New Obsession

Well okay, so 'obsession' it's not... really... well... LOL maybe a bit at first ... lol

Oh and YES, look! Two blog posts withing the same MONTH!! Whoohoo! And not only that, but the month is not even half over!!

I know... I'm rather astonished as well...

But enough of giving in to the shock of the unexpected blogging ;)  I figured I'd share a new 'thing' , and tell a bit about what I've been up to, in between visiting the Bead Hoarders hop list from my last post... yes, I'm still hopping... you guys should know if the list is longer then twenty blogs, I'm not doing it in one day... or possibly even one week... lol The problem is that all the pretties blend together until I can't remember who made what... and I'm buried under 'ideas' until I just can't take another step on the 'hop path'.  I know there are those who feel similar, so at least now you know you're not alone :)

Anyhow, the other night I went to a retirement party for a coworker, and rather than give her a specific piece of jewelry I took a small selection and told her to choose the one she wanted. For those on my FB list who saw me post of the 'necklace' that morphed into a pair of earrings... those were the ones she chose :)

note- this pic was taken before I changed the ear wires to a simple oval style instead

And that was despite the fact she doesn't wear green, she just loved them too much to NOT choose them :D  I was fairly confident that she'd go for the blue goldstone pair, since she wears a lot of browns, and despite my saying she could have two pairs, she decided to 'be strong' and just took the one... at which point other coworkers wanted to see what I made. By the end of the night, I'd sold three pairs of earrings and a necklace. I was also told that I should take that little case with me all the time... and one lady told me I needed a bigger case ;) lol  Needless to say, it was a wonderful boost for my creative 'ego', which is never sure if people will like my stuff well enough to buy it.

I am really glad that I decided to do it, and had the foresight to get some change that morning at the bank. I'll be toting along my little bag from now until Christmas at least... the case of jewelry is in one pouch, money for change is in another, and a whack-load of little black organza bags is in the third. I'm considering whether or not to move it into a bit bigger bag and add a small kit with tools to be able to do quick adjustments, just not sure I want to carry it around too ;)

That night when I got home, I found my one of my stashes of finished pieces and filled the empty slots, then set aside a bunch I wanted to either change, or add to. Last night I added some little bits to three 'charm' bracelets I'd made ages ago, but never fully finished. No pictures taken yet, but I really like the way they turned out, and I doubt I'll have them long once I offer them for sale. I'll try to have pics taken of them for next time. All three are on nice thick silver-tone chain, with glass bead dangles and hook clasps so they can be adjusted if needed. One is blue, and I added a few little silver snow flakes and owls. The green glass one has a few little silver leaves and roses, and the purple glass one has silver dragonflies and fairies. Why? Because I felt like it ;) lol 

What..?

You want to see them now?

You don't want to wait until whenever I decide to post again?

Well... I suppose you have a point.... gods only know when this blogging bug might bite again...

 Hang on while I go grab the camera, play photographer, then pop them through fotofuze to fix the back grounds.
......


                    .......




                                         .........




                                                                      ............


Still waiting?

:D hehe .. okay, here they are :)

 Didn't they turn out pretty :) The blue and the green I did first, and since the headpins had nice big heads, I didn't even think of adding anything on the ends... Apparently I used all of those nice big ones though, because I remember having my purple beads slide right off the headpins when I started it, and that's why I thought of adding the silver spacers to the bottoms. Now I wish I'd put them on all of them, but I refuse to  redo all of that just for that itty bitty bit of muse-poking; they're beautiful as is, and I tested each bead individually to make sure there was no way it was going to come off that pin.

The green tested me, since usually when I think 'green' I think 'gold' or 'brass' ... silver and green just doesn't bite me as a usual combo... however, I was out of gold chain at the time I had the desire to make these, and when I tried, I found I rather liked it. The leaves and roses make me think 'summer' which also leans towards the gold tone... but despite that, I love it the way it is with the silver :) See? I pushed myself away from my usual and went with something different.. and it works :D



 Oh yeah... I never did tell you about that obsession thing I started to write this thing for, did I? Well, I have pics to go with that too, so...   how about I do that ? That would be a good idea, huh? lol

So a couple weeks ago I was out doing some Christmas shopping and I discovered a new store had finally opened, so I popped in. They had the cutest wooden buttons that immediately demanded I buy them and make jewelry with them. It'd looked like each pattern was on one large button and two smaller ones... perfect for pendant and matching earrings :) When I got home, I discovered that the two smaller ones where actually different sizes >.< So... I went back and got another pack of each, then sorted them out into sets of three, tossing in beads to match, and getting right to work in cutting wire and choosing components. Everything went into a container with compartments, so everything for each piece was all in one slot. I recommend doing this whenever you get the ideas for something and know EXACTLY what you want to put together, but don't have the time to get right to work on them :) I know if I hadn't done this right away, they'd have ended up stuck in a drawer or bin somewhere, forgotten :(

 Here are the ones I have the earrings and pendants made for.

For this one, I went with antique brass wire, and grey/purple tones.Those are greyish-purple Czech glass leaves, with one grey, and two different shades of purple crystals.

The next one, I went with silver artistic wire, peachy streaked Czech leaves, and a mix of crystals in green, peach, and a dark purple. Sorry about the slightly blurred pic... I was too lazy to find my stand for the camera and move to set it up right >.< lol

This one is the first one I put together. Silver Artistic wire with blue, white, and purple crystals, and a blue glass faceted teardrop.

I'm still debating on the chains for them... so far I keep going back to a simple chain, with a few beaded links to tie it together.  Either that or a cord, instead... although, since I have two sets of each pattern, I might just do one on a chain, and one on a cord :) Satisfy both sides of the muse ;)

Huh... you know, I just realized that all of the crystals, clasps, head pins, silver charms and beads, and the czech glass used in  all of these pieces in this post... all came from Bead Box Bargains... I guess I'll have to go share these pics on their fb group page, too :)  The larger glass beads were bought locally, and I have no memory of where I got the chain... but it's possible it came from BBB too... I'm just not sure >.<

I have several more to do yet, some of which are partially done and just waiting for me to finish off adding a bead or two, and others are waiting for me to find where I hide my gold toned 20g wire to make the pendant... if I can't find it soon, I'll have to figure out an alternative method using the headpins instead, since I KNOW where they are ;)

Oh, and I'll have to do another post soon to show you the fun I was having playing with resin, assorted metal bits, and nailart sprinkles :D SPARKLY!! :D heheh... but that can wait for another time ;)

Hope you enjoyed this extra little post with lots of pictures and things that I actually managed to get MADE :)  Maybe when I manage to completely finish my button jewelry sets , as in chain/cord and all, I'll offer one up in a little giveaway to celebrate :)  Any one interested? ;)

Artisan Showcase :)

Marla  of Artisan Component Marketplace  is hosting a little design contest, to showcase items made using components from their various vendors. In an effort to continue blogging more often than once every few months, I decided to share all of these in a blog post, rather than simply toss them into an album and share through there :) Most of these I've shared in previous posts, but I've redone the photos and collected them all in one post.. and there IS one new piece ;)

First up we have some equestrian themed components from Marti's Buttons n' Beads

 I paired her horseshoe charms ( that she began making at my request ;) you're welcome :D hehe), with some pearls that almost perfectly matched the bluish colour of the shoes :) Done with Antique Bronze Artistic wire, they hang approx, 2"

Another pair of horseshoe charms, this time in a link with the shoe in a darker blue. I'd originally intended to have these sewn onto denim, but... my sewing skills leave much to be desired >.< lol
Instead, I have them with assorted blue glass beads and raw copper.
These hang a little over 2".

The bracelet bar was also originally supposed to be on denim, but again... I keep forgetting I can't sew >.< More assorted blue glass beads and bright copper to the rescue :)





















Below is a peacock pendant that she made as a special request. It was available in her shop as a button, but I pouted and flashed her puppy dog eyes, and tada... :) I tossed about every bluey/green  bead I had into a dish and mixed them up, then strung a bunch onto this triple strand necklace. There's a bit of everything in here, from Czech glass, to various gemstones, to shell chips, to pearls.

Next up, we have some components from MarlasMud

I was fortunate enough to win both of these beautiful skull pendants from her shop last year. I do love how both designs came out, but I'm getting the urge to take them apart and try something different with them instead.
Above, I paired her pendant with a couple lampwork beads by Gail of Oregon Handmade , then made a beaded chain in colours to match.
Below I went a different route, and added some recycled silk, and a strand of MOP chips, and Czech glass.

Earring Swap Blog Hop

Jessica of Whimsical Monkey had the desire to be part of an earring swap... and the urge to host her own blog hop... so here we have both in one :)

I can't show you what I received from my partner, Tania Spivey, since I haven't received them yet ;) Tania had one of those brainfart moments when she wrote down the hop date and wrote 'June' instead of 'May' ;) ( come on, I know plenty of you have done it before ;)

They're in the mail though and should arrive this week :)

I can show you what I made her, though :)  When discussing styles, she said 'bohemian', no neutral colours, something that will show beneath her hair but 'not shoulder dusters'.

I went for bohemian... or I tried... I got distracted >.<

 

Blue and orange sparkly bits took control of the process... >.< Don't think they're in the 'bohemian' category, but they're pretty :) Hope she likes them!

 Here's the hop list for the rest of the participants :)

HOSTESS: Jessica http://whimsicalweavings.blogspot.com/2013/05/earring-swap-blog-hop.html
Inge von Roos: ingetraud.wordpress.com 
Nancy Smith: wirednan.blogspot.ca
Marianne Baxter: http://www.simplyseablimejewelry.blogspot.com/
Leah Tees: mybeadylittleeyes.blogspot.ca
Andrea Trank: www.heavenlanecreations.com
Miranda Ackerley: http://blog.mirandack.com/
Cheri Mitchell-Reed: http://creativedesignsbycheri.blogspot.com/
Susan Kennedy: www.suebeads.blogspot.com
Michele Dotson: http://star-jewels.blogspot.com/
Deanna Cox: www.deannaaki.WordPress.com
Shelley Graham Turner: www.shelleygrahamturner.blogspot.com
Ingrid McCue: www.wrappedinsilver.com
Lennis Carrier: http://windbent.wordpress.com
Ginger Davis Allman: http://thebluebottletree.com/
Mary Anne Flesch: www.handcraftedserenity.blogspot.com
Nicole Valentine Rimmer: www.nvalentine.blogspot.com
Stephanie Weiss: uniquelymebwd.blogspot.com/
Silvia Sernicola: http://pipa-the-latest.blogspot.it/
Karla Morgan: www.TexasPepperJams.blogspot.com
Kay Thomerson: http://KayzKreationz.blogspot.com
Paula Hisel: http://simplybeadiful.weebly.com/simply-stated.html
Carol Dillman: http://dillmansdallies.blogspot.com/
Spun Sugar Beadworks: Spunsugarbeadworks.blogspot.com
Tara Plote: http://newbiebeader.blogspot.com/
Rachel Baron: http://rbarondesigns.blogspot.com/
Laurie Keefe: http://treeofliferootedinmysoul.blogspot.com/
Kashmira Patel: http://sadafulee.blogspot.com
Gina Hockett: http://www.freestyleelements.blogspot.com
Shellie Grindy: http://www.creativeeclectica.com/
Shai Williams: http://shaihasramblings.blogspot.com/
Dyanne Cantrell: http://deelitefuljewelrycreations.blogspot.com
Mimi Gardner: www.OtherCuriosities.blogspot.com
Jessica McMullen: http://pheonixgatedesigns.blogspot.com/
Jennifer LaVite: www.drygulchbeadsandjewelry.blogspot.com
Laura Medeiros: http://zoeowyn.blogspot.com/
Alenka Obid: www.pepita-handmade.blogspot.com
Elsie Fonseca: http://www.ladelizchica.blogspot.com/
Cheryl Dunham: www.renaissance-jewelry.blogspot.com
Sandra McGriff: http://skyescreativechaos.blogspot.ca <-You are here
Tania Spivey: http://moobiegrace.blogspot.com/
Mowse Doyle:  http://mowsemadethis.blogspot.com

Facebook:
Beccy Peterson: Beccy's Baubles
Mischelle Fanucchi: www.facebook.com/micheladasmusings
Marde Lowe: FanciMar Designs


For her very first bloghop it was incredibly well organized, but seemed to have been hit by a large number of people who can't make the hop date and will be posting late, or who didn't get their earrings mailed out to their partners on time. Some of these are honest mistakes or timing issues, but many seem to be people who didn't have the time to participate but signed up anyhow.

Due to some people being overly emotional and down right rude, I don't believe I'll be participating again. No, no one was rude to me, but I did receive complaints from others about their own experiences. I believe Jessica quickly became over whelmed with the turn out, and while she organized it extremely well, when it came to personally handling people, she often seemed to jump to an 'offensive defense'... sort of an ' attack them before they attack her'. She was stressed and upset that she laid out rules that people seemed to not follow or read, so I understand her getting upset, but I do think she could've handled some of it better. I understand how she feels, however, when you're running, or even participating in something like this, you don;t want to alienate the very people who read your blog, or fave your shop and items. It's a hard balance for some to strike 'online', being firm while being polite, but it just takes some practice on what words to avoid since they don;t translate well in type.

 Overall, I think she did a good job and hope she decides to try hosting again... but with a smaller, more easily contained participant list, and a bit more practice on people skills ;)

BSBP #7 !

It's finally here! After two ( very much appreciated ) delays, the final round of the seventh Bead Soup Blog Party is here!

For those who may remember, my partner for this round is Lucie Bouvier and here's what she sent me :)

 

You may remember that those bottom red and black spotted beads turned out to be poisonous seeds that had been banned in this country, and had to be tossed... so sad :( Despite their unfortunate demise, they did give me an idea for a project using the sole remaining bead in that baggie...

Originally going to be a pendant for a necklace, it ended up becoming a zipper pull/bag charm.. because I needed one :)

 See? A cute little death theme zipper pull in honor of 'deceased' poisonous beads ;) lol

 Okay... so back to the beginning.

When I got this lovely soup, I was both thrilled and a little stumped... everything was RED. I've never had a single colour soup before.. it kinda threw me for a bit. Still, I immediately sat down and sorted things into baggie with beads from my own stash that I visioned going with them into different projects.

Since the focal is the one that always seems to be the 'ohmygodtherevealistomorrowandIamnotgonnamakeit' piece I'm still working on the day before the reveal, I decided to tackle it first. I knew right off I was going to pair that simple heart with pearls and gold, and that I wanted to add something to the heart itself. I envisioned strands attached via fancy metal connectors, so did up two strands , one for either side of the heart... and then got sick >.< Everything was sealed up into the baggies and set aside. Once I was feeling better... the separate strands/connectors idea no longer struck the same spark it had and so it stayed in the baggie while I played with the rest.  Once again, the focal piece became the last one finished >.< lol I think it's now traditional for my BSBP pieces. I tried to resuscitate  the connecter idea a couple days ago, but was plagued with head aches that made hammering a bad idea, until today I bit the bullet and took it apart to start from scratch.

Twice.

 Really glad I did since I rather like the way it turned out :) 

Heart on the Wing

Sticking with my original colour scheme/layout, I alternated white potato pearls, red glass seed beads, and gold oval beads with the red swirled glass beads Lucie sent me. The golem Beads heart pendant has a gold coloured wing layered over top .. and of course, I made matching earrings :)

If that was my LAST completed piece... what was my first, you ask?

Well duh... when stumped, fall back on the best muse kick starter... EARRINGS!

Gothic Droplets

 I took two gunmetal filigree bead caps and squished the little buggers flat... then used some gold jump rings to attach a couple faceted garnet rondelles and the Unicorne glass drop beads to the bottom. And I only lost one garnet and three jump rings somewhere beneath my desk >.< lol

The next done is actually three pieces... what I'd originally intended to be a triple strand bracelet changed it's mind as I was still working on the different strands, and instead became a ' stack' of bracelets. I'd add in a few bangles to fill out the stack, but haven't made 'those' yet.. so here are the three main ones...

Coke bracelets

I used the coke bottle cap bead, and the other red & metal bead form Lucie, and paired it up with more pearls - this time some gunmetal coloured ones in various sizes, and more little red glass seed beads as spacers.

The next piece was another one that was 'in progress' for a while. It began with the Tagua Nut toggle clasp, and the accompanying nut beads Lucie had sent.. I knew it was going to be a charm-style bracelet from the start, but beyond that I was a bit stumped. I kept getting over powered by the red >.< Finally I hit upon the perfect colour to ease of the fierceness of the red.. a choice I blame completely on Shelley Graham Turner and her darn purple bead situation. You may remember that from my post ' Sneak Attack', where my project bead faeries sent her a huge box of purple beads... Which she turned into another group called Jilly's Bead Posse, where we all make purple jewelry to donate to raise funds for Alzheimer's in memory of Shelley's sister Jill.

Anyhow, thanks to Shelley, I ended up with purple taking over my creative center of my brain, and knew the only way I was going to get this bracelet made was to use purple. Decision made, I then sorted through to find the right shade of purple... then the fun began. I started making dangles only to run out of head pins... so I had to take a break and run out for more. Then after making a couple dozen mixed dangles, I decided one style in particular, and rather then do a bracelet full of mixed ones, I'd do mainly these... the already made dangles that no longer fit could be made into earrings later on.

I got all the dangles attached... and then ran into trouble with the toggle. First I didn't like the way I had it attached.. so I fiddled with it a few times... then my adjustable clasp plan didn't work because I'd forgotten to check my chain link size versus my lobster clasp >.< So I was faced with a heart breaking choice.. either remove EVERYTHING and put it on a bigger linked chain... or do a simple lobster clasp with an extender chain and use the tagua clasp for a different project.

Which way did I go...?

Garden Charms

Neither :)

I nipped the bracelet in the center and turned half the toggle clasp into a focal instead, attaching the chain to either side. I added a third link with a flower and crystal dangle off the new focal, just because I felt like it :)

The red parts are all from Lucie, and are all natural nut beads :)

This bracelet will be heading off to Shelley to be sold in support of Jilly's Bead Posse's Alzheimer's efforts :)  I might be sending the coke bracelets too if I get the remaining bangles finished to complete the set. The pearls do have a very purplish tint to them, after all ;)

So, despite the delays and the issues that popped up, I'm happy with how things turned out, over all. It's going to be hard to part with that charm bracelet... that is one of those pieces that I love and want to make mine... but if I kept it it would rarely get worn, and I KNOW that. Far better to stick with my plan for it :)

Thank you for dropping in to check on me :) Sorry I've been pretty invisible around here this month. I'll try harder to blog more again! In the mean time, make sure to hop along the rest of this reveals list and enjoy some truly lovely work :) To find out what my partner did with the soup I sent her, click HERE.

  Third Reveal HopList

Sci-Fi Blog Hop

So AGES and ages ago, there was a discussion about good ideas for bloghops on one of the groups...

... or at least, I think that's how it started... lol

Anyhow,  the suggestion of a Sci-fi bloghop became a big long discussion, and it was decided that ' IT MUST BE DONE'.

That was... before Christmas sometime... and here we are, hop day, and the nice long list of interested people has shrunk to a few of us geeks that felt compelled to see this plan out :)

As I've said, I've known about this hop for MONTHS. I had plenty of ideas... too many in fact. So many fabulous books, movies & tv shows that I can pick from.

In the end there really was no contest about which one would get picked... Star Wars won, of course. Can I get a 'duh!' ? lol You all knew that as soon as you saw I was taking part, didn't you?

So... months of planning and creating time... I must have done lots, right? :D

*snort*

Yeah right >.<

It came down to crunch time. My necklace plans ended up getting scrapped in the interest of finding the time to 'get something done'... and thus I fell to the fabulous little mainstay... Earrings :)  the one pair of which I wore today and loved... the others are getting worn tomorrow.

 They're mine. 

Keepers.

:D

What? You wanna see? Well... alright....

So... according to the rules we need to provide a link to our inspiration...

So.... THIS 

The Death Star

... inspired THIS...

And THIS ...

Darth Vader

Inspired  THIS ..

I did have something for 'the good guys' in the works too... but as I was finishing up I realized I'd made a boo boo... got frustrated and chucked them aside. >.<

Make sure to check out the others in the hop... see what they drew inspiration from, and what they made :)

Hostess - Pamella Rachelle  - Crazy Creative Corner

Melissa Trudinger - Bead Recipes

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

Lee Koopman - Strega Jewellry Blog

Zoe Marcin - Beads, Tea & Sweets

Shelley Graham Turner - The Fabric of My Life

Denielle Hagerman - Some Beads & Other Things I Like...

Susan Bowie - http://susanbowie.wordpress.com/

More Halloween stuff :D

Yus... the title says it all... well.. kinda... ;)

btw... if you see words with the 'w' missing... I have a new keyboard and the 'w' likes to not compress fully when I get typing fast >.< But it's a cool keyboard... it's got glow in the dark keys... that my room doesn't have enough light to charge enough for them to actually 'glow' BUT, the black on light is so much easier to see than the white on black of normal keyboards... plus the keys feel neat against my fingers... and they're green ;)

Okay, enough about my keyboard and my new excuse for typos ;)

MISS-MATCHED HALLOWEEN EARRINGS !  Diana of Suburngirl Studios and Art Jewelry Elements blog, is holding a little hop today :) Here's my addition! check out the hoplist here... and check back because it goes as people add in their link ;) 

 sorry about the photo... but it's yucky outside >.< No natural light for pretty picture taking.

So here I took my last little witchie poo, gave her a  Czech flower dress... then used my only cat ( rather light how his eyes went red in the pic .. lol they're brown on the bead itself ) To even out the weight between the two, I opened a brass circle and turned it into a crescent, then wire wrapped some flowers around it to A- tie in the green from the witch, B- hold the crescent from slipping off , and C- keep the cat from spinning backwards. I'm afraid I don;t know who made the beads.. if you do, please tell me!

I think they turned out really cute :) Of course, now I'm out of cutesy Halloween lamp work beads.... actually, now I'm out of cutesy lamp work beads or any type :( Guess I'll have to start in on my porcelain and ceramic goodies ;)

Speaking of other goodies, I got my order of yumminess from Marsha Neil's shop and wow.... SO many ideas. As hinted at though, I'll be sharing a pendant or two in Novembers giveaway, so check back next Friday to enter for that ;)

I did order two special pieces of hers just for me though. One of her bats... I've loved those for ages and finally ordered one :) It's waiting for me to play with it.  And one of her skull pendants.  I whipped up a necklace last night, then added the clasp to wear it, despite the fact it's not finished. I ran out of size 11 seed beads in the dark brown and black >.< So until I get more in, I'm wearing it as is :D

MisMatched Swap & Hop

Hello :) 

Yeah I know... All those good intentions of blog posts to come and then ...Pfft... nada all week.

Oops :D

A while back Diana of SuburbanGirl Studios called a bunch of us together to do a ' Mismatched Artbead Earring swap.   Since I've been trying to push myself into actually USING some of my art beads, and my asymmetrical jewelry skills needed some work, I joined up :)

Those of you in BSC & CBC may have heard me bitching over a certain earring that was driving me insane... remember the one that the beads and jump rings kept leaping out of my fingers and I had to remake several times? lol  Yeah, that was one of the set I made for this :)

First off, the rules stated that we had to use at least one ArtBead ( according to the guidelines set by Art Bead Scene  )

After an exchange of notes with my partner, Dawn of TurtleMoon Designs,  we discovered that neither of us had any metal allergies, and we were both in the mood to give our partners very little 'help' in figuring out what to make us :D hehe  The end results were completely different and yet we both love what the other made us, and we both made an extra pair of earrings to go along with the required one :)

Here's what she made me ;

This is her 'artbead ' pair, which contains some hand etched connectors she made :)

These are along the lines of what I usually wear so I assumed these would be the pair I wore the most... lol

And these were the extras she sent... upon first look, lovely but too 'girly'.

Wrong...I wore them once and fell in love with them lol  Maybe I'm veering back towards my girly phase? lol

This was a fun little swap & hop :) I enjoyed the challenge of using beads I instinctively hoard despite all the ideas I keep coming up with for them ;)  Plus I love making something for someone and receiving a little handmade treasure in return :)

Want to see the earring that gave me such problems? lol  I should just send you over to Dawn's blog to see it, but you'll end up there sooner or later anyhow ;)

That adorable little owl is from Tree Wings Studio  :)  I added a greyish bezel nut bead to the other side to give a bit of color balance... lol

So there.. now go check out all of the other creations and exchanges, and see if Dawn took a picture of these ones hanging ;)

HOSTESS -Diana Ptaszynski  http://www.suburbangirlstudio.com

Lisa Liddy http://www.lisaliddy.wordpress.com

Kari Asbury  http://www.hippiechickdesign.blogspot.com

Jayne Capps  http://mamasgottodoodle.blogspot.com/

Rebecca Anderson  http://www.songbeads.blogspot.com

Lesley Watt  http://www.thegossipinggoddess.blogspot.com

Lori Bowring Michaud  http://www.artfullyornamental.blogspot.com

Renetha Stanziano  http://www.lamplightcrafts.blogspot.com

Holly Westfall   http://www.silverrosedesigns.blogspot.com/

Theresa Fosdick  http://www.thoughtful-notions.blogspot.com/

Ali McCarthy  http://www.northwoodscreativestudio.blogspot.com

Shai Williams  http://shaihasramblings.blogspot.com/

Iveth Caruso  http://www.creativeatelier.net/blog.html

Carolyn Collins  http://www.sparklingwaterstudio.com

Elaine Ray  http://www.elaineray.blogspot.com

Kristen Stevens  http://kristen-beadjourney.blogspot.com/

Charlene Jacka  http://clay-space.com/blog

Jan Onipenco  http://www.MoltenMayhem.typepad.com

Stephanie Woods  http://www.rainydaysdesigns.com

 Eleanor Burian-Mohr http://www.cornerstoregoddessjewelry.blogspot.com

Shelby Foxwell  http://www.sundownbeaddesigns.blogspot.com

Pam Sears  http://www.crazycreativecorner.blogspot.com

 Mary Harding  http://www.maryhardingjewelrybeadblog.blogspot.com

Lisa Johnson  http://www.Whimsyswonders.blogspot.com

Kashmira Patel  http://www.sadafulee.blogspot.com

Penny Neville  http://www.copperpennydesigns.blogspot.com

Dee Elgie  http://www.cherryobsidia.blogspot.co.uk

Sarah Small  http://www.bysalla.blogspot.com

Carolyn Lawson  http://www.Carolynscreationswa.blogspot.com

Karin Slaton  http://www.backstorybeads.blogspot.com

Ashleigh Becker  http://www.seladesignsjewelry.blogspot.com

Kay Hand  http://www.creativetangent.blogspot.com

Rana L. Wilson  http://ranaleadesigns.blogspot.com/

Sandra McGriff  - You Are Here

  

   Dawn Pierro  http://www.turtlemoondesigns.me

Shelley Graham Turner  http://www.shelleygrahamturner.blogspot.com

Karen Mitchell  http://www.overthemoon-design.com

Melissa Trudinger  http://www.beadrecipes.wordpress.com

Freebie Friday #10

So... did any of you REALLY expect me to get this posted earlier than this? And are any of you REALLY surprised that I haven't shared those photos yet, or that pretty package tutorial, or those blog posts I mentioned ...?

Didn't think so. by now most of you know I'm easily distracted...by laziness. ;)

And naps... naps are good. I have a very comfy couch that inspires naps...you sit on it, snuggle up intending to read or watch a movie or work on some beading... and then you just feel so comfy that you just have to close your eyes for a few minutes...

... then three or four hours later you open them again and wonder what the hell happened ;) lol

And rainy or dreary weather doesn't help avoid that 'need a nap' feeling.

Anyhow, all plans aside, I WILL do those things... just not today. Today I have winners to announce and goodies to show :)

First off, the third 'Pay It Forward' spot goes to Micheladas. :) I'll be sending you a note off soon to find out a few things and get your address from you.  Carolyn , I sent you a note about a week ago and haven't heard back from you. Please check your email and if you don't have anything from me, email me at skye_sands@hotmail.com so I'll have your email :)

Next, the earring giveaway.

First off, thanks to everyone for taking part :) I loved reading your favorite Autumn things :)  I love the leaves.... the way they change colours, the smell of them, the crunch of them under your feet as you walk... everything. Autumn leaves are the best :D  I also love designing and carving my jack-o' lantern, and getting all slimey when scooping out my pumpkin seeds to roast them :) It's gross, but so much fun! I'm not fond of the smell of my hands after scooping out pumpkin guts though >.< lol

So, do you want to know how I chose the winners this time? lol  No  I didn't let my cat choose this time ;) I let the beads choose !

I had fifteen people leave entries... so I assigned each name a number, and then took fifteen brown glass star beads ( because that was the closest container lol ) , sat my roll of packing tape on the floor a foot or so away, then tossed the beads towards the roll. The number of beads that landed inside the roll was the winner. I did this twice for the first place ( 7 stars!), then the second place ( 2 stars >.< lol.).. put the beads away.... then got them back out and tossed them again for an extra winner ( 11 stars! whohoo!).

Kimberly gets first choice of which pair she wants.

Originally, the other pair was to go to Jami... however, if she likes the same one Kimberly chooses, I'll make her a similar pair, and Gina will get the left over. Other wise, I'll just surprise Gina with a pair ;)

Are you drumming your fingers in anticipation of what's in the pot for this months FF?

I could make you wait longer, you know ;)

I had thought to make a set of Halloween themed jewelry for the giveaway... but I got hit by the blahs and didn't get them beyond the design and prep stages. And then I turned around and knocked over a stack of bead packages and realized... I should share. If I shared some of these, then I wouldn't have to put them away ;)

So another bead bundle it is :)

October Goodies

I decided to share some of the goodies Lori Anderson sent me from our beadswap way back when - I think those are shell beads, and two charms - one plain white, and the other pink that says 'hope'.

There's some of the lovely lucite flowers I just received from PineRidge Treasures :)  A couple of the magnasite beads I got from the CBC Destash Day event; Four glass amber coloured tear drop beads, and a selection of wings, connectors and two large copper hearts, all from Yours, Mine & Ours.

PLUS, in addition to what's in the photo, there'll be a bundle of faux suede cording and a baggie or two of seed beads mixes, and I think maybe some other fibers to play with. I may decide to add a picture of that stuff... or I might not  ;)

I'd debated on doing a color coordinated bundle but... nah. Maybe next time ;) When I start putting different coloured beads together ...I get the urge to play with them.. and then get distracted >.< lol

a Rafflecopter giveaway

and I think I'll leave you with one of my pictures from PumpkinFest...

 ... of what else? A pumpkin :D

 

 

Isn't that an amazing carving job? These two guys carve two huge pumpkins every year... They'd just started on the second one when I took this picture, so I didn't get to find out what it was... until the other day at work. It was a frog... and I NEED to get my coworker to send me a photo of it for my mom! she LOVES frogs :D  For those curious,The eagle pumpkin most likely weighed around the two to three hundred pound mark! A little kid could climb inside there! the 'soon-to-be-frog pumpkin was a bit smaller.. well... flatter.. lol

 ~ Skye