Honey Do List February 2021

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.

For the second necklace I played with a ceramic pendant with a flaming heart motif that I got in a mixed bead goody bag from Andrew Thornton in a destash.  (I don't know for sure who it's by... if you recognize the maker let me know!)  For as simple as my design actually is, it took a lot of playing with different beads and configurations to get it to where I was happy with it.  There's something about the teardrop beads flanking the pendant that makes me think of spread wings... especially when it's worn.  

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!

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Have a Heart!! Heart Fest Mini Challenge

I'm really not a hearts type of girl... it's just not necessarily a shape that appeals to me and I'm not all mushy gushy into love when it comes to my jewelry designs.  So, I was surprised when I saw the Heart Fest Mini Challenge over on the Artisans Create Together Facebook page and went digging in my stash, that I had a few hearts hiding out in there!  And I didn't even use all I had for this little challenge.

First up, a pair of earrings featuring some enameled connectors by Blue Hare Art Wear.  I love the black and white speckled look of these and the red and red-orange murrini hearts blooming in the centers.  The two holes at the bottom posed a bit of a design challenge for me but I solved it with some jump rings and fun textured pewter rings.  I like the mix of silver and black tones in the findings.

Next up, a pair of earrings featuring heart shaped bronze clay charms by Lesley Watt.  I paired these with Czech glass in shades of blue and brass findings.  

To break out of my earring run (seriously, I made 9 pairs of earrings in a row!) I did make an necklace.  I used a wonderful polymer clay charm by Andrew Thornton of Allegory Gallery strung with tons of Swarovski pearls in copper and bordeaux.  I was so happy to discover that Andrew's pendant was the perfect color match for these pearls.  It's a simple stringing project, but I think it has great visual impact!

And not to ignore the bracelet lovers out there, I did whip up a batch of bracelets with (mostly) heart shaped button clasps in shades of red, pink, and purple. 

All of these heart themed designs are currently available at Unearthed Arts in downtown Waconia, Minnesota. 

New Earring Monday '15: Weeks 5 & 6

Welcome back to New Earring Monday!  I'm not too much of a hearts and flowers girl normally, but I decided to give some Valentine's Day/love themed earrings a try for this week since a certain holiday falls on Saturday.  (Apologies to my sweet and understanding husband that I won't be spending Valentines Day with him this year, but will be setting sail with a gaggle of beady friends on the 10th anniversary Bead Cruise instead!)  I ended up getting in the spirit and going a little overboard with the hearts!

A friend gave me a remnant of cute scrapbook paper with little hearts and cupcakes all over it.  What was left over was way too small for her uses, so she gifted it to me in hopes I could find a use.  Happily, some of the little hearts were just the perfect size for earrings!  I had intended to make two matching pairs, but two of the pieces didn't turn out.  (It happens some times.  You can read about how to avoid and fix UV resin mishaps on my post from last week HERE.)  Anyway, I ended up with a mis-matched pair instead!

In rooting around in my disaster of a studio area, I stumbled upon some little glass hearts that I had gotten with an order from Andrew Thornton ages ago.  In a fit of inspiration, I knew just how I wanted to use these little red hearts.  I fished out some of my smallest Vintaj brass blanks, added some extra holes and then had some fun with my new Bridgette set of letter stamps from ImpressArt that Eric bought me for Christmas.  Here are the results!

But wait, there's more!  I also remembered that I had some little TierraCast heart charms in both silver and copper plate hiding in my mess of metal components yet to be put neatly away.  (Amy Alessio's post last time actually reminded me of them with her cute Valentine's Day earrings!)  I figured if ever there was a good time to use these little hearts, it was now.  (As a bonus, now I have one less thing that needs to be put away!  Score!)

I think the glass in these two pair look a little like hard candies!

All of these little earrings recently made their way to the gallery at Unearthed Arts where I hope they will be a fun Valentine for someone special!

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