Bead Soup Blog Party 8 Reveal

Today is the reveal of Bead Soup Blog Party 8!  This is my 3rd time participating and once again, I had a blast.  To see what I made for BSBP 6 and 7, click here and here.

A quick summary of the Bead Soup Blog Party rules.  You are assigned a partner for the Bead Soup Blog Party and you are to send your partner a set of beads, a focal and a clasp.  You have to use the focal and the clasp but do not need to put them in the same piece.   Then you blog the reveal for all to enjoy.

I was so lucky to be partnered with Lori Schneider of Bead addict.  Please visit Lori’s blog to see what she made with the soup I sent.  Lori is an amazing artist, has an incredible stash of beads and even makes her own polymer clay goodies.  I was fortunate enough to receive one of those goodies as the focal in my soup.  

Lori posted a teaser photo on her blog of my soup click here.  It was a beautiful kaleidoscope of colors with the essence of a peacock feather.  The colors were beautiful and I couldn’t wait to see the soup in person.  I hadn’t worked with a polymer clay focal before and was really hoping for one. 

The soup was a wonderful mix of blues, yellows, and blacks with butterflies (my favorite), lady bugs, two clasps and a fantastic handmade dual sided focal.  My only concern at this point, was how do I do this soup justice.

I got to work right away, testing ideas out to see what would stick.  Unfortunately, I ended up with more unfinished projects than finished ones.  I just couldn’t think of the best way to complete the design.  However, I did complete the main piece.  You can wear it with either side of the pendant facing out.  How fun!

Lori's handmade focal!

I love participating in the BSBP.  I meet new bead buddies, get exposed to new techniques, materials and colors.  I am always challenges sinice I rarely use focals/pendants in my typical creations.  I knew going into this one that I would be very busy, but I still wanted to at least finish the main piece and complete it in advance.  I often wait until the last minute when I am struggling to come up with an idea.  This time I set a goal and nailed it.

 
Thanks for stopping by.  Hope you enjoyed my piece and please visit the other amazing artists.  Visit the Bead Soup Blog Party blog for the entire list of participants here.  Many, many thanks to Lori Anderson for once again organizing this wonderful event.  Lori Anderson puts us BSBP participants first before herself, which is highly commendable and worth more than I could ever thank her.

To see the list of all of the participants blogs, please go to the Bead Soup Blog Party Blog: 

http://www.prettythingsblog.com/2014/05/welcome-to-8th-bead-soup-blog-party.html

Bead Soup Blog Party 7 Reveal

It is finally that time again.  It is the 2nd Reveal for the 7th Bead Soup Blog Party.  My lovely partner Sue, sent me a delicious bowl of soup.  It took me a while, but eventually the ideas started flowing.

Soup from Sue - Love the colors!

The rules for this challenge are to send your partner a set of beads, a focal and a clasp.  You have to use the focal and the clasp but do not need to put them in the same piece.  I tired to use as much as I could of the beautiful soup.  Hope you enjoy what I've cooked up!

A bracelet with the clasp from Sue.

I fell in love with a wire Kumihimo necklace I saw on facebook by Pru McRae.  This was my first attempt at Kumi with wire.  It was a bit awkward.

The focal from Sue.

Close up

 A pair of earrings with my favorite color combo.  I absolutely love the green beads.  Can't wait to wear these.

Love green with copper.

I still had some beads left over, so I kept going.  Pink and green beads...shocker and cream colored silk cord.

Thank you once again to Lori Anderson for hosting this amazing event.  The participation is overwhelming (in a good way). Looking forward to hopping.  Please be sure to visit my partner Sue's blog http://midlifegreaterexpectations.blogspot.com/ to see what she made with the soup I sent her.

There are close to 500 total participants.  Reveal 1 was at the end of March and there is still 1 more reveal to go.  Please check out the lovely designs by visiting Lori's blog below:

http://lorianderson-beadsoupblogparty.blogspot.com/2013/04/7th-bead-soup-blog-party-2nd-reveal.html

Soup Arrived

I was so excited when I found out I had a package waiting for me at home last night.  It was the best end to a long day.  I am thrilled with the soup from my partner Sue!  If you haven't already, please check out her blog and shops.

Ok, ok.  Here are the lovely contents of the package.

Mmm...pink, my favorite

Love the mixture

I have a little confession.  I took the soup to work today and showed it off.  I kept the bag on my desk, glancing over occasionally.

Now I can reveal what I send Sue.  Can't wait to see what she cooks up!

Soup for Sue

Check back on April 6th for our reveals.  The wheels are a spinning, but still not sure what I'm going to make.  I am ready to dive in and start cooking.

Extreme Bead Shopping

17 stores, over 430 miles in only 2 days. I owe this adventure to the Bead Shop Hop.  We have 10 more stores to visit this weekend.  Do you really think I could visit that many stores without buying anything? Of course not!

I went crazy with copper findings and a small amount of beads.  Check out the new additions to my stash.

Just a few of the findings. There are way more. I didn't want to spill out all of the tiny pieces.

Finally, I have pendants.

Beads!

More beads!

And a few more..

Beads & Beads.

Colorful Beads!

What, no more beads?!

The first creation from the shop hop.

I also bought tools and a Kumihimo kit.  Can't wait to try everything out.  Stay tuned for more jewelry and even more beads!

Pay It Forward With Handmade

I found this awesome meme on Therese's blog!  I love the idea.  

Here's how it works:

I will send a surprise gift to the first three commenters on this blog post. The gift will be a handmade surprise by me and will be sent to you some time in the next 365 days.

All you have to do is, leave me a comment and make sure you include your email address (if your profile doesn't include it). I’ll email you for your mailing address and a ask a few questions.

To complete signing up you MUST play along too. To do this you must blog a similar post and pledge to make a surprise gift for the first three people who comment on it.
So, do you want to play? Comment below and I’ll sent a thoughtful handmade gift to the first three people who do.
Who is in?