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

Honey Do List October 2019

This is the fourth 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 2019!  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:

Well, it is that time of the year again...the time for the creepy pagan goodness that is Halloween!  This is a tricked out raven from the Tower of London (which has its own creepy past) which we visited this summer.  If you don't have anything Corvidae to include in your post, I'd be equally happy with something suitably wicked and dark!

I was initially a bit concerned that I wouldn't have much to pick from for this month's challenge when I saw what Eric had chosen.  I used a whole bunch of raven/crow inspired beads a while back for a couple of other challenges and wasn't really sure how much I had left.  I shouldn't have worried, LOL.  

The first thing I made was a bracelet with a lovely raven focal by Summer Wind Art.  (I had honestly forgotten that I had bought him!)  I chose a mix of Czech glass, brass, and stripey bone beads along with a single blue tiger eye oval.  I love the look of this bracelet but I worry that I made it just a bit too long.  I may have to take it apart and restring it (sigh) but for now I'll share it as is!

Apparently I was in bracelet mode this time... I made a second bracelet this month!  This one is a variation on bracelets I've made in the past with a wonderful feather component from Vintaj Natural Brass.  I realized I've only done this design in brighter colors... so to celebrate our raven friends I did one using the black patina paint from Vintaj/Ranger and paired it with some black Czech glass beads.  

I had high hopes of making a few more things but time got away from me.  It happens.  I keep saying that life should start to settle down, but I'm pretty sure that's just a lie I tell myself to keep moving forward.  I'm sure that many of you can relate! 

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

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

We're All Ears: October 2018: Mad About Plaid

This month Erin has given us a great challenge over on Earrings Everyday for We're All Ears... plaid!  While I'm all about rocking some comfy tartan flannel pj bottoms or having my sweetie on my arm wearing one of his many plaid brewery shirts, as a jewelry concept, this one stumped me a bit.  Never one to shy away from a good challenge, I forged ahead to try and make me some earrings.

Luckily, I remembered that I had gotten a pair of black and white plaid cocoons from my friend Anna Pierson of Saga Hus.  That sort of seemed like a gimme... I added some little dangles with fun polka dotted onyx beads.  Not the most involved design that I've ever made, but a cute little pair of earrings nonetheless!

For my second pair, I wanted to try a more involved idea.  I have an embossing folder that has some great geometric patterns on it... one of them reminiscent of a plaid pattern.  My thought process was to try and use Vintaj patina paints to create a colorful, yet simple, plaid pattern.  Well...  my painting skills weren't quite up to the challenge.  This is where things stood after combining, or attempting to combine, the blue and yellow paints that I had chosen... not great.

Determined to salvage something from my mess, I mixed up some glaze and metallic bronze patina and brushed over the top of my little blanks.  It's not perfect by any means but I think that the glaze mixture worked some magic.  It's hard to see the metallic sparkle in the charms, but it's there.  I paired them with some blue and gold striped Czech glass rounds and some creamy-yellowish mercury glass finished rondelles with brass findings.  Overall, I'm not sure the picture totally does these justice...

This is a blog hop so snuggle up in your favorite plaid clothing... or maybe under a cozy plaid blanket and check out what everyone else was inspired to make this month over on the Earrings Everyday blog HERE!

Adornments Retreat 2018

2018 marks the second year for the fabulous Adornments Mixed Media Jewelry Retreat in Galena, Illinois.  I was lucky enough to attend last year as a birthday gift to myself and I just had to go back for year two!  Because all of us bemoaned the fact that we could only take two classes, and thus only get to work with two of the four wonderful instructors, they expanded the retreat by a day and shook up the format a bit.  Even with getting to select four different classes, it was still a really hard choice!!

Our fabulous instructors... Erin Prais-Hintz, Brenda Schweder, Jess Lincoln, and Heather Powers

With the expansion to three half day classes and one full day class, the retreat was one day longer this year.  The drive is a little long for me to drive down to start by 2 pm, so my road trip friend Jenny and I headed out on Tuesday after lunch.  This gave us a great chance to have a nice dinner with a fellow retreat goer that I'd never met in person before and check out a little more of downtown Galena in a leisurely fashion before the real fun started Wednesday afternoon.

Wednesday was really all about getting everyone registered, digging through our goody bags, doing a fun pendant exchange, and creating our bead soup for the retreat's design challenge (more on that later.)  I received a fun beaded creation that reminds me of a sea creature from Cynthia Winter. 

Now, what you've been waiting for... a bit about the classes!!!  My first class was Heather Powers' Fairy Garden Headpins.  Now, in the past I've had a little bit of trouble getting the wires to feel secure in polymer clay headpins.  Because of that I was a bit nervous about this class... I really shouldn't have been!  I had a great time finding flowers, leaves, buds, and more on the grounds for a whole new set of molds.  (I brought the ones that I made a couple of year's ago at the Inspired By Nature Retreat too so that I'd have extra choices.)  I ended up with a nice little collection of headpins (and one pendant!) at the end of the day.  Unfortunately, we ran out of class time for painting our new goodies, but Heather was able to show us each of the techniques.  She had all the painting supplies out during our open beading at night, but I was too busy chatting and working on my design challenge piece.  I've got most of the paints I'll need at home, so I'll get around to it later.  (You've heard that from me before!!)

Next up, I finally got to take a class with the fabulous Miss Brenda Schweder!  After purchasing her awesome Now That's a Jig last fall, taking her Blanks for Makers class was just what I needed to get me comfortable with this tool and kick off what I hope will be many future jiggy adventures!  I know that what I completed in class doesn't seem like much, but these will get embellished and worked into finished designs.  This class was all about learning the basics, getting some tips, and gaining some hands on experience so that I wouldn't be intimidated.  I'm super excited about the possibilities and can't wait to play more.  I'm especially liking the smaller earring shapes on the right and have some ideas brewing for those!  I loved getting jiggy with it!

Last but not least, I took Heather's Tropical Faux Tin class as my third half day class.  While I had taken this class the first time Heather offered it, I loved the images from botanist Marianne North she chose this time and decided a refresher course wouldn't hurt.  Now I feel better prepared to try some things using some of Eric's photos.  I did manage to finish one fun pair of earrings in class and came pretty close to having a necklace done.  I should get on that!  

A new addition to the line up this year was an afternoon filled with fun make and takes!  Each instructor came up with a quick project that incorporated a flower theme.  They broke the attendees into small groups and had us rotate through the four different stations for 15 minutes at each.  Here's what I made (clockwise from top) with Brenda, Heather, Jess, and Erin.  The little ribbon rose with Heather was the furtherest from my wheelhouse, but I think all four mini-projects turned out super cute.  I'm thinking I may add some colorful seed beads or something to Brenda's flower shape to make a little sun catcher type thing...  the others will likely become part of necklaces down the road.  I really enjoyed doing all these fast and fun projects and I hope they'll do something along these lines again next year! 

The last day of the retreat brought our full day classes... I chose Jess's Vintaj Free-Form & Hand Forging.  I haven't taken a class with the fabulous Miss Jess since I did the Vintaj Two Day Workshop back in 2012.  I had just gotten my tax id and the first thing I did with it was to register to shop wholesale with Vintaj and sign up for the workshop in Galena.  It was one of the best things I ever did for my creative self and really jump started my love affair with Vintaj!  I'm telling you this because I bought my first pair of bail making pliers right after that trip and finally learned how to make use of them six years later.  I had a ton of fun learning to shape various Vintaj metal pieces (many of them already in my hoard) to use them in new and creative ways.  It was also great for my slow self to actually walk out of the class with several completed pieces of jewelry!  Check out what I accomplished during class as well as some action shots from the day below. 

One of the fun aspects of last year's retreat that they carried over to year two was the Bead Soup Design Contest.  Basically, they gave us a photo and color palette to inspire and guide us.  We were  instructed to bring the equivalent of 16 inches of beads to add to our table's bead soup mix on the first day.  We then mixed it all up and divvied it up between our table mates.  They gave us until the end o the last day to make a creation made up of at least 60% bead soup items and we had a little design contest.  Here's a look at the inspiration and my table's mix:

I didn't win a prize in the design contest, but I'm oh so in love with the necklace that I made using my friend Erin's gorgeous pendant!  (You can find her and her goodies at Tesori Trovati.)  Lucky me... I have another similar pendant still in my stash to play with at a later date.  Now I just have to decide if I'm keeping this one for myself!

After the wrap-party where we got to see what everyone had been working on for the last few days, many of us headed into downtown Galena for dinner and a fun-and-treasure-filled trip to Trish Italia's (Jess's mom, if you didn't know) lovely bead store, Rustic River Finds!  Of course, since I need another bead like I need another hole in my head, I had to buy a ton of fun new beads... mostly Czech glass and peanut seed beads in colors I haven't seen before.  Trish also had a cute make and take bracelet for us all to do.  It's so special that she kept the store open late just for our group... we all appreciate her time and talent.  This was a fabulous way to officially end the retreat.  Trish has more than just beads... she's got some cute home decor too.  It's totally worth stopping in if you ever find yourself in Galena!

Not wanting the fun times to end, a few of us met up for breakfast in downtown Galena and then hit up a few antiques stores before hitting the road.  I found a couple of fun things including a cigar mold that I plan to use for some jewelry display and some old Mattel molds from their Thing Maker that my sisters had back in the day.  (If you want a giggle, check out a commercial for the Thing Maker creepy crawlers from the 60's HERE.)

A huge thanks to all the wonderful instructors who bring their passion, enthusiasm, and creativity to make the Adornments Retreat such a special and inspiring event!  This retreat is more than just a educational experience... it's a fellowship of creatives gathering to learn, laugh, and share.  Some of my favorite moments were actually outside of the retreat proper.  Each night after the official events were over, many of us gathered in our room (I shared again with my friend Monica) for drinks, snacks, and gabbing.  Most nights we laughed until we cried... seriously, I don't remember the last time I belly laughed like that!  I love that such a diverse group of women can come together for events like this... I made many new friends and got to reconnect with old ones.

I'll wrap this up and leave you with a shot of one of the gorgeous sunsets that we enjoyed from the Chestnut Mountain Resort.  As is so often the case, my photo doesn't do justice to the beauty my eyes took in... but it gives you an idea of the view nonetheless.  Until next year, Adornments! 

Inspired by Reading: The Valley of Amazement

This month's Inspired by Reading Book Club selection was The Valley of Amazement by Amy Tan.  I for one, was not amazed.  After slugging through it for most of the past month, I finally gave up on reading it at about page 300... way more than my usual 50 page deadline for a book to hook me.  Seriously, I gave up about half way through.  If I hadn't stopped when I did then I'd probably still be trying to finish this time next month!

For whatever reason, this one just didn't grab me.  I think that part of the reason was that I didn't find any of the characters particularly like-able.  Also the fact that so much of the story revolves around one of the main characters, Violet, being kidnapped and sold into sexual slavery.  Yeah.  That probably has something to do with it.

Anyway, I was still determined to make something this month.  So, since I didn't finish, I went a little vague in my design direction.  Thinking about the name of Violet's mother's first class courtesan house, Hidden Jade Path, I remembered some lovely Jadeite carved flower beads that bought in my very first year of beading.  I'd had them in one of my bead boxes with a Rhyolite (I think!) pendant that I've also had for quite some time.  I obviously had long thought that they would play nice together, but just never got around to doing anything with them.  (I know you've heard this story from me before!)  They have to wait no more!

Rounding out the design, I used some Burma Jade rounds that I bought three or four years ago from Dakota Stones.  Because they were individually knotted, I'd just never taken the time to cut them free until the past week.  I'm really trying to be good and balance my time between making new things and getting my ridiculously messy studio under control... wrangling these little guys was part of last week's work.  I knew that I wanted to string the beads (the idea of doing a zillion wrapped loops just wasn't exciting me!), but I wanted to jazz it up a bit.  So, I turned to yet another neglected element in my hoard of jewelry making supplies... my collection of Vintaj filigree and embellishments.  It took a little bit of wrangling to get the deco vine pieces to work the way I wanted them to as connectors, but I'm glad that I didn't give up on the idea!

There was a lot of exposition about the way the courtesans would work with the jewelers to get better jewelry sets as gifts from their suitors and patrons, so making jewelry for this month's book seems even more appropriate than usual.  I'm hoping that next month's book is more to my liking!  Better get to the library to grab it before I head out on the Bead Cruise.

We're All Ears: February 2018

This month for the We're All Ears design challenge over on the Earrings Everyday blog is all about chandeliers.  I love that Erin usually picks a prompt that can be taken so many different directions... and my mind certainly went in many of them all at once!!

I always love that first rush with a new challenge when I get to go digging through all my beads and stash looking for possibilities!  I grabbed anything that allowed for multiple dangles, Vintaj brass, vintage components, crystals, and more... and then got started playing.

My very first pair may be my favorite of the bunch!  I had a bundle of Lesley Watt's bronze clay charms sitting out to possibly use in another challenge, and I noticed the cool dagger shapes and a lightbulb went off in my brain.  I immediately went digging for these cool vintage glass pieces that I bought at a local bead show.  They aren't at all the type of thing that I gravitate toward, but I grabbed them on a whim.  I'm so glad that I did because they were just perfect wire wrapped with Lesley's gorgeous bronze.  I think the result is a nice mix of vintage and modern.

Next up, a pair with some vintage flair featuring fun brass connectors from Vintaj Natural Brass.  These are pretty straight forward but do feel like they could be part of a fancy light fixture... a nice (albeit black) crystal drop.

These next two are very much a variation on a theme and both use a cool floral connector from Vintaj.  I added my favorite tiny Czech glass flowers as dangles on both of them using different colors and paired each with Humblebeads discs to coordinate.  These may not be in the spirit of a traditional lighting chandelier, but they are a chandelier style of earring!

In my stash I had a few different drop connectors/earring components with room for multiple dangles.  With these being metal I thought they definitely fit the chandelier theme.  I added Swarovski Crystals to both pairs (and Swarovski pearls in Petrol to one of them) which also seems in keeping with the inspiration!

Maybe I shouldn't have spoken so soon about favorites up above because I'm pretty smitten with this last pair too!  I was just about to put my new acquisitions from the talented Kristi Bowman away when I realized that one of the pairs of charms would make a pretty funky entry into my chandelier collection.  These have a scalloped shape and sea urchin texture, so I thought what better to pair with them than freshwater pearls!

The post isn't up yet, but check out the Earrings Everyday blog HERE later today to see what everyone else was inspired to create!

Everything's Coming Up Rose Gold!

If you know me at all you know that I am so NOT a pink girl.  I've always been a tomboy... no frills and no pink.  Ok, maybe some fuchsia here and there but no pale, sweet colors for this girl.  My favorite colors are turquoise, teal, and almost all greens.  So what bewitchment has come over me that I've been on a designing kick with rose gold??  Apparently Vintaj has cast a spell on me with their new Rose Gold patina paint!  I'm hooked on this gorgeous color and just couldn't stop making new jewelry for the Art Wander in shades of pink!

Here's what's been tickling me pink this week!  The pictures just don't do this color justice... stop by the Art Wander this weekend to see them in person!

Art Wander

September 22 - 24

Friday, 1:00 pm - 6:00 pm

Saturday, 9:00 am - 6:00 pm

Sunday, 11:00 am - 4:00 pm 

For full Art Wander details visit: www.artwander.com

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this color.... yay?  nay?  meh?  If Rose Gold isn't your thing, never fear I have tons of jewelry in other colors!  :)

We're All Ears: September 2017

I have to laugh because Erin and Eric were on the same inspiration wavelength this month...  I was literally sitting down to read the We're All Ears inspiration post when Eric emailed me pictures of sunflowers that he took for the September Honey Do List!  (You can see the post with all the information on how to play along HERE if you're interested... I hope you'll play along with us!)  What a perfect flower to inspire us during the fading days of summer as we start to feel the first nip of autumn in the air. 

Photo credit :: via Unsplash :: Becca Romine :: Ciprian Lipenschi :: Nick Nice :: Thomas Smith :: 

Marko Blazevic :: Jenni Peterson :: Lucas Silva Pinheiro Santos :: Papaver Rhoeas :: Marjorie Bertrand

Here's a little peek at some of the sunflower-y beads in my stash.  Since I was looking down the barrel of dueling sunflower challenges, I figured that it was only fair for me to use the earring-friendly beads for the We're All Ears challenge.  Eric will have to be happy with some sunflower inspired necklace creations.  :)

The first thing I made was a total no brainer for me.  I had picked up some flower charms from Golem Design Studio at Bead & Button this year and one of them was perfect sunflower colors!  I had already used one pair for last month's Honey Do List, so I already had a basic design/style in mind so there was no reason not to get to work!  Since I was on a roll, I went ahead and whipped up earrings with the other two remaining colorways.  I had lovely coordinating Humblebeads disks that were perfect for all three pairs (probably because I pretty much bought a set of every color that Heather Powers had at B&B!!).

Since I was still in painting mode trying to get some of my fan favorite designs finished for my next show that's approaching way too rapidly, I decided to add some paint to a few sunflower charms (or maybe some are really daisies) for a fun effect!  The unpainted pair was a last minute addition when I realized that the Czech glass I had in mind didn't match the painted sunflowers.  I had all the stuff out, so why not?

Lastly, I revisited my Golem collection... and this time fished out some fun polka dotted lentil beads.  These are certainly my least literal interpretation, but I thought the colors were spot on for sunflowers.

So that's it for me this time.  Check back with me on Monday, September 25th to see what other sunflower designs I come up with for the Honey Do List challenge.  I hope you'll consider playing along with us!

Check out the Earrings Everyday blog HERE to see what other sunflower earrings folks dreamed up!

Feeling the Blues

Don't worry, I don't have those kind of blues!  I'm too busy to feel down right now!  I've just really been feeling the new shades of blue patina paints that I recently picked up from Vintaj!  In particular the Deep Turquoise which is just a super yummy shade of teal.

Generally when I play in the paints, I prep way more metal than I'll actually use in one sitting.  That way if I accidentally squirt out or mix up too much of one color, I've got plenty of other things that I can add color to waiting in the wings.  So, when I tried out the new color (on something I still haven't finished) I just couldn't stop adding it to more things!  All of these new designs will be available at my studio later this month during the Art Wander studio tour September 22-24!

Eager to restock some of my most popular styles of bracelets, I made a batch that included some of the new color.  I even did a feather with the lighter Turquoise mixed in along the edges.  I quite like how that turned out!

Next up, a few new necklaces!  Some are new versions of older designs and there's also a brand new butterfly pendant that I want to play more with.  So dainty!

Of course I couldn't totally neglect the earrings during my little teal frenzy!  I added some white gold/silver mixture to the centers of the flower charms then a wash over the whole thing.  I love the shimmer that gives and it plays so nicely with the mercury glass and crystal rondelles!  I added pops of orange for my elephant earrings.  These are pretty petite for dangly earrings and super fun!

Thanks for stopping by to see what I've been up to lately.  I'm up to my eyeballs in show prep, so I hope to be sharing lots of new designs with you all soon!