Using my Beads: March 2012

Monday, March 26, 2012

A contest made for me!

I have quite a number of things on the go at the moment...but one of them that will be ongoing for a few months is this contest from Beadwork magazine. When I saw the announcement a few months back...it seemed made for me! I do love my beaded beads, and search out new variations everywhere. I'm excited to bead along and participate!

So far, there have been two of the five patterns published. Here are the beads I've made so far:

The three beads at the right of the picture are the same bead done in different sizes and color variations; they were really fun to make, and were the first pattern published. The base component is the small star you see to their left. This one is size 15 beads.

The larger one to the upper left of the picture is the newest bead from the Apr/May issue of the magazine; the first one was a real challenge, but now that I have it figured out, I'm just waiting for some additional 8mm beads I've ordered (I don't often work that large) to create an additional one or two.

Can't wait to see the rest of the patterns!

Saturday, March 10, 2012

....and the winner is....!!

Just to refresh your memory, I had a giveaway connected to my Bead Soup Blog Party post....the winner gets to take home this bracelet:

I have made the winner selection, in my most scientific way (papers with numbers in a cookie tin)....and the winner is Kia of Kia Dallon Studio!

I have left a message for you, Kia...but just in case you see it here first...please get in touch with me and I will get your bracelet in the mail next week!

Thank you so much to everyone who visited, joined, and left their comments...I appreciate you all so much!

AND....here is the completed necklace from yesterday:

Here is the beaded bead detail:

Here is the direct link to the free pattern for the beaded bead. (Please note that mine is changed a fair bit from the original.)

Hope you're still hopping and still having fun!

Friday, March 9, 2012

Still Hopping!

I am having such fun hopping! I apologize for being rather behind...but I'm enjoying all the blogs so much that I'm taking the time to spend a little extra time with each one. I WILL eventually get to you all though! This last week has been an extremely busy one for me as I had to work through last weekend's event at my real job...so I'm sorry that I haven't yet been able to respond to everyone...but I will!

On a somewhat off-topic note, you will probably have noticed that the majority of my production of jewelry goes to benefit the National Inclusion Project. I am the volunteer coordinator in Canada for the charity, and if any of you watch The Celebrity Apprentice, this season you will see my boss at the NIP competing! He is of course competing on behalf of the NIP, and we are all so proud of him! So, every Sunday night at 9 PM until May 20th, you know where I'll be! Please help us cheer him on! He is, without a doubt, the finest man it has ever been my pleasure to know, a wonderful CEO...and he deserves to win!

While I watch Celebrity Apprentice with my heart in my mouth, I of course bead to relax...so here is what I've been working on over the last week or two...

I'm not normally a big gemstone person, but this strand of faceted agate beads just reached out from the wall and grabbed me. I wanted to do something really quite simple, to show off the gems themselves, so I chose to just string them, with a beaded bead as a focal at centre front.

I actually ended up doing three different beaded beads for the focal, as I played with different components of the bead and color variations.

I am going to use this one; it is a slightly different variation of the basic pattern from Mu of centperles blog.Thank you to her for the original pattern, which I have amended a bit to create this focal.

It is created from Swarovski crystal, seed beads and Swarovski glass pearls; the same color pearls are used as separators through the necklace length, for the gemstones.

I will show you the finished necklace tomorrow, when I draw for my Bead Soup Blog Party Giveaway Winner

Edited 03/10/12 to give direct link to the free beaded bead pattern.

Saturday, March 3, 2012

It's BSBP Reveal Day!

The big day is finally here! Sometimes it seemed like it would neeeever get here...and then it felt like it was coming too fast LOL!

A little precis of the deal.....our famous and SO organized host, Lori Anderson of Pretty Things Blog has been doing an amazing job of running the Bead Soup Blog Party for several years now...this is the 5th BSBP!

Last time, the BSBP grew so large that it became overwhelming for everyone involved, so this year Lori limited the participation to 200...and I was one of the lucky ones chosen, by lottery, to play.
And how do we play? Each member is paired up by Lori with another beader...sometimes in another country, sometimes down the street...and in my case, across the country and totally by chance, in the city I lived in previously for 35 years. And we lived in the same neighbourhood! And her bff was my next-door neighbour! How random is that!...and we didn't even know one another at the time.

Once our partners are selected, we each get together a "soup" to send to our partner by a specific date; the soup must contain a focal bead, a special closure, and some coordinating beads. Sometimes (lucky me!) it contains MUCH more than that!

Then, on a specified date, we reveal on our blogs, the work of the last month or so on our soups...and have fun and gain inspiration visiting one another's blogs!

Here is a pic of the soup I sent Marie-Noel in Calgary:

And here is the soup she sent me:

Kind of different looking, are they not LOL??! That's the FUN of the BSBP!

Although Marie's style and mine are obviously quite different, I tried to put a bit of myself into the pieces I created from her lovely ephemera bits. One of the pieces went together quite easily, one of them I struggled with a bit, and one of them fought me to the finish!

Here is the first piece, the simplest, and the easiest. This is called Paris Spring:

I loved Marie's focal at first sight, and was able to pull out the subtle lilac in it with the rayon cording and mimic the cording with some simple seed-beaded loops (which slide), knots and a simple beaded dangle for the pendant. I wire-wrapped a closure for the necklace. This one hangs quite long, and I love it!

Here is the second one; this is also a necklace, called Dragonfly Summer:

Dragonfly Summer has linked beads and chain in the soft colors of the gorgeous dragonfly focal; many of them are the extra beads Marie-Noel sent me. The neat Vintaj closure between the upper and lower focals is the clasp Marie-Noel sent as well. The lower focal is an embellished, seed-beaded brass hoop. A large beaded bead provides the balance to the necklace, at the top left of the picture. (Thank you to Liz Reed of The Crimson Moon for the use of her beaded bead patterns here and in the bracelet.) This is the one that was recalcitrant, and I may yet change some things! :-)

Tell me what you think!

This next piece is a bracelet called Autumn in Paris:

The beautiful russet-toned focal was matched with a variety of gemstones(most of which are Marie-Noel's), another beaded bead and loop as a closure, and a pretty lampworked drop on the looped chain. It is simply strung with metal beads, the gemstone beads and chain.

This bracelet is my give-away for the BSBP! If you would like to win it, simply become a member of my blog...leave a comment telling me you have joined....and on March 10th I will make a random drawing from all who have done so. Be sure your email is linked so I can get in touch with you! I will be announcing the winner here, so stop back to see!

Thanks so much for visiting!! Have a wonderful time visiting all the other blogs...don't forget to sign up for the give-aways....here is the list!

Hostess, Lori Anderson

Special Book Sneak Peeks, Cindy Wimmer

1. Adlinah Kamsir (Singapore) and Hajer Waheed (Kingdom of Bahrain)

2. Adrienn Lukacs (Hungary) and Agata Grygiel (Poland)

3. Agi Kiss (Hungary) and Carolien Muller-Genger (the Netherlands)

4. Agnes Asztalos (Hungary) and B.R. Kuhlman

5. Alesha Conklin and Becki Mendivil

6. Alice Peterson and Carol Dillman

7. Alicia Marinache (Canada) and Dita Basu

8. Amanda Dittloff and Brandy Thomason McNair

9. Amanda Tibbetts and Andrea Trank

10. Amy Freeland and Kay Mallery