November 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:

Just a scoop!  On our recent trip to the Czech Republic to visit bead and glass factories galore...I took some pics of beads.  Lots of beads.  This one may be a little too easy of an inspiration, but there you go. Go blue!  Go glass!  Go crazy!

Ok, so the blues in Eric's inspiration photo aren't necessarily the tones I gravitate towards the most, but I wanted to stay true to the idea of a mix of beads in blue tones.  For starters I made a couple of multi-strand bracelets with Golem Design Studio ceramic lentils and a mix of Czech glass beads.  Both bracelets even feature some of the beads that I brought back from the Czech Republic!  

I wanted to make at least one more design for this challenge playing off of all those bright blues.  I decided that the most appropriate focal to play with was a lovely floral porcelain pendant from Artisticaos... lots of great blues in this one!  I cut open a mix of Czech glass beads that I bought at the Preciosa gift shop on our Czech trip as well used some of those as well as some other beads we bought on that trip.  I also picked through a couple of other blue bead mixes that I had floating around.  I'm really happy with the way this one turned out!

Now it's your turn!  Please add links to/photos of your own creations below.  I love seeing what everyone else is making too.  Not ready yet?  No problem, I'll leave the link up open until late next month.  Check back on December 1st to see what Eric has in store for us next!  I know he's got tons of new photos he's been going through.

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June 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:   

During our trip to the arty city of Asheville, NC recently, I took a ton of pictures of amazing graffiti.  Take a decrepit brick building and make it into a work of art? Check!  This month's challenge is to use either this graffiti/mural as inspiration...or take your own photo and use it as inspiration!  

I love both the cute little bird with his kind of sad expression and the colors and patterns in this photo!  The bird itself (himself?  males are usually the colorful ones) started off my creativity for this month as I started to grab beady possibilities from amongst my stash.  

What did I make first?  Earrings!  Who is surprised??  What, no one is?  That's fair.  First up, a pair of earrings highlighting a pair of winter bird porcelain charms from Artisticaos.  The colors were perfect even if they aren't exactly summery.  

For my second pair of earrings I picked a cute set of birdie charms from Happy Fish Things.  The colors really worked for the inspiration and I feel like their little body decorations fit with the feeling of the mural too.  These really didn't need much from me... all I did was add some little Czech glass beads for legs and brass ear wires.  

  

I eked out a little more creative time this past weekend and managed to finish two more pieces for this challenge.  I had pulled a fabulous ceramic pendant from Golem Design Studio and am so happy I managed to complete a necklace with it.  I adore their fun and colorful designs and am in awe that each one is hand carved and glazed.  Anyway, I wanted to do something asymmetrical with some yellow Czech glass leaves.  to balance those leaves and a faceted yellow jade teardrop on the one side, I used a trio of Czech glass flowers on the other.  Pulling from the colors of the pendant, I selected some Swarovski pearls in Petrol and some aqua colored crystal.  

Last but not least, I whipped up a sweet little bracelet using a set of polymer clay beads from Humblebeads that have languished in my stash for a long time.  I kept the design fairly simple just adding some spacers between Heather's beads.  For the rest of the bracelet I used a mix of enameled link chain and a more plain gold plated oval chain.

I really had hoped to play with some lampwork glass from my stash that channeled some of the colors and patterns in the mural.  Sigh... so many ideas, so little time.  Maybe, just maybe something will come of those before I clean off my work space again.  

But enough of might of beens... it's time to see what YOU created! Please add links to/photos of your own creations below.  I love seeing what everyone else is making too.  Check back on July 1st to see what Eric dreams up for us next!

 

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February 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:   

Hey everyone!  I didn't have a single picture that really spoke to me this month.  Instead, I decided to try a mix of texture shots to test your muses!  Take these pictures as inspiration directly, or just make good use of textures in your work this month.  Good luck!  And next month I should have some pictures from our upcoming trip to warmer climes...

I really like this trio of textures that Eric chose for our inspiration this month!  I had some immediate ideas but not much time until pretty late in the month due to our travels.  I ended up focusing more on the idea of the textures than the actual colors that Eric captured.  Creative license!

While I know that the green and cream/yellow texture on the left is flaking paint, it made me think of some jasper pieces that Eric bought me for Christmas ages ago.  There was a fairly large pendant piece and a strand of puffed rectangles.  I wanted to add some extra oomph to the pendant (not that it really needed it with its size!) just to give a little more visual interest beyond the beauty of the stone itself.  I dug through my collection of Vintaj embellishments and came up with a copper ivy vine piece that fit the stone nicely.  It only has one hole in it (at the top) so I did a little wire wrapping at the bottom to keep it nice and secure.  I just don't love relying on glue.  Anyway, I strung a few of the smaller jasper beads interspersed with a mix of Czech glass and brass beads and used Vintaj natural brass chain at the back.

Next I made the pair of earrings that were actually my very first thought for the challenge.  When I saw the crater like texture in the upper right hand I thought of the ceramic moons that I got in my subscription box from Artisticaos a while back.  (I'm really bad about not just hoarding all her lovelies so I'm proud of myself for actually using these, lol.) The color is obviously more golden than the inspiration, but I still think it works.  I decided to dig deep in my Humblebeads stash for this and found some gorgeous headpins that I've had forever but have been too scared to use.  (Seriously, I have a thing about decorative headpins!)  Some Czech glass beads and brass bead caps round out this design.

I managed one last design... a pair of earrings that may be for me.  I've had this pair of wonky lampwork rings in my stash for quite a while that Eric and I picked out together at an art show.  I had originally planned on some sort of wire wrapping situation (which always gives me fits!) but decided on a simpler route with jump rings. It gives them a lot of movement!  Some faceted gemstones and creamy Czech glass with a little bit of an AB finish finish these up.

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

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Art Elements Theme of the Month :: Blue

 

The September Art Elements Theme of the Month is much more wide open than usual... it's all about the color blue!  

I knew that it was finally time to stop hoarding my pair of gorgeous blue jay feather charms from Artisticaos.  What challenge could be more perfect??  At first I thought I'd be able to pair the porcelain feathers wth some new dark blue moonglow lucite... but the two things were just fighting each other too much.  I had to come up with something else lightweight.  A lovely pair of dark blue and grey streaked polymer clay rounds from Humblebeads ended up being just the thing to complete the design.

I had already made up the little moonglow lucite links so I was determined to find something in my stash to pair with them.  Luckily, I had some pretty charms from Golem Design Studio that fit the bill!  (If you aren't familiar with Golem, their ceramic beads and pendants are all carved and glazed by hand.  Amazing!)  

Lastly, a piece that I shared in progress last month for the Mandala theme... but it certainly fits the blue theme perfectly as well!  So here it is all done!  The beautiful cobalt cab is by Jenny Davies-Reazor.  This piece got a little too big for me to be a pendant... so I added a pin back to make it a brooch.

Thanks for stopping by to see what I've been up to.  I hope you like my little foray into the color blue this month.    

We're All Ears May 2020 :: May Flowers

For this month's We're All Ears challenge, Erin chose the theme of May Day for us.  I'd never heard of the idea of flowers in cones or baskets for May Day... May Poles... yes, cones... no.  Either way, I can totally get on board with the idea of flowery earrings.  For someone who doesn't consider herself super flowery or girly, I do love flower beads!

I started with a fun pair of pressed pansy flower charms in resin from Twinkiedinky that I've had for a while.  The purple and yellow combination is not always an easy one for me, but how can I argue with Mother Nature?  I added some purple Czech glass flowers and little yellow rondelles for some fun and lightweight earrings.

Next up, I finally made something with some pretty yellow rose charms made by our hostess Erin Prais-Hintz of Tesori Trovati.  These have been languishing in my stash since 2016 (hangs head in shame) but they are finally getting their day in the sun!  I used some faceted citrines and little turquoise Czech glass beads to bring an extra pop of color into the design.

I also couldn't resist playing with some cool components from Artisticaos.  The colors were just so yummy, and the shape with it's wire "handle" does remind me a bit of a flower basket.  Once again I picked some coordinating Czech glass flowers as well as some little dyed agate rondelles.

After playing with a bunch of of my flowery art beads I decide to try my hand with a more May Day specific idea that came to me in the shower of all places, lol.  I thought it would be fun to have some little Czech glass flowers coming out of a cone shaped bead cap.  I had to play around with the lengths of the headpins until I was happy with how they behaved, but I think the end result is pretty cute!

Before I was done creating for this challenge, I managed to get in some play time with some new patterned cork that Heather Powers of Humblebeads turned me onto.  Here are a few variations on an earring idea using a thicker version of a floral cork sheet.  All are paired with brass charms from Vintaj, Czech glass flowers, and plated hematite beads.

This is a blog hop.  You can check out what other folks were inspired to make over on the Earrings Everyday blog HERE.

We're All Ears January 2020: Pantone Color of the Year

Each January, my friend Erin Prais-Hintz challenges us to make earrings using the recently announced color of the year for the We're All Ears challenge over on the Earrings Everyday blog.  I don't know about you, but this is the first time in ages that I've actually liked the Pantone Color of the Year!  Happy days are here again!  Not that I normally pay much attention to color trends and whatnot... I tend to just make what I want to make. 

I had a surprising amount of earring-appropriate blue beads in my stash to potentially play with this month... this picture doesn't even capture all the art beads!  As is often the case I had more options than I had time.

I have to admit that I wasn't really considering the different color palettes featuring Classic Blue.  Probably because I have a strong tendency toward more monochromatic designs!  I did pull together a couple of things that I think fit with specific color groupings though so I'll start there.

First up, a little take on the Ponder color palette.  I had some fun abstract enameled moth shapes from Gardanne that just needed to fly into a earring design.  The picture doesn't do them full justice, but there is some great color and texture on the solid side of the moths from the silver she used.  I decided to go for a slightly larger bead dangle than I might normally, but these faceted labradorite teardrops were too perfect to pass up.  The stone has some nice flashes of blue fire that was difficult to capture.

My next pair features some fabulous polymer clay charms by our gracious hostess Erin Prais-Hintz of Tesori Trovati.  With the fun metallic foil accents and the super dark blue, these were perfect to go with the Desert Twilight palette.  I chose metallic coppery English cut Czech glass beads and some bright blue dyed agate for the dangles.

The last two pairs that I made for this month focus just on the Classic Blue itself!  I had a couple of fun spiral swirl beads from Marsha Neal that decided to come out to play.  I just added some small dark navy Czech glass beads and a bead cap at the bottom and a little silver toned bead at the top.  These are on sterling ear wires.

Next up, I salvaged some faux tin pieces from this past fall's Inspired by Nature Retreat.  The colors were perfect, but the original rectangles were a little flawed on one end.  No problem!  I just trimmed them down smaller and then got busy filing the edges down.  After punching holes at top and bottom I just wire wrapped some adorable little Czech glass flowers with crystal centers on the bottom.  Tiny, simple, and cute!

Not made specifically for this challenge, but still celebrating the 2020 Color of the Year, here's a few more.  These were all made at the end of December for the Art Bead Scene Art Journey #9 challenge.

From left to right:  polymer clay charms by Humblebeads and cocoon beads by Saga Hus; ceramic charms by Artisticaos, polymer clay discs by Humblebeads, and dyed agate; porcelain charms by Kiyoi Design.

Hope you all have a fabulous weekend!  As this posts, I'm at the tail end of what I hope will be another fabulous Disney World vacation.  I'll catch you on the flip side!  For now, pop on over to the Earrings Everyday blog to see what everyone else was inspired to make HERE. 

Bead in the New Year: Part 2

My friends Andrew and William of Allegory Gallery in Ligonier, Pennsylvania have designed a fun creative challenge to kick off the new year.  They're calling it Bead in the New Year and it's been a wonderful way to get my creative juices flowing after a bit of a holiday break.  January is often a time of year that I find myself in a slump and this has been a fun way to get me out of that funk and making something everyday.   This is my second installment chronicling what I've made for the challenge.  You can see Part 1 HERE.  Here's the calendar that they've come up with for us:

Here's what I've make for the challenge over the last week and change...


Day 8: Use a stringing material that you don't usually use.

I rarely use memory wire, but I whipped up this little bracelet using mostly leftovers from an Allegory Gallery design challenge kit.  I think I'm feeling ready for some warmer weather!

Day 9: Produce a piece using gemstone chips.

Prehnite and Labradorite chips (both from Allegory Gallery), pendant by Artisticaos.

Day 10: Challenge yourself by using sari silk ribbon.

The kernel of this idea started Day 9 but by adding the sari silk at the back worked for this next prompt.  The organic ceramic pendant is by Mary Harding and the strung portion of the necklace is made up of many gemstones including Burma Jade, Fancy Jasper, Chalcopyrite, and Petrified Green Opal.

Feeling a bit lazy, I really wanted to cheat on the sari silk challenge and stop with these little earrings featuring sari silk cocoons by Saga Hus and lampwork and Czech glass.  I'm glad that I pushed through! 

Day 12: Make a project from a craft book.

Ok, this was more of a booklet than a book, but hey, creative license!  The top left image is Heather Powers' original project from the 2015 Bead Cruise booklet and the other two are my takes on the design.  The polymer clay charm in the pink bracelet is from Erin Prais-Hintz of Tesori Trovati.

Day 13: Get inspired by music!  Make a piece based off a song.

This may have been the toughest prompt for me so far... mostly because I find it hard to translate from the auditory to the visual.  Luckily, seeing this "Dream" bead from Jangles sparked an idea.  This necklace is inspired by the song Dream a Little Dream of Me.  It was fun to break out the metal stamps and use the little star stamp for the first time!

Day 16: Ask a friend for a creative challenge.  

For this one you're just going to have to wait for the reveal of the January Honey Do List on January 21st!  But here's the inspiration for this month... see the full post HERE, there's still time to play along if you're inspired!!

Day 17: Use the Pantone Color of the Year: Living Coral

This feels like cheating since the reveal for the We're All Ears challenge on the Earrings Everyday blog is Friday, but this pair featuring sweet charms from Heather Powers of Humblebeads will just get extra exposure!  You'll have to check back for my January 18th post to see the other pair I made!

As it is January 16th as I write this, I'm caught up for the moment!  I'm actually a day ahead since I wanted to space out my blog posts.  I'll share more of what I accomplish for the various prompts as the month goes on... at least that's the plan!  Thanks for stopping by for a visit today!

Art Bead Scene: May 2018

I got a really late start on this month's Art Bead Scene challenge.  So late, in fact, that I really didn't think I was going to even try.  But then tonight my sweet hubby wanted to do some miniature painting so I sat down to make a necklace.  Luckily, he also got out his light box set up and took a picture for me too!  Anyhoo... it's late so I'm going to keep this super short.

Primavera, by Sandro Botticelli, 1478

This month's inspiration artwork is Primavera by Sandro Botticelli.  You can read more about the artist and the artwork over on the ABS blog HERE. 

I took my inspiration from the floral dress on the woman to the right of the central figure and picked out a lovely porcelain pendant by Terri Del Signore of Artisticaos.  I strung it with a ton of Czech glass to complement the soft colors in the pendant and added a floral toggle clasp.

Thanks for stopping by for this quick post.  Now I'm off to bed to read for a bit until I can't keep my eyes open.  Good night all!

More Stash Busting!! Use Your Stash Part 2

As I mentioned in my post on Tuesday, I didn't manage to make everything that I had hoped to for the Art Elements Use Your Stash challenge.  (If you missed my previous post, you can see that HERE.)  Since I still had all the bits and bobs sitting around on my bead table and no other time sensitive projects, I decided to keep on working this week.  As a reminder, this is a little peek at what I had gathered together.

I started by (finally) tackling some great charms from Terri DelSignore of Artisticaos that I picked up a little while ago.  I think I originally had grabbed them thinking I might use them for a challenge last month.  I knew exactly what I wanted to do and had all the supplies pulled together... I just kept not making them!  But all that is over now... and I adore the finished design.  I had just the perfect color grey seed beads in my stash that I used in the wire wrapping.  The faceted hematite dangles plated in a matte pewter plating top things off.  I'm kicking myself for not grabbing more of this shape from Terri.  I'll keep my eyes peeled and my fingers nimble during her next Facebook sale!

Next up a pair of necklaces featuring large polymer clay beads from my friend Erin Prais-Hintz of Tesori Trovati.  As I mentioned in my previous post about using my stash, oversized beads often leave me flummoxed so I really wanted to challenge myself to design with some of my larger art beads.  The first one was inspired by necklace made by Lynda Carson of Fresh Baked Designs who was in turn inspired by Lorelei Eurto.  (You can see Lynda's piece HERE and Lorelei's HERE if you're curious... both are gorgeous!)  After seeing what these talented ladies had made using these fun wood chips, I had to have some to play with.  I added in some large lucite beads from Allegory Gallery to add an extra pop of color to the necklace and to balance out the sides and finished the back with brass chain.

Originally I had thought I might use the other strand of the wood chips I have in my second necklace, but plans changed as I started playing.  I had pulled out the turquoise wood beads and the pale aqua African recycled glass previously and as I played with combinations decided that they might feel a little overwhelmed by the size of the wood chips.  Instead, I grabbed some darker wood saucers that I worked into the design.  I chose copper plated findings this time.  You can't tell from my photos but there are tiny flashes of a coppery metallic in Erin's bead.  Plus I just like the combo of turquoise and copper! 

Last, but not least I dug WAY back into my bead stash for a ceramic crescent shaped pendant by Gerry Lee Cruthird and some coordinating gemstone beads that I bought in a destash several years ago.  In addition to the beads that came with the pendant, I added in some Venus jasper rounds, impression jasper heshi, Czech and vintage German glass, and Vintaj Natural Brass findings.  I finally used the Nouveau Swirls clasp that I got in a combo pack years ago.  I quite like the effect and may buy more of this one.

I've only managed to make the tiniest of dents in my art bead stash, but I'm still proud of the pieces I've managed to complete in the last month.  Now I'll forge onward to tackle February's challenges!

Art Bead Scene: November 2017

This month's Art Bead Scene challenge inspiration is a painting by French impressionist Armand Guillaumin.  You can read more about the artist and the challenge over on the ABS blog HERE.  I'm pretty smitten with this color palette and have been looking forward to focusing on this challenge.

Title: Crozant, The Bouchardon Mill

By: Armand Guillaumin

Date: 1906

Medium: Oil on Canvas

This one really got my creative juices going!  Before I knew it I had a bunch of art beads hanging out on my bead mat.  The first project that I decided to work on was a great excuse to break out my brand new Now That's a Jig that I bought last month.  I had the right gauge copper wire to make the charm holder pendant that Heather Powers taught us at her Inspired by Nature retreat, so that was my starting point for my necklace.  Two of the charms that I got from the retreat's charm swap (one from Heather and one from my friend Anna of Saga Hus) were perfect for the artworks color palette.  I added in a ceramic feather headpin from Artisticaos to complete the charm grouping.  Instead of using leather for the necklace (even though I had some light purple leather that would have worked well), I decided to finish it with chain and some beaded links made with Czech glass and plated hematite. 

Keeping with a Heather Powers/Humblebeads theme... I had to make a pair of earrings with some earring charms that I bought from Heather at last year's Inspired by Nature retreat!  She had just debuted this style and I had to pick up a couple of pairs including a vibrant set that I think works well with the ABS inspiration painting.  I added some Czech glass dangles but otherwise kept my design minimal.

I have a couple more ideas rattling around my head for this month's challenge.  We'll see if I end up getting back around to them with all my show prep that I have to do.  Fingers crossed that I get into my creative groove and really pound some things out!