Honey Do List September 2021

 Here's this month's inspiration and what Eric had to say about it: 

I call this one "Unhinged."  This was a random shot in a small town in Southern Minnesota, as we ventured into an alleyway.  You never know where the inspiration will strike!  I love the colors of moss and lichen, as well as the textures of old wood.  Sorry about missing last month, but we are back!

As I was searching back through my blog for a pair of earrings that I made for an old We're All Ears challenge, I discovered that this isn't the first September that Eric has given us a lichen themed Honey Do!  September 2019 was lichen inspired too with some ferns thrown in!  I was super excited when I saw the photo Eric picked this time around as I love the old wood, lichen and moss, and the amazing old hinge.  Hopefully my designs do it justice!

The first thing that I grabbed were a pair of brass circle charms that had been given a splatter paint effect by an unknown artist.  (I got them as a freebie somewhere along the line so apologies for not having a name here!)  Over the last couple of years I've kept coming back and looking at them but never got so far as bringing them to my bead mat.  This time, I knew that I had the perfect beads to go with them... some fun patinated look acrylic melons.  I grabbed my supplies and whipped up this first pair of earrings before any moss could gather on my rolling stone of creativity!  

Next up, a colored pair of pewter charms from Inviciti caught my eye as feeling a little weathered and lichen-y. (I'm sure that's a word, right??)  I paired them with some coordinating Czech glass and a fun wavy spacer.  

I didn't want to leave the hinges out of my creative endeavors so I had to whip up one last pair of earrings with some rustic pewter charms from Inviciti that reminded me of the hinge shape.  This time I went with some fun clear acrylic beads with streaks of silver and black as well as crystal spacers and faceted pyrite.  

I had so many other ideas that I wanted to explore this month, but with prepping for me big 3 day show that was this past weekend, I just ran out of time to explore everything that I wanted to.  

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 in early October to see what Eric has in store for us next month!  Luckily we've been exploring a bit more with the camera in tow, so I'm guessing he'll have some fresh inspiration for us!

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Inspiration for the September 2021 Honey Do List

Happy Labor Day to my friends here in the US!  After taking a little break in August, we're finally back with a new challenge this month... albeit a tiny bit late.  As most of you know, 2021 marks the sixth 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!

Here's this month's inspiration and what Eric had to say about it: 

I call this one "Unhinged."  This was a random shot in a small town in Southern Minnesota, as we ventured into an alleyway.  You never know where the inspiration will strike!  I love the colors of moss and lichen, as well as the textures of old wood.  Sorry about missing last month, but we are back!

The reveal date will be Monday, September 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 September 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

I'm off to the bead table now.  I haven't been spending nearly enough time there lately.  Wishing you all a happy and safe rest of this holiday weekend.

Honey Do List July 2021

Happy Monday!  Today's the day for the reveal of the July Honey Do List!  How are my creative peeps doing?  I feel like I slow down a bit.  I just want to enjoy the nice days we have while we have them in Minnesota.  I spend a lot more time on the deck and patio with a good book and a cold beverage.  I should take my bead embroidery out more, but that's just where my brain has been.  Anyway, I hope that some of you were inspired to create and play along with us this month!

Here's this month's inspiration and what Eric had to say about it:

Alright this month I went with a shot that is less about color and more about icons and motifs.  This was from our trip to Edinburgh, Scotland before the Covid days.  Everywhere in that city were amazing bits of architecture and little embellishments like this one.  Have a great month!

I'm going to admit right up front that I was not as prolific as I would have liked this month.  We've had a busier social calendar than I've gotten used to this past year and a half including a spree of activities around my birthday... also, as I mentioned above, I just have been feeling like sitting and reading outside.  

I did make a trio of earrings that are all variations on a theme.  The iron work made me think of various Vintaj filigree items in my stash.  I had a bag of little connectors hanging out in the mess on my bead table that became my jumping off place.  In looking for drops to hang from the bottom of the connectors I gravitated towards some teardrops in the reds and golds of the leaves in the photo.  

My last pair of earrings is actually the first idea that came to me but the last that I made.  I seriously just have to be in the right frame of mind to deal with wire-wrapping top drilled beads!  I wanted to play off the leaf shapes in the inspiration photo with the drops on this pair... it was an added bonus that I had some Czech glass leaves with a metallic burgundy color to them.

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 in early August to see what Eric has in store for us next month!  

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

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Inspiration for the July 2021 Honey Do List

Happy Fourth of July to my friends here in the US!  Sorry for being so late again.  I blame Eric, but he did have a busy and stressful week at work last week so maybe we can him some slack.  As most of you know, 2021 marks the sixth 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!

Here's this month's inspiration and what Eric had to say about it:

Alright this month I went with a shot that is less about color and more about icons and motifs.  This was from our trip to Edinburgh, Scotland before the Covid days.  Everywhere in that city were amazing bits of architecture and little embellishments like this one.  Have a great month!

The reveal date will be Monday, July 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 July 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... 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

I'm off to the bead table now.  I haven't been spending nearly enough time there lately.  Wishing you all a happy and safe rest of this holiday weekend.

Honey Do List June 2021

 Here's this month's inspiration and what Eric had to say about it:

Your inspiration for the month (sorry so late!) are these rare Minnesotan Yellow Lady Slippers from our trip up north last week.  These also mark the first time I've used my camera for anything other than taking pictures of my painted miniatures in the past year.  I'm a little rusty, but it felt good to get back to making some art!  Now it's your turn!

I really had grand plans of being slightly more productive for this month's Honey Do, but life got a little busy with all sorts of things including a fabulous visit from my niece and her partner from Seattle.  Sometimes that's just how it goes!  Luckily I got one pair of earrings made early in the month.  

The color palette for this month's lady slipper photo inspiration was a bit challenging for me (sorry, MN Gophers fans... the maroon and gold doesn't do too much for me!)  I had just gotten a nice selection of one of a kind Inviciti charms from a de-stash event including one pair that was just what I needed for this challenge.  I paired the charms with some honey shimmer Czech glass leaves and deep burgundy crystals.  

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 in early July to see what Eric has in store for us next month!  

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Inspiration for the June 2021 Honey Do List

We're super late this month, but the good news is that Eric actually got the chance to take some new photos over a very long Memorial Day holiday trip!  Yay!  As most of you know, 2021 marks the sixth 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!

Here's this month's inspiration and what Eric had to say about it:

Your inspiration for the month (sorry so late!) are these rare Minnesotan Yellow Lady Slippers from our trip up north last week.  These also mark the first time I've used my camera for anything other than taking pictures of my painted miniatures in the past year.  I'm a little rusty, but it felt good to get back to making some art!  Now it's your turn!
 

The reveal date will be Monday, June 28th.  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 June 28th 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

Honey Do List May 2021

 2021 marks the sixth 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!

Here's this month's inspiration and what Eric had to say about it:

This month I went back in time to an amazing trip Sarajo and I took to Portland.  This enormous thistle (or artichoke) was in the beautiful yard of our temporary home.  I had no idea that artichokes could be so amazing, spiky, and downright ancient looking!  So here is a fun challenge for you: colors, shapes, flowers...

These artichoke flowers were truly amazing... and really prehistoric looking.  The AirB&B had a cool garden that was so private.  I kept wanting to look for the dinosaurs hanging out with these crazy plants!  

The colors in Eric's photo were really inspiring for me and were the main focus of this pair of earrings.  The green of these polymer clay matchstick charms from Humblebeads as well as their leafy pattern was pretty perfect for this challenge.  For the flowers on top of the charms I went with the lightest colors from the bloom... the cream and palest pinks.  Copper wire and copper colored niobium ear wires complete the look.

Next up I made a gemstone filled bracelet featuring a lovely flower link in fine pewter by Green Girl Studios.  While I know that the link isn't meant to be an artichoke or thistle, it has a similar spiky shape to the petals.  I took some liberties with the colors here, going with paler more muted shades.  I strung faceted Ametrine, rose quartz, aventurine, and cool prehnite barrels on one side of the focal and amethyst and rose quartz nugget links on the other.  I'm pretty happy with the overall effect of this one!

I had a couple of other designs partially thought out but I ran out of time.  We'll see if I circle back to them or not, lol.  

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 in early June to see what Eric has in store for us next month!  (I'm pretty sure we'll be late because we're going up North for a few days... but hopefully that will get Eric super inspired!)

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter