Whoohoo! I'm POSTING!

:D

See? I remembered and kept to my deadline ;)

And thank you to my reminders - Even though I didn't need the nudging and poking THIS time, I'll probably need it the next.. or the one after that. So if you notice the week drawing to a close and no new post from me... ;)

Anyway, I had a three day to-do list that consisted of JUST cleaning/sorting my office/stash area, doing this blog post, and baking. The baking is in progress ( it was supposed to be done on the first day so I could eat the muffins for breakfast.. but instead I ate the last three eggs then couldn't bake until I bought more.. and today was the first day I was at a store .. See? not REAAAALLy procrastination on that one ;) )

.... and the blog post is right here...

... the cleaning... the only things moved were for me to access stuff for this blog post >.< I WILL get it done. I WILL. sooner or later... usually later, but still, it WILL get done!

So, what have I been making jewelry wise?

Nada.

I had four V-day type braclets on the go.. then the chain on the one proved to be absolute crap... the same chain is on two of them, and I didn't discover this until both bracelets were three quarters done... so  they got shoved aside in a bit of a minor tantrum... right into the first two that had made it about half way done, all pretty dangles and beads done with gold accents to go on a gold chain... when I discovered I was out of the right sized gold coloured chain >.< All I had was a big chunky one that was too big, and a fine one that was too fine... but that I used for the other ones and it turned out to be crap anyhow >.< so again, not really procrastination on those... merely frustrated refusal to touch them until I have the right sized chain.

My modpodge experiments were halted after that first batch due to my needing my table for other stuff, and it was the project set up that would give me the most room the quickest. I'd hoped to have a couple decent podged pendants made to add in to the giveaway, but maybe next time. Ditto for my clay experimenting.

Okay... now I DID promise a giveaway.. but while putting the one batch together, I decided to do a second as well ;)

So first up we have a little bundle since it's V- Day.

 

So all the beads in the center are pairs, the ones on the bottom are singles, and then there's a nice sizes piece of cord :) All of the beads are glass. Now, since it's for V-day, and I didn't have any hearts to include, I'll see if I can't have a heart or love-inspired pendant made in time for it to be mailed out to the winner. not sure on what it'll be made of.. could be wood, could be clay, could be... whatever I decide to play with ;) If I don't have anything good enough to send made, I'll substitute a pendant of some type form my stash.. it just might not be lovish-type-stuff ;)

 

And for the second... which I considered doing on a different day, but then it kinda defeated the purpose.. ditto theV-day one.. so... number 2...

The 'Back to Work' giveaway

' Okay, now those two big peachy/orangy tubes kinda feel like stone, but the bottom one is definitely polymer, as are the two brown flowers. The speckled orange beads and the goldy/brown beads are all glass, and the pendant in a copper wrapped stone I collected from a local beach and polished up and sealed :)

Okay, so  the 'Back to Work' bundle is done through rafflecopter

a Rafflecopter giveaway

How do you win the Valentine's one, you ask?
Simple - leave me a comment below and tell me if you have plans for today/tonight .. or if you'll be checking out the 1/2 off V-day goodies tomorrow with me ;)
I'll do a random drawing for the winner Monday, Feb.17th ( Family Day here in Canada, so it'll be an evening/night posting ;)

Catch up

** note ** If you're looking for my BSBP reveal, click HERE.

~ ~ ~

Sorry about all the missing posts in April >.< Any and all winners were contacted on time and have long since received their prizes. As for the missing April shop feature, I had two shops left in the queue, and got tangled up in checking out some stuff, then forgot to actually POST. I WILL be posting one THIS FRIDAY. I'm writing it today and scheduling it to ensure it ;) Which means there's just one more after this one, so if any of you 'shop owners' would like to be featured here and can offer a little something up for grabs to my readers, give me shout :)

As for the whys behind the lack of blogging... I don't think there's really a need to mention I'm just really good at procrastinating... you all know this by now ;)

So what have I been up to that my blogging has been next to non-existent? Aside from procrastinating, of course ;)

The usual, of course... plus we just finished off another round with Project Bead ( which I'll be updating and mentioning here soon).

Had to get my BSBP done and up, and of course, I'm still hopping my way through :) I went against my new 'no more hops' rule and joined up with TWO, one of which I've already completed my piece for.

Oh, and remember the Project Bead 'Sneak Attack'? Where Shelley Graham Turner had put out the word looking for purple beads so she could  make earrings for Alzheimer's... so we dropped a box containing a few THOUSAND purple beads on her doorstep... remember?

Well... seems Shelley has turned the tables on us with that one ;) She decided she couldn't possibly use all of those on her own, so she started up a fb group called 'Jilly's Bead Posse' in memory of her sister, then put out the offer to send a baggie of purple bead soup to anyone who would be willing to use it to make earrings for her, and send them back to her.

 In no time she had a nice little group of earring designers working away.

And then... it grew.

... and Shelley kidnapped me and pulled me into it, because 'it was my fault anyhow' ;) lol

Jilly's Bead Posse went from a group of ladies making earrings for Shelley to hand out to people taking part in the 'Walk to End Alzheimer's' , to an acknowledged associate of Alz.org. My project right now is helping get items listed in the etsy shop, as well as get my own contributions submitted. Oh, and make more purple stuff... current items I'm planning on are key chains and zipper pulls ;)

I'll be telling you all a bit more about this group in a future post. My giveaway with a twist went over rather well there for the Global Genes Project ... might have to do something similar for this one ;)

I'll be trying VERY HARD to get back into the blogging habit, and as I said, I'll have a few posts scheduled ahead of time for you ;)  Friday for sure you'll have a new giveaway to enter with the shop feature, so be sure to pop back and check it out ;)

Think I need to end this update with some pretty pictures,  don't you think? How about my sunny-day-sitting-on-the-porch projects? Those on FB with me have seen them already, but oh well ;)

Autumn's Glory

( yeah I know... sitting outside on a gorgeous spring day enjoying summer like weather .. and I create a piece with an autumn theme to it >.< lol )

Passion for Purple

Check back tomorrow for this month's shop feature, and enter the giveaway!

 

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

Freebie Friday #8

Welcome to another FF :)

To the new followers and readers, the first Friday of every month is Freebie Friday - which means you'll discover a giveaway of some sort that will run until the last Wednesday of the month.

Last FF I put together a bead mix, the one before that I did some handmade chain. For August, I was originally thinking of doing either some jewelry or some handmade components, but the month got away from me >.< too much work, too little time *sigh* Shame on me for all that procrastinating I tend to do >.<  The other day when I realized it was time to post the new FF and I didn't have anything set aside for it, I'd thought of ransacking my new goodies and maybe offering up a pendant and a few coordinating beads...  then inspiration struck.

While hanging out in the Bead Soup Cafe, someone posted the Pantone Fall color chart.

( picture via artbeads.com )

Hmm.... I wonder if I have enough of those colors to put together into a Pantone Fall soup?

hmm... yup :) Looks like. 

 So there you go... The winner  for August will get a nice yummy Fall Pantone Soup :) The beads are a mix of everything... seriously. That big yellow leaf is made of deer antler,  the orange nuggets are dyed magnesite, the little brown ones are wood... the rest are shell, porcelain, clay, Czech glass, glass, and acrylic.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

  For those who are unable to use the Blogger 'Follow' feature, Subscribers &  Email followers count as well. Just put which way you follow in your entry :)

I gotta run , get some more work done on my challenge piece for tomorrows reveal and hop, then while that's drying, go buy some coffee while it's on sale, then come back and finished & photograph my pieces :) Totally last minute run-a-round, as always :)

~ Skye

Gratuitous Bead Porn....

I figured it was long past time to show some of the goodies I've received over the last few months.  

We'll go back and start with the little bead swap Lori Anderson organized over at the Bead Soup Cafe  waaaay back in March . Lori herself was my partner and these are the goodies she sent my way.

Bead Swap goodies from Lori

Aren't those fabulous? I took three close ups and remember deleting one of them... and yet now I only have one close up O.o I think I just saved the one because it shows the toggle clasps, the stone eggs and the 'hope' charm...

I just love those stone eggs.. and the steampunky toggles... I just get too many ideas for them and then freeze up because..I have too many ideas >.< lol

So next we just ahead to May to another Bead Soup Cafe swap arranged by the lovely Lori... the Pantone Spring Color Bead Swap.

Here are the beauties my partner Solange Collin , of Ahowin Handcrafted Jewelry, ( and her etsy ) sent me from France.

Pantone Spring Color Bead Swap

Aren't all of those so yummy? Again, soooo many ideas .. TOO many ideas >.< lol I've finally decided I NEED to use some of those trade beads in the one piece I've been working on. I just HAVE to.  The sodalite chips and the turquoise chips are vying for a place in another project, but as it stands now I don;t have enough of either for the full thing... so unless I alter the design enough to make it work... or my one friend who's selling off all her beads has chips in the same ultra small size that I can nab... I may see if Solange can  hook me up with some more. I can either pay her outright for the cost of the beads plus shipping, or we can work out a trade or something :) 

 Had enough photos? I have more... could split them into multiple beadporn posts...

 .. hmm... nah, I can squeeze a few more in here yet... ;)

Let me see.... what ones to share...  The 'Beads for Bloggers' from Tanya of Fusionmuse I'm saving until I get the info on the beads themselves.... and Keith's lampwork beauties are being saved for another post as well....( Keith is the ubber talented newbie glass worker boyfriend of Lauren Potts of Lp's Jewelry)

Ah... here's a few more I can share in this post :)

Last month over at Creative Bead Chat, Marla James of MarlasMud posted a comment about her friend Karen's shop and the new fiberwire she was selling. Karen's daughter makes it and has some gorgeous color combos done and for sale at Starry Road Studio , and Marla asked if anyone would like to try it.  Since I was the first to reply, I got to try it :)  Marla bought me some!

Starry Road Studio goodies

This is the 'Ooolala'... one that looks to be sold out at the moment. The  beads are a gift from Karen :) I have other beads from her that I had definite plans for back when I bought them... and yet still have not used them >.<  I started a couple things with the wire and then changed my mind almost immediately lol

Next we come all the way up just a couple weeks ago... I entered a little giveaway over at one of my favorite blogs, Scorched Earth and received an email from Petra informing me that I'd won one of the selections... but the one I'd named was already taken... then she gave me the photos of the other choices, including some beady goodness that hadn't been there before. One of them I liked even better then my original choice.

So I got this large heavy duty blue plastic mailer all wrapped up into a tiny little bundle with massive amounts of tape holding it together ... lol  and when I opened it I found this. A little black organza bag ( LOVE that!) jammed full of little tiny tissue wrapped  hand made clay goodies, and a little blue bag full of gemstone rounds :) I actually didn;t take a close up picture of the gemstones...I got too carried away with all of Petra's handmade treasures!

Love!  

My mom loves the nest best of all, and you have to admit, it is pretty damned cute :)

I rather like the feathers.. and the shells... oh and those little 'mangers' :) totally not ending up as anything religious coming from me though lol ;)

Well that's it I think. All the ones I'm going to share in a multi post, anyhow :)

The solo features are coming up soon though... and I think tomorrow I might do a MacroMonday and share some of my non-bead photos :)

I'll leave you with one more photo though... I bought these babies at 'The Hottest Yard Sale Under The Sun' ... a local deal that runs on day and they block off a huge chunk of the main street for. It's not a 'yardsale' anymore though...most of the stuff out for sale now are over stock or left over seasonal from the various stores along the way, along with street performers and various fundraising tents.  Over at the city hall, there's a nice shady, cobblestone section between city hall and a block of stores known as 'Artists Alley' where every Saturday in the summer various artists set up their work to sell. There's a sketch artist there that I've bought several pieces form, as have my mother and brother. I don't have any of my own though.. the ones I bought were all for other people >.<   Any how, no I didn't buy a sketch from him... this post is about beadporn.. why would I toss other stuff in here?  No no no no.

I bought THESE,

No clue what I'll do with them. I still haven't used my other glass work like this...I included on in the beadsoup I sent Shaiha back in the BSBP4, and while I HAD plans for the others.... haven't done them yet  >.< lol

Think it's time for me to pull out that muffin pan and fill 'er with these 'projects' so I can see them sitting there waiting for me.

That's it for today :) I hope you enjoyed drooling and didn't short out your keyboards ;)

~ Skye