Bead Soup is Here!

Yaay! My Bead Soup arrived yesterday from my partner Sarah of Pookledo. She did such a great job! 

Here we go...nothing better than getting a piece of Royal Mail! It makes you feel so...special, somehow!

Sarah's pretty little card so brightened my dreary, wintry day!

My soup! LOVE the colours! LOVE the beautiful, feminine clasp...and what are those fun little goodies? Moustaches? Fairy wings??

Soup unpacked....lovely, soft feminine colours, so different for me...a whole strand of lovely rose quartz, a little baggie of mixed seed beads and sequins in a brighter shade of rose, a stunning silver box clasp, turquoise accent beads, and a pair of gorgeous turquoise stunners. Awesome!

 AND....Sarah's and my laugh...prior to receiving a partner, I ordered a set of focal and beads from a shop I love and use frequently (see last post). I knew they would be perfect for my partner, whoever she may be....HAHA!! Sarah lives, literally, a few miles away from this artist....and packed up a focal for ME from the same artist, this cutie little owl. 

I love him! Great minds definitely think alike. 

Sarah has also received her goodies, and here is what I sent her:

Focal and coordinating beads from Grubbi, coppery agate beads to pick up some of the colour in the focal heart, copper, enamel and beaded beads handmade by me, with a copper clasp.  

I already have added a MOUNTAIN of things from my own stash to Sarah's soup, and I have an idea I'm excited about....see you in May for the reveal!! 

Sharing a Giveaway!

Just sharing a nice little giveaway from a wonderful vendor I've used several times..her pieces are gorgeous...I am CRAVING some of these new disk beads...

and one at least of these fabulous new connector roses:

Be sure to go see her shop and join the contest for a gift certificate! 

Her blog to enter is here! 

Latest Project...and a new site of interest to crafters.

Well, this being housebound thing does have some advantages...I've finished up, started, and finished up again several pieces for the Gala this Fall. Here's my latest...this is Crystal Elf weave, from a video by Colin Mahler on Beaducation. I can HIGHLY recommend the video; Colin is thorough, detailed and has the perfect speaking voice for video instruction. 

Hers is done in sterling; on my budget, mine is done in 18g 7/32 bright aluminum (known as BA in chainmaille circles). 

Aluminum is long-wearing, tarnish free and hypoallergenic, so I use it in most of my jewelry. 

A week or so ago, I also discovered through a link on Facebook, a new-to-me photo editing app which might be of interest to some of you jewelry folks. I've used it a couple of times with great results. It is free, but you can donate to the site, and in the process, a favourite charity, to help support it: FotoFuze

Fotofuze will remove the background of your photo, for something you wish to have highlighted. Here's the first photo above, run through Fotofuze:

It's awesome for photos of jewelry!

Hope everyone is having a good week! 

I go to discuss with my employer, likely on Friday, my return to work...that should be interesting!

...AND, we're off!

Bead Soup Blog Party #8 is underway!

I am thrilled to be partnered with Sarah Goode of Pookledo. Sarah is in the UK, and I'm delighted to have a partner from the UK, as shipping there from Canada is almost easier than shipping into the US (which certainly is closer!). 
Here's Sarah's blog as well: Pookledo LOVE that name, by the way!

Sarah tells me that she enjoys working with recycled items and gems to make her pretty, colourful jewelry. We share a love of colour and "funky stuff" which will make us very good partners I suspect. 
I had to laugh, as Sarah lives quite close to an artist whose Etsy shop I mined for the "seed" of my Bead Soup...so my "seeds" are returning home to the UK! 

I spent today tweaking my soup for Sarah and gathering up a few little Canadian things for her, and a couple of "funkies" I hope she'll have fun with, that are not really a part of the official soup. 

Here's your teaser, Sarah!

Hope you enjoy your soup! I will get it in the mail ASAP. 

Just a quick one....

...to draw to anyone's attention that might be reading, this post from Mikki Ferrugiaro:

Bead Mavens needed

I consider this to be just an amazing opportunity for anyone who is a beadweaver, to take her up on some mentoring, and have an opportunity to get your tutorials out there to the world. It shouldn't take tons of time and there is a large audience involved. I know...I'm one of them!

Go for it!!

Sunshine!!

...lollipops and roses......oh wait, I'm dating myself, aren't I??

After a week of horrendous weather, the sun is out and the wind is only blowing about 60 mph, so I'm off in a bit to run a few errands. We've had our first day of above/zero weather since November on Thursday the 20th, and the sidewalks are treacherous, but the roads are fine.

I imagine we're not out of the woods yet, but it looks as though there IS hope!

I've been working away on the charms for my CM bracelets for DLTS (see prior blog) with mixed results; the first batch I had in progress last time was a COMPLETE loss. I've never had that happen before; I think it was a problem with the paper, actually, which seemed to absorb everything, no matter what I sealed it with, and thus was marred with dark spots from seepage. 

Second try, though was successful pretty much 100%, using photo paper, sealed prior to adhering to the blank and then sealed again 4 times each side using Mod Podge, before pouring the resin. 

Here they are:

Tomorrow I have to sand them, clean up the backs, and adhere the bails...and then I can attach them to the finished bracelets. 

As I had measured extra resin, I thought I would try something while I was at it, and use a dome resin mold I acquired a while back and hadn't tried. I poured the excess resin into the molds about 1/4" deep and added the (sealed) logo on top of it. Mixed results...one had a huge bubble under the logo...one was fine, but the resin couldn't degas with the logo on top of it, so we have this:

HOWEVER....I like the dome this creates a lot...so I had also poured just some extra resin into a few of the other spaces in the mold, and now I have some "domes" which I THINK could successfully be glued over top of a logo, on the blank. 

I have to see how that works out...

And, in the middle of the weather from H-E-double toothpicks the other night, I was at a class doing this, which I quite like. It will also be a donation to the National Inclusion Project for their Gala 2014 Silent Auction:

It's chainmaille, obviously, in a pattern called Clockwork Weave from Hyperlynks. 

Hope you are seeing a bit of Spring as well!

Working away....

This has, without a doubt, been the worst winter we've had in the 10 yrs or so I've lived here. 

As work has quieted a bit at this point, I'd love to be out and about...but each day seems to bring two choices weather-wise...it's either 400 below, or it's snowing ALL. DAY. LONG. 
In the last month, we've had more than 20 days of -20 or colder weather, which is completely unHEARD of here. 

Here's a picture down the street, which I took to show a friend living in NC that yes, indeed, there ARE 10 ft snowbanks; they're quite dangerous, as you can't see what's coming down the street until you're actually out IN it....

We're running out of places to put the snow when the driveway is shoveled...

I've pretty much been huddling by the fire when I'm not at work...but I have a project for the Foundation that I must have completed by Mar. 15th latest, to be shipped, so I am plugging away at that. 

These bracelets are to be prizes for the competitors in Dancing Like the Stars, which is one of our major fundraisers. 

Bracelets (6 ladies, 5 mens, 1 unisex) are done:

I'm currently working on stamping the back of the charm which will hang from the bracelets....

....these will be slightly domed when they are done, then filled with resin into which the logo will be placed....

The logos have so far been printed, cut, and treated to four coats each side of sealer. 

This is quite a time-consuming process, actually...and temps have to be optimal for the resin to set properly, so I'm hoping the weather will warm up a bit!! 

The resin is a bit chancy, so I usually make at least twice as many as I need to ensure one casting can hopefully be done. 

Then they need to be allowed to set, and have bails attached, and have those set. 

So....this is worktable Sunday in process!

Hope you are having a great GroundHog day!

Football? What's that??