Just so you know & apologies to my friends

For those in the jewelry making communities, you may end up hearing a bit of bashing about some of us.

Please ignore it.

The hostess of the last bog hop had some emotional issues during the entire thing, and kept accusing people of attacking her or being rude to her.. which gave her license to attack them or be rude 'in return'.  I'm sure there were some that were, but I'm also sure now that it was in response to something she said, rather than just being rude from the start.

Since the majority of those IN the hop, and who were subsequent 'victims' of her rudeness, were involved because I brought this hop to their attention, some came to me in private about her replies to their questions. A simple note of ' I can't find my name on the hop list...', was met with a response of ' It's not my fault you can't follow the rules.', or something similar.  If anyone responded beyond that, she complained to the group that she was 'being attacked' by the person, or that they were being rude to her.

I got to read some of these comments and replies and trust me, the only attacking or rudeness in them were coming from her.

I had merely put it off to her being stressed. However, after other things have come up, I think her complaining afterwards is more of an attention/pity grab than anything else. So please, if you come across any posts from her bad mouthing others, or complaining about their treatment of her, take them with a spoon of salt, and ignore them. She's only putting it out there for the attention, so having her pity grabs ignored will be a far stronger response than any words could ever be.

Even more drama has enfolded since I wrote that comment at the end of my hop post. Indeed, my little comment at the end of the blog, the one that praised her for her organization of it, excused her rudeness as completely understandable stress, and simply suggested she try something smaller next time with a bit more work on people skills ( something every one needs work on at some point), inspired her to leap completely off the deep end.

She apparently posted on her fb page that she's never holding another hop. Then after that, she posted that she's giving up making jewelry because the beading community hates her. Apparently she even mentioned that she might find a different job because she currently works in a place that she might have to help or serve members of this community.

She also blocked me and several other people because we were 'attacking her'.

Obviously, she has issues above and beyond a bit of stress over a first hop, and being overwhelmed by it.

I'm not retracting anything I said. Indeed, the only times I've even even commented on it, were one post on my personal FB page ( where she wasn't mentioned by name ), and here on my OWN BLOG, -this post right here, where I haven't mentioned her name, and in the blog hop post, which I don't think was in any way 'rude' or 'attacking her'.

You may think my writing this is wrong, however I feel my NOT writing it would be wrong.

As I said, the majority of the people involved were in it because of me, in a way. They were subjected to her behavior and attitude, and subsequent 'bad mouthing' because they, like myself, saw it was her first hop, the next to non-existent participant list,  her low page view count on her blog, and decided to jump in and make it a good first first experience for her, and get her blog noticed.

Because we wanted to be nice and help her out, some of us are now being slandered by her going around saying we were rude to her and attacked her.

  It's to them I wish to apologize since most of you never would've dealt with her if I hadn't shared her link. My friends, I'm sorry I got you involved with someone who was rude to you.

Now, me personally, if I'm going to be blamed for something, screw it, I'll write this post and let everyone know what really went on... and give her something to actually bitch about :)

Will this stop me from doing the same thing again? Of course not. If I see someone just starting out struggling to get their blog noticed, or get a hop organized or something, I'll still share and help out... but I'll check out them out a bit first next time, to make sure they're not nut cases that will end up hurting people then claiming to be the victim.

Oh and before I sign off here, I'm going to say that, this post is more for those who WERE hurt by her treatment and comments. I personally find her response to my comment rather humorous. I've learned to not let the opinions of others matter to much to me - your opinion only counts in my book if

A) I asked for it, or

B) You're someone I respect or care about.

If you're some random person out slinging rudeness, you don't even enter my 'opinion' radar. It took me a while to get to that point and I have days when I crumble under it, bu for the most part, I'm a hell of a lot stronger than I used to be.

 That said, I find the fact that my  ONE COMMENT saying she did a great job but should brush up on her people skills... would inspire her to completely change her life and declare that an entire community hates her or is against her... very humorous.

But I can be a bitch when someone hurts my friends, so maybe it's just me :D lol

**EDIT - It appears she has left both Bead Soup Cafe and Creative Bead chat on facebook.

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 ;)

Update

 Sorry for being M.I.A. again >.<

I need to work through this issue of  ' needing to do' = work ... when I don;t NEED to write a post, I'm fine... when I do NEED to write one, I don't want to... it has become work and is no longer something I can just do... >.< 

Same goes for blog hops and things like that... they're fun until they hit that point where my brain switches from 'want to do' to suddenly ' have to do' , and rebels >.<  So because I have a winner to chose and announce, doing so has become a 'need to do' and thus is now 'work' ... and my brain rebels >.<

It's taken me... four days? Almost five just to write this short thing to say that.....




Carol Anderson Dillman has won the gift certificate to Pine Ridge Treasures :)

Carol, give me a shout either here, on facebook, or through email, and I will get that certificate to you :)

Feature Friday : Pine Ridge Treasures

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

~ ~ ~

This time up I'm taking you to visit Lisa Lodge at Pine Ridge Treasures.

'Lisa is a self-taught, published, jewelry designer. She is a member of the ZNET Shows Design Team, and is also known for her creative jewelry making blog hops. Lisa takes pride in creating beautiful handmade artisan jewelry. Currently she sells her work locally, and online at Zibbet.com. Many of her pieces are one of a kind. She draws inspiration from nature, especially colors like ocean blue and leaf green. She enjoys making jewelry that is elegant, classic, and can be worn at work or on the town. Her jewelry adventure began three years ago. It started as a project to create Christmas gifts for relatives, and as a stress reliever. It gives her a creative outlet after working all week at her day job. She loves coming up with ideas and making them a reality.'

You can visit her on her blog & Facebook, as well.

Blog: The Grateful Artist

Facebook: Pine Ridge Treasures 

Okay.. shall we see some of her eye candy?

The original three photos she sent me, now apparently all have broken links >.< I'm not sure when that happened, as they DID work when I posted this originally. I have since deleted those broken image links so please excuse the empty spot.

 Along with  those pics though, she did send me a bio she had written .. so was SO helpful :D )

But I picked out a couple of my faves from her shop to share too :)

photo courtesy of Lisa Lodge

Aren't these fabulous? Unfortunately these are already sold :( Although yay for Lisa for selling them, and congrats to whoever gets to wear these lovelies ;)

photo courtesy of Lisa Lodge

I just love the Egyptian feel to it :) And this one is still available in her shop :)

Lisa also occasionally has destash bead kits she puts up for sale, both in her shop and on her fb page, so keep an eye out. I've bought  several of her bead goodie bags and have loved all of them :) As a matter of fact, the 'Autumn's Glory' bracelet I showed you in the last post, was made using one of the 'soup mixes' I bought from her ;)

But enough of that... you want to know what you get to try to win by spreading the love this time, don't you?  Well this round, Lisa has handed over a $20 gift certificate to her shop for one lucky winner :)

 Use the Rafflecopter Widget to enter and follow the instructions ;)  If you don't SEE the raffle copter widget, click on the post title to go to the actual page it's posted on (rather then the feed, or email, or where ever else this pops up fr you to read ;) ). If the widget STILL won't work for you, email me your entries and I'll get them in for you

1 entry for leaving a comment here about your favorite piece from Lisa's shop.

1 entry for sharing a link to Lisa's shop.

1 entry for visiting Lisa's Facebook page and leaving a comment or a 'like'.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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!

 

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

Tutorial - Adjustable Toggle Clasp Charm Bracelet

A QUICK tutorial on one way to make a bracelet with a toggle clasp, adjustable.

  I've used all different metals so that you can easily see the connections... and there are no charms added... this is just so you ca see how to do the clasp.

Step 1- Measure your chain to the MAXIMUM size you want your bracelet to be, your toggle clasp, plus TWO lobster clasps. 

 
 Step 2- Attach one end of your toggle clasp to your chain with a jump ring, as usual.  To the second half of your toggle clasp, in this case, the bar, attach one of the lobster clasps. Attach the second lobster clasp to second link from the end of your chain ( this allows it to 'hide' behind the charm dangling off the very last link ;) )

close up of the two lobster connections.

 Step 3- Clip your toggle bar onto the chain.

Tada.. you're done.. well... assuming you have your chain full of charms and all pretty looking ;)

You simply move the end of the toggle via the lobster clasp to where ever is needed along the chain for the right fit. The charms will hide the lobster, so all you'll see is the toggle bar ;)

 The Lobster clasp on the end can be attached any where along the chain, to hold up the excess when the bracelet has been shortened. This also gives the bracelet a fully look since it doubles the number of charms in that area ;)

Here's a bracelet I made using this technique a while back... you can see how the lobster clasps aren't readily noticeable, especially if you use the same colour metal as some of your charms.

So there you go :) Have fun and please send me a link to any pieces you make using my adjustable toggle idea! Credit is appreciated as well ;)