A Day at the beach Design Challenge by Facet

Hi all. Time again for another challenge. At Facet this month we were challenged to do something beachy. Using the colors of the beach, waves, and sky.

I had a lot of sea glass from Znetshows that I needed to use up so I pulled them out of my stash, then got an email they had some new sea glass Sea Life, so I ordered the cute little green turtles. I mean what beach isn't complete without a turtle or two.

The colors I used were aqua, green, red, topaz and some glass rondelles that had had aqua and green running through them. 

I wanted to try something out of the box so I created loops at each end to put silk cord through so you tie it in the back, and then I used bead weaving thread to make a fringe out of sand colored seed beads to represent the sand on the beach.  Plus a set of earrings to match.

This is what I came up with:

I am not sure how I like the fringe yet, I may still redo some of it. And I think I need to make the silk cord in back longer, it didn't tie quite right. But other than that I was very pleased with it. 

I have the colors of the beach with two turtles now more beachy can you get!!!

Til next time..

Keep on Beading!

V

Facet June Design Challenge, UPCYCLE,

Hi ya'all. Yeah I know, I have been absent for a while....blame it on life. That's all I can say without going into gory detail...

SO....when Facet had their monthly challenge for June I knew I had to participate. I mean who doesn't upcycle????  I was ready and chomping at the bit.

A few years back when I was really into thrift store hopping and buying most anything, (I am more conservative now) I picked up a bag of ZAKS toys.

I knew I still had them laying around, so I dug them out and decided since July 4th was around the corner, I would make my color scheme red,white, and blue.

My first piece is the necklace...

As you can see, I wire wrapped (along with a bit of super glue) using some bead that I had on hand.

Next are the earrings: They were a little harder to do because I used three of the toy pieces stack on each other and getting the head pins just right and doing the wire wrapping, PLUS putting a hole in the middle piece....well it took me a while. But here they are.

For the last piece I did a pin/brooch: I would say it was the easiest...but it wasn't and I won't bore you with all the little details....lol. Suffice it to say I used super glue on this one too!

Sooo there you have them, my offerings to the Gods of Upcycling.

For more beauties and to even vote hop over to Facet and check them out.

Til next time...

            Bead on!

V

Swap n Hop 2017

Hi everyone...well today is the reveal...for Linda Anderson with  Bead Peeps.


When I signed up, I didn't realize I would soooo busy with taxes this year, but I haven't had hardly any time to even breath.


I am even posting from work today! And of course I don't have the before picture because it is at home on my desktop....


But I have the pictures of what I completed.  My partner was Minnette Miller! And she has had a rough time too. But that is not my story to tell.  SOOOO anyway...below is what I made with the beautiful beads she sent me.


First is the necklace. She sent me such cool beads with a sea vibe, that I couldn't not do it. And for some reason, the color peachy/orange kinda decided to be in the bunch. The chain she sent is awesome and I want to know where she got it because I want some! It is full of jump rings on jump rings...loved it!  I haven't put a clasp on yet as I haven't decided it I want it to pull on or have a clasp... The aqua, well aqua means water and the color just seemed to jive with everything else! In the bottom left I have a close up of the bigger beads she sent. I forgot to turn the blue glass shell over, but there is a pearl in it.

Then she sent some cool beads that I made into earrings...The white glass beads on the bottom feel like they were sand blasted. Very cool! Then she sent those cute green glass beads with pink flowers, so I topped it off with pink pearls.  I really like it. Might have to keep these. The picture on the right shows off the bead caps better.

Next she sent me the cutest set of smiley face glass beads...I really love these. Very simple but they are just happy looking.

The last set of earrings...I managed to get one done because the bead for the second wouldn't go down on the wire since it is doubled...but I have a bead reamer that I will use gently to make the hole bigger. But here they are.

I still have some beads left...

Plus some more that are going to be made into a bracelet.  So that is my offering for this challenge. I am sure I will be in more. So til next time....

Keep on beading!!

Veralynne!

 

Bead Soup Blog Party Bead Hoarders Edition 2017

And Now The Sequel........... 

Below is the first post about Lori's BSBP and what I sent my partner and what my partner, Laurie Vyselaar sent me. Below all that....is what I made with the goodies I got.

Hello all, it is time for one of Miss Lori's Bead Soup Blog Party's. We are so glad that she has been able to do this and that her awesome recovery will continue. We so missed her!

And if you have wondered where I have been, well I am a tax preparer, so until April 18 I will be somewhat scarce but I will be beading!!!!!

     So for this soup party I was matched with the talented Laurie Vyselaar. She is just a hop skip and jump south of me in Fl!

     First: what I sent her!  

                   

NOW for what she sent me! And I can't wait to get working on them!

                    

    I see a "Garden Party". I love Dry Gulch beads and her designs!!! And those cute little lampwork beads from Marie Sawyer....I am keeping them for me! I see some cute earrings in the making with them.  Then that awesome Man on the Moon Pendant that Lauri made. Can't wait to get to that...I can see it with seed beads....

     I am sure I won't get all done by the dead line but I will have the "Garden Party" ready!

⚞⚞⚞⚟⚟⚟

Well, I can tell you "Garden Party" didn't happen. After I got all the beads together I wanted to use, they refused to play nice...So they just sat on my work table for about a week....with me staring at them. So then I started going through my stash thinking about what I might have that would work, but nothing garden party popped up....sigh...but I found some other beads that complimented the hand painted piece by Dry Gulch and the green beads and the blueish green crystals. And this is what I came up with:

  

I really love how purple and the golden green beads really work with the pendant! You cant really see it well in the picture, but there is purple in the pendant.

 And  for the other beads that didn't want to play nice I made earrings out of them....and they look really good! Those were the flowers for my "garden party". Oh well, I like them better this way!

As for those super cute glass birds...here is what I did. Though the picture doesn't show the true color. The beads are grey and white.

Then...that marvelous man in the moon pendant, I wanted to do something really neat, And I did get started, making a spiral necklace for it,  but I ran out of the dark grey pearls, so until I get more it will have to wait. But for the pendant it's self, I have some black and white beads and crystal beads that I am going to bead around with. Hopefully I will get it finished soon, I have been so busy with tax season...no time to bead.....

Here is a close up of the beads so you can see the blue in the middle.

For more beauties hope over to Lori's Pretty Things Bead Soup Party.

Until next time...which is April 8th..

Keep on beading!

Autumn Earth Challenge October 2015

Hello again. It is time for the Autumn Earth Challenge put on by Lisa Lodge of A Grateful Artist - Pine Ridge Treasures.


These are the beads that I received from Lisa. All autumn colors. Though the small dark round pearls are really a maroon color.

After separating them I had a real problem coming up with a design. It is hard to think autumn when it is in the 90's... But I found some autumny glass beads in my stash that seem to want to be used. And some green that looked good with the autumn colors.
















So after playing and looking at them for several weeks, moving them around and around, this is what I came up with. Really like how it turned out.

The glass beads on the inside loop came with the black beads that I used in the outside loop and they really seemed to work great with the brown and green crystals and white seed beads. You really can't see it in the pictures but I used bright goldy orange sequins at the ends of the glass beads. The small glass beads on the inside loop between the larger gold and black beads are a smoked glass. Almost like a sea glass. And of course I made earrings to match.

A close up of the larger gold and black glass beads

and the smaller green and brown crystals with the black beads. 

And a close up of the toggle clasp I used that came with the
beads.





All in all, I am happy with how this came out. I really like it and can't decide if I want to put it on my Etsy site or not.










Next up I made a bracelet using the square brownish beads, the rice pearls and the darker smoked crystals. I did a stitch design, not sure if it has a name. I had plan to put some green around the outside, but my daughter said it didn't need it. While looking for something else in my button stash, I found the round button with a star design and the color went really well with the bracelet, so I used it to make the closure. The other end slides over it really well and it sits really nice on my wrist. Another piece I am not sure I will post..lol.

I didn't use all the beads as I came down with a cold, thanks to my daughter who brought it home from work. I do have some other designs in mind, but when you are on cold medicine, the brain doesn't work as well! I will try and post the other later. 

 Thanks for stopping by and until next time...

Keep on Beading!

Veralynne

Pine Ridge Treasures' Blog Hop and Challenge - Sept 12, 2015

Once again, Lisa from A Grateful Artist has given us a challenge to complete. I so love these challenges as I use them to try and think out of the box. And in this group of beads I had a lot to challenge me. Normally when I get my challenge kit in, the beads start talking to me right away...This was a very quiet kit! But I started moving them around and putting them in different configurations and finally all the beads except one set talked to me.

SOOO...lets see what they said. First up:  I don't normally post clothes with my jewelry, but my daughter is a fan of Japanese culture and found this dress on line right after I made the necklace so I couldn't resist. Matches pretty well I think. The red balls are thread covered and then I used red and turquoise seed beads, though they look kind of blue in the picture. The bigger blue round beads and the blue disk beads were in my kit. I used bright silver tone bead caps on the red beads. I really like this piece and so does my daughter, it is no longer in my possession!

Next I wanted to do something with just the pearls and crystals and something swingy but feminine. So I found the silver necklace piece in my "junk" drawer stash and hung the crystals and pearls from it on wire that I flatten the end of, made the side pieces by stringing them on beading wire and then attached the sides to an antique silver chain with a lobster claw closure. Then as I have to make earrings, I did so.. 

In this one I used the small pale green crystal disk.They are so pale and small, they are hard to see. But they are glass and very cute. Then added pearls and acrylic aqua beads. Very simple looking. Has a silver tone toggle closure.The earrings I wired wrapped between each bead then attached to ear wires.

 Wanting to try my bead stitching again, I used a pattern from Domestic Diva that I had gotten offline. The pendant in the pattern is real small, but I used it to get started and then "grew" the pattern a little and added the spikes and oblong aqua beads. The twin seed beads that I used are a kind of brown with silver seed beads between them. There are brown veins in the spikes and then in the turquoise beads from my kit there are silver veins. The topper of the pendant is my own design, I just kept working at it til I got it the way I wanted. There is a little "bridge" on top to put the jump ring through. For the rest of the necklace and the earrings I used the turquoise round beads and the aqua round disk from my kit and added silver grey pearls and brown glass seed beads along with the oblong gold and aqua beads. 

There were a little package of these trapezoid looking wooden beads with two holes and they just screamed bracelet, so I used some small silver tone metal flower spacers, strung it all on wire, bent it to my wrist, attached a chain and toggle clasp. I really like, so I think I might keep it. It is easy to get on and off. 

And lastly, there were some small blue beads that kinda looked like coral, so I got out my sea shells, drilled a few, got out my sea creature charms and strung them up on head pins and attached to a chain with a toggle clasp, though I think I may change it, not sure. But it is swingy and says "beach"

Well, that is all for me. The blue glass beads that stayed silent are still in a baggie on my desk. When they decide to talk I will let them out. ;-p.

To see more challenge pieces hop over to Lisa's page for a list of the participants. 

Thanks for stopping by and til next time...

Keep on Beading

Veralynne

Seed Bead Explosion - Color A

Again I have embarked on another challenge hosted by Lisa Lodge at A Grateful Artist - Pine Ridge Treasure. I was supposed to have posted yesterday, but life got in the way. So here is my offering for Seed Bead Explosion.

Luckily I remembered to take a picture of the beads she sent. I have never worked with the mini duos or double holed spikes before so I had to do some research into designs.
























My first piece I used a spiral pattern using most of the beads in the kit. Then using the brick stitch created the pendant. (My first go at the brick stitch). I changed the beads sizes and color combo's about every 4 inches in the necklase. I used a simple toggle clasp in the back.

 

For the earrings I used the brick stitch again to go around the circle.

For the duos I used a design I found on Bead Fusion and then added the spikes. It didn't come out quite like I had planned, so it will have to sit on the back burner for now til I have time to play more with it. 

 

My third piece which I never got to start because life got in the way will be using the two holed triangles. If you follow my blog, I should have it finished in a couple of weeks and will post it here.

Thanks for looking and stay tuned for more challenges.

So for now...

Keep on Beading

Veralynne