Friday, December 21, 2012

Friday Feature- A Quick Project and a Winner!!

Hi all, this one is going to be quick. I don't know if all of you are in that last minute rush like me, but it is a bit crazy around here at the moment. And, as usual, I've become fascinated with yet another project at the last minute. Have you seen these?

 I so love this scarf, but up until now, I had only found knitting patterns for it. I don't knit. I mourned. Really! I just wanted one of these sooo bad!!
And yesterday, I found it! A crochet pattern for it!! Yeah!! Here's the link, if you'd like to try your own. She says you can make it in about 30 minutes, which totally sucked me in. I can find 30 minutes, right? Sigh. I'm such a butterfly...
Ruffle Scarf

Ok, so the winner from last week's giveaway is........



Gloria Allen! Gloria, please message me your email, and I'll get the code right to you. Thanks to everyone who participated. There is a good chance we will have another Novica giveaway in the future, so stay tuned.....

Blessings, Shirley

Saturday, December 15, 2012

Holiday Bling Blog Hop II

I know! I know!! Two blog hops in one day! How did I do that? Not to worry, here's the link for the Ornament Swap with Sally Russick.
I had so much fun in the first HBBH, I just had to sign up for Number Two! Shelley and Marlene are such awesome ladies for organizing these, and I have so much fun.  This time I was paired with the very talented Mary Govaars. She is such a fun lady, and I've enjoyed getting to know her.
I'm so totally in love with  my beautiful ornament! Check it out!
Had to show it to you on the bright orange tissue it was wrapped in, those colors just pop, don't they?

Can you believe that patient woman? Wrapping that cording, one row at a time, keeping it all straight and lined up. I'da been bonkers!

And lookie at the pretty sparkley crystal! They are on top and bottom, and totally complete this awesome ornament. Thank you so much Mary, I just love it! And it's pretty cool that her ornament and Linda's go so well together. Makes me all happy and stuff. 
Now go check out the other cool ornaments! Blessings, Shirley





Shirley Moore http://www.beadsandbread.blogspot.com You are here
Lori Bowring Michaud http://artfullyornamental.blogspot.com
Catherine King http://catherines-musings.blogspot.com
Dyanne Cantrell http://deelitefuljewelrycreations.blogspot.com
Sonya Stille http://dreaminofbeads.blogspot.com
Elaine Ray http://elaineray.blogspot.com
Gina Hockett http://freestyleelements.blogspot.com
Jo-Ann Woolverton http://itsabeadifulcreation.blogspot.ca
Debbie Rasmussen http://kepirasmussen.blogspot.com
Renetha Stanziano http://lamplightcrafts.blogspot.com
Ginger Bishop http://lilmummylikes.blogspot.com
Miranda Ackerley http://mirandack.com/category/thoughts
Sandra McGriff http://skyescreativechaos.blogspot.ca
Tammie Everly http://ttedesigns.blogspot.com
Alicia Marinache http://www.allprettythings.ca
Melinda Abrahamson http://www.firstreetcrafts.com
Rita/ Toltec Jewels http://www.jewelschoolfriends.com
Chandra Merod http://www.junipergoods.blogspot.com
Mary Govaars http://www.mlhjewelrydesigns.com My partner
Kelley Fogel http://www.mylifeonebeadatatime.blogspot.com
Tiffany Goff Smith http://www.southerngalsdesign.blogspot.com
Heather Rats Otto http://www.thecrafthopper.com
Anitra Gordy Boyers www.leelucreations.blogspot.com
Marlene Cupo http://amazingdesigns-marlene.blogspot.com
Shelley Graham Turner www.shelleygrahamturner.blogspot.com
Thank you, Shelley and Marlene, for such a wonderful Hop!!!!

2nd Annual Holiday Ornament Swap Blog Hop

Hi all ! I'm so excited to be sharing this Hop with you today! And my other Hop for today with Shelley and Marlene can be found HERE.
Christmas is one of my very favorite holidays, and I love getting presents, so when I saw Sally Russick's post on Studio Sublime, I was jumping up and down with excitement! This was way back in October, but I was all on board for an ornament swap!
And, then, holy moly, I got paired with Cooky Schock! She has been the owner of The Shepherdess in San Diego, CA for the last twelve years of the store's thirty-five year life. Sadly, it is now closing, but there have been many 'celebrity' beaders in and of that wonderful place. I wish I could have visited it before it closed. Cooky has been surrounded by awesome artists,and is a metalworker, and a wonderful person. I've been so very glad to be her partner, and to receive such a special gift from her in this exchange.
To be quite honest, I was very intimidated when I saw all the names of the artists that she has met/worked with through the Shepherdess. You know, like Jenny Davies-Reazor, Leslee Frumin, Marcia DeCoster.....
Cooky was so sweet and kind to me, saying she could hardly thread a needle! :)
Well, let me tell you, that doesn't stop her talent at all! Wanna see what she sent me?? Yes!! I know!! I'm all excited too!!!
Ok, check out the awesomeness of her gifts....

That sweetie pie of a sheep is an icon of the shop. They would give them as gifts to customers. I'm so very honored that I've received one of the last ones.

 Can you believe the gorgeousness of this key And I really didn't do it justice in this pic, cause that hand made loop at the top is stunning. The colors in the bead just shimmer. I'm thinking it just really needs to hang from my rear view mirror, cause it makes me smile...a lot! And you know that's a necessary when you get behind the wheel, right?

Oh, the squishy fuzziness!!!
Here is the list of participants, please go check out their gifts. Blessings, Shirley

List of Participants


Shirley Moore You are here
Cooky Schock My awesome partner




Friday, December 14, 2012

Friday Feature-A Novica Giveaway!

Hi all! Hope you're having a wonderful Christmas season! It has been wonderfully warm here, which I love....except, it's a bit hard to think Christmas when it's this warm. I've been having a great time with some Holiday Challenges, two of which are revealed tomorrow, so I hope you'll stop back by and see the lovelies I received from my partners.
Well, if you've been with me for a little while, you may remember the post I did on the artists of Novica.
The folks at Novica were pleased with the post, and offered to give you all a little incentive to visit their site-a giveaway!  They have recently launched a new option on the site-Gift Finder. Here's the link for it: http://unique-gifts.novica.com/
So, this giveaway is easy peasy. Just head over to Novica, and check out the products with gift finder. Come back and let me know what your favs are.
There's been several conversations lately about the need for men's jewelry in some of my FB groups. I like the Men's gifts section, they have some unusual items that captured my attention, like this one:
Click to view a larger pictureIt's from Bali, like the earrings I got earlier this year.

And this beautiful chess set.
Click to view a larger pictureI like the fact that you can chose to browse for gifts in several different ways...by price, by type of gift, or even by personality!

Head on over and take a gander. I'll keep the contest up til next Thursday, and announce the winner on the next Friday Feature. This will be for a $40.00 voucher. It does expire 12/31, so the hard part will be trying to select something quickly!
Best of luck!!

Blessings,
Shirley

Friday, December 7, 2012

Friday Feature-Trees!!!!

Trees? Yeah, trees. Cause it's Christmas baby, and I do so love Christmas trees. And I'm sad, cause I haven't had a chance to get mine up yet. And I have a very special Christmas tree now. It's made of steel rods, and it is so cool! I'll show you a pic when I get it out (hopefully Saturday) and decorated. It's special for me for several reasons. It's the first tree I've purchased just for me. It's not your usual, run of the mill tree. And it's decorated with pieces that are special, just to me. The same year I bought it, I found a glass maker that was selling incredible glass ornaments, so I got one to go with my tree.
I've participated in a couple of Ornament Swaps, so my new goodies are going on there as well. I've only done one reveal, here, and I'm looking forward to adding all my beauties going on there this year.
Do you Pinterest? I just love scrolling thru there for cool stuff. Here's some great tree ideas.
Pinned Image
From Michael's

From MyHomeStyle.com
Felt Christmas tree
From juliacrossland.blogspot.com
Christmas wall tree
From WeHeartIt.com
Are these cool, or what?

Hope you enjoyed them, and have a wonderful weekend! Blessings, Shirley

Sunday, December 2, 2012

PDA with Shelley Turner




If you've never seen one of Shelley's play dates, you're in for a treat! She so generously sends you a mix of beads, and she uses the same beads to create some beautiful jewelry. Her only rule is to use the focal beads, everything else is optional. Shelley is an amazing clay artist, and the focal beads are a stunning, deep orange, perfect for a fall piece.


Now this awesome woman also sent me some seriously cool coiled wire beads. As soon as I saw them, my mind of course went into beadweaving mode. They reminded me of one of my very favorite stitches, cellini spiral. I made a couple of cellini beads to accent Shelley's.






 Now, here's the funny part for all you wireworking genius'. Shelley sent me a coil of extra wire to use. But when I opened the package, all I could think of  was what a pretty flower that coil of wire made. Sooo, I just curled the ends around itself, and used it like as a pendant! Ok, ok, ya'll can stop giggling at me, I thought it looked cool!



I've been all into making star ornaments lately for Christmas, so it was just a natural to make a star to hang in my pretty flower coil. I followed that orange theme with a gorgeous goldstone bead in the center of the star.



I love Shelley's clasp, and I didn't want it hiding in the back, so I added it to the focus on the front.

This necklace pushed me so far out of my comfort zone, it was not even funny. I can tell ya'll, I absolutely suck at wirework. So just overlook my pitiful attempts, 'k?
There was a tiny chain in there, so on one side I tried to do a wired loop for my spiral bead, and on the other I tried to use that tiny chain. I DO NOT have awesome wire tools. I have generic needle nose pliers, and bent nose pliers. I already felt like I was all thumbs using those puppies, then I tried to open that twisted ring on that TINY chain....did I mention how small it was? Yep, real test of my patience there....

You can let me know if either side looks better, I can't really tell any difference between the two. My vision was for the spiral beads to be right up against the orange beads, so I may change it later. Right now, I'm just happy I got all those wires to semi behave. I used a tute from the Beaded Path for that cute little beaded bead on the other side.



 I liked it so much, I created a couple more and made earrings with some very cute leaves that were in my goody bag as well.
Man, those are some seriously sad loops....

 (Yes, they are the same length, I was going for artistic representation here, you know?)


I can't begin to thank Shelley enough for letting me play with her. This was such a great experience, and yet again, I've learned more about me and what kind of designer I am becoming. Even though I will NEVER win any prizes for wirework, I'm so proud of me for making earrings, and the wirework in the necklace.
Thanks again, Shelley, you took me to a new and wonderful place! Now go see what Shelley made with hers!
 


Blessings, Shirley

Saturday, December 1, 2012

I messed up....

Ok, you know what happens when you don't write dates down? You mess up, and miss an important post!
That's what I did, with my PDA with the fab Shelley Turner. And it's night now, so an pic I take will be totally lousy. I will work very hard on getting it together for a post either tomorrow or Monday. I'm extremely embarrassed, and hope Shelley can forgive me for being a dunce.
Here's a pic of what she sent me to play with......and I hope you'll come back to see the finished piece...