Beads and Bread: October 2013

Saturday, October 19, 2013

Seed Bead and Metal Blog Hop Reveal

It's here! It's here! I'm so very excited about today! My very first Co-Hosting of a Blog challenge!!!!
And with the awesome Sharyl McMillian, no less!

Sharyl is such a talented lady, and I was so thrilled to supply various beadwoven beads to complement her metal components. As an added bonus, we chose to use the colors for Artisan Whimsy's November color palette.
So, if you've read my blog posts in the past, you may have noticed ....I don't really do earrings. Now, I adore earrings, and wear them every day. I just have challenges making them. When I received Sharyl's package for me, I quickly set about creating a bracelet. My latest passion has been kumihimo, and I love how quickly they work up. I was planning on making a cellini spiral for my braid. Hmm....the Daughter quickly and ruthlessly vetoed the bracelet. "Nope, doesn't work" she said. Now this girl has some serious challenges on putting together a coordinating outfit, but she is pretty spot on when it comes to any type of art form. Here is the braid in question:

It is pretty, but it just wasn't working with the palette. 'K, back to the drawing board.....

I thought I could layer the discs on top...FAIL.

Yeah, I was getting a bit desperate here. Things were not coming together. And, well, no pressure or anything, but I am a CO-HOST!!!

Deep breath, how about some cute kumihimo earrings? Yep, I can totally do that!

Here we go!

And of course, as I add this pic to the blog post, the colors totally clash! But I promise, they are NOT like that IRL. They work perfectly with Sharyl's pretty altered cones. Sigh, probably the wood box I used to hang them from, 'cause, you know, I don't DO earrings, so I don't have a cool display for them!

Now, back to the beads....

I still had to make my beaded bead, and use the flat discs from Sharyl. (No, I didn't take a before pic!)

Here are some that didn't make the cut....

I know, I know, shut up already, and show the pics! Well, believe it or not, I ended up making two more pair of EARRINGS!!!!

See??

Just some little jump rings (I did make those, does that count?), and coordinating beads...yes, I know those green beads look like they don't match, but they do!

An easy, cute beaded bead, jump ring and earwire, call it done!

Now, y'all can just call me lame if you wanna, but I am seriously proud of making THREE pair of earrings!

I can't wait to see what everyone else made!

Here's the list!

Sharyl McMillian-Nelson --

Sharyl's Jewelry & Reflections (*Co-Host)

Candy Wham -- (Participant posting on Sharyl's blog)

Angi Mullis -- (Participant posting on Sharyl's blog)

Shirley Moore -- Beads and Bread (*Co-Host) You are here!

Laren Dee Barton -- Laren Dee Designs

Beti Horvath -- Stringing Fool

Tanya Goodwin -- A Work in Progress

Marybeth Rich -- Forest of Jewels

Amy Severino -- AmyBeads

Carolyn's Creations -- Carolyn's Creations

Toltec Jewels -- Jewel School Friends

Blessings, Shirley

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Autumn Design Challenge Reveal

Hi all! Welcome to the reveal for Lesley and Caroline's Design challenge!
You just have no idea how thrilled I was to be able to work with these components. I have been a ~~stalker~~...um follower, of Lesley's for quite a while. This is my first time working with Caroline's beads, and I can tell you, it won't be the last.
Have you ever had so many ideas floating around in your head, you just don't know which to do? Well, that was me. It took a bit for the beads to get here from the UK, so I was also short on time.
My design process definitely gave me fits for this challenge, but hey, that's part of the fun!
Where is my before pic, you ask? Why, of course I forgot to take one! But, in my defense, I was excited!
Lesley sent a bracelet bar, and a leaf, and Caroline sent a strand of oh so luscious beads.
I'm part of a kumihimo facebook group, and one of the members, Pru McRae, had just released a new tutorial that I had been itching to get my hands on. When I saw that bracelet bar, I knew exactly what I wanted to do!

See? Isn't that just the most scrumptious???

Ok, so my pics are definitely off in color a bit. I promise you, those goldstone beads are a perfect match for the colors in the bar.

Here is a bit more full size view of the bracelet. I didn't like the way I ended it, so you don't get to see that part....cause it's my blog, that's why! The gold beads are size 5 triangles, and they worked perfectly with the goldstone beads in Pru's fabulous pattern.

Next up are the leaves...oh yeah baby! Caroline's bead set included a ceramic leaf, and I wanted to use them together. I happily set out to bead a leaf to go with them....

I adore this leaf, but sadly, it didn't make the cut. My idea, and what we ended up with are worlds apart.....

But, oh, how I love it! My vision had lots of leaves in various sizes, with tons of fringes, and a peyote band to bring them together....hmm, guess I thought I was in charge here....

My poor pics do not do these beads justice, they are so beautiful, and just really didn't need a lot of busyness.

Two simple ropes, with all the lovely shades of autumn.

I was so excited to finally get to use the UFO beads from The Beading Room. They have a bit of a weathered look, like picasso, and the light shines through them beautifully.

I still had several of Caroline's beads to work with, and spent two days creating an awesome CRAW bracelet....and then just didn't feel the love. What to do, what to do (insert image of me pulling hair)

Every time I looked at those beads, they just said 'necklace'. Which is fine, but a speedy beader I'm not. All the beadwoven rope techniques I wanted to use, I knew I didn't have time to complete.

So, as I'm sitting there staring at my VERY MESSY desk, I keep looking at this awesome teal clon kumihimo cord, sitting next to one of those beads....

This is another of my favorite kumi patterns. This one is by the talented Sally Battis, of Sallybeadjewelry.

Huge apologies, I finished this up too late for decent pics. The magatamas have a gorgeous hybrid of colors, and that cord just sings next to Caroline's bead.