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

We're All Ears :: August Inspiration -(more canyon pictures here)

We're All Ears :: August Inspiration -(more canyon pictures here)

One of the least accessible and most photographed vistas in the American Southwest is Antelope Canyon.
Antelope Canyon in northern Arizona is home to some magnificent slot canyons. According to Wikipedia, the Navajo people have a name for the Upper Antelope Canyon - Tsé bighánílíní - which means "the place where water runs through rocks." Slot canyons are chasms eroded over eons by wind and rain and raging floods to create one of the most spectacular natural masterpieces. Antelope Canyon is located on the Navajo Reservation and can only be accessed by licensed tours with a guide and a permit to visit them. At certain times of the day, light penetrates the canyons bathing the entire area in a haze of liquid gold. At certain places magical shafts of light - sometimes referred to as "God Spots" - penetrate to the canyon floor, as if a cosmic stage performance is about to begin. These magic shafts of light only penetrate the secret chambers of the canyons for around 30 minutes each day from late May to late June. The undulating views of the sandstone walls play with your depth perceptions and make for fantastic living sculptures that will continue to shift and change with the coming years. 

(This is the shot I chose)

"Lower antelope 1 md" by User:Moondigger - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.5 via Wikimedia Commons.

I loved all the pictures, but this one drew me in. And as luck had it..I had beads that I thought would pay homage to the wonderful earthy colors of the cave. I had several designs in mind, but life has really gotten in my way the past few weeks so I was only able to do one. I hope to finish up the other ideas I had and post at a later date. 

So here is my offering for this challenge. I thread wrapped the beads back and forth around the silver tone metal earring hoops.

The stones just seem to mimic the swirls, dips, and rises in the stones of the cave. Beautiful earthly colors.  For more great ear candy by other designers check out Erin's blog page. 

For now..

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 

Seed Bead Explosion Revel

Due to a minor family emergency, I will be posting on Sunday..Sorry! 

Znet Blog Post - Creative Spark - The Ocean!

This is the time of the year everyone dreams of the ocean, but can't always get there. So Znetshows challenged us to come up with beach themed jewelry for their fantastic summer issue of Creative Spark using their awesome sea glass beads. Along with the jewelry challenge we were also given the chance to come up with something non-jewelry. So I decided to use the sea glass beads that I got from znetshows to create some crocheted "feet-candy" or in other words some crocheted sandals that could be worn to the beach.

I used cotton crochet thread so that should your feet get wet the yarn would not be affected. In the first pair I used the Turquoise Bay Spike Beads by leaving open spaces in the crochet for them to come through.

For this set I used Turquoise Bay Double Holed Beads in oval shape and dark blue spacer beads that had come with some dark blue sea glass I had purchased before from Znetshows. I then added some "beachy" charms. This was a very simple crochet project with just a loop for the toe and crocheted straps to go around the ankle. Again I had used the cotton crochet thread so if you decided to wade in the cool sea waters, your sweet "foot candy" wouldn't be damaged.

For this next set I again used the cotton crochet thread. I also used Teal Hour Glass beads along with white spacer sea glass beads and "beachy" themed charms.

As soon as summer slows a bit for me I will post the crochet tutes showing how I made them. So stay tuned and I wish everyone a safe and happy summer!


So til later...

Keep on Beading

Veralynne

Flora Tones 2015 Challenge

Time again for a new challenge. This revel is another one from Lisa Lodge at A Grateful Artist/Pine Ridge Treasures. She host the best challenges with such beautiful colors and beads. I like to join her's and others to make myself think and work outside the box.

The colors for this challenge are just so mellow that I knew I would have to keep my designs simple. Of course I forgot to take a picture of the goodies she sent as I was so excited to get my package. But I will try to point them out as I go.

Up first is a piece I would call Spring Garden. The colors just so remind me of a spring garden after the rain. There are soft pink glass beads in both rows. The first row has the larger pink glass beads and the second the smaller pink glass beads. Those came with the challenge. The green glass beads I used as accents are some I had on hand. The larger purplish pink glass beads I had on hand and have been wanting to use them. I paired them up with silver bead caps . I also used dark maroony purple beads with the green beads on the first row.

I used small bead caps to capture the strands and a silver toggle clasp. The necklace is 18 inches long.





The next two necklaces I made more as choker styled to try something different. I made this picture larger so you could see the little purple drops along the bottom and the purple rounds on top. I used a pattern I found on Fusion Beads. It is a Flat Spiral Rope design and made sure as I stitched I put drops and rounds in the right spot. I was trying for a different color with the purple. The turquoise and large purple beads are mine. the drops and the small rounds are from the challenge.

 I did a chain with lobster clasp as the closure.  Really enjoyed trying out this stitch. wasn't as hard as I thought it might be.

These are the earrings I made to match.

This design I came up with while looking through my stash of beads. The pink beads are glass chips and are irregular in shape. The purple squares are metal. I wired them together using silver tone wire. It too came out as a choker style. 

I used a simple s-clasp for this necklace.

These are the earrings I made to match.

And last but not least, I made a bracelet. The green and purple beads are from the challenge. I had checked out a book called The Art Of Beadwork by Jane Lock and found this pattern called Loop the Loop Bracelet and really liked it. So I used her instructions and the green seed beads and both purple drop beads from the challenge to make this bracelet. It has pink seed beads as the core that were in the challenge also.This was an interesting design to make as it looked easier in the book...but I stuck with it and it came out really well.

The only problem is that the loop I made to go over the large pink bead from the challenge would quite go over, so I am going to have to do some rework, but for the pictures I used a toggle bar.






I hope you enjoyed my offering for the Flora Tones Challenge. For more check out the list of participants at  Lisa Lodge at A Grateful Artist/Pine Ridge Treasures.

Til next time

Keep on beading


Veralynne

Beach Blog Hop 2015

Once again it is time for a challenge/blog hop put on by Lisa of The Grateful Artist. I love doing her challenges and hops as it really makes me think outside the box and try new things.

First is a picture, I actually remembered to take one...of what I was sent:

Of course they sat on my desk while I mulled over what I wanted to do staring at me everyday. I knew I wanted to try making a cuff bracelet, but just couldn't quite figure out how. So since I follow her, I went to  Sally Russick blog who had just done a cuff with a cabochon. And then I went to Cyndi Lavin site Beading Arts who I also follow and have purchased her jewelry books. The most current one, Arm Candy. After looking at both of their sites and the books, I jumped into making a cuff. I discovered, they aren't that easy, but what I learned making this one, I will carry with me when I make my next one. I had the cabochon made long before I came up with the cuff pattern. The fabric is some scraps I had on hand and the light green beads mixed in with the smaller beads are from Lisa's beads. I had wanted to use the star fish and the sand dollars, but they just wouldn't lie correctly so I used them elsewhere.

And here are the sand dollars with some of the other beads. The bubble pendant I got at Hobby Lobby. The caps on the blue beads I had on hand and really liked how they worked on them. Then the orange beads I had and just put them on jump rings and made a chain from them to hang the beach charms on. Then just hung everything from the pendant. Then I hung the pendant on a chain I already had.

The star fish I made into earrings along with some orange beads that looked kinda like coral and some aqua "caps" I got at Hobby Lobby also. (I only went into look...really) I also added the rice pearls I got in the challenge kit. They are strung on silvertone eye pins. The coral I decided to try and do a bit of wrapping around them to see how it looked. I really like how they turned out and can see them being worn on the beach!

Since I still had more beads and wanted to try some more bead weaving, I found a design on All Free Jewelry Making. The bracelet was created by BeeJang from Bead Tutorial. It is called Sky Blue Tiny Treasure Bracelet. I didn't quite have the right beads, but I think it came out nicely. Though I should have used my clear thread. It is a bit big so I will put a smaller closure on it. The dark green and orange beads I had on hand, the rest were from Lisa. 

AND because I still had some beads left, I made up 5 pairs of simple earrings. 

I hope you have enjoyed reading and looking at the pieces I made, for the list of the other designers and more eye candy hop over to Lisa's blog A Grateful Artist.

And a big thank you to my daughter Sydny who modeled the bracelets for me.

Til next time,

Keep on beading.

Veralynne