Grow Your Blog Party & Giveaway

Welcome to the Grow Your Blog Party! Someone had posted about this on a beading Facebook page, and I couldn't pass up the opportunity. Thank you to Vicki for being a wonderful hostess. If you look at the amazing list on her blog, you'll find it's grouped according to the number of followers so be sure to visit and follow the ones that pique your interest.

My name is Christie. I'm a wife of 26 years, a mom to three beautiful daughters and experiencing my first year as an empty nester. I'm finding it has its pros and cons for sure! I've always loved to do crafts and was into scrapbooking for awhile until I was introduced to beading through a friend of my sister. I was hooked! After making gifts for family and friends, this hobby segued into a small business and keeps on going. A couple of years ago I had the privilege of teaching jewelry lessons at a large craft store and that was a wonderful experience. Now I teach private lessons in the small town I live near, and my regulars have become family. They continue to want to learn new things and push me to keep expanding my repertoire- it's a win/win situation!

I'm an avid pinner and have lots of great boards- especially jewelry related things. You can check them out here on Pinterest. I'm also on Instagram where my user name is CharisDesigns. Twiiter is something I'm still trying to figure out but you can follow me as @CharisDJewelry.  I have a shop on Etsy as well as a Facebook business page, Charis Designs

Here's some pictures of  some favorite jewelry I've made:

Merry Mermain

Consider the Lilies

Autumn Splendor

Floral Fantasy

Smokey Mountains

and my absolute favorite....

Orchid Beauty

 Several of these were pieces that I made for blog hops, which I love participating in. Autumn Splendor and Orchid Beauty are still for sale- please contact me if you're interested.

With Valentines' Day around the corner, how about a giveaway of some Valentine earrings? Just leave a comment below ( with a valid email) and tell me something special you'll do for your valentine this year (family friendly please!).  Of course, I'm always looking for new followers too ;) I'll pick a random winner on February 1st.

Lots of other blogs to visit, so off I go- hoping your day is filled with splashes of grace and dashes of joy

Christie

Lampwork and Clay Blog Hop

Time for another blog hop. I love participating in these because a) it keeps me busy, b) it keeps me challenged and c) it's just plain fun! This one is hosted by Lisa Lodge of Pine Ridge Treasures. We signed up some time ago and had our choice of either lampwork or clay beads to play with. I chose lampwork and was sent beautiful little beads by Lisa Anderson, in purple no less, which is always a delight to play with. I've been so busy getting ready for craft shows and jewelry parties ( I'm in Texas with my sister right now for an annual one) that I forgot about this until last week and went into panic mode.

**Deep breath** Then I came across a tutorial that I'd purchased off the Bead Style site some time ago that used coiling, and since I like to tackle new things with a blog hop, decided to give it a whirl ( pardon the pun). The tutorial, Razzle-dazzle Bracelet, is by Carolyn Conley, and while she used her own large lampwork beads in hers, I just decided to scale it down some and see how it worked.  I've done a little bit of coiling before but hers called for long pieces and while I love my Coiling Gizmo, it really only works well for coils up to about 7 inches. So, grabbing a thin knitting needle, I transferred the coil onto it and completed it there. It's not nearly as tight and looks slightly wonky, but at least it worked! I then fed it onto 18 gauge copper wire and recoiled it before adding a wrapped loop on each end and adding Swarovski lovelies for sparkle and shine.
Here's a look at the final product:

I need to oxidize it so the copper isn't so shiny but since my plane leaves in a couple of hours that will have to wait. Isn't it pretty? Love how the copper makes the purple lampwork the star of the show. I have two more beads left and am figuring out how to use the left over coils for earrings. If you're an Instagram person, I'd love for you to follow me on there. My user name is CharisDesigns. I've also joined the interesting world of Twitter, and am trying to figure out the ins and outs of that. I don't tweet very often, but enjoy following people and seeing things they're posting. Over there you can find me @CharisDJewelry.

Here's the list for the other blog hop peeps. Thanks again, Lisa, for hosting another hop. I'm off to play with my sister- that will fill my day with dashes, splashes and buckets of grace and joy!

Your hostess:  Lisa Lodge, A Grateful Artist

Mary Govaars, MLH Jewelry Designs

Melissa Trudinger, Bead Recipes

Kathy Zeigler Lindemer, Bay Moon Design

Laurie Vyselaar, Lefthand Jewelry

Annette Rivers, MamaOwl's Mess

Karin King, The Sparkle Things Blog

Shaiha Williams,   Shaiha's Ramblings

Mimi Gardner, Baubles, Beads and Other Curiosities

Dee Alcalde, Agape Creations Jewelry

Kay Thomerson, Kayz Kreationz

Karla Morgan, Texas Pepper Jams

Lori Jean Poppe, Lorillijean Creative Corner

Eleanor Burian Moore, The Charmed Life

Leah Mifflin Tees, My Beady Little Eyes

Terri Wlaschin, Dances in Fog

Sharyl McMillian-Nelson, Sharyl's Jewelry

Jo-Ann Woolverton, It's a Beadiful Creation

Veralynne Malone, Designed by Vera

Linda Aspenson Bergstrom, TBD

Toltec  Jewels, Jewel School Friends

Judy Turner, Silver Rains

Gloria Allen, Gloria Allen Designs

Kathleen Douglas, Washoe Kat's

Connie Tipton, TBD

Christie Searle Murrow, Charis Designs Jewelry   (you are here)

Andrea Glick-Zenith, ZenithJade Creations

Michele Dotson, Star Jewels

Chris Eisenberg, Wanderware

Jennifer Clifford, TBD

Kathleen Breeding, 99 Bottles of Beads on the Wall

Molly Alexander, Beautifully Broken Me

Loretta, Loretta's Boutique

Carolyn Lawson, Carolyns Creations

Shirley Moore, Beads and Bread

Bonnie Coursolle, Jasper's Gems

Alice Craddick, Alice's Beads and Baubles (reveal will be delayed a few days)