Bead Soup 7

     After weeks of planning, playing, preparing and photo-ing I'm finally done with the soup I received from Linda Djokic. She sent me a serious ton of stuff - all of it lovely. So, let's get to it - here's a picture of the entire ensemble of pieces I've made (so far!).

The first in the series was made using Linda's 15mm lampworks. I love these beads, they have the feeling of an impressionist painting. Subtle speckles of pastels in pink, blue, purple and green. They feel like Spring. I added wind dings from Genea Beads in rosy-raspberry colors, the silver accents and the clasp.

  I'm really happy with the results. The piece just about put itself together, everything just 'clicked' as I layed it out on the play table.

     The next piece I did was the necklace using Linda's large polka-dot lampwork heart. I wanted this to be something really whimsical and fun but I didn't want to simply use the heart as a dangle on a chain. What I came up with was to use the heart as a component of the clasp and offset it to the side. I think it draws the eye to it because of the placement and its size compared to the other beads.

 The two spacers that go with the heart made a perfect set with the large cast resin squares and I love the turquoise as an accent to the red. I used small ceramic donuts to make the lower part of the chain and a length of squares & circles to make the back - I like the balance of squares and circles on the entire piece.

     A lot of the colors in Linda's work are pale, delicate, misty... I tend to lean more toward the bolder more intense colors. But I think the pink bracelet is a nice balance. From my stash I added the pink spotted lampworks, the silver accents, the pink and white pearls, sea glass, glass rings and the toggle. An awesome mash-up of pinkiness!

     I moved on to the large purple lampworked flowers. These presented the biggest challenge for me, for some reason they  just wanted to dangle and I kept seeing them facing up, harumph!!  After much argument and wire and starting over, I admitted defeat and made two necklaces.

 Most of the beads in both pieces were from Linda's soup, I added the chains for both and small accents. Everyone that has seen them so far as loved the purple flowers. After I finished I thought, "I must have used everything by now!" - but, NO... I checked the box and there were still many, many beads. The final piece I made used the fresh water pearls and the pressed glass purple beads. I added some lampwork and toggle and filled in with lots of little bits from my stash. You'll recognize the rubber O's I love that I get from MyElements I use them in almost all my play! This piece is very much my style - everything but the kitchen sink and lots of color!

Whew! I still have a few beads left from the overly generous soup that I got but I simply ran out of time trying to use everything. As I finish with the rest, I'll do updated posts so you can all see them. I'm off to check out everyone else's soups - Cheers!!

The Final Simmer!

March 30 is almost here! Bead Soup 7 Reveal is Upon US!!


I'll have a reveal post that will launch at Midnight March 30 - be sure to come check out all the amazing beads and what I concocted with them! This soup was a lot of fun, I have a great partner who has a lot of talent. She was so generous with what she sent to me - I was a bit overwhelmed!

You can also check out the official Bead Soup Blog Hop Pinterest site: BSBP 7 on Pinterest where all the soup participants will be posting their creations. While you're waiting for the 30th you can look at some of the new additions to the store - these are some of the keychains I've been working on, and a little something new, bright fun purses to celebrate SPRING!!

Cool Stuff I Found

     Sometimes I get to wandering around the internet aimlessly following the blue words. Bad habit, I know - but sometimes it finds me the most amazing, cool stuff. I decided to share a few of the really cool places I found while 'Bluing Around' ~

 Fun Funky Findings - just as the name implies - a great little Etsy shop for finding some really great tidbits.

Carousel Ink - why isn't everyone wearing these???

Fab - a fun shopping site, you set up a profile and every day they send you great deals on the coolest stuff

Stumble Upon - I love this site - it helps me 'Blue Around' more efficiently. You set up an account, do a little profile and it brings you things you want to look at!

     If you've been someplace awesome and you think I need to know about it -- send it over!

Eating the Elephant

    What do you do when you NEEEED to make something but everything you start goes nowhere? ACK!! frustrating. I'm working on my bead soup, getting ready for an annual festival coming up in April, and trying to stay ahead of sales.... lots of little projects.

    Normally when I can't figure out what to do - I use the elephant method of problem solving. 'When you have to eat an elephant, the best method is... one bite at a time.'  I definitely have to eat an elephant. Sometimes I sit down and so many good ideas come to me, I can't make them fast enough. When that doesn't happen no matter what I'm supposed to be working on, I make earrings.

     Earrings are great, they're fast, require hardly any supplies and can be made with left overs! Making earrings usually sparks an idea for something similar, bigger, more involved. It's also a great way to try  something that you can picture working really well in your head, but you might not be sure about it on a necklace or bracelet.

    Guess I better get to it.... Time to eat the elephant!

MyElements - My Good Thing!

    There is a lot of bad in the world, turn on the news - if it bleeds, it leads. I think if there were more stories about the people who are doing good things... more people would be encouraged to do good things! So, here's a story about a good thing that happened to me!

    I got home from work today and in the mail was a package from one of my all time favorite people, Yvonne Irwin-Faus of MyElements. I have been ordering supplies from Yvonne forever, if you're not familiar with her follow the link to her Etsy site - its awesome!

    Anyway, I've had a tough year - not whining, just sayin' - and I haven't really felt up to being creative. But lately I'm starting to come around and I had decided if I was ever gonna get myself back to work I should start with something fun and colorful - I signed up for the Bead Soup cause a deadline seemed important and, of course I ordered some stuff from Yvonne.

    What showed up today was just awesome - she sent what I ordered (of course!) but she sent me a big ol' bag of Happy! I was really overwhelmed - I'm still smiling and I'm definitely ready to get back to play! Thanks Yvonne!! I owe you a hug next time I'm close enough to deliver it!

A Mile of Smile!

I'm Percolating Along

     The soup arrived, I told you about that. A lot of soup, a lot of variety.  Linda Djokic does really beautiful work and sent me an interesting sampling of it. When it first arrived I was so knocked out by all of it that I didn't really THINK about what I would do with the various components.

     I started playing around with all of it over the weekend. So far, I've made two pieces, one using most of the speckled lampworks. At first glance these beads have the feeling of an Impressionist painting. When I started putting them next to other beads I was amazed at how many colors worked with this one little bead. I could have used purple, blue, green, pink, ivory or a combination of several of those. I knew I wanted the beads to be the focus and that I wanted to make a bracelet. It just came together beautifully and I can't wait to share it with all of you!

     The second piece I made is a necklace. I really loved the lampwork heart and two matching spacers - who doesn't love spots? It really was a challenge to come up with something that made the heart the center of attention without it looking like what everyone else makes. It's different then anything else I've ever done but I think it still represents me - Now, I just have to figure out what to do with all the other amazing sparklies that I still have left!

Better Pictures

     Lately, to save time - (always a bad reason!) I've been using my phone to do photos. Either I have a seriously crappy phone or the hand holding it is a seriously crappy photographer. I choose 'B' - but even when I'm not lazy and I use my camera my pictures always seem to come out too dark. I'm sure there is some secret tip that you all know.... SHARE PLEASE!!