Butterfly Birthday Blog Hop and Giveaway Hosted by Alenka (Pepita)

Hi Y'all,

Back on February 28, 2015 Alenka of Pepeita Homemade blog announced a Birthday Blog Hop and Giveaway. The rules in her words:

BLOG HOP RULES:

Every participant has to:

- create something on the theme of butterflies - it can be a piece of jewelry, an ornament or something else;

- write a blog post about the final creation and publish it on the blog hop date with the link to my blog and the list of all the participants. 

Well fortunately for me, because I missed the first sign up date, Alenka, changed the blog hop date from March 28th to April 11th and extended the sign up date to March 21st. Yay!!!

I have been seeing a lot of bead embroidered bugs and butterflies lately on Pinterest they are all so beautiful, so yeah you guessed it I had to do one for this blog hop challenge.

Okay I am not that great of a drawer, so I was a little intimidated about getting started, also I just could not decide on what I wanted to used as the focal element on the butterfly. I was looking at my precious (my stone cabochons tee-hee) and reluctantly chose to use the Mushroom Rhyolite and the Rose Quartz cabs. Then I started pulling other items from my stash to use to fill in around the cabs.

Here is the results:

Pink and Gray Butterfly front:

Back:

My first choice was to make this into a pin, but then when I was finished with the embroidering I decided to make it where the wearer could wear it as a pin or a pendant.

Happy Birthday and Thank you Alenka, for thinking up such a great challenge, to not only to celebrate your birthday, but the awakening of Spring.

Thank you for stopping by please leave a comment I love hearing from Y'all.  Now please go and visit the other participants in this Butterfly Birthday Blog Hop - Giveaway.  Oh yeah I forgot, you too can have a chance in the giveaway.  Here are the rules in Alenka's words:

 GIVEAWAY:

On 13th of April I will randomly chose:

a) between all the participants at the blog hop  

5 persons 

that will receive one of beads or cabochons made by me from polymer clay;

b) between all that will comment on my reveal blog post  

1 person 

that will receive a pair of earrings made by me.

Now for the list of participants:

1. Alenka (Pepita) --> me, the hostess

2. Monique (A Half-Baked Notion)

3. Beti Horvath

4. Kathy Lindemer

5. Kepi

6. Christine Altmiller

7. Amy S.

8. Dini Bruinsma

9. Cynthia (Antiquity Travelers)

10. Alicia

11. sheilaposter

12. Therese Frank (you are here)

13. Rebecca White

14. Rachel Mallis

15. Liz E

16. Ana (ACBeads)

17. Jasvanti Patel

18. Carolyn

19. Nan Smith

Happy beading Y'all,

Therese

Jasper Intrigue Blog Hop and Challenge - Hosted by Lisa Lodge

Jasper Intrigue 

April 4, 2015

Hi Y'all,

Sometime last year Lisa Lodge put out the call for those that would be interested in participating in Jasper Intrigue Blog Hop and Challenge.  I was intrigued about this challenge since Jasper is one my favorite gemstones so I signed up and paid my fee and a month or so later I got my package of beautiful Jasper of honey and lemon color tones along with some glass pearls, 4 mm bicones, toggle clasps and a few other findings. I forgot to take a picture of my package before I started creating, but I can tell you that Lisa was more then generous with the goodies she sent.

Here is what I created with the yummy Jasper and other tidbits in the package.  

First up a necklace and bracelet set.

I wanted to stay true to my bead weaving, but these beads were just not having it no matter what pattern or stitch I used, they just wanted to be in a simple strung necklace and bracelet.

Second a bracelet.

These rice glass pearls did not mind being in a bead weave I used RAW to make this simple bracelet.  The bracelet is embellished with 4 mm bicone crystals and Jasper squares.  I could not find a button to fit through the circle of beads so I made a toggle from a piece of copper wire.

The third and last a pair of earrings.

In the baggie of finding there were angle wings and with the Jasper a small string of drops perfect to make angel earrings.

Thank you Lisa for hosting this wonderful Blog Hop and Challenge.

Thank you for stopping by now please go by and visit the other blogs in this hop.

Your hostess:  Lisa Lodge, A Grateful Artist

Carolyn Lawson, Carolyn's Creations

Susan Anderson, La Main Tresor

Karin Grosset Grange (France), Ginkgo et Coquelicot

Shaiha Williams, Shaiha’s Ramblings

Sheila Prose, Cheap Charms

Terri Wlaschin, Baking Beads in the Keys

You are here Therese Frank, Therese's Treasures

Happy beading Y'all,

Therese

Winter Blues Blue Gold Stone Blog Hop - Hosted by LizE

If you are looking for the Circles of Love Challenge click here

Hi Y'all,

Liz E decided that she wanted to do a blog hop here is what she said...

I've got the winter blues.  I also have an excess of blue goldstone donuts.  Blue goldstone is a synthetic stone made of glass and tiny crystals of copper, dark midnight blue in color with a deep-space mysterious sparkle.  To break-up the cold gray days of winter, and spread the joy I feel gazing into their twinkling expanse, I thought I'd have a little blog hop. I want people to use these man-made beauties to summon creativity and rise up against winter's oppression.  For those interested, please leave a comment below (with a way for me to reach you).  You will be sent some blue goldstone donuts, completely free!  Your mission is to make something (anything) using at least one of the beads you are sent.  Post your creation on your blog March 28, 2015.



  
I missed the original sign up, but I got a note from LizE asking if I wanted to participate and of course I said yes.  I did not take a photo of the beads before I started my piece but along with the larger blue gold stone doughnut there were 12 tiny doughnut beads and 12 6 mm gold stone round beads.

Here is what I made with my blue gold stone beads.

 The pendant I used the larger blue gold stone doughnut and strung iris blue size 11/0 seed beads through a iris gold twin bead to make the bail and the dangle I also used two 3 mm bicones at the top and four 3 mm bicones on the dangles along with gold size 15/0 seed beads.

The neck lace is made using iris gold twin beads, iris blue 11/0 seed beads, and gold 15/0 seed beads accented with the tiny doughnuts beads with the rose 3 mm bicones in the center, and the 6 mm blue gold stone round beads.  I made a pair of matching earrings too. 

I used every piece that LizE sent to me. I am very please with how these pieces turned out.  March 23rd was my sister's birthday and I gifted this set to her, she loves it.

Thank you LizE for inviting me to play along in your blog hop I enjoyed creating with the blue gold stone.
Thank you for stopping by and visiting my blog.  Please go and visit the others participants in this blog hop.

Liz (host):  Bead Contagion
Christine:  One Kiss Creations Beaded Jewelry 

Jasvanti:  Jewelry by Jasvant 

Cynthia:  Antiquity Travelers    

JoJo:  Tahoma Beadworks & Photography

Bobbie:  Beadsong Jewelry

Therese:  Therese’s Treasures (you are here)

Amy:  Amybeads

Happy beading Y'all,

Therese

Circles of Love Challenge - Hosted by Alicia Marinache CC7A

If you are looking for the Winter Blues Blog Hop click here

Hi Y'all,

Alicia wanted to continue the Creative Continuum of Seven Artist for 2015 so she is starting it off with a special challenge of Circles of Love.  While she was writing her Christmas cards she decided that it would be fun to have a challenge with the above gemstone doughnuts.  So she placed one doughnut into a card each for Christine, Cynthia, Sally, Monique, Emma, and myself.  Well unfortunately for those of us in the United State the doughnuts did not make it through customs. All was not at a loss, because Christine, Cynthia, Sally, and me agreed to use a doughnut that we had in our own stash or purchased one.

I had a Leopard Skin Jasper doughnut in my stash, so all I had to do is think of how I wanted to decorate it.  I am a big fan of Lisa Lynn Barth and I had just purchased her new wire wrapping book for a birthday present to myself, so I knew I wanted to do a wire wrap on the doughnut.

Well in Lisa's book there are two tutorials on wire wrapping a doughnut.  I tried one of the ideas, but I was not pleased with how it turned out so I set the doughnut down and thought about if for a while.

I did a couple of the other projects in the book and I decided that I really like how the snake weave comes out using beads in between the weaves and the light bulb came on as to what I wanted to do with the doughnut.

I did a snake weave using 4 mm red bicones on silver 20 gauge  Artisan Wire. Then I wrapped 26 gauge silver Artisan Wire to hold the snake weave to the outside rim of the doughnut.

Side view.

I am very pleased with how it turned out. It is hanging from a 30 inch silver base metal chain.

Thank you Alicia for inviting us to play along with the Circles of Love.

Thank you for stopping by please go by and visit my fellow CC7A members and see what they did with their Circles of Love doughnuts.

Alicia

Christine

Cynthia

Sally  

Monique

Emma

Be looking for the fist of the CC7A Challenges on April 26th

Happy beading Y'all,

Therese

Make A Statement Jewelry Challenge - Hosted by Sally Russick

Hi Y'all,

I just want to say that Sally Russick's challenges are always fun to join, whether it is a jewelry challenge or a photography challenge.  Thank you Sally for pushing us to use our creativity in fresh and inspiring ways.

I have been told that my style of beading is Elegant Romance with Bling, and I guess this is correct at least that is how most of my pieces come out.  So when Sally said that the first of her challenges this year is "Make A Statement" all I could think of is a piece that would look good worn with a beautiful gown.  So I went through my stash and pulled out a Swarovski 30 x 18 mm oval in Astral pink, and two 18 mm round raviolis in the same color along with some 11/0 silver seed beads.  My plan was to bezel the oval and rounds and connect them with RAW accented with Indian pink 3mm bicones and then do the neck strap in CRAW accented with 4mm Astral pink bicones with the 3mm Indian pick bicones.  Sounds beautiful don't it?  Well that one never happened.  Try as I might I could not get the bezel to workout the way I wanted it to on the oval I started and took it apart three times before I finally gave up and went back to the drawing board.  I was browsing through one of my Pinterest boards when I came across a Chevron stitched necklace and a light bulb went off in my head, that is what I will do.  So once again I went to my stash and pulled out what I wanted to use and got started, but I did not get very far, something just was not feeling right, it was not going to make a statement.  It was not until yesterday morning when I was checking my emails, that I saw a bezeled ravoli in the Beading Daily blog post.  I said to myself that is it, that is what my necklace needs.  I got busy and before I knew it my piece was done.

I present to you "Blue Ice"

Elegant Romance with Bling

I used 8/0 bronze seed beads, cobalt blue rondells, fresh water pearl drops and 4mm rounds in the necklace, for the pendant a 16 mm ravoli that flashes blue and green, 11/0 and 15/0 bronze seed beads along with 8/0 cobalt blue seed beads in the bezel and accented with the 4 mm fresh water pearls.

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

Now please go by and visit the others in this challenge.  I know I can not wait to see what these very talented beady people have created.


Sally Russick
Kim Dworak 
Terri Gauthier
Elizabeth Bergesen
Karin Grosset Grange
Paula Kramer 
Patti Vanderbloemen 
Therese Frank 
Beth McCord
Niky Sayers 

Happy beading Y'all,
Therese

A Time To Stitch Seven Cabochon Giveaway Winners

Hi Y'all,

Well the sign ups are over. Christine and I had 26 beautiful beaders sign up for the challenge.  As promised I had random.org choose 8 numbers, but then I thought 8 is not enough, oh no not enough, so I added two more chances to win one of my cabs.

Here are the cabochons in the giveaway:

I do not know which cab will go to each person. I have them in the mailers waiting to put address on them, so I can get them in the mail.

Here are the lists of names, the names in red are the cabochon winners.

Christine’s Blog                                                                                                                                                                

1.       Amy S.

2.       Janet B.

3.       Cynthia M.

4.       Maryanne G.

5.       Karin S.

6.       Liz E.

7.       Samantha W.

8.       Wendy

9.       Bobbie R.

10.   Bead Addict

Random.org number generator

            5, 8, 9, 1, 4,

         My Blog

1.       Alicia M.

2.       Lori F.

3.       Karin G.

4.       Jasvanti P

5.       Sally R.

6.       Alenka

7.       Kim H.

8.       Nicole D.

9.       Niki S.

10.   Becky Pancake

11.   Paula K.

12.   Sarah S.

13.   Mary H.

14.   Ginger B.

15.   Lola S.

16.   Debbie R.

Random.org number generator

15, 8, 2, 14, 5

                                                                           

Oh but wait I am feeling generous today so I added 4 more cabochons in the giveaway.

The winning Random .org generated numbers are, from Christine's blog  6 & 2, from my blog 13 & 7
names are highlighted in blue.
Thank you to all of you for signing up to play along with Christine and I in the A Time To Stitch Seven - Bead Embroidery Challenge. Congratulations to all of the 14 winners of my cabochons.
I am looking forward to seeing what all of you create.

Happy beading Y'all,
Therese

Ordinary Extraordinary Everyday Mini Photo Challenge hosted by Sally Russick - days 11-15

Days 11 - 15

A Time To Stitch Seven sign up is here


Hi Y'all,

This is the last five days of Sally's mini photo challenge.  This has been a challenge for me to take photos of the prompts everyday, but I managed to get it done.
Here are the last five prompts.

Day 11 - Macro

I could not decide what I wanted to take a macro shot of so I grabbed this oval crystal and stared shooting I like this shot because it captured the items that was surrounding the crystal in my living room.


Day 12 - Temptation

I could have taken shots of all the Valentine candy in the stores, but this is my real temptation it is so hard to not buy something when I go visit my friend Cynthia the owner of the Enchanted Bead store.


Day 13 - Sweetness

My guy Chris, got me hooked on these little sweet candies when he came for Christmas and New Years this past year.

Day 14 - Love

My little guy Chewy loves me unconditionally, nuff said!

Day 15 - Togetherness

Everyday, need I say more?

Thank you for stopping by, please go visit the others participating in this challenge here.

Therese

A Time To Stitch Seven - Bead Embroidery Sign Ups - hosted by Therese and Christine

Hi Y'all,

It is time for another go around of "A Time To Stitch" hosted by myself and Christine Altmiller, this round is number seven and I am happy to announce that it will be Bead Embroidery, Christine, said it was not one of her favorites, but that she is willing to give it a chance.  I was so excited that she gave in, because it is my favorite form of free form beading.

In case some of you do not know, I have been making stone cabochons lately, one of my new loves, and I have decided that I would have a little giveaway with the people that sign up for this challenge.
I will pick eight random people, four from my blog and four from Christine's blog, to receive one of my stone cabochons.  I will post a picture of the eight cabochons when I decide which eight I am willing to part with, LOL, no seriously it is a tough decision, because I am a hoarder love my stones.

The sign up is from today 2/16/15 through Friday 2/20/15, on my blog or Christine's blog.

Here are links to some web pages for inspiration and instructions for bead embroidery:

My Bead Embroidery board on Pintrest

https://www.pinterest.com/tmpfrank/bead-embroidery/

Beads East

http://www.beadseast.com/free-bead-embroidery-tutorial.html

You Tube

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=bead+embroidery+tutorial

Amazon has many books on bead embroidery, for instruction and inspiration. 

Come join me and Christine in this challenge.

Happy beading Y'all,

Therese

Ordinary Extraordinary Everyday Mini Photo Challenge week two 6-10

Week two 6-10

Hi Y'all,

This is week two of Sally Russick's Ordinary Extraordinary Everyday Mini Photo Challenge

photos days 6-10.

Day Six - Minimal

Day six was on Saturday Feb. 7, 2015, I was trying to think of what I could take a photo of the shows minimal.  Then I looked out the window at the parking lot.  Monday through Friday the lot is jammed full of cars, but on Saturday and Sunday just the minimal amount.  These vehicles are pretty much office vehicles with the exception of Dovie's white Toyota Corolla and my red Nissan Versa behind the SUV in the first row. 

Day seven - Daily Chaos

My sweet Chewy Jr.  he is a daily chaos in my life when I am trying to get ready for work, or really anytime of the day, but I love him to pieces he is my Chew Man! Sorry about the blurry picture it is very hard to get him being still.  If y'all are wondering he is part Chihuahua and part Jack Russell, hence the not being able to stay still.

Day eight - Words

My favorite coffee mug.  I could have opened a book, or took a photo of a bill board, but I was looking at my coffee mug and it had the perfect words on it. Sweet Coffee!

Day nine - Night Time Calm

This was taken off of my back porch with my iPhone 6 notice the sky it is the night time calm before the storm.

Day ten - Outside

It is a gorgeous day in Montgomery, AL the temperature is 68 today (2-11-15). Yes the skies are this blue in Alabama!

Thank you for stopping by, please go and visit the others participating here.

Therese

Ordinary Extraordinary Everyday Mini Photo Challenge hosted by Sally Russick

Hi Y'all,

I decided that I would participate in Sally Russick's Ordinary Extraordinary Everyday photo challenge.  Sally set up 15 days of prompts for us to take photos of for the next 15 days and we are to post every 5th day. The first 5 days prompts are:  1- reflection, 2- wrapping, 3- kitchen ritual, 4- paper, and 5- repetition.  Here are my interpretation of the prompts. 

1. Reflection

This is my Webber grill and when I came home from work and let my dog Chewy out I saw how pretty the sky and trees were reflecting on the lid of the grill. Of course now you can see me and my house as well in the reflection.

2. Wrapping

Lately I have really gotten into making stone cabochons so I have been buying stones to cab.  These came in the mail the other day all wrapped up in bubble wrap.

3. Kitchen Ritual

Every morning I make coffee when I am off in my kitchen, when at work in our break area, and every afternoon I fix a bottle of water with a flavored drink packet.

4. Paper

At work we use a lot of paper whether it is to write on or to gather information from.  This is my co-worker Susan she was my relief and she is all set up to start her shift.

5. Repetition

Yes one more photo of my work place.  I was trying to think of something other then taking a photo of a beaded project, so it hit me we have seven stations in our radio room and each one is set up exactly the same with the NCIC computer, radio log computer, and the digital radio system computer, and telephone. My co-workers in the photo are( from closest to farthest) Wanda, Dovie, and Keisha. Today was casual Friday no uniform Yay!  

Now please visit the others participating here

Therese

A Time To Stitch Six Challenge hosted by Therese Frank and Christine Altmiller

Hi Y'all,

Welcome to mine and Christine's sixth "A Time To Stitch" challenge.  This time around our objective was to create a piece or pieces using a graphed chart, word chart, or picture chart using peyote, square, RAW, or brick stitches.  The item could be one, two, or three dimensional.  We also were given permission by Amy Severino to use the Bead-it-forward pattern squares.  Which I was excited about.  I have been playing around with Beadtool 4 and came up with these four square patterns for the 2015 Bead-it-forward project.  The project's proceeds go to the Breast Cancer Foundation.

I still have to put the squares on 2 by 2 inch bead backing squares before I mail them out.  I love rabbits I collect them (not live ones).  So when I found out this year's theme was the Animal Kingdom I knew I was going to make a rabbit square, well I ended up making two.  Amy enjoys going out to see the Snowy Owls that migrate to the coast of Massachusetts.  I read her blog post about the owls and decided that I would try to make a snowy owl square, so after many attempts I came up with a side profile of the owl.  Peacock feathers are all the rage now it seems, so I made a Peacock feather square too.   I took the idea for the square from the bracelet I stitched for this challenge.

I was reading the blogs and  Sweet Freedom Designs featured a Peacock Feather bracelet that was in the October 2013 Bead&Button magazine and I fell in love with the design and knew right away I had to do one for this challenge.  So I pulled out the colors I wanted to use and found the pattern on the Bead&Button web site.  There is also a Zebra print one too.  

I have also lately been into making needle cases using tubular peyote stitch.  I have made several and given them away as gifts.  I have made up a few patterns using Beadtool 4.  This one is called Indian Blanket #4.  Can you find my mistake Uh I mean spirit bead?  

I would like to thank everyone that is participating in the ATTS 6 challenge and I can not wait to go by and visit each of your blogs.  A big thank you to my co host and friend Christine this challenge just would not be the same without you.

Thank you for stopping by and visiting, please go by and visit the other participates as well and leave a comment too we enjoy hearing from you.

1-Therese Frank  (Host)    

2-Christine Altmiller  (Host)

3-Cynthia Machata

4-Samantha Wescott

5-Karin Slaton

6-Wendy

7-Dagi (Kokopelli)

8-Lola

9-Paula

10-Karin G.

11-Becky Pancake

12-Ana Cravidao

13-Alenka

14-Debbie (Kepi)

15-Nelly May

16-LiliKrist

17-Sally Russick

18-Maryanne

19-Kim

20-Amy

Happy beading Y'all
Therese

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