Holiday Ornament Swap/Hop - Hosted by Sally Russick

Hi Y'all,

It is time for Sally Russick's Holiday Ornament Swap and Blog Hop.  This is my third year participating in this event, and I am already looking forward to next year's swap/hop.

Wow this year is almost over I hope all is well with you and yours and you are ready for a festive Christmas, Hanuka, or Kwanzaa Season, spent with family and friends. This is the first year in 31 years that I will not be celebrating Christmas with my Son.  He has flown half way around the world to New Zealand to spend the holiday with his sweet girlfriend.

Okay that is enough about my woes you came to see what my partner Karen Williams and I swapped.

Well first of all I was excited and intimidated at the same time when I found out that Sally Russick paired me with, Karen Williams, Freeform bead weaver extraordinaire!  I have been a fan of Karen's for a few years now. So what do you do for an amazing seed beadiest.  Well being a bead weaver I did something with cylinder seed beads.  Here is what I made for Karen.

I found a tutorial for a 3D star on Etsy by JoyHarmonDesigns I have not done many 3D beading designs and this little star... well lets just say it almost wasn't, but I pushed myself to stick with it and I am very pleased with the end results.  The art bead is a snowflake clay charm is by Linda Landig. Linda just started working with clay earlier this year, but you would think that she has been doing it for years.  I love her clay charms and pendants.

I did the star in a dark red and accented it with bronze, because Karen said that she likes the jewel tones and has several ornaments and decorations in dark red. 

Do you want to see what Karen sent to me? Well let me show you.  I swear when I opened the box and saw what she sent to me, one could probably hear my squeal with delight for miles.  Karen sent me an ornament made with one of her freeform beaded beads it is absolutely beautiful. Oh yeah, I guess you want me to hush and show you the ornament, right?

See I told you it was beautiful in wintery whites and blues.  Here is a picture of it hanging on my tree.

Oh and not only did Karen send me this beautiful ornament she also included her new book Explorations in Freeform Peyote Beading.  It is a very informative book with lots of easy to follow instructions on the art of Freeform Peyote.  

If you do not already have a copy of this wonderful book you can get one on Amazon.com.   You will see some of our beady friends in this book as well.

I want to thank you Sally for doing this Holiday Ornament Swap/Hop again this year.  It is always fun to find out who one's partner is going to be, what you will create, and what you will receive.

Now please take the time to go visit my partner Karen and the other's in this swap/hop.

1.  Sally Russick  and Tanya Goodwin
2.  Veralynne Malone  and Sally Russick 

3.  Melissa Trudinger  and Elisabeth Auld

4.  Erin Prais-Hintz  and Lesley Watt 

5.  Jenny Davies-Reazor and Patti Vanderbloemen 

6.  Kim Bender-Hora and Beth and Evie McCord

7.  Becky Pancake and Lynne Bowland 

8.  Therese Frank  and Karen Williams

9.   Melissa Meman  and Linda Hanes 

10.   Sandi Volpe  and Linda Landig 

11. Alicia Marinache  and Susan Kennedy  

Thank you for stopping by and visiting Happy Holidays to you, please leave a comment, because I enjoy hearing from you.

Happy beading Y'all,

Therese 

Whoops Blog Hop - Hosted by Cynthia of Antiquity Travelers Blog

Hi Y'all,

I know that I have not posted much in the past few months and I admit it is becoming a pattern, that I only post when I have a Challenge reveal.  I am going to get better in 2015.  Anyway yes I am posting, because a wonderful beady blogging friend, Cynthia Machata asked me, and others, if I would like to play around with some really huge balls, and being the type of woman I am, I of course said hell yeah!

The big balls are actually 16 MM gray glass pearls from Znet Shows, that Cynthia had left over from a previous challenge for Znet Shows, hence the name of the blog hop "Whoops", because she ordered to many not realizing how big they were when she ordered them. I forgot to take a before picture, but here is a picture of what Cynthia did with her pearls from the Znet Shows Challenge.

I love this necklace it is so pretty and will go with just about anything dressed up or down!

When I got my package with the large glass pearls I knew right away what I was going to do, so I went to my stash and pulled out all of my gray glass pearls.  I had gray glass pearls in 3 mm, 4 mm, 6 mm, 8 mm, 10 mm, 12 mm, and 14 mm in various shades of gray from very light to dark. Perfect I thought, but if y'all don't know me I am all about the Bling!, so I went to my crystal stash and pulled out as many of the same size Czech rounds in clear AB that I had to match the sizes of the pearls and what I did not have I purchased at my local bead store Enchanted Bead.  Now to decide on the color of the seed beads I wanted to use, so you guessed it, I went to my seed bead stash and pulled out my metallic colors of silver, hematite, bronze, and gold.  I laid each color beside the pearls and crystals and I chose the hematite seed beads in sizes 11 and 8.  The stitch I chose to create my piece with is the tubular net stitch.

Here is what I created...

      For the clasp I peyoted a loop using the size ll seed beads and I had some 2 mm clear AB Czech crystals that I went around the outside of the loop with and I used one of the 14 MM gray glass pearls as the other side of the clasp.

Here is a close up of the center of my necklace...

The first weekend in December was my Gem and Mineral Society's Gem and Mineral Show and I was working at the welcome desk.  Well to keep busy between greeting people to the show I was working on this necklace.  I had a lot of people, as well as club members, comment on the necklace and ask a lot of question about the stitch I was using and if I taught classes and so on.  I told them that I do teach  classes at the Enchanted Bead and I told them where the store was, so hopefully one or two will show up for a class or two.

Thank you Cynthia for asking me to play with these huge ball, Um I mean big glass pearls, I had a great time creating with them.

Thank you to Y'all for stopping by and visiting my blog, please leave a comment I love hearing what y'all have to say.

Now please stop by and show my fellow beady buddies a little love too.

Linda    http://lindysdesigns.blogspot.com/

Bobbie     http://www.beadsongjewelry.com/

Christine   http://onekisscreations.blogspot.com/

Hope    http://www.craftyhope.com/

Therese  http://theresestreasures59.blogspot.com/

Val  http://missvalscreations.blogspot.com/

and Me  http://antiquitytravelers.blogspot.com/

Happy beading Y'all

Therese

A Time To Stitch 6 Two Days Left to Sign Up

Hi Y'all,

If you have not signed up or just did not see the original post on the 10th click here or go to Christine's blog here and sign up.  We would love to have you play along with us.

Happy beading Y'all

Therese 

A Time To Stitch Six Sign Up

Hi Y'all,

Wow it is hard to believe that it is mine and Christine's sixth time presenting A Time To Stitch Challenge.  It seems like just a few months ago we did our first one on peyote and herringbone stitches, but that was way back in May and June of 2012.  

Since this is our sixth time Christine and I thought we would make it just a bit more challenging.  The objective for ATTS 6 is to use a graphed chart, word chart, or picture chart using peyote, square, RAW, or brick stitches.

Here are some examples:

graphed chart

Word chart

Picture graph chart

Your items can be one dimensional or three dimensional

Little Bead Boxes written by Julia S. Pretl (you can get this book from Amazon .com in paper back or Kindle form)

This tutorial can be purchased on Etsy

Amy Severino of Amy Beads blog  has also gave permission to use the patterns from the Bead It Forward web site. If you do use the Bead It Forward patterns please send in what you created to the Bead It Forward project, it is for a good cause.

Also there are programs you can use to make your own patterns to use.  The program I use is Bead Tool 4 it is a free site or you can pay a small yearly charge and be able to save your patterns. 

Sign ups for ATTS 6 are from today through the 17th of October, and the reveal will be the 10th of January 2015, so come and sign up and join in on the fun here or over on Christine's blog.

Happy beading Y'all,

Therese

A Wheely Fun Jewelry Challenge - Hosted by Janet Bocciardi

Hi Y'all,

Today is the reveal for the Wheely Fun Jewelry Challenge hosted by Janet Bocciardi.  Back a few months ago Janet asked myself and a few other very talented ladies if we would like to play around with a little wooden wheel that she found at her local Ben Franklin store, that was going out of business.   Well of course we all said yes.

This is the wheel that Janet sent (I am using a photo that Hope Smitherman took because I forgot to take my own)

Janet also sent a few other items with the wheel one of the items was a clay bumble bee.  As soon as I saw the bee I knew what I wanted to do.   But then I thought how am I going to make it into a piece of jewelry that me or someone else would want to wear, the wheel is a little on the large side.  I thought I could make a pin, but they where and how to attach the pin back.  So I thought I could decorate a box and that is what I did.

I had some acrylic flowers, the rose is made up of four pieces stacked together.  I put the bee on a wire and ran the wire through the rose petal stacks and the leaves and tied them to the wheel.  Then I took some topaz Rizo strung them onto wire and they took three bell flowers and stacked them together with a green seed bead as a spacer.  I made three of each of the colors pink, purple, and orange.  I put two of each color in the front of the rose and the remaining in the back of the rose. Then I glued a 12 mm rovolli over the hole in the center of the wheel.  I they took some Peridot chips and made a vine and wrapped it around the wheel. 

 I went to Hobby Lobby and got a cardboard box and I found some paper with an old paint peeling wood wall print. I got my paints out and found a green grass color.  I glued the paper to the lid of the box and painted the bottom of the box.  I was not pleased with how the wheel looked on the lid.  It just did not pop.  I like the way the wheel looked on the bottom of the box, so I watered down the paint and painted the lid.  The print of the paper still shows through and the wheel pops.

I am pleased with how my box turned out.  I may keep it as a trinket box, or put a gift in it and give it away, but for now it will sit on my desk.

Thank you Janet for including me in this challenge it was fun playing and creating with the wooden wheel.

Now please go by and visit the others and see what they have created with their wheel.

Antiquity Travelers:  http://antiquitytravelers.blogspot.com/

Beadsong Jewelry:  http://www.beadsong.blogspot.com/

Crafty Hope:  http://www.craftyhope.com/

Honey from the Bee: http://www.honeyfromthebee.com

One Kiss Creations:  http://onekisscreations.blogspot.com/

Sally Russick:  http://sallyrussick.blogspot.com/

Therese's Treasures:  http://theresestreasures59.blogspot.com/   (you are here)

Happy beading Y'all

Therese

August She Made/She Made

Hi Y'all,

OMG! I had to go back and check to see when was the last time Christine and I did a She Made/She Made blog post.  Are you ready?  It was six months ago on March 31st.  I knew it had been a while, but I did not realize until today how long it had been.   What was the reason you may be asking? Well we were both busy with other obligations and decided to leave our one on one challenge for later.  Here is what I chose for us to play with this go around.

We are getting down to just a few things left from the loot we exchanged back when we met in July 2012.

Here is what I made with the pick.

First a necklace made with a tubular netting using Twin beads.

I named it Rockin the Ball, because the rich colors of the tubular netting rock the Agate rounds.

The tubular netting using the Twins or Super Duos is very simple.  If anyone wants to know how I did the stitch, just ask in your comment and I will give you the instructions.

Here is what I did with the Lake stone.

On the Lake stone I make a wire bezel using four lengths of 22 gauge copper wire.  I strung the Twin beads on to the wire alternating between the matte black and the copper Twins.  I crossed two of the wires in the front and in the back just to secure the stone and the last four wires I used to make the bail. The neck strap is a design that I borrowed from Tanya of a Work in Progress blog.  Tanya is an amazing bead wearer.  If you are not familiar with her blog click on her name and check it out.

I am a member of my local Gem and Mineral Association and in our last meeting I was asked if I would like to teach some seed beading classes.  I said that I would if there were people interested in learning to seed bead.  Well of course someone had to ask what seed beading had to do with Gems and Minerals.  I told the Gentleman, that I use Gems and Minerals all the time in my seed beading.  I will be bringing these two necklaces to the next meeting to show how Gems can be used with seed bead.  

I hope that you liked what I did with the August pick and please go by and check out Christine's blog to see what she did with the pick.

Thank you for stopping by and please leave a comment, I love hearing from y'all.

Happy beading Y'all,

Therese

 

CC7A July Reveal - hosted by Emma

Hi Y'all,

This month is the last installment of The Creative Continuum of Seven Artists.  It has been fun playing along with Monique, Christine, Sally, Cynthia, Emma, and the master mind of the CC7A Alicia.  Thank you Alicia for bring us all together and having us think out side of the box for the past 10 months.

The month of July was Emma's month and I do not believe she ever came up with a theme, but what she sent was challenging to create with, at least for me it was.  Here is what Emma sent out to us...

I was glad that Emma was the last month, because when I saw what she sent I had no idea at all what I would create with these items.  I love the pretty little polymer clay pendant and all the other fun items, I was just dumbfounded on what to do with them.  So one day in June I sat down and played with the components and the following pictures are what I created.

First I made a pair of earrings out of the pretty shades of pink and purple twirly thing-a-ma-bobs  two of the purple roundels and two of the purple round beads.  I think they are fun and cute.

Next I made a netted bracelet ,that was originally going to be a necklace, but it was too fat around for the small pendant.  On the ends I used the last two purple round beads.  In the netting I used size 3 mm glass pearls in purple, silver, and a pale pink.  The netting is size 11/0 white seed beads and size 8/0 pink seed beads.

I made this necklace around the time I was doing the Pearls, Pearls, Pearls challenge, so I was in the tying mood.  I have some pink cord that went perfect with the pendant.  I had purchased a long time ago these beautiful pink lamp worked beads from EB Bead and Metal Works Etsy shop and just never made anything with them, so I used two in this necklace.  I had some larger purple crystal roundels, some silver base metal spacers, and bead caps, I also used two of the purple tubes.

I made a pair of earrings with two of the pink lamp work beads that I used in the necklace along with 3mm crystal bicones and silver base metal spacers.

I made another pair of earrings using the speckled pink clear round beads and the purple tubes.

Now from April's theme Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.  A few of us had the conversation on how would we have made a piece to represent the line "Rocking horse people eating marshmallow pies."  Well this is what I came up with...

I used Czech lime green two hole rollos with size 11/0 and size 15/0 seed beads and the Opalite 10 mm beads that were in April's package.

In the words of Carol Burnett.  "I'm so glad for the time together,

                                                Just to have a laugh, or sing a song.

                                                It seems we just get started and before you know it.

                                                It's the time to say good bye."

I truly enjoyed being in this group of very talented Ladies it has been a lot of fun these past seven months.

Please go by and visit each of them and see what they created with Emma's wonderful components.

1. Monique

2. Christine

3. Sally

4. Therese (you are here)

5. Alicia

6. Cynthia

7. Emma

Happy beading Y'all,

Therese