HBBH#3

What...? You thought the holiday swap & hops were over with? Don't be silly... plenty more holidays to celebrate :) And Marlene Cupo & Shelley Graham Turner have decided to encourage us to celebrate !

Holiday Bling Blog Hop #'s 1 & 2 were Christmas / Yule / Solstice type themed.

#3 has a wider selection of choices... we could chose ANY holiday that occurred withing February or March. They even provided a list of some... want to see some of what they found for us?

  · Ground Hog Day - Feb 2

· Chinese New Year - Feb 10

· National Foundation Day (Japan) - Feb 11

· Mardi Gras thru Feb 12

· St Valentine's Day - Feb 14

· National Flag Day (Canada) - Feb 15

· Do a Grouch a Favor Day - Feb 16

· International Dog Biscuit Appreciation Day - Feb 23

· Purim - Feb 23-24

· Saint David's Day (Wales, UK) - March 1

· Barbie's Birthday - March 9

· Commonwealth Day (UK) - March 11

· St. Patrick's Day - March 17

· Feast of St. Joseph (Italy) - March 18

· Big Bird's Birthday - March 20

· Greek Independence Day - March 25

· Start of Passover - March 25

· Easter - March 31

...plus we could use any others we discovered, as long as they took place in the Feb./ March time line.

My partner for the hop was Alicia Marinache, a fellow Canuck who actually lives a few hours away from me :) Rather decide on a holiday together, we left that up to inspiration.  

Alicia said she had the perfect one but that it wasn't on the list so it would be a total surprise.

I had Mardi Gras stuck in my head, but wanted to do something that Alicia would love, so I haunted her fb page and blog for holiday inspiration. The perfect one appeared - her sons birthday - but without any hints as to his favorite colours or even the actual date for me to discover birthstones... I couldn't grab onto enough inspiration to get it going.  I did however discover a bunch of Easter photos of her and her family enjoying the holiday. 

Still hemming and hawing over ideas, I decided to let it stew for a bit, hoping she'd post something to help kick start the birthday idea. I had plenty of time after all.  Then while picking up some envelopes and glue for another project, I did my usual stroll past the beads and my eye got caught on some new sparklies. They'd got in some Swarovski Elements with coordinating crystals and they were all screaming at me to buy them >.< I managed to make it out with just two... both for homes other than mine... and one of them was in pinks, greens and clear; perfect for an Easter theme. It sat beside me for an entire day as I let ideas flow, then started work.

Unfortunately, after it was finished, I noticed a flaw in the focal... and in trying to 'fix' it... it broke >.< Luckily I was able to find a replacement focal that enhanced the theme even more I think...

Here's the original design with it's flawed focal just prior to breaking...

 

And here's the completed necklace with the new focal...

The death of the sparklie was sad... however I think the rose quartz lily adds a much more delicate touch, plus lends itself to the holiday a bit better :)

As for what Alicia sent me... wow. The holiday she chose was a special one that her family keeps alive in their own traditions, and I was touched to be a part of it :) The holiday she chose? Martisor. It's a traditional celebration of spring in Romania on March 1st :)  I LOVE what she made for me :) Go check out her blog to find out more about Martisor  and see what she made for me ;)

Then go check out the rest of the blogs to see what other holidays were represented!

 Alicia Marinache

  Catherine King  

 Chris Schlicht  

 Cynthia Machata
 Dyanne Everett-Cantrell  

 Gina Hockett  

 Jennifer Reno 

 Laura Reed  

 Leanne Loftus  

 Lennis Carrier 

 Lori Bowring Michaud  

 Marti Conrad
 Mary Govaars  

 Renetha Stanziano  

 Rita/ Toltec Jewels
 Sarah Goode  

 Sherri Stokey  

 Sonya Stille  

 Tammie Everly  

 Therese Frank  

 Tiffany Goff Smith
 Marlene Cupo 

 Shelley Graham Turner

Friday Feature ; Marti's Buttons-N-Beads

Sorry for the delay >.<

Anyhow, this month I'm featuring another fabulous shop :)

 Marti's Button-n-Beads

For those who've never been to Marti's, shame on you! You have no idea what you're missing!

Marti loves playing with clay, and we love the results ;)

I'm sure you've see her paw print charms around

etsy link

And one of my all time faves... her dragon pendants...

Etsy Link

She's been playing alot lately and has some new stuff that I love. Like these..

 

Etsy Link

and these...

Etsy Link

I love her horse cuffs and fish cuffs... and well... I love too much of her stuff >.< lol

So this month I have a $10 gift certificate to Marti's shop up for grabs  :)

You know the drill :) Use the Rafflecopter widget to enter! ( you can enter all three parts, not just choose one ;) ) If you can't see the rafflecopter widget, it's because you're not on the actual blog post... click on the post title and you should be able to see it :)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Update

Sorry for the no posting >.<

I'd meant to post my new shop feature this past week, but a combination of headaches and some news about a former girlfriend kinda knocked me out of the blogging mind set for a bit.

For those missing the Freebie Friday post, there isn't one this month, sorry. January and February are tight months with a bit smaller paychecks thanks to fewer hours at work, and I've been continuing to set aside just as much money as always for my investments and savings. My extra money has all been going to Project Bead and a few other small charitable causes.

For the next while at lest, Freebie Fridays will be merged with the shop features, so you'll still have a chance to win goodies here, they'll just be in the form of gift certificates or special goodies form the shops I feature.

I have a blog hop coming up this weekend, and a couple posts in my drafts file waiting for me to finish, so they'll be coming soon. I promise I'll have that shop feature up this week BEFORE my blog hop on Saturday.

As a tease, this months feature will be on Marti's Buttons N' Beads on etsy & Facebook ;)

Further more, those of you commenting may notice I've changed the settings. No captcha's, don't worry ;)

Due to rising frustration and irritation at the number of anonymous spamming comments to sort through, I've removed the anonymous commenting for the time being.

Zan, I know you don't have a blog or fb page or anything, but according to Open ID, you can use that option if you have a google or gmail account, too. Here's the link so you can check it out. http://openid.net/get-an-openid/

 If you still can't use it to comment,  you're still welcome to email me and I can enter you in anything that has commenting as a requirement ;)

BSBP - Beady Goodness!

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

Sorta ;)

Remember my pretty little mosaic I sent Lucie?

 

Here it is :)

 

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

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

Here's the lovely serving she sent me :)

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

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

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

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

 

SNEAK ATTACK !!

Yes that's right... another Bead Faerie attack!

This one was an extra sneaky surprise attack on one of our own faeries! While I had her working in the secret head quarters on Lena's gathering, I was coordinating a second one for her through FB messages and email ! :) 

Yes I'm sneaky ;) She had no clue :)

So who did the Bead Faeries visit? Why, Shelley Graham Turner, whom you may remember from my first Shop Feature :)

ToriSophia

 Shelley's sister Jilly was a victim of Alzheimer's. Last year Shelley made a bunch of purple earrings, and her and her grandson handed them out to those who ran for the cause. This year she planned on making a lot more, but was running low on purple beads. She'd put in a trade request in one group but didn't receive many offers from what I understand. Marlene brought it to my attention, since I'd somehow managed to miss the news ( I blame not enough coffee on my end ;) ). And so, a Bead Faerie Sneak attack plan was hatched!  

Since Shelley is a busy little Bead Faerie, she'd have become suspicious  if she wasn't invited into the group for another round. And trust me, she'd have KNOWN if we had one running, whether anyone told her or not... the woman would KNOW. 

So... we ran one and invited her in. Luckily we 'd been considering two, so we just did both :D Since Marlene was already acting as the Collection Faerie for Lena, I asked Rita of Toltec Jewels to play Collection Faerie for Shelley. Let me just say, the woman had WAY TOO MUCH FUN! She took the purple theme and RAN with it BIG TIME! lol

I have a total of 24 photos she took, showing all the beads and ear wires that were donated, and all of these gifts wrapped in different shades of purple tissue paper and tied with ribbon.... several shots of the card, including the picture, the signatures& message, and the envelope  ( she even used purple ink! )... and the stages of packing the box ! lol  Plus, as the topper, she printed out the Project Bead banner and taped it to the top of the box!

I understand she's setting up a photo account somewhere to host all the Project Bead Photos, so when she does, I'll edit in the links here so you can see them all. In the mean time, I'll share a few of the highlights :D

The card - photo courtesy of Rita

Message inside card -photo courtesy of Rita

Pretty gifts to open! - photo courtesy of Rita

the goodies INSIDE the pretty paper - photo courtesy of Rita

The box with the banner :) photo courtesy of Rita

 

It's been decided that from now on, we'll have to include kleenex with the beads ;)

Shelley's Bead Faeries

Rita/ Toltec Jewels, Sandra McGriff, Marlene Cupo , Alicia Marinache , Heidi Kingman , Robin Reed , Jana Perex Stribel , Christine Crowe Smith , Sandra Wollberg  , Ali McCarthy, & Kristen Stevens

Sadly, Shelley's sister just recently passed, making this gift even more bittersweet. Her self appointed task of making these earrings will keep Jilly in the forefront of her heart and thoughts, and every single pair she makes will no doubt carry a piece of her love for her sister with it.  Now that Jilly is free of the curse that is Alzheimer's, I know she is watching over Shelley and loving what she's doing for her :)

... and now that I've made Shell cry again, I KNOW she'll be plotting some form of revenge... ;) I doubt even the little note I slipped into my donation will do much to save me.  What did my note say?  Just two simple words...

 'Blame Marlene'

:D

Attack of the Bead Faeries!

The ' Bead Faeries'  of Project Bead have struck again!

This time, we singled out Lena Adams, who agreed to make jewelry for a program in her home town - 'Dressed for Success' is put on by her local women's shelter, that helps provide women with clothing and jewelry to help them make a good impression for job interviews and new jobs :)  And committed herself to making 100 pieces of jewelry for them! Personally, I think with the big ol' box of beads we gathered up and sent to her, she can do a lot more than that ;)

photo courtesy of Marlene Cupo

Here's a glimpse at what was stuffed inside the box. This was tallied in at 8.6 lbs, and included a few finished pieces of jewelry to be donated to 'Dressed for Success' as well :)

photo courtesy of Marlene Cupo

photo courtesy of Marlene Cupo

photo courtesy of Marlene Cupo

The cast of faeries changes for each gathering, with no faerie contributing to more than three in a row.

Lena had 13  Bead Faeries taking part in her gathering ;

Sandra McGriff, Marlene Cupo, Alicia Mariache, Mimi Gardner, Gina Hockett, Tammy Everly, Shelley Turner, Michelle Dotson, Elaine Ray, Rita aka Toltec Jewels, Shaiha Williams, Robin Reed, and Ali McCarthy.

photo courtesy of Marlene Cupo

  Marlene was once again our 'collection faerie' - everything was sent to her, and she packed it all up and sent it to Lena :)

The first round with Kashmira, we had fun stalking the usps tracking page to see where her parcel was. For Lena's I didn't get a chance to even check! Parcels within the states seem to move quickly... as long as the weather doesn't get in the way ;)

Project Bead is a big success  and warms hearts, whether they take part or not :)  If you know of any one who works with beads, and donates their work or time to a cause, let me know and we might consider them for a future faerie attack ;)

Here We Go Again!

I decided to hop on board the BSBP train again this year :)

This is my third 'helping' of Bead Soup.

First round I got the fabulous Shai Williams, who opened my beading world to so many new fabulous materials that I'd been afraid to try do to what I thought they'd cost... and whom I am still friends with :) I even ended up friends with her hubby, Saje, and have bought two of his books :)

The second round I was paired up with the talented, Mária Horváth,who challenged me with a some of her seed bead work, and some crochet :) It was a fun lot to work with, making me think out side of the box! Unfortunately, we didn't connect the same way for a lasting friendship, but we had a language barrier to overcome that seemed to join forces with a lack of shared interests. 

This round, I've been dealt an unexpected hand ... a fellow Canadian! 

Lucie Bouvier, owns "Carlos Little Bead Store" out west in Alberta.

A real, brick and mortar shop where she has ; 'free classes and over 1000 square feet of products, giftware, etc.'  ( yes I stole the info right from her about page..I wanted to get it right ;)  )

'Glass, resin, semi-precious beads, crystals, pearls, seed beads, chains, wire, cord, leather, tools and all the findings you an imagine, from all around the world.

We offer a variety of classes, parties, lunch and learn and customized workshop during hours of business or on appointments outside regular hours.'

See... that gets me right there... not only does she offer a full selection of beady goodness...AND classes... but she does parties and stuff, too! Makes me wish I lived in Alberta >.<

Her blog and fb page have very little about HER, so it hasn't been easy to come up with a post to introduce her. Of course, I COULD have sent her some questions and done an interview deal, but she has a family,  a business... and she just got back from the gem show in Tucson! (jealous!) so I figured she'd be a tad busy ;)

I did manage to find out a few little things... like, in addition to loving beads, she LOVES shoes ;)  Seriously loves shoes.. to the point they're part of her logo...

 lol  I tried SO hard to play with this, thinking it would be cute to make a pair of earrings or a charm bracelet featuring shoe beads or charms to send her as a little gift... but you know how fate goes... when there's something you really need, it's impossible to find... until you no longer need it, of course :(

I also learned , that she started n the jewelry business as L.B. Creations ( apparently, there are a few jewelry based businesses by that name on Facebook, however >.<). I did have too fun fun looking through her gallery. I had to message to make sure they were all her pieces, since many bead stores, especially ones that host classes, often have a page to share clients and students work... but this gallery is all hers .  After much consideration... and nail biting and ooohing and awwing... here are some of my favorites...

via

via

via

via

 Check out her gallery... there really are too many beautiful pieces there. Her bracelets are all the same style but in different colors and materials, but they're too pretty to chose between >.< I could just keep posting her entire gallery here... 


 The first BSBP I did was some where around three hundred and some odd participants I think... I'm thinking 360 or somewhere in that area.

This round.... OVER 500..... PLUS there's an extra group doing a Facebook version! A ..BSFbP lol ;)  Luckily, it's divided into three different hops, and I'm in the last one :)


Want to see what I sent her? I SHOULD use it in a second post, but I delayed a bit too long on getting this one up and she could be getting her soup any day now... so...

 

:D

I'm looking at this trying to remember what each blob is ;) hehe