Creative Chaos Challenge Reveal!

Okay :) We're here!

A while back I made up four kits of various objects that I offered up for grabs to three of you. It was the first step for the first Creative Chaos Design Challenge :)

And here we are... reveal day :)

Joining me in this little jaunt outside the normal are Shaiha of Shaiha's Ramblings , Alicia of All The Pretty Things , and Rochelle of A Creative Chelle .

A refresher of what the kits contained ;

 

The month kind of got away from me. I had some designs started, then things kept getting in the way and they got shoved aside. Then, when I pulled them back, I ended up discovering I'd forgotten my original idea... misplaced the design I had sketched out... and then when I got past that, I found mistake that had to be fixed >.<

My challenge was indeed challenging ... lol Or rather 'challenged' >.<

I didn't use all of my ingredients, but I ended up being able to use a bit of everything except the white shell pieces. I'm not loving some of them, and some need to be taken apart and have some things fixed.. in one case for no real reason, just that I noticed something that is now driving me nuts just knowing it's there >.< lol

So without further ado... here are my designs for the challenge.

The large blue shell pieces were combined with some fake pearls to make a pair of earrings.

 The washers were linked together to make a pair of earrings, and a bracelet. with a large lobster clasp to make it adjustable.

 Necklace with buried 'treasure'

This is the bottle, and the idea I had for the Skull blog hop a few weeks ago that the weather messed up on me. ( the red suede cord is only loose there due to the way the chain is laying... when worn, it's pulled even with the chain) .

 Here's a close up so you can see the skull partially buried in the sand. The sand is sealed 'mostly' in place so it doesn't shift around. There are a couple long rice pearls in there too to look like bones, but they didn't want to show up in the photos.

  This bugger was the first design.. the pendant was a lucky find after I had picked out the colors and started the chain.. it was in a mixed bag of beads and buttons I picked up for a buck and matched  nicely.. so I added it. This is the two creamy buttons, one of which is attached to the clasp.. that I made :D

It's also definitely getting redone.. again. I think I'll take the pendant off and shift the buttons around a bit...

  

See...I made that twisted wire hook and eye all by myself :) It was SUCH a pain in the ass to do, to, let me tell you >.<

 

 This is just a quick little choker that I need to add some weight into the front of... I think maybe a few little blue crystals or something....  either that or turn it into a wrap bracelet...

  ....and here is the last quick little bracelet... that I actually really like..I'm wearing it right now :)

 I took one of the white buttons and ran the cord through two of the holes, then looped it around and poked both ends up through the other two holes...

 

You pull the cords to loosen it enough to slip it on, then pull the two ends to tighten it again, then just tuck and wrap the ends. It is REALLY comfy... and simple.. and I like it :)

And that's it.  The last two were quickies I did just to use up some more of my stuff, and I took all of the photos this afternoon... thus the crappy lighting, sorry >.<

I can't wait to see what these same items were turned into by the others :)

Here are the link to the other participants :) Be sure to stop in and see what they made :)

Alicia - http://www.allprettythings.ca/

Shaiha - http://shaihasramblings.blogspot.com/

Rochelle - http://acreativechelle.blogspot.ca/

And for those interested, the kits for the second Creative Chaos Design Challenge are all ready to go :) I'll be posting signs up some time this week :)  And July 6th is the new F.F. giveaway post for those wondering why it hasn't gone up yet ... it's the first Friday of the month ;)

~ Skye

FF Winner

Once again time flies away from me! I keep meaning to blog more often , and I have plenty of things to blog about, yet I just can't seem to get around to actually setting aside the time to DO it >.<

This week is especially hectic, what with my manager being on vacation and me working extra shifts to cover her, plus ending up staying late several shifts just to get things done. On top of that, the Creative Chaos Challenge reveal is this Saturday, and I still need to finish off my designs... would be terrible if the hostess didn't finish off her own challenge ;) 


Since that would be more than enough work right there to keep me hopping, I of course took on more... I'm almost done that panda painting I showed you a peek at last post... just need to add in some finishing details and shading now, plus I've got the kits for the next Creative Chaos challenge all ready to go... just not sure on whether I included too much or not enough... I'll have to check with this rounds participants before I toss up the sign in form ;)


Then.. because all of THAT would be MORE than enough to keep me busy... I have my Bead Soup all ready for me to pack up and mail off to my partner, Maria, this week ( I'll be doing a blog post introducing her soon, I promise!) , and then on Monday I responded to a message and am now hip deep in the running of another big project.




I think I'm done taking on extra work for this week ;)


Well, aside from a couple blog posts...


... and some writing...




.. and some photography if the sunlight cooperates....




>.<


Okay...so..I suppose you all want to know who won F.F.# 6 ? Well according to rafflecopter, it's Susan G.


 So, Susan G., give me a shout with your address and your decision on what you want - all of the chain, or just one with some extras to go with. 

I'll catch you all again in a day or so for another post .. and if not, then I'll catch you on Saturday for the Creative Chaos Challenge reveal :D

~ Skye

Wow, what a day!

I was just thinking I should get busy and write a blog post.... something I think just about every day and then don't do for one reason or another >.<

But today.. wow.. so much to share :D

First off...I came home to find mail... the good kind.. that kind that makes me squee like a fan girl :D  ( Okay..I actually got this yesterday, but I found a frame for it today :) )

Wolverine by IskaDesign

This was drawn for me by a girl in the Netherlands. She then didn't want to risk it getting smudged on the journey over, so she photographed it, and sent me a glossy print of it :) The print is  .. gods I don't know... probably 8" x 12"  and I think it looks even better then this pic of the original sketch :)

Next, I find an email from FushionMuse that I won one of their ' Free beads for bloggers' bundles :) So when I get them, I'll show you all what I get to play with :)

And then, as if that wasn't enough to totally leave me grinning like a fool all night, the amazing Lori Anderson, of Pretty Things has finished assigning partners for the 6th Bead Soup Blog Party, and I received my email introducing me to my partner :)  Maria Horváth of Horimarikabeads  :)

Plus, I seem to have broken through my art block, and have a painting in the works :) It's for a girl who provided very little in the way of ideas...aside from the fact that she likes Greenday .. and she thinks pandas are cute... so not helpful lol  I toyed with the idea of doing some black and white jewelry with a panda head charm... then  while doodling out some ideas, I doodled this guy... originally intended to be an idea for a small plushie..

 

... but then I grabbed a canvas and start to work...

 

the background is in shades of green, supposedly reminiscent of bamboo ... lol  this is a bad picture of it... crappy light.  don;t worry, I'll take another, better shot when I'm done :) Have to see if he turns out as cute as the doodle ;)

Alright... I'd better get out of here. The white is all dry and ready for me to start adding in the black :)

Btw, there is still four days left to get in on  the latest Freebie Friday giveaway :)  I'm going to be mean and NOT post a link to it... so scroll down a few posts until you find it ;)

~ Skye

Challenge Aftermath

 wow... alright, the toolbox challenge was not only fun but very productive :)  I am truly impressed by what was created out of this :D

I'm going to be posting a gallery here on my blog where all the pieces made for this challenge will be posted, along with the links to the blogs. Anyone who wants to take up this challenge, even now that the hop is over with, is welcome to create something and send me a link to their work, and I'll include it in the gallery.

There were four no shows for the hop... Shaiha let me know ahead of time that she was having camera troubles and would post as soon as she could.  The other three, I've since heard from two, one of which posted a day late and the other forget to hit post before she left on vacation... she'll have hers up in July when she gets back home ;)  However, we also picked up an extra participant, Toltec Jewels who blew me away by joining up, finishing, photographing and posting all on the day of the hop :)

All in all it was a success and I WILL be hosting another one. Part of me wants to do it RIGHT NOW  lol.. but I think we'll wait until the fall ;) However, in the mean time, as I said, you're welcome to take up the challenge again and send me a link to your finished piece for the Challenge Gallery, and gee, if enough people are interested, I will certainly host another hop sooner ;)

At the moment however, we've come to the little surprise I sprung on my hop day post. I didn't tell any of the participants who signed up, or mentioned anything about it before signing any one up. I had a little pile of goodies for one lucky participant who finished the challenge and got their blog post up on time... so all of those who had their blogs posted on Saturday ( or let me know ahead of time about problems) were entered into a drawing.

Sarah  aka Poodledo , you're the lucky one :D  Send me your address through email or facebook and I'll mail these out to you :)

 A mix of Czech glass, porcelain & glass, with four crackled faceted agate rounds, and two vintage foil lined glass rounds.

Remember, the Chaos Challenge mini blog hop & reveal is June 30th :)  For those interested, I'll be posting sign ups for round two of that shortly, so keep an eye out ;)

~ Skye

ToolBox Challenge

So, welcome to my first jewelry challenge slash blog hop :D 

This was an open challenge and invitation to all,  to reach outside of their norm... and I saw an early pic of one of the pieces so I know just how good that can be... jaw dropping amazing.

The challenge was to take a piece of 'his' world and use it 'ours'...raid the toolbox, tackle box or hardware store and use something that you found to make some jewelry (tools and fishing line don't count since we use them all the time anyhow ;) lol)

I WAS going to do a Father's Day challenge to make a piece of jewelry for men... because I suck a making jewelry for men and I know a lot of others have that trouble too....BUT...

.......I suck a making jewelry for men and I know a lot of others have that trouble too ;) I didn't give a lot of design and work time for this challenge, issuing it towards the end of May, so I didn't want something TOO hard, wanting to go with more  quick and fun :)

I had plans for several different pieces.

I procrastinated as usual.

I finally chose what piece to start with...

this is my piece of  'his stuff'.

 A piece of brass hardware for a drawer... knob not included ;)

I found a bunch of cool brass pieces along similar lines a year or so ago, and they've just been shifted from drawer to drawer ever since. Figured this was the perfect chance to use at least one of them.

When I picked this out of the 'bin o' brass', I immediately thought it would be awesome bent into a curve and made into a bracelet.

But... when I hauled it out for this project, I saw a small bib-style necklace instead...

..So I procrastinated some more, idly picking through beads and findings, searching for what would be 'right' for it.

Inspiration cemented itself when I discovered one odd-man-out Czech Glass cat bead. All the other beads formed pairs except one that had a bit of red in him... that went nicely with my brass :)

Once I had it all put together and was trying to decide on the clasp....  I suddenly got hit by the urge to make it a bracelet after all... SO, I bent the brass and tada!!  A wrap bracelet :)

Kitty-Cat Love

There is a red glass heart with a black Czech  glass dangle on the left side, and a black glass heart with a red Czech glass dangle on the right.

The wrap is red and black spider web lace that I've braided , then added a piece of red faux suede that had been strung with a few black seed beads.

You'll notice there are no other pieces here... just the one.

The combination of procrastination and lack of final inspiration ( tons of ideas and supplies, though), delayed me on them... but I'd planned on at least doing one more small piece this afternoon. Crunch time designs seem to work not too badly for me, especially earrings.. and since that was what I was planning on...

.. but alas... 'twas not to be :(

While at work I had a 'duh' moment that left my fingers tips not in the mood to create. It's midnight now and they're feeling better, but it's time to type and post now. For those who want to know what happened, lets just say metal that has been heated to 375 degrees all day long should never come into contact with bare skin. Before you get worried, I should like to say that I've been doing this for far too long, and burnt myself far too many times that I now barely even wince.. and my fingers didn't even blister... and they should have, trust me... lol But nope...they were just a bit tender for a while. At the moment, aside from still having a slightly 'dull' feeling to them, they're fine.. no sign of them having grabbed a hot metal door. Aren't I lucky? lol

And don't think that my procrastinating over this challenge meant I wasn't making anything.. no..I got some work done on my Chaos Kit challenge stuff done too.. not as much as I'd like, but... I'm getting there lol

So, now that you've seen me transform a piece of kitchen/bathroom hardware into a bracelet, go check out some of the others. There's only ten more participants, but I'm thinking of having another toolbox challenge in the fall :)  So keep an eye out for the right bits of 'his stuff' to make your own and share with us on the next round :)

~

Blog Hop List

You are here -> Skye

Marlene Cupo

Pookledo

Julie Anne 

Shelley Graham Turner 

Leslie Wayment

Sherri Stokey 

ingetraud 

Shaiha 

Dyanne Everett-Cantrell 

Keri Lee Sereika 

~

Marlene Cupo says she'll have her post up but won't have photos of her piece... her computer had a very brief affair with a power surge during a lightening storm, and while she has access to another computer, her camera doesn't. She'll be hopping along with us though, and as soon as she gets her pictures up, I'll share them here too :)

 Oh.. and a little something none of the participants knew about... everyone that signed up who remembered to make something and get their post up in time...will be entered in a little draw for a prize :) 

Marlene counts since she let me know in advance about the problem and will still be blogging.

Hop on & enjoy!

~ Skye

Skull Appreciation Day hop

Yes you read that right... it's Skull Appreciation day :D

I noticed a post about this blog hop on the Skull A Day blog and just knew I had to take part.

My original design remained a sketch for quite sometime before I decided to get busy on it... then I kept fiddling with it and changing it... then when I FINALLY decided I'd better get my ass in gear and make it... since the hop was just a couple days away... the rain set in and I couldn't get the sand I needed...

.. yes sand...

.. no I won't tell you what it was for because I still plan on making it... at some point...

... honestly :)

So after a month of procrastinating, and missing out on a really cool design, I got bit by the bracelet bug.

I made these two to go with a tribal gypsy stack.. but never got far with the rest of the stack... lol

Then I got another idea.

I grabbed a rather colorful.. yet ugly ( in my opinion.. mainly because it was colorful...not a touch of black.. how horrible ;) ) memory wire bracelet I'd been playing at putting together.  I cut strips of black and red spiderweb lace ribbon and wrapped them around it, using the colors beads beneath to add bulk, then over wrapped it all with some black wire. Once that was done, I added on some skull charms :)  I rather like this and think I'll keep it for myself. I may add a second wire over wrap with a few red and black beads, and some more skulls of course.

For the record, I hate memory wire. I hate working with it, I hate wearing it and I hate looking at it.

I do however like this bracelet lol

Sorry for the photo quality... it's been overcast and miserable for the past few days and I put off the photos ... and now it's night time and it's this or nothing >.<

I also had a pillow and bag I was planning on making ( once again, my design plans bypassing the sad fact that I can not sew ) , but of course...they did not get made. Maybe another time.

Thanks for checking out my blog during this hop :) Make sure to pay some of the others a visit and see what skully-goodness they have to share :D

Terra
Tori
Black Dragon
Monique
Helen
Lady Brayton
Fiona
Christine
Jane
Judy
Alison
Susan
Andrea
Smudger Challenge
Laura
Lisa
Kristy
Steph
Glittery Katie
Lisa
Kapree
Ms. Ruin
Kathi
Bombshell Stamps Blog
Dianne
Donna
Nydia
Lady Coral
Suzi
Julia
Patti
Miko
Renee
Wendy
Christina
Hazel
 Skye
Wenchkin
Betsy
Scrapbook Stamp Society



~ Skye

Freebie Friday # 6

Another month gone... damn >.< lol

So much to blog about but  I won't for two..well.. three reasons

1- there's too much for just one post ;)

2- I've got a headache and the white screen combined with the tapping of keys isn't nice >.<

3- this blog post is already serving double duty as it is ;)

So... which to do first...

... announce last months winner....?

 or show this months prize ?

hmm.... decisions decisions... you know I suck at making decisions, right? lol

alrighty... winner first.

According to Rafflecopter, the lucky winner is  Kimberly Flood :)  Kimberly, you've got two weeks to contact me with your address so I can mail off your ribbons and cords... if I don't hear from you by then, I'll draw a new winner.

So what's up for June?

I'm kinda torn... so I'm going to give the winner an option again... if I get the second option completed before the end of the month >.< lol

 So... this month you can win...

 ....approximately 2 1/2 - 3'  each of my hand hand beaded chain...

 ...OR ...if that's just too much chain for you ;) What about your choice of one of the above chains, plus a 'surprise' assortment of coordinating beads and, with any luck, a matching toggle clasp ? Sound more to your liking?

Of course, since I won't know what choice the winner will make, I'll just have to make up matching toggles and bead packs for each, just in case... And then I'll either end up with two compete sets left to decide what to do with... or I'll have three sets of toggles and beads... either way, definitely fodder for another giveaway ;)

This month's giveaway will run until Wednesday the 27th, when I'll announce the winner!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Don't forget to check out the Father's Day inspired design challenge and join in this open challenge ! the reveal and blog hop will be on June 16th. Then drop in on June 30th for  the Creative Chaos Challenge reveal !

~ Skye