August 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:

This month's picture is another of the many street art pieces we saw in Asheville, NC earlier this summer.  I thought the luna moth would be a cool inspiration for jewelry: either moth beads, or the colors in the art.  Next month I'll do something different!

As soon as I saw Eric's photo for us this month I knew I had a few luna moth art beads that just had to come out to play!  Beyond the true lunas, I do have a fondness for moths and butterflies in general... so there was plenty for me to choose from for this challenge.

The first thing that I unearthed from my stash were these sweet faux tin charms from Humblebeads.  I'm 99% sure that I'll keep these for myself, but we shall see.  I made some little floral dangles with some pale green and yellow toned Czech glass and green crystals.  A quick, cute design to kick things off!

Not quite ready to tackle my statement necklace, I turned first to another set of earring charms, this time by Cathleen Zaring of Blue Hare.  Clearly these aren't luna moths, but still fun and fluttery creatures.  I grabbed some little vintage metal teardrops to dangle from the enameled charms along with some Swarovski crystals.

Having stalled long enough, it was time to tackle my necklace!  I love the matte glazes that Sarah Kandell of Slate Studios Supply used on this lovely, large luna moth.  She's just dreamy!  I didn't want supporting beads to be so shiny as to overshadow or compete with the focal.  Luckily I had some nice matte options in both Czech glass and vintage German resin in my stash.  My one real concession to shine are the cranberry colored moon glow lucite rounds.  They are a perfect match to the red in the dress and add a nice pop of color to the design.  I snuck in a little bit of blue fluorite and a Swarovski pearl as well.

To my great sadness, when trying to determine the correct length of the necklace for the dress, I discovered what I had already suspected... the dress is a little bit too small for my current weight.  Hopefully having this delightful new necklace will inspire me to get back to my fighting weight!  I can't wait to wear this necklace!

I thought I was done, but then I uncovered a delightful teapot and teacup pendant set from Jade Scott.  Again, not actually a luna moth, but the colors of the moth were perfect!  It was super fun looking for a fun mix of beads that pulled the various colors out of the resin pieces.  I ended up with a mix of Czech glass, German resin, and a single prehnite round.

One last necklace here... I really was productive this month!  The Vintaj brass pendant that I painted is technically a butterfly, but I feel like the colors worked so I'll take some creative license.  Since the pendant is fairly dainty, I wanted to keep things pretty simple.  Also, I like to be able to offer designs at a variety of price points when I have sales (and I have a big one coming up next month!)  I alternated peridot and blue fluorite rounds with little metallic seed beads in between and delicate (but sturdy!) brass chain at the back.

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 September 1st (or maybe the 2nd since the 1st is our 22nd wedding anniversary!) to see what Eric dreams up for us next.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

We're Going on a Picnic!

 

You may be aware that myself and four of my bestest beading friends Anna Pierson, Monica Pena, Loralee Kolton, and Miranda Trebesch have been doing regular jewelry sales on Facebook as the Five Friends.  We are gearing up for our July show at the end of the month and our theme is going to be summer picnic.  I've been having so much fun designing new jewelry for this show that I just couldn't wait until then to share some of it with you all!

As I started thinking about the theme, my mind went to juicy watermelons (even though I don't enjoy eating it myself), fruit salad, ladybugs and other summer buggy friends, and, in case your picnic ends up lingering until dusk, fireflies!  

So... here's a sneaky peak at what I've been working on so far starting with some fun ladybug designs!

The first things I made were a couple of multi-strand bracelets with some Golem Design Studio focal beads.  These are so bright and fun... and who can resist the little Czech glass ladybug beads that decorate one strand in each bracelet.  I can't wait for a time that I can buy from Golem in person again... I need more ladybug beads to replenish my stash!  The design is from Lorelei Hill Eurto from a long ago bead magazine and one I revisit often.  

Next up, some ladybug earrings for your enjoyment.  I couldn't resist snagging a couple of pairs of cute enameled ladybug charms from C-Koop a while back and I'm finally using a pair!  I paired them with some vintage fluted acrylic beads and sliver plated accents for a fun look that doesn't get too heavy weight wise.

My second pair of earrings features more beady goodness from Golem Design Studio!  I paired them with blackened elements, red crystal, and some leaf charms.  

For when your picnic time stretches into dusk, let's switch gears from ladybugs to one of summer's other favorite insects... fireflies or, as I usually call them, lightning bugs!!  I finally relocated the box with my sweet collection of firefly jars that I ordered from Blue Hare Art Wear.  I have so many fond memories of running around the yard chasing lightning bugs and sometimes catching them in jars to try and keep... this just screams summer time to me.  

I just had to get at least one watermelon design finished for this blog post and the winner was a necklace featuring a long-hoarded Jade Scott pendant!  It's a sweet little piece of art so a daintier design was in order.  I strung it on a mix of Rose Quartz, Czech Glass, Peridot, and dyed Agate with brass chain and findings.  I'm pretty happy with how this one turned out.

I'm not done designing yet... we'll see what other summer picnic inspired creations come off my bead table in the next couple of weeks.  I know that the other ladies have some fun stuff up their collective sleeves as well!

If you're interested in these designs and other summery good stuff from the Five Friends, I hope you'll join us for our Facebook show starting July 28th.  You can find us over in the SagaHus Components group if you want to take part. (P.S. I really think you're going to want to be at this show!)

Artisans Create Together: July 2018

This month's inspiration challenge over on the Artisans Create Together Facebook group is a theme challenge... Sun, Moon, & Stars.  I love this heavenly challenge!  Summer days are full of sunshine that lasts long into the nighttime hours and summer nights are all about star gazing and watching the moon cross the sky making this the perfect mid-summer challenge for us.

First up, a pair of earrings featuring some absolutely adorable star-studded earring charms by Andrew Thornton of Allegory Gallery!  I paired them with some Czech glass rounds in navy with gold stripes and plated hematite.  Because the charms are wood, these are super lightweight despite their length.

Keeping with the theme of earrings, I made a second new pair with some fun ceramic rounds from Golem Design Studio.  For some reason these actually make me think of the kind of balls you'd see in illustrations of the circus... like something a sea lion might balance on his nose!  The cheerful red stars just make me happy!  I added some copper findings and some red Czech glass and hung the little dangles from arched ear wires that I decorated with copper wire and seed beads. 

Last but not least of the new creations for this month... one more star-studded pair of earrings!  I had some fun with a set of enameled charms from Blue Hare Art Wear that I picked up a while back.  I love the bold black and white design on these.  I paired some fun black and white striped Czech glass rounds with rhinestone rondelles and some silvery glass rondelles.  I'm a little bit in love with these cuties!

Apparently the only appropriate items in my stash were star-themed earring components!  While I didn't make the following designs for this particular challenge, I thought I'd go ahead and share a couple of older pieces that fit the sun and moon parts of month's theme!

Etched copper "new moon" charms by me; Moon & Star ceramic charms by Michelle McCarthy of Firefly Design Studio. 

Golem Design Studio ceramic sun lentils; Jade Scott resin and copper sun pendant.

Thanks for stopping by to see what I was inspired to make for this month's celestial challenge!

Summertime!: Art Jewelry Elements June Challenge

The team over at the Art Jewelry Elements blog occasionally host themed challenges where anyone can play along... this is one of those months and the theme is Summertime!  They left it pretty open to interpretation, challenging us to make something inspired by what summertime means to you.   So, what says summer to me?  Here's a few things:  Long, sunny days; gin and tonics on the patio; trips to the beach (even though I haven't done that in summer since childhood); boat outings; bright colors; colorful butterflies and other insects; watermelon (even though I don't like to eat it).

Some summertime inspiration from the AJE team!

The first thing that came to my mind was sunny days... and I knew it was time to finally use one of my tiny collection of Jade Scott pendants that I've been jealously hoarding now that she stopped making jewelry components.  Even though the pendant is made of copper, its patina gives it more of the look of natural brass so I went that route.  I wire wrapped some lemon jade and dyed agate rounds along with a couple of Czech glass beads.          

On my recent trip to the Bead & Button show, I picked up a bunch of new beads from Golem Design Studio including some fun sunshine pattern lentil beads.  Let the sun shine in!  It's no secret that I love using Golem lentils in fun multi-strand bracelets based on a design by Lorelei Eurto, but with how many of them I just bought, I need to branch out in my design choices!  I ended up making a sunshiny necklace and bracelet that could be worn alone or as a set.

Thanks for stopping by!  You can see how everyone else interpreted Summertime over on the AJE blog HERE.  Or use the links below.  Have a happy and safe Fourth of July weekend!

Guests

Rosantia Petkova
Melissa Trudinger

Alice Peterson

Tammy Adams

Shaiha's Ramblings

Betony Maiden
Sarajo Wentling

AJE team
Jen Cameron

Jenny Davies-Reazor

Niky Sayers

Caroline Dewison

Susan Kennedy
Lesley Watt