2014 Holiday Ornament Exchange

Again this year Sally Russick hosted a Holiday Ornament Exchange. Each person was paired with another and made an ornament and "exchanged" them.

This year Sally was my partner. So since she is one of the people I follow for seed beading I wanted to jump...or step out of the box...so I downloaded a pattern off the web from ThreadABead on Etsy.

This is what I made Sally.

My art beads that you can see through the "window" in the top piece I purchased from Sandra Walton Art. On the bottom I hung a charm saying 2014 that I purchased from Overstock Findings.

Here is the stunning seed bead star Sally sent me.  The pictures don't do it justice. It has an ethereal look to it hanging in front of the lights.  She has two super cute red balls with silver mirror looking dots strung to the top of the star with gold ribbon to hang the ornament from the tree with. I love it and it looks super on my tree. 

Thanks again to Sally for hosting this event. I can't wait to see what everyone else has done. Below is a list of the participants.

1.  Sally Russick  and Tanya Goodwin
2.  Veralynne Malone  and Sally Russick 

3.  Melissa Trudinger  and Elisabeth Auld

4.  Erin Prais-Hintz  and Lesley Watt 

5.  Jenny Davies-Reazor and Patti Vanderbloemen 

6.  Kim Bender-Hora and Beth and Evie McCord

7.  Becky Pancake and Lynne Bowland 

8.  Therese Frank  and Karen Williams

9.   Melissa Meman  and Linda Hanes 

10.  Sandi Volpe  and Linda Landig 

11. Alicia Marinache  and Susan Kennedy  

Merry Christmas to everyone, and may you have a wonderful and safe New Year!

Jasper and Glass Pearl Challenge

Today is the revel day for the Jasper and Glass Pearl Challenge hosted by Lisa Lodge.  I fell in love with the beads I got. They were brown veined with gray. I know I took pictures of them when I got them...but I can't find that them. So I will show you what I made.

I had a blast doing this challenge and went through numerous designs before settling on this one.  In addition to the Jasper and pearls I use dark silver glass seed beads and gray glass pearl beads. The necklace is strung on silver tone wire with antique gold caps and closure. I didn't want anything to shiney in the back to take away from the warm gold tones.The pendant in the front are the heart jasper beads with the glass pearls and glass seed beads strung on silver tone head pins and attached to a small piece of chain that I put around the main rosette bead. 

The earrings are strung on silver tone head pins and attached to a pierced ear post piece. 

I hope you enjoyed my piece. For more great pieces go to the Pine Ridge Treasure Group on facebook.  See ya there!.

We're All Ears - Nov 2014

This month Erin wanted to do something different so she:

Trying something new this month. I was not sure where I wanted to go with the We're All Ears inspiration for November, so I went to Google and typed in 'art inspiration november'. Oddly enough, I found a site I had never heard of called Art-Spire. New follower, here! 

I scrolled down and mention of a short film by students from Gobelins caught my eye. Gobelins, located in Paris, France, is 'a pioneer school in the fields of digital communication, interactive design and entertainment.' Clearly, their students are quite accomplished since this was a graduation film for some of them.

So I watched the roughly 3 minute film. And I was entranced. I wanted to see more. I could definitely see this as a full length animated feature some day. Where did this creature come from? What purpose is it there to serve? Who is this young girl? What magical land does she live in? What is the message that this film imparts? Watch this movie and see what questions it inspires in you. 

After I watched the movie I knew exactly what I wanted to do.  If you look at the stills below, I chose the bottom left corner shot to use as my November inspiration. 

I knew I wanted to do something with feathers.So I had to go online and do a little research as I have never worked with feathers before. Then I ordered some feathers dipped in silver.  I added Swarovski crystals and pearls along with silver and white chain.  I was looking for something flowing, white, glittery.  The feathers do flow when worn and the crystals and chain peek out from the flowing feathers when worn.

I made the earwires out of studded head pins, and the three circle triangle that holds the feathers and chain and crystals I made from 20 gauge wire. I also used a Swarovski connector to hang my feathers, crystals and chain on.

Not having a neck to pull it off, I had to rely on my mannequin to show my earrings.

Below are pictures of the earrings. I hope you enjoy them.  For more great earrings check out We're All Ears.

15th Blogger/Non-Blogger Design Challenge

For some reason, I was thinking this was the 14th, so I am a tad late. But below is my offering for the BNB Design Challenge.

The picture we had:

was of pirates. And when I think of pirates, I think of the orient and the exciting gold, jewels and silks they have.

So I had found a beautiful tin that just screamed these words to me. I knew I wanted to make it into a necklace so I contacted Tammy at TTE Designs and asked if I sent her the tin, if she could cut me out some rounds for a necklace.  She so graciously agreed for a small fee.  I was so happy!


When I got my "rounds" back I was so excited yet wasn't sure what to do. So they sat on my desk for a bit as we thought about what kind of design to do.  I tried black beads and they were too stark, then plain white one and they didn't work either. So I went to the local bead store and browsed around and found some cream beads with oriental art work.  They worked perfect!











So this is what I came up with.. I really love it and just might keep it for myself. And if you notice I have it on a cloth covered mannequin top that I have been wanting to get and couldn't afford...until I drove by a yard sale...and there she was. $20 later she was in my car and headed home. I love that I found it as I have wanted one to hang my necklaces on to photograph.

Hoped you enjoyed my little piece!

Trees

This months personal photo challenge was Trees....and where I live in Florida I have an abundance of Trees.

The first collage is a pair of trees sitting on a small spit of land jutting into the lake.  I took the three shots getting closer each time with just the standard settings on my camera. I didn't do anything special except get closer. 

This collage of trees are trees that I found in my neighborhood. BUT I used picmonkey to play around with them. The first one was just a tree with moss, but I used picmonkey to enhance the moss and added in an overlay with bats.  The second one I used picmonkey and did a texture over lay with the paint selection.....I like how the colors came out on it.  The third one I was just playing around but truly loved how it came out. Again I used picmonkey using the texture, burst, multiply mode.  I think it really looks cool!. 

These two I didn't do to much to except to darken and highlight the background using Picassa.

And lastly, I had to throw this collage in. The pictures are of different barks from trees in my yard...I think they really are neat looking.  I didn't do anything to enhance them, just cropped them a bit.

Thanks for looking and I will see you back next month where our challenge will be Christmas Scenes!  For more great trees, check out the link.A Personal Photo Challenge.  Maybe you would like to join...it is fun!

Art Bead Scene - October

Below is the picture we used for October inspiration...since I am a purple person...I was drawn right in!

"Autumn" 1944 

by Milton Avery

27"  x 35"

Oil on Canvas

About the Art

Milton Avery is a sensitive colorist and designer of two-dimensional patterns in the tradition of Matisse, particularly, though infrequently reminding of Braque and Picasso without the latter's intensity. It is doubtful, however, whether Avery, in terms of content, is saying enough with his color beyond revealing the sophistication of his tastes in dealing with beauty on an abstract basis.
He gives us color and elegant expanse of shape relating to nature, but he denies us the telling detail that humanizes the universal statement. And strangely, in doing so, he loses both universality and the particular.
His landscapes, like his figures, are generally effective decorations of the picture surface in terms of flat, often interlocking shapes of attractive color. But their basically decorative nature is revealed if one thinks of an American painter with a similar desire for directly stated pattern.

So for my piece...I have been playing around with knotting and decided to give it a try. On my craft table was this beautiful purple Gin Blossom, made by Jeannie at JKD Studio just begging to be used...so I created this bracelet for me to wear using wooden beads in the colors with waxed cotton thread....I know my knots aren't great...I am still working on them...but I gave it a whirl with a button closure...I know I still need to tweak it a bit...but I wanted to get posted before the dead line...Hope you enjoy it!

Octoberfest 2014

Hi everyone and welcome to the Third Annual Octoberfest hosted by Toltec Jewels. This year I did several pieces. Some earrings, bracelets, rings, and necklaces. 

The first one is the most recent one that I made. It is almost choker style. I used foam table scatter for the leaves, then I used buttons and glass "leaves" and acrylic "pumpkin" beads for the dangles. I also made matching earrings. 

The next one is a necklace...the orange is kinda light, but the overall appearance looks fall to me.

Then I kinda cheated and used a Swarovski pendant and crystals and made a simple necklace.

Next is a fall colored necklace using acrylic and glass beads trying out a loop technique...

And last...some bracelets, earrings, and a ring.

I will soon be posting these in my Etsy Store, Dontforgetthememory.

So as much as I like fall, I am ready to move on into the holidays and snow and ice and cold!  I hope you enjoyed my offerings for fall....check out Toltec Jewels link for more goodies. And until next time....

God bless and Keep beading...

Veralynne