BSBP8- Great Minds Think Alike...

Remember I mentioned that I had THREE soups with different colour schemes and materials set out, and just had to see which one suited my partner best for a challenge...? And that the one was out of the running right away, since it was in colours that she uses alot and so it would be too easy for her...? Then she posted her teaser of the soup she sent ME, and it was in the same colour scheme! Whheeew.. close call there.. almost had matching soups, right ! *snort*  Yeah well... lol

If I HAD sent that purple-ish soup, the colours would've been the only match... instead, while we sent each other different colours... we went with the same metals, beads material, and theme... copper, gemstones, and BIRDS! :D

So now we're both dying of giggles over this :) That, plus despite mailing a day apart, we both received our soups today, and opened them within minutes of each other! lol

This is the soup I sent her...

  

Plus some little copper bird spacer beads that escaped the photo session. the bird focal is from TreeWings Studio, and the copper toggle( and the little egg shaped stones) I received from Lori Anderson during a bead swap. The flower beads were leftover from my very first BSBP soup ( from my partner, Shaiha) and just demanded to be included here. Oh and see that yellow? The African trade beads ( also from a swap, this one a Pantone colour swap with Solange ). The yellowish tone of the bird, plus the yellow trade beads, the little yelow glass beads, and the two faceted yellowish gemstones ( whose name has currently fled my brain) was all PERFECT for Audrey :) Not because she likes yellow... which as far as I know, she doesn't... but because she tends to totally blank on using it :) This is her soup challenge :D I don't see her having too much trouble... the bird isn't really 'yellow' yellow, and it and the trade beads have red mixed in to help her through it.. so do the little glass beads actually. I made one soup, but it's split into two sides... she can go with the 'softer' half to the left of the focal around the bottom... or she can go with the 'brighter/bolder' half to the right and along the top. either way, she gets some yellow to push through and work with ;) hehehehe

And this is the soup she sent me

A beautiful copper toggle from BooBeads and some copper beadcaps ( I forgot to send her bead caps >.< bah!), and then a brass bird stamping and some brass filigree beads. She mixed metals... *sigh* Now I wished I gone with my original plan for the toggle...I had a cute silver one with a cat that was kinda 'anti-bird', but made me giggle to consider including, but.. it was silver... so I didn't lol.
 She made the focal herself, and it'll be my main challenge.. it's big..I really have a comfort issue working with 'big' things... the biggest I've managed was a stone 'doughnut' from my first bsbp soup... ( it was square, actually, but.. you get the idea lol). This is a bit bigger, but it's also considerably 'more'... I LOVE it, and I WILL figure out how to work with it, but wow...

And then as if the challenge of the big focal wasn't enough... she sent me pretty druzzy spears... Have you noticed me use 'long' dangly type stones and beads much? Nope... I've  made exactly ONE piece, outside of earrings, with top pierced stones... I find them awkward and just... O.o... I love them and WANT to use them, however my brain refuses to see them 'fitting' in anything outside of earrings or as a focal... and for the BSBP, since it's about stepping outside your comfort zone, I will endeavor to NOT fall into those safe zones with these guys :)

 And then, as an added challenge... but one I was actually expecting from her since this IS Audrey and Audrey LOVES to resin and glue ... lol... she sent me some sparkly... I think the term is 'chatons' ? Things that I have to resin or glue, anyhow lol I was actually expecting the soup to contain more stuff along that line and am not-so-silently relieved over most of my soup containing 'holes' :D hehehe

I LOVE the colours, that silk is to die for.. and it'll be really hard to make myself use it...and she sent me crackled agate beads! hehehe..I bought some bigger ones and love them...but keep wishing they were smaller.. and now I have some smaller! lol

Okay, so now you see what I get to play with for the next month or so... I need to close the lid on the little box it's in so I'll stop playing with it. I split the tip of my thumb earlier this week so it's in no shape to start playing... and my hands are all dry and coarse from the weather and too many bouts of dish washing, so the silk keep catching on them >.< lol I need to moisturize before I get into this box of soup again :D

I hope all of you BSBP'ers get wonderful helpings of beadsoup to enjoy, and look forward to seeing everyone's creations!

*sigh*

Did it again >.<

Keep planning on blogging, but keep thinking of things to do first... and then never get around to actually blogging >.<   I'm going to try to stop that ! I'm setting a goal to blog at least once a week... whether I've got photos taken or edited to share, or jewelry done, or NOT. I will post! lol

So... promise made.

In recent news, I bit the bullet and signed up for BSBP #8. Yes, it'll no doubt be a huge hop... which is rather wearying just thinking about >.<  but despite that, it's always a lot of fun and gets my butt in gear :)

I've also been considering jumping in the Ears Inspiration challenge going around... where a photo is shared on the first Friday of the month, and you have to make a pair of earrings using it as inspiration, then blog and join a little hop on the third Friday of each month. Pros - gets me creating and gets me blogging. Con- another freakin' hop >.< lol

Haven't picked up the tools or the paintbrush much this month at all, so far, but I will.

Another challenge I should join is the one for cleaning/reorganizing studio space... you know, since I'm doing it anyhow..I should sign up. Only problem is... if I sign up, I just know I'll be hit by something ( even just the lazies) and not get anything more done >.< lol I'm thinking I'll just do it and if I'm done in time or have made significant progress, I'll blog and link it in... considering this has been an ongoing project for over a year now... I'm not holding my breath. It's one of those things where I'll between half and three quarters done, and then something gets in the way - whether it be illness, or whatever- and by the time I get back to it.... things have exploded again and I need to start all over :(  this time it'll be different though... I have a stack of boxes behind me, into which I'll sort everything as I dig through. Anything I have plans for but am not sure when I'll find the time, will be packed, labelled, and stacked neatly out of the way. Anything I use or will use, but don't have a need for often, will go into the cabinet behind me ( the one I can never get to because of the stuff piled up in front of it ;) ) AND, most painful of all... I WILL admit to things that I will probably never use or get around to doing... and I will get it out of the house. In addition, I will make room on my work space, or find a place with easy access, for the tools and equipment I'd like to use but can't get to.

That is what I've been trying to get my butt in gear and do for the last couple weeks >.< The bitter cold temps are back and since I'll be hiding out indoors as much as possible, I'll be trying to get started on that this week.

There. Blog post written... no photos, but a few updates.

As well, since I've been so horrible at keeping myself going at it, I think I need to reward all my followers who haven't deleted me from their lists out of boredom... I shall have a giveaway :) It's been AGES since I had one, so I'll need to make sure it's a good one ;) My bead stash has grown considerably... plus there's plenty of stuff that I haven't found a spot for yet... maybe I should just gather up a bunch of that and do a little soup giveaway...  Hmmm.. decisions decisions... Like I said, I'll have to think on it ;)

So... next blog post I'll have something up for you to try for. Whenever that is... some time within a week.. or so... lol ;)

BSBP - Beady Goodness!

Alrighty... so both my partner and myself now have our respective soups... so the teasing can stop now ;)

Sorta ;)

Remember my pretty little mosaic I sent Lucie?

 

Here it is :)

 

A Marsha Neil pendant for the focal,  as well as a pretty glass seahorse ( creator unknown) as an extra focal. The clasp is a brass clock toggle that I got in a swap from Lori a while back, and my friend Shay sent me some recycled sari silk for my birthday last fall, so I decided to share a wee bit of that as well.  The rest of the soup consists of some peachy potato pearls, a strand of swarovski crystals with a swarovski element on the end, some assorted Czech glass, brass bits, and a few kyanite and...my brain fails me on the other stone.. lol >.< I know it.. crazy lace agate maybe? It'll come to me after I hit publish ;)  I also included a few random metals, including a shoe charm... Lucie LOVES shoes. I'd hoped I had two so I could make her some earrings, but nope... just one lonely little shoe.

She loves the soup and I can't wait to see what she comes up with :)

Here's the lovely serving she sent me :)

Now for those who missed it, my soup created a wee bit of drama over at BeadSoup Cafe.  See those pretty red seeds on the bottom left with the black dots on them? One of the ladies at the BSC recognized them as being poisonous and having been banned here in Canada! We quickly verified that yes, they were indeed the 'bad seeds' in question, and Lucie called the supplier she'd got the beads from and gave him hell...and got a refund ;) The beads were tossed, hands and the accompanying seed pod washed, and all was well :)

I still have a fabulous soup to work with, one that I already have divided into baggies for various ideas... PLUS  the 'deadly bead seed' incident has inspired a special piece :D hehe  

Leave it to me to draw inspiration for the weirdest things;)

So there you have our soups :) Make sure to pop back round for the third reveal to see what we turn them into ;)

 

F.F. #14 – With a Twist

* For those who asked, no I didn't make the bead I used n my Death Star earrings. They're bettlenut (sp?) and they just worked out perfectly :D

So long time no chat! Sorry... again... lol

I have nothing to blame but my procrastinating tendencies.

On the up side, I DID get a blog hop in PLUS I managed to get my Christmas tree down … it's still in my living room, BUT it's all boxed up and ready to get hauled back into storage, just as soon as I move crap around in there again.

… that only took me a month to do ;)

Here's to hoping February will see me being a bit more productive! :D

So, you are all no doubt wondering what I've been up to.

Well...I STILL have the reorganizing I started originally back in.. November, I think. I did progress ( sort of) away from my desk and is spread out over my floor where I can access everything to see that it gets where I want it.... see...?

View from my desk....

View form my couch...

That's my Pit .. aka Pit Baby, or Pitters... An no, that jackolantern does not have candy in it... it has empty bead bags... the candy is in the caldron tucked away in the bottom right corner ;) lol

Of course... I get my stone, shell and half my glass sorted, and realize I'm going to need something bigger for my metals... those little gray guys just aren't going to cut it anymore >.< Luckily I managed to catch them on sale again and got the last one in the size I wanted!! Once I finish getting those little drawers all filled and labeled, I have to clear off the desk and shelves and figure out the best place to put them all :) But hey... I'm getting there!

And... while procrastinating over THAT, I created a NEW mess, by recycling some of my bubble mailers :) I only got about a third done when I ran out of glue, but here's what my new butterflies look like...

Pretty new butterflies to travel to your mailbox ;)

For those wondering … and too lazy to go check the rafflecopter widgets to see the name displayed...

1) the winner of the Tori Sophia ear wires was Angela :) She has already received her goodies and no doubt has used them all up by now ;)

2) the winner of F.F. #13 was Shaiha .. and I shall get it in the mail to her soon :)

3) the 'With a Twist' n the title of this post does indeed go with the Freebie Friday giveaway ;)

For those of you who don't like this idea... blame Kashmira... she suggested it ;) lol

The last day of February is World Rare Disease Day ( http://globalgenes.org/world-rare-disease-day/ ) As such, I thought we'd try a little something different with this goodie bundle.

Most of you have heard of the Global Genes Project & their 7000 Bracelets for Hope campaign. Each year, thousands of blue bracelets are made and donated to this group, who then gifts them to the mothers and caregivers of children with rare diseases.

So this round there's a condition … you can only enter if you're willing to do something in exchange for winning ;)

The goodie bundle this month is primarily blues... and whoever wins it, must make and donate one bracelet to the Global Genes Project. They don't have to use all of their prize, they don't even have to use ANY of it... they can use beads from their own stash instead. They just have to make sure their bracelet complies with the groups requirements ( http://globalgenes.org/7000-bracelets-for-hope/ ) :)

Winter Blues Bead soup

Since it's still winter, I'll add some pretty silver snowflake charms to this, as well :)

Think you can make a bracelet to donate? If so, go ahead and enter.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

F.F.#12 & Randomness

..well... randomness first, maybe ;)

I'm actually going to get this written and scheduled to post early... it's 9pm thursday as I'm writing this.

okay... 9:02 ... but the point is, I decided not to make you wait until I got home on Friday and found the energy to get it done. this gives you several more hours to get your entries in... for a giveaway that's open for an entire month, anyhow...

I WAS actually going to do this even earlier, but.... got distracted. No no making things... I do have things that need to be made, including a no-knit scarf that is currently sitting on my photo background board in little piles of yarn with tacks holding my top knots in place. That's as far as I got... and that's attempt number two... attempt one I had tacked to my door to work on and keep things from getting tangled but...that just killed my shoulders, back and neck...after five minutes >.< 

So yeah, that came down and I attached it to my board instead... and it's been sitting on the chair behind me for two days now, untouched :)  So no, that's not what distracted me.

Shaiha's ( of Shaiha's Ramblings ) hubbie, Saje, is an author. I've known this for as long as I've known her. I kept meaning to check out some of his books but never got around to it.

 Until today.

This evening, actually.

 I dropped in to Samhain Publishing and bought two of his ebooks. I'm half way through the one already. THAT's why I was distracted.

 A book nabbed me.

I made myself stop reading so I'd have time to get this posted before I head off to bed. 

Otherwise, I'd have continued to read.

Right, okay... had other things to say, but my distraction distracted me so... giveaway time?

By the way, sorry everyone, but Renetha was on the ball and nabbed her prize before there was even a chance of me giving it to someone else ;)

That just means you'll have to try to win this bundle instead.

And yes, as mentioned, it's another soup centered around a Marsha Neil focal :)

A collection of  gemstone, Czech glass, copper, and porcelain beads, plus a copper toggle... that kinda got half buried under the one coin.. sorry.. >.<  It's a pretty flower/vine toggle ;) Oh, and two little bundles of  cording.

And yes..I DID include two of my skulls... because.

... don't ask why...I'm really not sure... they just kinda jumped into the pile and I grudgingly let them stay there ;)

Anyhow, want to try and win them?

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Follow the instructions on Rafflecopter to enter as many times as you can. Some may offer the chance to enter once a day, so read carefully ;)

Freebie Friday # 11

First Friday of the month.... most regular readers know what that means ;)

... of course, they also know I'm going to babble on about other crap for a while and make everyone wait :D

Marla Gibson won last months F.F. goodies, for those who didn't check the Rafflecopter widget to see if their name appeared ;) 

I also did a couple surprise giveaways that I never even mentioned. I popped into my Blogger dashboard a few days ago and saw my 'followers' had reached 50... AND that Blogger had FINALLY FIXED IT! For almost a year now, when I clicked on my follower list, I'd get a blank page - I knew I had so many followers, but I couldn't tell who they were. BUT NOW I CAN!  So I copied out all the names, assigned a number to each and used random.org to pick three. Two of them had emails attached to their blogger accounts and have already been notified - Pam aka The Crazier Sister has already replied, and her little soup mix has her name on it ready to go. I'm still waiting on a reply from  Cynthia.  And the third follower had no way to contact her, so Sarah Singer, give me a shout ! 

Some of you know that I follow several blogs, and among my faves is Fancifuldevices. I found out I won a pair of her earrings ( which are massively long and have me on the verge of tearing my closet apart to find the perfect out fit to wear with them... since my weight has been up and down in the last couple years, this may require shopping ;) )  At any rate, Fanci asked if I'd like some buttons along with my earrings... she was needing to destash... I said sure.

... here's what she sent...

Look at all those goodies :) I had to dump them all out and sort them right away...I just HAD TO! It's been very hard to not play with them, too...I have stuff I NEED to do first ... >.< *sigh*  Which brings to me another thing...

I have a crap load of things to get accomplished this month, including a bunch left over from LAST month, so I wasn't planning on taking part in this year's NaNoWriMo  -National Novel Writing Month . For those not familiar with it, it's an open challenge for people to take up and write 50,000 words in 30 days... 50,000 words being the average word count for a novel. I've been in it for several years, but the last two failed to get very far due to 'life' getting in the way or writing. The year before that I teamed up with a friend, and since the goal is 50,000 for ONE PERSON in 30 days, we doubled the word count to 100,000 in 30 days, and did it :) 

Like I said... I wasn't planning on taking part this year... however I woke up in the wee hours on the 1st with an idea in mind and started writing. Despite the fact that today I've been doing bits off and on, not really feeling it, but not really feeling like doing anything else either, I've still managed to make it to 3625 words.  If only I could count my blog posts into that ...I'd have my 50,000 total in no time ;) lol

So, you might not see much in posts from me this month considering everything I need to do.... Then again, this is me.. so.. you might see plenty from me this month as I avoid doing the rest of it ;) I'll tell you what though... if I somehow manage to make it to the goal and earn my NaNo badge this year... I'll do a special giveaway to celebrate :)

And speaking of giveaways ... you all really want to know what Novembers' goodies are, don't you?  Especially since I put out that teaser in the one group about sharing my Marsha Neil stash ;)

* note - HOLY CRAP! Minor heart attack there! I just started to type Marsha's name and my finger slipped... and the ENTIRE POST VANISHED! >.<  Thank you 'undo' feature! Whheeehw!  Okay .. back to our regular scheduled programing .. lol)

Who wants to  find this in their mailbox?

There a gorgeous Marsha Neil pendant in the center ... surrounded by  some adventurine chip stone, I believe that's goldstone chips ( the brown with sparkles.. if I'm wrong, please tell me...I got them in a big box of stone chips, but very few were labelled) some triangle green seed beads, some opaque orange glass rectangles, I 'think' the orange rounds are acrylic, and some gemstone 'daggers' that I'm trying to remember the name of.  Plus to round it out, some yellow faux suade and some green embroidery floss.

 closer view?

So same rules as always - Click on the rafflecopter widget and fill out all the entries you can :)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

~ Skye

BSBP#6 Reveal Day!

 Whoohoo! It's here :) 
 #beadsoupblogparty !

 .. well.. actually, since I'm writing this Thursday afternoon and the reveal isn't until Saturday, it's NOT actually here YET, but by the time you read this... it will be...so..I'm babbling :D

Check out the close up maps HERE .

This round of the Bead Soup Blog Party marks some big changes. This is the last of the fall editions; from now on there will be just one edition per year in the spring :) This is also the biggest round ever with 400 participants! Having pity on us readers and hoppers, our hostess Lori Anderson has split this round into three separate reveal dates, and then to make things even nicer for all of us, Tanya of Fusionmuse is running around gathering up all the post links and posting them into a special webpage for easier viewing :)

This is the second reveal. Tanya is still busily gathering up all the post links and making the hop page for this one.

If you want to check out the first reveal, here you go ->  BeadSoupParty2012

Now... enough horn tooting and babbling... on to the good stuff ;)

Here's my finished soup!

What..? You want pictures of everything separately?!  *sigh* Oh alright...I guess I can do that for you ...;)

My partner this round was Maria Horvath of Hungary (* edit- Sorry, Maria, I have NO idea where Bulgaria came from... I must have read something about it right before I wrote that >.< *crawls away in shame to think of ways to make up for naming the Country * )   She send me a soup that contained a focal she made and beaded herself, as well as some components her mother-in-law made :)

After taking all the 'before' pictures, I left it all in that little black soup bowl and playing with it every now and then, doodling ideas, or laying things out and taking a picture so I'd remember.

First up  was this... I used one of those orange MOP beads as the focal for this. I was already working on this piece when the soup arrived and gave me the perfect piece to finish :) It was meant for a specific person... but somehow, despite all my measuring, it ended up too small >.<

The large orange beads are from the Pantone mix Solange Collin sent me. The large blue lampwork beads are by Cottage Cove. I keep wanting to put something on top of the orange but so far nothing has jumped out at me as 'perfect'.

That was it...the rest of the soup sat and waited. It wasn't until just a couple weeks that things began to cook.

The start of the muse really getting to work were these two.

Not really surprising that those little dyed magnesite skulls would be among the first to get me going. I'd known what I wanted to do with them for a while. I've worn them several times since :) The other pair with the MOP ovals isn't the original design I had in mind for those... that involved those brass filigree cones... but when it came down to having the tools in hand, the cones were out.

Next came this one. Putting that beautiful dragonfly clasp to use.A design I'd sketched the day my soup arrived, and then changed and altered slightly many times since. Originally it was a three strand, using some of the yarn or tatting worked in somehow, but in the end, that just didn't work. I detoured and did another beaded strand .. but that came out and went to a different project instead. I even tried some blue velvet ribbon... nope. So two strand it is :)

The clasp and the oval Czech glass are from my soup. The white flowers are from Solange's Pantone mix, and all the blue & purple Czech glass flowers I bought from Grace Neff when she had her destash.

This next one is that missing strand from the last one redone. I used up all but four of those little clear rondelles, and that's some of the sodalite chip stone Solange sent me for the Pantone swap we did :) I'd had a different plan for the three crocheted flowers, but then this popped into my head so it became a decorative bail 'cover' for my focal :) 

This piece still feels 'unfinished' to me. I've tried adding  different elements in a second (or third) strand, but so far nothing has worked. I do still have a few ideas to try so maybe I'll have something done to 'finish it off' and get this edited before the reveal.

And then we have the soft and fuzzy  - This was born of a 'need' to use some of this gorgeous yarn and tatting. Shaiha suggested I try kuhmino, and while I still plan on trying that out, I ended up trying a tutorial on finger weaving.  Really quick and simple :) The ends I recycled from a thrift shop find and glued on :)

And then there's this...

Originally to be a blue velvet choker with a vine pattern stitched in and the rest of the bits sewn on. I don't have any ribbon ends at the moment though... and I keep forgetting I can't sew >.< ;) lol  So this may or may not be completed.  For the record, I had a similar design in mind for a ribbon cuff in my last BSBP with some gorgeous stone flower buttons Shaiha sent me... that never happened either ;)

I still have the tatting and most of the brass bits, along with the rest of the MOP beads, and four Czech glass rondelles left over. They'll be used up fairly soon :) I have plans for most of that to be mixed in with some of the other bead mixes I need to use and post about  in the coming month or so :)

Don't forget to visit my partner and see what she made with the soup I sent her! LINK

While you're here, pop over and check out my newest Freebie Friday post, and enter for a chance to win some yummy Fall Pantone Bead Soup :)

Then continue on to checking out some of the amazing talent in the list below :)

Hostess, Lori Anderson, Pretty Things

Adlinah Kamsir, Dream Struck Designs

Adrienn Lukacs, Raszputyin Designs

Agata Grygiel, Cytherea Bijoux 

Alenka Obid, Pepita Handmade 

Amy Dickerson, Damyjo Designs 

Amy Schmidt, Amy's Treasure 

Amy Severino, Amy Beads 

Ana Krepel, Cat's Pajamas, Dog's Tuxedos

Andra Weber, Andra's Joyful Journey

Andrea Trank, Heaven Lane Creations

Anke Humpert, Anart Island Studios

Ann Rishell, My Critical Eye

April Grinaway, Brooklyn Bead Goddess 

Ashley Bunting, Miss Ashely Kate 

Astrid Boyce, Astrid Boyce Beads 

B.R. Kuhlman, Mixed Mayhem Studios 

Barb Fernald, Barbara S. Fernald Jewelry 

Barbe Saint John, Saints and Sinners

Beata Benkone Meggyesi, Beahobbi

Brandy McNair, Bella Vita Handmade Jewelry 

 Bryna Lumb, Bryna's Bead Box

Carmen Lau, Little Maketto

Cate van Alphen, Fulgorine

Cathie Carroll, Cathie Carroll's Studio

Cathy Khoury, Touch Jewelry 

Christina Stofmeel, Feng Beads 

 Collette Collins, Fire Fly Myst Artisan Jewelry

Courtney Breul, Beads by Breul 

Crystal Thain, Here Bead Dragons

Cynthia Abner, Created Treasures

Deana Hager, Just Deez'Art & Life

Debbie Davis, Natural Treasures by Deb

Debbie Phenes, Deb Joy Sing

Debbie Rasmussen, A Little of This, A Little of That

Dhea Powers, Java Bead

Diana Welte, Lilyweeds

Dita Basu, alankarshilpa

Dorota Zeranska, gdymamczas 

Dot Lewallwn, Speedie Beadie

Eleanor Snare, The Magic Square Foundation

Elisabeth Auld, Beads For Busy Gals

Ema Kilroy, Ema K Designs

Emma Todd, A Polymer Penchant

Eva Sherman, Eva Sherman Designs

Evie and Beth McCord, EB Bead and Metal Works

Francy Inman, Francy's Studio

Ginger Bishop, lilmummy likes...

Giorgia Rossini, Jo in Wonderland

Ine Vande Cappelle, Jewels by Ine 

Iveth Caruso, Creative Atelier 

JJ Jacobs, Coming Abstractions

Jackie Ryan, Kydo Jewellery

Jeannie Dukic, Jeannie's Blog

Jelveh Jaferian, Jelveh Designs

Jenna Tomalka, Twin Birch Studio

Jenni Connolly, Jenni's Beads

Jennifer Van Horn, Jennifers Jewels and Junk

Jo-Ann Woolverton, It's a Beadiful Creation

Johanna Rhodes-Nash, Fire Phoenix Creations 

 Joyce Blair, Bent Wire West Coast

JuLee Wolfe, The Polymer Penguin

Karen Vincent, Swallow Tail Jewellery

Karin Slaton, Backstory Beads

Kayla Potega, The Eclectic Element 

Kim Dworak, CianciBlue

Krafty Max, Krafty Max Originals

Kris Lanae Binsfeld, Cherish Designs by Kris Lanae

Kristen Latimer, MJM Jewelry Designs

Kumi Fisher, Malie Kai Designs

Kym Hunter, Kym Hunter Designs

Lennis Carrier, Windbent

Leslie Wayment, AA Beads & More

Linda Florian, Lilys of the Valley Jewelry Creations

Linda Murphy, Bonita Bead

Lisa Johnson, Whimsey Wonders

Lisa Lodge, Pine Ridge Treasures

Lisa Sittniewski, Love, Yesterdays

Lois Moon, Que Onda, Q'Town?

Lola Surwillo, Bead Lola Bead

Lorelei Eurto, Lorelei's Blog

Lori Bowring Michaud, Artfully Ornamental

Lori Callahan, Dancing Wire and Beads by Lori

Lori Finney, Using My Beads

Marcia Dunne, The Alternative Foundry

Margareta Saari, Mags-koruja

Maria Horvath, Horimarika Beads

Marian Hertzog, M's Place

 Mary Ellen Parker, BeeTree by m.e.

Mary K McGraw, MK's Creative Musings

MaryLou Holvenstot, time2cre8 

Martha Aleo, Ornamento

 Maybeline Tay, The Jewelry Larder

Megan Collins, Churchy & Her Sailor

Melissa Meman, Art. Life. Love.

Melissa Mesara, One-Eared Pig Beads

Melissa Muir, Kelsi's Closet Jewelbox

Paige Maxim, Paige Maxim Designs

Pam DeBoer, Purple Notes from the Studio

Pam Farren, re-maker

Pam Hurst, Pam Hurst Designs

Patricia Handschuh, The Color of Dreams

Patty Miller, CabariBeads

Penney Klapoth, Faerie Acres

Regina Santerre, Regina's Writings

Rhea Freitag, starrgazer creates

Rochelle Brisson, A Creative Chelle

Sabine Dittrich, PerlenDschungel

YOU ARE HERE -> Sandra McGriff, Creative Chaos

Sandra Neights, Petalo Azul

Sandra Young, It's a Bead Life!

Sara Oehler, SoftFlex Girl

Saturday Sequins, Saturday Sequins

Shanti Johnson, Sunshine Bliss

Shari Replogle, Plays With Paper

Sonya Stille, Dreamin' of Beads

Stefanie Teufel, Stefanies Sammelsurium

Tammie Everly, TTE Designs

Tania Spivey, Moobie Grace Designs

Tanya Wiles, Tenebrous Hollow Studio

Therese Frank, Therese's Treasures

Tina Holden, Polymer Clay Bytes!

Toltec Jewels, Jewel School Friends 

Tracey Nanstad, A Beadiful Mess

Tracy Choy, BumbleBeads Designs

Valerie Norton, Hot Art

~ Skye

FF#7 winner :)

Just a quick post today. I'm on vacation, sitting in my mom's basement on her computer...with her dog on my lap in an effort to inconvenience my typing in the hopes I'll give up and take her to ponds instead...it's 6 am...I'm not taking her swimming yet >.<

I've had a fabulous couple days with my mom :) spent way too much money, but I'm on vacation and I have some fabulous goodies to play with now :)  Of course, the ones I need to get busy with ( as soon as I deal with my pieces for the Thrift Shop challenge this Saturday ) I got for free... two bulging pockets full of beach stones :) We just got carried away walking in the water at the beach spotting pretty stones...I need to go polish them up and practice my wire wrapping... dad's having a yard sale on Saturday so I said I'd send him a bunch of my jewelry for it...so...I'd better make more lol I figured a bunch of beach stone necklaces would be  good :) Plus... wire practice :D hehe

I've also got a couple pieces made out of my bead soup... totally keeping both for myself. Wore the one yesterday... and yes, it has those skulls she sent me ;)

Oh and cross your fingers for me..I believe I have the panda issue beat! It's just a matter of whether I can resist giving in to the urge to add that last little touch and risk screwing it up again... >.< that last touch will make it cute as hell and more panda-like... currently it's just pretty and panda-themed only in color and an abstract kinda deal... I'll share pics and ideas in one of the groups later lol

But none of that is why you're here reading this. ;) you want to know who won that box of beady goodness from July's Freebie Friday.

According to Rafflecopter, the winner is Kristi of Curiosities by K :) Congrats, Kristi! You've got two weeks to poke me and let me know you've seen this... and maybe give me your address again... I had it to send you your CCDC kit but ... not sure if I still have it or not... >.<

I'm heading home today, so I'll be getting together some goodies to post August's FF tomorrow :) I have no clue what it'll be since I've been a tad busy and haven't thought about it until today lol  Come back and find out :D

~Skye

" Insert Title Here"

Sorry.. titles failed me today lol

as has my camera >.< stupid thing.. went to take a picture of my mailbox and it refuses to boot up fully.. the on light comes on.. the screen stays black, then the light goes out. New batteries too >.< Time to haul out the reserve camera and start looking a new ones again.

Why was I trying to take a photo of my mailbox?

Oh, well.. because it's new... and I snazzed it up :) You see, the mailbox I've had since I moved in is just a little itty bitty ugly thing with my name and apartment number written in black marker on masking tape. After putting up with a mailman who has no concept of size, or the terms ' do not bend' or 'fragile' .. and after leaving multiple complaints against him over damaged or 'abandoned' mail left sitting on the porch railing on in front of my door ( which isn't a private entrance)... I went and bought myself a bigger mailbox. It's three times the size of the old one, shiny black with a top flip lid.... And since I didn't feel like screwing around with paint and stencils, and those block sticky letters are so boring, I picked up some scrapbooking stickers :) Maroon velvet letters with silver accents and the odd little crystal stuck to them lol  I offset my name to leave room for a gorgeous skull sticker I had... then discovered the sticker was a no go >.< Gotta find a replacement.  I didn't have any numbers, so I dug out some little purple half 'pearls' and glued them on to form the number '3'. :D

So now I have a mail box big enough to fit all of my beady-goodness-filled bubble envelopes, and even a small flat rate box....

And of course, I come home today to find a little itty bitty slip of paper in it, informing me of a missed delivery that I can pick up tomorrow >.< He hasn't left one of those in YEARS. Guess that last complaint about abandoning my parcels in public access areas, and not getting the signatures for parcels that say right on them, 'signature required'... finally hit him hard enough to stick.  I do know one thing...If I pick up that parcel tomorrow and find that it fits inside my mail box easily and he just did it to be an ass about my complaining... I'm filing another complaint :D  I know now not to waste my time with complaints about damages and shit at the local office... call straight to the head office.

*deep breath *  * smiles* Okay... better now :) Plus the fact that I'm pretty sure that's my Bead Soup waiting for me makes it hard to stay irritated at the asshat... even if it's because of the asshat that I don't have it right NOW. Still... I get to open a surprise box of goodies tomorrow after work :D

And really... I have other things to get done today. That package would only have distracted me.

What?

Oh...I'm ripping apart a couch.

No, seriously... I have this small sofa that my one cat ( Xander, the evil little bastard) has clawed to crap. It never had back cushions to begin with.. the cushions I was given with it fit the bottom.. so I have four bottom cushions for a two cushion couch ... and no back or arm cushions. I'd always meant to cut up two of them to make the other needed cushions, but I'm lazy. Instead I just tossed a shit-heap of pillows on it :)  and now... now I've had enough. I've decided that it's gotta go. I have a large over stuffed , comfy chair in my bedroom that's just taking up space... and that Xander has only clawed a little bit that can take the place of this disaster.

My dad's coming up tomorrow afternoon / evening to pick me up for a couple days in the country. We COULD just haul this thing down whole since it is small and fairly light... and we didn't have any trouble getting it up here ( unlike my other couch which required three people all cursing at varying levels, and several attempts) I decided, however, that I'm going to murder the ugly bugger ( the sofa... not my dad.... or the cat ). I'm going to rip off all the upholstery that's still intact... then take hammer and feet to the frame work. Even if I can't get it apart, I figure it'll be a good little work out and stress reliever :)

OR.... I might decide to leave it whole then have a bonfire down by the ponds and watch the ugly thing go up in flames... that's a really tempting image.. and while my dad will say 'no, you don't want to do that'... yeah, I kinda DO want to do that lol And I know my mom would be right down there with me, with a big stick poking at it while it burns. 

Once it's reduced to coals, she'd get out the weenies and marshmallows ;) lol

 See.. now with an option like that .... I guess I really haven't decided yet lol ;)

I will be be packing up my bag of beads/tools to take with me this time. And my package too :)  

 I can sit down by the ponds and work on jewelry while the dogs run in circles chasing frogs out into deeper water.

... and sofa-bonfire or not, I plan on having at least one night of sitting by the fire making spider-weenies and toasting marshmallows :)

With any luck, I'll have photos of Soups to share with you in my next post ;)

I COULD share the pic of what I sent my partner, since she received it yesterday, but I think I'll make you wait ;)

Plus, I've heard from three of this rounds CCDC participants and so far the votes are all for the kits being a surprise and no photos being shared until after they've all been received. Kashmira may not survive that long a wait... I may end up having to email her a sneak peek ;)

Susan G. , you've got just one more day to contact me about your prize, and then that's it. I'll be drawing a new winner on Friday if I haven't heard from you !

I hope everyone enjoys their weekends! Get out and enjoy any nice weather in your area... or go find something indoor to enjoy if the weather's crap ;)

~ Skye

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