Honey Do List August 2020

2020 marks the fifth year that my husband Eric has been giving me a design challenge each month to get me out of my comfort zone and to help clear out my bead stash... it's the Honey Do List 2020!  I know that I'm not the only one who loves a good design challenge, so I'm hoping folks will continue to play along with us!

Here's this month's inspiration and what Eric had to say about it:

So this one is an old picture, but fits the time of year...and the fact that Sarajo is spending her summer days raising a bunch of monarch butterflies from eggs and caterpillars!  So here is some brightness for your jewelry making pleasure.

I never thought I'd be a monarch mama, but here I am.  After my original round of caterpillars I thought I'd be done, but I kept finding more tiny caterpillars and eggs.  So here I am having released 13 butterflies so far with 1 more in chrysalis, and one more decent-sized caterpillar to go!  Guess with our summer plans getting shelved and being at home all the time, I needed something extra to distract me!  

Here are a couple of pictures of two of the six (!!) butterflies that I released this past weekend.  Aren't they just gorgeous?!?

I had the pleasure of meeting up for lunch and some shady bead deals with my good friend Anna Pierson of Saga Hus the other day.  It was so nice to get to hang out and catch up, and get a nice haul of lovely new cocoons to play with at the same time!  You'll see the fruits of that meeting in most of my designs this month.

The first thing that I made focused more on the colors of the flower blooms and stems in Eric's photo than the monarch itself.  I had snagged this pair of butterfly wing charms from Kristi Bowman when she first started making them.  I paired the charms with coordinating Czech glass and some copper plated flower bead caps.  Kristi's components literally have a glow about them that pictures don't do justice.  

Next up, a super quick earring pair that combines a fun dark maroon and gold set of Saga Hus cocoons with amazing faux tin charms by Humblebeads.  These are super duper light weight yet still pack a visual punch!  I love it when components from two talented friends come together like this.

Eric says that I have to keep this next pair.  I think I just might because they are super cute and go nicely with a sundress I have.  The ceramic charms are from the talented Sarah Kandell of Slate Studios.  Again, I've paired the charms with cocoons from Saga Hus but fancied up the design with some seed bead decorated jump rings for extra movement.  

I couldn't wrap up my creating for this month without making a necklace with an amazing monarch pendant from Humblebeads.  I wire wrapped a fun black and orange piece of Nepalese cane glass and some Czech glass rondelles to make a bail for the pendant.  I knew that I wanted to do beaded links for this design since I wanted to use some more great orange cocoons from Saga Hus.  The funky black glass beads were a gift from my friend Monica Pena of Mariposa Originals Jewelry... I'm kind of smitten with their unique shape!

Now it's your turn!  Please add links to/photos of your own creations below.  I love seeing what everyone else is making too!  Check back on September 1st to see what Eric has in store for us next month! 

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