Thursday, July 26, 2012

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


 

Welcome to the Second Creative Chaos Design Challenge :)

 
There are four simple rules.

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


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

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

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


You do not have to use ALL the items, but you can.
You do not have to use all of each item you chose, but you can.
You do not have to use the items as you find them... you may alter them in any way you see fit – drill holes, patina, paint, glue, etc etc etc.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Marge Beebe of RockCreekCreations
Kristi J of CuriositiesbyK
Tammie Everly of TTE Designs
Sarah Goode  of Poodledo
Sherri Stokey of KnotJustMacrame
Paula Hisel of SimplyBeadiful
Shawn Mills of Bent Wire Boutique 

 and ME, of course :D

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



Heheh .. sorry, but almost all of them wanted the kit to be a surprise when they opened it.
As soon as I get word they've all arrived, I'll share the ingredients with you :) The first kit has already arrived... and it was the one with the furthest to go!

~Skye

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Randomness

I'm bored.

I have a shit-ton of things to do, finish.. START ... and yet it's humid and hot and blah... and I'm bored >.<

I have trays of beads and half finished projects scattered every where... including right in front of me where I keep bumping it when I move  my mouse >.< That one I WANT to finish.. like RIGHT NOW...... except I changed my mind on the wire color and the store I saw the stuff I want to use, was closed today due to a power outage...>.< A power outage that was supposed to be last weekend when I was busy at work and wouldn't have been caught in it... but was instead today... when I was home >.<

*sigh* So...I guess you noticed I'm sort of in the rambling and whiny kinda mood, huh?

Yeah.. how about I show some more pics I took with my new camera last weekend?

Mom  wanted to try it out... so she took a pic of me. That's her dog Angel sitting on me... not overly thrilled about the camera, although she DID smile for the pic lol

HaHA! I caught a bee in one of my flower pics :) So proud of that...I've always loved other peoples close ups of plants that have the insects as if they were posing... my old camera refused to do that without scaring the bugs away :)  so even though he's half hiding behind that blossom .. he's THERE.. so..I'm happy :)

I can't get over how CLEAR and crisp they all are :) I was a fair distance away from this guy, but it looks as if I was taking the picture from right down there in front of him.

 Want to know how much fun I had playing with the macro and zoom? See this guy? This cute little sand toad?


THIS is how tiny he was...


hehehe.... that just makes me giggle.. I can't get over the difference. I LOVE playing with my new camera :)

Oh, and it's not just the macro setting.. no... I love the 'infinity' zoom, too!


From where I was standing, Snickers the filly who is seen having a nap in the sun here, was nothing more than a bump that I thought might be her... Regular zoom let me see that it was her lying there, but infinity gave me the shot that looks like I was right there in the feild with her :) ( btw, I posted this in my deviant art gallery as well :)


 So when I was tired of being out in the sun, walking around and hunting out bugs and flowers and interesting subjects, I settled down in the shade... but  couldn't resist sharing the view when I looked up :)

... or to my left... (yes that Angel again.. aka 'Frog Dog' taking a break from chasing frogs and swimming)...


 and in a fit of boredom and silliness... straight ahead...


... chipped toe polish and all lol.

Okay.. so I should leave you with something other than the sight of my toes .. lol

 How about one of my mom's lilies ...

 

 So all of the photos shown here were taken by ME at my parents place. 

I'm still bored, but now it's getting late and I should go find something for supper before it's too late to eat .. >.<


~Skye

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Soup's On!

Wheew... was starting to wonder there;) lol  My partner got hers last week and we mailed them on the same day!

So, we both have our goodies now, so I can share pics! yay!

first off, here's what I sent her - (  window light with old camera >.< I And yes, that's my little ceramic floor tile I got at the thrift shop that I use as a backdrop for some pics...I have two, one cream/brown marble-esque, and this one which is more greys with just a touch of brown))


The full soup - pearls from Magpie Gems,  Crystal and goldstone from LimaBeads, Czech glass... from an etsy shop whose owner was raising money to bring her son home... and whose name escapes me at the moment. I have it written here somewhere... lol >.<



The copper and black glass chain I made, & the rose focal and the heart clasp are both by BeeTree by M.E. 














And now what Maria put together for me to work with :)















Isn't that a great soup?  The crocheted flowers are from her mother in law, and Maria made the cab and beaded it into a focal for me :)
 The fibers are inspiring far too many ideas >.< lol  I LOVE that dragonfly clasp and the rest of the metal is being just as pushy about ideas as the fiber ;)


And the bright orange and yellow MOP beads have spoken already... they're taking over a previous project ;) lol


The Czech glass and magnesite skulls are content to take a back seat for a moment because they KNOW they'll get used up ;)


BTW, I'm sorry about the black shiny bowl in the first picture... I was on my fire escape and didn't want to risk them all rolling away on me >.< It was enough fun to block the wind from taking my flowers and fiber! lol

 And hmm... my date's off on my camera... need to reset that...>.< lol


Sorry, Shaiha... I know I told you I'd take a picture of my mailbox when I retrieved my beadsoup... but I didn't get it from the mail box... the mail man rang the doorbell and met me half way down the stairs. ( I think he's sucking up after that last complaint I filed against him ;) This is the second registered piece he climbed stairs to get signed instead of waiting on the porch lol )





Alright... off to get some more housework accomplished and a painting/gift finished so I can let myself play with my soup without feeling guilty :)




~Skye

Monday, July 16, 2012

Beads For Bloggers


Last month I was lucky enough to be one of ( I believe ) the first five people chosen by FusionMuse to receive a little bead bundle to play with. I'm not sure on the 'how often', but I 'think' every month they chose five people from those who've signed up.

In exchange for a free bundle of beady goodness, you -

1) share the button on your blog ( mine's right over there in my side bar, see? -> )

2) share a photo and link to their site when you receive the beads. ( doing now :D )

3) share an 'in progress' picture of a project you use the beads in

4) Share a photo of the finished project!

So basically, you get little bundle of 'surprise' beads in your mail box, then have to take pictures and play with them, then take more pictures AS you play with them, then take a picture of what you made as you played with them...

... and how is that different from what we normally do with all out beady treasures? lol

Aside from the fact that they're free :D And the choice of what you get is NOT up to you... so it's a little push to maybe work with something you haven't before!

So here's what I get to play with :)


I asked Tanya ( aka FusionMuse ) what they all were so I could share the info ( plus if I really loved playing with anything in particular I could order more ;) lol ) and here's her reply.

 " The focal is a Botswana Agate, the pink coins are dyed coral, the bright coloured ones are dyed Mother of Pearl, the amber looking things are resin man made amber, and the Turquoise colour are Magnesite but many call them Turquoise these days."

I never would've thought the pink coins were coral! Most coral beads I've seen are more opaque, and usually the red color.  I do love the resin 'amber' beads... but I think the magnesite are calling me first...  we'll have to see. I have a couple gifts I need to finish up before I get to play with these ... unless the muse demands my attention be turned to them earlier ;)

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






~ Skye

Sunday, July 15, 2012

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 prettythings steampunk toggles glass shell clay gemstone pearls lucite
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...
bead swap prettythings steampunk toggles glass shell clay gemstone pearls lucite


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 African Trade beads, turquoise chip sodalite nuggets Czech glass gemstone brass
Pantone Spring Color Bead Swap
Pantone spring color bead swap African Trade beads, turquoise chip sodalite nuggets Czech glass gemstone brass

Pantone spring color bead swap African Trade beads, turquoise chip sodalite nuggets Czech glass gemstone brass
Pantone spring color bead swap African Trade beads, turquoise chip sodalite nuggets Czech glass gemstone brass

Pantone spring color bead swap African Trade beads, turquoise chip sodalite nuggets Czech glass gemstone brass


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!

starryroad studios fiberwire beads
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.

handmade clay beads feathers houses shells

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!



handmade clay beads feathers houses shells

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

Saturday, July 14, 2012

Quick Pre-photo spree update

Just a quick note to report that the winner of F.F.#6 has failed to contact me within the two week period. She even had a couple extra days thanks to me being on a different computer without the proper access.

On that note, I had rafflecopter chose a new winner for the beaded chain :)

Sarah G.  you've now got two weeks to contact me to claim your prize. 

If at the end of those two weeks, the prize remains unclaimed, I think I'll call that one a lost cause and the beaded chain will go towards something else.  Or, maybe I'll draw three names, one for each chain and first come first serve as to which one they get.

Not that that will happen since Sarah will note me with the next day or two. ;) There's no way she'll let this slip away.

On that note, I'll leave you with a photo, taken with my new camera of my 'bead guard'.


This is my dad's dog, Sissy. She got tired of chasing frogs and swimming and came to join me.

I got very little beading done...I was too busy taking photos :D

~Skye

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

" 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