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 ;)

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 ;)