Another ZNETshows Challenge-Artisan Whimsy 5x5 challenge

About a month ago, Artisan Whimsy had a post about a challenge for 5 people.  After you signed up, if you were picked you received a 5 piece set of ZNETshows Cultured Beach Sea Glass beads to design with.  I wasn't picked in the first round, but then Bill Zhang of ZNET decided to send a pack to everyone that had signed up whether they were picked or not. WooHoo!  In case you can't tell, I love their Cultured Sea Glass beads.  Anyway, this is the pack I received. (Yes, I actually remembered to take a picture before I started creating this time. LOL)  If you've read my blog posts before you remember I don't usually work with Blue.  But these freeform blue seaglass beads just seemed to cry out to be a bracelet.  It's a very simple design, but I like the look of it and the beachy sea critter dangles (also from ZNETshows) to make a fun, summery, beachy bracelet.  I did a simple copper wire wrap/loop in each bead, connected them all with some bronze jump rings I had, (I love mixing metals), used a copper ring I had for the toggle and made my own copper S-clasp for a closure.  Then I dangled 2 bronze starfish and 2 bronze conch shell dangles from each jump ring in between the seaglass beads.  Next, I took the 2 green rectangular beads and the 2 white square beads and layered them. I used some small green beads I had and wire-wrapped/wove them around the jump ring that attached them to the earwires and finished off with a spiral with the copper wire.  Finally I took the green fishbone beads and the small green beads that were in between them on the strand, along with some light green faceted beads I'd gotten from ZNET in an earlier design challenge and strung them with some copper bead caps and copper shell beads. In the center I added a bronze pendant bale. I then strung the 2 green conch shell beads on some copper chain along with 2 of the small green beads and one light green beads with copper bead caps on copper wire and made the focal for the necklace. I had this funky copper chain and attached the sea glass beaded centerpiece to the chain and used the simple copper clasp that came with it to finish it off.  All in all I am very happy with the way all three pieces turned out. I'm still working on a pair of fishbone earrings to match the necklace, but ran out of time.  Hope you enjoy my designs.  ZNETshows mainly offers wholesale beads, but you can also buy retail, so if you're looking for your own Cultured Sea Glass or other beads (like the starfish and conch shell metal beads in my bracelet) check out their site, ZNETshows.

 

 Looking for more of my Wire-wrapped, Beaded Jewelry or Stained Glass, Mosaics or Fused Glass Kreationz for you Home and Garden?  Check out my shop, KayzKreationz.

Blog hop starts Monday with the inlinkz links you see below.

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.