March 2022 Honey Do List

Happy Wednesday, y'all!  I know it's a weird day for a Honey Do List reveal, but I just got back from a much needed and amazing vacation aboard the Bead Cruise last night!  (I hope to post about that super soon.)  I've been up to my eyeballs unpacking and washing what feels like a billion loads of laundry today, and running errands so I'm running a bit behind.

2022 marks the seventh 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:

We are so close to spring I can taste it!  But with snow still on the ground here in Minnesota, I don't feel like I can post flower pictures yet.  So here is a shot of some desiccated crab apples against a blue sky from last winter.  Think warm thoughts.

Per my usual, I started by grabbing a whole bunch of possible components and beads to spark my creativity as soon as Eric gave me this month's challenge.  Some of these goodies I had out back around the holidays and never got the right combo... but this challenge inspired me to go in new directions and finally get things right!

First up a pair of earrings featuring some lovely enameled charms by Gardanne!  I love the berry decals she used, but the brighter dots at the tops were just throwing me off as far as what to pair them with.  Lucky for me, I had gotten some new goodies from Ana Pierson of Saga Hus Components since I last tried to make something with these.  I had the perfect pair of beaded links with tiny bright seed beads that were just the right color to go with those dots and also mimic the berries from the photo (and charms)!

Next up a simple pair of earrings with wood and resin teardrop charms.  These are really just dipping into the deep reds of the berries in the inspiration photo.  Nothing crazy exciting here, but they are cute and made me happy.  

Lastly, the piece I was scared I wasn't going to finish before the cruise... but I did it and am so happy with it!  Eric bought the gorgeous polymer clay pendant by Summer Wind Art ages ago when polymer was her main medium.  I've used most of those pieces now, but still have a couple hiding in my stash like this fox with winter berries.  The combination of the red berries and blue sky were so appropriate for this challenge and a real joy to play with.  I immediately reached for a strand of Japanese glass from a stash of Miriam Haskell components that Allegory Gallery got their hands on to share with their customers.  I added in some Czech glass beads primarily in aqua and burnt orange plus a tiny bit of cream.  I finished everything off with some of my favorite textured silver plated chain and a lobster claw clasp for adjustability.

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

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Inspiration for the March 2022 Honey Do List

2022 marks the seventh 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:

We are so close to spring I can taste it!  But with snow still on the ground here in Minnesota, I don't feel like I can post flower pictures yet.  So here is a shot of some desiccated crab apples against a blue sky from last winter.  Think warm thoughts.

The reveal date will be Wednesday, March 30th.  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 or links as they are ready.  Just stop by my blog starting on March 30th 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!