Inspired by Reading: The Fault in Our Stars

The July selection for the Inspired by Reading Book Club is a book written by one of my favorite young adult authors...  it's The Fault in Our Stars by John Green.  I feel more than a bit guilty admitting this, but I didn't reread the book this month.  In my defense, I have read the book twice before and watched the movie within the last six months.  I just couldn't bring myself to commit to the cry-fest that I knew would result from another reading right now!  (Seriously, you will need the Kleenex box for this one... you have been warned.)  The book tells the story of teenagers Hazel Lancaster and Augustus Waters from their first meeting in a cancer support group through their blossoming relationship.  As usual, I'm not going to give too much away about the plot... but two kids who've had cancer falling in love, what could go wrong?  I'll just say that John really captures something special and real here.

As a bit of an aside, if you haven't read John Green's books, get yourself to the library or a bookstore!  Looking for Alaska, John's debut novel, is still one of my favorite bookss (it delivers a major emotional punch in the gut that stays with you); An Abundance of Katherines (a book which I had the pleasure of being on the committee that named it a Printz Honor Award winner) is a more light hearted book with great humor.  When The Fault in Our Stars was announced as his next novel, John also proclaimed that he would personally be signing every single copy of the 150,000 first edition print run.  (I suspect that mid way through his signing jag, he may have regretted that decision but fans loved it!!)  I had a fun encounter with a couple of teen girls at our local bookstore who were discussing what color ink each of their pre-order copies were signed in and generally gushing over John Green and his books.  We got to talking and I told them that I had the pleasure of sitting next to him when the folks from Penguin took our committee out to lunch to celebrate his award and they pretty much freaked out.  It's not too often that librarians get to feel a little like rock stars, so the memory sticks with me.  

Another confession, since I didn't re-read the book I made Eric give me ideas of inspirational jumping off points.  (Yes, I AM a big cheating cheater this month!)  One of the things he mentioned to me the scene where Hazel and Augustus were having their fancy and romantic dinner in Amsterdam and they are served champagne.  Their waiter tells them what Dom Perignon said after inventing champagne... "Come quickly, I am tasting the stars."  I had a mixed strand of faceted citrine and freshwater pearls that reminded me of the colors of champagne.  I kept it pretty straightforward and just added seed beads in between and attached brass chain at the back.  The picture is a tad dark, but hopefully you can get the general idea!

I also made a bracelet using the macrame techniques I learned from Erin Siegel on the Bead Cruise a couple of years ago.  I used a star shaped charm from Diana Ptaszynski of Suburban Girl Studio as a button clasp combined with new jade and aventurine.  I hadn't decided if I was going to add any small beads to the ends of the waxed Irish linen or not when I snapped this picture during a brief moment of sunlight yesterday.  In the end, I decided to keep it simple and trim the ends fairly short.  No special symbolism here... just playing off the "stars" in the title.

If you are interested in seeing what the other book club members made or want to join in the fun yourself, check out our Inspired by Reading Book Club Facebook page HERE.  Thanks for stopping by!

Muffin Tin Challenge Reveal: Redux

Think way, way back to January and you may remember that Heather Powers hosted a Muffin Tin Challenge where participants were encouraged to fill a muffin tin with all the goodies needed for a project and get as many as possible completed during the given time frame.  It was a wonderful creative challenge that helped me get my creative mojo going.  I used the challenge as a way to make some pieces to submit to Create Jewelry, a special issue of Stringing magazine and, since they actually wanted to see a number of my submissions in person, I wasn't able to actually show off my finished projects for the Muffin Tin reveal.  Better late than never, I'm finally going to share the rest of my creations!

Here is how my muffin tin looked when I first started.  I finished 7 necklaces and 6 pairs of earrings during the challenge but still had projects left in 4 cups when the challenge ended.  (I'm happy to say that I eventually finished all but one of the intended projects... Jenny Davies-Reazor's pendant is still waiting for some love.)

Moth Collector: This necklace features a resin filled pendant that I made, a mix of silver plated chain, mookaite, rhodonite, and septaria.  I'm always pleased when I can successfully achieve asymmetry!

Seahorse Cove: Andrew Thornton's porcelain pendant was the starting point for this necklace.  I had grabbed this one and several others at his shop Allegory Gallery when we visited Ligonier last fall.  I used a mix of ceramic, glass, and apatite beads with sari silk at the back.  I'm thrilled with the way this one turned out!  I'm still pretty new to mixing fibers into my designs so I'm proud of myself for getting out of my comfort zone.

Proud Peacock: This one started with a set of beads from Gaea.  I added some brass beads and some random gemstones in complementary colors and had fun playing with a mix of waxed Irish linen colors.  This one is BIG... a real statement piece for sure!

Lotus Blossom: My sweet husband bought me this ceramic lotus flower pendant from Diana Ptaszynski of Suburban Girl Studio for Christmas.  I added in a couple of types of jade and some brass beads along the waxed Irish linen.

Cracked Earth: This amazing sunflower pendant from Tracee Dock of The Classic Bead was in my wonderful grab bag on my first Bead Cruise.  Yes, it has been languishing in my stash for that long!  Well, the time was right for it to get out of cold storage and into a design mixed with red creek and crazy horse jaspers as well as some petrified green opal nuggets and some metallic peanut beads.

Last, but not least is Secret Sunflower:  This is the one necklace out of the bunch that actually got published!  I used a cheerful shadowbox bead from Round Rabbit and added Czech and recycled glass links in bright pinks and oranges.  This was my first time having a necklace appear in a national magazine so that was pretty exciting.  This is one design that I just can't bear to part with.

I'm very happy to say that all but Lotus Blossom and Cracked Earth found good homes at this past weekend's show, The Edge of the Big Woods Art Wander!  Another huge thank you to everyone who Wandered by over the three day studio tour.  It was wonderful to see old friends and make new ones.
This week finds me tired but happy.  I'm giving myself a couple of days where I'm not pushing too hard but still getting things done before I get back on what passes for a normal schedule around here.  Thanks for stopping by today... have a great week!  

Art Bead Scene: July 2015

It's time once again for me to play along with the Art Bead Scene challenge.  July's inspiration is Still Life with Shells by Dutch Golden Age painter Balthasar van der Ast.  It feels like a display of summer beach treasures from days gone by... these are the best of the best specimens someone has collected with care.  Overall, the colors seem more muted than I'd expect for the middle of summer, but the fruit does offer some small pops of color to the otherwise pale scene.  You can read more about the art and the artist over on the ABS blog HERE.

Still Life with Shells, 1640

By Balthasar van der Ast

This inspiration piece just screamed out for a somewhat literal interpretation (to me, anyway!) and I had just the thing in my stash.  I had gotten a pair of shell charms made by Diana Ptaszynski of Suburban Girl Studio in my Bead Cruise goody bag.  Lucky for me, I was sitting next to Diana and she offered me the matching pendant that just happened to be in her bag!  (Thanks again Diana... you rock!!!!)

The earthiness of this color palette led me to go straight to my gemstones... the rich mix of colors in Red Creek Jasper seemed like a no brainer.  I have several different sizes and shapes of this stone, but I just received a graduated strand of Red Creek Jasper that was perfect for the challenge in an order from Lima Beads... great timing!  To stretch the length out a bit as well as add some additional color and texture, I pulled in some Swarovski pearls and various brass beads.  I also finally braved playing with some of the WoolyWire that I had acquired a while back.  The "Flame" strand had just the right colors to bring out the reds in the painting and the jasper!  I'll admit that there was some trial and error with the Wooly Wire and I don't think I quite have the technique for keeping the cut ends nice and smooth figured out.  After a couple of attempts I'm pretty happy with the bail I made.

I knew that I had to complete the set and make earrings with those adorable shell charms.  I wire wrapped a bunch of tiny Red Creek Jasper Rounds to a jump ring and simply strung that and the charms loop right to the ear wire.  Voila!

Art Jewelery Elements Use Your Stash Challenge

Each month one of the contributors over at the Art Jewelery Elements blog offers up some handmade beads or other components for their fellow contributors and a few lucky winners to design with and then share in a blog hop.  I've been lucky to be chosen a couple of times to win some of that beady goodness.  For January, they decided to switch things up a little with each contributor donating something of theirs form their own stash.  Even if you weren't chosen to win one of the components (and I wasn't, sad face) readers were encouraged to bust into their own bead stash and create using something from one of the AJE contributors.  As usual, I just couldn't pass up a good challenge so I decided to play along.

I had just made a necklace with one of Diana Ptaszynski's pendants in hopes that a magazine might want a closer look.  This was completed for Heather Powers' Muffin Tin Challenge, but I never showed the necklace in true color.  I had lots of fun playing with waxed Irish linen and a mix of gemstone rounds and brass beads.  I'm also happy to report that, for once in my life, I actually cut the linen cord long enough!

I got a really nice mix of Diana's components for Christmas when my sweet husband bought a couple of her destash bundles.  That's where the pendant above came from too!  I have a number of items in this same lovely glaze (copper patina might be what it's called).  I liked the way the colors in the stones worked with the necklace I had already made, that I wanted to play more with that combination.

Not leaving myself a ton of time, I thought a pair of coordinating earrings was in order.  I dug out these little discs and started to play with ways to wrap them using the same waxed Irish linen as in the necklace.  This is my first time using linen in earrings as more than just an accent, and I'm really happy with how they turned out!

Please check out what all the other participants made with their AJE stash items!

Here is the list of the participants - the team, winners and special guests! 

AJE team: 

Kristen Stephens 

Susan Kennedy 

Jenny Davies-Reazor

Lesley Watt    

Melissa  Meman

 Lindsay Starr 

Jennifer Cameron 

Caroline Dewison

Linda Landig

Guest Participants ( aka winners)

Lee - Strega Jewellry

Shai - Shai’s Ramblings

Samantha- Wescott Jewelry

Kathy - Bay Moon Designs

Nikki - Silver Nik nats

Melissa Trudinger

Becky Pancake

Yvette - Blue Kiln Beads

Karin - Ginko et Coquelicot

Bonus participants! 

Sarajo Wentling

Leah Curtis

Susan Delaney 

Karen Z
Christine Walker

AJE Earring Challenge Weeks 29 & 30

Happy August, everyone!  Can you even believe how fast this summer has gone by?  I really can't.  Before we know it school will be back in session and temperatures will be starting to cool off.  I'm not ready for that yet, so one of my pairs of earrings this time is all about capturing the last of our sunny days...but more about that in a moment.

 It's time again for another reveal in the Art Jewelry Elements Earring Challenge.  For those of you who may be stopping in for the first time, the challenge is to make one pair of earrings a week using artisan made beads.  As much as possible I've been trying to highlight one artist for each reveal.  This time, I'm featuring fun porcelain beads from Diana Ptaszynski of Suburban Girl Studio.  I just love Diana's work and am thrilled to show off her fun earring charms!

First up is a pair I'm calling "Hibiscus Lemonade" for the fun floral pattern in yummy yellow and pink.  I paired the charms with some pink cracked quartz that I bought when I was out in Bend, Oregon back in June.  Mixed with Vintaj brass wire and earwires, I think that these make a perfect summer treat!

Week 29: Hibiscus Lemonade

My second pair combines charms in a glaze Diana calls rootbeer that is a great combination of browns that range from caramel to almost black.  For this set, I added in some fluted, black agate beads that I've been hoarding forever.  I used Vintaj copper wire and copper-plated jump rings from Nunn Design to round out the look.  These are a little bigger than the earrings I tend to make, but not too crazy!

Week 30: Coffee Bean

Both pairs are currently for sale in my Etsy shop.  Click HERE to check it out.