July 2023 Honey Do List

2023 marks the eighth 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!  (Y'all, time really does fly!!)  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:

Here is some inspiration from our trip to Asheville, NC earlier this summer. I took this picture of pink dogwood flowers right outside an art gallery, so I feel like bringing this around full circle.  Give us some flowers, some leaves, some pink stuff, whatever!

I just adore dogwoods... they are part of my childhood.  I spent many an hour as a kid climbing the one in my grandparents' house in Birmingham... although that one and the one at my house had white blossoms.  

I started out making a couple of simple pairs of earrings with sweet pink Czech glass dangles.  One pair from some cool copper plated filigree connectors.  It's tough to tell from this photo but they have a little bit of a dome to them.

My second pair uses some floral brass deco rivets that I've been hoarding for a while.  I need to break these out more often!    I sanded them down a bit to bring out the pattern.  

Next up, a necklace featuring a ceramic pendant by The Classic Bead that I had forgotten that I even had!  With the way its loop was situated, I decided that my best bet to attach it was to make a little beaded bail with some wire and a Czech glass bead.  I strung the front part of the necklace with more Czech glass beads and some rutilated quartz ovals.

Another little gem in my bead stash for this challenge was a sweet little rose gold colored dogwood pendant from Humblebeads.  I really wanted to do something to give it a little more visual oomph.  I played with a lot of different filigree type options to go behind it before landing on a sort of shield shaped one.  I made bead links with Czech glass and moonstone beads and finished the back with brass chain.

I managed to make one last necklace before my birthday trip to Denver.  I'm kind of shocked that I created as much as I did this month considering I was gone for a week.  For this design I used a vintage ceramic pendant that I had picked up in Asheville, NC a few years back.  I made links using Czech glass and Rose Quartz on brass findings.

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 August 1st to see what Eric dreams up for us next!

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