp side.

I ran out of the chain that was supplied, so I made my own out of more 18g brass wire for the back of the necklace.  Taking the photo with the necklace lying flat doesn't really show it off to it's true glory..the strands drape much more nicely when worn!  This would have been a great time to own a cool mannequin!

Thanks for stopping by! Go and visit the other challenge participants and see the gorgeousness...

Jessica Nelson
Holly Baldwin
Paula Kramer
Karyn Bonfiglio
Sally Russick
Lori Bowring Michaud
Norma Turvey
Anne Dixon
Mary K McGraw
Patty Gasparino
and our host... Andrew Thornton ... Katie James, Sarajo Wentling, and Margriet Schnabel will have pieces here as well.

Thanks Andrew!  It was fun pushing my boundaries!

Bead Table.....

Wednesday  Thursday!

I know, I know....I had the photos taken but just didn't get the post done!

As always, I have a few projects going at once, and even though I vowed last week that I would plow through finishing all of my un-finished pieces, I backslid this week.

I mostly have been working on my piece for Andrew Thornton's July Reader's challenge...I loved the colors and mixture of elements he chose, so I dove in and purchased one the kits...it includes a ceramic leaf pendant from Melanie Brooks of Earthenwood Studio, a ceramic tube bead from Keith O'Connor, a lampwork glass bead by Bernadette Fuentes, plus a mix of Czech glass, Swarovski crystals, semi-precious stones, vintage  glass, brass chain, and a tiny seed beads.  To top it off, the kit included a mystery item...one of Andrew's own handmade copper coins carved with a leaf !

Watch for a post on August 1, for the reveal of what I created!

This is what has really been occupying my studio time a lot lately....embedding things in solder!  Can't wait to see what these are when they are done!

Rings & Things Copper Bead Design Challenge

A month or so ago, Dave Robertson, over at Rings &Things Blog posted about a design challenge giveaway featuring some of their brushed copper components.  I commented/blogged/tweeted, etc, and got chosen to receive a sample pack of the lovely copper items. 

I received generous sample packets from each of the beads you see here...big spools, bicones, rondells, flowers, tiny discs, larger textured discs, and more!

Even though I initially had enameling in mind, I knew that the soldered and plated beads would not stand up to much torching, plus the enamel tends to flake off on plated beads.  I did experiment, though, and was able to successfully enamel a few of them!

I created 2 pairs of earrings, and 1 long necklace for the challenge.

This pair was created from the tiny discs...I hammered them flat, then connected them with 24g copper wire, then dangled red, "picasso" finished czech glass beads. 

This pair was started by dapping the larger disks...they domed very nicely.  I had previously experimented on enameling some of the tiny discs, and these were fairly successful and the color turned out lovely!  I decided to cold-connect them with balled copper headpins that I swirled around in the back to hold them in place.  They turn and move around a bit, but I like that.  The 4mm beads used with the flowers and embellishing the earwires were part of the sample pack and are very versatile.

For the necklace, I wanted to incorporate as many of the copper components as I could...for the focal pendant, I used one of the huge brushed bicones.  The holes are pretty big, so I added a couple swarovskis to stopper them up!  Dangling below is an enameled component created from the 2 sizes of discs.  I included a 2nd similar component in the body of the necklace.  I dapped some of the tiny discs to use as bead caps for the pretty lampwork beads I got from Karen Kordan , then tied it all together with some pretty czech glass flowers, a resin "grace" charm I made, and a copper toggle clasp, also made by me.

All my pieces are oxidized, since I love that well-loved, vintage-like patina.  The components took the liver of sulfur well, and polished up nicely in my tumbler.

I would say my favorites were the 2 sizes of discs, especially the tiny ones - they were so versatile.  I also liked the "flower" beads and the tiny rounds.  I didn't get a chance to use the big "spool" beads, but noticed on  the blog that other designers have!  Go and check out the other designs that were created for the challenge - they are all gorgeous!  I think Dave is going to pick a winner this week...wish me luck!

Thanks again, Dave, for the chance to create something with these awesome components!  I had fun :)

Rings & Things design challenge!

Got this message from Dave, over at Rings & Things! They are having a design challenge with some fab copper beads! Click on the link and find out the info!

I know I want some of those beads...I'm thinkin' enamel...yay'uh (yes, I am a geek and watch my 4th grader's fav tv shows)

Take the R&T challenge!