2021 marks the sixth 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... The Honey Do List! 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:
This was a cool 8-bit looking mosaic in London, along with some random graffiti and chain-link fence. We saw a lot of cool street art on this leg of our England trip (pre-Covid of course) and this one jumped out at me. This was taken with my phone, so not as great quality as some of my shots, but still fitting for February!
Honestly when I first saw Eric's inspiration for us this month I wasn't sure what I would have in me. I had just made a bunch of Valentine's Day/Heart themed jewelry for a show my friends and did on Facebook the previous weekend. I knew that I still had more hearts hiding in my stash (and, frankly buried on my bead table!) so I dug in and decided to get cracking right away!
First up, I went looking for some little heart shapes that Lisa Peters Russ had tucked in with one of my orders. She gave me a fun red cork one and a grey fish leather one (that is the back of my pendant). I wanted to do something bead embroidery wise with these but decided that the texture and fun metallic shiny bits showing through on the cork really didn't need any further embellishment. The fabrics seemed too flimsy by themselves so I cut a smaller heart shape from a thin cardboard and glued in the middle of the two before sewing the brick stitch edge all around. I think the way the edging beads look echoes the 8-bit style of the inspiration heart. For added weight and interest I added a Czech glass teardrop dangle to the tip of the heart. I kept it simple and just have plain chain at the back.
Apparently I was in a necklace making mood this month because I made a third one! I got this sweet swirly ceramic heart pendant from Michelle McCarthy of Firefly Design Studio in the mail just in time to make one more design. For once I used the accent beads that came along with the pendant... adding in some Czech glass and satin finish German resin and brass accents.
Now it's your turn! Please add links to/photos of your own creations below. I love seeing what everyone else is making too! (I'm also really hoping that someone did something with the Jaws motif!) Check back on March 1st to see what Eric has in store for us next month!
Beautiful pieces, as always! I always love seeing what you make to match the inspiration photos... that cork heart is so cool and unique! And thank you for letting me play along. (Now I want to make something to go with the Jaws motif... I know I have shark teeth around here somewhere...)
ReplyDeleteYour designs are wonderful! I especially like that first one with the cork. The beading around it and the red drop are perfect.
ReplyDeleteI seriously considered making something with the shark, but that heart is so dominate in the picture that it dominated my inspiration. I may revisit the shark image though. There's something about that huge shark and the tiny boat that tickles me. Anyway, your pieces are so cool. I'm intrigued by your use of cardboard to back the cork pendant. I think that one's my favorite. As I mention in my post, I'm not usually very into hearts. LOL. Thanks so much for the inspiration once again. I always need it!!
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