My Bead Soup from Germany

Oh I have been so lazy about posting my bead soup, or maybe because it is so beautiful I just wanted to keep it to myself for a while longer.  My bead soup partner is Sabine Dittrich from Munich, Germany.  Sabine is a lamp work bead artist and she does fabulous work with glass and fire.
First let me show y'all what I sent to Sabine.

I sent Sabine a variety of gemstones, glass pearls, a focal and earring components by Marsh Neal, silver tone toggle clasp, and a bronze PMC toggle clasp by Lesley Watts, and a beaded focal inspired by Sabine Lippert's Three Crosses necklace from her Beaded Fantasies book.

Here is a close up shot of the beaded focal beaded by me.

I like this pendant so much I made one for myself in a different color.

Now for what you have been waiting to see, Sabine's beautiful lamp worked glass beads that she sent to me to create something wonderfully beautiful to wear.

Sabine made all of the beads in the photo except for the size 6 and size 3 Czech seed beads she used for spacers.  In the focal she used a technique using silver and glass the results are gorgeous.  

In the back ground of the photo you can see tapestry those are the bags Sabine sent the beads in, here is a photo of the bags.

A closer look at the beads.

Our reveal date is August 11.  I hope that you will come back then and see what we created with our bead soups.

Happy beading Y'all,

Therese

  

Kreativ Blogger Award

Hi Y'all,

Wow was I ever surprised when I read Cynthia's blog Antiquity Travelers and found out that I was one of the blogs that she awarded.  I first came across Cynthia in the forums at Beading Daily and I followed her blog.  I am always blown away with the beautiful creations she makes and her tales of her travels to other countries.  She also has very informative blog post about different beady interests.  If you don't already follow Cynthia's blog go check it out and read a few of her posts and look at all the lovelies she has on display.

When you receive this award, there are a few rules:
1. Post a link to the person who awarded you 
2. Share 7 well-thought out random things about yourself
3. Award to 10 other deserving bloggers and let them know

I always have a hard time talking about myself, but I will try, so here goes.

1.  I love my career as a Police Communications Officer, I have been doing it for 18 years.

2.  I love to bead weave.  There is just something about coming home after a long day at work and letting the world slip away with each stitch of those tiny little beads.

3.  My favorite color is pink and green is a very close second favorite.

4.  I enjoy being single. I will not say that I will not be in another relationship again, it is just for now I am enjoying being single.

5.  I have a beautiful Son that is all grown up and on his own.  I am very proud of him and his accomplishments.

6.  I am the oldest of five.  I have three Brothers and one Sister that is the youngest.  My Mom will be 74 on July 18th and is still going strong.

7.  I am over the moon happy with all the lovely people I have met through the blog sphere.  Y'all are the greatest!

OK now for the really hard part.  I follow so many wonderful blogs and it is so hard for me to narrow it down to just 10, so I will just say to all of those that I follow and that will read this post.  I enjoy each of your blogs and in my opinion you all deserve this award.

But since I could only choice 10 here they are in alphabetical order, because I could not put one above the other.

1. Amybeads Amy is a wonderfully talented bead weaver.  She always has interesting topic to talk about on her blog. She also does volunteer work in the Washington DC inner city area.

2 Bead Lola Bead Lola is a wild, crazy, lovable woman who does beautiful work.  She has been published several times in Bead Trends magazine.  Lola was my first ever Bead Soup partner and I had the pleasure of meeting her in person last October when I was in WI.

3. Crafty Hope Hope is a true Bama Girl through and through!  She always has something interesting to read about and to view on her blog.  We live in the same state, but have never met in person I think we need to do something about that. What do you think Hope? 

4. E B Bead and Metal works  Beth and Evie these two women are fantastic.  I always get a kick out of their blog.  Beth is a very talented lamp worker and enameler, and Evie is very talented with the saw and thinking up beautiful creations.

5. kimmykats  Kim makes jewelry with old spoons and keys and other found objects and end product is always gorgeous.  I enjoy reading about her and her husbands travels and treasure hunts.

6. Moon fly Girl Tania makes the most beautiful jewelry with pottery shards that she finds along the banks of the River Thames in London. I swear one of these days I'm going to bring one of her beautiful creations home to me.

7. Musing of the Unicorn Lynsey is a well crafted bead weaver and jewelry designer.  I have enjoyed reading her blog over the past year about her days spent at college and just life in general.

8. One Kiss Creations Beaded Jewelry Christine is a wonderful person that is a very talented bead weaver and jewelry designer.  I will have the pleasure of meeting Christine in person this month when I travel to PA.  

9. Spice Box Designs Marla is a talented bead weaver, although she would not say so.  She always has nice things to say about a person and is a very generous loving person.  I had the pleasure of meeting Marla this past May.

10. The Gossiping Goddess  Lesley, oh where to begin I can not say enough nice things about this charming, witty, and giving woman.  Lesley is so very talented in whatever she is making, whether it is a jewelry design or her bronze components.  Lesley always has something kind to say on the blogs. 

Well there you have it 10 wonderful and deserving blogs, so if you do not already follow these blogs, take the time and go visit these lovely people and see for yourself why I chose them for this award.

Happy beading Y'all,

Therese

Blog Friends Tutorials

Hi Y'all,

I thought that I would share with you some of the tutorials that I have beaded that were written by some lovely people that I have met through the blogs.

First up are two tutorials that I got from Christine Altmiller of One Kiss Creations.  Christine is a wonderfully talented person, she not only bead weaves she also makes these wonderful wrap bracelets using rocks as the focal.
So a while back Christine had made this bracelet that I was totally smitten with and I had wrote to her to find out how she made it and if she had a tutorial for it.  She told me that she was in the process of writing one and that when she was finished if I was still interested she would send it to me.  Well so time had gone by and Christine wrote and said that if I was still interested in the bracelet that it was being published in Bead Trends magazine and that she would send me the tutorial after she got her magazine.  I was thrilled for two reasons because I was still interested and that I had became friends with another person that had been published. The first friend I made that had been published was Lola of Bead Lola Bead.  Well when I was at Hobby Lobby I notice the Bead Trend magazine, that Christine's bracelet was in, was on sale so I bought it. Oh and by the way Lola had a pair of peyote stitched earrings published in the same issue.

Here is my version of Christine's bracelet.

I gave this bracelet to my Sister. She loves it and wears it often.

The second tutorial of Christine's that I did was what she calls the Zig Zag stitch, which is really the triangle stitch, it just looks like little Zig Zags.  She used this stitch in her piece she did for Erin Prais-Hintz's Music Challenge. I thought it was pretty cool looking so I asked Christine how she stitched it and she sent me instructions.

Here is my version of the Zig Zag stitch.

I gave this bracelet to Marla Gibson of Spice Box Designs when we met on May 31st this year.  I used size 15 bronze seed beads and 4mm garnet Czech fire polished crystals and a faced crystal heart for the clasp.

Next is a tutorial that I just recently did by Amy Severino of Amybeads. Amy is a beautiful, loving, giving, and talented bead weaver. We have had long conversations through emails. I enjoy conversing with Amy. She has hosted two challenges this year and I have participated and I am participating in these challenges. I first saw this bracelet on Kristen Steven's blog.  Kristen tested the tutorial for Amy and when Amy blogged about her tutorial and said that the tutorial was for sale I just had to get it.

Here is my version of Amy's Beauteous Bangle

This bangle worked up very fast and Amy's instructions were very easy to follow.  This one I will keep.

The next tutorial belongs to Kristen Stevens of My Bead Journey. I fist saw Kristen's bracelet on Amy's blog where she had tested it for Kristen.  Amy and Kristen do not live that far away from each other.  Kristen is a wonderful talented and creative bead weaver, that is always there to lend a hand or give you a pick up with a nice comment or two.  I knew when I saw the bracelet and found out that the tutorial was for sale at Kristen's shop I had to get it and make it.  

Here is my version of Kristen's Pop Out Pearls bracelet.

I will be keeping this bracelet also.  I love how it turned out.  Kristen's instructions were easy to follow I did not have any problems stitching this bracelet, although it did take me longer then just a few hours to make.  The clasp I used is one of Lesley Watts' bronze metal clay heart clasps for her THEAtoo Etsy shop.

Now the last of my friend's tutorials that I have done belongs to Lesley Watts of The Gossiping Goddess.  Lesley had done this technique in a piece that she did for the Bead Soup Blog Party back in September of 2011.  So many people had asked her how she did it, that she decided to write up the tutorial and put it on her blog for anyone that wanted to try it.  Lesley is an very talented jewelry designer and PMC artist.  Lesley is also a very kind, beautiful, and giving woman that is always there to give a nice comment.

Here is my version of Lesley's tutorial.

This tutorial works up really quick and is very easy to do.  These bracelets would be great for Teens to give as friendship bracelets.  The green clay button I purchased awhile back from Chinook Jewelry Designs Etsy shop.

I have on last piece to show you it is not from a tutorial it is a rosary that I made for my Sister for no reason except I just want to make one for her.  I made this rosary using lamp worked beads by Juli Cannon of StudioJuls.  Juli is an awesome lamp work artist.  I love her beads and I am hoarding several I just take them out and look at them and then I tuck them back into their bags and put them away.  I will make something with them eventually, but just not yet.  Juli is another beautiful kind and caring person who has so much love to give to not just people, but to animals too.

Here is the rosary I made for my Sister.

When I saw the cross that Juli had made I just had to have it for my Sister it is in all of her favorite colors.  I also purchased the rib beads that matched the colors in the cross.  I found the cat's eye brown glass beads and the connector at Hobby Lobby.

This is all I have for you for now.  I hope you enjoyed viewing what I made with the tutorials from these wonderful and beautiful women.  So until next time...

Happy beading Y'all,

Therese