Bead Soup!

It's time for the 3rd reveal of the Bead Soup Blog Party! The reveals were pushed back a little later than originally planned due to some health issues of our lovely hostess, Lori, but it's finally here!

If you don't know what the party entails, Lori pairs you up with another blogger and you send each other a "soup" consisting of a focal bead, a clasp, and some coordinating beads and you make something with your soup and blog about it. Lori is amazing, you guys - she had over 500 participants this time around and it's a LOT of work to match everyone up.

This is my third party and I've never made so many pieces from my soup!

As a reminder, my partner is Diane Valasek of Dragonfly Close.  She and I have been emailing back and forth throughout the party and I already feel as though I have a lifelong friend!  Here is the soup I sent to her:

The focals are from Maria Grimes and Gaea. I threw in some quartz, wood, Czech glass, aquamarine, Swarovski, and sari silk. I can't wait to see what Diane makes with this!

Here is the gorgeous soup I got from her:

 

My soup consists of a gorgeous ceramic focal, along with a skeleton key, a bone elephant and lemon quartz. I also received some brilliant green sari silk (this picture doesn't show the color), freshwater pearls, amethyst chips, ceramic beads, and some findings. I was able to use almost everything, if you can believe it!

Let's get started:

 

 

This first necklace used the ceramic focal, along with some of the coordinating ceramic beads and some pearls. I used my own chain, gold-filled spacer beads, Czech glass, and just a plain gold-filled lobster clasp. I love this necklace, although the asymmetry was way out of my comfort zone. It still kind of freaks me out, just looking at it.

Next, I wanted to use the lemon quartz focal and the amethyst chips and I also used the clasp from my soup. I love amethyst and as soon as I saw them and the lemon quartz, the bracelet just designed itself.

This is the bracelet that goes with the necklace. I used the rest of the ceramic beads, more pearls and added my own spacer beads and toggle.

I have no idea how to photograph long necklaces, so please forgive these pictures. I also had no idea how to use sari silk. I literally doubled it up, tied it to some brass chain, and added the skeleton key to the chain. This is a really long necklace and I love wearing it with a white t-shirt.

These earrings are made with the gorgeous cones I received in my soup, along with some delicious amethyst rounds I got in Tucson.

These earrings are made with some of the other ceramic beads Diane sent, along with some connectors I actually received from our hostess in a Bead Soup giveaway. I thought it was appropriate to use these.

So that's everything. Phew - that was a lot of work! Click here to continue visiting the other participants and show some Bead Soup love to Lori, too!

Blog Hops Galore!

Are you still hopping like a little bunny and seeing the Bead Soup goodness like I am? My reveal is next week and I'm seriously intimidated by all the amazing work out there. Hopefully my creations will measure up!

In all the madness, I've joined THREE more blog hops!

The first one on the schedule is the Earring Swap hosted by Whimsical Monkey Artisan Jewelry. 

The second is in July and it's the Seasons Blog Hop hosted by Pine Ridge Treasures. She sends you a kit with random beads and findings and you create a piece of jewelry that represents either a season of the year or a season in your life. Sounds like a challenge to me!

The third is in August and it's the Summer Color Surprise Blog Hop, also hosted by Pine Ridge Treasures. Lisa sends you some beads in a specific color palette and you create jewelry with what she sends. She chooses the color palette for you randomly.  I got my kit in the mail last week and I'll post about it once we get through the Bead Soup madness!

I'm so excited to be actively blogging again and creating jewelry. I'm also working feverishly on getting my Etsy store set up. Yes, I've started a business and I'm ready to sell. So be on the lookout for more details!

Happy Day After Bead Soup Day!

And Happy Easter, too!

Yesterday was the first reveal of the Bead Soup Blog Party and I have to admit I have a bit of a soup hangover! I'm about halfway through the list, and slowly working my way through. It takes forever because I read the post and comment on it, and then if it's a new blog to me, then I look at their blogs and decide if I want to follow, and then next thing you know, it's an hour later and I'm still reading blogs instead of hopping.

Here's the link to the list of people in the first reveal. The next reveal is coming up, and then my reveal is after that!

Here's the soup I'm working with, in case you need a reminder!

I already have four pieces made and I have at least two or three left in me!

Silly Me!

Just popping in really quick because I realized I never posted a picture of my full bead soup the other day when I received it.  I blame it on age and being frantically busy the past couple of weeks. My boyfriend's parents are here for a week and so are my parents and we've been prepping for their visit and then going, going, going, going. 


Anyway, here it is!

 

Isn't it beeeeyooootiful????  Diane, you're the greatest!

Bead Soup - What I Sent

Remember the teaser photos I showed you?

Well, it's finally time to see what I sent Diane, my Bead Soup partner!

I gave her two focals and two clasps. Who doesn't like options?  The ceramic bead is from Gaea and the lampwork bead is from Maria Grimes. The teal color in the lampwork bead really spoke to me. The silver clasp is sterling from the Tucson show and the other is Vintaj.

 So, we have sari silk, quartz, amazonite, Swarovski, Czech glass, wood, freshwater pearls, and aquamarine beads.  Like I said - the teal spoke to me and I had to play off that color.

 Here's the whole soup. I can't wait to see what she makes with it!

My Soup Has Arrived!

My favorite part of the Bead Soup Blog Party is the anticipation and wondering what you're going to get from your partner. When I finally went to the mailbox this morning, I found one of those lovely Flat Rate Priority Mail boxes in my mailbox and I got really, really excited!  Want to see what was inside?  Diane really spoiled me. I'm so lucky to have an amazing partner! We've also been trading emails like crazy over the past couple of weeks and it's like we've been friends forever!

First off, the packaging is my favorite part and look at this super cute make-up bag she put everything in?  I just had to get a picture of that, for sure!

Let's dive in and look at the good stuff...

Sari silk!  OMG, I love me some sari silk!  Here's the problem - in the picture, it looks teal but in real life, it's actually a bright, brilliant, kelly green. I take horrible pictures. I messed with the editing a little bit, but I couldn't get the color right. Sigh.

The findings - two lovely clasps, a bail and some cones. I've purchased some cones over the years but never used them because I'm never 100% sure how to use them. I'm going to use them this time, though  I really will!

The "soup". There are ceramic beads from Blue Moon, amethyst chips, Chinese crystal, freshwater pearls and some funky glass beads that I think she called tortoise beads. I love the pop of color from the amethyst and I'm OBSESSED with freshwater pearls!

Optional focals. The elephant is bone, which I've never worked with before. The key is something she found at an estate sale and I love it!  The diamond is a lemon quartz and I already know what I'm doing with it!

Ceramic focal and accent beads from North Shore Beads out of Lake Bluff, Illinois. Look at those colors!  I had to keep myself from licking them to see if they were a yummy as they looked!

Diane went to a bead show the same weekend I was in Tucson shopping so we got each other things from the shows.

I'll show you what I got her next!

Bead Soup!

My bead soup is headed to the mailbox today and here it is!

You didn't think I was going to show you the actual soup, did you???  Heehee... 

I am giving Diane two focals and two clasps, because who doesn't like options?

Stay tuned to see the big reveal!

Bead Soup Blog Party - Meet My Partner!

After a small hiatus, I'm back in the Bead Soup Blog Party!  This will be my third one and I just "met" my partner electronically over the weekend.  She is the wonderful Diane Valasek of Dragonfly Close.  We've been exchanging emails the past few days and it's like we are old friends from way back already! It's a small world - she lived in Arizona at one time and still has friends here.

I was peeking through her blog and saw some amazing jewelry. Look at this necklace:

It's reminds me of the 1920's and the flapper style, almost. I love the different kinds of chain and the combination of textures!

Diane is also a gardener - check out the gorgeous necklace and bracelet she made!

 

Gorgeous, right?

Go check out her blog!  I am putting the finishing touches on her soup ingredients and will post again once it all goes together!  I also have some other purchases from Tucson I need to show you!

Stay tuned!

Tucson 2013 - The Loot (Part 2)

I know you're just dying to know what else I bought in Tucson, right? 

This is just a selection of the clasps I bought. I like to stock up on sterling during the shows because everything is so affordable. This isn't everything, just some of the ones I bought.

Chinese crystal. Great for filler, and I hardly ever see them in bicone shapes. I always see them in rondelles, so I was excited to find these.

There's more, so stay tuned!

Tucson 2013 - The Loot (Part 1)

I spent six full days in Tucson for the gem/bead shows. I was sneaky and took a few pictures and posted them in my previous blog post and on Facebook.  Well, I didn't mention that I bought a ton of stuff. Here's some of the loot - this is part 1.

Pearls! This represents some of the pearls I bought, some of the others have already been used in various projects.

 

Gemstones.  I got amethyst, fluorite, lapis, apatite, angelite, jade, aquamarine, crystal quartz, pink tourmaline, sodalite, agate, and I can't even remember everything else.  Yummy!

 

I just did this so I could revel in all the pretty colors!

I'll have more to show tomorrow!