February 2024 Honey Do List

Apologies for posting this so late... we were having such a great time visiting Las Vegas that I totally forgot to get this post done!  2024 marks the ninth 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!  Thanks to all of you who have participated over the years... it means a lot to both of us!

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

This month's challenge is a little...frosty.  This is actually a literally frosted glass window from the museum of glassmaking in Jablonec in the Czech Republic.  I took a ton of pictures here and this one jumped out for a good Winter post.  Don't worry, I've got more color coming for next month!  

There's a tiny bit of irony that Eric chose this frosty picture as our February inspiration considering how bi-polar our weather has been here!  Who would have expected 6.5" of snow on Valentine's Day and then days in the 50's within the week?!  Crazy!  In keeping with the weather, my designs aren't exactly icy either... but yet somehow feel appropriate.

First up, a necklace featuring a pendant from Inviciti.  Both the whitewashed colors and floral burst design of the focal reminded me of the photo.  I paired it with the last of a strand of moonstone rounds left over from a special order a few years ago.  The soft, pearly colors playing nicely off the more rustic pendant.  Copper plated chain and findings complete the design.

The other thing I made this month features some of the new beads that I bought on our trip to the Czech Republic... fitting I think.  Again, the design on the glass beads isn't super frosty but the frosty white with AB finish sure is!  These are super simple but still have some charachter.  

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 Monday to see what Eric has in store for us next!  

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May 2022 Honey Do List

Good morning and happy Friday! Thanks for your patience with our slightly wonky schedule this time.  We had an amazing two week vacation filled with friends, family, fun, and food.  We got a deeper dive into Seattle, got to experience the Redwoods (including attending a wedding there!), and a good taste of the Oregon and California coasts.  Now it's back to real life and a return to routine.  Anyways... onto the business at hand... the May 2022 Honey Do List reveal!

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

I keep wanting to post Spring flowers or something, but Minnesota is still cold and rainy and not really green yet.  So here's one from our trip to the Inner Hebrides Islands: Iona.  This was a tiny and beautiful island with white sand and rocky beaches.  I figured you could use color, texture, or subject here in some interesting ways.  I know everyone will come up with something cool!  

This month it was all earrings all the time.  Who's shocked?  Anyone??  I thought not.  For me, this one was mostly about the gorgeous colors of the water and sky.  My first pair of earrings feature colored pewter charms by Inviciti paired with coordinating Czech glass beads on niobium ear wires.  

Next, I played with some wonderful ceramic beads from Marsha Neal Studio that I've been hoarding for quite a while.  The texture and glaze of these charms echo the rocky shore just a bit... the Picasso finish on the Czech glass too.  I really need to practice this type of wire wrapping more often and up my proficiency.  

Before we left for vacation I managed to whip up one more pair of earrings.  Regrettably, I don't know who made these charms (I picked them up in a destash.)  This time I found some cuprite and agate beads to coordinate.  

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 tomorrow to see what Eric has in store for us this month! 

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Honey Do List September 2021

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

I call this one "Unhinged."  This was a random shot in a small town in Southern Minnesota, as we ventured into an alleyway.  You never know where the inspiration will strike!  I love the colors of moss and lichen, as well as the textures of old wood.  Sorry about missing last month, but we are back!

As I was searching back through my blog for a pair of earrings that I made for an old We're All Ears challenge, I discovered that this isn't the first September that Eric has given us a lichen themed Honey Do!  September 2019 was lichen inspired too with some ferns thrown in!  I was super excited when I saw the photo Eric picked this time around as I love the old wood, lichen and moss, and the amazing old hinge.  Hopefully my designs do it justice!

The first thing that I grabbed were a pair of brass circle charms that had been given a splatter paint effect by an unknown artist.  (I got them as a freebie somewhere along the line so apologies for not having a name here!)  Over the last couple of years I've kept coming back and looking at them but never got so far as bringing them to my bead mat.  This time, I knew that I had the perfect beads to go with them... some fun patinated look acrylic melons.  I grabbed my supplies and whipped up this first pair of earrings before any moss could gather on my rolling stone of creativity!  

Next up, a colored pair of pewter charms from Inviciti caught my eye as feeling a little weathered and lichen-y. (I'm sure that's a word, right??)  I paired them with some coordinating Czech glass and a fun wavy spacer.  

I didn't want to leave the hinges out of my creative endeavors so I had to whip up one last pair of earrings with some rustic pewter charms from Inviciti that reminded me of the hinge shape.  This time I went with some fun clear acrylic beads with streaks of silver and black as well as crystal spacers and faceted pyrite.  

I had so many other ideas that I wanted to explore this month, but with prepping for me big 3 day show that was this past weekend, I just ran out of time to explore everything that I wanted to.  

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 in early October to see what Eric has in store for us next month!  Luckily we've been exploring a bit more with the camera in tow, so I'm guessing he'll have some fresh inspiration for us!

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Honey Do List June 2021

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

Your inspiration for the month (sorry so late!) are these rare Minnesotan Yellow Lady Slippers from our trip up north last week.  These also mark the first time I've used my camera for anything other than taking pictures of my painted miniatures in the past year.  I'm a little rusty, but it felt good to get back to making some art!  Now it's your turn!

I really had grand plans of being slightly more productive for this month's Honey Do, but life got a little busy with all sorts of things including a fabulous visit from my niece and her partner from Seattle.  Sometimes that's just how it goes!  Luckily I got one pair of earrings made early in the month.  

The color palette for this month's lady slipper photo inspiration was a bit challenging for me (sorry, MN Gophers fans... the maroon and gold doesn't do too much for me!)  I had just gotten a nice selection of one of a kind Inviciti charms from a de-stash event including one pair that was just what I needed for this challenge.  I paired the charms with some honey shimmer Czech glass leaves and deep burgundy crystals.  

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 in early July to see what Eric has in store for us next month!  

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Honey Do List December 2020

Wow.  What a year 2020 has been!  It's been long and stressful yet I have much to be thankful for... not the least of those things continued health for myself and my sweet husband.  We are drawing to a close the fifth year of the Honey Do List! Thanks to all of you who continue to follow and play along with this monthly design challenge.

This is a shot from up near International Falls from last year.  This was just after sundown, and I really like the vibrant blues and purples.  This is kind of a strange one for inspiration but I'm curious what people will do with it.

What I mostly remember about this photo shoot was a lot of waiting around and trying not to be eaten alive by mosquitos!  But the end result sure is pretty!  I may have missed an opportunity to play with some of those purple tones, but my muse pulled me more toward the green/teal colors.  Hey, I was just happy to find some energy to create!

I started out with a major necklace this time that started with a lovely ceramic connector from Lisa Peters Russ that I got at Bead & Button last year.  My photo doesn't do it justice (thanks, crappy winter light) but it's a rich mix of greens and turquoise with a green crystal at it's center.  I balanced the weight of the ceramic focal with a nice slab of chrysocolla on the opposite side.  I strung a chunky mix of fluorite and turquoise nuggets with some interesting Czech glass square pillows, matte Czech glass melons, and vintage corrugated steel mesh beads.

Next up, earrings!  I snagged these fabulous ceramic earrings charms from Artisan Clay during a benefit for one of my good friends.  Always happy to buy beads for a great cause!  The crackle glass in the middle made me think of the water and the blue was a nice compliment to the photo.  I paired the charms with moon glow lucite, Swarovski crystal spacers and silvery Czech glass.  

Next up another pair that feels "watery" to me.  I combined some fun Czech glass melon drops with super fun swirled glitter confetti acrylic rounds.  There's an extra touch of bling with the crystal spacers tucked in there.

One more pair of earrings celebrating the green tones as well as the wavy patterns of the grass and water.  I managed to snag these awesome colored pewter charms by Inviciti and while working on putting them away I saw that they went really well with some new green glass drops with a wonderful sheen to them.  A simple but cool design I think!

Last up, another quick necklace I whipped up at the last minute.  I made a chain tassel with Czech glass and crystal bead dangles to hang below the lovely teal ceramic bead by Golem Design Studio.  I added a few faceted Czech glass rounds and a pair of Apatite ovals along the long brass chain for extra interest.  

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 January 1st to see what Eric has in store for us next month!  Until then, wishing you all a joyous holiday season and a happy and healthy New Year!

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Honey Do List July 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:

Since I've been going more monochrome recently, I decided to pop some flowers and color into the mix this month. This is a flower I took a shot of along Hadrian's Wall in England last summer.  Back when we could go out and travel.  I figure folks can find inspiration in flowers, lichen, colors, etc this month!

I didn't have any beads or pendants with the same shape of flower as these cool ones in Eric's photo, so I focused a little more on colors.  I also picked beads with a flower motif and/or shape.

For once I didn't start with earrings... I actually began with a necklace this month.  (Perhaps a sign of the apocalypse??)  A lovely colored pewter pendant by Inviciti cried out to me the loudest to me of all the beads that I had collected as possibilities this month.  My photo does not do the pendant justice with its rich, luminous colors of dark purple to fuchsia, to almost coppery.  Purple is one of the toughest colors for me... I often find it difficult to find just the right color beads.  Luckily I had a lot to choose from and found some nice selection in Czech glass and Swarovski pearls.  There are also some burgundy lucite beads mixed in as well as some more amber toned glass.   

Never fear, earrings still happened this month as they remain my favorite things to make and to wear!  This first pair features some Humblebeads matchstick charms in a lovely Mulberry floral pattern that I paired with some fun Czech glass flowers and small plated hematite rondelles.  The flower beads reflect the color of the sky in Eric's photo.

This second pair of earrings was actually the first project I plotted out but the last that I actually made.  Why? you may ask... because I was too lazy to go dig for my sterling silver wire!  (My Parawire lives on my rolling cart of essential tools and supplies and is always within arm's reach when I'm working.)  These gorgeous kaleidoscopic floral/foliage enameled charms by Blue Hare Art Wear have all the main colors from the inspiration photo.  To keep things from getting too heavy, since the enamel is substantial, I added some lovely moonglow lucite that I got in a mix from my friends at Allegory Gallery.  The pewter bead caps match the leafy portion of the charm design too.  I'm super happy with how these 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!  Check back on August 1st to see what Eric has in store for us next month! 

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Honey Do List May 2019

This is the fourth 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 2019!  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:

On our recent trip to Georgia, we were treated to a tour of the Athens campus by our good friend Kathleen. On that tour we discovered a small hidden park and this little guy!  I spent a good amount of time photographing this little Anole lizard, and suddenly he decided to get randy and started to show off his throat wattle.  And here you go!

I just love these little lizards and spent many an hour chasing and sometimes catching these guys.  I feel a tiny bit guilty now for having terrorized the poor creatures, but none were ever physically harmed and they were always returned to about where I found them.

I'm pretty impressed with how well Eric captured this little dude.  Kathleen and I were just wandering the gardens talking away and didn't notice where he had disappeared to.  The anole looks so proud of himself here!  

Anyways, he is such a striking and vibrant green, I knew I had to do something with that.  My first design feature some fun pieces from Gardanne in a striking green that is not quite as loud as his little body, but still pretty groovy and bright.  The black stripes on the sides kind of tone it down a little bit while giving visual interest.  I added niobium ear wires right to the tops of the charms and then dangled a mix of Czech glass beads in green and black from the bottom.  These are going to be such fun to wear!

Despite his bright green body, the most striking thing about this anole for me is that bright red wattle of his.  I just had to make something inspired by that!  Another pair of enameled charms by Gardanne to the rescue here!  They are meant to be pomegranates, but the holes in them and their color reminded me of the spots on his throat.  I added some Czech glass beads to dangle from the bottom, but the charms are the stars... as it should be!

Now don't laugh, the first thing that I thought of when Eric showed me this picture was strawberries!  I remembered that I had a pair of tiny strawberry charms from Inviciti hiding in my stash and went digging for them.  I kept this design pretty simple... I just added some cool vintage glass tube beads in deep red.  I love the texture on those beads!

Now it's your turn!  Please add your links to your own creations below.  I love seeing what everyone else is making too.  

Due to an incredibly busy June (Bead & Button followed almost immediately by a 16 day trip to Great Britain... gulp), We're going to take a little break from the Honey Do List.  Since we figure Eric will have tons of new inspiration after those trips, we're going to skip the June challenge and resume for July.  

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Art Elements Theme of the Month: Petroglyphs

The theme for this month's Art Elements Theme of the Month challenge was another challenging one for me... Petroglyphs.  At first I really wasn't sure that I had anything that would work... but after some good digging through my art beads with an open mind, I found a few earring charms that felt right.

First up a simple little pair of earrings that I whipped up with some of Marsha Neal's fabulous ceramic charms and Vintaj Natural Brass findings.  Even though these are a simple design, they have a nice visual impact. 

Next, I finally played with one of the few pairs of painted pewter charms that I've managed to snag from Inviciti.  I felt like the raised pattern and the colors evoked the feeling of cave paintings or carvings.  For this pair I used some faceted Red Creek Jasper rounds, some Swarovski studded rondelle spacers and some little Czech glass beads in pale neutral tones. 

Last but not least, a colorful little pair of earrings featuring some super fun charms from Jana of Happy Fish Things.  I haven't made two many earrings with charms that have two top holes or loops (although there are two in this post!) so this design definitely pushed me out of my comfort zone!  I paired some little Amazonite rounds and fun shaped vintage German glass beads. 

And just for giggles, I'll leave you with this little photo taken at a lovely set of waterfalls near Mankato, MN.  I wonder if future civilizations will one day find things like this and wonder about the cultures that created them... Hmmm.

This is a blog hop.  Check out the links below to see what everyone else was inspired to make this month!

Guest Artists:
Jill Egan: https://kilnfiredart.wordpress.com
Tammy Adams: http://www.paisleylizard.com/blog
Alison Herrington: http://AlisonAdorns.blogspot.com
Alysen: http://chicchixnchampagne.blogspot.com
Sarajo Wentling: https://sjdesignsjewelry.blogspot.com
Jenny Kyriach: http://anafiassa.blogspot.com
CraftyHope: http://CraftyHope.com
Kathy Lindemer: https://bay-moon-design.blogspot.com

Art Elements Team:
Lesley Watt: http://www.lesleywatt.com
Jenny Davies-Reazor: https://jdaviesreazor.com
Cathy Spivey Mendola: http://cmendola.blogspot.com
Sue Kennedy: http://www.suebeads.blogspot.com
Caroline Dewison: http://www.blueberribeads.co.uk
Laney Mead: https://laney-mead.blogspot.com/
Marsha Neal Minutella: http://blog.marshanealstudio.com
Claire Fabian: https://saraccino.blogspot.com

Honey Do List: March 2018

This marks the third 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 2018!  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:

I decided to go with a monochromatic shot this month, as winter drags on.  This picture of a window was taken while on a walk through D.C. last summer.  Let's see what you can pull off with this unusual inspiration!

As soon as I saw this photo, I thought of some one of a kind patinated charms by Inviciti that I had managed to snag.  (I'm usually WAY too slow to snag the OOAK pieces from Vincent and Nooma!)  I love the rustic finish on them and the orange with black peaking out (and even the shape) reminded me of the bottom center two panels.  In keeping with the shapes and angles in the photo, I chose some English cut beads and some square plated hematite spacers.

Originally, I thought that I'd use the art beads from the next two pairs of earrings in one extra fabulous pair... that turned out to be a little much and a bit too long for my liking, so I decided that they would be two separate sets!  I think I made the right decision.  The first pair features some yummy, crusty, rustic looking lampwork by Donna Millard paired with Czech glass and brass on some of my favorite Vintaj Natural Brass ear wires.  The second pair are all about the goldenrod colored sari silk "cocoons" by my friend Anna Pierson of Saga Hus with some star cut Black Gold Amazonite.

Not wanting it to be all earrings all the time this month (not that I don't love me some earrings!), I also whipped up a necklace and earrings set.  I'm thrilled to have found the perfect project for this great geometric pendant by my friend Tracee Dock of The Classic Bead!  Actually, all the beads and the clasp in this necklace have been hiding in my stash for quite a while, so I think that this design perfect for the intent behind the Honey Do List.  I used a fun strand of square Czech glass beads and some Wooden Jasper rounds with brass findings.  The earring drops are deep maroon Mookaite.

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