Creative Jewelry Challenge #1: Make a Statement

Today is the reveal for the Creative Jewelry Challenge, hosted by Sally Russick.  We were challenged to make a statement piece. I knew right away what I wanted to do.  Last July, Brian (my dh) bought me some beautiful blue agate druzy beads.  A strand of 20mm and a gorgeous focal.  Blue is my favorite color, and I love a druzy.  He thought that I could make a piece with them to put on my shop banner and business cards.  Have I mentioned that he is awesome?  I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with them, so they've sat and I've thought.  Then I saw some pave beads in a destash group that I'm in on Facebook.  Everything clicked at that point, and here is what I did:

Here is a close up of that beautiful focal.  I love it.  I couldn't have picked out better beads myself.

And one more shot of the necklace.  

I made it long - 24 inches.  I love long necklaces.  I have enough of the 20mm beads to make a bracelet, and I think I will make some earrings with my leftover pave beads.

I hope you enjoyed seeing what I made, please check out the other participants and see what they did!

Sally Russick
Kim Dworak   <----you are here!
Terri Gauthier
Elizabeth Bergesen
Karin Grosset Grange
Paula Kramer
Patti Vanderbloemen
Therese Frank
Beth McCord
Niky Sayers 

Ordinary Extraordinary Everyday Days 11 to 15‏

This is the last post for this round of Ordinary Extraordinary Everyday, with Sally Russick.  I have had a great time with this and am looking forward to doing it again.

Day 11, Macro:

 Do you know what this is?  You'll see the rest of it later in this post.

Day 12, Temptation:

These are amazing chocolate covered cherries.  Amazing.  The best I've ever had.  I got them for Christmas and as you can see, there is only one left.

Day 13, Sweetness:

Living in WI and being a Bears fan is not easy.  But Walter will ALWAYS be Sweetness to me.

 Day 14, Love:

 This is Hal.  He is 13, and we adopted him last January after fostering him for a couple of months.  He is the sweetest dog I've ever had.  He's singing in this picture (howling).  Every day with him is a gift.

Day 15, Togetherness:

This is my husband and Heidi.  I thought it was perfect for the prompt.  The look on her face says it all.

Please don't forget to see what everyone else came up with for the prompts, and if you want to join, just add your link below:

An InLinkz Link-up

Ordinary Extraordinary Everyday Days 6 to 10‏

Here I am again joining up with Sally Russick for Ordinary Extraordinary Days.  I have days 6 through 10 for you today.  Here we go:

Day 6, Minimal:

 This is one of my Granny Great's (that's what we called her when we were little) wine glasses.  They are beautiful, and I think of her every time I use them.  And my thanks to Shari for giving me the idea for this picture, because I really didn't have a clue what to do with the prompt.

Day 7, Daily Chaos:

This is my alarm clock, and it's what starts my daily chaos every morning.  It's a sunrise alarm, which really helps me because I have a hard time waking up when it's dark outside.  I am not a morning person - ask anyone.

Day 8, Words:

 

This is my favorite picture of Brian and I from our wedding, in my favorite frame.  I love the saying on it.  This year will be 16 years for us in May.

 Day 9, Night Time Calm:

 

This is Wülfgang at the top, and George on the bottom.  Wülfgang will be 8 this year, George will be 17.    Wulfie is the best cuddling dog in the world.  George sleeps with him a lot, usually much closer than this.

Day 10, Outside:

The only editing I did to this picture was to crop a bit of the corner off, where the house was showing.  It was sleeting Tuesday night and I pointed the camera straight up and shot the picture with the flash on.  Pretty cool, the laser beams were completely unexpected.


And I'd like to show you a bonus picture, I was asked by a couple of people in the comments from Friday to share a picture of the completed necklace (repetitive pattern).  Here it is:

I am really happy with the way it turned out, and so was my friend.  Pattern is from Diane Fitzgerald's Shaped Beadwork.

Don't forget to come back on 2/16 for the last post in this series!

Thank you so much for stopping by, please take a look at the other participants and if you want to link up with your own post, there is an InLinkz tool below:

An InLinkz Link-up

Checkerboard Blog Hop

I am joining Lisa at Pine Ridge Treasures again for the Checkerboard Blog Hop.  I really love Lisa's hops.  She sends us a great selection of beads and I love a challenge.  I did take a picture of the beads I received in the kit before I started, here is what I received.

I just love the flowers.  Red is not one of my favorite colors, so this was a true challenge for me.  I ended up with two necklaces, I used up almost all of the beads. 

I had some pretty white crystals, and a black and white cameo focal, so I put this together.  

Now I needed to use those red beads.  And I wanted to put the flowers with them somehow.  This is what I came up with:

Here are both of them together:

Thank you for stopping by, I hope you like what I did, please stop by the other participants to see what they created with their beads!

Your hostess:  Lisa Lodge, A Grateful Artist

Jo-Ann Woolverton, It's a Beadiful Creation

Carolyn Lawson, Carolyn's Creations

Toltec  Jewels, Jewel School Friends

Heather Richter, Desert Jewelry Designs

Candida Elkins Castleberry, Spun Sugar Beadworks

Kathleen Breeding, 99 Bottles of Beads on the Wall

Mischelle Fanucchi, Micheladas Musings

Becky Pancake, Becky Pancake Bead Designs

Kari Asbury, Hippie Chick Design

Susan Anderson, La Main Tresor

Kathy Lindemer, Bay Moon Design

Ann Schroeder, Bead Love

Kim Dworak, Cianci Blue   This is me!

Margaret Pelech, Margaret Pelech's Blog

Lisa Prewitt Knappenberger, LiRaysa Designs

Annette Rivers, Mama Owls Mess

Carol Briody, A Beads Life

Miranda Ackerley, MirandAck

Marybeth Rich, A Few Words from within the Pines

Karin Grosset Grange (France), Ginkgo et Coquelicot

Katrina Scuderi Taylor, I Wanna Go Out

Ordinary Extraordinary Everyday - Week 1

I decided to try something new, and join one of Sally Russick's photo challenges.   This one is a mini challenge called Ordinary Extraordinary Everyday.  It lasts for 15 days, and we have a prompt for each day.  We take pictures that we feel go along with the prompt and then every 5 days we post our pictures.  This is the first week, and I should warn you if you are new to my blog - there will be Basset Hound pictures on my posts.  Probably Lots of them. Be prepared for extreme cuteness.

Day 1, Reflection:

This is my Günter.  He was my first Basset Hound.  He's been on my mind a lot lately because his birthday is this month, and March will be 2 years ago that we lost him - he was 7.  He was my heart dog and I miss him a lot.  My wonderful in-laws sent us this beautiful picture and poem after he passed away.

Day 2, Wrapping:

I did warn you about the Bassets.  This is Heidi.  I end up wrapping her up in a blanket and tucking her in nearly every night as she snuggles next to me on the couch.  She is a sweet girl and this picture just makes me smile.

Day 3, Kitchen Ritual: 

Every morning, I have coffee in this awesome mug (yes I am slightly obsessed).  The mug is from Barbara Donovan's Etsy shop.  I love her work.  Of course I have to drink Basset coffee in it.  My favorite coffee is from Moon Doggie, Their coffee is amazing, and it makes my morning a lot better.  The bags behind the mug are Tiramisu and Budderscotch Toffee. Yum!  They donate to Basset Rescue and have amazing coffee.  It's a win all around.

Day, 4 Paper:

These are my favorite (right now) scrapbook papers.  I want to use them and yet I don't because then they will be gone.  Maybe I will just look at them a little longer.  

Day 5, Repetitive Pattern:   

This is a necklace I'm doing for a friend's birthday present.  15 ovals.  I am putting it together tomorrow and she'll get it Saturday.  I am a little tired of ovals right now, but I think she will like it. The pattern for this is in Diane Fitzgerald's book Shaped Beadwork.  I really love this book, it's awesome.

I hope you enjoyed looking at my pictures, please take a look at what the other participants came up with for the prompts.  Don't forget to join me on 2/11 for the next post!

An InLinkz Link-up

Jasper and Pearl Challenge

I have another challenge for you today, from Lisa at Pine Ridge Treasures.  She sent us a yummy package of jasper and glass pearls, and we had to make something with it.  I remembered again to take a before photo, I believe I am on a roll:

 I love that burnt orange color of the jasper, it's one of my favorite colors.  I thought the white pearls were too small to pair with the larger jasper beads, so I found some larger cream colored pearls (also from Lisa) in my stash.  They were just the right size.  I made a necklace with them.

 

Then I used the white pearls along with the faceted jasper rondelles in a bracelet.  

 

Here are the two pieces together.

 And here is the collage I did for the Facebook group:

Please check out the Facebook group to see what the other members did. Thanks for stopping by!

Bead Hoarders Blog Hop 2014

I am joining Lori Anderson at Pretty Things for the Bead Hoarders blog hop.  This is the second year we've done it, and I was really excited when she announced that she would be doing it again. 

We are supposed to make something with some of our special beads that we've been hoarding.  Lori said it was ok to use something you'd made in the past with special beads.  That was perfect because not long ago I made a couple of necklaces with Earthenwood Studio focal beads that I'd been saving for 3 years.  I bought them from her at Bead and Button.  Nothing that I had looked right for them and I wasn't sure exactly what I wanted to do with them. They were some of my favorite beads though, and I wanted to do them justice. Then I received some beautiful agates from Lisa at A Grateful Artist.  As soon as I saw the agates, I knew exactly what I wanted to do.  I ended up making two necklaces with them, one for a Facebook challenge that she hosted in her group, and a second one that I finished right after the first one. I didn't put that one up on the group because the deadline was past once I finished it.  Here is the one I made for the challenge:

 And here is a close up shot of that beautiful focal.  I love it.

I also made a lariat, which was a first for me, I don't usually like them.  It was the only way I could think of to show both the bird and the wing off together.

 

Close up of the bird and wing:

And a shot of both of them together.  

 I really love those agates.  they look good enough to eat!  I love how they matched my hoarded beads so perfectly.  And I also had waxed linen cord that went perfectly with everything that I'd been waiting to use for a while.  I'm really happy with how they turned out.

Please see what all the other bead hoarders were able to create with their treasures!

Lori Anderson	www.PrettyThingsBlog.com  (Hostess)
Audrey Belanger	esperianterra.blogspot.com
Jenny Kyrlach	http://anafiassa.blogspot.com/
Kathy Lindemer	http://bay-moon-design.blogspot.com/
Lori Schneider	http://beadaddicted.blogspot.com/
Dee Elgie	http://cherryobsidia.blogspot.co.uk
Dolores Raml	http://craftydscreations.wordpress.com
Rebecca Ednie	Http://eclecticendeavours.blogspot.com
Lili Krist	http://emjestudio.blogspot.com/
Marybeth Rich	http://forestofjewels.blogspot.com/
Hannah Rosner	http://goodrivergallery.wordpress.com/blog/
Nicole Prince	http://healingbeading.blogspot.com/
Deana Hager	http://justdeesarts.blogspot.com/
Jackie Ryan	http://kydojewellery.blogspot.co.uk/
Elsie Deliz-Fonseca	http://ladelizchica.blogspot.com/
Mowse Doyle	http://mowsemadethis.blogspot.com/
Evelyn Shelby	http://raindropcreationsbyevelyn.blogspot.com
Lisa Johnson	http://spudandmrsbutters.blogspot.com/
Terri Gauthier	http://terrisbloomingideas.blogspot.com/
Patti Pruhs	http://threebeadsandastring.blogspot.com
Shai Williams	http://www.shaihasramblings.com/
Andrea Glick	http://zenithjade.blogspot.com/
K Hutchinson	https://jumbledhutch.wordpress.com
Marci Brooks	https://thatnothingbewasted.wordpress.com/
Jo-Ann Woolverton	itsabeadifulcreation.blogspot.ca
Jasvanti Patel	Jewelrybyjasvanti.blogspot.com
Laurie Vyselaar	Lefthandjewelry.wordpress.com
Lisa Knappenberger	LIRaysaDesigns.blogspot.com
Mary Lindell	marylindell.com
Niky Sayers	silverniknats.blogspot.co.uk
Sandra McGriff	skyescreativechaos.blogspot.com
Patricia Handschuh	thecolorofdreams.blogspot.com
Erin Prais-Hintz	treasures-found.blogspot.com
Maria Rosa Sharrow	willowstreetshops.blogspot.com
Kathleen Breeding	www.99bobotw.blogspot.com
Monique Urquhart	www.ahalfbakednotion.blogspot.com
Jackie Locantore	www.artfire.com/ext/shop/blog/MorningStar
Sheryl Stephens	www.babblebead.blogspot.com
Becky Pancake	www.beckypancakebeaddesigns.blogspot.com
Mona Arnott	www.bijouxgemsjoy.blogspot.ca
Michelle Escano	www.cabbycraft.com
Denise McCabe	www.cabewoman.blogspot.com
Carolyn Lawson	www.carolynscreationswa.blogspot.com
Sheila Prose	www.catswithbeads.blogspot.com
Kim Dworak	www.cianciblue.blogspot.com    ----->You are here
Iveth Caruso	www.CreativeAtelier.net/blog
Deborah Apodaca	www.deborahapodacadesigns.blogspot.com/
Elizabeth Bunn	www.elizabethbeads.blogspot.com
Janine Lucas	www.esfera.me/travel/blog/travel-stories
Kari Asbury	www.hippiechickdesign.blogspot.com
Inge von Roos	www.ingetraud.wordpress.com
Divya N	www.jewelsofsayuri.com
Debbie Rasmussen	www.kepirasmussen.blogspot.com
KJ	www.kjsbeadaciousbeads.blogspot.com/
Klaudete Koon	www.klaudetekoon.blogspot.com
Ghislaine Kruse-van Erp	www.kruseartllc.com
Ginger Bishop	www.lilmummylikes.blogspot.com
Kelly Schermerhorn	www.meanderingwithkelly.blogspot.com
Mischelle Andrade	www.micheladasmusings.blogspot.com
Sue Kelly	www.midlifegreaterexpectations.blogspot.com
Rachel Mallis	www.mintmonarch.com/#!Blog/c1jlz
Susan McClelland	www.mistheword12.com
Mary K McGraw	www.mkaymac.blogspot.com
Tania Spivey	www.moobiegracedesigns.blogspot.com
Stephanie Perry	www.mustardbeadbystephanieperry.blogspot.com
Mitzie Crider	www.NeedfulLuxuries.Blogspot.com
Nicole Rennell	Www.nicolerennell.com/blog
Nicole Valentine	www.nvalentine.blogspot.com
Karen Mitchell	www.overthemoon-design.com
Tammy Adams	www.paisleylizard.com/blog/
Patty Miller	www.pattymillerbeads.blogspot.com
Blanca Medina	www.peru-medesigns.com
Stephanie Haussler	www.pixybugdesigns.blogspot.com
Roxanne Mendoza	www.roxidesigns.blogspot.com
Claire Fabian	www.saraccino.blogspot.com
Bridget Torres	www.shears58.net
Donetta Farrington	www.simplygorgeous-donetta.blogspot.com
Lee Koopman	www.stregajewellry.wordpress.com
Deb Fortin	www.studiok24.blogspot.ca
Susan Walls	Www.susansartcircus.com/blog
Cece Cormier	www.thebeadingyogini.com
Heather Otto	www.thecrafthopper.com
Lizzie Clarke	www.theneedtobead.blogspot.co.uk
Elizabeth Hodges	www.thewhisperingseas.blogspot.com
Fay Wolfenden	www.torchfairy.blogspot.com
Kelly Hosford Patterson	www.TravelingSideShow.blogspot.com
Nan Smith	www.wirednan.blogspot.ca
Jayne Capps	www.mamasgototdoodle.blogspot.com

Robin Kae Reed                                      http://www.willowdragon.blogspot.com/
Melissa Trudinger                                   https://beadrecipes.wordpress.com/