Summer Beading

It is the first day fall here in Weston. So I am going to take a look a back at some of the beading I did this summer. Some I have blogged about and some I have not.

Summer started with those three great classes with Jean Power, zinnias, frames and stars. Following the class I finished the zinnia and not just one star but 4.

Finished Zinnia

Finished Stars

In July I was part of the Bead Hoarder's Blog Hop. Using some of the beautiful beads I had been saving I made four different sets of jewellry. Here is my favourite, using beads by Jennifer Tough that I have had stashed in a little metal Swarovski box.

Bead Hoarder's Set

I took a great class at beadfx with Pamela Kearns. The shooting star pendant is from the book Crystal Play by Anna Elizabeth Draeger. In class I did one with jet & red coral Swarovski crystals and silver seed beads. 

First Shooting Star Pendant

I did a secod one later in the summer with green seed beads, green and yellow Swarovski crystals. It is not quite the look I was hoping for. I likely remake it with some brown seed beads to look like a wooden trellis for the flower-like cluster of crystals.

In August I posted about the piece I created with the polymer clay component by Alenka of Pepita Handmade. It was a fun challenge that push me to make something very different then usual!

Pepita Handmade necklace

The last challenge of the summer was the Cabochon Challenge. I loved this reversal pendant project from the August issue of Bead & Button by Amy Kohn made with Lunasoft cabs. I have been wearing the Red/Grey pendant and love being able to flip the piece during the day.

After blogging about Peyote stitch on the Rypan Designs' blog I decided to make a few projects from Diane Fitzgerald's Shaped Beadwork book. I love the Celtic Trefoil design. It was interesting to see this go from a long loose knot of 99 delicas to a beautiful Celtic Knot Trefoil pendant.

To finish my first one I used short lengths of chain and small Swarovski crystals.

The second one has just silver chain.

My third is accented with mauve Swarovski Pearls.

 I also started to play with the pointed ovals from Diane's book. I was looking to use them to create a flower brooch. I was inspired by this photo I found online a number of years ago.

 Here is one of the pointed ovals in progress.

Five ovals worked together in to a flower. I just need to figure a way to hold it together as a wearable brooch.

 
Here is the necklace that I made with the beads that my friend Maria got for me at Bead & Button show. The beautiful owl pendant is accent with ceramic, copper and wooden beads.

Owl necklace

 Back in July I purchased some amazing ceramic beads from Kathi Mohlman of Earth n Elements Pottery. The urchin beads I wanted to put them with the Sea Urchin beaded bead from Marcia DeCoster's Beaded Opulence book. I added some fire-polished beads and pearls.

Sea Urchin Necklace

I finished a few other projects for fall challenge reveals. Stay tuned to see some other fun projects.

Pepita 1st Blogoversary

It is reveal day for this fun and challenging blog hop. Back in June Alenka over at Pepita handmade post about her 1st blogoversary. To celebrate she invited fellow bloggers to sign up for a creative challenge. She would send us one of her amazing handmade components and we would have until August 11 to make something with it.

amazing components sent to fellow beaders

I received this wonderful component.

Curved turquoise coloured component

After many days of just looking at it and thinking about design ideas. I was inspired by my mobile from a few years ago. It now sits on the book shelf next to my beading table. The combination of copper and turquoise is a favourite.

During a trip to beadfx I picked up some interesting turquoise and coppers beads, copper findings, wire and chain.

The before picture

As I started to play with these beads I found that I still needed a few more things. More chain, eyepins (instead of headpins) and a closure.

Here is my design idea sketch I did on my ipad.

This finished necklace is like nothing I have made before. It is 102 cm (40 in.) long and is an asymetrical design.

The after picture

After finishing the necklace the challenge has been to photograph it. The above photo shows the over all length and design, but not the detail. Arranged over and around this small hand carved wooden bowl you can see more details.

Artistically arranged

Close up of Pepita Component

This was a challenge that had me asking myself "what if" as I played with the makeup of each of the bead connections and their placement in the design. I also got to use my new 1-step looper tool (love it!)

Here are the participants:

Ginger Bishop

Susan Kennedy

Becky Pancake

Debbie(Kepi) Rasmussen

Evelyn Shelby

Dini Bruinsma

Monique Urquhart

Jo-Ann Woolverton

Penny May

Carolyn Lawson

Ana Cravidao

Dolores Raml

Cynthia Machata

Thanks once again to Alenka for the chance to celebrate with you.

Happy Blogoversary!!!

In the Mail - Pepita's Blogoversary

I love to get something other that bills in the mail. Over the last few weeks I have gotten some wonderful things in the mail.

Here is my first post about the amazing things that have arrived in my mail box.

Almost a month ago Alenka over at Pepita handmade post about her 1st blogoversary. To celebrate she invited fellow bloggers to sign up for a creative challenge. She would send us one of her amazing handmade components and we would have until August 11 to make something with it.

Here are all the components she made to share

Here is the curved turquoise bar that I received

This is going to a fun challenge as I many ideas to play with over the next few weeks. Come back on August 11 to see the final result.

Thanks Alenka for the chance to celebrate with you.