Hello everybody!!!  This is my  first anchors Away Blog Hop and my first time using the Wonderful Art Beads from Suburban Girl Studios , Diana Ptasznski sent us these really cool Anchor Art Beads.  I don't as a rule use art beads...they can be ...ummm...intimidating.  I started out thinking that way about these.

 Then I remember I could put these amazing elite beads with some other elite art beads that I had been gifted or won in auctions.!  So that is what I did.  The lovely anchors are the main attraction as the focal of this decidedly sea worthy design.  In the picture above, in the middle are 2 lovely lampwork beads that were purchased by a friend at Water Lily Studios in I believe Oregon.  I don't know the artist but there are several of these wonderful beads in this design.  Just above is a few of the natural stone and agate beads and the lampwork beads and the crystals.  Here to the right is a view of the Beautiful Anchor Art Beads from our featured artist Diana Ptasznski!  I got the little silver toned links form Geeni Thorton in her destash.  There are a couple of pictures to follow. I hope you enjoyed this blog and I hope you love the necklace!

Anchors Aweigh!! Design Challenge & Blog Hop 

CHOOSY CHICKS CHOOSE CHICKLETS.  Say that fast a few times LOL!!!  This is the second Blog Hop I had this weekend!  Sorry I am so late but I made this first bracelet last night and was pretty happy with it.


Let me tell you where I was in my head last night!  I had an evil headache, I was coming off my 3rd 12 hour shift in a row and I was determined I was going to do this!!!  LOL So I pick a knotted waxed linen bracelet!!! LOL  what was I thinking...
Anyhow it was nice and simple and I liked it so I took the pics and uploaded them and went to start the post!

Then I am like ummmm I want something different.  this is not me!  It is very nice but... so then I did this one and it has crystal...mmmmm crystal!!!

I went to finish it off this morning and DANG IT half of it is upside down!!! LOL  So I had to  finish it tonight!

So it is done and I like this one too for entirely different reasons.  I really hope you like them both!!  Challenges are supposed to push you out of your comfort zone.  This one did and I really liked working with the chicklet! they are made by Sue Beads!  Thank you so much Toltec Jewels!!!

 Welcome to my first Haberdashery Hop!!! Isn't Haberdashery a cool word? i just looked it up [I thought it meant hat store, scarves, gloves etc...] I was not correct! LOL  It is a store or place with small items sewing needs and buttons.
So When the Wonderful Melissa Trudinger proposed a haberdashery hop with lace and button and other sundries [love that word too] I was all in!!!

I had just bought the felt flowers you see here and I really love them!!! The colors are much more crisp in person! The base on this is a narrow leather bracelet with holes along both sides. Once I figured out the overall design, I used very thin copper colored wire to hold the layers of flowers and the button together, then used it to attach it to the bracelet. Then I built on that.  I am thinking at this point I am done!  UMMMMM, not so much!!! the right side was bare and you just know the bracelet would roll on the wrist [some thing I really hate!!!] So I mumbled and fussed and finally thought to add some charms over the the flowers I added and used 2 strands of waxed linen thread [another notion from the haberdashery lol] to attach that.

 I finished that end, trimmed and then attached the bar for the clasp. And "good it is done" ...UMMMMM...not quite.

You guys know I love Love LOVE Dangles...LOL so I just had to add a ...few...
I used the waxed linen again And it worked great!!!
NOW IT IS DONE!!!
I hope everybody has fun with this hop and I hope you have a Blessed Day!!!
Check out the other wonderful Haberdashery Blog Hop participants here: www.beadrecipes.wordpress.com   http://beadrecipes.wordpress.com

Welcome to my very first PINE RIDGE TREASURES GEMSTONE AND METAL BLOG HOP!!!
Anyone who know me at all knows I am CRAZY over gemstones!  So I was pretty stoked to get in this wonderful Blog Hop By Lisa Lodge! When I got my beautiful Red Adventurine

 I was even more EXCITED!!!  Love the color and shape and feel of all the pretty stones Lisa sent me!
I wanted to do something a little different that I personally don't do much of.
I wanted to do a bib of sorts.  Since I don't do them often [read never] I worked and reworked and reworked again the same basic design. This is the original design, a little closer to the bib than the other 2 you will see but not very wearable.  Still have to refine my loop and o ring assembly skills! I used most of the Red Aventurine  that I got and some of the bronzy metal beads [mostly out of the picture near the back].  I then added the filigree from my stash and the crystals from my stash.

This one is the second design . It flows better and wears much better but is to me a little bland! So I fiddled with it and played with it and left it on it's own!  LOL  Then I sat down and finished it.

 This is the final design!  I really like it!  It is much more what I was thinking and it seems to flow really well!!! It is a little vintage and a touch bohemian.  The filigree pieces make it very feminine.

I hope you have enjoyed my journey with this necklace!  It was a lot of fun and i learned some new techniques and found I need to learn more!!!  Have a Blessed Day!

Welcome to My Country Blog Hop, hosted by Nan Smith.  It is a great idea!  This is my first year in this wonderful hop and don't you know it...I am seriously late!!! Life just up and slapped me in the face!!! LOL  The good news is that I am still standing!!!

I live in the United States, In the State of Indiana.  I live in the Northern/North Western part of the state.  We are about 50 miles from Lake Michigan.

In my part of the state we have a saying...If you don't like the weather, wait 15 minutes , it will change!!! Our close proximity to the Great Lake makes our weather odd and quirky and just plain strange!  We have fabulous scenery whether it is Winter with the ice sparkling on the trees or in the summer with the heat shimmering on the pavements.

These pictures are of some of the  big storms we have had this month.  This June is one of the wettest on record.

I could go on and on about the weather in our area, how everything is tied to it.  We live in a very rural and farm filled area and the weather rules!!!

If it is too cold for too long and too wet, the crops suffer and it just ripples out from there, if it is too dry for too long the same thing happens.  So weather is a pretty big deal around here.




But wrapped in and around and through all of the what if's of the weather is the Amazing Beauty and the wonderful Majesty of all the weather in all of it's moods.  this mood is well...moody and got kind of threatening.

Then peeking around the edges of the bad mood is the blue sky and the sunshine of a better mood and a brighter day!!!

Life emulates the weather, with our capricious moods and our pouts and tantrums, our hot headed temper and icy  implacability.    And just like the weather, we sprout sunshine in our smiles and our optimism and our heartfelt happiness

.

The Necklace I made is a representation of all of the moods and complexities of weather and life's emotions. This necklace contains a really beautiful and moody hand crafted lampwork bead [I am unsure of the artist], and some stormy grey and white and bruised metallic finish crystals that metamorphose into to a rainbow of sky and flower colors that mirror happiness and optimism.  I really hope you love it.  Sorry to be so late.  Have a Blessed day!!!

Well I am a little stumped!!!  I have my pictures and they are good ones and I can't get my phone to back them up so that I can upload them here..  So until I can get them uploaded I am going to post them on Bead Soup Cafe so you can see the necklace.  I will get this together eventually I promise.

Well I did finally figure it out, got them uploaded here and proceeded to lose 2 of them.  Luckily, this one is the most important. the left side [in the picture] is moody and grey and not very optimistic, but from that comes all of the brilliance of a rainbow!  The clouds are still there but the color really pops because of them.  This is the whole meaning of optimism, your rainbow in spite of and along of the clouds!!!  Thanks for being here and part of my rainbow!!! Have a Blessed Day!!!

YAY!!!  I found and reuploaded [is that a word?] the two pictures that I had lost yesterday!  These show all of the beauty of the Moody Hand Crafted Lampwork bead and the burst of color for the rainbow.  There are a couple of wonderful lampwork beauties in here too[the really bright blue tube you can see in the last picture]!  I am so glad I found these!  Have a Blessed Day!

I was Blessed with 2 partners this year!! I was soooo Excited to meet the wonderfully talented Veronica Campos Holstrom.  Veronica sent me a lovely soup that had these great rectangular beads in a green/white/and red/soft blueish collage type pattern on them.  Really cool and i had seen them before!!!  They have a mother of pearl sheen to them as well!!I paired those with the bicone purpley crystals and the pearl beads and then I added the wonderful focal!!1 a Bird House with it's own little birdie!!!  So cute.  I put it on the necklace and looked at it ... looked again...hmmm just not...hmmm... Oh I know!!! I put same color metal filigree behind the house .  That worked I love this. Then I added some crystals to the tassel said that i love it and I was done!!! I have lots more beads from Veronica that I have been working with.  i will post those later....!!! Thank you so much for visiting me!!!  i really had a wonderful time.  Have a Blessed Day!!!

I wanted to say Thank you again the Amazing and Wonderful Lori McDaniel Anderson for all of her incredible work!!! You are my Hero and an inspiration to all of us!!!  Have a Blessed Day!!!

It is Here, It is Here!!! Bead Soup Blog Party Reveal Date 2014!!!

I want to extend my sincerest and Heartfelt Thank yous to LORI MCDANIEL ANDERSON!!!  Her amazing hard work in the face of serious illness and months of recovery is nothing short of Miraculous!!!  I also know that Lori had some much needed help from Lisa Liddy so many thanks to you as well Lisa.  there might be some others that were helping as well, so If I missed you I am truly sorry.  And last but certainly not least is Lori's Amazing and considerate and wonderful Husband and Lori's Sweet and great son!!! Thank you for all you do and just for being you!!!This is my second year of being able to do the BSBP!!!  I am having even more fun this year!!! I have 2 Fabulous partners and will blog about each separately.
This blog is about my Sweet New Friend in Sonora, California.  RAIN HANNAH!  Rain is smart and very very talented. She is also amazingly generous!

 When I got all of the amazing goodies I posted lots of pictures.  With all the issues with pictures today, I am just going to show you completed projects! LOL...I don't want to push my luck!!!  I love love love agates and jaspers and all of those types of stones and Rain gave some really beautiful ones to work with her. [In the blog with the pic etc... are also the names of the designers that made the clasp on this necklace and all of the names of the stones in this as well.  I used a few flat turquoise nuggets and some 6mm jasper rounds, and a few crystals etc... but the bulk of this necklace is all the fun beads that Rain sent.  I really love asymmetric designs and I really wanted to show off that amazing clasp so I used the printed sari silk as a chain on one side and the agates and chalcedony, flat freshwater pearl coins and the filler beads to make a double strand of yummmyness!!! I used the agate focal as a counter balance and added a couple of copper accent charms.  I love how this turned out.

I have a few pieces left to play with including a wonderful focal. so that will be done later.

 I knew when i saw the tile from Rain that I wanted to do what I call an assembled type of necklace.  I had some really nicely textured copper rings that do not open so I used o rings in bronze to link them together.  I usually use several types and colors of metal in this type of necklace.  This is very long and would work great with jeans and a t shirt or that great dress you just bought.  Just below here you will see a really good pic of the tile that Rain sent me!!!  I just love it!!!
 I used a copper leaf clasp and some japer rounds, an embossed key and some speaking tags to add movement and definition to the necklace.  I macrame the lampies that Rain sent in with copper spacers and flat coin pearls. I love the waxed linen cord she sent that was really fun to work with!!!  I used some czech pressed glass leaves, a couple of other charms  a lovely jasper pendant to keep the color and texture flowing from top to bottom!!!  there a couple of more pictures below this one  I had a Blast with this!  Hope you love it!!! Have a Blessed Day!