Winter Blues - The Reveal!

Liz E of Bead Contagion found some very cool blue goldstone donuts, and like any good friend with a box of goodies, she offered to share. Beads, donuts, blue, sparkly?  Um, yes, please!

These beads, as you might guess from the name of the hop, arrived in the mail in the dead of winter.  And like a clear, dark winter night, they turned out to be a delicious deep blue with the sparkle of a million stars. So pretty.

Recently obsessed with chances to improve my budding soutache skills, I whipped out my soutache, my seed beads, and my dandy new scissors, and decided this was the perfect chance. And boy, howdy, did I have fun with this! I don't usually name my pieces, but I think this one has named itself "Night In The Kasbah"...

You can just glimpse the jump ring that will eventually connect this pendant to a necklace,
but wowza, look at the goldstone sparkle in that donut!!

Liz, thank you for the beautiful blues, and thank you for the chance to create! These beads were a bright spot in the darkest part of a long winter.  And now, to wait for the breeze outdoors to warm up enough to evoke the warmth of the Kasbah...

Now, go see what everyone else made with their sparkly blues!

Liz (host):  Bead Contagion
Christine:  One Kiss Creations Beaded Jewelry 

Jasvanti:  Jewelry by Jasvant 

Cynthia:  Antiquity Travelers    

JoJo:  Tahoma Beadworks & Photography

Bobbie:  Beadsong Jewelry

Therese:  Therese’s Treasures 

Amy:  Amybeads

A Million Thanks, Earring Eye Candy, and a Peek at What's Next

For all of those who stopped by during the 7000 Bracelets of Hope Blog Hop and left wonderful, warm comments, a million thanks!!! I am touched, thrilled, and humbled by the kind words. It was an enormous privilege to be included among the beauty created by all the talented bead artists who participated. If you're back again, I hope to see you here regularly!

So what have I been making recently besides a blue bracelet? Here are the earrings I made for Pay It Forward that got sent out last week.


They were fun to make, and I hope they're just as much fun for the recipients to wear!

Now, I off to work on a project that's been taunting me for weeks....it's just sitting there on my work table, scoffing at my lack of progress. And no, it's not my income taxes. (They're not done, either, but at least the extension got filed in time!) But it is one of those projects that started innocently and has grown into a monster beyond what I had originally planned. Ever have one of those?

Here's a peek:

I'll show you more as I progress -- how's that for self-motivation? Yeah, self-motivation through making yourself reportable to others. Whatever works!!