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!

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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!

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!  :)

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!

Some Sunday Earrings!

I had a good time this weekend making my favorite thing... earrings... and I wanted to share with you in a quick post!  I'm going to be heading to Heather Powers' Inspired by Nature Retreat on Friday morning for a weekend of beady fun, but that means that I've got a lot to do to get some jewelry delivered to Unearthed Arts before I leave.  For the second year, Unearthed Arts, the gallery where I sell most of my jewelry, is going to be setting up an exclusive shopping boutique during the Achieving a Healthy Balance event sponsored by the Ridgeview Hospital Foundation on October 15th.  Anyway, my point being that all of these earrings are headed to this great event to support a great cause in our community!

I finally made a couple of earrings using some of the beads from Allegory Gallery's Mermaid Lagoon challenge.  (You can see the necklaces and bracelet I made with the kit HERE if you missed it!)  First up is a pair using glass beads from the kit paired with brass beads and findings.  The idea is that these would go with the starfish necklace that I made.

Next is a pair that features a gorgeous pair of ceramic charms made by Marsha Neal that I picked up at Bead & Button.  I added some recycled glass, more brass, and some funky glass beads from the kit to top things off.  Now I'm itching to play with more of Marsha's pretties that are in my hoard... we'll see what the week ahead brings!

It wasn't all mermaid colors this weekend... I also whipped up some more earrings with hand-painted brass elephant charms!  I had a recent playdate with my friend Marcia where we broke out my collection of Vintaj patinas and I got a few pairs of charms painted and sealed.  I love the green and purple color combination!  I made another pair in turquoise and red like I sold during the Art Wander.  I want to try these in some other colors soon because I think they are so cute!  

  

And for my last pair, it's back to the beach!  (Seriously, why am I in the mood for beach and ocean themed jewelry when I should be in fall mode??)  More charms that I painted with Marcia.  The base color is really a turquoise color, but I wanted to demonstrate how to mix the metallic patinas with the glaze for a nice overcoat and she'd already poured out some gold.  The result is was a happy surprise that turned out a cool and weathered greenish color.

I hope you enjoyed my newest earring creations!  It was fun just to get to play around with some things with no real direction... just following my muse this weekend.

Honey Do List: August 2016

This year, my husband Eric has decided to issue me a design challenge each month to get me out of my comfort zone and to help clear out my bead stash... we're calling it the Honey Do List.  I know that I'm not the only one who loves a good design challenge, so I'm inviting folks to play along!

This month I chose a picture from our recent trip out to Ligonier, PA for the Allegory Gallery's Creative Camp.  Andrew Thornton directed us out to a nearby bog where the carnivorous plants were in full bloom.  An entire field of these pitcher plants and much smaller sundews stretched around us--beauty and savagery all wrapped up in one tiny leafy package.  The strange shape, as well as the striated deep red patterns against green really jumped out at me and I wanted to see what a bunch of jewelry designers could pull off with this inspiration!

When I started sorting through my beads, the first thing that jumped out for me was one of my treasures from Gardanne that I picked up at Bead & Button.  Yes, I know it's a ginkgo leaf, not a pitcher plant, but the colors were spot on!  I quickly decided on some light green Picasso finished seed beads I had on my bead table from a previous project as the base for a strung necklace.  As I dug through my green gemstone beads, prehnite became the obvious choice.  Luckily I had some faceted coins in two different sizes to pull into the design along with some bordeaux colored Swarovski pearls.  Voila!  A necklace inspired by the colors of the bog!  

I also wanted to try my hand at painting some brass leaves from Vintaj for some earrings.  The colors aren't exactly what I was hoping for (they are a little too bright), but I'm making it work!  For the first pair I picked out some fun disk beads from Humblebeads that I grabbed during the Creative Camp Vendor Night that Allegory Gallery hosted.  I wire-wrapped those, some Czech glass discs, leafy patterned bead caps, and iridescent green Swarovski pearls.  The second pair features some more prehnite (boy do I wish I had more of these gorgeous rondelles!), Czech glass flowers, and crystal.  The leaves seemed too far away from the beads above so I added jump rings decorated with some fun seed beads to give it some more pizzaz.  I'm not sure pink and green is my personal style, but I'm really happy with how they turned out!

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We're All Ears: March 2016

Erin Prais-Hintz has truly outdone herself with her pick for the We're All Ears challenge hosted on the Earrings Everyday blog this month!  She's chosen a collection of breathtaking photographs of decorative tile work from Instagram photographer Mehrdad Rasoulifard.  The photos are part of a project to document ancient Persian and Iranian architecture.  The arabesque art found there focuses on intricate geometric patterns and exhibits a lovely range of colors.  I've picked out a couple of my favorite photographs to share here but I encourage you to check out Erin's inspiration post HERE to see all the gorgeous photos there.

Celling of Hazrate-Masomeh’s mosque in Qom, Iran

Celling of Sheikh-Lotfollah’s mosque in Esfahan, Iran

Sheikh Lotfollah mosque in Esfahan,Iran, about 400 years old

My first thought when I saw the photographs was to play with some of my Vintaj DecoEmboss and DecoEtch dies and patinas.  I pulled out a variety of different shaped brass blanks and started to play!  Here's a picture of my decorated and painted pieces midway through the sanding and sealing process:

Some of them didn't come out exactly how I was hoping but it's hard to tell until you have things sanded down.  In all honesty, I didn't love the way the multi-colored striped pieces were looking at this point or even once I sanded them.  I'm super happy with the finished result after I applied a mix of glaze and bronze paint over the tops.  What I love about these paints is that things are almost never a total lost cause... you can add more layers of paint or use a tinted layer of glaze to change the look. 

Here are the finished pieces:

Can you tell I was most inspired by the turquoise and teal tones from the inspiration photos?  The two pairs on the ends were etched and embossed just for the challenge.  The middle pair had been around for awhile unpainted but I thought the texture of the design (if not the color I chose) worked well.  Whenever I get out the paints, I always have extra pieces to paint if I end up with extra paint... I hate to waste!  I accidentally ended up with waaaay too much of this blue color mixed up so I just rolled with it!  

This second set ended up being my favorite designs despite not being happy with the early stages of my paint job.  What a difference some bronze paint added to the glaze coat made!  I feel like these are the most true to the colors of the inspiration photos.

This final set wasn't originally destined to be part of this post either, but once they were done, I thought the texture in the brass pieces fit... ok, maybe not the purple but who knows, there could be a mosque with purple and gold tones out there somewhere! 

Pop over to the Earrings Everyday blog to see what everyone else was inspired to make this month HERE!