Well, I have finished visiting all the awesome blogs for the Bead Soup Blog Party. I am truly humbled and thrilled to have participated with such a talented group of people. I have a whole pile of new blogs to follow, and my brain is still reeling from all the great ideas people have shared during their creative process. I am truly grateful for the wonderful comments left on my soup. I have learned how inspirational artisan beads can be! Mallory's beads really helped me reach my goals in making my soup!
There were several blogs that I either couldn't leave comments on, got "mail delivery failure" on, or simply didn't have a post for the Party.
What did I learn from the Party? Glad you asked!
Fiber is big!!! I saw some gorgeous pieces using fiber, so I'm definitely going to try to learn to use it.
I learned how important photography is in the jewelry world. I learned that I really like close-up pics of details, but I also want a full on shot, so I can see the entire piece. I learned that one picture is not enough for me to absorb the effort and hard work of the artist. Karen Williams @ Baublicious wrote a great post on taking good pictures. Kerry Bogert has a new ebook that will give you even more in depth information on taking great pictures. Lori @StudioWaterstone has a weekly post called I Heart Macro where everyone links up their close-up photos for the week.
I have to say, it is true that a picture is worth a thousand words. However, I really enjoyed reading about the creative process, rather than just a picture and a link. We all knew going in that it was going to be a long process to get thru 300+ blogs, so I enjoyed reading about what worked and what didn't. I also appreciated those very together people who gave links to the supplies they used! Oh, yeah, I have a ton of new favorites on etsy now!!!
There were quite a few artists who have giveaways going on. I tried to write them down as I was going thru, and I hope I haven't left anyone out. Just thought you might want to go visit them now, before the giveaways are over.
Souvenirs from Life
Crafty Hope
Treasures Found
MetalMeThis
SongBeads
ArtFoodLodging
StaciLouise
Lindasbeadblog
WeeGemDesigns
PixyBug
Orrtec
HavanaBeads
SweetBeadStudio
I feel the same way I did last time I finished the Bead Soup Blog Party.
Thrilled I finished. Depressed I finished.
So, what's a girl to do? Why, join another challenge, of course!
So, stay tuned for the reveal for the Fall Challenge hosted by Michelle Mach on Oct. 4th!
Blessings, Shirley
I'm am soooo with you on being thrilled and depressed. I haven't finished all my hopping yet partly because I want to delay the inevitable question, "What do I look at now?" I even found myself going back to Lori's list during the following months when I ran out of things to look at on the net. Thanks for the list of giveaways. I think I've caught many of them, but will double check just in case!
ReplyDeleteYou go girl! You are like the beading tornado!
ReplyDeleteShirley, what a great BSBP recap!! You really gathered some good observations here... I agree that fiber was big. Couldn't resist a bit of it myself. And I totally agree with you on photography. A single photo can't seem to capture all of the hard work that goes in to a piece. A detail shot or two and an overall shot is the way to go! :-)
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful post !!!
ReplyDeleteI truly admire all those who met the Bead Soup Challenge and the creativity that each of them showed was amazing. I'm afraid I'd be far too intimidated by the shear number of participants, 300+ holy moly ... I'd probably still be visiting blogs trying to see what everyone made ... it takes me longer to do things than most people. :D
I applaud you for always rising to the top of these challenges and also for being able to come up with so many lovely new ideas. It truly amazes me that you were able to not only able to do these things (and do them very well) but that you managed to visit so many of the other Bead Soup participant's blogs AND also take in their shops and write down who was having giveaways. My head feels like it is going to explode just thinking about all of this. :D I guess I could have summed this up in just a few words ... "You're totally awesome!" :)
Thanks for the summary Shirley - I am still working my way through the blogs, not even at the half way point yet (over a hundred visited, but not half way).
ReplyDeleteAnd thanks for mentioning my photography post - I'm glad you found it useful. I also liked the link to Kerry's ebook - looks like a great resource!
Whoa, hey, I just happened to visit and notice that I got a mention - thank you! And I commend you for visiting 300 blogs. Whew!
ReplyDelete