The Erin Prais Hintz Challenge of Color Blog Hop

Today is the second Challenge of Color Blog Hop, Erin Prais Hintz has organized it...The color I chose was teal, so I was very suprised to find that my color pallet was such a muted suttle one....It was created by Jessica Colaluca of Design seeds,    http://www.designseeds.com/  and chosen for me by Erin , I have to admit, it wasn't a color grouping I would have chosen for my self, but it does work quite well, and the funny thing was I had all these colors in my stash of beads......In fact the two larger beads on each side of my druzy focal have every color in my pallet, I'm not sure what they are but they are quite beautiful!

I chose to make a necklace, with a druzy focal, the two perfect stone beads on each side,  some stick pearls in a pale peachy shade some pale teal fire polish

beads, and some faux chocolate pearls.......you can access the list of participants by going to Erins blog at........http://treasures-found.blogspot.com
I want to thank Erin for hosting such a fun blog hop!!!

Starseed Jewelry: A Struggling Artist -- GIVEAWAY!!!

Starseed Jewelry: A Struggling Artist -- GIVEAWAY!!!


Terri Wlaschin of Starseed Jewelery is having a give away in honor of Laurel Stevens, who is going through some hard times, please go check it out

Jeannie Dukic's Do Over Challenge

Today is the reveal for Jeannie Dukic's Do Over Challenge........the idea was that she would send each participant a piece of her jewelery that she made in the beginning of her jewelery making career to make over how ever we wanted.......We were supposed to take before and after pictures of the piece that she sent us......oops dummy me, I got excited and took it apart before I took a picture...my bad....Any way, what she sent was a really cute necklace and earring set  it had black crystal rounds wire linked chain with a key pendant with an open heat at the top with filigree and three black crystals set in it, my son said that it kind of reminded him of a rosary. The earings had little keys dangling from a black crystal............this is the set I made.....

   So I added a whole bunch of lamp work beads, bead caps and capri blue crystals to one side, and three chains on the other with a link of crystals and a lamp work bead in the middle of the chain, for the focal I added a key hole and dangled the original key, plus one of my own, with the word "life" on it, also a lamp work dangle....To the earrings I added a capri blue crystal and a lamp work bead.......This challenge was lots of fun, I'm just sorry I forgot to take a before pic......here is the list of all the participants, please visit their blogs and check out what they did




Jeannie

http://site.jkdjewelry.com/blog



(In addition to my name, please list Shaun, Donna, under my blog link)











Natasha



http://nswhims.blogspot.com



Michelle

http://fireflyvisions.blogspot.com



Sandra

http://ladychaos.blog.com



Andrea

http://www.heavenlanecreations.wordpress.com



Cathie

http://www.cathiecarroll.blogspot.com



Norma

http://moonlitfantaseas.blogspot.com



Dagi

http://kokopellidesign.blogspot.com



Marcy

http://www.StudioMarcy.blogspot.com



Camille

http://craft-a-mamie.blogspot.com

Art Bead Earring Swap Reveal

Today is the reveal day for the art bead earring swap that I am involved in! My Partner is Sarah Elder of My So Called Junky Life.......She sent me a cute pair of earrings with what I think are ceramic beads and some cool rinestone beads...I really like them! here is a picture of them and what they were wrapped in.......And here is the list of all of the participants....please go check out all of the wonderful earrings!










Diana Ptaszynski http://www.suburbangirlstudio.com



Jenny Davies-Reazor http://www.jendaviesreazor.com



Marie-Noel Voyer-Cramp http://www.skyejewels.blogspot.com



Lisa Petrillo http://www.lucidmoonstudio.com



Patty Chaban Gasparino http://www.mylifeunderthebus.typepad.com



Susan Kennedy http://www.suebeads.blogspot.com



Shannon Iko Chomanczuk http://www.formysweetdaughter.blogspot.com



Cilla Watkins http://www.tellyourgirlfriends.com



Diane Hawkey http://www.dianehawkey.blogspot.com



Pam Ferrari http://www.ferrarioriginalsyahoocom.blogspot.com



Lori Bowring Michaud http://www.artfullyornamental.blogspot.com



Stacey M. Curry http://www.starhitchedwagon.blogspot.com



Linda Landig http://www.lindasbeadblog.com



Norma Turvey http://www.moonlitfantaseas.blogspot.com



Melinda Orr http://www.orrtec.blogspot.com



Holly Westfall http://www.silverrosedesigns.blogspot.com



Rosemarie Cowit http://www.gemrosedesigns.blogspot.com



Staci L. Smith http://www.stacilouise.blogspot.com



Sarah Elder http://www.mysocalledjunkylife.blogspot.com



this has been a fun swap!

Soups On!

this is my beautiful focal!

here are the matching earrings and bracelet, and mt stick pearls

here are my steam punk accents

Chris White sent me a very tasty fall colored bead soup, a lovely Paris themed focal, some beautiful stone beads, that I think might be fire agate some antique brass chain, and chocolate colored ribbon and a gold tone clasp.....I added a key and key hole, some cogs and stick pearls in a pretty bronze color and some gold toned crystal rondels....I kind of went in a steam punk direction with my piece, which is a totally new direction for me........I was amazed at how fast and easy this project was, the components practically told me what they wanted to be! So here it is my Autumn in Paris  steam punk  collection! to see all the other participants  bead soups go to :  http://lorianderson-beadsoupblogparty.blogspot.com/

under construction

I'm still waiting to get my beading space back, the foundation repair om my poor old house is taking a lot longer  than expected, and costing a lot more too......I thin my guys may have bitten off more than they can chew.....I am having beading with drawls.....I  recently won a beading kit from  Zaney May, and I received the beads for it yesterday!   It is a very simple right angle weave bracelet, amazingly enough called  "simple bracelet" I chose a blue green color combination....I dug out my ottlite magnifier last night and a  good lamp and sat down at my computer table, and with some difficulty, made the bracelet, the difficulty being that I am pretty much blind with out my industrial strength mag light, it had nothing to do with Zaney May's instructions, they were easy enough.....the bracelet turned out nice, even though it is a real simple design, it would be perfect for a beginner......

  I need to get started on my August challenge piece, that I am doing with Andrew Thornton, but I need better lighting and magnification in order to do it, and red has never been "my color" so it will be a bit more difficult for me than the July challenge

my studio is a mess......

early this morning I had to clear off my work space, (my work space is a work box station designed for scrapbooking, but I have adapted it for jewelery making and beading...it is an armoire that it 7 feet wide when fully extended) any way to make a long story a little shorted, the foundation at the back of my house is sinking and my work area was situated across the sunken end, so we had to move all the heavier stuff to the front of the room, so we can get it fixed......so no beading for me for a few days........I can't just pick up my stuff and bead any where, because I am going blind, and have to work with a lot of light, and an industrial mag light on top of that, I won't even go into what I have to do to thread a beading needle...........We did find a treasure trove of lost beads, and ear plugs behind the armoire.........I use ear plugs to sleep, and my cats love them, so I am constantly having to replace them, because they love to hide them from me, and who wants to use soggy ear plugs any way.......eeeewwww

  I'm really glad my bead soup beads spoke to me so well, and my soup is all finished!  other wise I would be chomping at the bit wanting to work on it now!

give away winner

I had my hubby draw a name for my give away this morning.........And the winner is Pineridgetreasures........Please contact me with your mailing address, color preference, and preference of either a bracelet or a necklace, and measurement for your choice..........thank you to all that entered!

finished my bead soup, and it was good!

I was so excited to get my bead soup today, I got pictures of it right away, because in the past I forgot to do that, in the excitement of playing with the new beads! Well I had to go to the bead store for some antique brass crimp beads, and of course found other things I absolutely had to have, but I only spent 15.00.......Which is pretty amazing for me! I came back home and went to work........I had some steam punk cogs and wheels I had gotten last week, along with some brass key and lock plates, I thought they went well with my soup, I added a few crystals and some stick pearls, and in the end, I had a necklace, a bracelet and a pair of earrings! I'm really happy with what I made, and its totally different from all my other bead soup projects! no bead weaving this time, so it went pretty fast......Now I have a long wait for the reveal.........and still have some beads left..........hmmmm.....

wrapped cord bracelet

Here is a pic of the wrapped cord bracelet I mentioned in an earlier post today, sorry the pic is a bit fuzzy

Bead soup goodies are here!!

I got my Bead Soup in the mail today!!! Thank you so much Chris! I love it.....The pretty Paris themed focal is really cool, and I love the orangey fall colors! I am going to have a lot of fun with this selection of yummy soup!

Last chance to get in on my give away

a couple post ago I announce that I was having a give away to celebrate my 100th follower......I guess very few of my followers actually read my blog, any way just a reminder that I am drawing the winner tomorrow, you still have a chance to enter today!
I just made my first wrapped cord bracelet, and I love it! I made it long enough to wrap around my wrist twice, and I couldn't find my leather cord, so I used sinew and turquoise beads, and a pewter triangle shaped button with a Celtic knot design, for the clasp.....it is really cool, and I have a feeling it will be my go to bracelet for everyday casual wear! I love it!
I'll try to get a pic of it later today if the sun ever comes out!

Bead Soup Blog Party Partner

I contacted my bead soup partner yesterday, and we have both already sent out our bead soup to each other! My partner is Chris White of dzeyenrstudio.blogspot.com Her web site is chriswhitejewelery.com She makes some beautiful things, Her blog is new and this is her first bead soup blog party! I'm hoping it will be a fun experience for her....And I really hope she likes what I put together for her, because I had lots of fun doing it! I just never know if I put enough things together when we do these swaps, so I kept opening the package and adding more to it, in fact I was digging through my beads at 5:00 am today to add some more before sending it out!

A give away to celibrate finally getting 100 followers on my blog

I am going to have a give away to celebrate my 100th follower to my blog..........., it will be a piece of beaded jewelery, the winner can choose color and what it will be, either a necklace or a bracelet just leave a comment on this post and a way to get in touch with you , and I will draw a name on Friday,  to celebrate both my birthday and my 100th follower! feel free to follow my blog also if you don't already........

Andrew Thorntons July Challenge

a month ago, I joined Andrew Thornton's July Challenge.........I bought the Challenge Kit from Andrew, it was in beautiful shades of green! I chose to make a charm bracelet with the kit...but the chain included in the kit wasn't working to hang such substancial charms from, so I added some antique copper chain along with the antique brass chain in the kit, and it worked beautifully!since I had lots of left over chain, I went crazy with dangles comming off the clasp area....its a simple design, but I love it and have worn it a lot since making it, I call it wrist chimes, because it definitely makes a nice tinkling noise when it is worn!

give away winner

Good Morning every one........as promised I have had my give away drawing this morning, the lucky number was drawn by my hubby, and the winner is.......Greer from Vintajia Adornments....I have already emailed her with the good news! thank you everyone for entering my give away!

want to learn how to make lampwork beads

I would love to learn to make lampwork beads, does anyone know of some one in the Portland Metro area (Oregon) or in Washington, I live in Longview, that teaches lampworking? I recently bought a kiln, to do glass fusing, but really want to do lampworking.....if you know of someone please let me know
thank you!

Reminder: Last day to enter drawing for Metalcrafting 101 for Beaders

today is the last day to enter to win Candie Coopers book....Metalcrafting 101 for Beaders... its a great book, but some how I find that I have two copies on my book shelf, so if you would like the book leave a comment on my last blog post, and follow myblog, I will anounce the winner tomorrow morning

Metalworking 101 for Beaders Give away

While browsing through my beading books library  recently, I discovered I had two copies of "Metalworking 101 for Beaders " on my book shelf.........not sure how this happened, but I don't really need two copies. So I am having a giveaway ..........If you would like a chance to win my extra copy, just follow my blog and leave a comment and a way to reach you if you were to win. I will post the winner next Friday the 17th

Getting a kiln

I bit the bullet tonight and ordered myself a kiln..........I just hope its a good one, I really don't know much about this sort of thing, I have a microwave kiln, and have fun with it. But this one can do every thing, from anealing beads to precious metal clay, to ceramics........so I am excited and a bit scared too, it wasn't exactly cheap.......hopefully I am not getting in over my head

Painting With Fire

 Barbra Lewis's bokk Painting With Fire is now available for pre order on Amazon..........so she is promoting it with a wonderful give away.......the beads in the above photo, in your choice of color!!!
So just head on over to her blog and check it out!

finally getting my garden planted

Today feels like we finally got something accomplished! We have had such wet weather, it has been hard to get started on the garden, but today hubby built four raised beds, filled them with good soil, and I planted several things.........asparagus, Jerusalem artichokes, two kinds of sweet peas, and three kinds of tomatoes heirloom, chocolate cherry, and brandy vine.......but I still have a lot more to plant.......now I am wondering if I will have enough room for everything! we also want to put in a fence to protect the garden from animals and to keep our dogs in......my little pom kept us company all day in the garden, I think I am going to have to put the strawberries in a fenced place of their own, because pumpkin the pom, likes the plants for some reason, and I know he likes the berries, he was kind enough to share my strawberry short cake with me tonight!
  I still have cherry bushes to plant and raspberries and blackberries too, we need to rebuild the support  for the existing blackberry plants, so we got the supplies for that today, now we just need another dry day to work on it, maybe next Sunday.......if hubby isn't busy with other things

pay it forward 2011

I found this on Beads by Breul's Blog.......... Pay it forward 2011...The first five people who respond will receive a handmade gift from me (it could be anything) In return you must write a blog post explaining pay it forward 2011 and send your first five commenters a gift handmade by you, its a great way to make new friends and spread some handmade love around blog land! So the first five people to respond to this post will receive a gift from me...........if you follow through! Please leave a way to contact you or follow my blog  to find out if you are one of the first five

Happy Mango Give Away

Happy mango is having a wonderful give away! Just look at these yummy beads......don't you just want all that beady goodness? head on over and check it out.......

Andrew Thornton Thursday Give Away

Andrew Thornton is having a fantastic giveaway on his blog today! Three sets of ceramic beads and a ceramic focal, all from Golem Studios! They are gorgeous!  Also a trio of soft flex also very wonderful!
so head on over and check it out!

tool time

yesterday my son and I decided to get out my new punch and die set and my doming block and punch set , and play a little bit, I didn't want to waste my new copper sheets when I am just learning to use the tools..... so we cut apart some tins with designs on them.  I had seen some bead caps here in blog land made out of old tins, so thought I would give it a try.  the first few came out kind of crinkled because I didn't realize you need to start out in a larger dome and work your way down....after I figured that out it was working pretty smoothly.  I think I am going to enjoy my new tools!  The tin we used was from Christmas cookies a friend had given  to us,  it had a holiday theme, so we got lots of solid red  disks, and some with a vivid sky blue as the main color, with bits of odd things thrown in, like ice skaters, and windows with Christmas wreaths in them, its kind of fun trying to figure out just exactly what it is on each one!  I think I may have to go to a thrift store, and do some shopping for some more tins!  It was fun collaborating with my son on this loud but fun! it gave us both some thing to do on a very blustery day...
  I will post some pictures later

bead soup party blog hop

Wow...........I just finished  hopping through all of the blogs about  9:00 this morning! It took an amazingly large amount of time......but it was well worth it, I saw some amazing eye candy........and met some wonderful artists, if only through their written words and photos, there are some amazingly talented people involved in this group!  Not sure I have enough talent of my own to belong here.........but its fun trying!  Thank you so much Lori, for going to all the hard work to provide us with such a fun venue to meet fellow beaders and share our varied talents with each other!

Andrew Thornton Thursday Give Away

Andrew is giving away this wonderful letter stamp set!!! And a really cute wing stamp as well!! head on over to his blog and check it out

bead soup blog party!!

woo hoo I finally got my bead soup blog party project done, it was the simplest design of all the projects I have done since the B.S.B.P. began, but due to my eyes failing me in the middle of it, it has taken longer than the others.........but now it is done and I have my pics done too, what a relief it is! no sneak peeks though. I don't know how to blur my pic to do that......so you have to wait till Saturday

bead soup

this is a photo of the bead soup my partner Sandy Richardson sent me (I borrowed the pic from her blog) the only thing different is she sent a grape leaf clasp instead of the butterfly clasp....she also sent me polymer clay elephant that she made! its really cute!  I love the beautiful fused glass pendant she made for me.......

tool time

I got my order from harbor freight today!!! a new doming block and punch set.......a 9 piece punch set......a 1/8th letter stamp set....and a set of grommet pliers.....now I just need some sheets of copper, and I can start making my own blanks for etching and doming!!!   I think this will be lots of fun, can't wait to get started

Andrew Thornton Thursday Give Away

Andrew Thornton is having a give away on his blog......a nice big assortment of Green Girl Studios goodies! So head on over and check it out!

Bead soup

I have my bead soup project 3/4 of the way done, but had to stop, because my eyes are failing me big time right now......I can hardly use the computer because I can hardly read the print, I have it magnafied to 150, and its still blurry.......distance  vision is fine, but close up is really bad......this really sucks ......

Bead Soup Blog Party Partner

My bead soup party partner is Sandra Richardson of Sandy's Coloring Box, we have been in contact with each other several times through email, and even once through a phone call........she is a multi talented lady,and has many different creative outlets, she paints beautiful pictures, works with polymer clay, does glass fusing, and many other things as well.........I sent off my bead soup to here last Thursday, and she recieved it yesterday, ans says she likes it alot, in her package of yummy bead soup was a set of Juliana Cannon's beautiful lamp work beads, one of a set I got in one of her days work of torch work, that I recently bought from her, as hard as it was to part with them, I thought I would share since I don't actually "make" my own beads yet..........some day hopefully I will!
   Any way Sandy said that she has my beads all ready to go, she just has to drop them in the mail! I'm really excited to see what she has chosen for me!  And can't wait to get started on creating some thing from them!

new babies in the house

I know this blog was set up mostly to talk about my bead obsession, and to show my bead work......But last night a friend of my husband and I, discovered  something cool in our aquarium.........our Cichlids  (convict fish) have become parents......We originally were given a bunch of fish by another friend, about 8 or 9 years ago, and the parents of my two cichlids were part of those fish. they layed eggs and since we had a community tank I put the fry into a tank of their own, and raised them separately from the other fish........we had about forty babies survive, so I gave a lot of them away, and over the years we lost all but the two remaining fish.
   All this time I thought the last two were both male, so it was a big surprise to find babies in the tank last night! I am excited, the tank was looking a bit empty with just the two fish.......So looks like I am grandma to about 75 or so cute little baby fish!

seed bead giveaway!!!

Julianna Cannon of Julsbeads (my absolute favorite bead artist) is having a seed bead give away on her blog!!! all the goodies shown in the pic above.... lots of beady goodness!!! so if you are wanting some beady goodness head on over to Julsbeads and get in on it!  or maybe don't.........I want them !!!!

Bead Soup Blog Party

The Bead Soup Blog Party is just around the corner!!! And I for one can't wait, I have participated in all of them so far, and have really enjoyed them. Its so nice of Lori to do this for all of us beaders, its a good way to connect with fellow beaders and stretch our creativie abilities,  I know I have learned new techniques with both of the other parties...so I am looking forward to doing it again.....maybe this will wake up my muse?