March 2024 Honey Do List

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!

Lately no one has been playing along with us, but we will continue on since I enjoy having the inspiration to make something each month.

This month's inspiration is from the pearl factory in the Czech Republic that we visited last fall.  I loved the colorful metallics here and the drips were really interesting.  I only wish they had offered some for sale at the factory...Sarajo would have bought a bunch! 

Well, I had grand plans this month but the Bead Cruise fun sort of got in the way of my productivity!  I still plan to make some little cascading pearl earrings with a mix of pearls from this factory tour and some coordinating Swarovski pearls for the Lowertown St. Paul Art Crawl in April.

But how about I talk about what I did finish?  I was determined to make a special bead embroidered necklace for the costume party on the Bead Cruise.  Luckily for me, I had a polymer clay cabochon made by Kimberly Cherwaty that was a gift on the cruise two years ago.  It was perfect for my flapper dress with a green beaded and sequined peacock on it.  

The majority of the beads that I used in this piece came from our trip to the Czech Republic....  Mixed metallic size 10s from Matubo, two different sized green pearls from the glass pearl factory, and copper colored O beads from Rutkovsky.  Oh, and the laser etched daggers were from the trip too!  I don't have a good picture of it yet, but I used some gorgeous leather from Kinga Bledsoe for the backing.  

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 April 1st to see what Eric has in store for us next!  

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Inspiration for the March 2024 Honey Do List

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!

Lately no one has been playing along with us, but we will continue on since I enjoy having the inspiration to make something each month.

This month's inspiration is from the pearl factory in the Czech Republic that we visited last fall.  I loved the colorful metallics here and the drips were really interesting.  I only wish they had offered some for sale at the factory...Sarajo would have bought a bunch!

The reveal date will be Monday, March 25th.  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 25th 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.  You can check it out 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! 

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!  

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Inspiration for the February 2024 Honey Do List

Y'all, I can 100% say that being late this time is all Eric's fault.  He was super slow to come up with his inspiration photo this month.  Perhaps the unseasonably warm temperatures have him distracted.  But better late than never.  The good news is he gave me a few choices so next month we should be on time.

  
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!  

The reveal date will be Monday, February 26th.  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 February 26th 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.  You can check it out 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! 

January 2024 Honey Do List

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 I wanted to continue doing pictures from our amazing bead trip to the Czech Republic this Fall.  Here is the outrageous astronomical clock from Prague, which was under construction last time we visited.  So cool to see it in person and get to take pictures of this wonder of human technology and art.  There should be plenty of inspiration here: from clocks to astrological signs.  Good luck!

My creative efforts this month were heavily focused on one art bead maker... my friend Jenny Davies-Reazor!  What can I say... I had two pendants that really fit into the idea of the moon and other heavenly bodies and then some earring charms that worked well color wise!  

I've had this fun crescent shaped polymer clay pendant from Jenny in my stash for quite a while... it's nice to finally get it out into the world to be enjoyed!  The crescent moon and stars on the focal just felt right here.  I made bead links and a little dangle for the pendant with some fun shaped new beads that I got while visiting the Czech Republic last year.  Actually all the beads except the green little "o" or spacer beads were purchased at Rutkovsky during that trip.  

This second necklace is also strung entirely with beads from our trip!  Fun to get to put those to use for this particular challenge for sure.  This pendant is also by Jenny... a lovely gemstone cabochon encased in polymer clay and featuring the phases of the moon.  The blue wash on the pendant is also a nice nod to all the blues in the Astronomical Clock too.  

These first earrings also feature some fun polymer clay charms from Jenny.  Sensing a trend yet??  I felt like both the color and the patterns of the charms work well for this challenge.  I paired them with some fun shaped moon glow lucite, some dyed agate, and copper plated findings.  Ear wires here are niobium.

My second pair of earrings are all about the stars!  Stars on the adorable beaded links by my friend Anna Pierson of Saga Hus Components and Greek bronze star charms.  These were simple to pull together but a lot of fun.  

Well, there you have it!  Considering I was in the throes of Valentine's Day gift creating, I'm pretty happy that I was able to make four things this month.  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 February 1st to see what Eric has in store for us next!  I know he's got tons of new photos he's been going through.  

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Inspiration for the January 2024 Honey Do List

Happy New Year my beady friends!  Sorry for the delay but there's been a lot going on around here with the holidays and recovering from them.  Can y'all believe that it's 2024??  Where does the time go?

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 I wanted to continue doing pictures from our amazing bead trip to the Czech Republic this Fall.  Here is the outrageous astronomical clock from Prague, which was under construction last time we visited.  So cool to see it in person and get to take pictures of this wonder of human technology and art.  There should be plenty of inspiration here: from clocks to astrological signs.  Good luck!

The reveal date will be Monday, January 29th.  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 January 29th 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.  You can check it out 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! 

Inspiration for the December 2023 Honey Do List

2023 marks the eighth 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:

On our recent bead tour of the Czech Republic we visited a Christmas ornament factory.  While this wasn't completely bead-related, it was all hand made glass.  I think all of us really enjoyed learning the process and seeing it done.  This picture is from the step after the glass was dipped in colored glazes and left to dry before the next step.  You have all sorts of shapes and colors to work with here!

The reveal date will be Wednesday, December 27th.  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 December 27th and join the fun!  I'll leave the link up open for a while... so you have plenty of time to add your links.  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! 

November 2023 Honey Do List

2023 marks the eighth 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:

Just a scoop!  On our recent trip to the Czech Republic to visit bead and glass factories galore...I took some pics of beads.  Lots of beads.  This one may be a little too easy of an inspiration, but there you go. Go blue!  Go glass!  Go crazy!

Ok, so the blues in Eric's inspiration photo aren't necessarily the tones I gravitate towards the most, but I wanted to stay true to the idea of a mix of beads in blue tones.  For starters I made a couple of multi-strand bracelets with Golem Design Studio ceramic lentils and a mix of Czech glass beads.  Both bracelets even feature some of the beads that I brought back from the Czech Republic!  

I wanted to make at least one more design for this challenge playing off of all those bright blues.  I decided that the most appropriate focal to play with was a lovely floral porcelain pendant from Artisticaos... lots of great blues in this one!  I cut open a mix of Czech glass beads that I bought at the Preciosa gift shop on our Czech trip as well used some of those as well as some other beads we bought on that trip.  I also picked through a couple of other blue bead mixes that I had floating around.  I'm really happy with the way this one 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.  Not ready yet?  No problem, I'll leave the link up open until late next month.  Check back on December 1st to see what Eric has in store for us next!  I know he's got tons of new photos he's been going through.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Inspiration for the November 2023 Honey Do List

Sorry for our absence last month, but we were off having a grand, beady adventure in the Czech Republic that didn't really leave me with much time to create at home.  But we're back and full of excitement and inspiration.  I know Eric will have tons of great ideas for the Honey Do List for a good while to come.  

2023 marks the eighth 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:

Just a scoop!  On our recent trip to the Czech Republic to visit bead and glass factories galore...I took some pics of beads.  Lots of beads.  This one may be a little too easy of an inspiration, but there you go. Go blue!  Go glass!  Go crazy!

The reveal date will be Monday, November 27th.  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 November 25th and join the fun!  I'll leave the link up open for a while... so you have plenty of time to add your links.  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! 

Honey Do List November 2018

Wow!  I don't know about you, but the time sort of got away from me this month between Thanksgiving and preparations for my first brewery show of the holiday season.  That's why I'm getting this posted a bit later in the day than I had hoped.  

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 wanted to use a shot from our trip to the Czech Republic for this month's challenge.  I took a lot of cool architectural shots, but most are pretty lacking in color--something I feel like we need for this kind of challenge.  I thought this art nouveau mural would be fun and full of colors and interesting motifs.  

This was just one of the lovely buildings we saw on our trip in August.  (I swear, one day I'm going to get my pictures off my phone!  Until then, I highly encourage you to check out my husbands blog chronicling our journey.  Here's a link to the first post for Beerploma HERE!)  I love this inspiration photo but really didn't have much in my art bead stash that really worked for it.  Luckily for me Anne Gardanne of Gardanne Beads had a show recently and I snagged not one but two things that ended up being perfect!  (Full disclosure, I bought WAY more than these two things.)

First up I made a pair of earrings with some decal pieces that had a great floral motif.  The colors are more pastel than the inspiration but I think they fit the inspiration.  I paired Anne's lovely enamel work with some faceted prehnite rounds and some tiny pink Czech glass flowers topped with green crystals.

I'm so amazingly happy with the necklace that I made with the cool semi-circle pendant that I snapped up.  Both the colors and the floral/leafy pattern are just perfect, if I do say so myself!  I made links with Czech glass and some dumortierite rounds and finished things off with a pretty brass clasp with a small glass rondelle decorating the toggle side.

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