Bead Hoarders Blog Party - The Reveal!

All beaders have those beads that they just can't let go of, and that they just can't bring themselves to make something with. Beader's block? Fear of not creating something that lives up to the beauty of the bead? Just the dragon-like tendency to amass a collection of shiny things? Whatever it is, we all have those hoarded beads in our collections, just waiting to be pulled out and used.

Lori Anderson to the rescue! She created another one of her legendary bead swaps, but this time the only rule was to send a bead we'd hoarded, along with a story of why it's important to us.

My fabulous partner Kathy Lindemer sent me a gorgeous handmade ceramic donut by Diana Ptaszynski of Suburban Girl Studios. Kathy said she loves Suburban Girl beads because they often have a nautical feel, and the blues and greens that she uses are colors Kathy enjoys using in her jewelry. They are pretty delicious colors, aren't they? Along with the ceramic bead was a lovely length of blue satin cording and a clasp that Kathy made herself.  If you'd like to see the whole package, go here.

How did I know this was a perfect hoarded bead for me? Because it was a perfect match for some seed beads that I'd been hoarding...blue transparent green-lined lovelies that I hadn't found the right way to use, until now. They were absolutely the perfect match for the shades of green and blue on the donut.

I wanted to stay pretty minimal with my design, to focus attention on Kathy's bead. A herringbone rope with superduos, miniduos, and tiny crystals, undulating from small to large and back again, echoing the large to small decoration Diana used on the donut. 

A lariat style allows the focal bead to stay front and center, and the fringe has one, two, or three tiny crystals at the ends both to add sparkle and, again, echo the larger/smaller dimples on the donut.

But wait, there's more! I couldn't pass up using Kathy's clasp and that luscious blue cording. Again, a simple design to focus on the lovely components used - this time I used a pendant I made with seed beads and two-holed triangles. Easy peasy, just right for spring (if it ever gets here and stays here!)

Thanks for visiting, and huge thanks to Kathy for sharing such a beautiful bead with me. I hope I did it proud for you.

Now, go treat yourself to the eye candy created by others in this swap party. The full list is HERE. Enjoy!

Bead Hoarder Swap - My Partner and What She Sent!

There's nothing like a beading challenge to kick your creative juices into high gear. And considering that over the past year my creative juices have been tucked way, WAY in the back of my brain, I appreciate all the creative kicks in the pants I can get.

So, when Lori Anderson announced a new bead swap blog party, I was ready to jump in. And this time, we were to give our partner a bead we've hoarded for ourselves. What a terrific idea!

And I was so lucky to be paired with Kathy Lindemer of Bay Moon Design. I've admired Kathy's work as part of the ZNetShows design team, and one of her necklaces was just featured on the Art Bead Scene blog.

Many of Kathy's pieces have an element of nature - flowers or plants or animals. Her work exudes a wonderful serenity that I find really appealing:

Wanna see what she sent me for the swap?  It's yummy!

Kathy sent a beautiful little box, complete with a card she had made (creative lady!). And under the card was a spectacular ceramic bead by Suburban Girl Studios, complemented by a length of delicious blue silk cording and one of Kathy's handcrafted clasps. The ideas are burbling up already!

The box was so cute, decorated with washi tape, that I almost didn't want to mess it up by opening it.
Almost.

Kathy's handmade card

And the beautiful surprises inside!

Thank you, Kathy! I can't wait to get started!

Bead Peeps Swap 'n' Hop - The Creamsicle Conundrum

Bead swaps and design challenges are a great way to get the creative juices flowing, so when I saw a call on the Facebook group Bead Peeps for a swap, I was all in. And I lucked out, too, getting the lovely Lori Alainn Blanchard of Alainn Jewelry as my partner.  She sent me the delicious beads below for me to work with:



and the handcrafted focal:

Lori had asked me what colors I find most challenging to work with, and then, as any good swap partner would, she sent me that exact thing -- flourescent creamsicle orange.

  

I could almost hear her laughing from several hundred miles away.....;-

The first thing I worked on was the right way to highlight the focal, and I hoped to use the tilas to do so. But after banging my head against the wall trying several different unsuccessful configurations, I decided the tilas wanted to work elsewhere, and concentrated on the focal. Here's what happened:

All I added from my stash was some merlot and dark gold seed beads, the lapis rounds in the neckstrap, and my own fabricated gold clasp. And if you look really closely in the first round of beads around the focal, you'll see that I used some of the creamsicle seeds there.

Next up was a bracelet:

Then I wanted to use the faceted Czech glass Lori had sent.  Initially, I thought those would go with the focal, but once I'd finished the centerpiece, the greens and blues of the Czech glass just didn't work with the reds and turquoises, so I set them aside on the worktable.  They ended up near a piece I'd done several months ago and called Iris - the blues and greens worked really well together! Serendipity worked in my favor this time!

There were other colors of seed beads that I hadn't yet used, so a pair of freeform peyote earrings seemed to be in order:

And a ring:

And, finally, something to celebrate that challenging creamsicle color!  I call these earrings Creamsicle Conundrum:

Here's a family picture:

Thanks for reading all the way down, thanks to Lori for being a fun and generous partner, and thanks to Linda Anderson for hosting the swap!

Now, go look at all the creations from others who've taken part in the swap challenge -- get ready for some serious eye candy!

Linda Anderson - Hostess - http://fromTheBeadBoard.blogspot.com
Linda	Anderson	http://fromTheBeadBoard.blogspot.com
Natalie	Davidson	http://www.northshoredays.com
Marcy	Lamberson	http://www.studiomarcy.blogspot.com
Kathy	Lindemer	http://bay-moon-design.blogspot.com/
Dita	Basu	Http://www.alankarshilpa.blogspot.com
Andrea	Glick	http://zenithjade.blogspot.com/
Kristina	Peck	http://tealeavesandtinyhats.blogspot.com/
Shai	Williams	http://www.shaihasramblings.com/
Catherine	La Vite	http://www.drygulchbeadsandjewelry.blogspot.com/
Christina	Hickman	http://vintagetreasuresjewelry.blogspot.com/
gloria	allen	http://wingsandbeads.blogspot.com
Teresa	Schurter	http://treezstreazurs.com/
Maria Rosa	Sharrow	http://willowstreetshops.blogspot.com
Susan	Kelly	http://mimismilesdesigns.blogspot.com
Jenny	Kyrlach	http://anafiassa.blogspot.com/
Michelle	McCarthy	http://www.fireflydesignstudio.blogspot.com
Terry Jeanette	Carter	http://tappingflamingo.blogspot.com
Lee	Koopman	http://stregajewellry.wordpress.com
Laurie	Vyselaar	https://lefthandjewelry.wordpress.com
Marianne	Baxter	http://simplyseablimejewelry.blogspot.com
Divya	N	http://www.jewelsofsayuri.com
Kelly	Hosford Patterson	http://travelingsideshow.blogspot.com/
Johana	Nunez	http://www.artincendi.com
Kari	Asbury	http://hippiechickjewelrydesign.com/blog
ROBIN	REED	http://www.willowdragon.blogspot.com
Kristina	Hahn Eleniak	http://www.peacockandlime.wordpress.com
Robin Lynne	Showstack	http://heartsdesiresjewelryforyou.blogspot.com/
Rosantia	Petkova	http://bairozan.blogspot.com/
Claire	Fabian	http://saraccino.blogspot.de/
Inge	von Roos	https://ingetraud.wordpress.com
Rachel	Mallis	http://mintmonarch.com
Sam	Waghron	http://palemooncreation.blogspot.co.uk
Lori	Schneider	http://beadaddicted.blogspot.com
Fay	Wolfenden	http://torchfairy.blogspot.com
SEEDERS
Suse	Stelljes	http://pearlify.blogspot.de
Ginger	Bishop	http://www.lilmummylikes.blogspot.com
Nelly	May	http://www.smellynelly.blogspot.com
REbecca	White	http://morganafeycreations.121hub.com/
sheila	Prosterman	http://catswithbeads.blogspot.com
Catherine	King	http://catherines-musings.blogspot.com
PALLAVI	ASHER	http://kalaabhushan.blogspot.in/
Krafty	Max	http://kraftymax.net
Renetha	Stanziano	http://lamplightcrafts.blogspot.com/
Becky	Pancake	http://beckypancakebeaddesigns.blogspot.com
Katy	Heider	http://onthepondcreations.blogspot.com/
Deborah	Apodaca	http://deborahapodacadesigns.blogspot.com/
Heather	Richter	http://desertjewelrydesigns.blogspot.com/
Tami	Norris	https://tamisdesigns.wordpress.com
Brandy	Scozzari	http://bhjewelry.wordpress.com
Catherine	King	http://catherines-musings.blogspot.com
Kathleen	Breeding	https://www.facebook.com/99BOBOTW/
Veralynne	Malone	http://veradesigns.blogspot.com
Bobbie	Rafferty	http://beadsong.blogspot.com  (You are here!)
Lori	Blanchard	http://alainnjewelry.wordpress.com

Bead Peeps Swap & Hop - My Partner and What She Sent

I'm so excited to be participating in a new-to-me swap and design challenge, this time hosted through the Bead Peeps Facebook group.  And I'm thrilled to introduce my swap partner, Lori Alainn Blanchard of Alainn Jewelry. (What, you don't follow her blog yet? Get yourself over there, enjoy the eye candy, and put her on your blog feed immediately! You're welcome.)

Lori's an enthusiastic and warm person, who's planning her wedding while she works and designs her fantastic jewelry. She rides motorcycles, which proves she's the kind of brave bad ass lady I can't possibly claim to be (I would be decorating the pavement immediately). She's got a fun sense of humor, and her spirit comes through in her designs.

Lori and I are really well-matched. We both love to explore and mix a variety of techniques, and love color. We both work with seed beads and larger beads. Neither of us has met a bead we didn't like (or at least think we could so something with). She shops with the same philosophy as I do - if it's pretty or interesting, buy it with the certainty that you'll find a fabulous use for it eventually.

Want to see some of Lori's beauties?

This first one knocked my socks off.  It just got photographed for inclusion in Bead & Button (yay, Lori!), and I think you can see why.  It also proved to me that we were well-matched, because it reminded me of a necklace I made that I affectionately referred to as "the monster."

This next one has lush, abundant fringe. I can't do fringe. Don't know why, but I've never felt like a fringe-y kind of girl, but this might change my thinking.

And this bracelet? The colors are so pretty and the embroidery is great.

In yesterday's mail, I got the beads that Lori sent me for this swap challenge, and y'all, it's full of yummy things.  Take a look!  Czech glass and delicas and seed beads and daggers and tilas and half tilas and a highly cool focal, oh my!

Yes, take a closer look at the very cool focal.  It's a lapis cab with sculpted clay by Sculpted Windows.

The big challenge here? The neon creamsicle seeds. I told Lori I am challenged by neons, and she picked up on that. But she eased me into dealing with my phobia by sending neon beads that actually pick up a color in the focal, so I think I may be okay. Hold a good thought.

What did I send Lori? I forgot to take a picture before packaging it up, but you can see it here.  I can't wait to see what she makes with it!

Getting Ready To Swap

I just signed up for a new (to me) bead swap and blog hop.  I look forward to taking part in this, to meeting a new beady friend, and to being challenged by a palette chosen by another artist.

And of course, I always enjoy the opportunity to obsessively check on my mail, awaiting new beads! Perhaps I should warn my mailman that the crazy bead lady is in his future.....

Casablanca - or, How I Finished Another UFO

Sometimes I bite off more than I can chew.  Now when it's, say, pecan pie or a Snickers bar, I muddle through.  When it's a beading project, however, sometimes I have to put it aside for awhile until I can screw my courage up enough to tackle it again.

In the last Bead Soup Blog Hop, I took one of those bites, and among the pieces I made was a medallion that was heavily encrusted with bead embroidery, using the delectable soup sent by my fabulous partner Nancy Dale.

It ended up being about 4 1/2" across.  That, my friends, is a lot of embroidering. It was enough to make my husband say "woah!!" when he saw it.  And as much as I loved it, I was burned out on it for a while.  That, and the prospect of stitching the edging on those little cutouts on the interior of the piece was kind of freaking me out.

So the other day I was in the fabric store, and decided to pick up some ultrasuede to back the medallion.  A few hours later, here's what I had:

This is the back view (thank you, Dr. Obvious), so you could see the finishing of the interior openings.  Yep, those are 15's lining each one, and I'll admit it, there was some cursing involved as I worked to slice the holes in the backing and fill those tight little spaces with beads.  Trimmed up and edged on the front, here's the completed medallion:

Okay, so that was done.  Now, how to make it into something wearable.  I had some bead soup left over, so I made a couple of beaded beads.  Because I used the random beads in the bead blend from Nancy, they were a little freeform, and a little funky.  Then I raided my stash for some cool copper beads that also had interior openings that echo the openings in the medallion.  Some cool pinky/coppery freshwater pearls, and a copper toggle I made to work with one of the copper beads as a clasp, and I was done:

Granted, this is not a necklace for a woman who's uncomfortable being noticed.  But it is surprisingly light and completely comfortable to wear. I've called it Casablanca, because it reminds me of someplace exotic and warm, someplace that the desert breezes might mold the sand into serpentine dunes like the lines on the gorgeous JulsBead at the center of the medallion.  Maybe it's something that would be worn by the genie that comes out of the lamp you'd discover on the caravan trail as you cross that desert.

In any event, this has been a grand adventure, and I'm very pleased with the results. Thanks, Nancy, for the fantastic inspiration of your soup!

Wherein I Once Again Worry the Neighbors (My Swap Mix Arrived!)

If you saw a grown woman dancing on her front porch in the middle of the day, holding a small box in her hand, would you:

(a) shield your children's eyes and hustle them to safety?

(b) call someone to bring the transport van with the padded walls for the
poor woman who obviously needs to sit in a nice, quiet place for a while?

(c) mutter "bless her heart"* and wonder which Tennessee Williams character
she's channeling?

(d) understand that she just got her Bead Soup Blog Hop bead mix in the mail?

Well, bless my heart, I got my bead mix, and I can't wait to get cooking!

Cindy Cima Edwards sent me a beautiful mix of greens and brass. Look and love:

the whole delicious assortment

the lovely star of the show

just a few of the range of of greens in the mix

I love the range of materials, especially the Vintaj components, which I haven't done a lot of work with yet.

And now to cook something up with all this deliciousness! (And don't worry about the neighbors. They're used to my, um, natural exuberance. Dancing on the porch is nothing unusual...)

*in case you've never been in the Deep South and encountered this particular saying, it is an all-purpose phrase that has countless meanings, among which are "she's a sweetheart," , "she's an idiot," "she's a nut, but we'll just call it charmingly eccentric," or "she's too young/too old to really know what she's doing, and I'm too polite to point it out."

Paired Up and Ready to Hop

The partners have been matched up, and it's almost time for the Bead Soup Blog Hop party to commence.

I'm so excited to be paired with Cindy Cima Edwards -- check out her beautiful work here and here. She's had her work published in some of your favorite magazines, so I can't wait to see what she cooks up with the bead mix that's growing on my work table.

And I can't wait to see what she puts together for me to play with!

This is my first time participating in this swap - can't wait! And thanks to the master matchmaker, Lori Anderson, for putting all of this together while dealing with an extra crazy dose of real life over the past couple of weeks. Remember the guy who used to spin plates on the Ed Sullivan Show?

I think Lori takes this masterful balancing act to a new level while she coordinates the millions of details around the swap, more like this:

I can just hear her saying "Yep, I can do that, with a woman on my head, rocking spandex and sequins, and looking calm."

And please don't point out how the Ed Sullivan reference dates me.