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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Art Elements Theme of the Month :: All Things Christmas

 

It's been a while since I have made enough for one of the Art Elements themed challenges to warrant a blog post, but I've actually been fairly busy with holiday themed items lately for a series of online shows I've been a part of over in my friend Anna Pierson's Sagahus Components Facebook Group.  Yay!  

I made a little collection of earrings using upcycled tins pairing them with snowflake charms and really fun Italian glitter resin.  I think my favorites are the ones with the embossed silver snowflakes that I cut from some small storage/gift tins that I snatched up last year at Michael's after the holidays.  

I also made a few more wintery versions of my etched copper earrings that use the leftovers from my Christmas ornaments.  I like the combination of the copper evergreen patterns with pewter charms and luckily I had the perfect niobium ear wires in grey with copper accents.  

I don't always buy a ton of holiday specific artisan beads, but this year maybe I just felt the need for a little extra Christmas cheer.  I snagged some fun enameled charms from Lindy's Designs (left and right below) that I paired with more of the Italian glitter resin.  The middle pair of earrings below are some adorable, slightly mismatched poinsettia ceramic charms by Golem Design Studio paired with vintage German marbled resin and Czech glass.

Necklaces featuring artisan beads with some holiday flair were also on my creative docket.  I bought a set of partridge and pear ceramic lentils from Golem Design Studio at Bead & Button last year and I knew I wanted to make a tree for the little bird!  I used the general idea from one of Heather Power's tutorials to shape the tree out of copper wire and then hammered the whole frame to work harden it.  I then filled in the tree with a mix of seed beads, Czech glass, and Swarovski crystal pearls in colors to coordinate with the ceramic bead.  The middle necklace features a whimsical reindeer enameled pendant by Lindy's Designs strung with tons of Czech glass and some lavender candy jade.  The necklace on the right is a stack of polymer clay goodies from Humblebeads.  Love the the little red bird, it's sweet nest, and the snow kissed pinecone she made.  I added a few elements including some copper plated branches and Czech glass beads.    

If you've been following my creative journey on Instagram or Facebook you know that I've been having lots of fun with beer bottle caps and bead embroidery.  Bell's Brewery has some of the best bottle caps around for their seasonal beers.  They had a holiday ale with a cute Christmas tree on it that has become a couple of pins so far... and I'm still hoping to make one more as a gift but it will probably be late.  The middle pin below is the Fulton Brewing logo but it kind of made me think snowflake surrounded by silver.

Last but not least, I made another batch of saltwater etched Christmas ornaments this year.  It's a fun but sometimes frustrating process as you don't always get a clean or deep etch.  I only had one true failure this year... so that's good!  I really should do some non holiday, non ornament etching at some point... or at least start using some of those things I've done in the past.  New Year's resolution maybe??  

I hope you've enjoyed my little tour through this year's holiday makes!  Wishing you all a joyful holiday season!

Inspiration for the December 2020 Honey Do List

Sorry for the delay (again) this month.  We've been a little preoccupied with other things here.  We'll just chalk it up to 2020.  Better late than never!

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!

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.

The reveal date will be Monday, December 28th.  To make it super easy for you to participate and share your creations, I'll set up an Inlinkz link up so folks can add their blogs as they are ready.  Just stop by my blog starting on December 28th and join the fun!  I'll leave the link up open for a while... so you have plenty of time to add your links.  (Last month's is still open... check it our HERE.) No blog?  No worries!  Feel free to send me a picture of your creation and some brief comments and I'll happily share in my blog post.  You can reach me at sjdesignsjewelry@gmail.com  The more the merrier, so I hope you'll play along with me this month and end 2020 with a bang!