As Promised, a Giveaway

Life took an unexpected turn this fall, and what I thought was going to be a nice, leisurely season, wasn't. Nuf said.  By now,you've had more than enough time to to make your way through all the amazing creations from the 6th BSBP. Weren't they amazing? I'm always floored by the variety of techniques and artistry- some are truly spectacular and leave me in awe of the level of skill and creativity.

This was my 3rd opportunity to participate in Lori Anderson's baby- she's def been the hostess with the mostess :) In addition to some of my "leftovers" from the various bead soups, I recently was the unexpected winner of a "de-stashing" courtesy of  CJ Bauchska! Little did I know what was headed my way, but she went above and beyond in generosity and beads!

I was floored! Wish I lived closer to her, so I could take some of her classes- seed beads and I have a nominal relationship, but obviously they are CJ's friends. We were gone on back to back trips after her stash arrived, so they've been waiting patiently for me to do something with them. As I looked around MY hoard assortment of beads, I realized that it's time to pass the blessing along.

I've had such a great time being paired with Dana James, Andra Weber and most recently, Arlene Dean- they've expanded my horizons, and their giftings of beading goodness have been generous to say the least. Sooo, I'd like to help someone else have the same experience. I have only two guidelines:
1) You did NOT have participated in the last BSBP  but you do have a blog.
2) When you use what is sent ( we can figure out a time factor), that you link your post back to this blog.

That's it! I'll put together a bead soup for you and send it your way and then wait to see what you create. (Please note that Bead Soup Blog Party is trademarked by Lori- this is just plain bead soup :))

Want a chance to win? Just leave a comment below by November 14 ( one of our girls turns 21 that day, so we'll celebrate that!) and make sure I have a way to contact you. One lucky person will get goodies headed their way.

Hoping this adds a splash of grace and a dash of joy to your day!

BSBP Part Deux

The minute I laid eyes on the goodies that Andra Weber sent me as part of the latest BSBP, I knew immediately what I was going to use these amazing opalite rounds for.

Almost a year ago, I became a Bead Design Corner Academy (BCDA) instructor for Michaels Arts and Craft stores. It's definitely challenged me in my jewelry making as I've been required to learn a LOT of new techniques to teach as part of our curriculum there. Can we say stretched? But it's been a very good thing. One of the new things that I learned was wire crochet. I've done crafts all my life, but knitting and crocheting were never on the agenda- and still aren't. However, much to my delight, wire crochet has become my new favorite- along with chain maille- and using different combinations makes every new piece unique.

For the piece below I used 26 gauge Artistic non-tarnish silver wire. The Artistic wire gives my wire crochet an added luster and richness and while I don't use it for every necklace, these beauties deserved it.

 I did something a little different with this piece, since the challenge is all about doing new things. I used the beads in a graduated strand and then twisted the three strands together. I love the look of  them- they remind me of gorgeous little bubbles!

Here's another one with the earrings. I kept the earrings simple, using the same chain from the back of the necklace, as I didn't want them to compete with main piece.

Wire crochet is so versatile.  I did this for a dear friend's birthday. She brought me some beautiful blue beads from Venice, and I knew I wanted to make something special for her using one of them as a focal. As it turned out, she'd never bought herself any jewelry on the trip so now she has her own memory piece. That delighted me- and her!

This one for was my sister aka best friend. She wanted lots of colors especially pink and purple, and since she's pretty wonderful,  I do my best to give her what she wants. She's able to wear this with all sort of color combinations.

Finally, here's the necklace I entered in our local county fair. It was the first year that they had jewelry as a competitive event. I was excited when this won a blue ribbon!

Bridal Bliss

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you've never worked with wire crochet, please get it a try! There are plenty of online resources, but your local Michaels store should have a BCDA instructor who'd love to teach you this technique.

Thank you again, Lori Anderson, for giving us a chance to learn and tackle new things with  5th Bead Soup Blog Party. If you've never participated in this, there's a 6th BSBP coming soon.

Grateful  today for dashes and splashes of grace and joy,

Christie

Serving up some Soup- Bead Soup that is!

The unveiling has arrived. I must confess that I have mixed feelings about the finished product. The BSBP is all about going out of your comfort zone and trying new things, and to that end, this was a definite success. Andra Weber was my partner and she sent me some beautiful choices to work with. We discovered that we had several things in common- we both have 3 daughters and the same faith beliefs. Don't you love when you find a bead soul mate? While we do very different kinds of beading, we both enjoy learning new things, we love beads and most of all, we love Jesus! Can't wait to see what she created with what the soup that was sent her way. Please be sure to stop by her blog, Andra's Joyful Journey.

Andra blessed me with a lovely combination of copper beads, a copper clasp, copper glass rondelles and a beautiful focal bead from 2 Bead Sisters . You can see the full assortment here. She gave me lots of wonderful choices! The guidelines were as follows: you must use the focal and the clasp that your partner sent. Using additional items from your soup or from your stash are up to the individual.

So,without further ado, let me serve you up some soup from the 5th Bead Soup Party. I was able to finish the main piece, but there's another course that is still simmering after experiencing a technical glitch yesterday and a time glitch today. That means you have Bead Soup Part II to look forward to, but here's my soup de jour:)

For this challenge, I decided to depart from the usual stringing, and venture into knotting. In fact, there's not a single crimp in this piece! I loved, loved, loved the copper and wanted to play that up and use the warm, rich colors to balance the cool colors in the focal while weaving black components to tie it all together. I'm still a novice with the knotting, and tried several different weights/types of cording materials before finding what worked with the various sized beads. In retrospect, I probably should have used beeswax to keep the fibers more cohesive, but it's all about learning :). I've developed a crush on chain maille and so again, veered away from the known, and tried a Japanese triangle for the first time as well as creating the mobius chain on the one side of the necklace.

The other side was chain purchased from Michaels, where I have the joy of being a jewelry instructor.  I also used some 26 g copper wire to wrap the cording to the chain and add a decorative element that tied together the three different points of the necklace.

This was the necklace before I oxidized it (again, something new for me) using this technique. Can you see the difference? I love the bright copper, but didn't have enough jumps to make chain for the second side, and the purchased links were darkened already.  Not having a cohesive metal color is too far out of my comfort area.

So, what are the misgivings? I'm not as happy as I'd like to be with the quality of the finishing of the different techniques. Now that I've got a pearl knotter (and am learning how to use it ), I may re-do it after waxing the cords/strings. The big copper beads and copper clasp are so pretty and I'm not sure they were done justice, but for right now, it's done! I can't wait to show you my second offering in a couple of days. I'm using another form of beading that's one of my favorites. I also need to use the matching beads to make a pair of earrings and complete the set.

Ready to taste some more soup? Here's the list of all the participants. A  BIG thank you to our wonderful
Master Soup Chef, Lori!

Hostess, Lori Anderson


Special Book Sneak Peeks, Cindy Wimmer

1.  Adlinah Kamsir (Singapore) and Hajer Waheed (Kingdom of Bahrain)

2. Adrienn Lukacs (Hungary) and Agata Grygiel (Poland)

3.  Agi Kiss (Hungary) and Carolien Muller-Genger (the Netherlands)

4.  Agnes Asztalos (Hungary) and B.R. Kuhlman

5.  Alesha Conklin and Becki Mendivil

6.  Alice Peterson and Carol Dillman

7.  Alicia Marinache (Canada) and Dita Basu

8.  Amanda Dittloff and Brandy Thomason McNair

9.  Amanda Tibbetts and Andrea Trank

10.  Amy Freeland and Kay Mallery 

11.  Andra Weber and Christine Murrow (you are here)

12.  Ann Sherwood and Diane Welte

13.  Barbara Bechtel and Kerry Bogert

14.  Barbara Lewis and Cat Pruitt

15.  Bonnie Coursolle (Canada) and Fay Wolfenden (Canada)

16.  Carmel McGinley (Australia) and Tracy Stillman (Australia)

17.  Cassie Donlen and Deryn Mentock

18.  Cathie Carroll and Janel Dudley

19.  Cece Cormier and Morwyn Mullins

20.  Charlene Jacka and Christina Hickman

21.  Cheryl Brown (Canada) and Diana Ptaszynski

22.  Christina Stofmeel (the Netherlands) and Eva Kovacs (Hungary)

23.  Christine Damm and Deb Brooks

24.  Cilla Watkins (Canada) and Elaine Robitaille (Canada)

25.  Sabrina Straub (Switzerland) and Kathy Combs

26.  Cindy Cima Edwards and Eleanor Burian-Mohr

27.  Cory Celaya and Rhea Freitieg

28.  Courtney Breul and Dana Hickey

29.  Cynthia Abner and Jennifer Boreck

30.  Cynthia Tucker and Jean Peter

31.  Debbie Goering and Heidi Post

32.  Dee Elgie (UK) and Joanne Lockwood (UK)

33.  Dian Hierschel (Germany) and Eniko Fabian (Austria)

34.  Diane Cook and Lyn Foley

35.  Donna Bohler and Lisa Lodge

36.  Donna Millard and Kiersten Giles

37.  Doris Stumpf (Germany) and Eszter Czibulyas (Hungary)

38.  Elisabeth Auld and Eva Sherman

39.  Elke Leonhardt-Rath (Germany) and Marjolein Trewavas (UK)

40.  Ema Kilroy and Laurie Keefe-Cecere

41.  Erika Nooteboom (the Netherlands) and Giorgia Rossini (Italy)

42.  Erin Grant and Jean Wells

43.  Evelyn Duberry (Canada) and Gaea Cannaday

44.  Genea Crivello-Knable and Heather Powers

45.  Ginger Bishop (military, Okinawa) and Martina Nagele (Germany)

46.  Heidi Kingman and Lori Greenberg

47.  Helen Kemp and Lisa Wangeman

48.  Helene Goldberg (Australia) and Karen Vincent

49.  Jamie Hogsett and Jeannie Dukic

50.  Jeanette Ryan and Jelveh Jaferian

51.  Jennifer Cameron and Tania Spivey

52.  Jennifer Justman and Kari Carrigan

53.  Jennifer Tough and Lorelei Eurto

54.  Joanna Matuszczyk (Poland) and Julianna Kis (Hungary)

55.  Joanne Tinley (UK) and Michaela Pabeschitz (Austria)

56.  Julie Anne Leggett and Kelley Fogle

57.  Karen Hess and Linda Landig

58.  Karyn Bonfiglio and Kathleen Lange Klik

59.  Kashmira Patel and Kat White

60.  Kat Barron Miller and Kelly Morgan

61.  Kathy Lindemer and Rose Binoya

62.  Krafty Max and Sandra Miller

63.  Kristen Latimer and Pam Ferrari

64.  Kristie Roeder and Lea Avroch

65.  Kristina Johansson (Sweden) and Penny Neville (Canada)

66.  Krisztina Erlaki-Toth (Hungary) and Nicole Keller (Germany)

67.  Lara Lutrick and Lisa Suver

68.  Laura DeMoya and Lisa Hanna

69.  Libby Leuchtman and Melanie Brooks

70.  Linda Koch and Rosemarie Cowit

71.  Lisa Chapman and Menka Gupta

 72.  Lisa Liddy and Marion Simmons

73.  Lori Anderson and Marcie Abney

74.  Lori Bowring-Michaud and Mary Govaars

75.  Lori Dorrington and Maria Rosa Sharrow

76.  Lori Finney (Canada) and Marie-Noel Voyer-Cramp (Canada)

77.  Lynn Bennett and Mandi Ainsworth

78.  Marta Kaczerowska (Poland) and Milla Starchik (Canada)

79.  Mary Harding and Shannon LeVart

80.  Mary Jane Dodd and Stacey Curry

81.  Melinda Orr and Molly Alexander

82.  Melissa Meman and Michelle Escano-Caballaro

83.  Michelle Jensen and Sandra Young (Canada)

84.  Nan Emmett and Nicole Valentine-Rimmer (Canada)

85.  Nancy Boylan and Suzette Bentley

86.  Natasha Lutes and Patti Vanderbloemen

87.  Pam Hurst and Rebekah Payne

88.  Patty Miller and Sara Rhoades

89.  Rebecca Anderson (UK) and Lori Anderson

90.  Rebecca Sirevaag and Sharon Driscoll

91.  Rochelle Brisson and Shannon Chomanczuk

92.  Rosa Maria Cuevas (Mexico) and Tejae Floyde

93.  Sabine Dittrich (Germany) and Sally Russick

94.  Sandi Volpe and Sarah/Saturday Sequins

95.  Shanti Johnson and Tracy Mok (Canada)

96.  Skylar Brez and Theresa Buchle

97.  Sonya Stille and Traci Zeller (Canada)

98.  Stefanie Teufel (Germany) and Tania Hagen (New Zealand)

99.  Stephanie LaRosa and Vonna Maslanka

100.  Terri Wlaschin and Wendy Blum

As always, hoping this soup brings you a dash of grace and a splash of joy!

They're Here!!!!

I discovered I'm very liberal in my use of exclamation points ( note to self: be less exclamatory) but when something's worth celebrating, why not use them? Today we'll celebrate the Bead Soup Blog Party because I've got my beads- doing the happy dance :)

I once again forgot to take pictures of what I sent to Andra Weber , but she'll be posting them so hop on over later. I did take this, though. Does it count? Here are my beads for her all bundled up before I mailed them.

And here's what I received from her  :: big sigh of delight::

 Luscious, gorgeous opalite rounds in different sizes start off the list. I already know what is going to happen with these, and can't wait to get started, They won't be part of the main project, but Lori has always encouraged us to do more than one thing if necessary, and I find it VERY necessary to use these :).

The focal bead and matching rounds are from 2 Bead Sisters - handmade beads with a beautiful combination of caramels, blues and blacks. Inspired? Yes, ma'am.

But she didn't stop there...

Are you drooling yet? I am. Mother of pearl rounds and mother of pearl rice beads from a local bead shop Andra frequents, Sand and Stone Creations, as well as beautiful copper glass roundels, copper round and butterfly spacer beads, and a lovely copper clasp. The richness of the colors in combination with one another is truly a delight. These are so very pretty- it was hard to leave them on the table and come to work

Finally,

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lots of 4mm faceted Czech glass beads and handmade black and white glass toggle. One can never go wrong with black! .  (note to self: edit, edit, edit) We're required to use the focal bead and the clasp/toggle- it's up to the individual participant  if he/she uses the beads that were sent along with the goodies and/or adds to from their stash.

And now the true work begins. Don't forget to check back on March 3 when all the BSBP participants will reveal their creations. If you're looking for inspiration, Lori has a brand new baby that's sure to please- her latest book all about Bead Soup. Congratulations to her, and many thanks again for allowing us to join in the current one.

Visit me again on Friday to find out about my latest obsession, but until then...
Wishing you splashes of grace and dashes of joy

Christie