Color of Dreams Blog Hop

Today is the day. I signed up for Rita of Jewel School friends' Color of Dreams blog hop. She graciously sent all the participants an orphan/ooak bead from Patricia of Color of Dreams Boutique to create with. We were to share a dream that has come true, one we are working on now, or one we hope for in the future. The one goal of the hop: we'll focus on our dreams as entirely possible, with the idea, "If we can dream it, we can achieve it". I love her pillow beads. They have so much color in them. This is the bead I received. Isn't it wonderful?

 I love reds and pinks so this was great. It also has a touch of yellow/orange and brown in it, plus a very pale green. Reminds me of Spring when everything is starting to grow, be born and bloom again. Which is kind of appropriate for my dream. I dream or hope one day that my jewelry will bloom, flourish so that people will want to buy it and wear it for themselves. Plus I also hope for a time when I have more time to play, experiment and create more jewelry and glass items than what time I have now. Anyway, I thought about what I wanted to create with my pillow bead. And since I had just gotten a new stamp set from PJTools (more on that in another post) I knew I needed to stamp a tag with dream on it, since this was about our dreams. Plus I wanted my bead to dream itself or fly on its own. So I created a 'dream' tag and a focal/dangle with the bead to hand together from this memory bracelet. Then I found beads I had plus a few I bought to bring out all the color in my bead. So this is my 'Dream' bracelet. I hope you like it.

 

To see what all the other participants created, go to Jewel School Friends blog and check them out or click on the links below. (Hopefully they work).

Honorary Artist: Patricia Handschuh
Patricia's blog:            The Color of Dreams        
Patricias Etsy:             The Color of Dreams
Hostess: TJ                Jewel School FriendsKay Thomerson           KayzKreationz (you are here)
Audrey Belanger          Toki No Hourousha
Alicia Marinache          All the Pretty Things
Terry Carter                TappingFlamingo
Lori Schneider             Bead Addict
Jenny Kyrlach             Wonder and Whimsy
Asri Wahyuingsih         Asri's Beadwork
Dini Bruinsma              Angaza by Changes
Karla Morgan              Texas Pepper Jams
Debbie Rasmussen        A Little of This, A Little of That
Veralynne Malone          Designed by Vera
Kathy Stemke               Vintage Memories Jewelry Design
Mowse Doyle               Mowse Made This
Heather Richter             Desert Jewelry Designs
Lori Poppe                   Adventures in Creativity with LorilliJean
Jayne Capps                Mama's Got To Doodle
Andrea Glick                Zenith Jade Creations
Kathleen Breeding         99 Bottles of Beads on the Wall
Becky Pancake             Becky Pancake Bead Designs
Karin Martinez              Fairies Market
Miranda Ackerley          Mirandack
Penny Houghton           Smelly Nelly
Carolyn Lawson           Carolyn's Creations
Chris Eisenberg            Wanderware
Christie Murrow          Charis Designs Jewelry
Monique Urquhart        A Half-Baked Notion
Eve Shelby                  Raindrop Creations Jewelry by Evelyn
Cryss Thain                 Here Bead Dragons
Jasvanti Patel               Jewelry By Jasvanti
Nan Smith                   NanMade Handmade Jewelry
Sue Kennedy               SueBeads
Jean Yates                   Snap Out of It, Jean! There's Beading to be Done!
Debbie Rogers             Debbies Treasures
Marybeth Rich             A Few Words From Within the Pines
Shirley Moore              Beads and Bread
Shaia Williams             Shaiha's Ramblings
Kathy Lindemer           Bay Moon Design
Linda Anderson           From the Bead Board
Judy Turner               Silver Rains
Gloria Allen                Gloria Allen Designs
Regina Wood              Ginas-Design
Robin Reed                Artistry HCBD
Mary Goovars            MLH Jewelry Designs
Marlene Cupo             Amazing Designs
CJ Bauschka              4 His Glory Creations
Robin Showstack        The Crazy Bead Hoarder
Cynthia O'Toole          Sparkles and Sweets
Jael Thorp                 Jael's Art Jewels
Renetha Stanziano      Lamplight Crafts
And if you're looking for Stained Glass, Mosaics or Fused Glass kreationz for your Home or Garden, check out my shop, KayzKreationz. You will find some of my beaded, wire-wrapped jewelry there, too.

ZNETshows Winter Pearl Challenge

As part of the ZNETshows design team, our newest challenge was for the Winter Glossi.  It is a Winter Pearls Challenge.  We were to pick out 3 pearl items and 2 other items, either crystals or base metal.  These are the items I picked:

Pearls

BDS1868-17 glass pearls teardrop round Beads 0 Raspberry Color K0588  9x7mm 

BDS1894-22 glass pearls round Beads 0 -off white K0822   16mm 

BDS1923-02FIVE glass pearls rice Beads 0 Butter Color K0121(15.5-in-str)  6x4mm   and

Crystals

RT250-05AB Chinese crystal designer glass cube Beads faceted 05AB-Cherry Red AB (50-pc-str)  4mm

 Base Metal

M0513-AS Base Metal Alloy leaf Necklace antique silver tone Chains-antique silver  about 3-9mm 

I have always wanted some of that leaf chain to work with, so this was a great opportunity.  Now I knew those 16mm round glass pearls would be large, but I guess I didn't realize HOW large. LOL  I had googled the size and it just didn't register, I guess, because when I received them, I was in shock for a little while.  I hadn't ever worked with something that large and round.  So, this has been a little bit of a challenge for me.  Here's a picture of what I picked and received.

I knew I wanted to make a sweet pair of earrings with that leaf chain and some of the small rice pearls and the cherry red glass cubes. I love the way these turned out.

And I finally decided I wanted to make a bracelet with some of the large round Pearls.  During all this time, my son and daughter-in-law have been here visiting and helping us do some work on the ranch, so I've been limited in my time to work on my designs.  But she suggested I use some of my pink silk/fiber in my bracelet and necklace design.  So I got it out, cut it up, accordion folded it and punched through it with a large darning needle and strung it between the Raspberry teardrop pearls and the large Off-white Pearls.  I added a small silver toggle clasp and love the way it turned out.

The necklace has been giving me fits, though. I just haven't liked any design I've come up with so far.  But I finally decided to try this. I strung some of the large Off-white Pearls with the Raspberry teardrops and the pink fiber.  Then in the center I added a section of the leaf chain as the focal with the small Red glass cubes and the Butter rice pearls as dangles.  I think I like the way it turned out.  Hopefully ZNET and Hope will like it too and feature it in the ZNETshows Winter Pearl Challenge Glossi coming out in December.

To see more of my Jewelry or Stained Glass, Mosaics and Fused Glass items for your Home and Garden, check out my shop, KayzKreationz.

Clay and Lampwork Blog Hop



Recently Lisa Lodge of Pine Ridge Treasures sent out the call for another blog hop.  This one is a Clay and/or Lampwork Blog Hop.  We signed up and received either a Clay or Lampwork set of beads to work with.  I received some wonderful Lampwork beads from Bastille Bleu.  Again, I forgot to take a picture of the beads before starting, but later in the pictures I'll pinpoint the 3 wonderful beads I received.  I knew I wanted to do something that would either be a multi-strand necklace or have the appearance of multi-strands.  And as I played around with the beads, I didn't like the looks of the small blue bead in between the 2 larger lovely flower beads.  So I decided they should be the focal for the lower strand of the necklace.  But I wasn't sure I had enough beads to make 2 or 3 full strands.  So I started playing around with one main strand, done with 2 strands of beading wire and then splitting right at the center to use the 2 larger beads as the focal and the smaller blue bead above it in a shorter strand to make it appear to be 2 strands.  The more I played with it, the more I liked it.  I had just received all the glass pearls and faceted beads I'd won from ZNETshows and their last challenge I was in.  It was great, since I'm not much of a blue person and don't usually have much blue in my stash.  There was some wonderful blue beads along with the greens, clear, yellow faceted glass beads that matched the colors that were in the larger lampwork flower beads along with some white glass pearls. I also bought some pink round and faceted round glass/shell beads to bring out the pinks.  I wanted this to be a very 'blingy' necklace to make the Lampwork flower beads shine.  Then I had to make sure 2 strands of beading wire would fit through all the beads I was using.  And finally I had to figure out how to finish off the strands.  I had this lovely Silver colored leaf toggle bar clasp that came in my winnings from ZNET and thought it would go well with the 'flower' beads.  But I couldn't get the crimp beads to take both strands of wire up through around the jump ring and back down through the crimps.  It was too much. So I had to divide the 2 strands on the one main strand and crimp them both to a jump ring.  Then I made another strand to make the necklace appear as 3 strands in the center and had to crimp them to another jump ring and attach the 2 jump rings to the leaf toggle bar clasp.  It was a little more difficult than I had imagined, but I finally got them all crimped and attached.  I love the way they turned out.  And of course I had to have earrings to match.  So I hope you enjoy what I made with my lampwork beads.  In the first picture the 2 larger flower lampwork beads and the small blue lampwork bead in the short strand just above are the three beads I received.  Let me know what you think.


Lampwork Beads



Lampwork Beads Necklace



Lampwork Beads earrings



Lampwork Beads Necklace 2

Then, because I got done so quick with this set, I asked for another set and got these gorgeous lampwork beads fromStudioJuls along with the small pink/orange seed beads. And as usual, forgot the pictures, but if you look close at my bracelet, they're the large round lampwork beads.  There's 4 of them in this bracelet.  I paired them with some great Jasper I had, some gold glass pearls from ZNETshows, the small pink/orange seed beads and some small black seed beads I had.  This was my first go at a memory wire bracelet and I knew I wanted it to be 3 strands.  It took me 3 times of stringing, removing and restringing the beads to get enough on the memory wire.  I had laid them all out and thought I had enough, but NOT!  LOL.  But I think it turned out great for my first Memory Wire bracelet.  Hope you enjoy it.

 And if you're looking for more of my Beaded or Wire-wrapped jewelry or Stained Glass, Mosaics or Fused Glass Kreationz for your home or garden, check out KayzKreationz.
Also, be sure to check out what everyone else made with their Clay or Lampwork sets. 

Your hostess:  Lisa Lodge, A Grateful Artist

 

Mary Govaars, MLH Jewelry Designs

Melissa Trudinger, Bead Recipes

Kathy Zeigler Lindemer, Bay Moon Design

Laurie Vyselaar, Lefthand Jewelry

Annette Rivers, MamaOwl's Mess

Karin King, The Sparkle Things Blog

Shaiha Williams,   Shaiha's Ramblings

Mimi Gardner, Baubles, Beads and Other Curiosities

Dee Alcalde, Agape Creations Jewelry

Kay Thomerson, Kayz Kreationz

Karla Morgan, Texas Pepper Jams

Lori Jean Poppe, Lorillijean Creative Corner

Eleanor Burian Moore, The Charmed Life

Leah Mifflin Tees, My Beady Little Eyes

Terri Wlaschin, Dances in Fog

Sharyl McMillian-Nelson, Sharyl's Jewelry

Jo-Ann Woolverton, It's a Beadiful Creation

Veralynne Malone, Designed by Vera

Linda Aspenson Bergstrom, TBD

Toltec  Jewels, Jewel School Friends

Judy Turner, Silver Rains

Gloria Allen, Gloria Allen Designs

Kathleen Douglas, Washoe Kat's

Connie Tipton, TBD

Christie Searle Murrow, Charis Designs Jewelry

Andrea Glick-Zenith, ZenithJade Creations

Michele Dotson, Star Jewels

Chris Eisenberg, Wanderware

Jennifer Clifford, TBD

Kathleen Breeding, 99 Bottles of Beads on the Wall

Molly Alexander, Beautifully Broken Me

Loretta, Loretta's Boutique

Carolyn Lawson, Carolyns Creations

Shirley Moore, Beads and Bread

Bonnie Coursolle, Jasper's Gems

Alice Craddick, Alice's Beads and Baubles
If the links don't work, check out A Grateful Artist for the master list.  Thanks.

ZNETshows Baby Conch beads and Challenge

I love ZNETshows Cultured Sea Glass. I've participated in several of their challenges and design contests. This time around, they sent a few of us some of their new Baby Conch shell beads. these are adorable.  And as usual, I forgot to take a picture of the conch shells before my muse decided to start creating with them. I am running a little behind though, because I was in the middle of a big job on our small Texas ranch. (See the post before this one)  And I'm actually still working on that. Have several things still to do. But I did get 2 projects done with my Baby Conch shells.  Here's a picture of the 3 I have left. I used 3 just like this, in a light pink, light purple and pale yellow/orange in my brooch and 2 gorgeous dark orange conch shells in the earrings I created. I dug through my stash and found some coordinating beads that I thought would set off the Orange shells great.  I wanted lots of dangles to go along with the Conch shells.  And I've been wanting to create another pin/brooch for a while, so I got this Kilt pin out with the three loops, got one of each of the 3 other colors ZNET sent me and set to work finding coordinating beads for the brooch to create lots of dangles to go with the shell beads. I think they turned out great. What do you think?  Does it feel summery/beachy enough and show off the Conch shells well?  Be sure to check out ZNETshows website. They offer wholesale beads, but do retail also.  They also carry tons of other beads besides their Cultured Sea Glass. But I'm in love with their seaglass.  Without further ado, here's my pieces.  First, the rest of the shells they sent me. (I have 3 left to create another piece):

 Then, the earrings and the pin I created with the shells.

For any of my Beaded, Wire-wrapped jewelry or my Stained Glass, Mosaics or Fused Glass Kreationz for your home or garden, check out my shop, KayzKreationz. Thanks.

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.

I'm on the Design Team for ZNETSHOWS

About 3 weeks ago, Bill from ZNETSHOWS contacted me, saying he really liked my blog and my jewelry 'kreationz'.  He was getting ready for the Tucson Gem Mall and he said, although they make great 'sea glass' items they don't design very well.  So he was looking for some designers to send a sample box of their sea glass and crystal components.  In exchange, we would design jewelry with the pieces, send him our pictures, and if our designs were chosen, they would pay for us to ship the jewelry to them and they would display it at the Tucson Gem Mall show.  We would also need to send a business card or two and have ID tags on our jewelry to identify it as ours.  This sounded like a great opportunity and so much fun, so I agreed.  I eagerly awaited my package and here it is.  It contained some clear faceted crystal beads, some light green faceted beads, etched and smooth 'sea glass' pendants, some light teal dagger beads and chips, some light green oval beads and some silver heart and square components.  Aren't they great?

I started thinking about what I could do with them and immediately came up with the idea for my Romance Dangle Earrings.  I checked out a couple of color palettes and really liked the pink with the light green for these earrings.  Then I got the idea of using some silk/nylon ribbons I had just made and squishing them together in between some of the glass beads and the silver square beads for this Romance Bracelet.  I checked another color palette and loved the oranges with the light greens. It reminded me of Autumn, so out came Sweet Autumn necklace with the small orange agate beads from my stash, the light green faceted beads, the clear faceted crystal beads and the silver hearts.  I had 3 silver/pewter leaves that I color/patina'd with some patina inks I've been playing with and attached them.  Then I had this remnant of this great ruffly ribbon that just seemed to call out to be in this necklace. I was actually only going to use a small piece of it and attach a heart toggle clasp I had, but I think it like it long like this. It will slip right over your head. Finally, I had 3 more light green large beads/pendants and decided to wrap them with copper and add the orange agate beads for another fall/autumn themed bracelet. It also has 3 little dangles on the lobster claw clasp.  It's call All Wrapped Up. 

So I've sent my pictures in and hopefully, my designs will be chosen and taken to Tucson for display. I can't wait to hear whether they're good enough.  When they're returned to me, they'll be available either in my Etsy shop, KayzKreationz, here on my blog or on my facebook page, KayzKreationzGlassKreationz.  So be sure to check back.  Do you like them? And if you're looking for some great Cultured Sea Glass Beads to design with be sure to check out ZNETSHOWS.  And be sure to check out the other design team members HERE.

Breast Cancer Charm-Breast Cancer Awareness

We all know someone who's either fought or lost the battle with Breast Cancer. I had a very good friend of 20 years die from it within 5 months after they found it. So in her honor I created this cute Pink Quartz, Howlite and White Coral charm with the pink Breast Cancer ribbon on it. It could be used as either a Cell phone charm, zipper pull or countless other uses. The beads are also wire-wrapped/strung on pink wire.

The Howlite appears to be like Turquoise but is painted/dyed. It is not real turquoise. This listing is for the charm only, NOT the phone.

For more Stained Glass, Glass Mosaic and Fused Glass Kreationz for your Home and Garden:

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Enter my shop here:http://KayzKreationz.etsy.com
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Another Great Giveaway-Heart Sachets by QuiltsGaloreandMore

These are the most adorable Heart Sachets.  They're on QuiltsGaloreandMore blog.  And they're available at her shop Pretty Pincushions.  In honor of her reaching 400 followers on her blog, she's giving 5 of them away!  So check out the blog and see what you have to do to enter.  You'll love them.  And check out her shop, too for more great items.
And if you're looking for some great Stained Glass, Mosiacs or Fused Glass Kreationz for your home or garden, or Wire-wrapped and beaded Jewelry, bookmarks, charms, check out my Etsy shop:  KayzKreationz.  I'm sure you'll find something you can't live without.  More things being listed all the time.  The newest is the Pink Breast Cancer beaded charm/cell phone charm/zipper pull.

Pink Breast Cancer Charm. Cell Phone charm, Zipper pull

I had a very good friend, the girl who had cut my hair for about 20 years, die last year from Breast Cancer.  There was no history of it in her family.  She was only about 40 with 2 teenage children.  And she died within 5 months of them finding the Breast Cancer.  It spread quickly into her lungs and the rest of her body.  We've all had someone we've known either fight or beat Breast Cancer.  I'd been thinking about doing this for a while, and finally got it done.  My newest listing is a Pink Breast Cancer charm/Cell phone charm or Zipper pull.  It's in my shop, KayzKreationz, under Beaded Bookmarks.  I did it for Simona. 
I also make Stained Glass, Mosiacs and Fused Glass Kreationz for your Home and Garden.  Check them out.

Adorable Girl Accessories

Recently on the Saturday Blog Shopping network, one of the great Etsy shops, was offering a giveaway for her special and I won!  ChiggerHillCottage makes the most adorable little girl accessories.  Although she is closed for the summer, you can check out her shop and sign up to be notified when she returns so you too can get in on the exciting accessories she has for little girls.  And although I don't have any little girls of my own, I knew exactly who I was going to give my winnings to.  It was an adorable bow holder, made to look like a little girl with pigtails.  You just clip your girl's bows and clips onto the braids/pigtails and keep them all in one place.  But she also sent an out of this world, very professionally made bow along with the holder as an "extra".  By now I was wishing I wore bows in my hair!  LOL.  But they made great gifts for 2 little girls that are very special to me.  To get a peek at her fantastic accessories, here's a pic of the 2 great things I won.  And be sure to sign up for her notification that she's open again.
In the meantime, if you're looking for some great Glass Kreationz for your home or garden, be sure to check out my shop for your newest Stained Glass, Mosaics or Fused Glass home/garden decor, KayzKreationz.

"Roses" Fused Glass Garden marker-Saturday Blog Shoppers feature

In honor of Spring/Summer, my feature this week for the Saturday Blog Shoppers is my newest listing.  It's my "Roses" Fused Glass Garden marker.  It's an adorable little pink rose fused glass oval that can be hung from a hook or stake of some kind to mark the roses, either in your garden, or in a pot, if you have one of those miniature roses.  The hook that's fused in it has been dressed up a little with a green ribbon to hide the hook.  If you love gardening and plants, this is a cute addition to either your garden or your potted plants.  You can check it out here or in my shop, KayzKreationz, with the rest of my glass kreationz/creations for your home and garden.
And for some more great handcrafted items check out the other blogs in the Saturday Blog Shoppers group by clicking on the button to the right.
Happy Shopping.

Dichroic Glass Wire Wrapped Pendants-Saturday Blog Shoppers

For this Saturday I'm featuring my Dichroic Glass Pendants.  I love Dichroic Glass.  The shimmer and shine just really add to your bling.  These are Dichroic Glass Donut Cabs.  They have been wire-wrapped in a black wire so as not to take away from the Bling of the Glass.  One is Black and the other is a Pinkish  Purple.  You'll love wearing one of these.  So check out these Wire-Wrapped Dichroic Glass Donut Cabs or my shop KayzKreationz for other great Glass Kreationz for your Home or Garden.  And check out the other great Saturday Blog Shoppers blogs for some great gifts by clicking on the link to the right.  And for this weekend only, if you convo me with SBS (for Saturday Blog Shoppers) I'll give you 10% off!  But wait for me to send you a revised invoice or change the listing for you.  Thanks.

"Isn't it Mauve-alous?" Treasury

I love Mauve, Pinks and Purples. So I decided to check out all the mauves, pinks and purples on Etsy. I found tons. And tonight I was fortunate enough to get a "Treasury" to feature just some of the great items I found. Here's a screen shot of the treasury I named "Isn't it Mauve-alous?" But check it out here and give it some love. Maybe you'll even find something mauve, pink or purple you just can't live without. Hope so. And while you're at it, you can check my shop KayzKreationz for some great glass. I've got a couple of purple things, too.