The Project That Ate My Bead Table - The Conclusion

If you've been visiting for a while, you may remember the project that ate my bead table.  It started out with some watch faces that I bezeled.

Then I struggled with virtually every step beyond that.  How to arrange them.  How to connect them.  What to do to transform it from an interesting centerpiece into a real necklace.  Argh!!!!

I would work on it for a while, and then have to set it aside until inspiration struck again.

But finally I finished it, and I'm finally happy with it.  Hooray!!

The watch faces got arranged and rearranged.  The sparkly wheel used as a toggle clasp had to be resized to balance in scale.  And I rethought the neckstrap - I did end up using a flat spiral stitch, but changed the large beads to a mix of freshwater pearls and pyrite rounds, and didn't break it into sections.

Bless her heart, this ugly duckling finally became a swan.  She had a highly prolonged awkward phase (kinda like the beader who made her...), but I think she's finally ready to be introduced to polite society

Now to find a fancy place to go so I can wear it before I put it up for sale (a girl's gotta wear quality check her work, right?)

Color Challenge Giveaway Results!

As part of the Challenge of Color blog hop, I promised to give the three pieces I created to lovely people who left comments on my reveal post.

Drum roll, please....

 

The winner of the necklace is Skye of Creative Chaos. (I swear the necklace hangs vertically, though the stupid picture won't show any other way than horizontally!)

The winner of the earrings is Heidi of Ex Post Facto Jewelry.

The winner of the bracelet is Kristen of My Bead Journey.

Please email me at beadsong@aol.com with your mailing information so the elves can send these little extra somethings for under the tree!

And thanks to all who were so kind to stop by, take a look, leave a comment, join as a follower, and in general, share the beady fun!  Y'all made this a great experience!

Is That Cake?

If you're looking for the Challenge of Color reveal and giveaway, go here

Why, yes, yes it is cake!  Or it was.

My birthday was yesterday, and the people in my office were sweet enough to bring cake.

Yellow cake with caramel icing so good it makes you want to dance, weep for joy, and pledge to live in elastic waistbanded pants for the rest of your life in order to accommodate your ever-widening hips.  I will drive many miles to get this cake.

In fact, I made myself throw away the fork so I would stop eating it.

Not really a beady post, but I suspect that some of you might understand ;-)  The bakery ships if you're interested...I swear I don't own stock in the place!

So, what sweet plans are on tap for your weekend?

Challenge of Color Blog Hop (And A Giveaway!)

 

Lime Hues from Design Seeds

Welcome to the second Challenge of Color Blog Hop, created by our talented ringmaster Erin of Tesori Trovati Jewelry.

Here's the basic scoop: each participant chose a color from a selection of twelve.  We were then assigned a palette based around that color, designed by the uber-talented Jessica Colaluca of Design Seeds.  I chose teal, and was a little surprised when the name of my assigned palette was "Lime Hues."  But as you see above, it is built around the lovely mild teal.

Now honestly, the wisdom of signing up for a challenge whose reveal date was between Thanksgiving and Christmas, situated on top of two art shows and smack dab in the middle of one of the real crunch times at my job shows an unusual tolerance for mad activity.  I had grand visions of creating a spectacular woven piece that would do justice to the luscious colors I'd been gifted with.

(Keep reading until after the pictures for information on the giveaway!)

In reality, I ended up doing some weaving and some stringing.  Here's what came off the work table right under the deadline!

First the necklace, for which I created three separate woven rings with combinations of different colors and materials.  The finished necklace is nice and long (about 30"), with the rings on a double strand of copper chain.

faceted Czech glass beads are a lovely teal with a hint of the lime chartreuse

a variety of seed beads

marble beads with seeds in the green, blue, and chartreuse shades

imagine this rotated 90 degrees counterclockwise 

(like it was when I uploaded it...)

The earrings:

 

And the bracelet:

featuring a great ceramic button I picked up at a July 4 art fair by a NC artist -- 

she didn't have a website, but I'll have to go dig out her card and put her name here later

Thanks to Erin for coordinating all of this, thanks to Jessica for allowing us to use her palettes as inspiration, and thanks to you for looking!  And now for the giveaway:  leave a comment here, and you'll be entered in a drawing for one of the pieces I created for this hop -- that's right, three winners!  If you tweet, facebook, or blog about this post, you'll get another entry for each posting.  Just think - three gifts within your grasp (okay, keep it for yourself.  I won't tell!)

Here are the other participants in the hop -- I'll be enjoying all the beautiful creations, too!

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