Beads for Bloggers - Finish!

Whoohoo! 

Not only have I accomplished using my free beads from Fusionmuse, but it got me on a roll and I managed to finish off a couple other over due projects as well, and put a dent in another one :D

So  recap ... I joined Fusionmuse's Beads for Bloggers program, where you sign up for a chance to be chosen to receive a little bundle of free goodies to work with. 

Here's what I received to work with...

Check out my in progress post HERE.

And here's what I did :)

 The little turquoise colored magnesite rounds I paired up with some 20g copper wire to make beaded chain.

That black thing on the bottom is the one foot of my tripod >.<

The multi colored shell rounds were teamed up with tiny faux pearls. The bangle is made of stainless steel wire, and the ends are hidden beneath a couple beadcaps :)

the coral coins that I was planning on doing in a bracelet changed their minds and demanded to be earrings instead.

Feminine little buggers, aren't they? Pink and sparkly... *sigh* My jewelry has such girly moments ...

and that bracelet in progress... ended up as this. The resin rounds and the focal, teamed up with copper wire and some red 'stone look' glass oval beads :)









So there you have it. My ' fusionmuse' creations :)

Thank you Tanya of Fusionmuse for the opportunity :)

 

If you want to see about getting some free beads to play with too, go check them out and become one of their blog buddies :)

Website     Etsy     Blog

Bead Buddy Info

C.C.D.C.#2 Intro and Rules!

 

Welcome to the Second Creative Chaos Design Challenge :)

 

There are four simple rules.

#1 – Send me an email or pm to let me know you have received your kit :)

#2 – There are four baggies of ingredients in the kit -You must use SOMETHING from each baggie.

#3 - You must take photos of your finished work.

#4 -You must have a blog post containing the photos of your work posted on the day of the hop ( which will be decided once everyone has reported in that their kits have arrived.)

You do not have to use ALL the items, but you can.

You do not have to use all of each item you chose, but you can.

You do not have to use the items as you find them... you may alter them in any way you see fit – drill holes, patina, paint, glue, etc etc etc.

Please do not post about what you received in this kit until I give the okay. Almost everyone wanted their kit to be a surprise so let's not ruin that for them. Once I give the okay, you are welcome to post about what you received, as well as in progress work... but you can't share your finished work until the day of the hop. I suggest either scheduling your post for just after midnight ( EST) , or post it before you head off to bed.

If you don't have a blog, then email me your photos and post at least one full day before the hop date, and I'll add it to my post.

The little yellow tissue wrapped bundle is NOT part of the kit. That is simply a little thank you for being a follower/ reader of my blog and for taking part in this challenge :)

You are of course welcome to use any of your own items combined with those in the kit, including adding more of the same if you happen to find them.

Oh, and the most important part … be creative and have fun :) I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with!

~

 

This round's roster ( & shop list - will be updated to include the blogs long before the actual hop date ;)) :

Marge Beebe of RockCreekCreations

Kristi J of CuriositiesbyK

Tammie Everly of TTE Designs

Sarah Goode  of Poodledo

Sherri Stokey of KnotJustMacrame

Paula Hisel of SimplyBeadiful

Shawn Mills of Bent Wire Boutique 

 and ME, of course :D

Here's the kit we all get to play with :)

Heheh .. sorry, but almost all of them wanted the kit to be a surprise when they opened it.

As soon as I get word they've all arrived, I'll share the ingredients with you :) The first kit has already arrived... and it was the one with the furthest to go!

~Skye

And the winners are....

 Marge, Kristi, Tammie, Sherri, Sarah, Paula, & Shawn Marie :)

Don't believe me, check out Rafflecopter below :p lol

a Rafflecopter giveaway

wow I really love that thing... just click a button and it chooses your winners for you and displays them on the widget for you. so much easier and quicker than random.org ;)

So there you have it. The 7 designers who will be joining me for the next round of the Creative Chaos Design Challenge :)  

Assuming of course that they email me their mailing addresses so I can get their bundles mailed off to them.I'll do the same as the giveaways - you've each got two weeks from today to get back to me with your address. If I don't hear from you by then, I'll pick someone to take your place ;)

Once I've heard back from all the participants and discovered whether they'd like me to post photos of the kits before they receive them, or to wait until after wards, as well as the reveal date they all agree on, I'll do another update on this :)

I really need to get these things packaged and mailed though... because I keep seeing things that would be so perfect to add in... >.< lol It's getting hard to resist!

Freebie Friday #7

Welcome to July ! And I'm fairly sure wherever you are, if you're on the same half of the hemisphere as I am, then you've been having a very hot and steam so far!

I'm sitting here with a glass of ice water with lemon, and my little air conditioner humming loudly away and I'm still sweating >.< It's been very interesting trying to get my apartment clean in time for my mother to get here... which could be any time in the next couple of hours... so this'll be a quick type post, so excuse the typos >.< I still got cleaning to finish up ;) My laundry may have to be snuck down in the morning before mom wakes up ;) lol

Alright, first up a couple reminders.

The winner of June's FF, Susan G. still hasn't contacted me about claiming her prize!  Susan, you've got one more week! If I don't hear from you by Thursday night ( Midnight EST) , then I'll be drawing a new winner !

Next up, you've still got two more days to enter for a chance at a spot in the next Creative Chaos Design Challenge- sign ups are HERE.

Reminders down with, on with the announcement :)

The winner of the first Creative Chaos Design Challenge, with a total of five votes ( several of the others had four so it was very close ), is piece #2created by Alicia of All Pretty Things.

So what am I sticking in the mail for her?

this lovely, and large, red stone two hole pendant.

I mean large about this is 2 " across, but it's so lovely :)

I hope she enjoys it. If it's not her style to work with, then I hope she finds someone who would enjoy playing with it instead ;)

Alrighty, so on to the part you're all here about.  The new Giveaway :)

This month was short on time to prepare another batch of handmade items, and I came up short on theme ideas... however, between the rash of destashes going on and all the Bead Soup batches in the mail and on peoples work tables, I decided to do a goodie box :)

What? you can't see what's all in it?  *sigh* oh alright... here

 better? There's a crap load of red satin ribbon,  a bunch of two tone glass coin beads,two porcelain beads with rather oriental theme to them, some crackled and clear glass beads that I got form Grace's destash sale :) some metal butterflies, a bunch of catseye beads in purple, green and cream, and some handmade brass chain with black glass.

And there's still room in the box, so I may just find or make a few more things to add in through out the month ;)

Alright... my butt needs to get busy cleaning again... gotta vacuum my carpets at the very least >.<

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Another Round?

My Creative Chaos Design Challenge went off without a hitch with everyone posting on time, and while I wrote my blog out with only two pieces finished, by the time I scheduled it to post, I had several done. I literally made three quarters of my designs Friday afternoon and evening, which left only one item in my kit that I didn't use.

I was seriously impressed by the others designs too, especially one done by a thirteen year old girl who got creative with Shaiha's kit :)

I promised some little prizes to go along with it, and here we go with that :) since no one used the full kit ( although my last minute scramble got me close ;) lol ) We'll just go with a vote for favorite piece :) 

I'll share a pic of each piece here with a number attached to it, and you leave a comment below with the number you're voting for :) Make sure you leave your email or have it attached to your blogger profile so I can get in touch with you, because everyone who votes will be entered to win a little something too :) 

* note ; the photographs below were all taken from their creators blogs, and do not belong to me.

#1

~ ~ ~

#2

~ ~ ~

#3

~ ~ ~

#4

~ ~ ~

#5

~ ~ ~

And no, I'm not including mine since I obviously don't need to win my own prize ;) lol  Voting will be open until Thursday July 5th at Midnight ( EST) and the winners will be announced in the new Freebie Friday post :)

So, while you're all casting your votes and waiting for a winner to be chosen... who's up for a new Creative Chaos Design Challenge ?

This one would take place mid August - early September ( depending on the participants ) and has room for SEVEN designers aside from myself  :) 

Want a sneak peek ?

Hmm... you know, now I can't decide if I should show  the full kit after the team has been picked like I did last time... or make you wait longer lol  Part of me likes the element of surprise... Not showing you until the kits have been received.

As you can see, this one is more earthy tones in favor of Autumn... where as the last one was more of a Summer theme.. of course, aside from that itsy bitsy glimpse in the center there.. that's ALL you can tell :)

The rules will be the same as the previous Challenge. ;  they have to use some of these items to create jewelry... ( the more of it they use, the happier and more impressed I'll be ;) ) They don't have to use it 'as is'; they can alter any or all of the items in any way they want. They create, they photograph and they share on the chosen reveal date. I think I'll have them use at least a third of that pile. 

Once again I'll have a couple little prizes as well. One will be for the one you all vote for as your fave piece , and the second prize(s) for any of them that manage to use ALL of the kit. 

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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

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

Creative Chaos Challenge Preview

Alrighty... so you're probably all wondering what was in the first Chaos challenge kit ? I know Kashmira  is... she's been hounding me to share pictures ..I've been slacking to torment her ;)

Now that the other three participants have received their kits, I guess I can show you what we'll be working with :) 

So here's the pile o' goodies....

What?

 Not a good enough picture?  Shall I break it down for you?

*sigh* oh alright... lol

There are two of these buttons...I only took a picture of one because as soon as I hear Shay got her kit, I dumped out mine and started sketching... and I already have these two part way into a piece ;)  This is the one little left over spare I had in the same color and size.

 One little glass jar with a cork :)  The ones in the kits were filled with a mix of seed beads... they're not technically a part of the kit...I just used them to fill the bottles to help make them more durable for shipping ;) Plus I figured little beads were a nicer filler than cotton balls ;)

One white nylon butterfly ....on-a-steeek ;)  (... any one who gets that joke is awesome :) )

A piece of dark blue faux suede, and a piece of baby blue and white 'feathered' ribbon :)

And assortment of different sizes of star washers, both interior and exterior.

Some shells. Now these actually WERE jewelry... but not very attractive jewelry lol no I didn't take a before picture... be glad of that ;)  I included these because the blue shells are larger than most of what you see used, and the white had acquired rust marks around the hole. I did try to gently remove the rust, but.. no go.  Perhaps the others will have better luck, or will just find a way to work around it... or with it ;)

And lastly, two more slightly smaller buttons :)



They each also received a little gift of thanks for participating :)

The rules are simple.. they have to use some of these items to create jewelry... ( the more of it they use, the happier and more impressed I'll be ;) ) They don't have to use it 'as is'; they can alter any or all of the items in any way they want. They create, they photograph and they share on June 30th. I think I'll have them use at least a third of that pile. 

I'll have a couple little prizes as well. One will be for the one you all vote for as your fave piece , and the second prize(s) for any of them that manage to use ALL of the kit. 

 

So make sure to come back on Saturday June 30th and check out the four blogs ( nice small hop ;) ). I'll have something set up to collect your votes on your favorite piece... and perhaps I'll have a little surprise drawing for those who place a vote or leave a comment on the blogs ;)

Yes, there will be a second Chaos Challenge kit. I'm thinking of having the sign ups either in June or July, and the hop would be August or September... I haven't decided yet ;)

I'm BAaaaaack!! :D

So... long time no blog >.<  

... well, aside from the Freebie Friday post, which was late >.< lol

Sorry everyone. My brain just hasn't been in the 'sit and blog it' mindset lately. Too many things running through it at once, I guess. Nothing majorly bad or stressful, just... in the way, I guess

the biggest happening was that I found a lump in my breast and had to get it checked out. The last time this happened the doc felt it too and sent me in for a mammogram and ultrasound, but they couldn't find it >.< The popular consensus on it being that it was merely scar tissue form my breast reduction a few years before that. So, despite finding the lump, I wasn't overly stressed over it. The doc told me right off he felt too much movement in it for it to be cancer, since cancer lumps tend to stick in place and have no or very little movement to them.Plus I have boobs that have always felt lumpy to me, plus for the last eleven years have had the added 'texture' of the scar tissue, so self exams are difficult. This bump felt different so I decided to err on the side of caution and get it looked into. I've been up for a mammogram, got the boobs squashed all to hell and back, only to have the nurse say there didn't seem to be any difference form the last mammogram, and the technician wants an ultrasound to double check. So I headed down the hall in my little wrap top that didn't want to stay tied, REALLY thankful I got to keep my jeans on, to have that done. And I would just like to say, that it's AMAZING how that ultrasound tech can find the slightest tender spot and constantly press the hell out of it >.< lol  I haven't heard anything back yet about the results, but I expect to either here that it's just the scar tissue again, or possibly a cyst that I'll get to go have cut out .. yeah .. more abuse and scars on the poor jugs >.< lol  It's so good I'm not over vain about the parts of me that stay under wraps ... and that even with the reduction and scars, I still have some damned impressive cleavage ;)

 

See? Believe it or not, those DD's  were once bigger ;) I was a D for several years but as I let the waist line grow a bit, they kept pace >.< Actually, this photo was taken last year.., like.. January maybe, and I put on some weight since then .. lost a bit again, too ;) when this was taken, I think I could still squeeze into my D cups, as long as they were a certain brand.

So, while not overly stressful ( the only real stress involved was in not letting myself get stressed over something I had no control over anyhow lol ), my heads been full of plenty... mostly in avoidance of chores.  No seriously. Since the Messy Blog Hop I've done a few starts at cleaning that have all ended in being minor tidies. My heads just too full of things. I start with one part then my mind jumps ahead to what else needs to be done that should be done first.. and so on and so on until it's too much to do and I just stop >.< Like I have this shelving unit I got from my mom for my bedroom to help organize some of my storage clutter. It's still wrapped up in plastic, joining the clutter because every time I think of getting started... my mind goes off on a 'to do' list tangent and I get overwhelmed. Example - I need to put the shelves together, but before I do that I should make room to set them up... which means I need to move stuff out of the way... which means finding places to put it all. Plus I need to sort stuff out to put in boxes that will fit on the shelves once they're together... And since I'll be back moving stuff..I want the tv and nintendo from back there, pulled out and set up, plus the large chair back there moved into the living room to replace the one couch. However, before I can move the chair out, I have to get the couch hauled out and to the dump which means arranging for someone to come help. And for the tv & nintendo, my old computer is sitting where I want them put, but if I'm going to move the computer around, I might as well  gut it for the parts to change up my current tower, but that means making room to haul them both out and set them up.. and figure out what the hell I'm doing... OR call my brother and get him to stop in to help. Either situation that calls for help arriving, requires some house cleaning done first >.< See? My brain just makes huge endless chaotic loops out of things until I feel buried under it all >.<

However, there is light at the bottom of that heap lol I was in a similar state with my jewelry making. I wanted to make stuff and needed to make stuff, but couldn't  because A) I had too many choice beside me and B) the need to choose had me allowing myself to become distracted by the computer, and C) .. becoming distracted by the mess than needs to be sorted, getting frustrated with it all and turning to other hobbies that I could access easier.

My solution? Until I find the strength to clean again, I've been grabbing a few complimentary colored bead cases, along with one of my boxes of findings, my tools, a small tray and bead mat, tossing it all into a bag, and leaving the apartment. By getting myself away from the distractions of the 'todo' list, and narrowing my choices to what I took with me, I've found a way to bypass the blockage :)  It's not a permanent solution, since I do have to tackle cleaning and reorganizing things so that I don't feel that way in my own space, however it IS becoming a very pleasant habit that I will endeavor to continue. I really like sitting down on the porch and enjoying the nice weather and devoting a couple hours to JUST my jewelry, with nothing else getting in the way.

So I am slowly finding ways through my disorganization to get things accomplished, and finding some enjoyable new ways of doing things in the process. Btw, the reason I'm not on my porch right now, is because I face the sunrise and until late morning, you're pretty much blinded if you sit out there lol  The sun's high enough now, but I decided to get busy and BLOG first ;)

While I was avoiding blogging and cleaning chores and everything else, I did get stuff done.

I went to my parents and photographed the house my dad had bought and renovated himself, then set it up online for him to sell. Then I headed back a weekend or two ago and posted it on another site for him, plus sat on the dock on their main Koi pond and caught a bunch of fish for him. That was the reason I was 'invited' to spend the weekend... dad had someone that wanted to buy some young koi and I'm a better fisher than he is ;) He can sit out there all day and catch three or four... It took me about a combined fishing time of three hours to catch twenty two lol The last one was an accident..I swear, he just jumped on my hook. Dad had come to see how many I had caught and to make sure I hadn't caught any of his butterfly koi by mistake; when he heard how many I'd caught he was shocked and said that was enough lol While I was using the baited hook to coax the little guys up to the surface so dad could point out just what the butterfly koi looked like, number twenty two leaped for the bait and got it lol 

I seriously can not tell if my dad is proud of the fact that his little girl is so good at catching fish... or pissed  that she's batter at it than he is ;) LOL

While I was there, the super moon rose...so I took some pics.

 While I was there, the super moon rose...so I took some pics. Here it is just rising. Nothing but a ball of white light with my poor little camera lol

Here it fully risen... how did I take such a good shot with such a crappy camera? I cheated of course :D

We set up my dad's little telescope out in the field for a clear shot, then after an agonizingly long time getting the moon in frame and in focus, I set my camera to close up, zoomed in in a bit, set it over the eyepiece of the telescope and bam... instant fabulous photo :)  so proud of this picture :)  

Here's my little set up.

Like I said, you would NOT believe how hard it is to find a SUPER MOON  through that telescope >.< And to add insult to injury, I turned it around and tried to find the north star and zoomed in on it no problem... turned back to find the moon again.. took FOREVER >.< lol

What else have I been up to? Well, I've signed up for my first non-jewelry-blog related bloghop . The Skull-a-Day blog was advertizing a blog hop that I just HAD to get in on :) That's on June 4th, so I'd better get my butt moving on deciding what to make for it! ( the button is on my sidebar for anyone who wants to find out more about it :) )

I also took part in Lori Anderson's Spring Pantone Bead Swap. I haven't received my beads yet since they're winging their way here from France, but my partner sent me pictures  that I'm not gonna share with you ;) I'll wait until they arrive and take my own pics to share:D hehehe. 

Here's what I sent her.

I sent them all sorted and labeled , of course. Plus there were a few others that were added after this picture was taken; some large pale purple glass pearls, and some metal beads as well. 

I ended up having a hard time finding the colors as shown or even described, as did my partner, so we found beads as close as we could get them for the most part. After all, despite the name of the swap, a grab bag of pretty beads is a grab bag of pretty beads, regardless of colors :D

Alright, so I think I've tormented Kashmira long enough ;) She's been waiting to see what I sent out to the participants of my first design challenge.

                         

   hehehe ... yeah, I'm gonna show more than just THAT ;) I'm not THAT much of a tease!

... not often at least ;)

Alright, so here's what Rochelle, Alicia, & Shay should all be finding in their mail boxes shortly.

An assortment of  star washers, shell bits ( that were drilled), some feathery ribbon, faux suede cording, a little bottle, a butterfly on a stick, and some buttons :) 

I had other things I wanted to add in, but I decided to stop myself and save stuff for the second design challenge ;)

The rules are simple.. they have to use some of these items to create jewelry... ( the more of it they use, the happier and more impressed I'll be ;) ) They don't have to use it 'as is'; they can alter any or all of the items in any way they want. They create, they photograph and they share on June 30th.  I'd planned on having them have to use at one least one item from each baggie.. but I think I'll change that and have them use at least a third of that pile. They all received a little gift with their kits for participating, but I think I'll have a little prize or two as well. Perhaps have you all vote for your fave piece , plus have a second award for any of them that manage to use ALL of the kit?  Yeah .. kinda like those ideas :)  I'll be sending out an email to them shortly containing the link to the button I just made, plus the official rules... I'd meant to include them with the kit but I was lazy ;)

So there you go... a fairly lengthy and extensive update on my blog avoidance lol

I'll try to get back into my blogging habits ;) I do have to do a blog post to share my Star Wars fandom side ;)

~ Skye