Bead Soup Blog Party

It's here! Finally the 8th Bead Soup Blog Party!  Weeks ago, we signed up and were paired with our partners by Lori Anderson of Pretty Things.  My great partner is Katrina Taylor of Is the Babysitter here yet? blog.  This is the great soup she sent me:

There was a Natural stone focal bead, Czech glass beads and pearls, Swarovski butterfly, copper and brass components (clasp, beads and chain) and amethyst chips. And this is the adorable packaging it came in. Isn't it great?

I love it all, but I've been really challenged. There is so many great colors in this soup and I couldn't figure out what all to put with the focal and how to use the BIG hole copper beads.  Also, I didn't just want to string the focal. As I kept looking at it, I kept seeing FLAMES!  But I have to admit, I love flames. I used to have flame stripes on my truck until the stripes just became so worn looking and cracked/peeling that we had to take them off this last year.  So I seem to be drawn to flames/fire. LOL I knew then that I wanted to create a bail or encase the focal with metal and I wanted it to look as though it was surrounded by flames. So I set to work finding flame pictures I liked and then trying to draw them off to be cut out of copper. I went through about 5-6 different designs, drawing, cutting out, redrawing until I came up with this one that would work with the metal and focal.  But my challenge then was how to create the bail out of the same piece to hang the focal. And then what to hang it with, since now the focal is REALLY heavy! After finally figuring out how to do all that, I realized I wanted to flame paint/patina my metal, too, so it would look even more like flames. That was so much fun. I've just started doing some flame painting and was happy with my results. Here's a pic of the the front of the focal.

But now my challenge was how to create the rest of the necklace. I didn't want to add too much to it and take away from the focal, so I started creating bead links with the crystals and amethyst chips Katrina sent me. But I wanted to carry that flame look through, so as I wrapped the beads I hammered the ends of the copper wire and then folded it down around the beads, hoping to get a flame look to the links.  Then after taking a class on enameling, I got out my copper washers and practiced my enameling in some colors that I thought would complement the colors of the beads and the focal. I also wanted to enhance the great copper clasp that Katrina had flame painted  for me so I wire wrapped some of the crystals and beads to the clasp and simply wire-wrapped the ring for the clasp to attach to.  I'm happy with all my components, but not sure if I'm happy with the end result. I was going to use leather to hang the focal, but decided it wouldn't be strong enough to hold the weight of the stone and metal together. So I hammered another piece of heavy wire, textured it, punched the holes and flame patina'd it to slide through the flame bail on the top of the pendant. I like it, but the pendant keeps sliding around, so I may have to redo it or perhaps wire some copper wire around the hanging wire in between the 2 flames to hold it still. But I'm not sure it all looks right together. I'm hoping it grows on me, but if not, I'll try to redesign the necklace. I was running out of time to do anything more with it now, as I was gone for 10 days at the end of March, first of April and then I've had non-stop company since then till Sunday the 27th.  Plus I've developed a problem with my left hand/thumb joint. Not sure if I've just hurt/sprained the join or I'm developing some arthritis in it, but it makes it difficult to hold anything ( I picked up a glass a week or two ago and dropped it and broke it because of not being able to hold it) and it is difficult to wire-wrap anything. I hope you like the finished necklace.

Next, I wanted to make a multi-strand bracelet with more of the crystals, amethyst chips, large triangular gold and copper beads and some dark brown dagger beads. I was going to wire wrap some of the crystals, amethyst chips and other beads to hang from the gold chain, but again all the wire wrapping for the dangles on the chain piece that Katrina sent me has been a little difficult. So I think I'll leave them off for the time and see how I like it with the simplicity of just the chain with the beaded strands on either side of it. It uses the gold clasp Katrina sent me.

Finally, I loved these BIG hole copper beads, but they kept stumping me on how to use them. I couldn't just string them as the hole was too big, I couldn't find/didn't want to use bead caps on each end of them, so I finally came up with the idea of knotting some leather in between each of the four of the big, copper beads Katrina sent me. Then I wire-wrapped it to the copper clasp Katrina sent me. I haven't cut the leather on the one end yet as I'm not sure I like the clasp with it, but couldn't figure out how I might want to close it otherwise, so I may end up redoing the clasp/closure later, too. It also might look great as a necklace with a little adjusting and some other beads. Just not sure yet.

I hope you like all my creations with my soup.  And I completely forgot to make any earrings to match anything, but I'm thinking I may want to enamel some more washers and attach some of the crystal or amethyst chips to them for earrings if they aren't too heavy. :)
For the rest of the participants in the Bead Soup Blog Party visit Lori Anderson's blog Pretty Things. There were over 400 participants who all got amazing partners and soups to create with. They all will inspire you.
If you're looking for any of my jewelry pieces or my Stained Glass, Mosaics or Fused Glass kreationz for your Home and Garden, check out with my shop, KayzKreationz.  Thanks.  And please be sure to leave me a comment to let me know what you think of my pieces.

My Bead Soup party Partner and my Soup reveal

I'm finally getting a chance to post about my great partner for the Bead Soup blog party.  Her name is Katrina Taylor from 'Is the Babysitter here Yet?' blog.

She's a veterinarian from Pennsylvania, which is cool, since we do Wildlife management on our small Texas ranch.  She loves metal work which is great, because I love metal, especially copper and she created this great flame-painted copper clasp for my soup. But she hasn't been able to work as much as she likes because her work area is in a cold area of her house and the winter there has been exceedingly cold. But she put together a great soup for me.  Isn't this great?  (And she kindly left out any BLUE, since I told her I'm not a fan of blue.)  It contains a Natural stone focal bead, Czech glass beads and pearls, Swarovski butterfly, copper and brass components (clasp, beads and chain) and amethyst chips.  I love it all.  Now the challenge is what to do with it all to do it justice. (As usual I forgot my before pic, but Katrina had a great picture of the soup she sent me so she let me use it to show you this great soup.)

And here's the soup I sent her.  I wanted to send her a Texas themed soup, so I cut out the state of Texas with my saw, flame painted it (it turned out a great red, which I felt was very appropriate as we're always HOT here in Texas, LOL)  and riveted it to a textured brass background. I enclosed some lava beads, some hand created copper double-balled headpins, some Picture Jasper beads, some of what I call my Texas Tornado copper wire beads, a small brass clasp and a hand created Texas Yoke toggle clasp that I hammered and also flame painted, plus some teal leather.  I wrapped it all up in this Orange bandana, since we were/use a lot of bandana's in Texas. My thought was she could use some or all of the bandana in her creations, but she told me her son loved the bandana and confiscated it and she may not be able to get it back to use. LOL  So for all of you wondering what the theme was to my soup that I posted on facebook, here it is: TEXAS!  :)

Be sure to come back on May 3rd for the reveal of what I made with my soup. And for more of my jewelry kreationz or my Stained Glass, Mosaics and Fused Glass kreationz for your Home and Garden, check out my shop, KayzKreationz.

Create Three Dimensional Jewelry book review

Kalmbach sent me another great book to review. This one is 'Create Three Dimensional Jewelry' by Heather DeSimone. Heather lives in Maine and has been taking apart and putting together jewelry for 35 years and has been co-owner of The Beadin' Path and beadinpath.com since 1993. She was influenced by the work of Miriam Haskell and realized she didn't have to 'string' beads, but could 'build' her jewelry. She dabbled in vintage beads, but got an e-mail from a man in the Lucite bead business that had some beads to sell.  She decided to check it out and came back with 3 semi-tractor trailer trucks with 40,000 lbs. of beads, plastic hoops, bangles and other components and decided to meet the challenge of using the brilliantly bold plastic pieces in her jewelry and inspiring others to use them, too.  She has done a great job of that in this book. She starts with materials (small beads), nailheads, sew-ons, filigree, beads and buttons and more.  Then she gets into the tools you need for stacking all the layers in your jewelry work and explains the Building Blocks of stacking and working in layers. In fact, she has other building blocks for stitching and creating surface adornment and constructing custom components, before you get into the projects. She describes elements you may use to incorporate into finished jewelry, then gives step by step projects for you to make. Along with that comes Tips to make your work go more smoothly, tidbits that are facts about jewelry or fashion for fun, and alternative projects based on the elements that are introduced in the projects. They are fun ideas to get your creative juices flowing.
I've been trying to work with/add leather to some of my jewelry, so I really enjoyed her 'Boat seats to Begonias' project. They found some overstock vinyl at a fabric warehouse and used it to create upcycled vinyl flowers to mix with metal, Lucite flowers and other materials for a fabulous Statement necklace.

One of my favorites, though was the Memory wire Cuff. I've been working with memory wire quite a bit and I loved the way she built on this cuff to make this wonderful bracelet.
The Silver Lining necklace is featured on the front of the book and another favorite of mine is the 'Down by the Sea' stitched cuff where she stitches found seashell beads and frosted glass to a copper cuff. I love it. Be sure to check out the book for both of these projects.
All in all, this is a great book to add to your repertoire for jewelry inspiration and learning how to 'build' your jewelry to make it unique and find your own style. I loved it.
If you're looking for some of my jewelry or Stained Glass, Mosaics and Fused Glass kreationz for your home or garden, check out my shop, KayzKreationz.

Patina Challenge Blog Hop

I had my post all ready to go, had the pictures uploaded and then had to go out of town. No problem, I was taking my iPad with me so I could polish it up some before posting.  Unfortunately, I can't seem to edit my blog posts on my iPad without deleting something.  I've tried a couple of times and it always happens. So lesson learned, just don't edit with an iPad. :)  Anyway, thanks for bearing with me and here goes:

Recently Kathy at BayMoonDesign issued a challenge. She was picking 10 people to send a Vintaj compass piece to. We were to patina it any way we wanted and then make something with it.  I haven't been happy with any of my patina efforts so far, but thought maybe this would help me figure out what to do and how to patina something I was happy with, so I signed up.  I got my wonderful compass piece, started to work on it and then had to put it up to go out of town for a business conference.  Well I THOUGH I had put it up, but my Manx cat, Lata decided he could get to it anyway. And when I came home from the conference, the compass was nowhere to be found. (It still is MIA, despite having turned half the house upside down. I'm sure one of these days it will turn up. LOL) Anyway, I e-mailed Kathy and asked if I could buy one somewhere so I could still participate.  She graciously mailed me another one.  This one I made sure was with me all the time so Lata couldn't get to it. I forgot to take a pic before I started the sanding, but in this picture I've sanded the point in the center, the direction letters, the edge and the little arrows (?) all around the outside ring.

I pretty much knew what I wanted to do with it, so now to get to work using my patina's.  I used some Ranger Alcohol Inks in the Weathered Copper which was greens/blues.  But after I got it done, I really wanted a little more color so added just a dab of Cinnabar so it would have a little of the red to blend with the red leather I was using.  I painted, sanded, painted some more, then used some Bronze Gilder's paste on it and finally sealed everything with a Ranger sealer. I think I'm finally happy with one of my patina projects.

I then took some brass and silver cogs and washers I had and patina'd them. I knew I wanted a 'steampunk' look to this bracelet(although I've never done Steampunk, so this is my first attempt at that also).  After I had the brass washers done I decided I didn't like the look of the silver cogs on the brass washers, because they just faded into the background, so I turned them over and hammered them instead.  Then I got busy punching holes in the leather. I had intended to texture the leather, but forgot. I HATE punching holes in leather because I don't have a hole punch strong enough to go through the leather. So I had to use a thick darning needle to try to start the hole and then my hole punch to finish out the hole.  This was very difficult, but I finally got all the holes punched.  However, after finally getting the little clips on the back of the compass pushed through 2 of the holes, they broke off while trying to bend them back over to hold the compass. So now what to do? I really didn't want to wire it to the leather, but Karla (from Texas Pepper Jams) and I had just gotten to play with our torches a week or two ago and had made some balled copper headpins. I punched 2 holes on the inside ring of the compass on the E/W sides, then took the balled headpins which added another little pop of red to the piece, pushed them through and twisted/spiraled them together on the back side. Viola!  My compass was now attached.

I had originally intended to rivet the cogs/washers to the leather, but realized I didn't have any rivets large enough for the holes in the washers, so stumped again.  I found 2 beads I thought would go well with the piece, took another 2 of my balled headpins, put them through the beads, through the cogs and washers and twisted/spiraled them on the backside, making sure all the wire and ends were smooth enough to not rub the skin when I wear the bracelet.

Then I attached a little silver heart I had to the bottom of the leather piece because I wanted to name this piece "Find your way to my Heart" (because of the compass) And finally I decided to make it a double chain bracelet, so punched 4 more holes in the leather, made my own jump rings our of some Annealed Steel wire I had, attached the 4 pieces of chain, made a clasp out of the same Steel wire and Viola!

"Find your way to my Heart"

Hope you like it.

Be sure to visit all the other participants of the blog hop below or going to Kathy's BayMoonDesigns blog. (Hopefully the links will work, but the way things have been going for me, they may not. LOL)   Thanks for bearing with me and stopping by.

Looking for more of my jewelry or Stained Glass, Mosaics or Fused Glass pieces, check out my shop, KayzKreationz.

Hostess:  Kathy Lindemer,  BayMoonDesign 

Jennifer LaVite, Dry Gulch Beads and Jewelry
Karla Morgan, Texas Pepper Jams

Carolyn Lawson, Carolyn's Creations

Shai Williams, Shaiha's Ramblings

Jessica Murray, Whimsical Monkey
Tammie Everly, TTE Designs
Kay Thomerson, KayzKreationz Blog (you are here)

Claire Fabian, Saraccino
Christie Searle Murrow,  Charis Designs



Into the Forest Blog Hop

A while back, Lisa Lodge of A Grateful Artist sent out a challenge. She was providing beads for a blog hop with the theme, "Into the Forest".  The challenge was to see how we would interpret that theme with these beads. I signed up and love the beads I received. They look to me to be a jasper of some kind with the dark green donut that reminds me of deep into the forest.  I immediately thought of my red jasper beads that would help bring out the greens of the forest along with the changing colors of the forest as it moves into the fall months.  I love fall and the colors it brings, although we don't really get much color here in Texas.  But I grew up in the Ozarks of Missouri and miss those colors every fall.   I also had this great copper leaf chain that I thought would be wonderful with all that fall color and remind us of all the leaves, falling or not, in the forest. Here's the beads I received and my beads I added.

However, in the last 3 months, I've been gone on trips 3 times, had company for a week or more twice and ended up cutting fingers on both hands.  So my creating has been a little challenged.  But I finally got to start yesterday, so hoping I get both the pieces I envisioned finished in time.  The first thing I wanted to make was either an anklet or some more boot jewelry.  I'm not sure this is long enough to wrap around your boot, although I could add more jump ring links and make it long enough. I need to measure it.  But as an anklet it turned out great. I cut off a small piece of the leaf chain, wire-wrapped three of the stoned I received and six of the medium size jasper beads and interspersed them with the leaves. I wire-wrapped the small jasper with brass headpins so it would look like small shafts of light shining through the forest. I'm not real pleased with the closure yet, but I can always change that later.

My next piece is this necklace. I wire-wrapped some of the green jasper beads with the small glass seed beads. Then I wire-wrapped 2 small jasper beads with one of the green crystals. And finally I wire-wrapped a medium jasper bead. I joined all these links with copper jump rings to the green wire-wrapped donut bead. On the opposite side I added some more of the copper leaf chain with medium jasper beads wire-wrapped and interspersed in between the leaves. I really like the way this necklace turned out, although for the life of me I can't find my copper leaf toggle bar clasp I had for it. So I'll be switching that out when I can find it. LOL

And finally, here's a pair of earrings I made with some of the larger green jasper beads, the green crystals and the small and large size red jasper beads I had.  I wanted the large red jasper beads to dangle. I tried them on these gold toned ear wires.  But I'm not sure I like them, so I may be changing out the ear wires for copper ones as soon as I get a chance to make some.  And another pair of earrings with 2 more of the larger nuggets and the crystals and my medium jasper beads. I love wire-wrapping the nuggets and the jasper beads.  I have plans for a bracelet, but ran out of time.  Hope you like all my designs. Let me know what you think.

Here's the rest of the participants.  Be sure to check them all out and see how everyone developed the theme, Into the Forest with the beads they received. If the links don't work, go to Lisa's blog for the full list with links.



Your hostess:  Lisa Lodge, A Grateful Artist

Melissa Trudinger, Bead Recipes

Kathy Zeigler Lindemer, Bay Moon Design

Eleanor Burian Moore, The Charmed Life

Jo-Ann Woolverton, It's a Beadiful Creation

Chris Eisenberg, Wanderware

Christine Stonefield, Sweet Girl Design

Carolyn Lawson, Carolyn's Creations

Janine Lucas, Esfera Travel Blog

Jasvanti Patel, Jewelry by Jasvanti

Shaiha Williams,   Shaiha's Ramblings

Kay Thomerson, Kayz Kreationz

Karla Morgan, Texas Pepper Jams

Veralynne Malone, Designed by Vera

Toltec  Jewels, Jewel School Friends

Christie Searle Murrow, Charis Designs Jewelry

Molly Alexander, Beautifully Broken Me

Monique Urquhart, A Half-Baked Notion

Janet Bocciardi, Honey from the Bee

Dini Bruinsma, Angaza by Changes

Heather Richter, Desert Jewelry Designs

Christina Miles, Wings n Scales

Elizabeth Engriser, Bead Contagion

Alice Peterson, Alice Dreaming

Alicia Marinache, All the Pretty Things

Kay Mallery,TBD

Catherine Yvonne King, Catherine's Musings

Alice Craddick, Alice's Beads and Baubles

Ema Kilroy, Ema K Designs

Looking for these designs to buy and wear?  Check them out soon in my shop, KayzKreationz.  Or looking for some great Stained Glass, Mosaics or Fused Glass kreationz for your Home or Garden? They're in my shop, too.  Enjoy.

CBC 2000 Giveaway

Recently a group I'm in on Facebook, the Creative Bead Chat held a giveaway for reaching 2000 likes.  There were about 40 different artists that donated prizes.  All you had to do was comment on the prize/prizes you liked and say how you would use the prize.  For example, would you wear it, give it away or create something awesome with it and if creating, what would you create with it.  There were some great prizes.  And Lo and Behold, I won a fabulous pair of earrings from Alicia Marinache.  Alicia hails from Burlington, ON Canada.  She loves working with silver and copper and semi-precious stones, bringing inspirations from nature into her art.  These are Etched Brass squares that have been patina'd and sealed, with glass lampwork beads attached to Sterling Silver findings.  Aren't these great?  They're even prettier in person.  It was so great of Alicia to donate these, along with all the other artists that donated wonderful prizes.  Alicia has a shop on Artfire, called All Pretty Things.  Why don't you jump over there after seeing what else I won and what the others won and who donated the prizes.

Also, because there was a small snafu with one of the other prizes that I though I had won, Melinda Orr generously offered to send me a prize package from her designs/stash. I love Melinda's work.  She has some of her designs HERE and more here in ORRTEC shop.  Melinda loves working with Metals and texturing and patina'ing them, plus leather.  Anyway, Melinda kindly sent me this great package with one of her new designs.  It's a piece of leather, wire-wrapped focal and copper wire.  I know what I want to do with it, just haven't gotten a chance to put it all together yet.  Plus I need a rivet/snap setting tool for the snap/clasp on the leather.

 

Be sure to check out all the other great artists and shops that won or donated prizes.  And if you really like making jewelry and networking with other artists, be sure to check out the Creative Bead Chat group.
To see some of my Wire-wrapped, Beaded Jewelry, Stained Glass, Mosaics or Fused Glass Kreationz for your home and garden, be sure to check out KayzKreationz.

Polymer Clay Wonky Bead Blog Hop Challenge

Recently Kristi Bowman-Gruel at DreamSome Designs issued a challenge for all artists using her new Polymer Clay Wonky Beads. I love them, they are so rustic and earthy looking and feeling to me. So I couldn't resist the call.  And as usual, I forgot to take a before picture of the beads I received.  When I got them I immediately knew I wanted to do something with macramé with the beads.  I recently started getting back into macramé. I used to do it back in the 70's when it was popular and have been falling in love with it all over again. I also knew I wanted to do something very rustic and earthy/country feeling.  I went back and forth between a bracelet or necklace. The necklace finally won out.  I finally found some hemp cord in the color I wanted while on our epic 1900 mile road trip, bringing our new Honda Goldwing back from Virginia. (But that's another post, and video of the Tail of the Dragon ride!) LOL  I also knew I wanted to use all the larger beads in the macramé part of the necklace and the smaller one as part of the clasp.  And since I love copper and felt it lent the right rustic feel to the piece I found a copper washer I had, hammered/textured it and used it as the other half of the clasp.  So the smaller bead is the toggle bar and the washer is the clasp.  I love the magenta, purple and brown of these beads, so I went with the natural hemp and the magenta hemp cord.  I also added some seed beads in the same colors to add a little bling.  Then I had to decide how to lengthen the necklace as I only wanted the macramé part for the beads.  I first braided this fluffy yarn I had to add to it, but didn't like the look with the macramé and earthy beads, so I had to come up with another idea. Since I was using the copper washer for the clasp, I thought I should use a copper chain.  But I couldn't find a chain I liked that I felt went along with the rustic look I wanted, so I decided to make my own.  I created these 'Figure 8' links, then hammered and textured them.  I also made my jump rings to attach each link.  I knew I would macramé the one end of the necklace back over itself from the end of one of the 'Figure 8' links.  But I had to figure out how to attach the small 'toggle bar bead' to the other end.  I finally decided to take some of the natural hemp, wrap it through the bead, back up over the end of one of the links and then wire-wrap it to the link with copper wire.  I really like the look, although I know some may feel it is too 'eclectic'.  But I think it all went together well.  Be sure to check out all the other 'hoppers' and see what they created with Kristi's Polymer Clay Wonky beads.  And please leave me a comment on what you like or don't like about my piece.  Thanks. This shows a close-up of the beads I was sent.


Wonky Beads
 

Next is the bead I used as the clasp for the necklace.


Wonky Bead clasp

Finally, here is the whole necklace with the Kristi's Wonky Beads, my Macramé and my Hammered Copper wire links and clasp.  Hope you like it.


Wonky Beads Macramé Hammered Copper Necklace

And if you're looking for some of my other Wire-wrapped, beaded Jewelry or Stained Glass, Mosaic and Fused Glass pieces for your Home and Garden, check out my shop, KayzKreationz.

Blu Mudd Design Team Reveal

Voting is open for the Blu Mudd Design Challenge, Vote HERE Now!
A few weeks back, Moriah Betterly of Blu Mudd issued a challenge on her facebook page. She makes wonderful ceramic pendants. She was willing to send those that wanted to play one of her pendants. In exchange we had to design a necklace with it.  I love her pendants, so I signed up immediately.  As usual, life has gotten in the way. But I think I finally got it finished the way I want and like it.  These are the pendants she sent out.  Aren't they great? 

I simply asked for something in reds/burgundy, NOT blues. LOL  And as usual, I forgot to take a picture of the one I received before I started.
I knew I wanted to make my own bale from wire. So I took some 16 gauge copper wire, cut it, filed it, hammered the ends and the center, punched a hole and Voila!  I had a bale for my lovely pendant.  I also knew I wanted it to be really rustic. It just seemed to fit the shape, design and color.  So I went through my leather strips, went to Hobby Lobby to get some more colors that I envisioned and set to town making links.  This turned into WAY more work than I anticipated. I cut each strip of leather, tied each strip into knots, punched 2 holes in each strip (used my metal punch as I didn't have any leather punches or needles that would go through the leather).  Now, how do I attach each leather link?  I had to hand wrap/create copper links in every single hole in each leather link.  I figured I would need 6 leather links on each side of the necklace. So I cut out 12 leather links, punched 24 holes, wire-wrapped 24 wire links and Guess What!  I only needed 3 leather links on each side because I also wanted to make some copper wire tornado beads for in between each leather link.  Talk about tired hands from all that leather and wire work. And now I have double the links I needed. Don't worry, they're being used. It's just not done yet.  Now my dilemma was, how do I attach all the leather links to the bale?  Out come the leather and the metal punch again. So, I've got 2 small pieces of leather cut and punched. They run through my copper jump ring and I start wire-wrapping AGAIN! (Oh, and by the way, I also hand made ALL the copper jump rings as I didn't have any available. And I had to make the copper links to run through my copper tornado beads to be able to attach them in between the leather links. Are we seeing a picture here?)  I also hand crafted my clasp. It's a simple Figure 8 and S hook clasp as I didn't want to take away from the rest of the necklace and the Ceramic pendant.  The reveal goes up tonight and the voting starts tomorrow on Blu Mudd Facebook page.  So what do you think of my Rustic Leather Garden necklace?  Did I do the pendant justice?  Don't forget to go vote.  I may be keeping this one for myself. 

Closeup of the focal and bale

Closeup of the Copper wire tornado beads and leather links

 

But if you're looking for more of my Unique, Eclectic Beaded Wire-wrapped jewelry, check out my shop, KayzKreationz.  I also hand craft Stained Glass, Mosaics and Fused Glass Kreationz for your Home and Garden. I'm sure you'll find something you can't live without. LOL

Art Jewelry Elements May Component of the Month Reveal

Every month, Art Jewelry Elements does a Component challenge and giveaway.  One of their talented contributors makes up a number of components, people comment to signup and then they pick from among the commenters a number of people that will receive one of the components and design something with it, along with their AJE Team.  This is actually the second time I've been chosen as one of the participants. This time around the component was from SueBeads blog.  I love her beads and discs.  Check out her Etsy shop, Sue Beads. As usual, I was so excited when I got my package, I forgot to take a picture of my Ruffled Disc. Now most of you know, I don't do blue. Just not my thing. But she asked us to let her pick the disc for us and not ask for a specific color or disc.  So, when I got my disc, guess which one it was? LOL  Yep, all blue.  But I immediately knew what I wanted to do with it. (Well, kind of, because it was either going to be a brooch/pin or bracelet) But the bracelet won out.  I'd won a slider bracelet using the Cousins new slider bracelet finding recently and really liked it. One problem, I can't find their slider bracelets anywhere around where I am and didn't have time to order one. But Hobby Lobby had something close.  So now I needed to decide on colors to add. I decided to basically stay with the main colors on the color wheel, i.e. reds, blues, yellows, greens. So I got out a piece of copper/brass metal I had, textured it and a piece of green leather/suede I had.  I had just read about using my Big Kick to texture leather and wanted to try this, so I ran it through my Big Kick and it turned out great. Although you probably can't see the texture here in the picture, you can see it well in person, close up.  I made my 4 stamens for the flowers, using copper wire, punched holes in the metal and the leather, ran the 4 lengths of wire through all three pieces. Then I wrapped the longer piece of wire from one of the stamens around the other 3 to wire them all together, curled the shortest piece of wire to keep it from coming out and proceeded to wrap the other 3 pieces of wire around the band of the bracelet.  I was going to do curly-q's with the wire but decided against it.  I finally got my measurement for the leather, cut it and glued the clasp on to it.  It's not quite like I first envisioned, but I think I like the way it turned out.  Thanks so much Art Jewelry Elements for sponsoring this giveaway and reveal. And thanks SueBeads for the wonderful component and picking me to be one of the challengers.  At long last here's my bracelet with my SueBeads Ruffle Disc.  Tell me how you think I did.

 

 Here's the list of the AJE Team participants and the guest bloggers/participants. Be sure to check out what everyone did with their disc.

Guest Bloggers 

Lorelei Eurto   http://www.lorelei1141.blogspot.com/

Birgitta Lejonklou   http://lejonklou.blogspot.com/

Heidi Post   http://www.expostfactojewelry.blogspot.com/

Lola Surwillo   http://beadlolabead.blogspot.com/

Kay Thomerson   http://kayzkreationz.blogspot.com/ (you are here)

 

AJE Team

Jennifer Cameron  http://glassaddictions.com/

Jenny Davies-Reazor   http://www.jdaviesreazor.com/blog

Susan Kennedy   http://www.suebeads.blogspot.com/

Linda Landig   http://www.lindasbeadblog.com/

Melissa Meman    http://melissameman.blogspot.com/

Rebekah Payne   http://www.treewingsstudio.com/

Kristen Stevens    http://kristen-beadjourney.blogspot.com/

Jo Tinley     http://daisychaindesignsjewellery.blogspot.com/

Francesa Watson    http://francescawatson.com/

Lesley Watt    http://thegossipinggoddess.blogspot.com/

Looking for other Jewelry, Stained Glass, Mosaics or Fused Glass Kreationz for your Home or Garden?  Check out my shop, KayzKreationz.

Bead Soup Blog Party-3rd Reveal

It's finally here. I'm in the last reveal (the 3rd one) for the monstrous Bead Soup Blog Party.  Lori Anderson of Pretty Things blog hosts this every year and this time around, there was about 540 participants from all over the world.  The basis is this: you sign up for the party, she matches you up with a partner, you communicate, exchange beads and then get to work designing something with your 'soup' from your partner. You have to send and use a focal and clasp, along with a few co-ordinating beads. You are only required to use the focal and clasp, but it's so much fun trying to use everything you receive.  This is my 3rd or 4th soup, can't remember for sure.  And my partner this time is Ann Sherwood  from Ann's Blog.  Be sure to check out what she made with the soup I sent her.  If you want to see the soup I received from Ann, click here. 

 And here's my pieces.  I absolutely loved the ceramice dragonfly focal she sent me. But I had the hardest time coming up with something that I thought would do it justice and let it shine.  I finally hit inspiration in a book my friend Karla Morgan from Texas Pepper Jams lent me about multi-strand necklaces.  (You have to check out their pepper jams. They're to die for!  And she's also participating in this 3rd reveal for the BSBP, so see what she made with her soup.)  So here is my Floating Free necklace with the dragonfly focal.  This was my first time trying to texture, patina and create my own bale from copper strip wire and then rivet it to the focal. I was terrified I'd break the focal while trying to rivet.  But I think it turned out great.  I used the ribbon Ann sent me, the focal, and a few of the green discs she sent. And here's a pair of earrings made with some more of the green discs and the big hole beads used in the necklace.

 
Next up, is my Sweetheart necklace made with the pink and white freshwater pearls Ann sent me and the wonderful blingy clasp she sent. I thought it went very well and matched wonderfully with the shell focal I had and the Pink Rhodondite puff beads as well as some pewter beads I had in my stash.

So there you have it.  My 3 pieces for the BSBP reveal. I'm still working on some earrings to match the second necklace and an idea for the wire knitz Ann sent me, plus the cute little pewter flower beads. I've never worked with wire knitz before, so I'm having a little bit of a hard time getting my idea to work.  Be sure to check out all the participants for the third reveal here on Lori's blog, Pretty Things.  She also has links to the first 2 reveals if you haven't had a chance to check them out yet.  These pieces will probably be available in my shop, KayzKreationz shortly.